Why do health officials not always tell food poisoning victims what product caused their illness or a family member’s death?

We have seen a rash of Listeria and Salmonella outbreaks over the last months (in addition to outbreaks that get little or no mention – hint E. coli), but I have found a disturbing pattern – victims of the outbreaks are not being told what product caused their illness or a family member’s death by health officials.

No doubt public health – local, state, cdc, FDA and FSIS – is under pressure by DOGE and in the lack of belief in science generally – and, of course, the resulting lack of finding.

However, I have seen an ongoing trend of public health officials not telling the actual victims of the cause and source of an outbreak.

Outbreak investigations are hard and at time take a long time to figure out.

Not surprisingly, you need a tainted product that slipped into the market place due to poor food safety practiced. Then people start to become ill – depending on the self-stability and level of contamination of the product – the outbreak can be rather short (perishable product like leafy greens) or rather long (a shelf stable or frozen product). Also a confounding factor can be that the contamination might well be sporadic in a manufacturing plant and therefore the contamination happens over an extended period of time.

Then someone needs to be sick enough to seek medical treatment, then a stool or blood culture is ordered, and if positive, the culture sent to the state lab for whole genome sequencing (WGS). Then the victim or surviving family is interviewed by public health about their food history over the proceeding days, weeks or months. Medical records and purchase records are requested and gathered. At times there are multiple interviews that may occur when someone is still hospitalized. The hope is with good epidemiology and lab work the cause of the outbreak can be ascertained and announced (see below), the product pulled from the market and the outbreak stopped. Another added benefit is that if the product can be traced to the source and after outbreak “root cause analysis” can be performed to try and determine how the outbreak happened and what can be done to prevent the next one.

However, most people and their families linked to recognized and reported outbreaks are never told they are linked by the same public health officials that may have interviewed them several times, secured medical records and receipts and shopper card information. Sometimes victims catch the news and many time they reach out to us and we make the link. But, there are many, perhaps most never will learn what made them sick or their family member to die.

Why?

Kroger and Walmart fettuccine alfredo meals Listeria Outbreak – 17 sick with 3 dead:

On June 17, 2025, FreshRealm recalled chicken fettuccine alfredo meals. Do not eat recalled chicken fettucine alfredo meals made by FreshRealm and sold in the refrigerated section at Walmart and Kroger grocery stores.

As of June 18, 2025, a total of, 17 people infected with the outbreak strain of Listeria have been reported from 13 states. Sick people’s samples were collected on dates ranging from August 1, 2024, to May 27, 2025. Illnesses started on dates ranging from July 24, 2024, to May 10, 2025. Of 17 people with information available, 16 have been hospitalized and 3 deaths have been reported from Illinois, Michigan, and Texas. One pregnancy associated illness resulted in a fetal loss. 

USDA FSIS used purchase records to trace chicken fettuccine alfredo products purchased by 2 ill people back to FreshRealm. An additional 2 people described chicken fettuccine alfredo products they purchased and FSIS follow-up at the retail stores identified FreshRealm chicken fettuccine alfredo products matching their descriptions. 

On March 19, 2025, FSIS identified the outbreak strain in a routine sample of FreshRealm chicken fettuccine alfredo. This lot was not distributed into the food supply. FDA and FSIS collected samples from FreshRealm and the suppliers of some of the individual ingredients used to produce the chicken fettuccine alfredo but have not identified the outbreak strain. However, CDC continues to see ill people reporting this specific food and is concerned that contamination is still occurring.

Fresh & Ready Foods Pre-made Sandwiches Listeria Outbreak – 10 sick:

On May 10, 2025, Fresh & Ready Foods LLC recalled select ready-to-eat foods. Do not eat, sell, or serve recalled products.

As of May 9, 2025, a total of 10 people infected with the outbreak strain of Listeria have been reported from two states. Sick people’s samples were collected on dates ranging from December 3, 2023, to September 9, 2024. Of 10 people with information available, all 10 have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.

On March 31, 2025, FDA collected environmental samples for testing at Fresh & Ready Foods, LLC. WGS showed that the Listeria in the environmental isolates were closely related to bacteria from sick people. This means that people likely got sick from eating ready-to-eat foods made by Fresh & Ready Foods LLC.

Records reviewed from facilities indicated that ready-to-eat foods made by Fresh & Ready Foods LLC were served in three facilities.

Supplement Shakes Listeria Outbreak – 42 sick with 14 deaths:

On February 22, 2025, Lyons Magnus LLC recalled supplement shakes.

A total of 42 people infected with the outbreak strain of Listeria monocytogenes were reported from 21 states. Illnesses started on dates ranging from August 17, 2018, to March 13, 2025. Of 42 people with information available, 41 were hospitalized. A total of 14 deaths were reported from 9 states: California, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New York, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington. Most people in this outbreak reported living in long-term care facilities or were hospitalized prior to becoming sick.

FDA traced food records from long-term care facilities. These records showed that supplement shakes made by Prairie Farms were a common food served at the long-term facilities. On February 4, 2025, FDA conducted an onsite inspection and collected environmental samples at Prairie Farms for testing. On February 19, 2025, WGS showed that the Listeria in the environment were closely related to the bacteria from sick people.

Listeria:  Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading law firm representing victims of Listeria outbreaks. The Listeria lawyers of Marler Clark have represented thousands of victims of Listeria and other foodborne illness outbreaks and have recovered over $900 million for clients.  Marler Clark is the only law firm in the nation with a practice focused exclusively on foodborne illness litigation.  Our Listeria lawyers have litigated Listeria cases stemming from outbreaks traced to a variety of foods, such as lettuce, polony, deli meat, cantaloupe, cheese, celery and milk.   

If you or a family member became ill with a Listeria infection after consuming food and you’re interested in pursuing a legal claim, contact the Marler Clark Listeria attorneys for a free case evaluation.

Additional Resources:

• About Listeria – a complete online resource for Listeria information
• Family Health Guide About Listeria infection, or Listeriosis (pdf)
• Listeria News
• Listeria Lawsuits

William “Bill” Marler has been a food safety lawyer and advocate since the 1993 Jack-in-the-Box E. coli Outbreak which was chronicled in the book, “Poisoned” and in the recent Emmy Award winning Netflix documentary by the same name. Bill work has been profiled in the New Yorker, “A Bug in the System;” the Seattle Times, “30 years after the deadly E. coli outbreak, A Seattle attorney still fights for food safety;” the Washington Post, “He helped make burgers safer, Now he is fighting food poisoning again;” and several others. 

Republished with permission from Bill Marler and Marler Clark. Copyright (c) Marler Clark LLP, PS. All rights reserved.

Source: https://www.marlerblog.com/case-news/why-do-health-officials-not-always-tell-food-poisoning-victims-what-product-caused-their-illness-or-a-family-members-death/