Salmonella outbreak tied to broccoli sprouts grows to 22 cases in four states

Federal and state health officials said Wednesday that a Salmonella outbreak linked to broccoli sprouts grown by an Idaho company has sickened 22 people across four states, the third time in 15 years the same grower has been tied to a multistate outbreak. The case count, released jointly by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, is expected to keep rising.

The outbreak involves Salmonella Bovismorbificans, an uncommon serotype, tied to broccoli sprouts from Evergreen Fresh Sprouts, LLC, of Moyie Springs, Idaho. As of Wednesday, 16 of the 22 confirmed illnesses were in Washington state, with two hospitalizations and no deaths reported. Of 19 patients interviewed by investigators, all reported eating sprouts and 17 specifically identified broccoli sprouts, according to the FDA's outbreak notice. Illness onset dates for the confirmed cases span from early July through late August.

A recall triggered by a home refrigerator

The company recalled its broccoli sprouts on September 4 after Montana's state laboratory tested an unopened package pulled from a sick patient's home refrigerator and matched its genetic sequence to the outbreak strain. Recalled packages carried expiration dates of September 7, 9, 11, 14 and 16, and were distributed to grocery stores, food co-ops and restaurants in Idaho, Montana and Washington. Food-safety attorney Bill Marler, who tracks outbreak litigation, said the recall "reaches forward, not back" — meaning it can pull remaining product off shelves but cannot undo illnesses among people who already ate sprouts before the danger was identified, since symptoms typically take one to several weeks to be confirmed and reported to investigators.

"That is a design problem in how inspection results are published, not a failure by investigators," Marler wrote, describing the FDA's practice of not releasing a public summary of the company's most recent facility inspection.

This is not Evergreen Fresh Sprouts' first brush with a multistate outbreak. The company was linked to a Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak in 2011 that sickened 25 people across five states, and an E. coli O121 outbreak in 2014 that sickened 19 people across six states — bringing the company's three-outbreak total to roughly 66 illnesses over 15 years. Marler noted that an FDA inspection of the facility in 2014 documented rusted, corroded equipment and condensation dripping into areas where sprouts were grown, and that a more recent 2024 inspection was classified "Voluntary Action Indicated" without a public summary of what inspectors found, a gap Marler has criticized as a transparency failure at the agency rather than at the inspectors themselves.

A second, larger outbreak underway at the same time

The broccoli sprout cases are unfolding alongside a separate, unrelated sprout-borne outbreak that has sickened far more people this summer. Everything Sprouts, LLC, of Minneapolis, has been linked to 55 illnesses across 15 states from Shiga toxin-producing E. coli and Salmonella Agona, with four hospitalizations, tied to its alfalfa sprout and "Robust Radish Sprout Mix" products sold under the Calco and Everything Sprouts brands. That outbreak's illness window ran from late May through early August, with recalls issued August 22 and expanded August 28; the FDA's notice on that outbreak says the seed supplier had not fully complied with the agency's recall recommendations as of its most recent update. The CDC has confirmed the two 2026 sprout outbreaks are unrelated in origin, a coincidence rather than a common cause, but together they mean roughly 77 Americans have been sickened by sprouts in a matter of weeks.

Why sprouts carry outsized risk

Raw sprouts have long been considered one of the riskier items in the produce aisle. FDA data covering 1996 through 2020 counted 52 sprout-linked outbreaks, roughly 2,700 illnesses, about 200 hospitalizations and three deaths nationally. The same warm, humid conditions that make seeds germinate into sprouts are ideal for bacterial growth, and contamination can exist inside the seed coat itself, meaning washing sprouts before eating does not reliably remove pathogens. The FDA's standing guidance is that children, older adults, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems should avoid raw sprouts entirely, and that others should cook sprouts thoroughly rather than eating them raw.

Symptoms of Salmonella infection typically appear 12 to 72 hours after exposure and include diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps, usually lasting four to seven days; severe cases can involve bloody diarrhea, a fever above 102 degrees Fahrenheit and dehydration requiring hospitalization. State and federal officials have urged consumers, retailers and restaurants not to sell, serve or eat any recalled Evergreen Fresh Sprouts broccoli sprouts, and to clean and sanitize any surfaces or containers the product touched.

What happens next

Both the CDC and FDA list their investigation into the Evergreen Fresh Sprouts outbreak as open, and officials expect the case count to grow as more state laboratories complete genetic sequencing on suspect samples. Washington's state public health laboratory continues testing sprout samples from Evergreen and other regional suppliers, and investigators have not yet publicly identified whether the contamination originated with the seed source or facility conditions, unlike the seed-linked findings already made in the concurrent Everything Sprouts case. Traceback work of that kind typically takes weeks, and any expansion of the recall to additional states would depend on what distribution records eventually show. Attorneys including Marler are already soliciting affected consumers for potential litigation, a step that followed both of the company's prior outbreaks as well. Evergreen Fresh Sprouts had not issued a public statement responding to the current outbreak as of Wednesday.