Schnucks Stores Mentioned During E. coli Outbreak

As the St. Louis County Department of Health , health officials are now looking into reports that some of the infected patients mentioned visiting  stores prior to falling ill.

Monday, Schnucks stated in a press release that while the grocery chain has not been identified as a source in the on-going investigation, they have "voluntarily and proactively removed all items in question from salad bars across the company."

Health officials said 16 cases of the bacteria were reported in St. Louis County last week. Health Department Spokesperson that six people were hospitalized and treated at Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur. He stated the source of the E. coli is food-borne and health officials are investigating to see if there is a link to local store salad bars.

Last week, Schnucks spokeswoman Lori Willis told Patch that when Schnucks got news of the outbreak from the health department, it began taking precautionary steps by pulling some items from its salad bar. 

"To date, no tests taken from Schnucks stores have come back positive for E. coli and no original source has been pinpointed, but Schnucks Food Safety is taking every possible precaution," Schnucks stated in the news release Monday. "Health officials report that Schnucks stores were mentioned during some of the recent patient food histories spanning 7 – 10 days. This is not surprising in that Schnucks, by sheer number of stores (66), is the dominant salad bar operator in the St. Louis metropolitan area." 

The release also states that as more cases of E. coli are reported across the country and outside of Schnucks' area of operation, store officials feel additional research is needed. 

"It’s important that health officials are able to target an item or items in order to track this outbreak back to a source," the release stated.

Schnucks is deferring customers with questions about the E. coli outbreak to the St. Louis County Health Department at 314-615-1600.