Four outbreaks of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella — the most ever in a single year — were 2011’s 3rd most important food safety story.

Since April, Salmonella Hadar, Salmonella Heidelberg and Salmonella Typhimurium infections have left a trail of victims who cannot be successfully treated with common antibiotics.

The sudden frequency of these antibiotic-resistant Salmonella outbreaks in 2011 is sounding alarm bells on several fronts.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture does not ban Salmonella in meat and poultry. But when an antibiotic-resistant Salmonella strain is found in meat linked to an illness, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) treats it like a banned substance.

That’s why outbreaks of illness traced to contaminated ground turkey, chicken livers, and ground beef led to recalls in 2011. 

After one of those recalls, the Center for Science in the Public Interest called upon USDA to change its current policy and not wait for people to be sickened before asking producers to recall meat tainted with four antibiotic-resistant strains of Salmonella.

CSPI in May formally petitioned USDA to declare those four Salmonella strains — Heidelberg, Newport, Hadar and Typhimurium —  as “adulterants” under federal law, making it illegal to sell products containing them.

USDA still has the petition “under consideration” as 2011 draws to a close.

“The only thing worse than getting sick from food is being told that no drugs exist to treat your illnesses,” said CSPI attorney Sarah Klein, who filed the petition.  “And that is what more consumers will hear if these drug-resistant pathogens keep getting into our meat.”

And did they ever get into our meat in 2011.

In April, Jennie-O Turkey, which ran a massive television campaign promoting turkey burgers during 2011, was forced to recall 54,900 pounds of ground turkey contaminated with Salmonella Hadar.

The recall was associated with a 10-state Salmonella Hadar outbreak that left 12 people infected and sent three to hospitals. Later in the year, Jennie-O Turkey television advertisements included a brief caution about the need to thoroughly cook turkey burgers.

In August, Cargill Meat Solutions called back 36 million pounds of ground turkey from its Arkansas facility after a massive Salmonella Heidelberg outbreak infected 136 people in 34 states. There was one fatality. Cargill’s voluntarily closed its Springdale, AR turkey plant and did not get it up and running again until Dec. 19.

About 40 percent of those with the Heidelberg infections required hospitalization, and in many of those cases fighting the infections proved difficult.

“The isolates from the ground turkey samples were resistant to antibiotics including ampicillin, streptomycin, tetracycline, and gentamicin, ” according to the CDC. “The sensitivity testing results indicated that isolates from humans were also resistant to ampicillin and tetracycline, and some were resistant to streptomycin and gentamicin. 

“All human isolates were sensitive to several common antibiotics used in clinical practice such as ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. Antimicrobial resistance may increase the risk of hospitalization or possible treatment failure in infected individuals.”

The “treatment failure” option is what has public health officials concerned about antibiotic-resistant Salmonella.

Two more outbreaks added to the toll in 2011.  Chicken livers contaminated with Salmonella Heidelberg infected at least 179 people in a half dozen states.  Schreiber Processing Corp. recalled “Kosher broiled chicken livers” implicated in the outbreak.

In December, fresh ground beef from a Maine grocery store chain was recalled for Salmonella Typhimurium contamination. At least 16 people were infected and at least seven were hospitalized.

The government has long been looking for ways to fight back against the bacteria.

However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at year-end appeared to be backing off the long-held theory that low doses of antibiotics used in animal feed to spur grow is part of the problem.  In a Dec. 22  filing, FDA withdrew its 1977 proposal for withdrawing approval for such routine use of penicillin and tetracycline in food-producing animals.

FDA may have been reacting to a Government Accountability Office of Congress report from earlier in 2011 that said there is not even sufficient data to study a link between antibiotic uses in food animals to antibiotic uses in humans.

One thing that is for certain — 2011’s 3rd most important story is not going away anytime soon.

With the Hannaford Hamburger Salmonella Outbreak of 2011 hitting the wires a few days ago, Salmonella — especially antibiotic-resistant Salmonella Outbreaks — should be on manufacturers’, regulators’ and consumers’ minds. 

On December 16, Hannaford, a Scarborough, Maine-based grocery chain, recalled fresh ground beef products that may have been contaminated with a strain of Salmonella Typhimurium. The recall resulted from an investigation into human illness.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported 14 ill persons with an indistinguishable PFGE pattern. Eleven of those individuals reported consuming ground beef. Seven individuals were hospitalized and no deaths have been reported.

Ten of the fourteen case-patients reported purchasing ground beef at Hannaford stores in Maine, New York, New Hampshire and Vermont between October 12 and November 20, 2011.

Here is a decade of history of Antibiotic-Resistant Salmonella Outbreaks:

Emmpak/Cargill Ground Beef 2002 – 47 Ill

In early 2002, isolates of Salmonella Newport in New York State were found to be resistant to more than nine antibiotics and had a decreased susceptibility to the antibiotic, ceftriaxone. Since 1996, an increasing number of Salmonella Newport isolates had been found to be resistant to antibiotics. This particular strain of Salmonella Newport was referred to as SN-MDR-AmpC. Subsequent to the discovery of cases in New York, four additional states discovered cases sharing the same strain of SN-MDR-AmpC.

