A California producer is recalling a vegetable mix suspected of being the source of an E. coli infection in Costco chicken salad that sickened 19 people in an outbreak covering seven U.S. states.
Tests by health officials in Montana, one of the states affected, found E. coli 0157:H7 in a sample of the mix, officials say.
Taylor Farms Pacific, Inc. of Tracy, California, has recalled a mix of diced celery and onion used in the Costco product "out of an abundance of caution," the Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday along with a list of products that use the vegetable mix and the outlets selling them.
Located in California's San Joaquin Valley, Taylor Farms is one of America's largest producers of both fresh-cut vegetables and bagged salad mixes.
The onion and celery vegetable mix is used in a number of products ranging from Thai-style salad to wraps and dinner products sold at Costco, Starbucks, Target and a number of other outlets, the FDA says.
The Taylor Farms recall includes more than 154,000 lots of a number of its products from of grocery chains in 17 states, mostly in the Western U.S.
After cases of E. coli were reported, Washington-based Costco pulled their chicken salad from shelves in their stores across the nations.
Cases of E. Coli infections began showing up on Oct. 6 and were reported in Montana, Utah, Colorado, California, Washington, Missouri and Virginia.
Symptoms of an infection, which usually show up within an average of three to four days, include diarrhea, nausea, abdominal cramps and vomiting.
While no deaths were reported in the outbreak, five people required hospitalization, with two of them suffering a form of kidney failure known as hemolytic uremic syndrome, which usually strides children or the elderly.
The FDA said that they are expecting more cases in the next few weeks, even though contaminated products have been taken off store shelves.
In an earlier, unrelated outbreak in six states, health officials said the burrito restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. was linked to around 40 cases of E. coli O26 food poisoning.
