A Salmonella outbreak linked to tahini sesame paste distributed by Krinos Foods, LLC of Long Island City, New York has ended after sickening a total of 16 people and killing one them, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Since the agency’s last update on May 23, the outbreak grew from eight illnesses in six states with no hospitalizations or fatalities to 16 illnesses in nine states with one hospitalization and one fatality.
The person who was hospitalized died. The outbreak strains of Salmonella Montevideo or Salmonella Mbandaka were rare, according to health officials. By state, the case count was as follows: California (1), Georgia (1), Iowa (1), Louisiana (1), Minnesota (2), New York (1), North Dakota (1), Texas (7), and Wisconsin (1).
On April 28, 2013, Krinos issued a recall of its tahini sesame paste for potential contamination with Salmonella, then expanded the recall to include additional expiration dates on May 9, 2013. The recalled products have expiration dates from January 1, 2014 to June 8, 2014 and from October 16, 2014 to March 15, 2015.
This product has a long shelf-life, and it may still be in people’s homes. Health officials are concerned that consumers, unaware of the recall, could continue to eat the product and potentially get sick.
The Turkish importer of the sesame paste was placed on import alert by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on May 29, 2013. This means the FDA can detain sesame paste from this importer unless the company can show that it is not contaminated with Salmonella.
