Food Safety Alert: E. Coli in West Seattle PCC Guacamole
March 21, 2024
PCC Community Markets and Food Safety
Food safety is of utmost importance at PCC Community Markets. Our co-op is committed to providing safe, fresh and wholesome products.
We were notified about a likely E.coli issue at our West Seattle location. Based on information collected from five people reporting illness, a common source was store-made guacamole from West Seattle PCC. The last reported illness to Public Health — Seattle & King County was on February 28, 2024. According to Public Health, the outbreak appears to be over. PCC has fully cooperated with Public Health. West Seattle PCC temporarily ceased all production of guacamole, conducted a deep cleaning of food production areas, and reinforced safe food handling procedures with our staff.
We are so sorry to those impacted by this unfortunate incident. At PCC, we believe in providing open information and responding swiftly if a food safety concern arises. We hold ourselves to a higher standard and know we are trusted in our region for our high quality standards.
As a leader in fostering and promoting healthy, resilient and sustainable food systems, the co-op makes these commitments to our staff, members and customers:
- Prioritize and educate: Food safety is top of mind for all of us at PCC — from our staff, food handlers and certified food safety managers at each neighborhood PCC store, to the leaders of our supplier approval process, right up to the co-op’s leadership team.
- Teamwork:Every role at the co-op is important to strengthening PCC’s food safety culture. We work collaboratively across all departments, so team members understand how they impact food safety and quality, as well as how they can reduce food safety risks.
- Excellence: PCC works with local, state and federal health agencies to ensure that we meet and exceed safety compliance standards.
- Continuous improvement: We regularly review our food safety program, procedures, processes, tools, and technology to ensure support and resources to effectively and efficiently manage food safety risks.
- Listen deeply: Finally, we will continue to listen deeply to our staff, co-op members and customers when a concern about food safety arises.
You may learn more about recall protocols here. All shoppers can sign up to receive recall notifications here.