Several recalls stemming from the cucumber Salmonella outbreak have not been made public until now. At least 838 people in 38 states have been sickened in the outbreak that began in July and was announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in early September. One hundred and sixty five people have been hospitalized, four have died.
Up until now, just two recalls have been made public. One on September 4, by Andrew & Williamson which recalled cucumbers sold under the “Limited Edition” brand label during the period from August 1, 2015 through September 3, 2015. Then, on September 11, another recall was issued by Custom Produce Sales for all cucumbers sold under the Fat Boy label starting August 1, 2015. Those unlabeled cucumbers, which were sold in Nevada, were sent to Custom Produce Sales from Andrew & Williamson.
Now, several other recalls have been made public. Here is the information.
Grocery Delivery E-Services USA, Inc. recalled Hello Fresh Spicy Tuna Tar-Tacos with Creamy Avocado and Cucumber Radish Slaw boxes made August 24 – August28-2015 because they were made with cucumbers that may have been contaminated with Salmonella. The products has the code ASYS# 5901807; PSYS # 684780 Lot 201508 and were distributed in the following states: CA, WA, UT, MT, OR, NV, ID, AZ, WY.
Triple B Corporation recalled sliced cucumbers sold to deli departments at retail stores. The product which was not sold directly to consumers had the UPC is 0 45009 10104 4 and was distributed in Alaska.
Front Row Produce recalled raw cucumbers packaged in bulk in 6-count corrugated boxes bearing the company’s logo and marked with lot numbers X0039299, X0039348, X0039457, and X0039496 These cucumbers were sold in Missouri.
Vaughn Foods of Moore Okla. recalled whole cucumbers distributed by: US Foods, Inc. of Rosemont, Ill. to the following states: TX, OK, MS, AR, KS, MO. The recalled cucumbers had the item numbers item # 07419 and 09256; and UPC code: 718129074191 and 718129092560.
Vaughn Foods also recalled Timeless Garden Salad Kit that was sold in TX, OK, MS, AR, KS, MO with the item # 07667 and the UPC code: 718129076676. And Taboli sold in plastic tubs with the item # 04759; UPC code: 718129047591 in the following states.
If you ate any of these products and developed symptoms of a Salmonella infection see a doctor and report your exposure.
Between October 14 and November 19, 71 new illnesses from 23 states were reported in connection with this outbreak. These are not newly reported illnesses that occurred previously, rather they are new illnesses.
Public health officials used DNA “fingerprinting” to identify three outbreak strains of Salmonella Poona associated with this outbreak. Those strains were also found in cucumbers collected from retail locations and in samples taken from the Andrew & Williamson, the U.S. distributer of the imported cucumbers.
The recalled cucumbers, dark green in color, between 7 and 10 inches long were sold unlabeled in bulk displays at grocery stores. A list of retailers that sold the recalled cucumbers has not been provided by health officials. But Walmart, Winco, Food 4 Less, Ralphs, and Savemart stores all carried them. Some restaurants also served them, including Red Lobster locations in Minnesota. Some of them became ill after eating restaurant salads containing the cucumbers.
By state the case count is as follows: Alabama (1), Alaska (17), Arizona (129), Arkansas (13), California (232), Colorado (19), Connecticut (1), Florida (1), Hawaii (1), Idaho (24), Illinois (9), Indiana (5), Iowa (7), Kansas (2), Kentucky (1), Louisiana (5), Maryland (1), Minnesota (40), Missouri (14), Montana (16), Nebraska (8), Nevada (16), New Hampshire (1), New Mexico (32), New York (6), North Dakota (8), Ohio (3), Oklahoma (13), Oregon (22), Pennsylvania (2), South Carolina (10), South Dakota (3), Texas (42), Utah (58), Virginia (1), Washington (25), Wisconsin (43), and Wyoming (7).
Fifty percent of the case patients, who range in age from less than 1 year to 99 years old, are children younger than 18. The fatalities were reported from Arizona (1), California (1), Oklahoma (1), and Texas (1). The investigation is ongoing.
