FDA on Friday announced that Fresh Ideation Food Group recalled over 400 food items sold on the east coast in Amtrak trains, vending machines, and shops, citing potential listeria contamination, in today's bite-sized hospital and health industry news from Georgia, Maryland, and Texas.

• Georgia: CDC and FDA last week issued alerts advising people to stop using several brands of artificial tear drops, including EzriCare Artificial Tears, following reports of an outbreak of a drug-resistant strain of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria. As of last week, the outbreak had been detected in 55 individuals across 12 states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin. Infected individuals have experienced a range of symptoms that have resulted in hospitalization, permanent vision loss from cornea infection, and one death from systemic infection. While those affected by the outbreak reported using more than 10 brands of artificial tears, EzriCare Artificial Tears was the most common brand, CDC said. According to FDA, the recall also included Delsam Pharma's Artificial Tears, which are manufactured by Global Pharma – the company that manufactures the EzriCare eye drops. Global Pharma said it recalled the eye drops "out of an abundance of caution." (Hein, MedPage Today, 2/2; Holpuch, New York Times, 2/2; Stobbe, AP/STAT, 2/2)

• Maryland: FDA on Friday announced that Fresh Ideation Food Group recalled over 400 food items sold on the east coast in Amtrak trains, vending machines, and shops, citing potential listeria contamination. In particular, the company recalled ready-to-eat sandwiches, salads, muffins, yogurt, fresh produce, and other items "because the products have the potential to be contaminated" with listeria bacteria. As of Friday, there were no reports of illnesses associated with the recalled products. According to the company, "[t]he recall was initiated after the company's environmental samples tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes." FDA noted that the recalled foods were distributed in Connecticut, the District of Columbia,Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia. "All recalled products have a Fresh Creative Cuisine label and/or identifier on the bottom of the label with the Fresh Creative Cuisine name and a fresh through or sell through date ranging from January 31, 2023 through February 6, 2023," the company said. (Salahieh, CNN, 2/7; Schmall, New York Times, 2/6)

• Texas: On Tuesday, the state of Texas filed a federal lawsuit in a division of Texas' Western District Court — a move that challenges a policy issued by the Biden administration that states that federal law does not permit pharmacies to deny services to people who have a prescription for any medication capable of ending a pregnancy. In the lawsuit, Texas argues that the policy violates constitutional and federal law by using federal health programs to force pharmacies to distribute abortion drugs in states with an abortion ban. "By requiring pharmacies that receive Medicare and Medicaid funds — including retail pharmacies operated by Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center — to dispense abortifacients when the life of the mother is not in danger, the Pharmacy Mandate flouts Dobbs's holding that States may regulate abortion and directly infringes on Texas's sovereign and quasisovereign authority," the lawsuit states. (Sneed, CNN, 2/8)