“This is a strain that produces the Shiga toxin, this toxin can be nasty”, she says.
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On a report broadcast by CBS morning news on Wednesday, Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist from Vanderbilt University, described the strain of E. coli discovered in Costco chicken salad as “much more hazardous” than that discovered at the Chipotle restaurant chain.
“There are still significant challenges to getting trace back”, to the source of the outbreak said Matthew Wise, team lead for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Outbreak Response Team, which is coordinating the effort.
However, CDC is still investigating on the ingredient that may have caused E. coli. Our E. coli lawyers have litigated E. coli and HUS cases stemming from outbreaks traced to ground beef, raw milk, lettuce, spinach, sprouts, and other food products. CDC said 14 of 16 people purchased or ate the Costco chicken salad in the week before illness onset.
Costco stopped selling the salad on November 20, the same day it was notified by federal health officials that it was linked to cases of E. coli, said Costco VP of food safety Craig Wilson.
Costco is working closely with the CDC, FDA and local health officials to find the source of the E. coli and has encouraged its suppliers to do the same, Wilson said. The CDC issued a warning to Costco customers encouraging them to throw out any of the store’s chicken salad.
The CDC announced that the illness reportedly started on October 6 and involved people between the ages of 5 and 84.
Five people have been hospitalized, Reuters said.
He says one additional test is needed to confirm that the vegetables carried the same E. coli strain connected with the outbreak. No deaths have been reported.
If you’ve got chicken salad from Costco in your refrigerator, look at the label. Most are harmless but some can cause illness outside the tract, when transmitted through contaminated water or food or contact with animals or persons.
One case of E. coli has been confirmed in King County.
It has the label “Chicken Salad made with Rotisserie chicken” and item number mentioned on the label is 377719.
Fejes also said that Costco has been very helpful with the investigation and taken steps to protect the public by removing the product. Anyway, they can always buy another chicken salad from another store if they really want to eat one.
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So far, no one in Texas has gotten sick.
