6 dead, 25 hospitalized in nationwide listeria outbreak linked to precooked pasta meals

Question

Six people died and 25 were hospitalized after eating recalled pre-cooked pasta meals. The food was said to have been contaminated with Listeria.

Answer 1

The claim that I will fact-check is: “Six people died and 25 were hospitalized after eating recalled pre-cooked pasta meals. The food was said to have been contaminated with Listeria.”

The original author who uploaded the claim already linked a website that is supported as a News Detective credible source, being NPR. I fact-check this claim to look at more details regarding this outbreak through another trusted source, as well as checking if the numbers in the original claim were accurate. The trusted source that I found was a New York Times article. Something that I thought was helpful that the article I found provided was a quote that said, “Pasta meals linked to a listeria outbreak were supplied by Nate’s Fine Foods and sold at major retailers nationwide, including Trader Joe’s, Albertsons and Sprouts Farmers Market, officials said.” They credit the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. The New York Times article indeed also reported six people dying from this listeria outbreak. The meals that made people sick included fettuccine, linguine, and farfalle pasta, which were recalled between June and October. Twenty-seven people became sick, and twenty-five of them were hospitalized. Many of these people reported eating precooked meals. The cases were reported coming from California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington. A food safety specialist who was interviewed reported that this is a fairly large and significant listeria outbreak. The C.D.C and the FDA have yet to find evidence of the specific listeria strain linked to the facility, Nate’s Fine Foods Inc. The article then explains what Listeria is and what the symptoms to look for are. Overall, this claim is true, and the numbers have been reported by two trustworthy sources.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/business/listeria-outbreak-trader-joes-kroger.html

Answer 2

The claim that I will fact-check is: “Six people died and 25 were hospitalized after eating recalled pre-cooked pasta meals. The food was said to have been contaminated with Listeria.”

The original author who uploaded the claim already linked a website that is supported as a News Detective credible source, being NPR. I chose to fact-check this claim to look at more details regarding this outbreak through another trusted source, as well as checking if the numbers in the original claim were accurate. The trusted source that I found was a New York Times article. Something that I thought was helpful that the article I found provided was a quote that said, “Pasta meals linked to a listeria outbreak were supplied by Nate’s Fine Foods and sold at major retailers nationwide, including Trader Joe’s, Albertsons and Sprouts Farmers Market, officials said.” They credit the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. The New York Times article indeed also reported six people dying from this listeria outbreak. The meals that made people sick included fettuccine, linguine, and farfalle pasta, which were recalled between June and October. Twenty-seven people became sick, and twenty-five of them were hospitalized. Many of these people reported eating precooked meals. The cases were reported coming from California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington. A food safety specialist who was interviewed reported that this is a fairly large and significant listeria outbreak. The C.D.C and the FDA have yet to find evidence of the specific listeria strain linked to the facility, Nate’s Fine Foods Inc. The article then explains what Listeria is and what the symptoms to look for are. Overall, this claim is true, and the numbers have been reported by two trustworthy sources.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/business/listeria-outbreak-trader-joes-kroger.html

Answer 3

This is true. As reported by CBS News, there has so far been 6 deaths and 27 reported illnesses across 18 different states. The listeria outbreak has been traced back to premade pasta meals at both Kroger and Trader Joes. Today reports that the recalls started back in June of this year, with the CDC noting that there has been 7 new illnesses and 2 more deaths since late September, including a pregnant fetal loss. The contamination traced back to Nate's Fine Foods, a supplier of the pasta meals. NPR states that since September, Nates has recalled multiple batches of their precooked pasta, and they are currently working with the FDA to determine if more recalls need to be made. 

Answer 4

1. Write a brief overall summary of your findings.

• I found two sources

1. https://www.today.com/health/recall/listeria-outbreak-pasta-recall-2025-rcna241797 

This article begins with the numeral information that 6 people have died and 25 have been hospitalized due to prepared meals containing Listeria. They then go into a list of the recalled products and the locations Listeria has been found in, as well as actually explaining what Listeria is and how to take action if one has purchased the contaminated products.

2. https://www.npr.org/2025/11/04/nx-s1-5598279/listeria-outbreak-prepared-pasta 

This article also covers the same topic, saying that 6 people were killed but they pull information and cite directly from the CDC.They also include the list of states Listeria has been reported in, and they dive into the company, Nates Fine Foods, including the names of the recalled products. Similar to the first article, they also have a section dedicated to gaining knowledge and figuring out what to do about Listeria itself. 

