Homegrown Link in E. coli Outbreak

King 5 News reports that Seattle and King County public health officials are investigating an E.coli outbreak at several Homegrown restaurants in the Seattle area.

Officials say four people have tested positive for Shiga-producing E. coli (STEC) after eating food at three different Homegrown restaurants in King County: Redmond, Kirkland, and Seattle at the Westlake Avenue location.

All four people – three adults and one child – ate the chicken pesto chicken sandwich during April 24-26, 2018. Victims suffered abdominal cramps and diarrhea, with one person reporting they had bloody diarrhea.

Health investigators inspected the three Homegrown locations and identified potential risk factors, such as handwashing facilities violations at two of three locations and a cold holding temperature violation at one of them. All three restaurants were required to complete a thorough cleaning and disinfection.

Investigators were also looking into the various ingredients of the chicken pesto sandwich. Since then, all Homegrown locations in King County have stopped selling the chicken pesto sandwich during the investigation.

Republished with permission from Bill Marler and Marler Clark. Copyright (c) Marler Clark LLP, PS. All rights reserved.