ST. PAUL -- The Minnesota Department of Health and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture have identified tomatoes as the source of the Salmonella Newport outbreak that sickened dozens of people who ate at Chipotle restaurants in Minnesota in mid- to late August. Investigators are still working with state and federal partners to trace the tomatoes back to the farm of origin.
The company has switched suppliers for its tomatoes and implicated product was removed from stores. Officials said there is no longer any risk from the product at Chipotle restaurants.
Since the outbreak was reported last week, additional illnesses have been confirmed with the total rising to 64 cases at 22 locations. Nine people were hospitalized and all are recovering, said the health department. The people who ate the tomatoes been Aug. 16 and Aug. 28 ranged in age from 10 to 69 and were from 13 metro counties and several in greater Minnesota.
“We expected to see additional cases because it can take up to 10 days for symptoms of Salmonella to appear, another few days to a week before people go to their doctors and the cases get reported to us,” said health department epidemiologist Dana Eikmeier.
