The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) and Doniphan County Health Department continue to investigate an outbreak associated with an election day Indian Taco Dinner at the Highland United Methodist Presbyterian Church in Highland, Kansas on August 7, 2018.

A survey was launched on August 10, 2018 to collect illness and exposure information from those that attended the dinner.

As of August 31, 2018, 115 persons have completed the survey, 69 have reported gastrointestinal illnesses, and 14 have tested positive for Salmonella Newport. These numbers are preliminary.

Testing of food that was served at the dinner has been completed and all tested negative for Salmonella except for a sample of tomatoes that tested positive for the same strain of Salmonella Newport. Tomatoes were provided by multiple people so an environmental assessment of the sources of tomatoes is planned to potentially determine how this contamination occurred.

In addition, KDHE is assessing whether other persons that did not attend the taco dinner could have been sickened from consuming these tomatoes.