Minnesota Warns Against Alfalfa Sprouts After 41 Fall Ill in 2-State E. coli, Salmonella Outbreak
Updated
Updated · NBC News · Aug 21
Minnesota Warns Against Alfalfa Sprouts After 41 Fall Ill in 2-State E. coli, Salmonella Outbreak
3 articles · Updated · NBC News · Aug 21
Summary
23 Minnesota cases and 18 Wisconsin cases have been tied to alfalfa sprouts, prompting Minnesota officials to tell consumers not to eat certain products; two Minnesota patients were hospitalized.
Everything Sprouts, a Minnesota grower, produced the sprouts sold under the Calco and Everything Sprouts brands to restaurants and grocery stores, and investigators are working with Wisconsin and federal officials to trace the contamination.
Three Minnesota patients had salmonella, one of them also carried STEC O168:H8, while 20 others were infected with STEC strains O103:H25 or O26:H11.
41 illnesses involving both salmonella and multiple STEC strains make the outbreak unusual, though food-safety experts say alfalfa sprouts are a known risk because contaminated seeds are hard to clean and bacteria can spread in warm growing water.