November 27, 2015

CDC says at least 19 E. coli infections linked to Costco chicken salad

Eric M. Johnson
Nov 24th 2015 2:24PM

At least 19 people in seven states may have been infected by E.coli after eating rotisserie chicken salad sold at Costco Wholesale Corp's stores, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday.

Five people have been hospitalized and two have developed a type of kidney failure, although no deaths have been reported, the CDC said.

"The epidemiologic evidence available at this time suggests that rotisserie chicken salad made and sold in Costco Wholesale stores in several states is a likely source of this outbreak," the CDC said.

The infections have been reported in Montana, Utah, Colorado, California, Missouri, Virginia and Washington, CDC said.

Fourteen of sixteen people bought or ate rotisserie chicken salad from Costco in the week before illness started, but the ingredient linked to the infection has not been identified yet, the CDC said.

Costco said it stopped selling the chicken salad on Nov. 20, the same day it was notified by federal health officials that it was linked to cases of E.coli, Craig Wilson, vice president of food safety at Costco said.

The warehouse club operator last year was linked to a salmonella outbreak caused by chicken products it sold in at least nine states. The contaminated chicken was supplied to Costco by California-based Foster Poultry Farms.

The E.coli outbreak at Costco comes days after health officials linked burrito chain Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc to more than 40 cases of E. coli food poisoning in 6 states.

Costco's shares were down slightly in extended trading. They closed down about 1 percent at $162.19 after heavy trading on Tuesday.

Click on Link:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/24/us-costco-wholesale-ecoli-idUSKBN0TD2UZ20151124#zS67jXQBMEqQDssM.97