Veggie Booty recalled after four children get salmonella

The vegetarian snack food Veggie Booty has been recalled after public health officials identified it as the source of a salmonella outbreak that has afflicted mostly children under 10 years old, including four in Washington.

"It's a fairly unusual type of salmonella," said Tim Church, spokesman for the state Department of Health. That doesn't make it any more dangerous than routine salmonella bacteria, Church said, but it did make it easier to so far link more than 50 cases of illness nationwide.

Of the four children in Washington who were sickened, two were in Whatcom County, one in Spokane County and one in King County.

Church said two were sick enough to require hospitalization, but all have since recovered. More cases could be identified as the word gets out to parents, he said.

"The illness usually begins with bloody diarrhea," said James Apa, spokesman for Public Health -- Seattle & King County. He said the 18-month-old King County girl who fell ill after eating the snack did not require hospitalization and is doing fine now.

"But if people have any Veggie Booty at home, they should throw it out," Apa said. Children appear to be especially susceptible, he said, but anyone who has eaten the snack food within the past few weeks should be alert for abdominal pain, fever or bloody diarrhea.

Veggie Booty is one of a variety of puffed corn-and-rice treats mixed with vegetables that is made by Robert's American Gourmet Food Inc. It is not known how the crunchy snack was contaminated with the bacteria, a strain known as Salmonella wandsworth.

The company, based in Sea Cliff, N.Y., is cooperating with the recall and has provided on its Web site a means for consumers to seek reimbursement.

More than 50 people in 17 states, mostly children age 3 and younger, were infected with salmonella bacteria after eating Veggie Booty, according the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Web site.

Other states reporting illnesses were New York (13 cases), California (seven), Colorado (five), Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Vermont (three each), Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Wisconsin (two each), Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas (one each).

Public health officials haven't identified the original source of the bacteria or confirmed a direct link between the finished product and the salmonella, according to the FDA. But epidemiological investigations have linked all the severe cases in children to consuming Veggie Booty.

In the Seattle area, Veggie Booty is available at QFC, Fred Meyer, PCC, Red Apple Markets, Central Market and Ballard Market.

ON THE WEB

Robert's American Gourmet Food, Inc.: robscape.com.

Public Health -- Seattle & King County: goto.seattlepi.com/r835.