77 sick, 12 hospitalized in Alabama Shoals Salmonella outbreak

A Salmonella outbreak wreaked havoc on the guests of a private wedding in Colbert County on Saturday, leaving 77 people ill and 12 hospitalized.

crap-cateringHealth authorities are not publicizing specific details about the wedding, the caterer that prepared the meal, or exactly what food caused people to fall ill with Salmonella gastroenteritis.

But Jennifer Edwards of Decatur Daily reports that guests of the Saturday event confirmed it was held at a Sheffield hotel and catered by a local company called Indelible Catering. A 71-year-old woman died six days after a luncheon hosted by Indelible in Decatur in May 2014 left 17 people ill with Salmonella and two with E. coli.

Assistant State Health Officer Dr. Karen Landers said Thursday that the Alabama Department of Public Health (DPH) “suspended the caterer’s food preparation permit” as a result of the outbreak.

“There were approximately 150 attendees and at this point in time we have 77 people who have exhibited signs and symptoms. We believe that number could change because the incubation period is six to 72 hours,” she told AL.com.

“Patients became ill several hours to a couple days or so after the event, and we started to receive reports early Monday morning.”

“All patients are recovering” following the incident, the DPH said in a statement, adding that they suffered from symptoms including “vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain and some fever.”

The statement said that since first learning of the outbreak on Monday, the Colbert County Health Department has interviewed patients, obtained food samples and patient specimens and inspected the source of the food.

The state has taken the lead on testing, according to Landers.

“At this time the food is being processed in the state health department’s laboratory … We do have a menu of the food and we have several of the food products,” she said. “We can’t speculate on the food item until we get the final results.”

The outbreak has been traced to a wedding reception that took place Saturday in Sheffield, where the caterer provided chicken, green beans and mashed potatoes for the event, according to patients who attended the event and are now receiving medical treatment.

Another song recorded at the great Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, from Lynyrd Skynyrd‘s Street Survivors.