Food Poisoning Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark : Food Poison Blog

“We have heard time and again how valuable the information provided on these sites is to parents whose children are in the hospital. When your kid is sick, you arm yourself with as much information as you can, and these sites provide a comprehensive look at these ‘bugs’ and the illnesses they cause,” commented William Marler, managing partner of Marler Clark.

The sites also provide information related to high-profile food poisoning outbreaks that have occurred in the last 15 years. “Since Marler Clark has represented victims of nearly every major foodborne illness outbreak in the last fifteen years, we felt it was important to share the details of these outbreaks with anyone doing research on a particular pathogen,” Marler continued.

Marler Clark has represented thousands of victims of foodborne illness outbreaks since the 1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak. The firm has resolved $300 million worth of cases against such food-companies as AFG, BJ's Wholesale Club, Blimpie's, the Brook-Lea Country Club, Byerly's, Cargill, Carl's Jr., Carneco, Carrabba's Italian Grill, Chi-Chi's, Chili's, China Buffet, ConAgra, Cub Foods, Dole, Emmpak, Excel, Filiberto's, Finley School District, Friendly's, Gate Gourmet, Gold Coast Produce, Golden Corral, Habanero's, Harmony Farms, KFC, King Garden Restaurant, Lund's, Malt-O-Meal, McDonalds, Natalie’s Orchid Island Juice Co., Natural Selections Foods, Odwalla, Olive Garden, Paramount Farms, Pat & Oscar's, PM Beef Holdings, Quality Inn, Quizno's, Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Robert's American Gourmet (Veggie Booty), Sam's Club, San Antonio Taco, Senor Felix, Sheetz, Silver Grill Location Catering, Sizzler, Sodexho, Spokane Produce, Subway, Sun Orchard Juice Co., Supervalu, Sushi King, Susie Cantaloupe, Taco Bell, Taco John's, Topps, United Food Group (UFG), Viva Cantaloupe, Wal-Mart, and Wendy's.

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The US food safety system was profiled today in an article published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  The article, which is the first in a three-part series, focused on what we know about our food safety system: 

• Fresh produce is more and more popular, and has become the leading cause of foodborne illness outbreaks.  Spinach, lettuce, sprouts, parsley, basil, tomatoes, and other fresh produce items have been identified as the source of E. coli, Salmonella, and other foodborne pathogens in recent years.
  
  Bruce Clark, a partner in Seattle-based Marler Clark, commented on the increase in produce-related outbreaks for the story:

The widening of E. coli cases from protein products to fresh fruits and vegetables is related to "the fact that U.S. agricultural commodities tend to be grown in areas that have cattle, which are reservoirs for bacteria," explained Bruce Clark, a partner in the Seattle law firm of Marler Clark, which represents victims of food poisoning. "As soon as you have manure on the ground, and you have birds and wild animals and water, you have all these vectors for transferring bacteria to fresh fruits and vegetables.

And, most of the time, Clark added, produce is not subjected to the "kill step" (usually cooking), which would eliminate the pathogens. In fact, washing may not even help because of the ability of the organisms to cling to food surfaces.

• Meat, which was previously the most prevalent cause of foodborne illness outbreaks, is back on public health officials' and food safety experts' radar, as 2007 brought several recalls due to E. coli contamination.
  
• Large food firms have begun purchasing smaller firms, and the consolidation of food resources has resulted in wider distribution of food products by fewer suppliers.  A small amount of contaminated food can now travel greater distances and be more geographically disbursed, thus leading to widespread outbreaks that are not geographically concentrated and are harder to trace.
  
• Government agencies charged with the responsibility for ensuring our nation's food is safe face challenges.  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) works with 20 percent of the nation's food safety budget, but regulates 80 percent of food products.  The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) works with 80 percent of the nation's food safety budget, but regulates only 20 percent of food products.  

The whole food production system has grown increasingly concentrated, overwhelmingly complex, and -- paradoxically -- at times fragmented.

At the same time, critics charge, U.S. government oversight is not adequate.

"Our real issue here comes down to appropriate oversight and regulation by our government agencies," said Mickey Parish, chairman of the department of nutrition and food science and acting chairman of the Center for Food Systems Security at the University of Maryland. "They have been cut back so severely in the last six to eight years that, quite frankly, it is more difficult to do the proper inspections that need to be done to ensure that the food is absolutely as safe as it possibly can be."

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Public health officials in North Carolina have not been able to identify the foodborne pathogen that sickened at least 76 people who attended a Force Protection Industries plant dedication in Roxboro.  The cause of the food poisoning outbreak has thus far been narrowed down to pork loin and/or pasta vegetable salad, according to an article in the Roxboro Courier. 

When interviewed, David Bergmire-Sweat of the Epidemiology Section of the N.C. Division of Public Health noted that improper holding temperatures for food can contribute to the growth of bacteria.  As reported by the Courier:

“Cold foods should be held at 45 degrees or below and hot foods should be cooked to the proper temperature or reheated to 165 degrees and then maintained at 135 degrees or above,” officials emphasized.

The Force Protection function was held on Friday, Nov. 30, at the former Collins & Aikman Corp. Elm Plant, which FP has refitted for production of the company’s Cheetah bomb-resistant armored vehicle.

