The FDA has put its most serious warning on frozen blueberries and mixed berries sold at Publix, and the trouble is probably sitting in freezers across the Southeast right now. On August 18, 2026, the agency upgraded the recall of GreenWise organic frozen berries to Class I, the label it uses when there is a reasonable probability that eating a product will cause serious harm or death.
These bags stopped shipping to stores back in late June, so you cannot buy them anymore. That is not really the point. Frozen fruit hangs around a freezer for months, and the FDA figures a lot of these bags are still stacked behind the ice cream and the frozen pizza.
The recall is tied to an E. coli outbreak that put four people in the hospital. Twelve confirmed infections have been reported so far across Florida and Georgia, and health officials say the real number is almost certainly higher because most people who get sick never get tested.
What’s actually being recalled
Four products carry the GreenWise organic label, and all four are on the list. Publix pulled every lot, not just one batch, so there is no safe lot number to look for. If the bag says GreenWise organic and it holds frozen blueberries or mixed berries, it counts.
- Organic Whole Blueberries, 10 ounce, UPC 41415-06453
- Organic Whole Blueberries, 48 ounce, UPC 41415-12053
- Organic Whole Mixed Berries, 10 ounce, UPC 41415-06753
- Organic Whole Mixed Berries, 48 ounce, UPC 41415-12153
Both the small snack bags and the big 48 ounce family bags are included. The mixed berries matter here too, not just the plain blueberries. The blueberries inside those mixed bags came from the same source, so a bag of mixed fruit is not a workaround.
Eight states got these bags
The berries went to Publix stores in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. They were sold only at Publix, so you will not run into them at other grocery chains. If you shop somewhere else, your freezer is in the clear on this one.
That eight-state map may not be the full picture. The FDA has said the product could have traveled further than the states where it was confirmed. People travel, they carry groceries to relatives, and a bag bought in Florida can end up in a freezer three states away.
Why the FDA jumped to its top warning
A Class I recall is the highest of the three levels the agency uses. It only gets that label when officials believe the product can cause serious consequences. That is a big step up from a routine recall over a mislabeled bag or a missing allergen note, which is what most recalls actually are.
These berries earned the top classification because they are linked to actual illnesses, not just a failed lab test. The strain involved is E. coli O145:H28, and it sent four of the twelve confirmed patients to the hospital. That works out to a hospitalization rate around 33 percent, which is high for a foodborne outbreak and part of why the FDA treated it the way it did.
People were getting sick for weeks before the recall
The first reported illness started on May 11, 2026, and the last confirmed onset was June 5. People were coming down sick for nearly a month before anyone put out a public warning. By the time shoppers heard the word blueberry, the damage was already spread across two states.
On July 1, the Florida Department of Health flagged a cluster of E. coli cases to the CDC. Interviews with the sick patients kept pointing at the same thing: frozen GreenWise organic blueberries from Publix. The first recall came two days after that phone call.
The clue that pointed straight at the blueberries
Nine of the twelve sick people were interviewed about what they ate before getting sick. Seven of them, or 78 percent, said they had eaten frozen blueberries in the week beforehand. That number is what cracked the case.
For comparison, only about 24 percent of people in a national food survey normally report eating frozen berries in a given week. So that 78 percent jumped off the page for investigators. The patients ranged in age from 2 to 88, which shows this hit little kids and older adults alike, not one narrow group.
Frozen does not mean germ free
A lot of people assume anything frozen is basically clean, that the cold zaps whatever might be lurking. It does not. Freezing puts bacteria on pause. It does not wipe them out. E. coli can ride out months in a freezer and wake right back up once the berries thaw on your counter.
That is why the guidance says not to eat the recalled berries even if you plan to cook them. The germs can spread to your hands, your sink, and your cutting board while you rinse or measure them, long before any heat gets involved. A smoothie made from a frozen bag skips the cooking step entirely, which is exactly how these things travel.
How one lot became every lot
The recall started small. On July 3, the Chilean supplier, Frutas y Hortalizas del Sur S.A. of San Carlos, Chile, recalled a single lot of 10 ounce blueberries. That was Lot Code 60401, printed on the package as 6 040 01, with a Best By date of February 9, 2028.
One lot was not enough. On July 29, Publix expanded the recall to all lots after investigators traced the contamination back through the supply chain and gathered more case data. The company framed it as an abundance of caution, which is the polite way of saying they no longer trusted any of it.
The Chilean supplier is now blocked at the border
An import alert is now in effect against Frutas y Hortalizas del Sur S.A. In plain terms, that lets the FDA stop the company’s shipments from entering the country without inspecting each one first. It is one of the stronger moves the agency can make against a foreign supplier.
The investigation into exactly where the contamination happened is still open. The FDA has said more products could be added as it keeps digging, so this may not be the final word on which bags are involved.
What to do if these are in your freezer
Check your bags first. If you find any GreenWise organic frozen blueberries or mixed berries, the guidance is to throw them out or take them back to Publix for a full refund, no matter when you bought them. The store will take them back without a receipt tied to a specific date.
Do not just chuck them loose in the kitchen trash. The suggestion is to double bag them first, so nobody digs them back out, and toss them in a secure can. Then clean up after yourself. The CDC recommends washing any container or surface the berries touched with hot soapy water or running it through a dishwasher.
One last case a lot of people fall into: you already dumped the berries into your own freezer bag or a plastic tub and cannot tell whether they came from a recalled package. If you cannot verify it, the move is to throw them away. It is a bag of berries. It is not worth the gamble.
