The outbreak in the news this week is a Salmonella outbreak, not an E. coli outbreak. It belongs on this blog anyway, because the company at the center of it is the same Idaho sprouter that caused a multistate E. coliO121 outbreak twelve years ago — and because both times, most of the sick people were in Washington.
FDA and CDC reported on September 9 that 22 people in four states have been infected with SalmonellaBovismorbificans from broccoli sprouts grown by Evergreen Fresh Sprouts, LLC of Moyie Springs, Idaho. Two have been hospitalized. Illnesses began between July 7 and August 26, 2026. The company recalled broccoli sprouts on September 4.
Washington has 16 of the 22 illnesses
CDC’s state counts are Washington 16, Montana 4, Idaho 1 and Utah 1. Washington alone accounts for seventy-three percent of the outbreak, and the grower is not even in Washington.
The Washington State Department of Health posted the first public notice on September 2, when the state count was thirteen, spread across seven counties — King, Whatcom, Spokane, Skagit, Snohomish, Walla Walla and Yakima. Washington interviewed twelve of those thirteen patients. Eight reported eating Evergreen sprouts, seven of them broccoli sprouts, and the eighth could not recall the variety. The state count has since grown to sixteen. Montana reported two cases on September 3 and now has four.
In 2014 the same grower caused an E. coli O121 outbreak, and Washington had 11 of the 19
CDC’s final update on that outbreak, issued August 1, 2014, counted 19 people infected with Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O121 in six states: Washington 11, Idaho 3, Montana 2, and one each in California, Michigan and Utah. Illnesses began between May 1 and May 20, 2014. Seven of the sixteen patients with available information — forty-four percent — were hospitalized. No one developed hemolytic uremic syndrome and no one died.
The vehicle was raw clover sprouts. Thirteen of sixteen people interviewed had eaten them, against a background rate of no more than eight percent, most of them on sandwiches at Jimmy John’s, Pita Pit and Daanen’s Deli locations in Washington and Idaho. FDA’s traceback found that Evergreen had supplied sprouts to seven restaurants where nine of the sick people ate. Early in the investigation, Washington reported five cases in Spokane County and two in King County, with three more in Kootenai County, Idaho.
FDA inspected the Moyie Springs facility on May 22 and 23, May 27 through 30, and June 6, 2014. The Form 483 from that inspection recorded condensate and irrigation water dripping from rusty valves, tennis rackets with scratches and frayed plastic used to scoop sprouts, and a corroded pitchfork used to move them. No product was recalled in 2014, and the company kept producing clover sprouts from the same seed lot for weeks after the outbreak was announced. Our contemporaneous coverage is here.
The 2026 outbreak is happening in four states. All four of them were in the 2014 outbreak.
Put the two case maps side by side. The 2026 outbreak is in Washington, Montana, Idaho and Utah. The 2014 outbreak was in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Utah, California and Michigan. Every state with an illness this year had one twelve years ago, from the same grower, from a different variety of sprout, with a different organism.
That is not a coincidence, and it is not evidence of anything sinister either. It is a distribution footprint. A sprouter in the Idaho panhandle sells into the inland Northwest and the markets around it, and when something goes wrong in the growing room, the illnesses land where the trucks go. Washington is the largest market in that footprint, which is why Washington keeps absorbing the majority of the cases.
Two organisms, one process
Sprouts are one of the few foods that will produce outbreaks of Salmonella and E. coli from the same facility, and the reason is the process rather than the organism. Seeds are soaked and then held for days in warm, humid conditions, which is close to an ideal incubator for whatever bacteria arrived on the seed. A few cells on a seed coat become millions in the finished product. Whether those cells are Shiga toxin-producing E. coli or Salmonella is largely an accident of what contaminated the seed lot in the field.
This is why the questions worth asking after a sprout outbreak are almost always upstream questions: what seed lot, from which supplier, treated how, and was the spent irrigation water tested during the runs that made people sick. In this outbreak, none of that is public yet. There is a second sprout outbreak running right now, unrelated to this one and involving a different company, in which three Shiga toxin-producing E. coliserogroups and a Salmonella serotype all came out of alfalfa sprouts traced to a single seed lot. Same lesson, different growing room.
