Walmart Recalls Tomato Bisque Soup Kit in 29 States Over Listeria Risk

If you grabbed a tomato bisque soup kit at Walmart earlier this summer, take two minutes to check your fridge. A batch has been pulled over a possible Listeria problem, and the use-by date on the affected kits lands right around now — so this one isn’t a stale, months-old alert you can shrug off.

What was recalled

Kettle Cuisine LLC, based in Savage, Maryland, is recalling 3,240 packages of its Marketside Tomato Bisque Soup Kit. The 14-ounce kits were sold exclusively at select Walmart stores. The recall was first announced through the FDA on August 12, after the company’s own testing turned up a presumptive positive for Listeria monocytogenes.

Here’s how to identify it in your kitchen:

• Product: Marketside Tomato Bisque Soup Kit, 14 oz
• UPC: 194346474004
• Best-by / use-by date: August 22, 2026
• Sold: between June 30 and July 7, 2026
• Where: Walmart stores across 29 states

The kit is the kind that comes with the soup plus separate croutons and cheese. The recall covers the whole pack, not just the soup itself.

The 29 states affected

The kits went out to Walmart locations in: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Vermont, Wisconsin and West Virginia.

If you don’t live in one of those states, you’re almost certainly in the clear. If you do, and you shopped that first week of July, it’s worth a look.

Why Listeria is worth taking seriously

So far no illnesses have been linked to these kits, and the company says it’s still investigating alongside federal regulators. That’s the good news. But Listeria isn’t a bug you want to gamble on, because it behaves differently from most food-poisoning germs.

It can grow at refrigerator temperatures, and symptoms can show up anywhere from a few days to a few weeks after eating contaminated food. In healthy adults it often looks like fever, muscle aches, nausea or diarrhea. The real danger is for pregnant women, newborns, adults over 65, and anyone with a weakened immune system — in those groups it can turn into a serious, sometimes life-threatening infection. Pregnant women may only feel mildly ill themselves while the infection still threatens the pregnancy.

If you ate one of these kits and develop a high fever, stiff neck, confusion, or bad flu-like symptoms in the coming weeks, call your doctor and mention the recall.

What to do right now

Don’t taste it "just to check." You can’t see, smell, or taste Listeria, and heating a soup kit that’s meant to be assembled cold isn’t a reliable fix.

1. Pull any Marketside Tomato Bisque Soup Kit from your fridge and check the UPC and August 22, 2026 date.
2. If it matches, do not eat the soup, croutons, or cheese.
3. Throw out the entire package, or return it to any Walmart for a full refund.
4. Give the fridge shelf it sat on a quick wipe with hot soapy water, since Listeria can spread to other surfaces.

Recalls like this one are honestly a good reason to make soup from scratch when you have the time — you know exactly what went in. A homemade tomato soup is one of the easiest pots you can put together on a weeknight, and it reheats beautifully.

Sources

• Newsweek — Walmart Soup Recall Amid Listeria Infection Concern: Map Shows 29 States
• Fox Business — Walmart recalls Marketside tomato bisque soup over possible Listeria risk
• Food Network — Walmart Soup Recalled Due to Risk of Listeria