In an investigation update posted Friday, June 5, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that unopened frozen ground tuna products tested by the Arizona State Public Health Laboratory, working with the Maricopa County (Phoenix) Environmental Services Department, had found Salmonella Newport in one sample and Salmonella Weltevreden in another sample. The unopened frozen ground tuna products represented two different lots of product imported from Indonesia by Osamu Corporation of Gardena, CA, CDC stated. On May 27, Osamu Corporation recalled the two lots of ground frozen yellowfin tuna imported from Indonesia and distributed in California and Arizona due to possible Salmonella contamination. The company’s recall announcement includes a seven-page retail distribution list of restaurants and sushi bars in California where the recalled product had been distributed. CDC is advising restaurants and retailers not to sell or serve the recalled ground frozen yellowfin tuna imported from Indonesia by Osamu Corporation. However, CDC stated that a search of the PulseNet database did not identify any known human illnesses linked to the tuna recall. State health departments continue to test samples of raw tuna products, but the strain of Salmonella Paratyphi B variant L(+) tartrate(+) (formally known as Salmonella Java) linked to the outbreak has not been identified. Friday’s CDC update stated that as, as of June 4, a total of 53 people infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Paratyphi B variant L(+) tartrate(+) have been reported from nine states. Ten of those people have been hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported. The reported cases are in Arizona (10), California (31), Illinois (1), Mississippi (1), New Mexico (6), South Dakota (1), Virginia (1), Washington (1), and Wisconsin (1). Most of those sickened in the outbreak reported eating sushi made with raw tuna in the week before becoming ill, CDC noted.
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