Problems with food preparation, hand-washing and food-safety training were cited as the cause of two large, multi-serotype Salmonella outbreaks at Arkansas prisons in August of 2012, according to a new study released in last week’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
Investigators from the Arkansas Department of Health and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that 597 inmates incarcerated at Arkansas prisons were infected with eight serotypes of Salmonella during the outbreak. Those eight strains of Salmonella revealed 15 pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns of the bacterium. This finding surpasses all previous reports for multiple-serotype outbreaks of Salmonella previously reported in prisons. Case-control studies conducted at the prisons revealed that the Salmonella outbreak was statistically associated with chicken salad and other food items. Chicken salad was the likely cause of the outbreak at Prison A. Multiple food items, as well as person-to-person transmission, were the likely causes of the outbreak at Prison B. Both prisons incorporated eggs produced at Prison B into the chicken salad dishes served at the institutions. Several food-handling errors, including leaving chicken salad at unsafe temperatures, could have contributed to the Salmonella outbreak. MMWR editors noted that inmates should receive food safety training before assignment to kitchen work. The editors further state that sanitarians should regularly inspect prison kitchens, cafeterias, and agricultural facilities, and require them to maintain standards equivalent to those of commercial establishments in accordance with state or local guidelines. A final recommendation that resulted from the outbreak findings is that health departments might consider enhancing collaborative surveillance with prison staff to improve control of foodborne outbreaks in prisons. The entire study and its findings can be found on the MMWR website.
