Salmonellosis, serotype Cubana, sprouts - Canada: alert, recall

Date: Tue 18 Aug 2009
Source: Canadian Cattlemen [edited]
<http://www.canadiancattlemen.ca/issues/ISArticle.asp?aid=1000338217&PC=FBC&issue=08172009>


Onion and alfalfa sprouts distributed by a Brantford, Ontario food
company are suspected as carriers of a rare subtype of salmonella
that has sickened 12 people in Ontario and Alberta since April 2009.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency [CFIA] on 9 Aug 2009 put out a
health hazard alert for Sprouts Alive and Sunsprout brand onion
sprouts and mixed onion/alfalfa sprouts, distributed by Sunsprout
Natural Foods. CFIA said on 9 Aug 2009 that there were no confirmed
illnesses directly tied to the consumption of the affected products.
However, Sunsprout has announced a voluntary recall of the 2 affected
products, with best-before codes up to and including 27 Aug 2009.

The products were distributed in Ontario and the Maritimes, and may
have been sold in Quebec, CFIA said.

"A few" of the people who became ill reported having eaten sprouts,
Ontario's health ministry said in a release Friday [14 Aug 2009]. The
ministry added that it's working with local and federal health
authorities to try to find out the source of the illness in the
remaining cases. The rare subtype in all these cases is _Salmonella
[enterica_ serotype] Cubana, which the ministry said is typically
confirmed in just a couple of reported cases in Ontario each year.

According to the federal Public Health Agency [PHAC] last Thursday
[13 Aug 2009], there have so far been 7 cases of Cubana in Ontario
and 5 in Alberta in which the date of the illness' onset is known. Of
those, the illnesses began between 15 Apr 2009 and 26 Jul 2009.

Provincial and federal health authorities plan to monitor for
additional cases, PHAC said, noting that the number of cases
associated with this relatively small outbreak may increase as the
investigation continues.