The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated the clover sprouts E. coli O103 outbreak that is associated with Jimmy John’s restaurants and Chicago Indoor Garden raw clover sprouts. Since the last update on February 26, 2020, 25 more patients who live in two states have been identified. Twenty-four of the new patients live in Utah, and Florida has been added to the state count.
The patient case count by state is: Florida (1), Illinois (6), Iowa (3), Missouri (1), Texas (1), and Utah (27). Illness onset dates range from January 6, 2020 to March 2, 2020. Two people have been hospitalized because they are so ill. The patient age range is from 1 to 79 years. This outbreak may continue to grow, since it can take up to a month from when a person gets sick to when their illness is reported to public health officials.
Epidemiologic, traceback, and laboratory evidence indicates that raw clover sprouts are the source of this outbreak. In interviews, 59% said they ate sprouts before they got sick. which is much higher than 9% of healthy people who were asked this question. And 58% of those interviewed said they ate sprouts at a Jimmy John’s restaurant before their illness began.
All Jimmy John’s restaurants stopped serving clover sprouts on February 24, 2020. They should no longer be available. Chicago Indoor Garden raw clover sprouts were recalled on March 16, 2020 after the FDA found the outbreak strain of E. coli O103 in some of those products.
FDA’s traceback investigation found that a common seed lot was used to grow the sprouts served at Jimmy John’s restaurant locations where ill persons ate and the recalled Chicago Indoor Garden sprouts. This same seed lot was also used to grow sports linked to an outbreak of the same strain of E. coli O103 infections in 2019.
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with food poisoning, you can contact lawyer Fred Pritzker for help by calling 1-888-377-8900 or 612-338-0202.
Food safety attorney Fred Pritzker, who has won many lawsuits on behalf of patients sickened with E. coli infections, said, “The sprout industry and restaurants have to get a handle on this contamination. No one should get sick because they decided to eat sprouts.”
If you purchased any of the Chicago Indoor Garden raw clover sprout products named in the recall, throw them away or return them to the place of purchase. Some people should not eat raw sprouts at all: those groups are older adults, children, pregnant women, and anyone with a weakened immune system or chronic illness.
Symptoms of an E. coli O103 infection include a mild fever, nausea and vomiting, painful and severe abdominal and stomach cramps, and diarrhea that is bloody or watery. If you or anyone in your family has eaten raw sprouts and has been ill with these symptoms, see your doctor. You may be part of this clover sprouts E. coli O103 outbreak.
