The Salmonella outbreak at the Indian Taco Dinner in Highland, Kansas has been updated; 14 people are now ill. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Doniphan County Health Department are investigating this outbreak. The dinner took place at the Highland United Methodist Presbyterian Church in Highland, Kansas on August 7, 2018.
Officials put out a survey on August 10, 2018 to collect exposure information from anyone who attended the dinner. As of August 31, 2018, 115 people had completed the survey. Sixty-nine people said they were ill, and 14 tested positive for Salmonella Newport.
Testing of the food served at that dinner was completed. All of the foods tested negative except for a sample of tomatoes that were positive for the same strain of Salmonella Newport. The tomatoes were provided by many different people. Officials are conducting an environmental assessment of the tomato sources to try to determine how the contamination occurred. KDHE is also assessing whether anyone else who did not attend the Indian Taco Dinner may have been sickened from these tomatoes.
You can contact lawyer Fred Pritzker for help at 1-888-377-8900.
Food safety attorney Fred Pritzker, who has represented many clients sickened in Salmonella outbreaks linked to produce, said, “Unfortunately, fresh produce has been the source of many Salmonella outbreaks around the country in the past few years. We don’t know if the tomatoes were contaminated in the field, during processing, or during handling at the event.”
Tomatoes were the source of the Chipotle Salmonella outbreak in Minnesota in 2015. At least 69 people in that state who ate at different Chipotle restaurants were sickened in that outbreak. Tomatoes, along with onions and turkey, were suspected as the source of contamination in a Salmonella outbreak in Boise, Idaho in 2015 that sickened at least 60 people. There have also been several recalls of tomatoes for possible Salmonella contamination in the past few years.
The symptoms of Salmonella food poisoning include nausea, vomiting, fever, and diarrhea that may be bloody. Symptoms usually begin 6 to 72 hours after a person eats food that is contaminated with the pathogenic bacteria. If you have questions about this investigation, you can call th Doniphan County Health Department at 785- 985-3591 or the KDHE Epidemiology Hotline at 877-427-7317.