When the cases were investigated, it was found that consumption of undercooked ground beef was the only food that was significantly associated with a risk of infection. The risk of infection when undercooked ground beef eaten was over 50 times greater than when well-cooked meat was eaten.

A sample of ground beef provided by a case-patient was analyzed and was found to be contaminated with SN-MDR-AmpC. Traceback of the meat implicated Emmpak Foods Inc., a subsidiary of Cargill, Inc. Most patients had eaten lean, or extra-lean, ground beef.

This outbreak was the first to implicate ground beef as a source of SN-MDR-AmpC. It illustrated the spread of antibiotic resistance from animal products to humans.

Northeastern States Ground Beef 2003 – 58 Ill

A cluster of Salmonella Typhimurium DT104 cases was found in the northeastern United States in late 2003. The strain was resistant to several antibiotics and was referred to as R-type ACSSuT. Illness was associated with consuming grocery store bought ground beef that was prepared at home as hamburgers.

Product traceback linked the cases to a single, large ground beef manufacturer that had previously been implicated in a multistate outbreak of a highly antibiotic resistant strain of Salmonella Newport in 2002. The meat processor produced much of the ground beef from culled cows.

On January 29, 2004, the USDA issued a reminder to consumers to cook beef thoroughly, but no product recall was issued. Related cases were found through April 2004. Cases were more likely than controls to have pre-existing medical problems.

Safeway Ground Beef 2007 – 43 Ill

Safeway markets in Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and New Mexico sold contaminated ground beef. A rare, drug resistant, strain of Salmonella Newport was isolated from the ill.

No recall was issued as the Food Safety and Inspection Service could not identify the specific “establishments, lots and products” that received the ground beef.

An alert was issued on December 21, 2007 that advised Safeway customers to refrain from eating ground beef that had been purchased between September 19 and November 5.

Beef Packers, Inc., Cargill, Ground Beef 2009 – 2 Ill

In December, Beef Packers, Inc., owned by Cargill, recalled over 20,000 pounds of ground beef contaminated with a drug-resistant strain of Salmonella Newport.

The company issued an earlier recall in August 2009, due to contamination of ground beef with the same strain of Salmonella Newport. This contaminated ground beef was produced in September and was distributed to Safeway grocery stores in Arizona and New Mexico.

The Arizona Department of Health linked two illnesses to the ground beef.

Beef Packers, Inc., Cargill, Ground Beef 2009 – 40 Ill

A Beef Packers, Inc. plant in California, owned by Cargill, distributed approximately 830,000 pounds of ground beef that was likely contaminated with Salmonella Newport. The beef was shipped to distribution centers in Arizona, California, Colorado, and Utah where it was repackaged into consumer-sized packages and sold under different retail brand names.

The contaminated beef contained a strain of Salmonella resistant to several commonly used antibiotics (called MDR-AmpC resistance). At least 40 people in nine states fell ill; at least 21 of the people lived in Colorado and five lived in California. Most people became ill during late June and early July, 2009.

Most of the ill in Colorado had purchased the ground beef at Safeway grocery stores. Ground beef was likely sold through other retail outlets as well.

Cargill is a privately held, multinational corporation whose business activities include production of crop nutrients, grain, livestock feed, agricultural commodities, and ingredients for processed foods.

King Soopers, Inc., Ground Beef 2009 – 14 Ill

King Soopers, Inc., a supermarket chain, recalled approximately 466,236 pounds of ground beef that was linked to an outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium DT 104 in the state of Colorado.

The beef had been distributed in the states of Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. The recall involved tray packs and chubs. The ground beef was produced on various dates ranging from May 23 to June 13, 2009. The Salmonella was resistant to many the antibiotics.

Jenny-O-Turkey Burgers 2010 – 12 Ill

Jennie-O-Turkey Store, All Natural Lean White Meat Turkey Burgers were recalled on April 1, 2011, after an outbreak of Salmonella Hadar had been linked with the consumption of this product.

The turkey burgers were sold exclusively in 4-pound cartons through Sam’s Club stores.

Consumer turkey burger samples in two states were confirmed to be contaminated with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Hadar.

The Salmonella Hadar is known to be resistant to several antibiotic drugs, including ampicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanate, cephalothin, and tetracycline. The Jenny-O Turkey Store is part of the Hormel Foods Company.

Cargill Meat Solutions Ground Turkey 2011 – 136 Ill

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspe
ction Service (FSIS) issued
a public health alert on July 29, 2011, due to concerns about illnesses caused by Salmonella Heidelberg associated with the use and the consumption of ground turkey. The alert was initiated after continuous medical reports; ongoing investigations and testing conducted by various departments of health across the nation determined an association between consumption of ground turkey products and illness.

