FDA links frozen GreenWise berries sold at Publix to E. coli investigation and nationwide recall

Publix recalled all lots of specified GreenWise organic frozen blueberries and whole mixed berries on July 29 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration identified the products as the leading food item of interest in a multistate investigation of E. coli O145 illnesses.

The recall creates a consumer-safety issue across the Publix market and beyond. The FDA lists distribution in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. That is eight named states, while the agency describes the product distribution as nationwide.

The recall concerns a potential E. coli O145 contamination risk. It applies to all lots of the specified GreenWise organic frozen blueberries and whole mixed berries, rather than to an unlimited category of frozen fruit.

How the investigation developed

Florida health officials notified partners at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on July 1, 2026, after identifying a cluster of illnesses. Investigators then used interviews with people who became sick to examine possible common food exposures.

Those interviews made frozen berries the leading food item of interest. The FDA’s investigation page lists June 5, 2026, as the last illness onset included in the investigation. That date came before the July 1 notification and the July 29 recall, showing the sequence from reported illness to public health review and retailer action.

The investigation crosses state lines because the products were distributed through a retail network serving multiple states and because the FDA characterizes the distribution as nationwide. The named states are concentrated in the Southeast, but the agency’s broader distribution designation means the investigation is not described as limited to one local market.

What the recall does and does not establish

The FDA has identified the products as the leading food item of interest, and Publix has taken the specified products out of the retail supply through an all-lots recall. Those are significant public-safety actions, but they are not the same as a final determination that the products caused every reported illness.

The approved FDA information does not establish that every product sold nationwide was contaminated. It also does not provide a confirmed final illness count or a hospitalization total. Those figures are not included here because the source packet does not confirm them.

That distinction matters for consumers, retailers and food-service operators. A product can be the focus of an active outbreak investigation while health officials continue assessing illness reports and possible contamination. The available information identifies the specified GreenWise organic frozen blueberries and whole mixed berries sold by Publix; it does not establish that all frozen blueberries, all mixed berries or every product sold nationwide was affected.

What happens next

The investigation remains active. FDA and public-health partners are continuing to assess the reported illnesses and the potential connection to the frozen berry products, while the recall addresses all lots of the specified items.

The source packet does not provide product lot codes, package sizes, consumer disposal instructions or a recall end date. It also does not set a specific next deadline. Further updates would be needed to establish a confirmed illness total, determine the full scope of any contamination and make a final causal finding about the reported illnesses.

For now, the July 29 action is the clearest verified change: Publix recalled all lots of the specified GreenWise frozen berry products after the FDA made them the leading food item of interest in the E. coli O145 investigation. The nationwide distribution designation gives the action broad potential reach, even as investigators continue working to determine what happened and how extensive the risk may be.