Does anyone happen to have a package of Cosco stuffed peppers handy? I'm interested in getting a list of ingredients. I'll spare the details, but my DD ate one yesterday and got really sick today. I'm trying to figure out if it was something in particular in the ingredients or just a fluke. We're all pretty sensitive to food additives and preservatives and I'm trying to figure out what went wrong. Thanks!!!
Thanks for all the good info everyone. The first post answered my question about the ingredients. I wasn't thinking they were spoiled, but rather I know my DD and I have sensitivities to food additives, preservatives and garlic. I questioned my daughter today and found out that she also ate Bob Evans mashed potatoes. THOSE are loaded with preservatives too so I think it was a double whammy. She was better today although she barely ate much more than plain rice. I'll have to remind her to refuse prepared foods in the future. I hesitate to remind my MIL about this because it falls on deaf ears, but that's another discussion.
Could be she has that terrible flu that is going around. I am amazedc how many of my friends were ill. .
Does she have an intolerance to milk, garlic? I do and green peppers make me very ill, but strangely not the red peppers.
Probably a bug. If it was bad food, she would have gotten sick soon after eating not next day.
Please reread the question. She's asking about the ingredients to determine if there is one to which she's allergic. I'm guessing she knows the symptoms her daughter has when she's eaten a food to which she's allergic.
I don't know what "really sick" means. I have food allergies and only have an upset stomach but I could see that one could vomit.
Is it possible she had a migraine was vomiting from that? I looked at the ingredients listed by the first poster and didn't see anything that would have caused a migraine.
I'd still report it to the Board of Health - if there are no other cases, no harm done. But if there are other cases, the product will be inspected for possible recall. It may not be an ingredient but rather a bacterial problem, and maybe her immune system is not as strong as yours. Costco is a great store but even they can get a shipment of tainted food now and then. Good luck and hope she feels better.
I would think if she ate something yesterday, it would have made her sick the same day unless she ate it late at night or when the day turns from on day to another but the timing of the sickness connected to eating usually isn't that far apart. Perhaps she isn't sick from the food at all. Just a thought. Hope she feels better and good luck with figuring it all out.
Call Costco. We had them a few weeks ago and I was disappointed. They were OK - but not as good as most Costco items. I've also found the stuffed salmon to have gone downhill in terms of quality.
I'm seeing posts below saying that "food poisoning" will make you sick the same day you eat it -- that is not accurate. Some foodborne illnesses can take days or even weeks to percolate before your body starts to react. So the fact she did not get sick on the very same day she ate the food does not mean anything much. Did anyone else eat a pepper? You don't say and that's kind of important. Not that I'd do any testing by eating one now!
Diane is right that she might just be sick because the peppers were out too long or not stored at a cold enough temperature; that's just spoilage and she would be OK if that's the case. But it's also possible that the food might have been carrying a pathogen from long before you bought them. Prepared foods with stuffings, fillings, toppings etc. have a lot of different "hands" on them in the process-- multiple ingredients from multiple suppliers all over the country deal with the peppers, each filling ingredient, each spice, etc. Any of them can carry things like salmonella, E. coli, listeria, etc. No way to know if that's the case here, yet.
I would report it to Costco (they probably have a spot on their website for this purpose) and would also let the local health department know, because that is the only way anyone can track whether a food is causing illnesses. Keep the rest of the packaged peppers because if the illness turns out to be foodborne, the local health department's going to want them and/or Costco might want them back.
Yes, there is a lot of sickness going around and her illness could be totally unrelated to the peppers too. But you cannot know.
If she vomited once or twice and was done, and is improving, just monitor her. But if she vomits and vomits, cannot hold down food, runs a fever (though NOT all foodborne illnesses come with fevers, be aware of that), or has any other difficulties-- please take her in and get her tested for E. coli (very dangerous to children in particular, it can shut down kidneys), salmonella, listeria, etc. It is pretty easy and routine for an urgent care clinic to be able to test for these. If she does have a foodborne illness, there can be different treatments depending on the particular bug, and you would want her to get the right treatment fast.
My kid did a huge science competition a few years ago and the topic was foodborne illnesses. They are much more common than we think and can be no big deal -- or very serious. I hope your daughter just has a stomach bug unrelated to the food but it's worth finding out exactly what it is, if she is ill beyond today.
