Three and a half months ago, the CDC announced a deadly Listeria outbreak linked to deli meat and cheese sold at NetCost stores and there hasn’t been an update since. The outbreak includes 16 illnesses and one fatality, according to the November 9, 2022 announcement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Thirteen of the outbreak patients were hospitalized and one pregnant woman suffered a miscarriage.
NetCost Market started as a food service for Eastern European immigrants but now operates full-service grocery stores offering a variety of imported foods in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. But because not all of the people sickened in this outbreak shopped at NetCost, health officials think it’s likely that a meat or cheese product contaminated with Listeria is the source of the outbreak.
The patients range in age from 38 to 92 years old. The illnesses were reported from six states: California (1), Illinois (2), Maryland (3), Massachusetts (2), New Jersey (1), and New York (7).
The CDC is using the PulseNet system to identify illnesses that may be part of this outbreak. PulseNet is a national database of DNA “fingerprints” of bacteria that cause foodborne illnesses that is managed by the CDC.
Genetic tests show that the fingerprints of the bacteria cultured from the outbreak patients closely resemble each other, suggesting they got sick from the same food.
In 2021, New York health officials found the outbreak strain of Listeria in several locations including:
- Environmental samples from a NetCost Market deli in Brooklyn
- Open packages of mortadella and ham that were sliced at the same NetCost Market deli in Brooklyn
- Sliced salami that a sick person bought from a NetCost Market deli in Staten Island
Free Listeria Lawsuit Consultation
If you were sickened in this outbreak and would like a free consultation about a Listeria lawsuit, please contact our Listeria lawyers. Our Food Safety Team has more experience handling Listeria lawsuits than any other law firm in the country securing some of the largest Listeria settlements in U.S. history including a recent award of $6.4 million for neurologic injury from a contaminated deli product.
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