A frozen blueberry recall tied to an E. coli outbreak widened on Oct. 2 to cover six more production lots sold at Walmart and Trader Joe’s, 11 days after federal health officials declared the outbreak over. The Chilean supplier, Frutas y Hortalizas del Sur S.A., issued the expanded recall, according to the FDA recall notice.
The outbreak itself is small and finished. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention closed its investigation on Sept. 21 after counting 17 illnesses and six hospitalizations in two states. No one died. The recall is what is still moving, and the packages it covers may be in home freezers now.
Which Frozen Berry Products Are Recalled
The Oct. 2 notice lists three products. Great Value Organic Triple Berry Blend in 10-ounce bags carries lot codes 6 031 01 and 6 041 01, with best-by dates of Jan. 31, 2028, and Feb. 10, 2028. Great Value Organic Blueberries in 10-ounce bags carry lot codes 6 019 01, 6 040 01 and 6 163 01, with best-by dates of Jan. 19, Feb. 9 and June 12, 2028. Trader Joe’s Organic Mixed Berry Blend in 12-ounce bags carries lot code 6 051 01, with a best-before date of Feb. 20, 2028.
The FDA notice says the Great Value products went to select Walmart stores in 30 states and Puerto Rico. The Trader Joe’s product went to select stores in 26 states and the District of Columbia. The company says the berries may be contaminated with E. coli O145:H28, a Shiga toxin-producing strain. The pathogen can cause severe stomach cramps, diarrhea that may be bloody and vomiting, the notice says. It also warns of hemolytic uremic syndrome, a form of kidney failure, in vulnerable people.
The notice tells consumers not to eat the berries and to throw them away or return them to the store for a refund. It lists Joshua Weiss as the company contact. It does not carry a company statement beyond the product details. Consumer Reports said freezing does not make the berries safe. “E. coli can survive very cold temperatures,” James E. Rogers, the group’s director of food safety testing, said in its guidance. He advised washing surfaces and containers that touched the berries with a bleach solution of 1 tablespoon per gallon of water.
E. coli O145 Outbreak: What the CDC and FDA Found
The cluster was identified by the Florida Department of Health, and the FDA and CDC opened a joint investigation on July 6, according to the FDA outbreak page. Illnesses began between May 11 and Aug. 2. The CDC counted 17 cases. Of 13 patients interviewed, 11 (85%) said they had eaten frozen blueberries.
A summary of the CDC’s Sept. 3 update on the Marler Clark law firm’s food safety blog put 13 cases in Florida and four in Georgia. Patients ranged in age from 2 to 88, with a median age of 47. The blog, written by a firm that represents people in foodborne illness cases, put baseline frozen berry consumption among the general population at about 24%, which makes the 85% figure stand out.
Testing did not settle the matter on its own. FDA samples of finished product from U.S. markets tested negative, according to the agency. Publix, a customer of the same supplier, ran its own tests, and one sample matched the outbreak strain. Publix recalled its GreenWise berries on July 29. Food Safety News reported that the FDA’s remote inspections and sample collection produced no positive result, so the Publix test is the only lab match to the outbreak strain in the public record.
Recall Timeline and Import Alert 99-35
The first recall came July 3, covering one lot of GreenWise organic blueberries from the supplier. The second, by Publix, came July 29 and covered all lots of two GreenWise products. The third came Sept. 2 and added a Great Value triple berry blend. The FDA clarified Sept. 11 that distribution reached seven more states: Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and West Virginia. The Oct. 2 expansion is the fourth recall notice in 91 days.
On July 30, the FDA placed the supplier’s products on Import Alert 99-35, which lets agents detain the firm’s frozen blueberries at the border without examining them first. The agency said products stay on the alert until the firm submits documentation resolving the violation.
The latest expansion followed an FDA on-site inspection in Chile. WGCU reported that the inspection found the company had withheld records during the earlier investigation. That reporting is the source for the records finding. The Oct. 2 notice does not mention it.
How Far the Recalled Berries Traveled
The Walmart-branded footprint is the clearest sign of how the recall has grown. The CDC’s
Sept. 3 notice, as summarized by Marler Clark, listed Great Value berries in 16 states. The FDA’s Sept. 11 clarification added seven states and Puerto Rico to a combined list of 27 jurisdictions that also included Publix’s southern states. The Oct. 2 notice lists 30 states and Puerto Rico for Great Value alone, and adds 26 states and the District of Columbia for Trader Joe’s. Measured by those notices, the Great Value recall now reaches 14 more states than the earlier summary listed.
Shoppers with organic frozen berries from either store should check the bags against the lot codes printed on the package. The best-by dates run from January to June 2028, so the bags have long shelf lives and can sit in a freezer for months. People who have eaten the berries and have severe symptoms should contact a health care provider, the FDA said. The agency advises consumers to “check their homes for any remaining recalled product” and discard it.
