Health Law

Subway Apologizes to Salmonella Outbreak Victims

By Dan Flynn and Suzanna Schreck

The Illinois Department of Public Health has now identified 80 people between the ages of 2 and 79 who ate food purchased from various Illinois Subway restaurants and are confirmed Salmonella outbreak victims. 

Subway spokesman Kevin Kane issued an apology to Salmonella outbreak victims yesterday:  "We sincerely apologize to all Subway customers, those who have fallen ill, and those who now may hesitate to come back for a while.  We are truly sorry for the difficulty this situation has caused you, our customer, and are working diligently to solve this mystery and to regain your trust."

The Subway restaurant chain pulled fresh lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, and other produce from restaurants on June 3.

"While we are committed to work with the health department to pin down a specific cause, people should know that we are confident that it is safe to eat in our restaurants," Kane continued.  "Any produce in question was removed a few weeks ago and we have been using new, fresh produce."

Public health officials from the Illinois Department of Public Health, local health departments, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have yet to announce the source of the Salmonella hvittingfoss outbreak among customers of various Subway restaurants throughout the state. 

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, cases have reported eating at Subway restaurants in 26 counties--Bureau, Cass, Champaign, Christian, Coles, Dekalb, DeWitt, Fulton, Henry, Knox, LaSalle, Livingston, Macon, Marshall, McLean, Moultrie, Ogle, Peoria, Sangamon, Schuyler, Shelby, Tazewell, Vermilion, Warren, Will and Winnebago.

Illinois Department of Public Health states the investigation is ongoing and numbers will be updated if additional cases are identified.

Full post as published by Food Safety News on June 17, 2010 (boomark / email).