In an all-too-familiar occurrence, four more people have died after consuming listeria-tainted food. Once again, grocers and federal officials have issued a recall for the food — this time, heat-and-eat meals of chicken fettuccine alfredo and beef meatballs with linguini and marinara sauce.
And, like previous outbreaks, this one has exposed an already tenuous food safety system that the Trump administration has further hollowed out through budget and staffing cuts.
Lag Time in Reporting Outbreaks
The result: food-borne illness outbreaks, often deadly, that spiral out of control before the public even hears about them, with far more cases that are investigated than are ever solved. And it raises questions about what to do when the system fails.
Officials say the contaminated meals are Marketside Linguine with Beef Meatballs & Marinara sauce, sold at Walmart, and Trader Joe’s Cajun-Style Blackened Chicken Breast Fettuccine Alfredo.
The Department of Agriculture first recalled the chicken fettuccine products in June, when the manufacturer, FreshRealm, reported Listeria contamination in products it had shipped to Kroger and Walmart grocery stores. The products were sold under the Marketside and Home Chef brands. The USDA updated the recall on September 25, which now includes FreshRealm products sold at Trader Joe’s.
Food safety experts have voiced strong concerns about the federal government’s ability to track and prevent food-borne illnesses.
‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ Threatens U.S. Food Safety System
In the September issue of Food Safety News, an online journal, Phyllis Entis, a veteran food safety microbiologist, placed the blame on Health and Human Services Secretary John F. Kennedy Jr. — a close Trump ally. Kennedy’s portfolio includes the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two agencies that play key roles in food-borne illness outbreaks.
The HHS secretary, she wrote, has made such deep cuts at the FDA , that he has “already put the brakes on the agency’s ability to trace the source of food-borne disease outbreaks.”
In 2024, for example, the FDA “investigated a total of 26 outbreaks and identified the source of 20” for a clearance rate of 77%, Entis wrote. Yet as of September 2025, “the FDA has closed its investigation of 11 outbreaks after identifying the source of only 4 (36%); an additional 11 investigations remain under investigation, with a food source having been identified in four (36%).”
Fewer Bacteria Are Being Watched
Meanwhile, the CDC under Kennedy’s leadership “has reduced its active surveillance of food-borne pathogens from six target organisms to just two, claiming lack of funding,” Entis wrote. This means inspectors won’t be tracking for dangerous, and potentially lethal, bacteria that can get into the food supply.
The FDA leads investigations of contamination and recalls for produce, dairy, most seafood, bottled water, dietary supplements, infant formula, and most packaged foods. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, by contrast, investigates reports of contaminated meat, poultry, egg products, catfish, and ready-to-eat meals that include meat products.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Trump’s signature legislation, calls for transferring routine food safety inspections from the federal government to states next year. More staff cuts are called for in the Trump budget.
The administration says the FDA and USDA will continue their activities that directly affect consumers during the federal government shutdown. Kennedy fired all of the FDA’s media and communications staff, including the department’s director — effectively eliminating the office that informs the public about contaminated food.
However, political drama in Washington could further weaken the nation’s food safety system.
There are reports that the ongoing government shutdown — the result of a funding and policy stalemate between congressional Democrats, Republicans, and the White House — will lead to furloughs of about 49% of USDA staff. The FDA’s website, meanwhile, says its “mission-critical activities” will continue during the shutdown.
But Trump and his advisors are threatening to fire more government workers if Democrats don’t yield and the shutdown drags on.
