--- title: "55 People, in 15 States, Sickened in E.coli and Salmonella Outbreak Tied to Sprouts - Wisconsin and Minnesota Hit Hard" date: 2026-08-21T15:03:00-07:00 author: Julie Dueck canonical_url: "https://marlerclark.com/minnesota-and-wisconsin-e-coli-and-salmonella-outbreak-tied-to-sprouts" section: Litigation Landing Pages --- [Foodborne Illnesses](/foodborne-illnesses) / [E. coli](https://marlerclark.com/foodborne-illnesses/e-coli) / # 55 People, in 15 States, Sickened in E.coli and Salmonella Outbreak Tied to Sprouts - Wisconsin and Minnesota Hit Hard **Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is investigating this outbreak and is available to represent people who were sickened after eating Calco or Everything Sprouts alfalfa sprouts.** Fifty-five people in fifteen states have been infected with Shiga toxin-producing *E. coli* or *Salmonella* after eating alfalfa sprouts grown by Everything Sprouts, LLC of Minneapolis, Minnesota and sold to restaurants and grocery stores under the Calco and Everything Sprouts brand names. Four people have been hospitalized and no deaths have been reported. Illness onsets run May 31 through August 8, 2026. As of August 21, 2026, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recommended that the company recall the sprouts, and no recall has been issued. Sources for the figures on this page: the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) outbreak notice](https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/outbreaks/alfalfa-sprouts-08-26/index.html), the [FDA outbreak advisory](https://www.fda.gov/food/outbreaks-foodborne-illness/outbreak-investigation-shiga-toxin-producing-e-coli-salmonella-sprouts-august-2026), the [Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) release](https://www.health.state.mn.us/news/pressrel/2026/ecoli082026.html), and the [Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) release](https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/news/releases/082026a.htm). - • **Cases:** 55 - • **Hospitalizations:** 4 - • **Deaths:** 0 - • **States:** 15 - • **Illness onset dates:** May 31 through August 8, 2026 - • **Pathogens:** *Salmonella* Agona; Shiga toxin-producing *E. coli* O26:H11, O103:H25 and O168:H8 - • **Product:** Alfalfa sprouts sold under the Calco and Everything Sprouts brand names - • **Grower:** Everything Sprouts, LLC, 2751 Minnehaha Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota - • **Sold to:** Restaurants and grocery stores - • **Recall:** None issued. FDA has recommended one. - • **Status:** Investigation open. FDA began an inspection and sampling at the plant on August 19, 2026. ## Fifty-five people in fifteen states are sick, and Minnesota and Wisconsin account for thirty-eight of them. Minnesota and Wisconsin hold 38 of the 55 cases, or 69 percent. Add the neighboring states of Iowa, Michigan, Indiana, Kansas, North Dakota and South Dakota and the upper Midwest holds 45 of 55. Ten of the fifteen states have exactly one case, and thirteen of the fifteen have three or fewer. **State** **Cases** Minnesota 21 Wisconsin 17 Florida 2 New York 2 North Carolina 2 North Dakota 2 Indiana 1 Iowa 1 Kansas 1 Michigan 1 New Hampshire 1 Pennsylvania 1 South Carolina 1 South Dakota 1 Washington 1 **Total** **55** Table 1. Cases by state of residence. Computed from the CDC case-count file downloaded August 21, 2026. Check: 21 + 17 + (2 x 4) + (1 x 9) = 55, which matches CDC’s published national total. One caution matters if you are trying to work out whether you are part of this outbreak. These are states of *residence*, not states of exposure. A Washington case may have eaten sprouts in Minneapolis. The list is a rough proxy for where the product went, and a poor one, because it cannot show a state where product arrived and nobody was tested. FDA has said only that it is still working to determine additional distribution information, and Wisconsin DHS has reported that Everything Sprouts did not identify its customers. [There is no published list of the states or stores that received this product.](https://www.fda.gov/food/outbreaks-foodborne-illness/outbreak-investigation-shiga-toxin-producing-e-coli-salmonella-sprouts-august-2026) ## Four different organisms came out of one product, and two people are carrying two of them. Most foodborne outbreaks are defined by a single germ. This one is not. The people in this outbreak are infected with *Salmonella* Agona and with three separate serogroups of Shiga toxin-producing *E. coli*: O26:H11, O103:H25 and O168:H8. Two people are infected with both a *Salmonella* and an *E. coli*. **Infection** **People** *E. coli* only 46 *Salmonella* only 7 Both 2 **Total** **55** Table 2. Cases by organism, from the CDC outbreak