For the third time this year, bean sprouts have been linked to a multistate food poisoning outbreak. In May, it was E.coli on clover sprouts. In October, it was Listeria on mung bean sprouts. Now it’s Salmonella on nonspecified bean sprouts.
The outbreak has sickened at least 63 people in the following 10 states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The Montana case likely contracted the infection on a visit to the East Coast.
Onset of illness dates range from September 30, 2014 to November 8, 2014. Health officials were able to interview 42 of those sickened, most of them remembered eating bean sprouts at “Asian-style food service establishents” before they became ill, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Eleven of the case patients were so sick they needed to be hospitalized.
The producer of the sprouts is Wonton Foods Inc. of New York. The company has not issued a recall. Health officials urge consumers no to eat these sprouts. Salmonella infections have symptoms including fever, abdominal pain and diarrhea, usually develop six to 72 hours after exposure and last about a week. For some people, the diarrhea is so severe that hospitalization is required. These patients are at greater risk of developing a serious, sometimes fatal, bloodstream infection.
