The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on May 13 released a report on its investigation of the Salmonella Newport outbreak that caused more than 1,600 reported illnesses in the U.S. and Canada between June and October 2020.
The outbreak is the largest Salmonella food-borne illness outbreak in over a decade. The report released today includes an overview of the trace back investigation, subsequent on-site interviews, visual observations of the growing fields, and environmental sampling, and various factors that potentially contributed to the contamination of red onions with Salmonella.
Although a conclusive root cause could not be identified, several potential contributing factors to the 2020 Salmonella outbreak linked to red onions were identified. These include:
- potentially contaminated sources of irrigation water;
- sheep grazing on adjacent land;
- signs of animal intrusion, including scat (fecal droppings), and large flocks of birds that may spread contamination; and
- food contact surfaces that had not been inspected, maintained or cleaned as frequently as necessary to protect against the contamination of produce.
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