What This Story Is About
The Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) is investigating a potential foodborne illness outbreak at a Walmart fulfillment center in Lebanon after 19 people were taken to the hospital for treatment.
Why It Matters
Wilson County EMA crews triaged approximately 25 to 30 patients on scene and 19 people were taken to the hospital for treatment.
What Happens Next
TDH says it is working with the Mid-Cumberland Regional Health Office and the Wilson County Health Department in addition to Walmart officials to investigate a “possible foodborne illness outbreak associated with a meal” at the facility.
Catch Up
Dozens affected after possible food-related illness at Middle Tennessee Walmart Distribution Center
LEBANON, Tenn. (WSMV) – The Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) is investigating a potential foodborne illness outbreak at a Walmart fulfillment center in Lebanon after 19 people were taken to the hospital for treatment.
The Wilson County Department of Emergency Management said its crews responded to the warehouse facility for a call that a woman was experiencing symptoms of a possible food-related illness.
They say when they arrived, they found multiple people were sick.
Wilson County EMA crews triaged approximately 25 to 30 patients on scene and 19 people were taken to the hospital for treatment.
TDH says it is working with the Mid-Cumberland Regional Health Office and the Wilson County Health Department in addition to Walmart officials to investigate a “possible foodborne illness outbreak associated with a meal” at the facility.
The warehouse is not a Walmart store open to customers, and the company tells WSMV there is no risk to the products inside the fulfillment center or at any of their stores in the area.
“The health and safety of our associates is a top priority,” said a Walmart spokesperson. “We’re working with local emergency management and health officials as they investigate.”
Professor of infectious disease at Vanderbilt University Dr. William Schaffner says the investigation will likely include collecting samples both from the environment where the illness happened and from the people who got sick.
“A health department will go in, assess the nature of the illness, gather the appropriate specimens, make sure that other people don’t eat the presumably contaminated food, take things to the laboratory for further investigation, and try to come to some sort of solution to the problem with the intention of making sure that others don’t become sick,” Schaffner said.
He says it’s important for health departments to investigate when mass illness happens to make sure it’s not a sign of a wider contamination or disease spreading.
Schaffner says to keep yourself safe from food poisoning, you should pay attention to the way the food you’re eating is stored.
“We always advise people, heat it and eat it, or keep it cold,” Schaffner said. “Don’t leave things out for a long time at room temperature.”
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