E. coli O121 outbreak linked to Farm Rich snacks grows to 27 cases

In a follow-up to a report last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the multistate outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O121 (STEC O121) linked to Farm Rich brand frozen snack products has now sickened 27 people in 15 states, according to a CDC outbreak report April 5.

Image/CDC

The three new cases have been reported from Illinois (1), Michigan (1) and New York (1) since the initial investigation report on March 30.

Eight people required hospitalization for their illnesses, no deaths have been reported.

According to the investigation, twenty (100%) of 20 ill persons interviewed reported consuming frozen food products. Ten (63%) of 16 ill persons reported consuming Farm Rich brand frozen food products.

Testing conducted by the Outbreaks Section of the USDA-FSIS Eastern Laboratory identified the outbreak strain of STEC O121 from individually wrapped Farm Rich brand frozen mini pizza slices from an opened package collected from an ill person’s home in Texas.

On April 4, 2013, Rich Products Corporation expanded its recall to include all Farm Rich, Market Day, and Schwan’s brand frozen food products produced at its Waycross, Georgia plant between July 1, 2011 and March 29, 2013 due to possible contamination with E. coli O121.

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