An E. coli outbreak linked to clover sprouts sold at Jimmy John’s and elsewhere has expanded to include 39 illnesses in six states. Two people have been hospitalized. Twenty-five new cases – all but one of them in Utah have been reported since the last update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on February 26, 2020.
The people sickened in this outbreak range in age from 1 to 79 years old. They reported the onset of symptoms on dates from January 6, 2020, to March 2, 2020. Many of them reported eating sprouts in the week before they became ill. Fourteen of them said they ate sprouts on sandwiches they purchased from Jimmy John’s restaurants.
Jimmy John’s has since stopped serving sprouts.
In addition to sprouts sold at Jimmy John’s, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also identified the outbreak strain of E. coli O103 in sprout samples of Chicago Indoor Garden products containing sprouts.
On March 13, 2020, the FDA issued a recommendation that consumers should not eat five products from Chicago Indoor Graden that contain red clover sprouts: sprout salad, mixed greens, spring salad and red clover (with and without non-GMO labels). The products have “best by” dates ranging from December 1, 2019, to March 12, 2020.
Three days after the FDA issued the recommendation, Chicago Indoor, which produces freshly sprouted beans, greens and grasses including clover sprouts issued a recall for those products.
In its most recent update about the outbreak, the FDA revealed that a common seed lot was used to grow the sprouts in products recalled by Chicago Indoor Garden, the sprouts linked to illnesses reported from Jimmy John’s customers and the sprouts that were the source of a 2019 clover sprout E. coli outbreak linked to Jimmy John’s. The FDA has not disclosed the name of the seed supplier.
The E. coli lawyers at Pritzker Hageman represent clients sickened by contaminated food. If you would like to request a free consultation with our E. coli Team, call us at 1-888-377-8900, text us at 612-261-0856 or, fill out the form below.