Papa Murphy’s Linked to Growing Salmonella Outbreak

A Salmonella outbreak largely based in the Pacific Northwest has led Papa Murphy’s to temporarily stop selling two of its most popular products. Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control announced it was investigating the outbreak, which is believed to have stemmed from the pizza place’s chocolate chip cookie dough and s’mores bars dough. Papa Murphy’s, best known for its take-and-bake pizzas, is now encouraging people who’ve purchased the two items to discard the items.

According to the CDC notice, 12 of those suffering from Salmonella ate one of the two products. Two additional people that fell ill and are part of the investigation did not ingest either of the items.

“Upon learning of this investigation, Papa Murphy’s took immediate action, including voluntarily issuing a Stop Sell order of its take-and-bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and S’mores Bars (which contains a portion of the same take-and-bake cookie dough),” the company said in a press release on its website. “These two products were promptly removed from stores. We did this proactively out of an abundance of caution and concern for the safety of our guests.”

The source of contamination is currently being investigated by the CDC, FDA, and Papa Murphy’s. Though most of the Salmonella cases have been located on the West Coast, another customer has fallen ill in Missouri. As such, Papa Murphy’s encourages anyone across the country who’s purchased the items to ditch them.

“The FDA and CDC, in collaboration with state and local partners, are investigating an outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis infections linked to Chocolate Chip Cookie and S’mores Bars dough sold at Papa Murphy’s franchises,” the FDA added in its own statement.

The statement continued, “Based on epidemiological data collected by CDC, 12 of 14 cases report eating food from Papa Murphy’s and nine people reported eating raw Chocolate Chip Cookie or S’mores Bars dough. At this time, Papa Murphy’s notified franchise owners nationwide and has stopped selling and destroyed all Chocolate Chip Cookie dough and S’mores Bars dough at all stores.”