Wholesale market Costco has announced a recall of rotisserie chicken salad after a multi-state E. coli outbreak. So far, the dangerous bacteria has been linked to seven states including California, Washington, Montana, Colorado, Utah, Missouri, and Virginia. The investigation is being handled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). In addition, the health departments of those individual states are also aiding in the investigation.
So far, sixteen people have been sickened with E. coli. Of those sixteen, fourteen people ate rotisserie chicken salad purchased from Costco one week before they became sick. Of those individuals, the CDC is reporting that five have been hospitalized and that two have developed a type of kidney failure. No deaths have been reported.
Even though the number is relatively small, officials are worried since Costco sells their products in bulk and some people may have purchased the items for large groups such as holiday parties. This is also the same strain of E. coli that was linked to some Chipotle Mexican Grills in October of this year.
Costco is pulling all of their rotisserie chicken salad off the shelves and has stopped production on the product until the source can be identified. If you have purchased the rotisserie chicken salad from Costco on or before November 20, 2015, then you should throw it away. Even if you have already eaten some and no one has gotten ill, the CDC is still recommending that you throw it out.