Everything Sprouts and Calco Alfalfa Sprouts Linked to E. coli and Salmonella Outbreak

Minnesota health officials are warning consumers not to eat alfalfa sprouts sold under the Calco and Everything Sprouts brands after linking the products to an unusual multistate outbreak involving Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, also called STEC, and Salmonella.

According to the August 20, 2026 outbreak announcement from the Minnesota Department of Health, 23 Minnesotans became ill between July 8 and August 8. Two people were hospitalized and no deaths had been reported. Minnesota officials also said Wisconsin investigators had identified 18 cases and that additional illnesses had been identified in other states. Health officials expect the number of illnesses to increase as the investigation continues.

The illnesses have been linked to alfalfa sprouts produced by Everything Sprouts, a Minnesota grower, and sold under the Calco and Everything Sprouts brand names. The sprouts were distributed to restaurants as well as grocery stores. That means some people who were exposed may never have bought a package of sprouts or seen either brand name. They may have eaten the sprouts on a sandwich, salad, wrap, bowl, or other restaurant meal.

If you or a family member developed a serious diarrheal illness after eating alfalfa sprouts, especially if testing found STEC E. coli or Salmonella, seek appropriate medical care first. Pritzker Hageman’s E. coli lawyers and Salmonella lawyers represent people with serious foodborne illnesses throughout the United States. Our law firm is headquartered in Minneapolis and handles serious foodborne-illness cases nationwide.

What Everything Sprouts and Calco products should consumers avoid?

The Minnesota Department of Health and Minnesota Department of Agriculture are telling consumers not to eat alfalfa sprouts sold under either of these names:

• Everything Sprouts
• Calco

The August 20 public health notice did not list specific lot codes, package sizes, sell-by dates, or UPC numbers. The advice was broader: check for Calco or Everything Sprouts alfalfa sprouts, do not eat them, and throw them away.

People who ate sprouts at a restaurant should not assume they were unexposed merely because they never purchased a branded retail package. Public health officials specifically say the implicated sprouts were sold to restaurants and grocery stores. If you became ill, write down where you ate, the date, what you ordered, and whether the meal may have contained sprouts. If you ordered through an app, save the order history or receipt.

Everything Sprouts outbreak: what we know as of August 20, 2026

Item	Current information
Minnesota illnesses	23
Minnesota hospitalizations	2
Deaths reported by Minnesota	0
Wisconsin illnesses	18 reported in the August 20 Minnesota Department of Health release
Other states	Additional illnesses identified, but states and counts were not listed in the Minnesota release
Minnesota illness onset dates	July 8 through August 8, 2026
Products implicated	Alfalfa sprouts
Grower	Everything Sprouts, Minnesota
Brand names	Everything Sprouts and Calco
Pathogens	Salmonella and multiple strains of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC)
Where products were sold	Restaurants and grocery stores
Investigation	Ongoing with Minnesota, Wisconsin, CDC, FDA, and other states

This is not a typical one-pathogen outbreak. Minnesota officials described illnesses caused by Salmonella, multiple strains of STEC, or both. The Associated Press reported additional strain-level details provided by Minnesota officials: three Minnesota patients had Salmonella, one of those patients was also infected with STEC O168:H8, seven patients had STEC O103:H25, and 13 had STEC O26:H11. The presence of multiple disease-causing organisms and multiple STEC strains is one reason investigators will need to examine the source and scope of contamination carefully.

It is also too early to assume that every person with a compatible illness after eating sprouts is part of this outbreak. Laboratory testing, public health interviews, traceback information, and other epidemiological evidence are used to determine whether an illness is connected.

FDA warned Everything Sprouts in 2025 about serious food-safety violations

A potentially important part of the company’s regulatory history predates this outbreak. On March 28, 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an FDA warning letter to Everything Sprouts LLC after inspecting the company’s Minneapolis sprouting operation from October 30 through November 14, 2024.

FDA said the inspection revealed serious violations of the federal Produce Safety Rule. The warning letter addressed mung bean, soybean, and green sprout products. It did not identify the 2026 alfalfa sprouts involved in the current outbreak.

