More than 50 additional people have been confirmed with Salmonella infections since July 17, and some of the implicated pasta salad from Hy-Vee stores does not expire until tomorrow.
With 79 people from nine states now confirmed as infected, federal officials renewed warnings about the recalled pasta salad and urged consumers to check their homes for unused portions of the product.
“Do not eat recalled Hy-Vee Spring Pasta Salad. Return it to the store for a refund or throw it away. Even if some of it was eaten and no one got sick, do not eat it,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention repeated in its Wednesday outbreak update.
Eighteen of the victims have had such severe symptoms that they had to be admitted to hospitals, according to the CDC. The agency reported on July 18 that 21 people in five states were confirmed in the outbreak. No deaths have been reported.
Even more illnesses are probable, according to the CDC, because people who developed symptoms after July 8 have likely not all been reported to federal officials. For Salmonella infections, there is a lag time of two to four weeks between the time a person becomes sick and when their illness is confirmed and reported to the CDC.
Public health records show the illnesses started on dates ranging from June 21 through July 15. The infected people range in age from 1 year to 89 years old.
“State and local health officials continue to interview ill people and ask questions about the foods they ate and other exposures in the week before they became ill,” according to the CDC’s update.
“Forty-seven, or 80 percent, of 59 people interviewed reported eating Spring Pasta Salad from Hy-Vee grocery stores in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and South Dakota. The ill people in North Dakota and Tennessee traveled to states where Hy-Vee grocery stores are located.”
The expiration dates for the recalled pasta salad range from June 22 through Aug. 3 (tomorrow). Hy-Vee sold the pasta salad in 1-pound (16-ounce) and 3-pound (48-ounce) plastic containers. It also may have been scooped at the deli counter into clear plastic containers. It was sold in all Hy-Vee grocery stores in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
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