FDA officials say further laboratory analysis of the celery and onion salad mix samples used in Costco's rotisserie chicken salad could not confirm the presence of E. coli.
Health officials in Montana previously identified the salad mix—produced by Taylor Farms Pacific, Inc. of California—as the source of an bacteria contamination in a chicken salad product sold at Costco stores linked to a multistate E. coli outbreak that sickened 19 people in seven states. As a result of the lab tests in Montana, Taylor Farms voluntarily recalled 71 products last month citing “an abundance of caution.”