Salmonella outbreak widens as 22 fall ill across four states

A widening salmonella investigation has put federal health officials on alert after contaminated broccoli sprouts sickened dozens of people across four states.

Cases and health response

The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the outbreak traces back to a single grower in Idaho, and the case count keeps climbing as more illnesses surface.

What began as a handful of scattered reports in the Pacific Northwest has grown into a multistate salmonella concern that health officials are treating with real urgency.

Investigators first noticed a pattern in Washington state, where more than a dozen people fell ill after eating sprouts purchased from grocery stores, food co-ops and even a handful of restaurants.

As lab testing expanded, additional cases turned up in Montana, Idaho and Utah, pushing the confirmed total past 20 across all four states combined.

The illnesses stretch back to early July and continued through late August, meaning the exposure window for this salmonella strain has been open far longer than most consumers realized.

Traceback work eventually pointed investigators to Evergreen Fresh Sprouts, a grower based in Moyie Springs, Idaho, that supplied broccoli sprouts to multiple retailers and restaurants across the region.