FDA
Case Counts
Total Illnesses: 51
Hospitalizations: 3
Deaths: 0
Last illness onset: March 15, 2020
Recommendation
Chicago Indoor Garden recalled all products containing Red Clover sprouts. FDA recommends that consumers not eat the following recalled items with “Best By” dates between 12/1/2019 and 3/12/2020 that were distributed to Coosemans Chicago Inc., Battaglia Distributing, Living Waters Farms, and Whole Foods throughout the Midwest:
- Red Clover 4oz. clamshell
- Red Clover 2lb. boxes
- Sprout Salad 6oz. clamshell
- Mixed Greens 4oz. clamshell
- Spring Salad 6oz. clamshell
Recalled products are now past their “Best By” dates and should be thrown away.
(PDF: 849 KB)
Raw and lightly cooked sprouts are a known source of foodborne illness. We recommend that consumers, restaurants, and other retailers always follow food safety practices to avoid illness from eating sprouts.Generally, it is recommended that children, the elderly, pregnant women, and persons with weakened immune systems should avoid eating raw sprouts of any kind.
Background
FDA, along with CDC and state and local partners, investigated an outbreak of 51 illnesses caused by E. coli O103 in Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, New York, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming linked to clover sprouts.
FDA’s investigation is now complete, and CDC has declared this outbreak over.
The FDA’s analysis of a sample of Chicago Indoor Garden’s sprouts identified the presence of E. coli O103. Whole Genome Sequencing of this bacteria showed that it matches the current outbreak strain. The sample also matches the outbreak strain from the November-December 2019 outbreak in Iowa, which was associated with sprouts from various Jimmy John’s restaurants.
