The Salmonella outbreak linked to dried coconut has ended after sickening 14 people in eight states and hospitalizing three of them, according to the final report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). No fatalities were reported.
The bulk packages of International Harvest, Inc. brand Go Smiles Dried Coconut Raw were distributed to and sometimes repackaged by grocery stores and may have been made available to customers in bulk bins. On March 16, a recall was issued by International Harvest, Inc., Vitamin Cottage Natural Food Markets, Inc. issued a recall on March 19.
Public health officials used whole genome sequencing (WGS) to confirm that Salmonella isolates from the patients closely matched those isolated from the recalled product. One of the 13 isolates from case-patients was antibiotic resistant.
Illnesses were reported from September 22, 2017 to February 26, 2018. Sixty-two percent of the case-patients, who ranged in age from 1 to 73 years, were female. Eight of them reported purchasing the dried coconut from grocery stores. Of those, four said they bought the recalled coconut from various locations of Natural Grocers stores.
Investigation of Coconut Salmonella Outbreak
Investigators from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) collected samples of leftover dried coconut from case-patients’ homes and from grocery stores. The outbreak strain was found in an opened, leftover sample, an unopened sample of the coconut from a grocery store, and from coconut collected from International Harvest, Inc.
ill people’s homes, as well as dried coconut from Natural Grocers store locations where ill people shopped and from the Natural Grocers’ Distribution Center. FDA testing identified the outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium in an unopened sample of Natural Grocers Coconut Smiles Organic collected from Natural Grocers. The outbreak strain was also identified in an opened, leftover sample of Natural Grocers Coconut Smiles Organic collected from an ill person’s home.
The Salmonella attorneys at Pritzker Hageman represent clients nationwide who have been sickened by contaminated food. To reach them for a consultation about your Salmonella illness, use this online form or call 1(888) 377-8900 (toll-free).
