Shoppers club card aids in identifying source of multi-state Salmonella outbreak.
You know those shopper club savings cards that grocery stores use to track your purchases and construct a profile of your shopping habits? The ones you fumble through your wallet or purse to find, while people in line behind you sigh and roll their eyes?
Well, it turns out they may serve a useful purpose after all.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is currently tracking an outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis that so far has affected 42 individuals across 5 states. And, thanks in part to those privacy-invading shopping cards, the outbreak has been linked to Turkish pine nuts, sold in bulk and used in prepared foods at Wegmans grocery stores.
Early in the investigation, a number of individuals who’d fallen ill granted public health officials permission to retrieve information from their shopping profiles. The profiles revealed a common purchase — the same type of pine nuts, bought at different stores in the Wegmans chain. Laboratory analyses of the nuts confirmed them as the source of the outbreak.
To date, no deaths have been reported but 2 persons have been hospitalized.
Wegmans Food Markets has issued a recall of the Turkish Pine Nuts sold in its New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia stores.
For those who purchased the recalled product, CDC has the following advice:
- Consumers should check their homes, including refrigerators and freezers, for Turkish pine nuts purchased from bulk bins at Wegmans stores between July 1, 2011 and October 18, 2011 and not eat them. Consumers should also not eat any foods prepared with the recalled product, including pesto, salads, and baked goods.
- Restaurants and food service operators should not serve the recalled product.
- Consumers, retailers, and others who have any of the recalled product should dispose of it in a closed plastic bag placed in a sealed trash can. This will prevent people or animals from eating it.
- Persons who think they might have become ill from eating possibly contaminated recalled products should consult their health care providers. Infants, older adults, and persons with impaired immune systems are more likely than others to develop severe illness.
