Chicken salad has been found to be the source of Salmonella that sickened 320 inmates at a county jail in New York.
The incident is the second largest Salmonella outbreak in state history, according to Broome County Health Department Medical Director Dr. Lazarus Gehring. Out of 450 inmates at the Broome County Correctional Facility, 320 have been diagnosed with a Salmonella infection. Four were admitted to the hospital.
The inmates were served chicken salad between `May 15 and 25. Laboratory tests showed the chicken salad was contaminated with Salmonella. It is standard operating procedure for samples of all food served at the jail to be held for testing.
“Within eight hours, multiple days of food sources were sent to Wadsworth lab in Albany for testing and we began to gather community resources. We managed to turn the Broome County correctional facility into the second largest hospital in Broome County,” Gehring said.
Broome County and Sheriff Fred Akshar have been served with a class action lawsuit related to the outbreak.
“We were faced with an unprecedented challenge from a correctional facility standpoint. But what you have seen since the onset of this issue has truly been a world-class response,” Akshar said.
Akshar said he does not comment on pending litigation, but it comes as no surprise that the lawsuit would be filed. He said activity in the jail has gone back to normal.