Approximately 400 people attended the dedication ceremony, and the health department reported that 76 of the 335 people contacted, after health officials began investigating on Dec. 4, reported suffering from symptoms such as abdominal cramping, diarrhea and chills.

Improper food handling and holding temperatures have contributed to the spread of pathogens in several other outbreak-situations.

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As the year comes to a close, many publications are looking back on the year and assessing our nation's food safety system.  From the Wall Street Journal to USA Today and Reuters, everyone has something to say about the American food supply. 

The Wall Street Journal focused today on the USDA and the number of E. coli outbreaks in 2007.  Bill Tomson wrote about the Topps E. coli outbreak and the impact it has had on USDA's food safety policies:

It took one of the largest-ever beef recalls -- 21.7 million pounds of frozen hamburger patties linked to severe illnesses -- in 2007 to make USDA officials question whether beef processors around the country were following safety guidelines when it came to E. coli contamination. The New Jersey-based Topps Meat Co., the producer behind the massive recall, certainly wasn't, USDA officials said.

"When we sent food-safety assessors into the Topps plant, we found that their policies they had in place were not being followed nearly as vigorously as they had been just two years ago when we did a food-safety assessment in the same plant," USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety Richard Raymond said in an interview.

The Topps event led to several tough questions. The first was whether the Topps situation was unique.

"We don't know if Topps was the tip of the iceberg and other plants have gotten sloppy, or Topps was kind of an isolated incident," Mr. Raymond said.

USA Today focused on under-funding at the FDA and what that means for American consumers purchasing food products regulated by FDA.  Julie Schmidt wrote:

The appropriation is 12% more than the agency got for food safety in fiscal 2007. But half the increase will be eaten up by annual cost increases, including pay raises, and the FDA won't get the other half until July — and only then if it has a performance plan in place that lawmakers find adequate.

"In the budget climate we're in, any increase is better than nothing," says Scott Faber of the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents foodmakers. "But we're disappointed and surprised in light of soaring imports and declining consumer confidence." A broad coalition of groups, including the GMA, have pushed for bigger food-safety increases in the past year because of a string of high-profile food recalls. The Coalition for a Stronger FDA, which includes three former secretaries of Health and Human Services, which oversees the FDA, has sought 15% increases for the FDA for each of the next five years.

And Reuters carried an article about foods imported from China and Americans' worries about foodborne illness coming from Chinese imports.  Missy Ryan wrote:

China is struggling to meet food safety demands from trading partners as it slowly modernizes a food production system still rooted in small-scale family farms, U.S. and Chinese officials said on Tuesday.

"China is a country in economic transition and it has a mixture of traditional problems and modern problems that both coexist," Wu Yongning, an official at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a seminar on food safety at a Washington think tank.

Those problems, he said, now range from improper food preparation on family-run farms to shortcuts taken on industrial chicken farms.

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The CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) includes a report titled, "Norovirus Outbreak Associated with Ill Food-Service Workers --- Michigan, January--February 2006" this week.  In it, we learn that:

• On January 30, 2006, the Barry-Eaton District Health Department (BEDHD) in Michigan was notified of gastrointestinal illness in several members of two dining parties after a meal at an Eaton County restaurant on January 28.
  
• BEDHD began an investigation to identify the source and agent of infection
• Norovirus genogroup I (GI) was detected in stool specimens submitted by multiple patrons and employees.
  
• Several food-service workers had been ill during January 19--February 3, 2006, and that a line cook had vomited in the restaurant on January 28, possibly increasing environmental contamination and transmission of virus.
  
• At least 364 restaurant patrons became ill with norovirus during the outbreak. 
  

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The LA Daily News reported that at least two LA-area restaurants have been identified as the source of norovirus outbreaks recently.  The Buca di Beppo restaurant located in the Valencia Town Center and the Marie Callender's restaurant located near Magic Mountain - both in Los Angeles County - were the source of food poisoning outbreaks that caused symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, fever, and dehydration.  According to the Daily News, one employee who worked at both restaurants could have been the source of disease transmission. 

Ironically, this week's MMWR, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, contains a report on norovirus outbreaks at Michigan restaurants in early 2006.  An editorial note in the MMWR contains the following:

Norovirus can be transmitted person-to-person (via the fecal-oral route) and spread through contaminated airborne droplets, food, water, environmental surfaces, and fomites (3). In the outbreak described in this report, at least 364 restaurant patrons became ill with gastroenteritis after dining at a restaurant where employees had reported to work while ill. In a norovirus outbreak, a vomiting incident is a major risk factor for norovirus illness and can double the attack rate (4). In this outbreak, vomiting by a line cook at the work station might have contributed to transmission. Because of the open physical layout of the restaurant, no barrier impeded airborne spread of the virus from the kitchen to the main dining area. Attack rates increased after this incident, and among employees who worked on January 28, a higher percentage of line cooks became ill compared with servers. In addition, other environmental contamination probably contributed to transmission. Low-level transmission was occurring in the week before January 28; seven patrons who dined at the restaurant during January 21--27 met the case definition. During January 21--February 3, exposure to virus likely occurred by contact with contaminated surfaces and objects.

