The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and state and local partners, is investigating a multistate outbreak of E. coli O26 linked to ALDI’s Baker’s Corner flour.
The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) collected and analyzed an unopened sample of this flour and determined that the flour contained E. coli O26. RIDOH issued a public warning to consumers not to eat this flour on May 22, 2019.
ALDI and ADM Milling Co. announced a recall of the flour on May 22, 2019, which was supplied by an ADM Milling Co. production facility in Buffalo, N.Y. On May 23, 2019, ADM Milling Co. announced an expansion of the recall, and ALDI ultimately expanded the recall to all lots and all Best If Used By Dates.
On May 24, 2019, further DNA analysis found that the E. coli in the unopened sample of flour was closely related by whole genome sequencing to the strain of E. coli O26 that has caused an outbreak affecting 17 people in 8 states.
FDA will work with the firms to determine whether other lots of flour made at that production facility may be potentially contaminated and need to be recalled, and on trying to determine the source of the contamination.
