Every good home cook and professional chef knows that there’s something arguably more important than knowing how to get a sauce to come out perfectly every time, what’s the most efficient way to prep vegetables, and what’s the secret to the perfect cheese sauce. More important than any of that is knowing crucial food safety tips, because it doesn’t matter how good that curry came out, if you spread salmonella around your kitchen by washing your chicken, that’s all anyone is going to remember.
The sad truth is that no matter how careful you are, there are some foodborne illnesses that can’t be avoided. These are the ones that happen because there’s a problem with the food that comes right from the farm, the processor, or the manufacturer, but the good news is that with today’s lightning-fast communications, you’ll probably hear about FDA recalls pretty quickly. There are several different recall classes that the FDA might issue, but the bottom line is that no product and no store is immune — not even one as beloved as the grocery chain Publix.
Publix has been impacted by some massive food recalls, and in some cases, those recalls were for the chain’s house brand products. Other times, Publix was simply caught up in nationwide recalls that were linked to large-scale outbreaks of food-related illnesses. They do, however, all have one thing in common, and that’s the fact that they serve as reminders of how important it is to keep track of recall announcements.
Fruit and grain salad mixes were recalled in 2013
In March 2013, Publix took to Facebook to warn customers not to use recently-purchased Tri Fruit and Grain Salads. There were dozens of comments with some of the interestingly varied responses that only social media can provide, from people proudly declaring that they didn’t eat fruit so they didn’t have to worry, to others who lauded the chain for reaching out to customers via all means possible.
The recall impacted products sold in five states over the course of three months, and the problem was the potential presence of listeria. Although the product was labeled as Publix’s brand, they were sourced from Allison’s Gourmet Kitchen, a company that had been in the pre-packaged deli salads and desserts market for a decade at the time of the recall. Fortunately, there were no casualties or illnesses associated with the product at the time of the recall.
Ground chuck was recalled in 2018 after reported illnesses
In some cases, food recalls are issued before there are confirmed illnesses linked to the products in question. That, unfortunately, was not the case with a 2018 recall that came after 18 people fell ill over the course of 20 days in July. Testing confirmed that the culprit was E. coli-contaminated beef sold by Publix in a number of different forms, including burgers, sliders, meatballs, and meatloaf.
There’s a good chance that you’ve heard that a rare steak is safer to eat than a rare burger, and the 2018 recall is a good illustration of why you should opt for always using a meat thermometer — like this affordable, highly-rated Alpha Grillers Meat Thermometer available on Amazon — even if you’re cooking something you’ve cooked hundreds of times before. E. coli is killed when cooked to the proper temperature of 160 Fahrenheit, but precise temperatures can be tough to judge — and outbreaks do happen.
A total of 24 counties in Florida were impacted by the recall, which also led to the reminder that while some cases of E. Coli can be little more than a few days of gastrointestinal discomfort, some can turn life-threatening and lead to kidney failure. Your best bet is simply not to cut corners with food safety.
Publix was included in a massive Tyson recall in 2019
Chicken strips are brilliant for a quick and easy meal, and let’s be honest here: Even adults love them, especially when you add a sweet and tangy barbecue sauce. Growing up doesn’t mean you need to get boring, but in 2019, Tyson recalled nearly 12 million pounds of chicken strips because of the possibility that they would be served with more than a little bit of nostalgia. At the time the recall was announced, six people had complained of finding metal in the strips, and three claimed they had been injured.
Publix was one of a number of stores that was caught up in the recall, and it was a huge one. Those millions of pounds of chicken were spread out over 22 different types, and the recall grew over the course of months. Some had been produced the previous year, and the initial announcement came in March.
Unfortunately for Publix, it was on the heels of another chicken-related recall that had happened just the previous month. In February, the chain recalled all Pilgrim’s Pride-sourced popcorn chicken from its delis for the presence of an unspecified foreign material and, at the time, they stressed that all questionable chicken had been removed from stores and there were no similar concerns with other chicken products.
Basil was linked to an outbreak of cyclospora in 2019
There are a surprising number of different types of basil, and if you’ve ever been tempted to try to grow these deliciously fragrant herbs in your home kitchen, news from 2019 might be enough to make you decide to take the plunge. That’s when Publix announced that it was pulling organic basil after a cyclospora outbreak was traced to basil imported from Mexico. Details were pretty grim. Cyclospora is typically spread through fecal matter, and yes, that means what you think it means. The result is basically a sort of gastrointestinal, flu-like illness, and even if you’re diligent about washing your produce, that doesn’t cut it and won’t remove all traces of the parasite.