Norovirus, as seen here, is particularly easy to spread and is frequently spread through modes of transmission other than food.

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Ediets.com provided some good tips on safer eating this morning in an article titled, "13 Foods That Could Kill".  The thirteen foods the column focuses on are:

Lettuce: because lettuce has been identified as the source of several E. coli and other foodborne illness outbreaks.  In 2006, Dole spinach was the source of a large E. coli outbreak, and lettuce was the source of outbreaks at Taco Bell and Taco John's restaurants.  Ediets.com states, "All raw fruits and vegetables can harbor disease-causing bacteria. Thoroughly wash any raw produce under cold running water before eating it. If appropriate, use a small scrub brush to remove any visible dirt. This is true even for organic fruits and vegetables."

Water: because contaminated water can harbor bacteria, viruses, and parasites, it is important to ensure your drinking water, as well as water in pools or at sprayparks, has been properly treated to eliminate the possibility of contamination.  According to Ediets.com, "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends that private water supplies be tested at least once a year for: nitrates, total dissolved solids and coliform bacteria, the presence of which (although it is generally harmless) may indicate other contamination. You may need to test more frequently and for more potential contaminants if a problem is suspected."

Raw sprouts: Because sprout seeds can be contaminated with foodborne pathogens that cause food poisoning, raw sprouts should be avoided.  Raw sprouts have been associated with E. coli and Salmonella outbreaks.  Ediets encourages consumers to cook sprouts thoroughly to kill bacteria.

Unpasteurized juice, milk or cheese: Because unpasteurized juices and "raw" dairy products do not go through a "kill step" before they are served, bacteria, viruses, or parasites could be present in the products.  Several E. coli outbreaks have been traced to raw juices, including a 1996 E. coli outbreak traced to apple juice and subsequent Salmonella outbreaks traced to orange juice.  outbreaks have been traced back to raw milk, including E. coli outbreaks that resulted in children being hospitalized for kidney failure.  Edites.com states, "Make sure you always purchase the pasteurized versions of your favorite products. Pasteurization kills bacteria. When you go to a juice bar, make sure the juices being served are pasteurized. Unpasteurized products have been linked to salmonella, E. coli and Listeria -- all of which can lead to death."

Moldy peanuts:  Because moldy peanuts, wheat chereals, and corn can produce aflatoxins.  Ediets.com encourages people to check these products for any signs of discoloration or mold, as, "Alfatoxins have been found to cause liver cancer in animal species."

Raw or undercooked shellfish: Because shellfish, such as clams and oysters, can be contaminated with micro-organisms such as vibrio or viruses such as norovirus.  Raw oysters should be avoided.  Ediets.com states:  "Any animal protein consumed raw or undercooked has an increased potential for causing illness."

Swordfish, shark, king mackerel and tilefish: Because these fish have been associated with high levels of methyl mercury, which can cause brain damage in unborn and young children.  According to Ediets.com, "The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the EPA advise young children, women who are planning to become pregnant and pregnant or nursing women not to eat these fish."

Caesar salad: Because many recipes for Caesar salad dressing call for raw eggs, and eggs can carry Salmonella, Campylobacter jejuni, and other foodborne pathogens. Ediets.com encourages you to ask your server or host if Caesar salad dressing contains raw eggs because, "Many restaurant or homemade recipes call for raw eggs in Caesar salad."

Wild mushrooms: Because several species of mushrooms contain deadly poisons.  According to Ediets.com, "Portabella and shiitake lovers have no reason to worry. Just don’t go scavenging in your backyard. Only eat mushrooms you’ve purchased in the grocery store."

Raw, homemade cookie dough. Because, again, raw eggs can contain potentially deadly foodborne pathogens.  Ediets.com says, "We're not talking about the prepackaged kind that many of us prefer to nibble on straight from the tube or tub. We're talking about homemade batter that's made with eggs."

Rare hamburger. Because ground beef can be contaminated with E. coli, Salmonella, and other bacterial pathogens that cause food poisoning.  All ground beef products and hamburgers should be cooked to 160 degrees fahrenheit.  Ediets.com provides the advice to, "Always use a food thermometer to ensure you've cooked the beef to a safe temperature. Avoid any restaurant entrée labeled "tartare" – it's raw."

Turkey and stuffing. Because stuffing cooked inside a turkey or chicken has a reduced likelihood of reaching a hot enough temperature to kill Salmonella, Campylobacter, or other "bugs".  Ediets explains, "The bird cooks both from the outside and the inside. When you stuff the bird, it reduces the heat penetration. Your best bet is to cook the turkey and stuffing separately. If you do choose to cook them together, make sure the temperature reaches at least 180 degrees Fahrenheit in the innermost part of the thigh while the center of the stuffing inside the turkey reaches 165 degrees."

Shakes and eggs. Because, as pointed out earlier, raw eggs can carry Salmonella or Campylobacter jejuni.  Protein shakes can be made with p asteurized eggs, but unless they're pasteurized, avoid raw eggs.  Ediets warns, "Once again, you're putting yourself at risk for salmonella when you consume raw eggs. Also, beware of sunny side up or runny eggs. The rule of thumb is to cook the egg until both the yolk and the white are firm."

