U.S. – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC), state and local partners, are probing a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Weltevreden infections linked to the consumption of frozen cooked shrimp manufactured by Avanti Frozen Foods of India.

Avanti frozen foods is a subsidiary of the Thai Union and a manufacturer and exporter of shrimp products to the United States.

A positive import sample collected earlier in the year combined with epidemiological and traceback evidence have affirmed this.

Currently six cases in Nevada and Arizona have been confirmed with two hospitalizations and zero deaths.

FDA’s traceback investigation identified a common shipment of shrimp that could have been consumed by ill people.

The product from this shipment was all sold thawed at retail and is no longer available for sale.

 Due to the potential for contamination with Salmonella, Avanti Frozen Foods recalled certain frozen cooked, peeled, deveined shrimp products imported into the U.S. from December 2020 to February 2021.

Recalled shrimp were sold under various brand names and package sizes, including shrimp packaged with cocktail sauce.

Affected brands include Safeway’s Waterfront Bistro, Whole Foods’ 365, Censea, Chicken of the Sea, Hannaford, Meijer, Open Acres, Honest Catch, and CWNO.

The FDA is working with the firm to determine if there are additional shrimp that have been affected and should be recalled.

Consumers, restaurants, and retailers have been advised not to eat, sell, or serve recalled shrimp from the company and to discard if they had purchased earlier.

They should meticulously clean and sanitize any surfaces that may have come in contact with the recalled product, to reduce the risk of cross contamination.

FDA recommends that anyone who has symptoms of salmonellosis contact their healthcare professional.

Most people infected with Salmonella experience diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps after six hours to six days, subsequent to swallowing the bacteria and can recover without treatment, in about four to seven days.

Health officials have hinted that the actual number of people sickened could be much higher, since it can take weeks to confirm that an illness is related to an outbreak.

CDC Statistics

Recently there has been a surge in the incidences of food related salmonella outbreak with eggs and poultry being the major culprits.

The CDC estimates Salmonella bacteria cause about 1.35 million infections, 26,500 hospitalizations, and 420 deaths in the United States every year.

It has reported an outbreak of Salmonella across 46 states linked to backyard poultry with Massachusetts having nine confirmed cases.

Since the beginning of the year, a total of 474 people have become sick, 103 people were hospitalized and tragically one death has been reported from Indiana.

One-third of those getting sick are children under 5 years old.

Food contaminated with Salmonella bacteria does not usually look, smell, or taste spoiled hence great care has to be taken to avoid exposure through proper handling, hygiene and cooking.

Poultry world has highlighted that, Associate professor of food microbiology in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources, Mary Anne Amalaradjou, has received a US$150,000 grant from the USDA’s SARE programme, to study a probiotic supplement to control Salmonella in hatchlings and help them develop a healthy microbiome.