On August 3, Cargill Meat Solutions issued a recall of ground turkey products. On August 4, the Centers for Disease Control published its first outbreak summary.

The Salmonella Heidelberg was multi-drug resistant, resistant to ampicillin, streptomycin, tetracycline, and gentamycin.

The CDC began its investigation on May 23, after recognizing an “unusual clustering” of Salmonella Heidelberg cases. About the same time, routine surveillance by a federal food monitoring system found the same strain of Salmonella Heidelberg in ground turkey in stores.

On July 29, the initial outbreak strain and a second, closely related, strain of Salmonella Heidelberg was isolated from a sample of leftover unlabeled frozen ground turkey from the home of an outbreak case in Ohio. Since February 27, 2011, a total of 23 ill persons were reported to PulseNet with this second, closely related, strain. Eighty-four ill persons were infected with the initial strain.

The consumer product sample originated from the Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation establishment in Springdale, Arkansas.

On September 11, Cargill Meat Solutions recalled an additional, approximately 185,000 pounds, of ground turkey contaminated with an identical strain of Salmonella Heidelberg that had led to the earlier recall on August 3.

As of September 27, 2011 no illnesses had been linked to the additionally recalled ground turkey products.

Outbreaks from Salmonella-contaminated ground turkey killed one person and sickened nearly 90 others in 28 states this year, highlighting the dangers associated with a product increasingly popular with consumers as an alternative to ground beef.

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Producers are not required to keep poultry with salmonella bacteria off the market. The government considers some contamination inevitable and relies on consumers to kill the pathogen with proper cooking.

Most recently, 78 people were sickened, including one death, after eating ground turkey infected with antibiotic-resistant Salmonella. The outbreak, which began in March and rapidly spread to 26 states, led to the recall of almost 36 million pounds of ground turkey that came from a Cargill plant in Arkansas.

In 1994, the government banned the sale of raw ground beef containing E. coli O157:H7, the main pathogen associated with beef; but did not ban the sale of meat tainted with Salmonella, the most common pathogen found in poultry.

Americans eat far less ground turkey than ground beef, but nearly the same number of people get sick from both. Since 2007, ground turkey has sickened 116 people, including one who died, while ground beef has sickened 164 people, including three fatalities.

Production of ground beef production far outpaces that of ground turkey. In 2009, U.S. companies processed 415 million pounds of ground turkey, compared with nearly 10 billion pounds of ground beef, according to figures from the National Turkey Federation and the American Meat Institute.

Because government investigators piece together evidence of outbreaks over weeks or months, contaminated products can remain for sale in stores, or at home in consumers’ freezers, for a while without people realizing the potential risk.

In the recent outbreak, illnesses from the antibiotic-resistant strains of Salmonella stacked up month after month as companies continued selling the contaminated ground turkey. Bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics are even more dangerous because fewer drugs are effective in fighting them, resulting in more serious infections.

Ground meats pose a greater contamination risk than do whole cuts because the grinding process can mix clean meat with tainted meat. Salmonella is found in ground chicken and ground turkey nearly twice as often as in whole cuts of poultry, according to government data. Also, companies use chemicals such as chlorine to kill Salmonella on whole birds but generally don’t add extra chemicals during grinding.

During grinding, salmonella on the outside of the meat mixes with interior meat that might not yet have been exposed to contamination. With the Salmonella now throughout the mix, cooking the ground poultry to the proper internal temperature is necessary to kill the pathogen.

“You’re increasing the surface area that bacteria have to grow on,” said Christine Alvarado, associate professor of poultry science at Texas A&M University.

Agriculture Department tests from 2010 show that industry averages of salmonella in ground chicken and ground turkey – 18.8 and 10.2 percent, respectively – are more than twice as high as those for whole birds. A 2009 study by the Food and Drug Administration found nearly 15 percent contamination in ground turkey for sale in stores.

Varying Meat Standards

Ground poultry facilities can have almost half of their meat samples test positive for Salmonella and still comply with federal regulations, because the government expects consumers to kill Salmonella themselves by cooking their meat to 165 degrees.

This performance standard, enacted in 1998, allows contamination of 44.6 percent of ground chicken sampled and 49.9 percent of ground turkey sampled by USDA. This year, the USDA lowered the standard for whole chickens to 7.5 percent, targeting what it says is a main source of Salmonella. But the standards for ground chicken and ground turkey did not change.

These are benchmarks, not requirements. Though Salmonella can cause serious, sometimes fatal, illness, a federal court decided in 2001 that Salmonella is natural in poultry. It ruled that the government can test for it but has no authority to shut down a processing plant for routinely exceeding the performance standards.

In 2010, USDA tested 21 plants that produce ground turkey and 10 plants that produce ground chicken – compared with 303 plants producing ground beef.