More about food poisoning can be learned at www.foodborneillness.com. 

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E. coli, Salmonella, and botulism were all featured in the news today:

In Hutchinson, Kansas, the Hutchinson News reported that a five-year-old girl from Sterling, Kansas, has been put on dialysis.  She became ill with an E. coli infection and hemolytic uremic syndrome.  She is in critical condition after 18 days in the hospital.  As reported by the Hutchinson News:

Aubrey Anderson, 5, continued to undergo daily dialysis treatments lasting three to five hours each at Wesley Medical Center, said her father, Bill Anderson, who is principal of Sterling High School.

"Aubrey's hemoglobin was down a little today, which is not good," Anderson said in an e-mail. "Her platelets, however, have reached a 'normal' level and the doctor feels that they will not decrease again, and that is encouraging. Her toxicity level is down from yesterday, but they would like to see it come down farther."

In Omaha, Nebraska, the Omaha World Herald reported that ConAgra has resumed the production of Banquet and private label pot pies - one of two ConAgra products identified earlier this year as the source of a nationwide Salmonella outbreak.  According to the World Herald:

ConAgra Foods Inc. said Wednesday that it had enhanced its food safety procedures and resumed making frozen Banquet and private-label pot pies, which the company recalled last month after they were linked to salmonella illnesses.

The company said it would ship the pot pies to stores beginning in December, and they should be back on store shelves as soon as January.

And in Roanoke, Virginia, a relative of a doctor who passed away this week - allegedly of botulism poisoning - spoke with the Roanoke Times.  While testing has not been completed, the relative stated that health authorities are investigating the possibility that the doctor's death was caused by botulism.

Kwang Kim, the doctor’s younger brother, said the family is still awaiting laboratory results to confirm the death was caused by botulism. They expect those results Thursday, he said.

Kwang Kim said the state health department approached the family last week about the doctor’s illness. Dr. Kim’s husband, George Makarie, is also ill and was still hospitalized Wednesday morning, Kwang Kim said. He said he doesn’t know if Makarie’s illness is also related to botulism.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 76 million foodborne illness cases occur in the United States every year. This amounts to one in four Americans becoming ill after eating foods contaminated with such pathogens as E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella, Hepatitis A, Campylobacter, Shigella, Norovirus, and Listeria.

On an annual basis, approximately 325,000 people are hospitalized with a diagnosis of food poisoning, and 5,000 die. The annual dollar costs of foodborne illnesses—in terms of medical expenses and lost wages and productivity—range from $6.5 to $34.9 billion.

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Tortillas were pulled from school kitchens this week in Racine, Wisconsin, after students and teachers became ill.  Del Rey manufactured flour tortillas that are suspected of being the cause of an outbreak of food poisoning at three Racine Unified School District middle schools, and FDA officials stepped in to prevent the tortillas to be served again.

A Department of Public Instruction spokesperson spoke to the Journal Times, which reported on the story:

“In an effort to protect children from becoming ill, we are strongly encouraging all schools to refrain from serving the flour tortillas,” the DPI said in its release.

State health officials suspect Del Rey flour tortillas, the brand served at Starbuck, Mitchell and Gilmore middle schools, where more than 90 students suffered from symptoms like vomiting and stomach cramps.

The tortillas came in 12-ounce bags, 12 tortillas per package. The case linked to the illness contained 40 packages and was labeled Del Rey Flour Tortillas #6, according to a DPI statement.

A January 12, 2006 MMWR from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention contained a report on previous school food poisoning from tortillas.

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At least 26 players and 3 coaches from the Chatfield High School football team became ill with apparent food poisoning after traveling to Fort Collins, Colorado, for a game last Saturday.  The team ate two meals together before playing in a playoff game, and coaches believe one of the two meals was probably the source of illness.  Lane Lyon from the Denver Channel wrote:

The Jefferson County Department of Public Health has yet to determine the source of the contamination. A spokesperson said Monday that tests are being run and both restaurants investigated. Neither the school district, nor health officials identified the businesses where the Chatfield team ate meals.

The school district believes the illness is isolated to the team.

Food poisoning can be caused by a variety of microbes such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites. Harmful toxins or chemicals present in food also may cause foodborne illness.

Different causes of food poisoning cause different symptoms, so there is no one syndrome that is foodborne illness; however, common symptoms include abdominal cramping, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting, fever, headache, fatigue, and body aches.

Generally, after contaminated food is consumed there is a delay before food poisoning symptoms start. This delay is called the “incubation period”. The incubation period of a foodborne illness can range from less than an hour (which is rare) to days or weeks, and depends on the organism causing the illness and the amount ingested.

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The Times-Argus of Barre and Montpelier, Vermont, featured an article about Listeria monocytogenes, a foodborne pathogen.  The article focuses on the need for specific populations (i.e. pregnant women, elderly people) to be aware of the risks Listeria poses to them, and on the importance of public knowledge about Listeria since it is present in many environments and can be a contaminant in processed foods.

