Sprout recall issued after salmonella outbreakSprout recall issued after salmonella outbreak

Alan J. Liddle

A recall was issued this week by the producer of alfalfa sprouts and sprout mixes linked by government officials to a multi-state salmonella outbreak that has sickened at least 94 people, including customers of Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwich chain in Illinois.

Representatives of Jimmy John’s Franchise LLC of Champaign, Ill., had no additional comment this week about the outbreak, but founder Jimmy John Liautaud had written a letter to franchisees in Illinois last week, asking them to pull sprouts from the menu.

In that letter, Liautaud said 40 of 88 people sickened by salmonella since Nov. 1 had been interviewed by health agency officials and 28 said they had eaten at Jimmy John’s restaurants. Of those customers, 25 had ordered items with sprouts. Liautaud underscored that testing at the restaurants and at the chain’s main sprout supplier came up negative for signs of salmonella contamination, but added that he was asking to have sprouts pulled from Illinois restaurants as a “good faith and goodwill gesture.”

That supplier, Tiny Greens Organic Farm Food Co. of Urbana, Ill., late Wednesday voluntarily recalled its Spicy Sprouts in 4-ounce packages and its Alfalfa Sprouts in 4-ounce, 1-pound, 2-pound and 5-pound packages with lot codes 348, 350, or 354, or that have a “sell by” date of Dec. 29 or, 2010, or Jan. 4, 2011. The company also said it was recalling any product containing alfalfa sprouts with lot number 305 through 348 or “sell by” dates of Dec. 16-29.

“The mutual goal of both the FDA and Tiny Greens is to pinpoint the source of the contamination and stop the spread of Salmonella,” officials of the produce company said in a statement. “There is only a statistical association at this point to Tiny Greens alfalfa sprouts and the FDA and Tiny Greens are continuing to work closely together, sharing all data with each other to find the source of the problem.”

Tiny Greens representatives pointed out that the salmonella type associated with the outbreak was common so that its products may not be associated with all of the illnesses associated with the outbreak in 16 states and Washington, D.C. It said its products were handled by distributors in Illinois, Indiana and Missouri.

Officials of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta also noted this week that the salmonella type associated with the outbreak was common, making it possible that not all 94 of the confirmed illnesses as of this week had a common source.

The CDC said that about 24 percent of stricken individuals for which personal information is available have been hospitalized and that no deaths have been associated with the outbreak.

Food & Drug Administration officials are advising restaurants not to serve the recalled Tiny Greens products and said that farmers markets and grocers should pull those items, as well.

FDA officials said this week that “approximately half of the illnesses occurred in Illinois, where nearly all of the ill individuals ate sandwiches containing sprouts at various Jimmy John's outlets.”

“Many people who have become ill recently with salmonella, reported eating alfalfa sprouts at Jimmy John's restaurants in 14 Illinois counties - Adams, Bureau, Champaign, Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kankakee, Lake, Macon, McHenry, McLean, Peoria, Will and Winnebago,” the Illinois Department of Public Health said in an update about the situation posted at its website Thursday. Since Nov. 1, the Department has received confirmed reports of 57 Illinois residents and one Wisconsin resident with Salmonella serotype I 4,5, 12,i- who ate at a Jimmy John's, officials of that agency added.

Contact Alan Liddle at [email protected].