Bags of frozen organic berries sold at Walmart under the Great Value name and at Trader Joe’s may carry E. coli O145, a germ that can cause serious stomach illness, and the bags may still be sitting in home freezers. The supplier, a fruit company in Chile, added more bags to its recall, its third recall notice since July, in a notice the Food and Drug Administration posted on Friday, October 2.
The reason is a paper trail. The company said it acted as a precaution after shipping records tied these bags to the frozen blueberries in its first recall on July 3. Three products are on the new list: Great Value Organic Triple Berry Blend in the 10-ounce bag, with lot codes 6 031 01 and 6 041 01 and best-by dates of January 31, 2028 and February 10, 2028; Great Value Organic Blueberries in the 10-ounce bag, with lot codes 6 019 01, 6 040 01 and 6 163 01 and best-by dates of January 19, February 9 and June 12, 2028; and Trader Joe’s Organic Mixed Berry Blend in the 12-ounce bag, with lot code 6 051 01 and a best-before date of February 20, 2028.
Story Highlights
- The Great Value bags went to Walmart stores in 30 states and Puerto Rico. The Trader Joe’s blend went to stores in 26 states and Washington, D.C.
- The lot code, a short number that shows which batch a bag came from, is printed on the front of the Great Value bags and on the back of the Trader Joe’s bag.
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counted 17 people sick in Florida and Georgia in the outbreak tied to the supplier’s frozen blueberries. Six went to the hospital. No one died.
- Anyone with a matching bag can throw it away or take it back to the store for a full refund.
What The FDA Notice Says
The company behind the recall is Frutas y Hortalizas del Sur S.A., a fruit supplier based in San Carlos, Chile. Its notice says the newly added bags are being pulled as a precaution after “traceback information” linked them to the frozen blueberries in the first recall. Traceback means following shipping and packing records from a sick person’s food back to where it came from. The company widened the recall once before, on September 3, to take in more frozen blueberries and berry blends.
FDA expanded a frozen berry recall to include three Walmart products and one Trader Joe’s blend. https://t.co/FS0VfIYjWp
— Men's Fitness (@MensFitnessX) October 2, 2026
The notice lists a product code, the number under the bar code, for each item: 7874211226 for the Great Value Triple Berry Blend, 7874211213 for the Great Value Blueberries and 00977654 for the Trader Joe’s blend. A bag is part of the recall only when the name, the size and the lot code all match. The notice itself does not report any illnesses from the bags added on October 2.
Where The Bags Were Sold
The Great Value bags were shipped to select Walmart stores in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin, plus Puerto Rico.
The Trader Joe’s blend went to select stores in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin, plus Washington, D.C.
How Many People Got Sick
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the federal agency that tracks outbreaks, confirmed 17 people infected in Florida and Georgia. Six of them were hospitalized and no one died. They fell ill between May 11 and August 2. The agency traced the illnesses to frozen organic blueberries from the Chilean supplier and closed its investigation on September 21, eleven days before this latest expansion.
A closed investigation does not empty anyone’s freezer. Frozen fruit keeps for a long time, and the best-by dates on these bags run into 2028. A bag bought months ago can still be in the back of the freezer long after stores have cleared their shelves, which is why the recall asks people to check at home.
What Consumers Should Do
Look at any bag of frozen organic berries from Walmart or Trader Joe’s and compare the name, the size and the lot code with the list above. If it matches, do not eat the berries. Throw the bag away or return it to Walmart or Trader Joe’s for a full refund. It is also wise to wash any bowl, scoop or blender that touched them. The company is taking questions at 336-899-5612, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern.
E. coli O145 is one of a group of E. coli germs that make a poison called Shiga toxin. The FDA notice says it can cause severe stomach cramps, diarrhea that may be bloody, and vomiting. Some infections lead to hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious problem that can harm the kidneys, mostly in young children, older adults and people with weak immune systems. Those symptoms can have other causes too, some of them serious, so anyone who has them, whether or not they ate these berries, should call a doctor.
Why This Recall Keeps Growing
One supplier’s fruit can end up under many store names. The same blueberries can go into a plain bag of blueberries for one chain and a mixed blend for another. As the company and regulators follow the records, each new path they find leads to more bags. That is how a recall that began on July 3 grew on September 3 and again on October 2. Walmart and Trader Joe’s did not immediately answer a request for comment, according to reports.