Listeria emerged as a serious contamination problem in meat and poultry products in the 1980s. By 1999, an especially virulent strain of L. monocytogenes had evolved, alarming health officials and prompting them to urge food producers to clean up their act. When another disastrous outbreak occurred in 2002, the inspection service concluded that voluntary measures were not enough and more stringent regulations were needed.

Although the "interim final rule" for ready-to-eat meat and poultry products issued in 2003 has helped control exposure to the bacteria, it has clearly not eliminated it. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 2,500 people become seriously ill with listeriosis each year, and 500 people die of it.

Last year, in a further effort to protect the public, the Food and Drug Administration approved using an antiseptic spray to help control contamination of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products. The spray contains a mix of six bacteriophages, otherwise harmless viruses that destroy L. monocytogenes. Consumers cannot tell, however, whether this spray has been used, which means those at risk of serious listeria infections should continue to follow the guidelines below.

More about Listeria can be learned at about-listeria.com.

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The Center for Science in the Public Interest announced today that it has launched a new database that contains details about foodborne illness outbreaks.  In its press release, CSPI stated:

CSPI has long maintained an offline database of foodborne illness outbreaks, compiled largely from the data issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s surveillance unit. For the early years, CSPI added data culled from state health departments, peer-reviewed medical journals, and verified media reports. (In the past, CDC did not make outbreak data public, but that changed when CSPI started filing Freedom of Information Act requests for it. Now CDC releases data about two years after the outbreaks occurred.) CSPI’s database includes all outbreaks (where two or more individuals got sick from eating the same food) for which both the food source and the pathogen have been identified. The database released today covers the years 1990 to 2004. Additional data on 2005 is available from CSPI, and will be released later this year.

The new online database lets individuals search by food, by pathogen, or by state. And the results aren’t pretty. Take poultry. The database includes 541 outbreaks and 16,280 associated illnesses. A search on produce reveals 639 outbreaks and 31,496 associated illnesses. Multi-ingredient items—sandwiches, salads, pasta, and other foods—were linked to 948 outbreaks and 27,812 associated illnesses.

Click here to access the CSPI food poisoning database.

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The Reno Gazette-Journal's Jason Hidalgo reported on the reopen of Jazmine, a restaurant that was recently identified as the source of a Salmonella outbreak, yesterday - the same day that the International Food Safety Network came out with an infosheet about the outbreak.  From the Gazette-Journal article:

Jazmine was ordered closed by the Washoe County District health Department on Aug. 23 after it tested positive for salmonella. The restaurant, which serves up popular Asian fare such as pot stickers, dim sum dumplings, pork ribs and sushi, re-opened its doors for dinner on Aug. 29. The restaurant could have opened two days earlier but had to wait for most of its employees to get approved to return to work.

Despite receiving a clean bill of health to operate again, the restaurant is still struggling to get back customers who have stayed away following the incident.
“Business has dropped tremendously,” said manager and co-owner David Tran. “We’ve lost more than half of our business right now.”

The health department hasn’t been able to trace the source of the outbreak to any particular food in the restaurant. That makes it likely that the source of the outbreak was an infected food handler, said Randall Todd, director of epidemiology at the district health department.

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The Associated Press reported today that Castleberry's, the plant that was the source of a botulism outbreak traced to several hot dog chili products, has closed its doors.  WFAA.com out of Dallas/Fort Worth carried the AP story, "Castleberry's shuts plant over botulism outbreak." 

Over the weekend, 16 cans of chili produced at the Castleberry's Georgia plant tested positive for botulism, and company officials have confirmed that the canned products were not cooked to high enough temperatures to kill Clostridium botulinum, the bacterium that causes botulism food poisoning.  AP reported:

So far, four cases of botulism have been reported -- two from Indiana and two from Texas. All four people consumed Hot Dog Chili Sauce Original, a product made by Castleberry's.

On Saturday, Castleberry's expanded its recall of canned meat products that may be connected to a botulism outbreak. It recalled more than 80 types of canned chili, beef stew, corned beef hash and other meat products in addition to the 10 brands it had recalled Thursday.

The latest FDA and USDA recall announcements can be found here:

• July 23 FDA Botulism Recall Announcement
• July 21 USDA Botulism Recall Announcement

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Grant County, Washington, health officials have reported that a Salmonella outbreak in the county has sickened 11 people since February.  Seven people have been confirmed ill with Salmonella senftenberg since the outbreak began, and four possible cases have submitted samples for testing. 

The Columbia Basin Herald interviewed Grant County health officer Alexander Brzezny for its story on the outbreak:

In the past three weeks the cases in Grant County have been connected through DNA as all being from the same bug, Brzezny said. The health district has several leads on the origin, he said.

"If we find out where it's coming from, I think it's going to be very publishable data because it's rare and it's in Grant County," he said.

Senftenberg salmonella was only discovered in the 1990s, Brzezny noted.

He said the cases in Grant County seem to be isolated and not part of a broad, countywide outbreak.

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Wisconsin public health officials are investigating an apparent foodborne illness outbreak among attendees of a Beaver Dam-area wedding reception.  The wedding and reception took place on June 16th, and guests began exhibiting symptoms of food poisoning, including fever, diarrhea, vomiting, and body aches shortly thereafter.  Dodge County and the Wisconsin Health Department are looking into the cause of the outbreak, according to the Beaver Dam Daily Citizen.