Sherrie Rosenblatt of the National Turkey Federation says outbreaks in ground turkey can be traced through a company, which owns or monitors all levels of the supply chain.

In general, poultry companies own their own grinding facilities and sometimes grind meat in the same location as the slaughterhouse. Beef grinding plants, in contrast, more often grind together meat from numerous sources and companies, and on a much larger scale, making tracing more difficult.

But, as the most recent outbreak of Salmonella-contaminated ground turkey shows, tracing the pathogen to the source can still trigger a ponderous, multi-agency process requiring months of interviewing victims, collecting receipts and searching for patterns of what and where the victims ate.

Traceback, Recall Deficiencies

In early August, two days after the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned consumers of a Salmonella outbreak related to ground turkey, the Cargill subsidiary recalled nearly 36 million pounds of meat.

As of Aug. 5, the pathogen, identified as the drug-resistant Heidelberg strain of Salmonella, had been linked to one death in California and 77 other illnesses coast to coast, the CDC said.

Before the Aug. 3 announcement of the recall, one of the largest meat recalls in U.S. history, the agency did not tell consumers which brands of turkey to avoid, even though government data suggested a possible source. Instead, the agency advised consumers to fully cook their ground turkey to kill any bacteria.

Earlier this year, government tests unrelated to the outbreak found four ground turkey samples that tested positive for the same strain of Salmonella now linked to the outbreak, according to a CDC advisory. Three of the samples were from one facility, which was identified only as a “common production establishment.”

Positive test results are not enough to trigger a recall. The CDC refused to identify that “common production establishment” until investigating agencies could show that people who had gotten sick had also eaten food from that plant.

After the New York Times reported on Aug. 2 that the USDA was investigating Cargill, the Minnesota-based meat processor announced a recall the next day. It was the company’s third recall in two years because of a Salmonella outbreak: In 2009, 42 illnesses in nine states prompted two recalls of Cargill’s ground beef.

The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service has no power to demand a recall but can request one when problems arise, such as illnesses, adulteration or mislabeling.

The CDC relies on state health departments to collect data about illnesses in their state. Of the 58 salmonella victims who provided information in the recent outbreak, nearly half reported having eaten ground turkey. Carlota Medus, an epidemiologist with the Minnesota Department of Health, said this was strong evidence to link ground turkey to the outbreak, given that only 11 percent of the general public report eating ground turkey in a seven-day period, according to a CDC population sur
vey.

Bu
t connecting victim data with the plant that produced the ground turkey in question was a tougher proposition. In any outbreak, by the time state epidemiologists interview the victims, they may not remember what they ate or where they bought it. Or they might have eaten the product mixed in with other ingredients and not known it.

“That’s the kind of stuff that makes … any investigation difficult,” said Medus. “‘Do you happen to have a package of ground turkey that you ate three weeks ago?’ No. I mean, not only did you throw it out, but your garbage has been picked up by now, so you can’t even go through your garbage and find the package.”

Antibiotics Resistance

There was extra urgency to find the source of this outbreak because the Heidelberg strain is resistant to many commonly prescribed antibiotics, giving doctors fewer options for treating severe cases. This can lengthen the duration of symptoms and raise the death rate.

Unless treated with proper antibiotics, salmonella infection can spread from the intestines to the bloodstream and then to other areas of the body. When the first line of antibiotics fails, doctors must resort to less conventional medications, many of which are more costly and have more serious side effects.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria was also linked to a ground turkey outbreak in April that sickened a dozen people in 10 states, resulting in three hospitalizations. Jennie-O Turkey Store, Inc., recalled 54,960 pounds of frozen, raw turkey burgers four months after the first illness was reported.

———————

Jeffrey Benzing, Esther French and Andy Marso wrote this story while Carnegie-Knight News21 fellows from Maryland. News21 reporter Vanessa Burke-Payne contributed to this report. The story was part of the “How Safe is Your Food?” project of News21, a program of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to foster in-depth, interactive and innovative investigative journalism at journalism schools across the country. News21 is part of the Carnegie-Knight Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education. It is headquartered at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Republished with permission.

Editor’s Note: This is the fifth installment in a series written by John Munsell of Miles City, MT, who explains how the small meat plant his family owned for 59 years ran afoul of USDA’s meat inspection program. The events he writes about began a decade ago, but remain relevant today.

On Oct. 12, 2002, Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation, doing business as Wampler Foods Inc., recalled 27.4 million pounds of fresh and frozen ready-to-eat turkey and chicken products potentially contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

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The recall was prompted by a test of product sample taken by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service. Subsequent news articles revealed that USDA-style Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) thwarted the agency’s inspection force from taking meaningful enforcement actions.  The FSIS, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, linked Pilgrim’s Pride poultry to a Listeria outbreak that caused eight deaths, three miscarriages and 45 more illnesses, mainly in the Northeast. 

