Star Tribune
Four Minnesotans catch salmonella in outbreak linked to basil sold at Trader Joe’s
State officials are warning Minnesotans against eating a specific brand of packaged basil sold at Trader Joe’s that has been linked to a salmonella outbreak, prompting recalls of the product in Minnesota and other states.
So far a third of the 12 people who tested positive nationwide for salmonella are Minnesotans, according to the state Health Department.
The brand in question is Infinite Herbs’ 2.5-ounce organic basil, which is packaged in a clamshell-style plastic container and sold at Trader Joe’s. Four people in the Twin Cities metro area reported becoming sick between Feb. 15 and March 27 after eating the basil, according to a Health Department news release.
“Anyone who has it in their refrigerator or freezer should throw it away,” according to the release.
In a statement from Infinite Herbs, a nationwide company based in Florida, company leaders said they were “deeply concerned about this recall and the illnesses reported by consumers.”
“Our priority is always the health and safety of our consumers, and we are working diligently to investigate the cause and address the issue promptly,” they added.
While 12 cases of salmonella have been reported so far, the total is likely higher since many people who get it don’t get tested, the Department of Health said.
Trader Joe’s ceased its shipments on April 12 and has since removed the brand from store shelves. The packages were sold between Feb. 1 and April 6, and buyers in that period will get a refund on the product, Trader Joe’s said in a news release.
“We take these matters seriously — personally, even, as our families eat and drink TJ’s products, too,” a Trader Joe’s spokesperson said in an email.
The states recalling the basil are on the East Coast, in the Midwest and Southeast.
This was only the most recent salmonella outbreak that Minnesota officials have warned about in the past year. Last July, the state investigated after five children tested positive for salmonella that was linked to unpasteurized milk. One of the children was hospitalized.
Four months later, a salmonella outbreak linked to cantaloupe killed two Minnesotans and infected a total of 15 people, more than in any other state. A Minneapolis-based law firm filed a federal lawsuit over the illnesses, seeking unspecified damages from Arizona-based Trufresh.
In December, a person reported becoming sick with salmonella after eating a Busseto brand Charcuterie Sampler purchased at Sam’s Club. That product was also recalled.
Symptoms of salmonella can include diarrhea, abdominal pain and fever. About one in four cases require hospitalization, according to the state. Investigators were also working to determine if there were other contaminated products.
One man was killed and another injured in a shooting at a homeless encampment in south Minneapolis, Police Chief Brian O’Hara said on Wednesday morning.
Police got a ShotSpotter alert of shots fired at 4:40 a.m., O’Hara said a few hours later at a media briefing near the site, which is along 26th Street E. between South 17th and 18th Aves.
The man who was shot in the head died at the scene. He was in his 20s, O’Hara said. The other shooting victim was in his 30s. He was taken to HCMC with what the chief called serious but non-life-threatening injuries. No names have been released.
O’Hara said police have a suspect but that person was not yet in custody as of Wednesday morning. The chief said the shootings once again call attention to the dangers of homeless encampments, for both people living at the sites and nearby residents.
“There is way too much crime and violence associated with the homeless encampments,” O’Hara said.
Star Tribune
Books ‘Undivided’ and ‘Circle of Hope’ show how two churches tried to grapple with racial issues
Han was just as committed. Her reporting on Crossroads, a Protestant megachurch, produced 1,471 hours of audio and video recordings. Her book spotlights another major trend: While small churches struggle, most of the country’s 1,000-plus Protestant megachurches (defined as having 2,000 members) are growing, according to recent surveys.
Han crafts detailed depictions of Crossroads members, among them a Black pastor whose sermon about race angered some white members, and a white woman, raised in an unabashedly racist home, who gradually becomes an integral member of Undivided, Crossroads’ initiative devoted to hard discussions about race. “Philando Castile was my George Floyd,” she says, recounting how she became an outspoken anti-racist after Castile was shot to death by police in Falcon Heights in 2016.
Undivided (Farrar Straus & Giroux)
Evangelical Protestantism, Han notes, has historically “conceptualized racism as a problem of individual sin and prejudice and ignored the way it was tied to questions of power.” The fraught conversations captured in this book depict the “blowback,” as one member put it, that can follow when churchgoers confront institutional racism.
Both authors understand that, as Griswold writes, “churches are messy places where people seek many things, among them a common understanding of something larger than they are.” These excellent books demonstrate how hard that can be to achieve.
Kevin Canfield is a regular contributor to the Minnesota Star Tribune’s books coverage.
Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport won top honors for passenger satisfaction among the nation’s largest airports, according to a survey released Wednesday by the global consulting firm J.D. Power.
MSP regained supremacy in the “mega” category with more than 33 million annual passengers, handily beating Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, which came in second, according to the J.D. Power 2024 North American Airport Satisfaction Survey. The Motor City won last year, after MSP took the title in 2023 for the first time.
Last year, MSP served nearly 35 million passengers.
“Huge air travel demand has not slowed down in North America despite the steadily rising costs of flights, ground travel, hotel rooms and pretty much anything you can buy in an airport,” said Michael Taylor, J.D. Power’s managing director of travel, hospitality and retail, in a news release.
J.D. Power surveyed close to 27,000 passengers nationwide between August 2023 and July. Passengers were asked about their airport experience, including the ease of travel, the quality of terminal facilities and food, beverage and retail offerings, and airport staff.
Based on a 1,000-point scale, MSP racked up 671 points, with Detroit scoring 643 points — the segment’s average was 595 points. Newark Liberty International Airport came in last.
John Wayne Airport won top honors in the large category and Indianapolis International Airport ranked the highest in the medium category. The losers in those categories were Philadelphia International Airport and Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, respectively.
More broadly, 60% of the survey’s respondents said they enjoy spending time at their airport, despite record passenger volumes and widespread flight cancellations and delays. However, satisfaction levels at airports plummet if terminals are crowded.
