Onion-linked salmonella outbreak affects 652 persons in 37 US states; 129 hopitalised

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says one source of infections had been traced to onions imported from Chihuahua, Mexico, and distributed by ProSource Inc., based in Hailey, Idaho.

An onion-linked salmonella outbreak is raging across 37 states in the US. It has affected as many as 652 persons, 129 of whom have been hospitalised, but there are no reports of any deaths as yet, a Bloomberg report featured in the Deccan Chronicle says.

People have been advised to throw away all unlabelled red, white and yellow onions after a mass salmonella outbreak across the country.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention says one source of infections had been traced to onions imported from Chihuahua, Mexico, and distributed by ProSource Inc, based in Hailey, Idaho.

The CDC advises people not to buy onions imported from Chihuahua, to throw away all onions that don’t have a sticker or packaging and to wash all surfaces and containers that may have touched the onions using hot soapy water or a dishwasher.

Symptoms of salmonella include diarrhoea, fever and stomach cramps that start six hours to six days after eating contaminated foodIt also says the number of affected persons could be much higher since a larger number of such cases go unreported. Infections were recorded between May 31 and Sept. 30 of this year.

“Interviews with sick people show that 75 per cent of people ate ate raw onions or dishes likely containing raw onions before they became sick,” the CDC says in a statement. 

 Symptoms of salmonella include diarrhoea, fever and stomach cramps that start six hours to six days after eating contaminated food.

The Food and Drug Administration and the CDC, together with local  authorities, have launched an investigation into the matter. 

Frank Yiannas, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for food policy and response, says “We are issuing this update early in our investigation as part of our continued commitment to transparency and early communication”.

Meanwhile, ProSource has agreed to recall all onions it had imported from Chihuahua between July 1 and Aug 27, the FDA statement says. 

***********************************************************************

Readers

These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.

Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world.  We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.

Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.

In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.

For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com