 

FSIS officials stated that Pilgrim’s Pride knew the Listeria bacteria were present at its Pennsylvania poultry plant months before its products were blamed for killing eight people in the summer of 2002.  Vincent Erthal, who was a federal inspector for the night shift at the Wampler plant until September of 2002, said the company had found an “exceedingly high” number of Listeria bacteria in the plant months before the recall. “This should have been avoided,” Erthal told Reuters. “The plant knew they had a problem. They dragged their feet.” 

Erthal also told the Associated Press that he blamed government agricultural inspectors because of their uncertainty over intervention when harmful bacteria were discovered.  A Dec. 11, 2002 New York Times article reported: “But the inspector, Vincent Erthal, said inspection officials had failed to crack down on some of the problems in part because of what he and other critics see as confusion and indecision in a new federal system for regulating the nation’s food companies.”  

Another news report stated that some congressmen were concerned to have learned the plant had conducted its own environmental tests for the deadly bacteria and found positive results but failed to disclose this information to FSIS inspectors at the time of the testing. 

 

Such statements constitute a disturbing trend. News reports after ConAgra’s recall also revealed confusion within inspection ranks as to what authority the agency had, and companies’ unwillingness to share test results with the agency. 

Then-USDA Undersecretary Elsa Murano said Pilgrim’s Pride employees had routinely tested for Listeria and found “a spike” in July and August for its presence.  However, the company did not share the information with FSIS because federal regulations did not require companies to test for the bacteria.  

A subsequent article in Food Chemical News on Jan. 27, 2003 related how a coalition of public interest groups charged USDA with unfair treatment of an inspector-turned-whistleblower. The article stated in part:

“Vincent Erthal has received treatment by senior agriculture officials that unfairly discredits him, could tend to diminish public interest in his allegations, and consequently, unjustly threatens the integrity of honest public debate, the group wrote in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman.” 

 

“The letter says that Erthal repeatedly warned his supervisors of conditions at the facility that lead to the largest recall in history, and on two occasions recommended that FSIS management initiate strong enforcement action.”

“The only crime Vince Erthal is guilty of is being a serial truth teller, said Felicia Nestor, food safety coordinator for GAP.  The USDA’s shameful treatment of him sends a chilling warning signal to all those who might have to weigh whether acting in the public’s interest is a career stopper.”

The previously mentioned Dec. 11, 2002, New York Times article also stated:

“Mr. Erthal, 40, who has been a meat inspector for 18 years, said the new rules have a lot of gray areas. He said inspectors were still taught to step in quickly at any sign of direct contamination.  But when it comes to broader sanitation problems, he and others said, many inspectors are waiting longer to intervene out of a sense that it is now the company’s role to deal with those issues unless there are repeated failures.”  (Personal note:  we are continually reminded to “Let HACCP Work.”)

“Rodney Leonard, a former administrator of the inspection service, said the result is a clear ‘don’t ask, don’t tell mandate’ that is causing inspectors to miss red flags all over the place.”  (Personal note:  how can inspectors ask or tell, when the agency aggressively embraces a “hands off” non-involvement role, no longer authorized to police the industry or to utilize its previous command and control authority?  FSIS-style HACCP has many gray areas.)

“Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California and the ranking minority member on the House Committee on Government Reform, said “I think what we’re seeing is a picture of a department that has abdicated its responsibility to protect the public in the area of food safety.”  

Another New York Times report, dated Oct. 10, 2003, continued to reveal systemic problems within FSIS-style HACCP.  This article focused on ongoing fecal contamination of carcasses at the Shapiro Packing Company in Augusta, Georgia, which has more than 700 employees and slaughters 1,200 or more cattle each day.  The article includes the following statements:

“Government inspectors monitoring the automated processing line at the Shapiro Packing meat plant here over the past three years repeatedly (emphasis added) discovered sides of beef mottled with cattle manure.”

“According to government inspection reports, on more than 50 days from early 2001 until July, inspectors at the Shapiro Packing plant found feces on carcasses moving down the processing line.  Its meat ends up in schools, supermarkets and fast-food restaurants across the country.”

“On 11 days the inspectors at the plant even found the manure on numerous carcasses that had already been through special cleansing washes of hot water and acid.”

“In the last five months of 2002, inspectors found fecal contamination (on carcasses) about every 12 days.”

“This year brought little improvement. Government inspectors found feces on 12 days in the first six months of 2003.  But the documents show that the company’s own employees discovered far more.  In January and May, Shapiro employees found feces on meat about every other day.”  

“The employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that some inspectors became frustrated that their superiors appeared to ignore problems that they had carefully detailed in documents called noncompliance reports, which are commonly referred to as N.R.’s (Personal note:  This is eerily similar to statements found in USDA’s OIG criticism of FSIS lack of oversight at C
onAgra in 2002.)

