Last night ConAgra Foods Packaged Foods of Council Bluffs, Iowa, recalled Marie Callender’s Cheesy Chicken and Rice frozen meals that were sold to retail outlets nationwide. At least 29 people have been sickened in the outbreak, including two people in Oregon and two people in Minnesota.

Oregon – According to Lynn Terry of the Oregonian, “A man in his 40s was hospitalized and another man in his 20s got sick, said William Keene, senior epidemiologist with Oregon’s Public Health Division. Both live in Clackamas County.”

Minnesota – According to a Minnesota Department of Health press release of a few moments ago: “Two recent cases of salmonellosis in Minnesota have been linked to frozen chicken and rice meals being recalled nationally, state health and agriculture officials said today. … The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) determined that there have been two cases of infection with Salmonella Chester of the outbreak strain in Minnesota, and that both cases ate the Marie Callender’s product that subsequently was recalled. Both cases are females. One is a child and one is an adult. One resides in the metro area and one resides in outstate Minnesota. One of the cases was hospitalized, but both have recovered. ‚Ä®‚Ä®

The Smoking Gun – The Minnesota Department of Agriculture isolated Salmonella Chester from an intact package of Marie Callender’s Cheesy Chicken and Rice collected from the home of one of the ill people. This package was purchased at the same time as a similar package that was consumed just prior to the case’s onset of illness. ‚Ä®