12 Dead from Listeria in Supplemental Frozen Shakes
Listeria in supplemental shakes primarily served to nursing home residents has sickened dozens of people, killing 12 of them. The 21-state outbreak began in 2018 but most of the illnesses reported so far occurred in late 2024 and early 2025.
Prairie Farms Dairy Inc. of Fort Wayne, Indiana produced the frozen supplemental shakes sold under the brand names Sysco Imperial and Lyons ReadyCare to hospitals and long-term care facilities.
Lyons Magnus, which handled distribution for both brands of these shakes, issued a recall on February 22 and halted purchases from the implicated Prairie Farms facility.
Listeria Outbreak Investigations
Illnesses have been reported from 21 states: AL, CA, CO, CT, FL, IL, IN, MD, MI, MN, MO, NC, NV, NY, OH, OK, PA, TN, TX, WA, and WV. The 12 fatalities were reported from California, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New York, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington.
The patients range in age from 43 to 101 years old. Thirty-seven of them required hospitalization. Thirty-four of the patients lived in long-term care facilities or were hospitalized before they became ill.
Investigators from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reviewed purchasing records and confirmed Sysco Imperial or Lyons ReadyCare nutritional shakes were available to outbreak patients at their long-term care facilities or during their hospital stays.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigated this outbreak in 2018, 2021, and 2023, but there was not enough information to identify a specific food source. After six new illnesses were reported in October 2024, the agency reopened the investigation for a fourth time.
Using a method called whole genome sequencing, health officials can identify the genetic “fingerprint” of bacteria that made someone sick. When people are sickened by bacteria with the same fingerprint, it suggests they got sick from the same food.
When shakes were identified as a common exposure among patients, the FDA tracked down the manufacturer, visited the facility, collected samples, and tested them. The outbreak strain was found in environmental samples collected from Prairie Farms.
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