TACOMA, Wash., Aug. 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Last week, Frugals was notified by the Pierce County Health Department (PCHD) of an investigation into a possible listeria outbreak at our Tacoma Frugals location. Since that time, we have been working with PCHD to identify and contain the source of listeria after a test on a milkshake machine in our Tacoma store tested positive for the bacteria.
Today, we were deeply saddened to learn the Washington State Department of Health is reporting six people were hospitalized with foodborne listeriosis and three people later died. We are heartbroken and deeply regret any harm our actions could have caused.
Frugals has and will continue to fully cooperate with and support this ongoing investigation. We have followed all PCHD’s recommendations, including immediately halting all milkshake sales at our Tacoma location and sending the milkshake equipment to an independent facility for thorough cleaning, sanitization and re-testing.
Although PCHD said they are confident that this contamination is isolated to the Tacoma location milkshake machine, out of an abundance of caution for our customers, we have also directed all milkshake machines in our other locations to be shut down and samples from these machines to be sent out for similar testing. Although also not required by PCHD, Frugals will also undergo enhanced cleaning, safety and sanitization procedures across all product categories and at all store locations.
As a family-owned business for over 30 years, the trust of our customers is paramount. We will continue to fully cooperate with this investigation, and we are committed to making any changes deemed necessary to maintain our high standard of operations and prevent this from happening again.
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