Highlights

• 17 people sickened across 13 states, with 3 confirmed deaths in Illinois, Michigan, and Texas
• One pregnancy loss was reported in connection with the outbreak
• Ready-to-eat chicken alfredo products sold at Walmart (Marketside brand) and Kroger (Home Chef brand) have been recalled nationwide
• Louisiana and Texas residents were confirmed among the affected states in the multi-state outbreak
• Outbreak strain detected from July 2024 through May 2025 – this has been going on for months

Deadly Listeria Outbreak Hits Louisiana and Texas: Chicken Alfredo Meals Recalled

Three deaths confirmed as FreshRealm pulls popular Walmart and Kroger ready-to-eat meals from shelves across the South

LAFAYETTE, La. (KPEL News) — If you grab those quick chicken fettuccine alfredo meals from Walmart or Kroger, you need to listen up. Three people are dead from a listeria outbreak traced back to these convenient dinners, and folks in both Louisiana and Texas have gotten sick.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, federal agencies pulled the plug on FreshRealm after finding the same deadly bacteria in their plants that have been putting people in the hospital for nearly a year. The company makes these meals at facilities in California, Georgia, and Indiana, then ships them all over the country.

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Three Dead, More Hospitalized

This isn't some run-of-the-mill food recall where maybe you get a stomachache. People have died from eating these meals, including one person each in Illinois, Michigan, and Texas. A pregnant woman in the outbreak lost her baby.

Sixteen other people ended up in the hospital, and that's just the ones we know about. The real number is probably higher because some folks get sick and never go to the doctor, or they recover before anyone figures out what made them ill.

The scariest part? This has been going on for almost a year. The first person got sick back in July 2024, and cases kept happening through May of this year. Think about that: people were getting critically ill for months before anyone connected the dots to these chicken alfredo meals.

Cases have popped up in 13 states: Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. If you're reading this in Louisiana or Texas, this outbreak is in your backyard.

What You Need to Find and Toss

Go check your fridge right now. Here's what you're looking for:

Walmart Marketside Brand:

• 32.8-oz. trays: "MARKETSIDE GRILLED CHICKEN ALFREDO WITH FETTUCCINE" with best-by dates of June 27, 2025, or earlier
• 12.3-oz. trays: "MARKETSIDE GRILLED CHICKEN ALFREDO WITH FETTUCCINE" (includes broccoli version) with best-by dates of June 26, 2025, or earlier

Kroger Home Chef Brand:

• 12.5-oz. trays: "HOME CHEF Heat & Eat Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo" with best-by dates of June 19, 2025, or earlier

All recalled products have a USDA mark of inspection and one of these establishment numbers: "EST. P-50784," "EST. P-47770," or "EST. P-47718."

Listeria Is a Serious Threat

Here's why this bacteria is so dangerous: it can kill you. Most food poisoning makes you miserable for a few days, and then you get better. Listeria can put you in the ground.

It's especially brutal if you're pregnant, over 65, or your immune system is already fighting something else. For pregnant women, it can kill their baby or cause them to lose the pregnancy. For older folks and people with health problems, it often means the hospital, and sometimes they don't come home.

What makes Listeria particularly nasty is that it can grow in your refrigerator. Cold doesn't kill it; it just slows it down. That's why this outbreak kept going for so long.

Symptoms can show up anywhere from the same day you eat contaminated food to 10 weeks later, but usually within two weeks. Watch for fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion, trouble with balance, and seizures. Sometimes your stomach acts up first with diarrhea or vomiting.

How Federal Investigators Solved the Case

It took investigators months to crack this case. Back in March, routine testing at a FreshRealm plant found listeria that matched what was making people sick. They destroyed that batch before it hit stores, but kept digging.

They talked to sick people and followed the paper trail: receipts, store records, you name it. Four people in the outbreak either remembered eating chicken alfredo or had proof they'd bought these exact products. That's when everything clicked.

The same listeria strain showing up in patients from July 2024 through May 2025 was lurking in FreshRealm's facilities. They still don't know exactly where the contamination started. It could be the plants themselves, or it could be ingredients coming in from suppliers.

What You Need to Do Right Now

Clean house in your kitchen:

1. Hunt down the recalled products listed above; don't just check dates
2. Toss them in the trash or haul them back to the store for your money back
3. Scrub down everything that might've touched these meals: fridge, counters, utensils, containers
4. Use bleach water (1 tablespoon bleach per gallon of water) to kill any lingering bacteria

If you've eaten these meals:

• Keep an eye out for symptoms for up to 10 weeks
• Call your doctor right away if you get a fever, muscle aches, or feel off
• If you're pregnant, over 65, or have health issues, don't wait – call your doctor even if you feel fine

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For questions or concerns:

• Call FreshRealm customer service at (888) 244-1562
• Contact the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 888-674-6854

Why This Hits Home for Us

Walmart and Kroger are everywhere down here. These quick dinner solutions are lifesavers for busy families, college kids, and folks working long hours who don't have time to cook from scratch. The fact that people in Louisiana and Texas got sick means these contaminated meals definitely made it to our local stores.

This recall shows the downside of convenient foods. They save time, but when something goes wrong at a big processing plant, thousands of people across dozens of states can get hurt.

Part of a Bigger Problem

This chicken alfredo outbreak isn't happening in a vacuum. Earlier this year, contaminated supplement shakes killed 12 people. Last year, Boar's Head deli meat put 60 people in the hospital and killed 10 others.

The CDC says about 1,600 Americans get listeria every year, and 260 die from it. Most of these deaths could be prevented if companies did a better job of keeping their food clean.

Investigators are still trying to figure out exactly how listeria got into these chicken alfredo meals and whether it came from FreshRealm's plants or their suppliers. This investigation isn't over, and we'll learn more as they dig deeper.

How to Keep Your Family Safer

Here's what you can do going forward:

• Think twice about ready-to-eat meals – they're handy but riskier than cooking at home
• Keep your fridge cold and clean – 40°F or below
• Stay on top of recalls – bookmark government food safety alerts
• Trust your nose – if something smells or looks wrong, pitch it
• Know who's at risk – pregnant women, folks over 65, and people with health problems need to be extra careful

Walmart and Kroger know about the recall and should've pulled these products from their shelves. If you spot recalled chicken alfredo meals still for sale, tell the store manager right away.