Minnesota Salmonellosis Outbreak Linked to Frozen Chicken Entrees
According to Minnesota health and agriculture officials, two recent outbreaks of salmonellosis (Salmonella poisoning) in Minnesota have been linked to frozen, pre-browned, single-serving, microwaveable, stuffed chicken entrees. One Minnesota salmonellosis outbreak sickened 26 people; the other, 3 people.
Investigators used a genetic subtyping process - "genetic fingerprinting" - to determined the number of salmonellosis cases linked to each outbreak. They also used the same process on leftover stuffed-chicken entrees in victims' freezers to determine that the chicken was the source of the outbreaks. To learn more about genetic fingerprinting of Salmonella, please see "Minneapolis, Minnesota Lawyer: Salmonella and Subtyping."
According to Minnesota Department of Agriculture Dairy and Food Inspection Director Kevin Elfering, "The frozen chicken entrees in these outbreaks are breaded, pre-browned and individually wrapped, so it's likely most ill consumers mistakenly assumed they have been precooked. Although the wrapper includes instructions to fully cook the product, some consumers might have overlooked that information and simply heated it in a microwave."
To help prevent more Salmonella cases, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is urging people not to microwave raw chicken even if it is labeled microwaveable. The MDA also recommends adequate hand washing and keeping raw meat away from raw produce.
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