notice as of August 21, 2026. Check: 46 + 7 + 2 = 55. Whole genome sequencing predicted that the *Salmonella* from nine people is resistant to three or more of fosfomycin, streptomycin, sulfisoxazole and tetracycline. Nine is every *Salmonella* case in the outbreak. No resistance was predicted in the *E. coli* isolates. Why four organisms in one product matters, and what it suggests about where contamination entered, is set out at length in [this analysis on Marler Blog.](https://www.marlerblog.com/case-news/minnesota-and-wisconsin-found-four-different-germs-in-one-bag-of-alfalfa-sprouts-fda-warned-this-grower-sixteen-months-ago-and-promised-to-check-back-at-the-next-inspection-there-was-no-nex/) ## Illnesses began May 31, and more than eight in ten started between July 5 and August 1. **Week of onset** **Cases** May 31 – Jun 6 1 Jun 7 – 13 2 Jun 14 – 20 3 Jun 21 – 27 1 Jun 28 – Jul 4 2 Jul 5 – 11 8 Jul 12 – 18 12 Jul 19 – 25 17 Jul 26 – Aug 1 8 Aug 2 – 8 1 **Total** **55** Table 3. Weekly illness onsets. Computed from the CDC onset-date file downloaded August 21, 2026. Check: 1 + 2 + 3 + 1 + 2 + 8 + 12 + 17 + 8 + 1 = 55. The four weeks from July 5 through August 1 hold 45 of 55 cases, or 82 percent. The curve falls off sharply after the week of July 19. That is not evidence the outbreak has ended. It ordinarily takes [three to four weeks](https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/outbreaks/alfalfa-sprouts-08-26/timeline.html) for an illness to be confirmed and reported into the national count, so anyone who ate these sprouts in the past month is very likely not yet on this chart. The true number of illnesses is also higher than 55, because most people with *E. coli* or *Salmonella* never see a doctor and are never tested. ## Seventy-six percent of the people interviewed said they ate alfalfa sprouts, against a background rate under nine percent. Of the 34 sick people interviewed, 26 reported eating alfalfa sprouts before they became ill. That is 76 percent. In the general population, roughly 8.7 percent of healthy people report eating alfalfa sprouts in the week before they are surveyed. A rate nine times the background rate, in a group of people carrying genetically related organisms, is the epidemiologic evidence tying these illnesses to this product. Two illness clusters, in Minnesota and Wisconsin, were traced back to points of service that received Everything Sprouts product. ## FDA has recommended a recall, no recall has been issued, and that means there are no lot codes to check. CDC’s alert page carries the line *Recall issued: No*, while FDA’s advisory says the agency has recommended that Everything Sprouts recall the product. Nobody has said the company refused, and the distinction matters, so this page does not say it. What can be said is what the absence produces. With no recall there are no lot codes, no best-by dates, no package photographs and no list of stores or restaurants. The brand name on the package is the only identifier a consumer has. FDA has also told retailers who bought these sprouts in bulk and repackaged them to pull them from sale, which means the product may have reached some buyers under no brand name at all. A recall is not only about clearing the shelf. Alfalfa sprouts have a shelf life of a few days, so July product is long gone. A recall is about the paperwork it forces: lot codes, a distribution list, notice down the chain to every wholesaler, restaurant and grocer, an entry in FDA’s recall database and weekly enforcement report, and a public press release. The advisory produces none of that. [FDA’s mandatory recall authority, and why it has been used only once, is explained here.](https://www.marlerblog.com/case-news/minnesota-and-wisconsin-found-four-different-germs-in-one-bag-of-alfalfa-sprouts-fda-warned-this-grower-sixteen-months-ago-and-promised-to-check-back-at-the-next-inspection-there-was-no-nex/) ## FDA warned this grower in March 2025 and did not return to the plant until after people were sick. On March 28, 2025, FDA issued Everything Sprouts, LLC a [warning letter](https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/warning-letters/everything-sprouts-llc-699480-03282025) following an inspection that ran October 30 through November 14, 2024. FDA found the firm’s mung bean, soybean and green sprout products adulterated under section 402(a)(4) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act because they had been prepared, packed or held under insanitary conditions. Investigators recorded a roof leaking through the ceiling tiles in the middle of the production room, about four feet from the packaging tables, with water dripping onto totes of cooled, exposed sprouts as pallets moved through for packaging. A