2. What primary sources did you find (e.g., transcripts, videos of politician speeches, tweets from public figures, scientific studies)? For each source, write at least one or two sentences explaining what you learned. Include all links.

• While I found two secondary sources, the second article uses primary information from the CDC, in which their “What to know – and do – about Listeria” section provides many recommendations directly from the CDC. They also use quantitative data in combination with quotes from the FDA to back their claim. The first article also includes information from the FDA and CDC, but they include the information in a more summarized way, rather than using direct quotes. For example, they use vague language such as saying "according to”, instead of directly quoting the CDC or FDA.

3. What secondary sources did you find (e.g., newspapers, magazines)? Only use secondary sources if sufficient primary sources are not available. For each source, write at least one or two sentences explaining what you learned. Include all links.

• I found two secondary sources. I have learned from both articles that the company Nates Fine Food has recalled pasta products that have caused serious cases of Listeria across 18 states. The first article, published by Today, supports the claim in an organized structure, while the second article, from NPR, backs their claim through the CDC and FDA. 

4. What potential biases or interests might each of your sources have?

• Because this headline is very recent, both sources could have an intrigued interest to overlook information just to get their own stories out, but because both sources reference the CDC and FDA, which are nationally recognized organizations, there is evidence to believe that their information is not biased.

5. What evidence supports the claim you are fact-checking?

• I think that finding multiple sources supports the claim that I am fact checking. Both sources I found contain similar information, which have been pulled from the CDC and FDA, and they both back up the original claim in News Detective. 

6. What evidence undermines the claim you are fact-checking?

• Because I found the sources through google and not through a database, the sources aren't 100% credible. I do think that because NPR is a .org link that their website can be more trusted than the Today article.

7. What happened when you tried contacting the person or group who made the original claim? (Always try to contact them—it’s okay if you don’t get a reply. For example, if the claim is that the president said something, try reaching out to the administration. If it was a Bluesky user, message that user on Bluesky.)

• While this story is recent, due to the nature of the companies being quite large there probably won't be a response.

Answer 5

Yes, the claim is accurate. In a nationwide outbreak confirmed by the FDA and CDC, 6 people died and 25 others were hospitalized due to Listeria contamination linked to pre-cooked pasta meals. The contaminated products were distributed by Nate’s Food Co. and sold under various brand names at major retailers including Walmart, Trader Joe’s, and Kroger. The outbreak was first identified in June and was seen in multiple states. Affected meals included ready-to-eat items like chicken Alfredo and pasta with meatballs, which were recalled after testing revealed the presence of Listeria. The FDA issued a public health alert and coordinated with manufacturers to remove the products from shelves. Investigators traced the source of the outbreak to a food production facility in California, where sanitation lapses may have contributed to the contamination.

6 dead, 25 hospitalized in nationwide listeria outbreak linked to precooked pasta meals

Answer 6

After further research, I can confirm this claim is true. This article is fairly recent, written on November 3, 2025. The author of this article, Kate Reilly, is a renowned news associate for NBC. NBC itself is a very credible organization, known for their journalistic standards and fact-checking. Throughout the source, information is incorporated from the FDC and CDC, of which are both official government organization websites. Additionally, other reliable news organizations support the accuracy of this statement. These include the Federal Safety and Inspection Service of the US Department of Agriculture and NPR. the FSIS is also a government website, and NPR is widely recognized for their public trust and transparency. In an announcement posted on 9/25/25, the FSIS states, "Details of this public health alert were updated on September 30, 2025, to account for additional Trader Joe's Cajun style chicken fettucine alfredo products that use the pasta that has been recalled due to possible listeria contamination. Products with use by dates up until October 10, 2025, may be impacted." https://www.fsis.usda.gov/recalls-alerts/fsis-issues-public-health-alert-ready-eat-meals-containing-pasta-may-be-contaminated. As one can see, this statement clarifies the recall and listeria contamination of these products. Additionally, an NPR article from 11/2/25 includes, "As of late October, the outbreak has killed six people and sickened 27, all but two of whom were hospitalized, according to last week's update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)." https://www.npr.org/2025/11/04/nx-s1-5598279/listeria-outbreak-prepared-pasta. From this, one can gather that this claim is accurate and is able to be supported from well-regarded organizations.