E.coli Linked to Costco Chicken Salad in Seven States

Nineteen people in seven states, including California, have contracted E. coli in an outbreak linked to chicken salad bought at Costco, federal health officials said Tuesday. No deaths have been reported, but the CDC says five people have been hospitalized and two have developed a type of kidney failure.

The outbreak has been traced to Costco’s chicken salad, though the CDC said it’s not known which ingredient was contaminated.

Patch contacted Craig Wilson, Vice President, QA & Food Safety at Costco Wholesale about the chicken salad, who advised Patch that Costco “took it off sale” as soon as it learned of the E. coli link last Friday, and it is “still off sale”.

The majority of illnesses have been reported from western states. Those sickened range in age between 5 and 84 and 57 percent are female.

And there are five cases in Utah, with two hospitalizations, according to the Utah Department of Health.

People who have eaten it and feel ill should talk to a health care provider. One person fell ill in late October as a result of eating the tainted chicken, but was not hospitalized. PulseNet, the national subtyping network of public health and food regulatory agency laboratories, is coordinated by CDC.

It is not related to a recent case involving Chipotle restaurants in which more than 40 people were sickened with the strain E. coli 026 in six states.

“FDA reported to us the product has been removed from the shelves and no longer is for sale in Colorado”.

The product has an item number of 37719.

Most people infected with Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) develop diarrhea (often bloody) and abdominal cramps an average of 3-4 days after swallowing the germ.