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Tomatoes Are Source Of Salmonella Outbreak In Restaurant Chain

Rosemary Gordon Posted by Rosemary Gordon|September 18, 2015

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) have identified tomatoes as the source of the Salmonella Newport outbreak that has sickened dozens of people who ate at Chipotle restaurants in Minnesota since late August.

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Investigators are working with state and federal partners to trace the tomatoes back to the farm of origin.

Since the outbreak was reported last week, additional illnesses have been confirmed by MDH. A total of 64 cases now have been linked to the outbreak. Nine people have been hospitalized; all are recovering.

Meal dates for the cases range from Aug. 16 to Aug. 28 and people became ill between Aug. 19 and Sept. 3. The cases range in age from 10 to 69 years and are from 13 metro counties and several greater Minnesota counties.

“We expected to see additional cases because it can take up to 10 days for symptoms of Salmonella to appear, another few days to a week before people go to their doctors and the cases get reported to us,” MDH Epidemiologist Dana Eikmeier said. “However, there is no longer a risk of Salmonella from this particular product at Chipotle.”

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The company has switched suppliers for its tomatoes and implicated product was removed from stores.

Click here for more information on how to manage food safety risk on the farm.

Source: Minnesota Department of Health

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Rosemary Gordon is editor of American Vegetable Grower, a Meister Media Worldwide publication. See all author stories here.

Leave a Reply

Avatar for Matt Matt says:
September 18, 2015 at 11:00 am

Interesting that they immediately blame the farm. How about reporting that the source is under investigation? It is possible the tomatoes were contaminated AFTER they left the farm.

If it IS the farm, then I want to know HOW they became contaminated. Highlighting HOW can usually point to bad handling or sanitation practices. Short of contamination for naturally occurring sources in the field, most other possible sources of contamination can be controlled. Most of those with simple wash down and proper layout in the packing shed or washing facility.

I have been to a few other farms and some reuse wash water and rely on filtering and chemicals. Some have packing sheds open to the outside air and get birds or bats inside which bring contamination inside or become sources of contamination.

The cleanest facilities have actually been smaller farms who clean and pack outside in the open air. They don’t reuse wash water and instead redirect it to either a holding pond or just let it run off to a grassy field. Birds are not usually a problem as there is no where for them to perch. No re-use of wash water also eliminates most water contamination issues (provided potable water is being used).

I just wish these stories would not jump to the conclusion that it is the farm before that is proven.

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Avatar for Alton Alton says:
September 26, 2015 at 1:41 pm

I agree!!! I believe there is much more contamination after the produce leaves the farm. There are tons of “ptomaine kitchens” across the country and everyone wants to blame the farm.

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Avatar for Dahlimama Dahlimama says:
September 28, 2015 at 10:44 am

you are assuming that it was a USA based farm when a great majority of tomatoes come in from Mexico and we do not have enough inspectors to screen all that produce. We have a vigorous screening process for local produce not all import countries do. I did not see where it said the tomatoes were locally grown. As far as immediately blaming the farm, I’m sure that when the MDH investigates they are trained to look at everything not just go to a farm. I believe they have to trace the whole chain of contamination from source to sink to identify where the problem came into the chain.I doubt they are so stupid as to assume it’s the farm, I think we can see who’s jumping to conclusions here.

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