At the time of the recall, more than 100 people in 10 states had fallen ill, and it was so potentially dangerous that authorities were warning that not only should consumers avoid any and all basil from Mexico, but suggested if there was no way to confirm a country of origin, just skip it anyway. The illness that could develop from the parasite has the potential to last for weeks, and needless to say, it’s not a pleasant experience.
Publix was part of a deadly stone fruit recall in 2023
When it comes to food poisoning, you might think of meat and dairy as being the usual culprits. Fruit can present a major danger, too, and cantaloupe was at the center of one of the worst food recalls in U.S. history. A different fruit recall hit Publix (as well as several other major grocery chains) in November 2023, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the FDA issued warnings not to eat any peaches, plums, or nectarines that had come from HMC Farms. The warning covered fruits that had been sold as long as six months prior to the announcement, and it was stressed that it was only fruit from that particular source that had been linked to an outbreak of listeria. However, the potential that fruits had been re-labeled or used in other store-made products made this one particularly worrying.
By the time the outbreak was considered officially over, one person was dead and 10 had been hospitalized across seven states. One case included a person who went into premature labor after developing complications. Medical professionals warn that listeria is particularly dangerous to those who are pregnant, and can be potentially deadly to infants and unborn babies. In some cases, it can result in newborns developing a potentially deadly infection after birth, and it can also be particularly dangerous for those with compromised immune systems.
Bagged spinach was connected to a 2023 listeria incident
The month after food safety authorities were warning consumers about a deadly listeria outbreak connected to stone fruit, Publix was front and center in another listeria-related recall. This time, the culprit was bagged spinach.
The Publix-labeled spinach was sold in seven states, including Florida and the Carolinas. It wasn’t the only product impacted by the recall, though, and along with it was a series of Fresh Express spinach products being sold in many of the same states. Contamination with this bacteria can happen at any point along the food production chain, and in this case, it was randomized testing that caught the presence of pathogens and the recall was issued before there were illness cases linked to the contamination.
The time of the recall was a bad one for Fresh Express: In the previous few years, the company had also been linked to cyclospora and listeria outbreaks that impacted more than 1,200 people. Most famously, a 2018 incident spanning 15 states resulted in McDonald’s opting to distance itself from Fresh Express with a distributor change.
The chain’s own BBQ sauce was recalled in 2024
While many of Publix’s biggest recalls have been ones where the chain was included in large, sweeping recalls of products that are also sold by other retailers, one seven-state recall in 2024 was a little different. In January, Publix announced it was recalling the Carolina-style Mustard BBQ Sauce available at Publix delis. The problem wasn’t with a risk of food poisoning, but with the ingredients: It was found to contain anchovies, which wasn’t disclosed on the label.
The sauce was manufactured by Ventura Foods, and anchovy allergies are no joke. Similar to the more widely-known peanut or shellfish allergies, a reaction can range anywhere from hives and itching skin to swelling, difficulty breathing, and anaphylactic shock. It doesn’t take much to trigger a reaction, and some individuals are so sensitive to it that even being in the vicinity of cooking anchovies can cause a reaction. Fortunately, the mislabeling was discovered and recalled before any cases of allergic reactions were reported.
Planters peanuts were pulled from shelves over fears of listeria contamination
When you hear about a manufacturer recalling a particular product, it makes sense that multiple retailers are going to be involved. In May 2024, something a little different happened with Planters and Publix: Specifically, Planters issued a recall for cans of Deluxe Lightly Salted Mixed Nuts, as well as Honey Roasted Peanuts. However, the only retailers involved were Publix and Dollar Tree, who had both been the only ones to receive shipments including the nuts that had possibly been contaminated with listeria.
Publix immediately announced that they were offering a full refund for any containers that were returned to the store, and the official FDA recall was quick to stress that no other products or stores were impacted, and no illnesses had been reported. At the time, the risk was discovered to have been connected with a single production facility. Still, there were plenty of people who found themselves needing to check their pantry: Stores in six different states were included.
Salmonella was found in arugula during routine testing
It wasn’t really that long into 2024 that it became pretty clear that it wasn’t going to be a great year for food recalls. In June, Publix and Green Life Farms announced they were recalling packages of baby arugula. In a testament to the routine testing procedures put in place, it was reported that the potential contamination with salmonella was discovered before anyone reported getting sick. There is, however, a footnote to this.
