CHICAGO — Federal regulators are a step closer to solving a widespread outbreak of salmonella after two Adobo Grill restaurants in Chicago were identified as the source of nine cases of the illness that has sickened at least 383 people in 30 states.
The Chicago Department of Public Health on Wednesday identified the Adobo Grill outlets in Wicker Park and Old Town as the source of a cluster of nine salmonella cases that were disclosed Friday.
Coincidentally, David Acheson, a top U.S. Food and Drug Administration official, has had his agency focusing on a cluster of nine cases that originated at two restaurants within the same chain and in a similar in location.
With such a cluster, the FDA hopes to track tainted tomatoes through the supply chain to the source of the salmonella bug. While the FDA has said Mexico or Florida are the most likely origins of the ongoing outbreak, it still doesn’t know where it started.
Federal health officials Wednesday announced an updated outbreak toll of 383, after learning of 106 more cases.
On Wednesday, Acheson again declined to comment on whether the nine cases in Chicago are the same ones the FDA is targeting. Still, in an interview with the Chicago Tribune this week, Acheson noted, “We have talked about only one cluster, and to date we are aware of one cluster only.”
The Chicago cluster of salmonella cases has been the only one to surface. It looks like the FDA and the city “are talking about the same thing,” said Tim Hadac, a spokesman for the Chicago Public Health Department.
The Health Department forwarded the findings of its salmonella investigation to the FDA, Hadac said. He said the Health Department didn’t disclose Adobo Grill’s name earlier because doing so would have generated “false leads,” which could have hindered the city’s _ and ultimately the FDA’s _ investigation.
Of the 17 tomato-related salmonella cases detected in Chicago, six occurred at the Adobo Grill’s Wicker Park location, three at its Old Town restaurant. The Adobo Grill, which also has outlets in Lombard and Indianapolis, features Mexican food, and many of its dishes include fresh tomatoes or salsa.
Paul LoDuca, Adobo Grill’s owner, said in a statement that the restaurant was the “unknowing victim” of tomatoes contaminated with salmonella.
“Just like the people across the country who have been sickened from eating the contaminated tomatoes, Adobo Grill was an unknowing victim of the problem,” he said. “When purchasing produce for use at the restaurant, there is no way to know whether it may harbor salmonella bacteria.”
The city’s Health Department said Adobo Grill fully cooperated in its investigation, and that both of its Chicago restaurants are in compliance with food safety regulations.
Salmonella causes diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps, and while it sometimes causes hospitalizations _ at least 48 in this outbreak _ it’s not often fatal. A rare strain of the salmonella bacteria began sickening people in mid-April. By late May, classic red round tomatoes were linked to it, as well as Roma tomatoes.
Last week, those types of tomatoes disappeared from many restaurants and grocery stores after the FDA advised that they not be sold unless they came from certain areas. As that list of safe states and countries began to grow, tomatoes begun reappearing this week.
The outbreak has been a particularly tough one for the FDA to crack because it has been so widespread, affected people who have frequented a variety of restaurants and who bought tomatoes at myriad grocery stores.
The FDA has had to rely on disparate recollections from victims, with little thread tying the cases so far. But a cluster of illness at one location allows FDA investigators to essentially go up the supply chain, moving from the restaurant involved to distributors and eventually packing houses or growers.
“I’m optimistic this cluster can help us,” Acheson said earlier this week about the nine cases the FDA is focusing on.
Comments