What were FSIS responses to the variety of inspector documentations of ongoing fecal contamination of carcasses?  The same New York Times article stated:

“In March, a safety officer visited Shapiro’s slaughterhouse to monitor its E.coli controls.  The officer took no action, even though the documents show that inspectors had already reported fecal and other contamination of meat on 13 days in the first two months of the year.”

“Last November the inspectors also found E.coli O157:H7, a dangerous bacterium spread by cattle waste, in hamburger and stopped a shipment waiting to go to public schools from a Shapiro meat-grinding facility.  Yet the Department of Agriculture delayed more forceful actions and never did more than threaten to shut the packing plant down.”  

Recurring examples of FSIS’ systemic inaction at source slaughter plants, in spite of ongoing production of fecal-contaminated carcasses, have become commonplace.  The agency intentionally relegated itself to the role of a disinterested bystander when it mandated its style of HACCP at all USDA-inspected plants.  

Furthermore, FSIS kept its inspectors in the dark regarding their authority under the new FSIS-style HACCP.  During the mid-late 90s, FSIS officials publicly stated that the agency would train inspectors in HACCP protocol using a “Just in Time” methodology.  As late as 2002 and 2003, inspectors at my plant kept asking me for HACCP answers, admitting that they had received precious little training yet.  

Inspectors nationwide were forced to ask plant management for advice on how HACCP is to work, both for the agency and for the industry.  Lack of inspector training was discussed on page 10 in the December, 2002 edition of Meat Marketing and Technology (MMT), which interviewed Dr. Garry McKee, the new FSIS Administrator.  The discourse went like this:

MMT:  “Some point to the inconsistencies in HACCP interpretation between line inspectors and supervisors as evidence that field personnel haven’t been trained properly.  How do you respond to that?”

McKee:  “Inspector training is a serious issue; I don’t deny that.  More training is scheduled, and one of my top goals is that all inspectors better understand HACCP.”

Interestingly, almost five years after the large plants rolled out HACCP, FSIS had not yet adequately trained its inspectors.  In many cases, the industry was performing the training. 

 

Six months later, Dr. McKee wrote an article that appeared in the June 2003 edition of Meat Processing. He said:

“One of our top priorities is to cultivate a highly trained and educated workforce. Funding in our FY 2004 budget now before Congress provides specialized food-safety training to inspectors and other food-safety professionals. In addition, FSIS issued a new directive to its employees that will provide FSIS field personnel with greater understanding and knowledge about their role and responsibilities in safeguarding the American food supply. This is the first set of comprehensive instructions given to inspectors since the inception of HACCP in 1997  (emphasis added).

In the mind of FSIS, this is “just in time” training; 1997 to 2003 doesn’t qualify for “just in time.” 

 

Several months later, Dr. McKee made some interesting comments to a conference of agency supervisors in Nashville, TN, on October 27, 2003.  Various news articles included the following quotes:

 “McKee said he is tired of reading articles that quote inspectors as saying they don’t have the authority to take action against a plant that’s violating its own HACCP plan or FSIS regulations.”

‘Or isn’t it likely that something is amiss in a plant that gets a lot of positives for E. coli O157:H7 and that maybe we should do something about it on a system-wide basis?,’ he asked, referring to the repeated positives at the ConAgra plant.”

“And lately, there have been many illogical and unnecessary failures.”

“As for reaction from the inspectors, Stan Painter, chairman of the National Joint Council of Food Inspection Locals, said, ‘it all sounds good and wonderful that inspectors have all these rights and authority, but that’s not what’s happening.’  Painter said that supervisors ‘think they’re God,’ and that they don’t want to relinquish any authority to underlings who don’t have veterinary degrees. Supervisors think inspectors don’t have the knowledge, skills or ability to make decisions, Painter told Food Chemical News.”

“Painter pointed to the fact that in some plants, inspectors can’t call a fecal failure on their own. They have to wait until their supervisors say, ‘this is fecal material,’ Painter said. If inspectors can’t even call fecal material, what action can they take beyond that?”

One article stated:

“The speech….was starkly honest about FSIS gaffes and was filled with admonitions that the inspection force must be more responsible and accountable.”

The Nov. 11, 2003 edition of USA Today cited this quote from Dr. McKee’s speech:

“Protecting public health is more than filling out forms. It involves taking responsibility, McKee said.”

Dr. McKee’s tenure as FSIS Administrator was short-lived.  My personal perception is that his demand for personal responsibility being more important than filling out forms may have been his agency death knell. FSIS-style HACCP is all about paper work, totally divorced from personal responsibility, which would dictate that recurring instances of fecal-contaminated carcasses should justify agency intervention. FSIS-style HACCP makes no allowance for common sense, or personal responsibility. FSIS-style HACCP also insulates the agency from any accountability, since the deregulated industry can now operate in the relative absence of any meaningful government oversight.  

