Five people in Minnesota are part of an E. coli outbreak linked to Fresh Express Sunflower Crisp Chopped Salad Kits. One of them remains hospitalized.
The outbreak has sickened 25 people in the U.S. and Canada where a recall for the product has been issued. In the U.S., a recall has not been issued. The “best before” date on these salads is December 7, 2019, but health officials are concerned consumers may still have these products in their refrigerators. The implicated salads have UPC 0 71279 30906 4, a lot code beginning with the letter Z, and a best before date up to and including 07DEC19.
The Minnesota patients range in age from 21 to 91 years old and reported that their symptoms first appeared on dates ranging from November 8 – November 16, 2019. Four of them are from the Twin Cities metro area, one of them lives in Greater Minnesota.
In addition to these cases, the outbreak includes three people in Wisconsin, one person in North Dakota and 16 people in Canada. Three of the U.S. patients have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a form of kidney failure that is a complication of some E. coli infections.
This product contains romaine lettuce from Salinas, CA which has been linked to an ongoing E. coli outbreak. The strain of E. coli in the Fresh Express salad is different than the strain associated with the outbreak linked to Salinas-grown romaine.
Health officials are conducting further testing on the Fresh Express salad to determine which specific salad ingredient is contaminated with E. coli. If it is romaine, there is a possibility that the two outbreaks will be merged and the Fresh Express product will be one of the products associated with the larger outbreak which includes 102 people in 23 states. Another product associated with the outbreak is Ready Pac Foods Bistro Chicken Caesar Salad which has been linked to illnesses in Maryland that are part of this outbreak.
On November 22, 2019, federal health officials issued a public health alert for all romaine lettuce grown in Salinas. The alert stated that consumers should not eat and companies should not sell products containing romaine from Salinas.
Contact the Pritzker Hageman E. coli Team
Phone: 1-888-377-8900 | Text: 1-612-261-0856