second roof leak in the warehouse dripped near a rack of clean smocks. Condensate dripped off the condenser units inside the coolers holding sprouts. Black organic buildup had formed on the overhead irrigation hose that passes directly over exposed soy sprouts. FDA noted that dripping condenser units had also been observed at the same facility in 2023 and in 2018, under different ownership. Two things in that letter are worth holding onto. Twice FDA wrote that it was unable to evaluate the adequacy of the company’s corrective actions and would assess them at its next inspection. FDA opened its next inspection of the plant on August 19, 2026 — sixteen months later, and after this outbreak was already underway. And the word alfalfa does not appear anywhere in the letter. The product now making people sick was not the product FDA cited. Nine days before that letter, on March 19, 2025, FDA issued a [warning letter to Jack & The Green Sprouts, Inc.](https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/warning-letters/jack-green-sprouts-inc-697257-03192025) of River Falls, Wisconsin — the grower behind a 2016 alfalfa sprout *E. coli* O157 outbreak that sickened eleven people in the same two states, Minnesota and Wisconsin. ## You may have a legal claim if you ate Calco or Everything Sprouts alfalfa sprouts and were diagnosed with *E. coli* or *Salmonella*. A company that sells a contaminated food product is responsible for the harm that product causes. In most states, a person injured by contaminated food does not have to prove that the manufacturer was careless. They have to prove that the product was contaminated, that they ate it, and that it made them sick. That is the strict product liability standard that has governed foodborne illness cases since the 1993 Jack in the Box outbreak, and it is the standard Marler Clark has litigated under for more than thirty years. A claim in an outbreak like this one can include hospital and physician bills, future medical care, lost wages, lost earning capacity, out-of-pocket costs, and compensation for pain, suffering and disability. Children who develop hemolytic uremic syndrome, the kidney failure complication of a Shiga toxin infection, can face lifelong monitoring and treatment, and those claims are valued very differently from a short illness. Deadlines to file are set by state law and they vary. Minnesota and Wisconsin apply different limitation periods to personal injury claims, and claims that involve a public entity can require formal notice within months rather than years. Nobody should assume there is plenty of time. **Two things are worth doing right now, whether or not you ever make a claim.** If you still have the package, or the receipt, or a photograph of either, keep it. And if you were tested, ask the laboratory or your health department to preserve your isolate. The bacterial isolate is the single most important piece of evidence in a foodborne illness case, because whole genome sequencing is what connects one person’s illness to the outbreak strain. Isolates are routinely discarded. ## What Marler Clark is examining in this outbreak. The firm’s investigation is directed at how these sprouts were grown and how they were sold, not only at the condition of the room they were grown in. - • Where Everything Sprouts obtained its alfalfa seed, and how that seed was treated before germination. - • Whether spent irrigation water was tested on every production batch, as FDA guidance for sprout growers recommends, and what those results showed. - • How the same product moved into restaurants and grocery stores under two different brand names, and which businesses received it. - • The company’s regulatory and inspection history, including its response to the March 2025 warning letter and what happened between then and August 19, 2026. - • Whether the firm filed with the Reportable Food Registry, which a responsible party must do within 24 hours of learning that a food it distributed presents a serious health risk, independent of any recall. ## Marler Clark has represented sprout outbreak victims since the 1990s. Marler Clark, The Food Safety Law Firm, is the only law firm in the nation with a practice limited to foodborne illness litigation. The firm has represented thousands of people in claims against companies whose contaminated products caused injury and death from *E. coli*, *Salmonella*, *Listeria*, *Cyclospora*, Campylobacter, hepatitis A and other pathogens, and has recovered more than $900 million for its clients. It was founded by Bill Marler in the wake of the 1993 Jack in the Box *E. coli* outbreak. The firm’s work is the subject of the Emmy Award-winning Netflix documentary *Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food*, based