Among the conditions FDA described from the 2024 inspection were:

• A roof leak near packaging tables, with water observed dripping onto totes containing cooled, exposed mung bean sprouts as they moved through the area for packaging.
• Condensate dripping from equipment in areas where sprouts were grown or stored.
• A buildup of black organic matter on an irrigation-system hose that passed over exposed soy sprouts.
• Food-contact surfaces that FDA said were not cleaned and sanitized as required.
• Visibly soiled strip curtains that investigators observed contacting harvested mung bean sprouts as the sprouts moved between rooms.

Everything Sprouts submitted responses describing completed and planned corrective actions. FDA said in the warning letter that it could not evaluate the adequacy of several of those corrective actions based on the information provided and would evaluate them at a future inspection.

FDA also noted that one of those conditions was not new. Writing about the dripping condenser units, the agency said 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 observed dripping condenser units as well.

The distinction here is important. The 2025 warning letter is relevant regulatory history, but it does not establish what caused the 2026 outbreak. The letter concerned conditions observed in 2024 and discussed other sprout products. As of August 20, 2026, public health agencies had not announced how the alfalfa sprouts became contaminated or whether any condition described in the earlier FDA letter played a role. The current investigation is intended to determine the source and scope of the contamination.

That is also why careful outbreak litigation requires more than simply finding an old inspection report. A serious food poisoning case may require laboratory evidence, epidemiological data, seed and production records, sanitation records, spent irrigation-water testing records, distribution documents, restaurant invoices, and expert analysis of how the contamination could have occurred.

Why are alfalfa sprouts a high-risk food for E. coli and Salmonella?

Sprouts are a special food-safety problem because the same environment that helps a seed become a sprout can also help bacteria multiply. FDA explains that sprouts are particularly vulnerable because they are grown in warm, moist, nutrient-rich conditions that are also favorable for pathogens.

Contamination can begin with seed, water, equipment, people, or the production environment. If a small number of Salmonella or STEC bacteria are present on or in seed, the sprouting process can give them favorable conditions to increase to dangerous levels. That is one reason sprout operations are subject to special requirements under the federal Produce Safety Rule, including measures addressing seed treatment and testing of spent sprout irrigation water or in-process sprouts for specified pathogens.

Pritzker Hageman has been writing about this problem for years. Our 2022 review, E. coli, Salmonella and Listeria Food Poisoning from Sprouts is Common, discusses the long history of sprout-related outbreaks. Our food safety page also identifies raw sprouts as one of the foods that repeatedly appears in outbreak investigations.

For the products involved in this outbreak, consumers should follow the current public health advice and throw the sprouts away. Do not rely on rinsing an implicated product to make it safe.

STEC E. coli symptoms to watch for

Shiga toxin-producing E. coli can cause severe illness. In this outbreak, Minnesota health officials say symptoms typically include:

• Stomach cramps
• Diarrhea, often bloody
• Low-grade fever or no fever

Symptoms typically begin two to five days after exposure, although Minnesota health officials say the range can be one to eight days. Most people recover in about five to seven days, but some STEC infections lead to hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS.

HUS is a potentially life-threatening complication in which the kidneys and other organs can be seriously injured. It is particularly concerning in young children, although people of any age can develop it. Our page on the long-term consequences of HUS and kidney failure explains why physicians continue to monitor some patients even after the acute infection has passed.

The CDC lists HUS warning signs that include urinating less often or not at all, unusual paleness, unexplained bruising or tiny red spots, blood in the urine, extreme tiredness or irritability, and decreased alertness. HUS is a medical emergency. Anyone showing these signs after a diarrheal illness should get medical care immediately.

Do not self-treat suspected STEC with antibiotics or anti-diarrheal medicine

Minnesota health officials say diarrhea associated with STEC generally should not be treated with antibiotics because antibiotic treatment can promote development of HUS. The CDC’s E. coli treatment guidance also warns against antibiotics for STEC infections and says anti-diarrheal medications can increase the chance of HUS in people with STEC.

If you think you may have an STEC infection, contact a healthcare provider rather than trying to treat the illness on your own.

Salmonella symptoms to watch for

Salmonella illness commonly causes:

• Diarrhea
• Abdominal pain or cramping
• Fever

Minnesota health officials say symptoms usually begin within 12 to 96 hours after exposure but can begin as late as two weeks after exposure. Most infections clear in five to seven days. Some people, however, develop more serious illness and need hospital care.

