Costco E. coli recall linked to contaminated celery, expands to more states, major grocery stores

Photo: FOX News

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Tuesday that a recall prompted by contaminated Costco-sold chicken salad now affects products distributed at other national grocery stores including Walmart, Safeway, 7-Eleven and Albertsons. The FDA confirmed that celery from California-based Taylor Farms Pacific was the contaminated item in the prepared food, Q 13 Fox reported.

As of Wednesday, the celery recall has spanned more than a dozen U.S. states and impacts 155,000 items like salad kits, vegetable trays and other packaged foods, according to the FDA. More than 45,000 holiday turkey sandwiches sold at Starbucks and distributed in California may also be at risk for E. coli contamination.

Although mainly distributed in western states, the potentially contaminated products were also so in Georgia, Arkansas, Nebraska and Hawaii.

So far, the contaminated celery has sickened a reported 19 Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Read the full story at FOXNews.com.

Online: http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm474601.htm