The U.S. government has filed a lawsuit against Wholesome Soy Products of Chicago, attempting to stop the company from distributing food products after an outbreak of Listeria was linked to the company’s mung bean and soybean sprouts. Last fall, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that it was collaborating with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and two states to investigate a multi-state outbreak of infections linked to Listeria monocytogenes. Ultimately, there were five reported cases in Illinois and Michigan. All five people were hospitalized, and two deaths were reported. Wholesome Soy Products recalled mung bean sprouts last Aug. 28 after FDA isolated Listeria bacteria from samples during a routine inspection. Subsequent FDA inspections in August and October 2014 found unsanitary conditions at the company’s facility. Whole genome sequences of the Listeria strains isolated from Wholesome Soy’s mung bean sprouts and environmental isolates collected at the firm’s production facility were found to be highly related to sequences of Listeria strains isolated from the five people who became ill between June and August 2014, CDC noted. “Although limited information is available about the specific sprout products that ill people consumed, the whole genome sequencing findings, together with the sprout consumption history of two patients and inspection findings at the firm, suggest that these illnesses could be related to products from Wholesome Soy Products, Inc.,” CDC’s report stated. On Nov. 7, 2014, Wholesome Soy Products agreed to close their facility and cease production and distribution of sprouts. The government’s lawsuit filed on Friday, April 3, stated that although the facility is not currently producing and distributing food, there’s nothing prohibiting them from resuming production “without adequate corrective actions.” While the company has taken some corrective actions, “they have failed to institute practices and procedures necessary to ensure that the facility can receive, process, manufacture, prepare, pack, hold, and distribute food under sanitary conditions and that L. mono is eradicated from the facility,” the suit read. The government believes that unless restrained by the court, Wholesome Soy will violate the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act again.