The Silent but Deadly Stoway in Your Fridge: What Pregnant Women (and Everyone Else) Need to Know

Listeria doesn’t die in the microwave. Pregnant women and families need to know that cooking at home and using a $10 food thermometer may save lives. Convenience isn’t worth the risk.

Four people are dead. One pregnancy has ended in loss. Nineteen more people are in hospitals across the country. The culprit isn’t a rare virus or a new pandemic strain. It’s something far more ordinary, far more insidious: the ready-to-eat pasta meals sold at grocery stores most of us shop in every week.

The CDC has confirmed a multistate outbreak of listeria linked to recalled pasta dishes sold at Walmart, Trader Joe’s, Kroger, and Albertsons. As of September 30, there are 20 confirmed cases across 15 states. But as always with foodborne illness, the true number is almost certainly higher.