FDA Publishes Its 2025 Annual Outbreak Report: 69 Incidents Assessed and 11 Public Health Advisories

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published on October 6 the 2025 annual report of its Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation and Emergency Preparedness office (CORE+EP), with data on investigations of foodborne outbreaks and certain adverse events in foods regulated by the agency. According to the report, in 2025 the teams assessed 69 incidents, responded to 26 and issued 11 public health advisories.

Among the responses with an identified product, the pathogen that appears most often is Salmonella, followed by Listeria monocytogenes and one case of infant botulism. The foods linked to illness include cucumbers, cilantro, parsley, baby leaf mix, sprouts, frozen bean sprouts, mangoes, eggs with two separate outbreaks, powdered infant formula, moringa leaf powder and several multi-ingredient foods, such as prepared pasta meals, mini cakes and frozen smoothies.

The document highlights three investigations: a Salmonella outbreak linked to cucumbers, which was much smaller than the previous year's (69 cases versus 551), a Listeria monocytogenes outbreak and a case of infant botulism associated with powdered infant formula. The office also reported that in 2025 it launched two reports in the FOOD series, which bring together epidemiological, laboratory and traceback data on food-pathogen pairs that recur in outbreaks.

For TAAG, the report confirms that the bacterial pathogens that most often lead to an official response in the United States are Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes, and that they appear in both fresh produce and foods made with many ingredients. For a plant, that reinforces the value of verifying both microorganisms in raw materials, on surfaces and in the finished product with rapid molecular methods, which deliver results in hours and help hold a lot before it reaches a point of sale.