Health department: Salmonella linked to Costco warehouse

A salmonellosis outbreak associated with food preparation in a Costco warehouse service deli is being investigated by Public Health – Seattle and King County.

Since Aug. 28, 2017, seven people became sick after shopping at the Issaquah Costco warehouse. Of those, five bought ready-to-eat food from the service deli, health officials said. One of the others was a Costco service deli employee and the last person couldn’t verify their food purchase history.

There is no evidence that the service deli employee is the source of the outbreak, according to the health department.

“DNA fingerprinting was performed on the Salmonella bacteria from the seven people who got sick and was identical for all cases, suggesting a common source of infection,” according to a statement from Public Health’s website. “Illness onsets occurred sporadically during August 28, 2017, through July 13, 2018, and a common epidemiological (sic) link among all cases was not established until August 2018.”

No single food item prepared by the service deli was identified as the source of the illnesses.

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“As part of the Public Health investigation, Environmental Health investigators visited Costco Wholesale Warehouse in Issaquah on August 7, 2018,” according to the Public Health statement. “Investigators identified potential risk factors for cross contamination and spread of bacteria, including inconsistent handwashing practices and improper cleaning and sanitizing of surfaces that touch foods. Corrective actions were addressed with Costco Issaquah management, including food handling procedure changes, retraining employees on food safety practices, and documenting appropriate cleaning and sanitizing practices.”

Investigators went back on Aug. 30 to ensure corrective actions had been addressed, and investigators “again identified concerns for inconsistent handwashing practices and improper cleaning and sanitizing of surfaces that touch foods.”

Corrective actions also were addressed with the Costco management.

“On September 19, 2018, Environmental Health investigators asked Costco Issaquah's service deli to temporarily stop preparing ready-to-eat foods that would not be cooked further by the customer in order to reevaluate food handling practices and procedures,” according to the Health Department statement. “On September 20, 2018, investigators visited the facility and identified further areas for improvement to limit cross contamination. The facility was instructed to provide additional food handling training to service deli employees to minimize the risk of cross contamination, such as hand washing and sanitation of surfaces where foods are prepared and stored. In addition, completion of a deep cleaning and disinfection of the service deli was required before resuming preparing and selling of ready-to-eat foods.”

The Issaquah Costco provided sufficient evidence of a thorough disinfection and corrective actions on September 21, so the service deli was allowed to resume its normal food preparation operations, health department officials said.

Another follow-up visit is expected by Oct. 5.

The photo included with this article is a stock image of Costco, not the Issaquah location.

Cox Media Group