Most of the best recipes using arugula mean using these leaves raw, which means that you can’t rely on heat to kill salmonella as you might in other cases. Interestingly, though, there’s something else that’s going on here, too. When salmonella is found on leafy greens, it’s found not just on the surface, but in every little nook and cranny and even attached to interior cells. That means there’s just no way you’re going to be able to rinse, wash, or disinfect salmonella-infected leafy greens to a point where you should think about consuming them, and that’s something to keep in mind for the next time you hear about a leafy green recall.
Publix was among the stores involved in a huge Boar’s Head recall
It seems that the 21st century has been a series of dismal, dystopian, or downright bizarre headlines, and there are no signs of anything letting up. In 2024, it was announced that the listeria outbreak linked to Boar’s Head deli meats was the worst that the nation had seen in more than a decade and yes, Publix was one of the retailers involved.
The recall was announced in July, and it was largely focused on Boar’s Head liverwurst that had been produced between June and July. The recall was nationwide, had been implemented after testing discovered the contamination, and the news was pretty dire. Publix representatives stated that the grocery store chain was also investigating what had happened, and it was noted that after the recall was announced, cases — which included two deaths — dropped off.
When details about the federal investigation were released in early 2025, it was tough reading. Reports from several Boar’s Head plants revealed a history of problems, from improperly cleaned equipment to the presence of mold and bugs. By the time the outbreak was over, 10 people were dead, and more than 60 had become seriously ill.
Millions of pounds of ready-to-eat meat products were recalled for listeria contamination
The headline-making Boar’s Head recall was still pretty fresh in memories when another massive recall was announced in October 2024. This time, it was BrucePac’s ready-to-eat poultry that had been linked to listeria contamination, and nearly 12 million pounds of meat were recalled. Publix was one of the retailers named in the recall, but it was far from the only one: The number of grocers, stores, retail locations, and other organizations — including schools — that had received the meat was long enough to fill a 343-page USDA report.
This recall was particularly troubling because the identifying codes on the packages were typically removed when meats were repackaged before being sold to customers down the production chain. Companies that counted BrucePack among suppliers included Fresh Express, El Monterey, Home Chef, Michelina’s, and store brands like Trader Joe’s, Kroger, and Giant Eagle.
The recall continued to be updated in the days following the initial announcement, eventually including hundreds of different items from frozen, family-style meals to salads. Still, there were no illnesses linked to the recalled products at the time it was announced. However, a wrongful death lawsuit was filed in November 2024, by an Indiana woman who claimed her 12-year-old daughter died after contracting a listeria infection and developing complications.
An E. coli outbreak was linked to carrots
Routine and randomized testing has come a long way, and there are plenty of food recalls that are issued quickly enough to avoid outbreaks, illnesses, and deaths. Unfortunately, an E. coli outbreak in 2024 happened before a recall on carrots produced by Grimmway Farms, and by the time news broke, there was one death and at least 40 illnesses reported in association with the carrots. Publix was just one of the grocery stores that had been carrying the bags of carrots and baby carrots, and that was, perhaps, the worst part: The bags linked with the contamination were already sold by the time the FDA’s testing and tracing methods pinpointed the source of the illness.
The bags of carrots had been sold under a variety of labels, in sizes ranging from one to 25-pound bags, and as the store brands of multiple retailers. The recall warned that although the products were no longer for sale, there was a chance that the carrots were still sitting in customers’ homes. Even if they had been processed and frozen, they still posed a risk: Freezing temperatures slows down spoiling, but isn’t enough to kill the kind of bacteria and organisms that can cause serious food poisoning. In fact, freezing has been found to do the opposite. Just like freezing food works to preserve it, freezing also preserves bacteria like E. coli. Thaw those carrots out, though, and it has just prolonged the inevitable.
Ground meat was repeatedly recalled for foreign matter over the years
Few things are more disgusting than biting into something that you instantly know just should not be there. It’s bad enough finding a hair in your sandwich, but Publix has found itself in the center of several much more potentially dangerous instances of foreign objects in food. In 2017, Publix’s house-labeled ground turkey was recalled immediately after meat plant workers noticed metal shavings in the ground meat. Nearly 40,000 pounds of meat were impacted, and similar concerns cropped up in 2024 and 2025.
In June 2024, it was Publix’s ground beef that was being recalled for possible contamination with what was just being called “foreign material.” Then, the year finished with a ground meat recall that was specific to one store — a Publix in Walton County, Florida. Close on the heels of that, 2025 kicked off with an announcement that a Tampa Publix was also recalling ground beef and pork due to the concerns over foreign material in the meat.
