On November 17, 2024, the CDC and health workers began investigating an outbreak of E. coli found in carrots, which caused an outbreak throughout the states. These carrots have been recalled and are no longer on store shelves; however, they were available from August 14, 2024 to October 23, 2024. The producer of the carrots with the bacteria was Grimmway Farms, based in Bakersfield, California. Their carrots were sold under multiple brand names, including Trader Joe’s, Bunny Luv, and 365.
The CDC is currently recommending that to fight this outbreak, people should check their refrigerators and freezers for recalled carrots and dispose of them, wash any items and surfaces that touched the carrots, and contact a healthcare provider if symptoms of severe E. coli are present such as a fever higher than 102 degrees and frequent vomiting.
Another threat with E. coli is kidney problems or hemolytic uremic syndrome, but none of the infected patients developed this.
As of now, the FDA reports that there has been a total illness count of 67, 34 hospitalizations, and 19 states such as New York, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina have reported cases. California has reported one death. The carrots were also distributed worldwide to countries like Canada and the United Arab Emirates, but little is known about the effect on these places.
The news of this disease spread gained further traction when Georgia woman Melinda Pratt sued Bunny Luv after she claimed she became incredibly sick from the E. coli found in their carrots. She stated that she bought these carrots at the end of September from the Sam’s Club in her neighborhood. The mother of three reported that after eating the carrots, she suffered common E. coli symptoms such as bloody diarrhea and vomiting. She details in her lawsuit that her symptoms worsened throughout her illness and she even had to be hospitalized for 3 days. She told NBC News, “I genuinely thought at some point that I was slowly dying,” and her attorney Ron Simpson said that this Shiga Toxin producing E. coli can be very dangerous to humans. Simpson also represents other victims in the lawsuit. Despite this, the CDC shows zero cases in Georgia, so the outcome of this lawsuit is unknown.
Though the lawsuit is still ongoing, the cases of E. coli have lessened.
