Listeria is a bacteria that can be found in soil, water and feces. It survives refrigeration, and is easily spread through contaminated equipment. Almost all cases will require hospitalization, and while healthy people most often survive it, listeria is incredibly dangerous to the elderly, young children, and pregnant women (the fetus is at great risk).
Recently, listeria has been headlining in the news with the Boar's Head product recall. After finding listeria present when testing liverwurst at the end of July, over 200,000 pounds of liverwurst and other meat products were recalled by the company. Even though other items haven't tested positive for it, anything that had been processed on the same equipment the same day were pulled out of precaution. A second recall in early August had the company voluntarily recalling an additional 7 million pounds of packaged meats, deli meats, and poultry.
The products had been shipped nationwide, have currently sickened 43 people, and a third person has just recently died. Other recalls for listeria include produce from a number of national chain markets (ALDI, Walmart). Listeria is becoming one of the bacteria at the top of the foodborne illness list for 2024 -- to read more about this recall, or to learn more about listeria, head over to the article linked below.
Forbes: "Everything To Know About The Listeria Outbreaks"
