Clover Sprouts Recalled Due to E. coli O103 Concerns.
The Iowa based company Sprouts Unlimited Inc. issued a recall on their 4 oz. Clover sprouts packages on December 27, 2019. The recall was announced by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after the company was notified by the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals of a cluster of E. coli O103 illnesses linked to the Clover sprouts distributed by Sprouts Unlimited Inc. At the moment the number of affected has not been reported to the general public but health department officials have issued a warning to all consumers to avoid consuming the contaminated products until more is known.
Health Department officials have stated that the source of the contamination has not been determined as of yet, but they will continue to do further testing and investigate the source of the contamination. According to Sprouts Unlimited Inc., the potentially contaminated sprout products were distributed to Hy Vee Food stores, Fareway Food Stores and Jimmy John’s restaurants in Iowa. Retail stores sold the sprouts in pint containers with a blue Sprouts Unlimited Inc. label on the lid. The UPC 7 32684 00013 6 can be found on the bottom right side of the label.
Although healthy leafy greens can at times be more dangerous than they’re worth as seen in previous outbreaks such as the recent multi-state E. coli O157: H7 outbreak linked to romaine lettuce which affected 138 people in 25 states. Another example is the Cyclospora outbreak which took place earlier in the summer and reported 241 illnesses in 11 states.
The food poisoning lawyers of Ron Simon & Associates advise consumers who feel symptoms of E. coli such as abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and bloody diarrhea to visit a medical health care provider and request a stool culture. E. coli infections are normally diagnosed through lab testing of stool specimens. Identifying the specific strain of E. coli involved is very important for public health purposes, and is critical in detecting outbreaks. Symptoms can vary from person to person and although some people can recover in a week without complications, more severe cases can develop a form of kidney failure called Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome (HUS). HUS can lead to severely damage kidneys and could even lead to death.