on Jeff Benedict’s book of the same name. Sprouts specifically have been part of that docket for most of the firm’s history. Marler Clark represented victims of the [2009 *Salmonella* Saintpaul outbreak](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/salmonella-and-raw-sprouts-31-illnesses-and-six-states) traced to alfalfa sprouts grown from Caudill Seed Company seed, of the 2016 Sprouts Extraordinaire alfalfa sprout outbreak that carried *Salmonella* Reading and Abony together, and of the [2013–14 sprouted chia seed powder outbreak](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/chia-seed-salmonella-outbreak) that carried four serotypes across sixteen states and four Canadian provinces. A fuller list of the firm’s [*E. coli* litigation](https://marlerclark.com/news_events/e-coli-litigation) and the [Outbreak Database](https://outbreakdatabase.com) are available online. ## Questions people are asking about this outbreak **Which alfalfa sprouts are involved in this outbreak?** Alfalfa sprouts grown by Everything Sprouts, LLC of Minneapolis, Minnesota and sold under two brand names: Calco and Everything Sprouts. They went to restaurants and to grocery stores. Because no recall has been issued, there are no lot codes or best-by dates to check. The brand name is the only identifier. **Have the sprouts been recalled?** No. As of August 21, 2026, FDA has recommended a recall and none has been issued. FDA has advised retailers who bought the sprouts in bulk and repackaged them to remove them from sale, so some product may have been sold with no brand name on it. **What should I do if I have these sprouts in my refrigerator?** Throw them out or return them to the store. Do not wash them and eat them — washing does not make a contaminated sprout safe, because the organisms are inside the sprout as well as on it. Then wash the drawer they sat in and anything they touched with hot soapy water or in a dishwasher. **What symptoms should I watch for?** For Shiga toxin-producing *E. coli*, severe stomach cramps, diarrhea that is often bloody, and vomiting, usually starting two to five days after exposure. For *Salmonella*, diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps, usually starting twelve to seventy-two hours after exposure. Call a doctor right away for bloody diarrhea, a fever over 102 degrees, diarrhea lasting more than two days without improving, vomiting that prevents you from keeping liquids down, or signs of dehydration. Tell the doctor you ate alfalfa sprouts, and ask for a stool culture. **Should I ask for antibiotics?** Not on your own. For a Shiga toxin-producing *E. coli* infection, antibiotics can increase the risk of hemolytic uremic syndrome, a form of acute kidney failure. That call belongs to a physician who knows sprouts were involved. **Do I have a case, and what does it cost to find out?** If you ate Calco or Everything Sprouts alfalfa sprouts and were diagnosed with an *E. coli* or *Salmonella* infection, you may have a claim. Consultations with Marler Clark are free, and the firm handles foodborne illness cases on a contingent fee, meaning there is no attorney’s fee unless there is a recovery. ## Talk to a lawyer about this outbreak Marler Clark is taking calls from people sickened in this outbreak and from their families. There is no charge to talk to us and no obligation. Call **1-800-884-9840**, email **bmarler@marlerclark.com**, or [request a free consultation online](https://marlerclark.com/contact). Marler Clark, Inc., PS | 180 Olympic Drive S.E., Bainbridge Island, WA 98110 | 1-800-884-9840 **More coverage of this outbreak:** - • [Minnesota Names Everything Sprouts in an Alfalfa Sprout Outbreak Carrying Both *E. coli* and *Salmonella*](https://www.marlerblog.com/case-news/minnesota-names-everything-sprouts-in-an-alfalfa-sprout-outbreak-carrying-both-e-coli-and-salmonella-forty-one-sick-in-two-states-sold-under-two-brand-names/) — Marler Blog - • [Minnesota and Wisconsin Found Four Different Germs in One Bag of Alfalfa Sprouts](https://www.marlerblog.com/case-news/minnesota-and-wisconsin-found-four-different-germs-in-one-bag-of-alfalfa-sprouts-fda-warned-this-grower-sixteen-months-ago-and-promised-to-check-back-at-the-next-inspection-there-was-no-nex/) — Marler Blog - • [Marler Clark Investigating *E. coli* and *Salmonella* Outbreak Linked to Everything Sprouts and Calco Alfalfa Sprouts](https://www.foodpoisonjournal.com/food-poisoning-information/marler-clark-investigating-e-coli-and-salmonella-outbreak-linked-to-everything-sprouts-and-calco-alfalfa-sprouts/) — Food Poison Journal **Page last updated August 21, 2026.** Case counts in this outbreak are changing. 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