FDA: Red onion salmonella outbreak over; investigation isn’t

The Food and Drug Administration has declared the Salmonella Newport outbreak that was likely caused by red onions from Thomson International Inc. is over.

In the U.S., 1,127 people became ill from eating the onions, according to the FDA/Centers for Disease Control and prevention. The Canadian investigation into the 515 cases of Salmonella Newport in that country was closed Oct. 2.

The FDA worked with the California Department of Food and Agriculture and California Department of Public Health conducted field-level investigations at multiple Thomson International locations within days of its onions being linked to the illnesses, according to the FDA’s Oct. 8 update.

By that time, however, most of the onions had been shipped by then.

“Thus far, FDA has completed over 2,000 product and environmental analyses from multiple Thomson International Inc. locations and surrounding areas, including water, soil, and scat samples,” according to the FDA release. “Although a variety of genetic strains of Salmonella Newport have been detected, as well as multiple other Salmonella serotypes, a genetic match to the outbreak strain has yet to be identified in any of the samples collected.”

The FDA is continuing a root cause investigation and additional analysis of samples is underway, according to the update.

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