A Calco and Everything Sprouts E. coli and Salmonella outbreak in Minnesota has sickened at least 23 people, according to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA). Two people have been hospitalized because they are so sick. Everything Sprouts is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and sells sprouts and microgreens that are grown hydroponically.
Illness onset dates range from July 8, 2026 to August 8, 2026. In addition to the Minnesota cases, there are at least 18 people sick in Wisconsin, and more illness have been identified in other states, which have not yet been named.
The alfalfa sprouts are produced by Everything Sprouts and are sold under the Calco and Everything Sprouts brands to restaurants and grocery stores. MDH and MDH are working with health officials from Wisconsin, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the FDA, and other states to identify the source and scope of contamination.
No recall has been issued yet, and the restaurants and stores that sold the sprouts have not been named. For the time being, you should not eat alfalfa sprouts sold under those two brands. You can throw them away in a secure trash can after first double bagging them so other people can’t see them, or you can take them back to the store where you bought them for a full refund.
FDA warned Everything Sprouts about insanitary conditions in 2025
Everything Sprouts has a regulatory history with the FDA that predates this outbreak. On March 28, 2025, the agency issued the company a warning letter after inspecting its Minneapolis sprouting operation from October 30 through November 14, 2024.
FDA said the inspection found serious violations of the federal Produce Safety Rule, and that the company’s mung bean, soybean and green sprout products were adulterated because they had been prepared, packed or held under insanitary conditions.
One important limit on that letter: it addressed mung bean, soybean and green sprouts. Alfalfa sprouts, the product in the current outbreak, are not mentioned anywhere in it.
Among the conditions FDA described was a roof leaking through ceiling tiles in the middle of the production room, about four feet from the packaging tables, with water dripping onto totes of cooled, exposed mung bean sprouts as pallets moved through for packaging. A second roof leak in the warehouse dripped near a rack of clean smocks that employees would wear while handling produce.
FDA investigators also reported condensate dripping from condenser units inside the coolers that held sprouts, a buildup of black organic matter on an irrigation hose that passed directly over exposed soy sprouts, and torn plastic sheeting around growing cabins that had been patched with tape, with sprouts stuck to the tape in several places.
The agency noted that the dripping condenser units were not a new observation. FDA wrote that during previous inspections of the sprout operation in 2023 and in 2018, when the operation was under different ownership but working in the same facility, its investigators had also observed dripping condenser units.
Everything Sprouts responded in December 2024 describing corrective actions it had completed and planned. FDA said it could not evaluate whether several of those corrections were adequate based on the information provided, and that it would evaluate them at its next inspection.
None of this establishes what caused the 2026 outbreak. The letter concerned conditions observed in 2024 and different sprout products, and no agency has said how the alfalfa sprouts became contaminated. Minnesota, Wisconsin, the CDC and the FDA are still working to identify the source and scope of the contamination.
If you ate these sprouts, especially if they were eaten uncooked, monitor your health for the symptoms of Salmonella food poisoning for the next week, and E. coli food poisoning for the next week to 10 days. Any children who the sprouts should be monitored for the symptoms of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which is a type of kidney failure that can happen after an E. coli illness. If you or a member of your family does get sick, see your doctor.