The first call following the wedding came from the Columbus Community Hospital after someone came to the hospital showing signs of gastrointestinal distress, Langfeldt said. The patient had just attended a wedding.

"After we started to get more calls, we contacted the department for the state restaurant inspections for Dodge County," [Jody] Langfeldt said.

The Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services Southern regional office in Madison is still working closely with the county, Langfeldt said.

So far, Langfeldt said her department has interviewed almost 100 guests.

Several bacteria and viruses cause symptoms similar to those experienced by guests at the wedding reception.  For more information about common causes of food poisoning, visit www.foodborneillness.com. 

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The June 2007 QSR Magazine features an article on trying to ensure food safety when serving fresh produce at quick-serve restaurants.  The article's author interviewed different players in the food industry, asking their thoughts about how to prevent foodborne illness outbreaks.  Weighing in were representatives from the National Restaurant Association, the Hospitality Institute of Technology and Management, Rutgers University, and other organizations with a stake in the food industry and food safety. 

Director of Science and Regulatory Relations for the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF), Kristie Grzywinski, says areas like sanitation, supply-chain practices, and holding temperatures are all areas where contaminations are easily introduced. “Really a lot of it is just making sure you have good practices in your establishments,” she says.

Dr. Peter Snyder, Hospitality Institute of Technology & Management president, says one of those good practices is trusting your instincts when picking suppliers, especially for produce.

“If he’s stupid enough to come in a filthy truck that means there’s bad management,” he says. And that could mean trouble or even a potential outbreak for restaurants having their food supplied by the company. Most importantly, Snyder says only buy from suppliers who get their products from approved sources. He says going to the site to see the operation makes this decision easier. Also, he suggests scheduling food deliveries for off-peak hours so that there is ample time to inspect the food and packaging for problems and potential hazards.

Some of the people interviewed in the article argued for more federal oversight and regulations of the food industry, as a way to increase food safety and prevent foodborne illness. Fred Gordon, an attorney who represents food industry companies who face claims of foodborne illness in claims against their suppliers, was interviewd for the article:

Gordon admits that responsibility lies on everyone in the supply chain to maintain the safety of the food but says just because the spotlight falls on the restaurants, farms should not ignore the important role they play in creating a safe product from the start.

...

“It’s, in my opinion, solely driven by economics,” he says. “We have plenty of laws already on the books that if there were sufficient resources to actually police the entities, we’d be great.”

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The Lexington Herald-Leader reported that a hepatitis A outbreak is ongoing.  The Lexington-Fayette County Health Department is working to trace the source of the outbreak, and has discovered that a food worker was one of three people diagnosed with hepatitis A.

The food worker is among three confirmed cases of hepatitis A that the health department reported yesterday. A fourth likely case is being investigated. Kevin Hall, the health department's spokesman, said the four cases occurred in two households and that the infected people know one another.

"There was interaction between the households," Hall said.

At this point, health department investigators think the food service worker had a low likelihood of spreading the disease. The person was not at work when he or she was most infectious and did not work at the restaurant for long.

Hepatitis A is a communicable (or contagious) disease that spreads from person to person. It is transmitted by the “fecal – oral route.” This does not mean, or course, that Hepatitis A transmission requires that fecal material from an infectious individual must come in contact directly with the mouth of a susceptible individual. It is almost always true that the virus infects a susceptible individual when he or she ingests it, but it gets to the mouth by an indirect route.

Food contaminated with the virus is the most common vehicle transmitting Hepatitis A. The food preparer or cook is the individual most often contaminating the food. He or she is generally not ill: the peak time of infectivity (i.e., when the most virus is present in the stool of an infectious individual) is during the 2 weeks before illness begins. Hepatitis A is spread almost exclusively through fecal-oral contact, generally from person-to-person, or via contaminated food or water. Outbreaks associated with food have been increasingly implicated as a significant source of Hepatitis A infection. Such “outbreaks are usually associated with contamination of food during preparation by an HAV-infected food handler.”2 Indeed, “[v]iral gastroenteritis was reported as the most common food-borne illness in Minnesota from 1984 to 1991, predominantly associated with poor personal hygiene of infected food handlers.”

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The Green Bay Press-Gazette reported today that an Egg Harbor restaurant was to reopen after a foodborne illness caused it to close its doors recently.  According to the Press-Gazette, the Log Den restaurant is open again after a three-day closure to ensure that employees were no longer ill and would not transmit illness to customers.  From the article:

"We recommended they be closed until Wednesday due to the three-day incubation period," of rotavirus, said Dennis Hibray, regional director for the state Department of Public Health. "If an employee becomes sick, they should be over it by then. And once you get it, you don't get it again."

Rotavirus, which most commonly causes severe vomiting and diarrhea in small children, is easily transmitted from people, objects and food.

The restaurant voluntarily closed Friday after the state and county learned that some of the restaurant's employees were ill. It was allowed to reopen Saturday after meeting criteria set by the state: using bottled water and packaged ice, excluding sick employees, wearing protective gloves and sanitizing the restaurant and kitchen.