A stool test can be especially important when a person has symptoms consistent with an active outbreak. A laboratory diagnosis can guide medical care, may allow public health laboratories to identify and compare the infecting strain with outbreak data, and can become important evidence if the illness later results in a legal claim.

What should I do if I ate Everything Sprouts or Calco alfalfa sprouts and became sick?

1. Get medical care when your symptoms warrant it

Tell your healthcare provider that you may have eaten alfalfa sprouts associated with an active STEC and Salmonella outbreak. Ask whether stool testing is appropriate. Seek urgent care for severe dehydration, bloody diarrhea, severe abdominal pain, HUS warning signs, or other symptoms that concern you.

2. Follow the public health warning about the sprouts

Do not eat Calco or Everything Sprouts alfalfa sprouts covered by the Minnesota warning. Throw them away as instructed by public health officials.

3. Write down where and when you ate sprouts

If the exposure may have occurred at a restaurant, record:

• Restaurant name and location
• Date and approximate time of the meal
• Menu item ordered
• Whether sprouts were visible or listed as an ingredient
• Names of other people who ate with you and whether they became ill
• Delivery-app, loyalty-account, credit-card, or emailed receipt information

This can help public health investigators and can also help establish product identification in a legal investigation.

4. Save records that already exist

Keep copies of medical records, stool-test results, discharge instructions, pharmacy receipts, missed-work documentation, and purchase or restaurant records. You do not need to assemble a perfect file before speaking with a lawyer. These are simply examples of information that can become useful later.

5. Provide public health investigators your information

If a state or local health department contacts you, provide accurate information about foods, restaurants, grocery purchases, travel, and illness dates. Public health interviews can identify exposure patterns that one patient could not see alone.

Can I sue if I got E. coli or Salmonella from Everything Sprouts or Calco alfalfa sprouts?

A viable food poisoning claim depends on evidence linking a person’s illness to the contaminated food and on the law that applies to the case. A laboratory-confirmed STEC or Salmonella infection combined with a documented exposure to the implicated sprouts can be particularly important, but every case is different.

A person does not necessarily need the original retail package or a paper receipt. In outbreaks involving restaurant food, lawyers and investigators may be able to use credit-card records, online orders, restaurant invoices, distributor records, public health interviews, traceback findings, and microbiological evidence to establish the chain of distribution.

Depending on what the investigation shows and the law that applies, potentially responsible parties could include a grower, processor, seed supplier, distributor, restaurant, or other seller. It would be premature to say which parties are legally responsible for this outbreak before the contamination source and distribution chain are fully investigated.

Pritzker Hageman’s food poisoning attorneys evaluate serious outbreak cases by looking at both the medical evidence and the food-distribution evidence. If you were hospitalized, developed HUS or kidney injury, had another serious complication, or lost a family member, early legal investigation can be especially important because records and witness memories are easier to preserve while an outbreak is active.

Pritzker Hageman has investigated Minnesota sprout outbreaks before

This is not the first Minnesota and Wisconsin outbreak involving alfalfa sprouts. In 2016, Pritzker Hageman investigated an E. coli O157 outbreak linked to alfalfa sprouts sold in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Our food safety team has also covered and litigated outbreaks involving many other contaminated foods and pathogens.

That prior experience matters because foodborne illness cases are not simply ordinary personal injury claims. They often turn on microbiology, epidemiology, whole genome sequencing, traceback data, food-distribution records, and expert testimony. Our firm has spent decades working with this evidence.

Our firm’s headquarters are in Minneapolis, and our Minnesota E. coli lawyers and foodborne illness practice represent clients in Minnesota and nationwide. Our E. coli team obtained a $7.55 million trial verdict for a child who suffered E. coli-associated HUS and kidney injury. Our Salmonella lawyers have also obtained multimillion-dollar results for people catastrophically injured by Salmonella infections. Past results do not guarantee the outcome of any future case, and the value of a claim depends on its facts.

Contact a Pritzker Hageman food poisoning lawyer

If you or a family member tested positive for STEC E. coli or Salmonella after eating alfalfa sprouts in July or August 2026, particularly if the illness required hospitalization or caused HUS, kidney injury, or another serious complication, we can evaluate whether your illness may be connected to the Everything Sprouts and Calco outbreak.

Frequently asked questions about the Everything Sprouts outbreak