A multistate outbreak of Salmonella javiana and Salmonella oranienburg infections due to consumption of contaminated cheese

An outbreak of Salmonella infections that occurred in several states during 1989 may have been caused by low level contamination of cheese during manufacturing and processing. During an outbreak of Salmonella infections that occurred in Minnesota between Apr and Sep 1989, 136 infections were caused by Salmonella javiana and 11 were caused by Salmonella oranienburg. Fifteen outbreak-associated cases of Salmonella occurred in Wisconsin, one occurred in Michigan and one occurred in New York. Patients with outbreak-associated infections were more likely than individuals who did not develop an infection to have eaten mozzarella cheese manufactured at one manufacturing plant. Patients were also more likely than uninfected individuals to have eaten cheese shredded at specific cheese processing plants.