Then, on Saturday night, "they had another sick employee and as a result of that, another employee who became ill at work," Hibray said. "Knowing that, we contacted them and recommended they close their business, which they did."

Marler Clark sponsors a Web site about foodborne illness, where you can learn about common foodborne pathogens.

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service is providing consumers with key recommendations they can use to help reduce the risk of foodborne illness during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Read them here.

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09.nov.06
Commentary from the Food Safety Network
Brae Surgeoner
www. foodsafety.ksu.edu

Life is so unfair.

Like on MTV’s My Super Sweet 16, the mesmerizing show that follows Christian Dior-obsessed rich kids about to come-of-age as they plan their own outlandish birthday parties, and which has teenagers (and adults) across America questioning whether their parents really do love them.
Or, apparently, for independent restaurant owners in Topeka, Kansas, where rumors of biased restaurant inspections and critical violation drama have appeared following the popularity and apparent influence of publicly posting inspection reports -- a practice that is growing across North America. Since 1998 when Los Angeles began requiring restaurants to display letter-grade cards corresponding to the result of their most recent food safety inspection, over 100 North American jurisdictions have started to disclose inspection results using an array of methods.

Last month, Dean Yee, the owner of China Inn, the oldest Chinese restaurant in Topeka, announced that he would be shutting down on Nov. 19 -- the result of an ongoing dispute with fussy health inspectors.

Mr. Yee alleges the health department put an end to his food preparation with unwarranted fines and a notice of intent to suspend his license. For the health-conscious, restaurant-going public who cut-off their patronage, the slaps on the wrist did not go unnoticed.

Since the end of last February, China Inn has been inspected on seven different occasions. According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s restaurant inspection website, only one of these was routine; the rest were complaint-related and resulted in a total of 38 critical violations. A critical violation means a provision of the Kansas Food Code that, if left uncorrected, is more likely than other violations to contribute to food contamination or illness, or environmental health hazard. In the U.S. there are 76 million cases of foodborne illness and 5,000 related deaths every year.

Some restaurant managers say that publicly available inspection reports motivate them to avoid the stigma of a bad report; they work vigilantly to ensure safe food and flaunt inspection information as a coy marketing ploy to lure people into their restaurants. This past summer, for example, a flashy ad in an in-flight magazine for American Airline caught my eye. Brazilian steakhouse, Churrasascaria Plataforma, featuring the bold headline, “Golden Apple Award Winner for Excellence in Food Safety” -- no small feat considering that to qualify for the award, a food service establishment must not have any critical violations during their past two consecutive inspections, and must demonstrate the implementation and active use of a food safety management program.

Still, other restaurateurs snub this era of public disclosure and constructive dialogue -- reacting with the same conviction of a wronged teen whose parents threaten to take away their license. Those who can’t get the public image that they want without hard work complain, "I don't really care what the health department thinks, we keep this place spotless," as did Mr. Yee to a Topeka Capital-Journal news reporter. Note to restaurant-goers: the human eye cannot detect the microbial agents that cause foodborne illness.

In the last three years, KDHE news releases show the majority of Topeka restaurants fined since January 2003 have been mom and pop operations. The findings mirror suspicions of many independent operators that inspectors are making nice with the big chains.

The national chains may not be making the press releases because they’re actually doing a good job in terms of food safety. As some of the biggest chains have already learned (think Jack-in-the-Box and Chi Chi’s), they have a great deal at stake.

In the spirit of the public’s right-to-know, the disclosure of restaurant inspection results creates powerful economic incentives, for all types of restaurants, to improve public health. Resistance is futile: reward those establishments that embrace food safety, and punish the others through loss of reputation, customers and suspended or revoked licenses.

Brae Surgeoner is a research assistant with the Food Safety Network at Kansas State University.

bsurgeon@uoguelph.ca
www.foodsafety.ksu.edu

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced that it is seeking a permanent injunction against Worldwide Fish & Seafood, Inc. (Worldwide Fish), Suzanne Weinstein, its president and owner, and Timothy A. Lauer, its general manager. Worldwide Fish does business as Coastal Seafood, a seafood processor located at 2330 Minnehaha Avenue, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The firm distributes seafood products to restaurants in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and North and South Dakota.

Read all here.

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This lettuce tastes funny.

"ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (AP) -- Two police officers sued Burger King Corp., claiming they were served hamburgers that had been sprinkled with marijuana.

The lawsuit says Mark Landavazo and Henry Gabaldon, officers for the Isleta Pueblo tribal police, were in uniform and riding in a marked patrol car when they bought meals at the drive-through lane October 8 of a Burger King restaurant in Los Lunas, New Mexico.

The officers ate about half of their burgers before discovering marijuana on the meat, the lawsuit said. They used a field test kit to confirm the substance was pot, then went to a hospital for medical evaluations."

Keep reading here

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With many Americans switching to a more health-conscious diet that includes fresh vegetables, the nation must do a better job against food-borne illnesses.

The most recent outbreak — salmonella poisoning linked to contaminated lettuce and tomatoes — sickened 171 people in 19 states, including Georgia, and came not long after a deadly and more serious outbreak of E. coli that caused spinach to disappear from menus and grocery shelves.

