Aug 3, 2020

Salmonella outbreak linked to Thomson International red onions

CDC, several states, and FDA continue to investigate a rapidly growing outbreak of salmonella Newport infections.

Red onions have been identified as the likely source. An update is posted here: https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/newport-07-20/index.html.

Key points:

• CDC is advising consumers, restaurants, and retailers not to eat, serve, or sell any onions from Thomson International Inc., or food made with these onions. This advice applies to red, white, yellow, and sweet onions.
  • Although red onions have been identified as the likely source, other types of onions may be contaminated due to the way onions are grown and harvested.
• If you don’t know where your onions are from, don’t eat, serve, or sell them or any food prepared with them.
• Epidemiologic and traceback information showed that red onions are the likely source of this outbreak.
• The traceback information collected identified Thomson International Inc., of Bakersfield, California, as a likely source of red onions in this outbreak. Additional traceback is ongoing to determine if other onions are linked to the outbreak.
• Since our last update on July 24, 2020, an additional 184 ill people have been reported in this outbreak, including 37 from 11 new states: Alaska, Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas.
• A total of 396 ill people have been reported from 34 states. 59 people have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.
• This investigation is ongoing. CDC will provide more information as it becomes available.

Additional traceback is ongoing to determine if other onions are linked to the outbreak.

CDC advises people to take action if they have symptoms of a salmonella infection:

• Talk to your healthcare provider.
• Write down what you ate in the week before you started to get sick.

• Report your illness to the health department. The health department will likely call you for an interview to ask you about foods you ate in the week before you got sick.
• Assist public health investigators by answering questions about your illness. This information could help identify the source of the outbreak and prevent other people from getting sick.

About salmonella:

• Most people infected with salmonella develop diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps 6 hours to 6 days after being exposed to the bacteria.
• The illness usually lasts 4 to 7 days, and most people recover without treatment.
• In some people, the illness may be so severe that the patient is hospitalized. Salmonella infection may spread from the intestines to the bloodstream and then to other parts of the body.
• Children younger than 5, adults 65 and older, and people with weakened immune systems are more likely to have severe illness.

If you have questions about cases in a particular state, please call that state’s health department.