Subway apologizes for ILLINOIS salmonella outbreak

16.jun.10
Pantagraph
Kurt Erickson

The Subway restaurant chain issued an apology Wednesday in connection with a salmonella outbreak that has affected 80 people across 26 Illinois counties.
As state health investigators continue working to pinpoint the cause of the outbreak, a Subway corporate spokesman said the company was sorry for the problems.
"We sincerely apologize to all Subway customers, those who have fallen ill, and those who now may hesitate to come back for a while," spokesman Kevin Kane noted. "We are truly sorry for the difficulty this situation has caused you, our customer, and are working diligently to solve this mystery and to regain your trust."
The Illinois Department of Public Health says people began getting sick after eating in Subway restaurants beginning May 11.
As of Tuesday, reports of illness have come from Bureau, Cass, Champaign, Christian, Coles, DeKalb, DeWitt, Fulton, Henry, Knox, LaSalle, Livingston, Macon, Marshall, McLean, Moultrie, Ogle, Peoria, Sangamon, Schuyler, Shelby, Tazewell, Vermilion, Warren, Will and Winnebago.
Public Health workers have been working overtime to test stool samples that have been sent to the agency's Springfield lab. No new updates were given Wednesday.
Subway spokesman Kevin Kane said it is important to note that the cases cited by the health department are people who ate at the restaurants prior to June 3. Since then, the chain has discarded and replaced lettuce, green peppers, red onion and tomatoes.
"While we are committed to work with the health department to pin down a specific cause, people should know that we are confident that it is safe to eat in our restaurants," Kane said. "Any produce in question was removed a few weeks ago and we have been using new, fresh produce."
The strain of salmonella involved in the outbreak is an uncommon variety called Hvittingfoss. Typically, only one to two cases of this type of salmonella are seen in Illinois per year, the health department noted.