People have fallen ill in California, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Utah, Virginia and Washington. This includes chicken that has been partially eaten, but hasn’t made the consumer sick.
Advertisement
At least 19 people have been reported sick from E. coli.
Craig Wilson, vice president of food safety at Costco said the stores have stopped selling the chicken salad on November 20th, the same day it was notified by federal health officials that it was linked to cases of E. coli. However, the specific ingredient in the chicken salad linked to the outbreak has not been identified, the agency said.
“23, 2015, 19 people infected with the outbreak strain of STEC 0157:H7 have been reported from seven states”, the CDC alert states.
“FDA reported to us the product was removed from the ledges and is no longer for sale in Colorado”, said Alicia Cronquist, epidemiologist at the department. Those affected in Utah range in age from 9 to 84. Illnesses after November 10 have not yet been reported to officials. Do you worry about bacteria like E. coli? They can be contaminated through polluted irrigation water, by animals defecating in the farm fields, in transport, handling, and processing, or by ill food workers.
Hundreds of E. coli bacteria naturally reside in a human intestine, but some strains can cause diseases, the CDC said. That means that all were sickened by the same source of food. Chickens have not been connected to the outbreak.
Wilson says the company uses one supplier for those vegetables in the chicken salad sold in all its USA stores. Watery diarrhea, loss of appetite, fatigue, fever, abdominal cramps and diarrhea with blood are early symptoms of E. coli.
In rare cases a potentially life-threatening complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome can develop. “This is a strain that produces the Shiga toxin, this toxin can be nasty”, she says.
“People who experience these symptoms should seek emergency medical care immediately”, the centre said.
Advertisement
Contact your health care provider if you think you may have become ill from eating rotisserie chicken salad from Costco.
