Salmonella Outbreak Linked to BrightFarms Salad Products.
A new salmonella outbreak was announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on July 15, 2021. This recent outbreak has been reported to have already sickened eleven people in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Michigan. Although the outbreak investigation is new the source of the illnesses seems to be salad products sold by the company BrightFarms. A recall on multiple salad products was issued by BrightFarms immediately following the outbreak announcement.
In their recall, BrightFarms stated that the only salad products affected by the potential salmonella contamination were specific products grown at the company’s Rochelle, Illinois indoor farm. The company has also disclosed that they are currently working with the FDA to determine if there may be additional products that could have been affected. At this time the products affected by the recall have been confirmed to have been distributed to select retail stores such as Walmart, Jewel- Osco, Strack Van Till, Sullivan’s Foods, Caputo’s, and Pick’ n Save in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, and Michigan.
The CDC stated that the true number of people affected by the outbreak is likely to be much higher than the number of reported cases and that there is a possibility that people of other states may be affected by the outbreak as well. After interviewing the people affected so far, the CDC discovered that the eleven people had eaten leafy greens before becoming ill and at least nine of them had eaten prepackaged salads. Through the information on the individual’s shopper card records the CDC found out that seven of the reported cases had purchased at least one BrightFarms salad brand such as Sunny Crunch, 50/50 Spring & Spinach, Harvest Crunch, or Butter Crisp.
The CDC is advising consumers to refrain from eating, selling, or serving any recalled BrightFarms packaged salad greens. As it has been seen in the past outbreaks linked to leafy greens tend to drastically increase in numbers as time progresses, which is why it is important for people to stay vigilant for symptoms of salmonella. According to Ron Simon, a National Salmonella Lawyer who has represented multiple clients in outbreaks linked to leafy greens in the past, salmonella infections are usually diagnosed by a positive culture from a stool sample of the infected person. Individuals diagnosed with salmonella should consider contacting a salmonella lawyer as soon as possible.
https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/typhimurium-07-21/details.html