FSIS has changed some policies that now allow agency access to results of company-conducted testing, found in FSIS Notice 54-03 released on Dec. 16, 2003; in FSIS Notice 39-08 released on June 6, 2008; and in FSIS Directive 5000.2, Rev 2 released on Dec. 4, 2008.  FSIS Notice 58-10, released on Oct. 8, 2010, now requires inspectors to collect supplier information at the time of sample collection.  However, these changes have not dramatically reduced the number of outbreaks and recalls. 

  

This narrative has quoted media articles revealing inadequate agency oversight at ConAgra, Pilgrims Pride, Nebraska Beef and Shapiro Packing in 2002 and 2003. Both FSIS and the industry initiated changes since 2003, which resulted in a diminution of outbreaks and recalls in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

The year 2007 brought us back to reality, with numerous outbreaks and recalls, which have in fact persisted to the present day. Recalls in 2007 through 2011 are constantly reminding us that FSIS-style HACCP is not the scientific panacea as originally suggested, and direly needs dramatic mid-course corrective action.

Following is an incomplete but interesting list of some of the largest E.coli and Salmonella recalls we’ve experienced during the last five years:

June 6, 2007 United Food Groups 5.7 million lbs E.coli O157:H7

Nov 1, 2007 General Mills 3.3 million lbs (Pizza ) E.coli O157:H7

Nov 3, 2007 Cargill 1,084,384 lbs E.coli O157:H7

Oct 6, 2007 Cargill 845,000 lbs E.coli O157:H7

April 20, 2007 HFX Inc 259,230 lbs E.coli O157:H7

Oct 13, 2007 J & B Meats 173,554 lbs E.coli O157:H7

July 3, 2008 Nebraska Beef 5.3 million lbs E.coli O157:H7

June 25, 2008 The Kroger Co. 1,613,122 lbs E.coli O157:H7

Aug 14, 2008 Nebraska Beef 1.36 million lbs E.coli O157:H7

May 16, 2008 JSM Meat Holdings 345,000 lbs E.coli 0157:H7

January 12, 2008 Rochester Meat Co 188,000 lbs E.coli O157:H7

Aug 6, 2009 Beef Packers 825,769 lbs Salmonella

July 22, 2009 KINGS Soopers 466,236 lbs Salmonella

June 28, 2009 JBS Swift        380,000 lbs E.coli O157:H7

Dec 24, 2009 National Steak 248,000 lbs E.coli O157:H7

May 21, 2009 Valley Meats 95,898 lbs         E.coli O157:H7

Jan 18, 2010 Huntington Meat        864,000 lbs E.coli O157:H7

Feb 12, 2010 Huntington Meat         4.9 million lbs ADULTERATED

(Please see the next paragraph below which describes what is meant by “adulterated” in this unusual situation at Huntington Meat.)

Jan 23, 2010 Danielle International 1,263,754 lbs Salmonella

Aug 6, 2010 Valley Meat Co 1 million lbs E.coli O157:H7

April 21, 2010 Beltex Corp 135,000 lbs E.coli O157:H7

April 1, 2011 Jennie-O Turkey 54,960 lbs        Salmonella

March 22, 2011 Palmyra Bologna Co 23,000 lbs        E.coli O157:H7

March 8, 2011 Creekstone Farms 14,158 lbs        E.coli O157:H7

Feb 5, 2011 American Food 3,170 lbs        E.coli O157:H7

The afore-mentioned Feb. 12, 2010 recall at Huntington Meat Packing was an expansion of its earlier January 18 recall.  The initial recall covered 864,000 lbs of beef products that may have been contaminated with E.coli O157:H7.  Interestingly, the expanded 4.9 million lb recall was not for E.coli, but for the classification “adulterated.”  A news article in the February 15 edition of “Food Production Daily” provides the following interesting data:

“Huntington Meat Packing Inc. has recalled a further 4.9 million pounds of meat that was not processed in line with the company’s HACCP plan over the course of almost a year, said U.S. authorities.”

“The products are adulterated (emphasis added) because the company made the products under insanitary conditions failing to take the steps it had determined were necessary to produce safe products, said an FSIS statement.”

“This evidence shows that the products subject to this recall expansion were produced in a manner that did not follow the establishment’s Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) plan, it added.”

It is interesting to note that FSIS concluded that since the company did not fully comply with its HACCP Plan, all product produced during the period of noncompliance was “adulterated” over almost a full year. 

Even though FSIS inspection personnel were at the plant every day during the noncompliance time frame, the inspection force did not observe any insanitary conditions during the entire year.  This lack of adequate agency oversight of alleged long-term insanitary conditions at the plant is not reassuring to public health interests.  

The agency’s allegation of insanitary conditions and recurring “adulteration” of products for almost a full year (occurring directly under the agency’s nose) reveals that the primary god FSIS serves is the company’s HACCP Plan, demoting the agency to that of an auditor of paperwork, absent any meaningful oversight of meat production lines. 

