Salmonella Outbreak Information
UPDATE (6/19):
Central District Health Department gave us the green light to resume food production in our Deli at noon today. The first things to be up and running are the coffee bar, juice and smoothie bar, and some deli meats and cheeses. We do not expect to return to full production until Monday, June 22nd.
We are confident that we have taken steps to ensure the safety of food prepared in our Deli. The wellbeing of our customers is our highest priority. We want to prove to the Boise Co-op Community that we are a destination for food that is clean, safe, healthy, and delicious.
We deeply regret any illnesses that have resulted from the Salmonella outbreak. If you are experiencing symptoms of foodborne illness, please visit a health care professional and fill out a report with the CDHD. Give Mo a call at 208.472.4541if you have an illness resulting from this outbreak and we have not heard from you yet.
If you purchased any deli food after June 1st, please discard it immediately and see Customer Service for a full refund. At this point, the CDHD has found no evidence of salmonella contamination in any other store departments.
The investigation with CDHD is ongoing as we await lab results. We will continue to post updates on our website as more information becomes available. If you need to get in touch with us, please call Mo Valko at 208.472.4541 or email her at mo@boise.coop
Thank you for your patience, understanding, and support.
UPDATE (6/18):
This week we have been contacting as many of our customers as possible to inform them of the Salmonella outbreak. If you purchased from the Deli in the last couple of weeks, you may have seen an email and/or an alert in the mail from us detailing the information we have about the outbreak. If you have not yet contacted the store and have questions or concerns about the outbreak, please contact Mo Valko at 208.472.4541 or mo@boise.coop
We are continuing to work closely with the Central District Health Department (CDHD) to make sure that we are doing everything we can to prevent this outbreak from spreading or a similar outbreak from recurring. We still do not have a confirmed source of Salmonella and are awaiting the lab results.
Things seem different in the Co-op with the normally-bustling deli closed, but that doesn’t mean there’s any less going on. Normal kitchen activity has ceased, and we’re using this opportunity to do some thorough cleaning, organizing, re-structuring, and re-training. So, instead of laboring over hot stoves and ovens as normal, our dedicated deli crew is scrubbing out cases, steam-cleaning appliances, sanitizing, and then sanitizing a second time.
We are also making a few changes in the layout of the Deli kitchen. CDHD supports these changes, and added some great suggestions for us, which we are implementing. For example, we are adding an additional hand washing sink to increase workflow efficiency, and adding color-coded cutting boards for different types of food preparation.
After we completely emptied the kitchen of all food and ingredients, we got right to work sanitizing every single appliance, surface, and kitchenware. It took quite a bit of time, but we finished yesterday and are already well into our second round of sanitization – going back over everything we have already cleaned, just to be safe.
We deeply regret any illnesses that have resulted from this outbreak. If you are experiencing symptoms of foodborne illness, please visit a health care professional and fill out a report with the CDHD. Give Mo a call at 208.472.4541 if you have an illness resulting from this outbreak and we have not heard from you yet.
If you purchased any deli food after June 1st, please discard it immediately and see Customer Service for a full refund. At this point, the CDHD has found no evidence of salmonella contamination in any other store departments.
We will continue to post updates on our website as more information becomes available. If you need to get in touch with us, please call Mo Valko at 208.472.4541 or email her at mo@boise.coop
UPDATE (6/16):
Dear Boise Co-op Community:
The safety of our customers and staff is extremely important to us, so it pains us to share information concerning recalled product from our store that could impact your health.
What our customers need to know:
Central District Health Department (CDHD) informed us on June 15th that their lab results confirmed the presence of Salmonella in several foods from our Deli. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the foodborne illness Salmonella causes diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection.
Upon receiving this new information, we voluntarily closed our Deli and disposed of all foods prepared herein. As an added precaution, any foods purchased from our Deli after June 1, 2015 should be discarded. Please see Customer Service for a refund.
Foods that were found to be contaminated include tomatoes, onions, and raw turkey. These were foods coming out of the Deli, not our Produce department.
According to CDHD, the salmonella contamination of the raw produce is a result of possible cross-contamination in our Deli department.
What we’re doing for our customers:
Currently, we are working with CDHD to make sure that we are doing everything we can to ensure safe food handling practices and root out the source of this contamination
We will regularly post updated information to our website, but if you have specific questions, you can email mo@boise.coop.
What you should do for yourself:
Pay close attention to symptoms of foodborne illness, which can be found on the CDC website here.
If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, visit a health care professional.
Report your foodborne illness symptoms by calling the CDHD at 208-327-7499 or fill out a report online here.
We deeply regret any illnesses resulting from this outbreak. We will continue to post updates on our website as more information becomes available.
Sincerely,
The Boise Co-op
UPDATE (6/15): We are voluntarily closing our Deli due to the salmonella outbreak investigation currently underway with the Central District Health Department (CDHD). These cases have now been confirmed as linked to food prepared in our Deli. As an added precaution, any foods purchased from our Deli after June 1, 2015 should be discarded. Please see Customer Service for a refund.
If you have any questions or to report food poisoning, please contact the CDHD at 208-327-7499.
We deeply regret any illnesses resulting from this outbreak. We will continue to post updates on our website as more information becomes available. Thank you for your understanding and patience.
UPDATE (6/13): The CDHD released this information regarding the outbreak.
The Central District Health Department (CDHD) informed the Boise Co-op that there is a salmonella outbreak in the area. The CDHD performed inspections over a two day period at Boise Co-op and found no health code violations during this time. The investigation is ongoing and we are taking it very seriously. We are working closely with the CDHD to ensure they have all the information they need. These incidents appear to be related to food consumed between June 1 and June 7, 2015. If you are experiencing symptoms of salmonella poisoning, it is very important that you see a healthcare provider as soon as possible. You can report cases of food poisoning at CDHD’s website HERE. More information about salmonella is available HERE.