Clover sprouts are the culprit in Jimmy John’s outbreak
Eight people in three states have been made ill by eating sprouts on their sandwiches at Jimmy John’s restaurants. Five people in Wisconsin, two people in Illinois, and one person in Minnesota have been sickened by the sprouts that were contaminated with Salmonella Montevideo. The outbreak has been found in six restaurants so far.
The first Jimmy John’s customer became ill after eating the sprouts on December 20, 2017. The most recent reported illness was January 3. There have been no hospitalizations or deaths reported as yet.
The sprouts involved are specifically clover sprouts, which are very popular with Jimmy John’s customers. They may be tasty on sandwiches, but the same warm and humid conditions that help sprouts to grow can also become breeding grounds for salmonella bacteria.
Jimmy John’s is not the first restaurant to serve sprouts that were linked to illness. There have been thirty reported outbreaks directly linked to sprouts over the past twenty years. Some illnesses have resulted from consumers eating fresh sprouts. Others, though, have resulted from eating lightly cooked sprouts, indicating that such food poisoning cannot be killed off with minimal heat.
Federal agencies are continuing to investigate, to determine where the clover sprouts originated and whether food safety procedures were followed in their packaging and distribution. The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) urges consumers not to eat sprouts at Jimmy John’s restaurants in Illinois and Wisconsin until the investigation is complete.
Contact the food poisoning lawyers at 1-888-335-4901 for more information about salmonella, food poisoning, and the Jimmy John’s clover sprouts contamination.
