The Mexican restaurant temporarily closed 43 of their branches in the state of OR and Washington after a strain identified as E. coli 026 was found to be present in some of the meals.
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The CDC says nineteen people in seven states are sick with an E. coli infection linked to the salad.
“Very quickly they noticed these people did have something in common”.
“Our rotisserie chickens are not implicated at all”, Wilson said.
14 (88%) of 16 people purchased or ate rotisserie chicken salad from Costco in the week before illness started.
The CDC says that the number of ill persons will likely grow in the next few weeks, as they are diagnosed and the diagnoses are reported to government officials.
Five of those people have been hospitalized, including two with kidney failure. The CDC has been told they are all getting better, Tauxe said.
Updates from federal agencies investigating the outbreak had not identified any specific ingredients as the cause of the contamination as of late evening November 25.
Marler believes the chicken isn’t to blame for the bacteria.
The fact that the outbreak had hit people in several states did point to a problem with a chicken salad ingredient that came from a common supplier.
“We’re pretty confident the path that everyone seems to be on is correct”, he said. This includes chicken that has been partially eaten, but hasn’t made the consumer sick.
The cases are spread across the country, with reports of people who have fallen ill in California, Washington, Missouri, Virginia, Colorado, Utah and Montana. People who have eaten it and feel ill should talk to a health care provider.
Initial testing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) points toward a vegetable mix sourced from a California produce wholesaler as the potential source of E. coli connected with Costco’s rotisserie chicken salad. This outbreak even led to the closure of the some Chipotle restaurants in the Northwest. He also said that the company has been helping in the investigation into the issue.
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“I think we’re going to learn something important from both ultimately”, he said.
