UK Petting Farm Found Liable for 2009 E. coli Outbreak

The United Kingdom’s High Court has found a Surrey county petting farm liable for a 2009 E. coli outbreak that sickened 93 people, including 76 children under the age of 10, Smallholder Magazine reports.  Several children suffered acute kidney failure and required dialysis following their infections, resulting in some likely experiencing permanent kidney problems.  In its defense, Godstone Farm said the UK’s Health Protection Agency and the Tandridge District Council should share responsibility — a claim with which the court disagreed.  Petting farms and zoos have been tied to dozens of illness outbreaks in the U.S. and Europe over the past two decades. Nearly all such outbreaks involve pathogens traditionally associated with foodborne illness, including E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella and Campylobacter.  In October 2012, a petting zoo at the Cleveland County Fair in North Carolina caused an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak that sickened at least 106 people and killed 2-year-old Gage Lefevers.  Children, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems are especially susceptible to illness from infected animals at petting zoos, where they spread bacteria through fecal bacteria on the ground or in their fur or saliva.  In response to that outbreak, Food Safety News published a report on petting zoo outbreaks in November 2012.