Caldwell Raw Sprouts: Now With Salmonella

Here we go again. Another batch of tainted food got into America's distribution system.

That headline is a little unfair, by the way. Quite a few Caldwell food products don't contain salmonella - and they're far from the only company to have sold potentially-lethal food products lately.

"Salmonella outbreak in 10 states prompts sprouts recall "
CNN (May 21, 2010)

"Federal public health officials are investigating a salmonella outbreak that has infected 22 people in 10 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday.

"The infections are linked to the consumption of raw alfalfa sprouts, the CDC said.

"California-based Caldwell Fresh Foods is recalling all alfalfa sprouts manufactured under three of its brands because they may be contaminated with salmonella, the company said Friday. Caldwell said its alfalfa sprouts have been associated with the outbreak.

"There have been no deaths reported from the outbreak....

"...One of those infected was an infant hospitalized in Oregon, an Oregon Department of Health official told CNN. The baby had been eating alfalfa sprouts, said Paul Cieslak, manager of the state health department's communicable disease section....

"...The initial investigation traced the implicated raw alfalfa sprouts to a single sprout processor in California, the CDC said, though it did not name Caldwell Fresh Foods directly. The CDC did not respond to requests for comment on Friday...."

Good news? Nobody's died, and it looks like the problem has been identified and traced to its source.

Bad news? This shouldn't have happened.

States where this set of salmonella cases have been reported:

• Arizona
• California
• Colorado
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Missouri
• New Mexico
• Nevada
• Oregon
• Wisconsin

It's possible that what we've got these days is a more connected, more efficient, system that reports when something is amiss, instead of assuming that 'the masses' couldn't handle knowing what's going on. I'm inclined to think that's one reason why we read about this sort of thing more often now, than back in the 'good old days' when I was young(er).

People started getting sick around March 1, 2010 - so this isn't exactly a new thing.

There isn't much in the CNN article about how salmonella got in the sprouts - maybe we'll hear more about that, another day.

More in the news:

• "Salmonella outbreak prompts alfalfa sprout recall"
  Reuters (May 21, 2010)
• "Alfalfa sprouts recalled by L.A.-area firm after salmonella outbreak"
  Los Angeles Times (May 21, 2010)
• "Salmonella cases in county linked to tainted sprouts"
  SignOnSanDiego.com (May 21, 2010)

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