Subway chain apologizes for Salmonella outbreak

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Subway sandwich chain on Tuesday apologized for a Salmonella outbreak in central Illinois and said it is working with public health officials to pinpoint the source of the contamination.

Illinois Department of Health investigators have confirmed 97 cases of Salmonella Hvittingfoss infection from 28 Illinois counties.

All the cases were linked to dining at Subway restaurants from mid-May to early June. More than two dozen people were hospitalized and all recovered, public health officials said.

"We are truly sorry for the difficulty this situation has caused you, our customer, and are working diligently to solve this mystery and to regain your trust," Subway said in a statement.

The privately held restaurant chain, one of the largest U.S. restaurant chains, said it removed all lettuce, green peppers, red onion and tomatoes from restaurants in Illinois as soon as it learned of the outbreak. Subway said it replaced those items with new produce.

"We are confident the current fresh produce being served in Subway restaurants are safe to eat," the company added.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 76 million people in the United States get sick every year from foodborne illnesses and 5,000 people die from them.

Subway is owned by Doctor's Associates Inc and has more than 28,500 locations in 86 countries.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein)