Thursday's Marketside vegetable recall has new details—including that the vendor's network supplies 33% of the nation's total of this item.
The Latest Walmart Produce Recall Was Just Upgraded To the Nation’s Highest Risk Level
Published on Apr. 14, 2025
Attention, shoppers: There’s new insight, and a critical update, on the Walmart recall we covered when it broke late last week.
Last Thursday was when we first learned from U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that celery, sold under the Walmart-owned brand name Marketside, had been flagged for being potentially contaminated with a bacteria known as Listeria monocytogenes. The FDA had called the event a “precautionary advisory” because the March 23, 2025 Best If Used By date for the celery had passed.
However, the Friday, April 11 update notes that the recall event, which appears to have been first initiated on April 4, is “ongoing.”
And as of today, the FDA has categorized the recall as Class I. Class I recalls are identified as the most severe recall type, issued for situations in which FDA experts have determined that the product “will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.”
Though the original FDA alert listed 28 states and the District of Columbia as locations where the produce was distributed, the update from Friday says the distribution was nationwide, in addition to listing out the following states: Pennsylvania, Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana, Texas, North Carolina, Kentucky, Florida, Virginia, Ohio, Illinois, Wyoming, and California.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, symptoms of Listeriosis can appear anywhere from a few days to two weeks after eating food contaminated with L. monocytogenes.
However, it’s also important to note that someone who is pregnant “might have mild or no symptoms but can still pass the infection to the fetus.” Additionally, the FDA cautioned that the bacteria can cause “serious and sometimes fatal infections” in young children, elderly adults, or people who are immunocompromised.
The full product details provided by the FDA include:
- Marketside brand celery stick
- Net weight: 1.6 OZ. (45g)
- UPC: 6 81131 16151 0
- Rear panel: 1 serving per container
- Best By: 03/23/2025
- Distributed by: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Bentonville, AR 72716
It is still unclear how many packages of celery are affected by the recall—the FDA states 1,587 cases were affected but does not appear to specify how many bags were included in each case.
The recalling firm, Duda Farm Fresh Foods, Inc. of Oxnard, California, says on its website that nearly 33% of all celery eaten in the U.S. is grown by their network of growers.
Like Walmart’s Great Value, Marketside products are licensed as Walmart’s house brands.
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