Breakfast Sandwiches Recalled in Pacific Northwest Over Listeria Risk From Supplier's Biscuits

Fresh & Ready Foods LLC is recalling about 2,414 of its Fresh To You brand Sausage, Egg & Cheese Biscuit Sandwiches from workplace break rooms, refrigerated vending machines and cafeterias in Washington and Oregon because the biscuit used in the product may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, according to a recall notice posted by the Food and Drug Administration on Nov. 8. The company said it learned of the risk after its biscuit supplier, Texas-based C.H. Guenther & Son, recalled the ingredient over possible Listeria contamination.

The recalled sandwiches, 4.6 ounces each and wrapped in clear plastic film, carry SKU 3100048 and UPC 8 405493 0168 4, with "Fresh Thru" dates printed on the front label running from Nov. 7 to Nov. 19. They were made at a Fresh & Ready Foods plant in Renton, Washington, and distributed to institutional buyers — not retail grocery shelves — between Oct. 25 and Nov. 4. The company says no other Fresh To You products or production dates are affected, and no illnesses had been reported as of the notice.

A pathogen that can take weeks to show symptoms

Listeria monocytogenes is a bacterium that can grow in refrigerated, ready-to-eat foods and does not always change a product's taste, smell or appearance. In healthy people it can cause fever, muscle aches, nausea and diarrhea, but the FDA warns it poses a far more serious threat to pregnant women, newborns, adults over 65 and anyone with a weakened immune system, in whom it can cause bloodstream infections, meningitis, miscarriage or stillbirth. Symptoms can take anywhere from a few days to as long as 70 days to appear after exposure, which means anyone who ate one of the sandwiches between late October and early November may not know for weeks whether they were affected.

Anyone who ate the recalled sandwich and develops symptoms is advised to seek medical care and tell their provider about the possible exposure, since listeriosis requires laboratory testing to diagnose and can otherwise be mistaken for a less serious illness. Fresh & Ready Foods is offering refunds and can be reached at 1-855-424-8390 or [email protected].

A company already under FDA scrutiny

This is not Fresh & Ready Foods' first brush with Listeria. The FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention spent much of 2024 and 2025 investigating a multistate outbreak that was ultimately traced to ready-to-eat foods made at the company's San Fernando, California, facility. Ten people in California and Nevada were sickened, all ten were hospitalized, and one person in Nevada died. The company recalled dozens of sandwich, snack and pasta items under several brand names, including Fresh & Ready Foods and City Point Market Fresh Food to Go, in May 2025.

That outbreak led the FDA to send a warning letter to Compass Group USA, the foodservice giant that owns Fresh & Ready Foods, after inspectors found the outbreak strain on food-contact surfaces, including a conveyor belt and a slicer plate, at the San Fernando plant. The agency concluded the company was "neither achieving satisfactory control against the presence of L. monocytogenes" in that facility. The FDA closed out that matter in an April 2026 follow-up letter that found no further objection to the company's corrective actions, pending a future inspection.

The outbreak strain of Listeria monocytogenes was identified on multiple food-contact surfaces within the facility, and the firm is neither achieving satisfactory control against the presence of L. monocytogenes within the facility.

Workplace cafeterias and vending machines, a harder recall to track

The current recall underscores a persistent gap in how food-safety alerts reach people who buy prepared food through workplace vending machines, break-room coolers and cafeteria lines rather than at a grocery store. Retail shoppers can often check a store's recall list or a loyalty-card alert; someone who grabbed a biscuit sandwich from an office vending machine has no equivalent notice unless their employer or vending operator posts one. Food Safety News reported that C.H. Guenther's own recall of the biscuits has not been posted publicly, meaning other food companies that used the same ingredient may not be identifiable from the public record.

For now, the known universe of affected consumers is limited to people who had access to break rooms, vending machines or cafeterias supplied by Fresh & Ready Foods in Washington and Oregon during the roughly 10-day distribution window. The company has not identified the specific employers or vending locations involved, leaving individual workplaces to determine whether they received the product.

What happens next

No illnesses have been tied to this recall so far, and because of Listeria's long incubation period, health officials say that status could change over the coming weeks. The FDA continues to post updates to recalled-product listings as companies supply more information, and consumers who still have one of the sandwiches, identifiable by the date codes and UPC on the label, are told to throw it away rather than eat it. The broader question raised by food-safety advocates — whether FDA should require more public disclosure when an ingredient supplier's recall ripples through multiple downstream food companies — remains unresolved, and no regulatory action on that point has been announced.