Dive Brief:
- The E. coli outbreak linked to Costco's chicken salad has ceased, but the FDA has yet to confirm the ingredient that was the source of the outbreak.
- FDA tested one of the five samples tested by Montana officials that pointed to a fresh-cut celery and onion mix produced by Taylor Farms Pacific Inc. as the culprit, but the agency's own testing did not find E. coli in the sample. FDA reported on Dec. 11 that it could not confirm the results of the Montana officials' tests.
- Taylor Farms took this as the green light to begin shipping out their celery-onion mix and other products once again, which the company recalled late last month, though FDA officials believe undetected pathogens could have been in the mix.
Dive Insight:
"PCR positives may not always be confirmed because, ... the bacteria in question may be in very low numbers and hard to isolate or perhaps have died off by the time confirmation testing was done," according to the FDA.
The outbreak had spread to seven states and sickened 19 people beginning Oct. 6. The most recent person associated with sickness caused by the outbreak was reported on Nov. 3, according to the CDC. Five people were hospitalized, and two suffered kidney failure.
A recent CDC report found that food was the primary mode of transportation for outbreaks of E. coli O157 in the U.S. from 2003 to 2012, accounting for 65% of 390 outbreaks in that time period. Beef was implicated the most at 20%, followed by leafy vegetables at 7%, and dairy at 4%.
Earlier this year, reports surfaced that faster E. coli detection tests were in development, which could detect the pathogen in less than 24 hours, much faster than the current average test, which could take more than 48 hours to produce results.