Pizza Ranch linked to E. coli outbreak in nine states
Desserts from an Iowa-based pizza chain have been linked to E. coli food poisonings in nine states, according to federal officials.
The outbreak started in December, mainly among people who had eaten at the chain’s restaurants, according to Brittany Behm, a spokeswoman for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Behm said Wednesday that 13 people became ill. Nine of the people said they recently had eaten at Pizza Ranches, she said. Two children, in Kansas and Nebraska, suffered kidney failure and had to be hospitalized. They have since recovered and there were no fatalities, Behm said.
Pizza Ranch cooperated with the investigation, which wound up focusing on a dry dough mix used to make desserts, Behm said.
No bacteria were found in remaining samples of the dough mix, but the outbreak ended after the company stopped using the mix and a similar product by early February, she said.
“We removed our Skillet Dough mix immediately from use in response to information suggesting that this product was a possible common factor in the illnesses and subsequently expanded this product withdrawal to include our Original Dough mix," Pizza Ranch CEO Ryan Achterhoff said in a statement Wednesday.
David Werning, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals, said Iowa officials picked up samples from two Pizza Ranch restaurants then forwarded them to federal investigators. No E. coli bacteria were found in those samples, he said.
Behm said the illnesses happened in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Minnesota, which had five cases, was the only state with more than one, she said.
The company is based in Orange City, Iowa, and has 190 restaurants in 13 states.
According to Achterhoff the bacteria originated "from an outsider supplier." He said the company ran over 40 E. coli tests on different products and did not find the bacteria in any of those tested.
Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, medical director of the Iowa Department of Public Health, said the Iowa case involved an adult who did not require hospitalization.
Quinlisk said state law would not allow her to comment on the business involved, but she said it is unusual for E. coli to be found in a dry baking mix. She noted that the bacteria generally are associated with meat or with leafy vegetables that have been fertilized with manure.
However, there have been E. coli outbreaks associated with other food items. For example, scores of people were sickened with the bacteria in 2009 in an outbreak blamed on tainted Nestle Toll House cookie dough.
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