Food safety attorney breaks down latest E. coli outbreak found in organic walnuts

Kasia Gregorczyk
·2 min read

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Two people in San Diego County have been impacted by an E. coli outbreak linked to walnuts. In San Francisco, the family of a nine-year-old boy is taking legal action due to the same outbreak.

Those walnuts were sold in 10 natural food stores and co-ops throughout San Diego County. Leading food safety attorney Bill Marler commented on the somewhat surprising outbreak.

“When I first heard it was walnuts, I was like walnuts?” Marler said.

He says while this outbreak is unusual, it’s not unprecedented.

“There was a walnut related E. coli outbreak in 2011 in Canada that sickened 14 people and unfortunately killed someone and those walnuts also came from California,” Marler said.

In this current outbreak, the contaminated walnuts from Gibson Farms were sold in several states and led to 12 people getting ill. Seven people needed to be hospitalized.

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“These 12 people all share the same genetic fingerprint of the E. coli that was found in them and that tells you that they all came from the same source,” Marler said.

Half of the illnesses were in California, including two in San Diego.

“Walnuts are grown outside. Some of them may have fallen on the ground during harvest. If that orchard has a wild pig intrusion or deer, they can carry the same pathogenic E. coli that cattle do,” Marler explained.

The county says 10 local stores that carried the nuts have now removed the recalled walnuts typically sold in bulk and disinfected those storage bins.

Those stores include:

  • Jimbos Naturally in San Diego (4S Ranch and Carmel Valley), Carlsbad and Escondido

  • Lazy Acres Market in San Diego and Carlsbad

  • Ocean Beach Co-op

  • Frazier Farms Market in La Mesa and Vista

  • Sun Organic Farm in San Marcos

If you bought organic walnut halves or pieces from bulk containers, you are urged to check if they are part of the recall and get rid of them.

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