Federal responsibility for food safety is spread across at least 15 agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture. When a crisis erupts, the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention swoops in to determine what went wrong.

Read the rest here

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The Executive Intelligence review has a great article on the FDA cutbacks leading to more US food poisoning.

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The C. difficile outbreak at a Quebec hospital in St-Hyacinthe has killed another person, bringing the death toll to 10 since the bacteria emerged at the health centre in July.

A total of 25 people have been infected with C. difficile, which causes severe diarrhea, at the Centre hospitalier Honoré-Mercier in St-Hyacinthe, an agricultural town southeast of Montreal.

The hospital announced in late October that it had introduced several measures to contain the infection, including restricted visiting rules and a massive disinfection campaign.

More here

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From the FDA's website

As it investigates an outbreak of illnesses that may be related to Salmonella typhimurium bacteria in produce, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reminding consumers of steps they can take to keep their food safe.

Salmonella can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses.

Based on information currently available from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the investigation shows a peak in cases of illness in September. This suggests that the outbreak is no longer ongoing. The agency believes that contaminated food products that caused the illnesses have at this point been consumed, destroyed or thrown out because they are perishable. Therefore, FDA does not believe a consumer warning about produce on store shelves is warranted at this time.

FDA is working closely with states and CDC to identify the most likely food item(s) that caused the current outbreak. If and when a food item is identified, FDA will investigate where the product came from and what may have gone wrong during its production, packing or distribution that could have led to contamination with Salmonella.

Keep reading here.

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This is a quick Q & A from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the effectiveness of washing your fruits and vegetables to prevent food poisoning.

Link to article

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in collaboration with state departments of health and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is investigating an outbreak of infections caused by a type of Salmonella called Salmonella typhimurium . This infection has no relationship to typhoid fever, which is caused by another organism. Salmonella typhimurium typically causes an illness with fever and non-bloody diarrhea which commonly resolves after about one week. This illness is different from that caused by E. coli O157:H7, which produces bloody diarrhea, severe cramps, and in some persons, severe kidney disease. PulseNet, the network of public health laboratories that performs molecular subtyping (“DNA fingerprinting”) on bacteria that cause foodborne illnesses, has identified a specific strain of Salmonella typhimurium that has caused this outbreak. Cases caused by the specific strain have been detected regularly at low frequency (average , 86 cases per year) for the past 5 years, indicating the presence of this strain at low levels in the environment and the food chain. The outbreak has involved 171 cases of infection by this strain in 19 states reported since September 1, 2006. The median age of patients is 36 years, and 59% are female. As with most infections caused by Salmonella , most patients had a febrile diarrheal illness. Of 73 patients for whom clinical data has been reported, 14 (19%) were hospitalized; there have been no deaths reported. At this time few new cases are being detected, and there is little evidence of continuing risk to the public.

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More on Salmonella: Salmonellablog Or About-Salmonella

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GRAND RAPIDS TOWNSHIP -- In the cold room at Forest Hills Foods, workers prepare fruit trays, ever mindful of customer concerns over the recent outbreak of food-borne problems such as E. coli and salmonella.

Everything the produce comes into contact with in the room is sterilized.

"It's cold during the preparation process. And it's cold when it gets on our shelves. So the product never has a chance for any bacteria growth," said produce manager Chris Gould.

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The first rule of public health is one most of us learn in kindergarten: Don't eat poop.

But that's what the people were eating who were struck down with E. coli in the late summer outbreak tied to bagged spinach, California health officials now say.

There was deadly E. coli O157:H7 in water samples taken on the Salinas Valley ranch where the spinach was grown, in wild pigs that rampaged through the fields, in cattle and calves that grazed nearby, and on cow manure in adjacent pastures, says Kevin Reilly, deputy director of prevention services for the California Department of Health Services.

"It's not unusual or unexpected that we'd find O157:H7 in the environment where those species exist," Reilly says. Three people died and more than 200 others were sickened in the outbreak that spread to 26 states.

Read More Here

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For starters, the problem has been accelerated by the American appetite for fruits and vegetables — much of it raw as the market grows for packaged fresh greens.

Americans ate 10 times more spinach in 2005 than in 1970, with much of the growth in ready-to-eat bagged spinach and baby spinach, according to the Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service.

Americans have increased consumption of all produce — up 25% between 1970 and 2004.

Raw produce skips what Linda Harris, an expert on food safety at the University of California-Davis, calls "the kill step." That's cooking that knocks out any pathogens that may have hitched along.

And that's a problem, because fruits and vegetables are more likely to carry disease than they were 30 years ago, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "In the 1970s, it was two outbreaks a year. In the 1980s, it was seven a year. And in the 1990s, it was 16 a year," says Patricia Griffin, a doctor who studies food-borne and diarrheal illnesses at the CDC. Figures for the past five years are being compiled, she says.

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A salmonella outbreak potentially linked to produce has sickened at least 172 people in 18 states, health officials said Monday.

Health officials think the bacteria may have spread through some form of produce; the list of suspects includes lettuce and tomatoes. But the illnesses have not been tied to any specific product, chain, restaurants or supermarkets.

No one has died in t