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Jimmy John's removes sprouts after FDA issues E coli warning

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February 26, 2020

Jimmy John's has removed sprouts from all of its 2,800 locations after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent Jimmy John's CEO James North a warning letter, saying vegetables served from its restaurants in 17 states had been implicated in five outbreaks of E. coli or salmonella in the past seven years.

The most recent outbreak — investigated by the FDA, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state and local partners — was in November and December 2019 in Iowa and included 22 human infections of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli. It can cause serious illness in humans, including diarrhea, often with bloody stools, according to the FDA. Although rare, more serious cases can lead to kidney failure.

"Jimmy John's restaurants have been implicated in multiple outbreaks that have spanned the past seven years and impacted consumers in no fewer than 17 states," Frank Yiannas, FDA's deputy commissioner for Food Policy and Response said in a statement. "Jimmy John's has not demonstrated implementation of long-term sustainable corrections to its supply chain to assure the safety of ingredients used in its products."

The letter — penned by William R. Weissinger, program division director of the Office of Human and Animal Foods — accuses the 2,800-unit chain owned by Inspire Brands of engaging in a pattern of receiving and selling "adulterated fresh produce, specifically clover sprouts and cucumbers."

North said in an emailed statement to FastCasual that food safety was the chain's top priority.

"We've removed sprouts from all Jimmy John’s restaurants until further notice," he said. "This removal was out of an abundance of caution and was not initiated by any known, immediate threat."

Although it acknowledged Inspire Brands' December 2019 decision to destroy sprouts in all Iowa units and to implement an additional, one-time cleaning and sanitation at Iowa-based locations, The FDA said in the letter that neither Jimmy John's nor Inspire Brands had proposed corrective actions to prevent the restaurants from receiving adulterated produce — specifically sprouts.  

The FDA gave the chain 15 days to send a response letter describing and documenting the steps it will take or has taken to prevent the receipt and sale of adulterated food at each of the approximately 2,800 Jimmy John's restaurants.

"It is your responsibility to ensure your firm complies with all requirements of federal law and implementing regulations," Weissinger wrote in the letter. "You should take prompt action to correct all violations noted in this letter. Failure to promptly correct these violations may result in enforcement action by FDA without further notice, including seizure and/or injunction."

The other outbreaks cited in the FDA letter were:

• A salmonella outbreak infecting 10 people as of February 2018 in Illinois, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Eight said they had eaten sprouts on Jimmy John's sandwiches, but one had eaten them from sprouts bought at a grocery store.
• An E. coli outbreak affecting 19 people as of August 2014 in Utah, Idaho, California, Michigan, Montana and Washington. 
• An E. coli outbreak hitting eight people by the end of October 2013 in Colorado. All said they ate raw cucumbers from restaurants in Denver.
• An E. coli outbreak sickening 29 people in 11 states as of April 5, 2012. Most customers said they ate sprouts at one of six Jimmy John's restaurants in the week before their illness.

The FDA also sent a warning letter to Sprouts Unlimited Wholesale Foods for supplying sprouts to Jimmy John's, which lead to the November and December 2019 outbreaks.