Marler Clark sued this company after the 2014 outbreak
Marler Clark filed four lawsuits over the 2014 E. coli O121 outbreak — two in Washington and two in Idaho — on behalf of people sickened by Evergreen’s clover sprouts. The firm’s pages on that outbreak and the litigation that followed are here and here. The firm is now investigating claims on behalf of people sickened in the current outbreak.
What to do if you ate these sprouts
Do not eat broccoli sprouts grown by Evergreen Fresh Sprouts. The recall covers plastic bags and clamshell containers with expiration dates of 9/7, 9/9, 9/11, 9/14 and 9/16. Throw them out or return them, and wash whatever they touched. Call a doctor for bloody diarrhea, a fever above 102°F, diarrhea lasting more than three days, or signs of dehydration. If you were diagnosed, keep the package or a photograph of it and the receipt, and ask your laboratory or health department to preserve your isolate — whole genome sequencing is what ties one person’s illness to an outbreak strain, and isolates are routinely discarded.
Three questions readers are asking
Why is an E. coli blog covering a Salmonella outbreak?
Because the grower is the same one that caused a 19-person E. coli O121 outbreak in 2014, and because the growing process that produces one organism produces the other. Anyone tracking sprout-borne E. coli has a reason to know this company’s name.
Is the 2026 outbreak related to the 2014 one?
No, not in the sense that matters to an epidemiologist. Different organism, different sprout, twelve years apart. They share a grower, a facility and, to a striking degree, a set of states.
Are the sprouts in stores now safe?
The recalled product carries September expiration dates and should be off the shelves. FDA’s investigation into how the contamination happened is ongoing, and until it reports, the honest answer is that nobody outside the company knows what changed. Raw sprouts of any brand remain a food I tell people to keep away from children under five, adults over sixty-five and anyone with a weakened immune system.
Additional detail on this outbreak, including the case map and the epidemic curve, is in this week’s Marler Blog post. Information on legal claims is at marlerclark.com, or call 1-800-884-9840 for a free consultation.
Salmonella
Salmonella sickens more than a million Americans every year and is the leading cause of hospitalizations and deaths among foodborne bacteria. Its reach is remarkable—it turns up in produce, poultry, pantry staples, and pet food alike. Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the nation’s leading firm representing victims of Salmonella outbreaks. Our Salmonella lawyers have represented thousands of victims in the only U.S. law practice devoted exclusively to foodborne illness, which has recovered more than $850 million for victims and families nationwide. We have tied Salmonella outbreaks to cantaloupe, tomatoes, ground turkey, salami, sprouts, cereal, peanut butter, and restaurant meals, and we have brought cases against Cargill, ConAgra, Peanut Corporation of America, Sheetz, Taco Bell, Subway, and Wal-Mart. The Peanut Corporation of America outbreak ended in federal criminal convictions, with the company’s owner sentenced to twenty-eight years in prison. We are also pressing the federal government to treat Salmonella as an adulterant on raw chicken, so that contaminated poultry can be kept off store shelves the way dangerous E. coli already is.
If you or a family member became ill with a Salmonella infection—including lasting complications such as reactive arthritis or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)—after eating contaminated food, contact the Marler Clark Salmonella attorneys for a free case evaluation.
FAQ
What is Salmonella?
Salmonella is a group of bacteria behind one of the most common—and most deadly—foodborne infections in the United States, sickening more than a million people a year. Symptoms usually begin between 6 hours and 6 days after eating contaminated food and include diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps that last four to seven days.
What foods cause Salmonella outbreaks?
Poultry, eggs, ground beef, produce, peanut butter, flour, and even pet food have all caused outbreaks. Salmonella can survive for months in dry, low-moisture foods.
Can a Salmonella infection cause long-term problems?
Yes. Some victims develop reactive arthritis—joint pain and swelling that can persist for months—or irritable bowel syndrome after the initial illness resolves.
Who is most at risk?
Young children, adults over 65, and people with weakened immune systems are the most likely to be hospitalized or to suffer severe, invasive infection.
Can I sue for a Salmonella infection?
If your illness is linked to a contaminated product or a recognized outbreak, you may have a claim against those in the chain of distribution. A stool culture matching the outbreak strain is powerful evidence.
Additional Resources:
- About Salmonella — a complete resource for victims of Salmonella outbreaks
- Marler Clark Salmonella Lawsuits and Litigation
- Downloadable Salmonella Fact Sheet
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