A Minnesota alfalfa sprout producer the FDA had already cited for "serious violations" and insanitary conditions is now linked to a multi-state salmonella and E. coli outbreak that has sickened at least 55 people and hospitalized four.
The FDA and CDC posted a joint outbreak notice tying the illnesses to sprouts grown by Everything Sprouts, a Minnesota-based company that sells under the Calco and Everything Sprouts brands to restaurants and grocery stores across the country. The Minnesota Department of Health confirmed the link and urged consumers to throw away any alfalfa sprouts from either brand immediately.
Forty-six of the victims tested positive for E. coli. Seven tested positive for salmonella. Two tested positive for both pathogens, an unusual double infection that underlines the severity of contamination at the source. Illness onset dates stretch from May 31 to Aug. 8, spanning more than two months before federal regulators moved to inspect the facility.
The federal paper trail makes the outbreak harder to excuse. The FDA had inspected Everything Sprouts' facility the previous year and issued a warning letter documenting what inspectors called serious violations. Among the findings: roof leaks that allowed water to drip directly onto produce and onto clean employee smocks, and a "build-up of black organic matter" on a hose in the overhead irrigation system used to water the sprouts.
Inspectors concluded the company maintained "insanitary conditions whereby [produce] may have become contaminated with filth, or whereby they may have been rendered injurious to health." That language is not ambiguous. It is a federal agency telling a food producer, in writing, that its facility poses a contamination risk to consumers.
And yet the sprouts kept shipping.
On Aug. 19, after illnesses had been reported for nearly three months, the FDA finally initiated a new inspection and began collecting samples at the Everything Sprouts facility. The agency also recommended the company conduct a recall. Whether Everything Sprouts has formally completed that recall remains unclear. ABC News reported reaching out to the company for comment but did not indicate receiving a response.
Health officials cautioned that 55 confirmed cases almost certainly understates the true scope. Many people who get sick from contaminated food never seek medical care or submit samples for laboratory testing. The actual number of people harmed, officials said, is "likely higher than the numbers reported."
The 15 states affected have not been publicly identified. Four people required hospitalization. No fatalities have been reported, but the current condition of those hospitalized has not been disclosed either.
The Minnesota Department of Health issued a direct warning to the public:
"Health officials recommend people check for alfalfa sprouts from Calco or Everything Sprouts, not eat them, and throw them away."
The FDA echoed that guidance, warning both consumers and retailers not to eat or serve the contaminated products.
Alfalfa sprouts have long been flagged by food-safety regulators as a high-risk product. The warm, humid conditions needed to grow sprouts are also ideal for bacterial growth. That makes sanitary controls at the production facility especially critical, and makes the FDA's prior findings at Everything Sprouts all the more damning.
Roof leaks dripping onto food. Black organic buildup inside the irrigation system. A formal warning letter from federal inspectors. None of it stopped the product from reaching store shelves and restaurant kitchens in at least 15 states. The timeline raises a straightforward question: what enforcement action, if any, did the FDA take between issuing its warning letter and the first reported illness on May 31?
The gap between the warning and the outbreak is the part of this story that deserves the hardest scrutiny. Federal regulators identified the risk, documented it in official findings, and put the company on notice. People got sick anyway, dozens of them, over months, across the country.
When a federal agency warns a food producer that its facility may be contaminating products with filth, and that producer keeps selling contaminated food for months afterward, someone failed. The question is whether it was the company that ignored the warning, the regulators who didn't follow through, or both.
