More than 500 cases and at least 75 hospitalizations have been reported in the United States and Canada, the health authorities said.
Red onions grown in California have been traced as the potential source of a salmonella outbreak that has infected more than 500 people in the United States and Canada, health officials said. Confirmed cases have surfaced in 34 states. Those most affected as of Saturday included Oregon (71); Utah (61) and California (49), the Food and Drug Administration said. The Public Health Agency of Canada reported that the country had 114 cases of salmonella and that at least 16 people had been hospitalized. In the United States,396 illnesses and 59 hospitalizations have been reported, the F. D. A. said. The administration said it was able to identify Thomson International, a produce supplier in Bakersfield, Calif., as a likely source of contaminated red onions. Thomson said on Saturday that it recalled red, yellow, white and sweet onions that were shipped since May 1 because of the risk of contamination.