This serves as another example that FSIS perceive
s that unsafe food is produced by noncompliance with written HACCP Plans, and not by insanitary meat production lines.

Please note also that Huntington Meat Packing does NOT slaughter, but merely further processes meat purchased from source slaughter providers.  Therefore, since FSIS concludes that all meat Huntington produced during the year of noncompliance is “adulterated,” we must conclude that Huntington purchased previously contaminated meat from its source slaughter providers for almost a full year.

 I am not aware that the agency initiated any enforcement actions against Huntington’s source slaughter providers, but focused all its enforcement actions against Huntington. Not because Huntington introduced adulterants into its meat, but because it did not fully comply with its HACCP Plan. This is a most important distinction, which awkwardly reveals the agency’s misguided focus, gratis FSIS-style HACCP. 

 

Huntington’s initial recall was for 864,000 lbs of meat possibly adulterated with E.coli O157:H7, which Huntington unwittingly purchased from source slaughter providers.  In the aftermath of the ensuing extension of the expanded 4.9 million pounds of additional meat, did the agency’s intensive investigation ever determine the true slaughterhouse SOURCE of the pathogen?  No.  The source of the E.coli O157:H7 was never determined; therefore, no corrective actions were required at the source, guaranteeing that public health continues to be imperiled.  

The majority of E.coli and Salmonella recalls this century occurred at plants that have been fully compliant with their written HACCP Plans.  If this was not the case, FSIS would have mandated expanded recalls in all cases, justified by the plants’ noncompliance with their HACCP Plans.

Therefore, we must admit that the vast majority of recalls and outbreaks have been caused not by HACCP Plan failures, but because these pesky enteric bacteria continue to circumvent the best of HACCP Plans and furtively escape into the food chain, all caused by sloppy dressing procedures on the kill floor.

Admittedly, since Huntington was caught in the act of intentionally not complying with its written HACCP Plan, the plant is liable for administrative deficiencies and must face agency enforcement actions.  However, the agency’s “suggestion” to recall an additional 4.9 million pounds of meat only resolved the administrative noncompliance, with limited if any benefit for safe food considerations.  But the 4.9 million lb recall expansion certainly provided PR benefits for FSIS.  Who cares if the expanded recall has any benefit for consumers?  

Four of the above recalls are still in the agency’s “Active File,” meaning the recalls have not been completed, which would have allowed the recalls to be retired to the agency’s archives.  The Feb. 12, 2010 recall from Huntington Meat Packing is still active, as is the April 21, 2010 recall from Beltex Corp.  Interestingly, both of these recalls are over 13 months old, but have yet to be closed out.  Both the March 22, 2011 and the April 1, 2011 recalls are likewise still open.  

However, both FSIS and the industry’s biggest packers are in full agreement that consumers are THE ULTIMATE THREAT to food safety, and that consumers must step up to the plate and accept responsibility for these ongoing outbreaks.  This attitude by FSIS and the industry’s biggest players will be described next.

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John Munsell now oversees the Foundation for Accountability in Regulatory Enforcement, FARE.  His website is www.johnmunsell.com

My uncle Orville was foreman on a turkey ranch in north central Minnesota. I remember going up there to visit a couple of times when I was growing up. One of the attractions was going out to these football field-size buildings when they were filled with thousands of baby turkeys.

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Even then you had to put on little booties to walk around to “look but not touch.” I remember thinking: “Boy, there sure are a lot of turkeys!”

This past week, as our friends at USDA and CDC finally connected enough dots to recall 36 million pounds of ground turkey, I was thinking the same thing. 

 “There sure are a lot of turkeys,” but at that moment I was not thinking of all the birds that produced all that poultry meat. I was thinking about the individuals and institutions that don’t come out looking very well over this one.

The Salmonella Heidelberg outbreak, which has infected more people that we will probably ever know (most cases are never laboratory confirmed) with dangerous disease and killed a  Californian, is deadly serious.

Yet, the first action taken by our federal government once it admitted a multistate outbreak was underway on July 29 was to issue a public health alert that essentially gave the public instructions on how to thoroughly cook ground turkey.

Compare that to the nationwide outbreak three years ago of Salmonella Saintpaul.  Now Salmonella Heidelberg is one of the strains that is resistant to some common antibiotics doctors typically use to combat the disease.  Unlike Heidelberg–and Hadar, Newport, and Typhimurium—Saintpaul is not antibiotic resistant.

Yet in 2008, the federal government’s reaction to a nationwide outbreak of Salmonella Saintpaul was a public warning not to eat tomatoes, period.  It remained in effect until U.S. tomatoes were excluded from responsibility for an outbreak that was ultimately traced to peppers grown in Mexico.

We all know cooking instructions are important, but the scant attention the initial public warning received made Uncle Sam look like a turkey.

USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service was one of the turkeys of the last week.  But the agency was not alone, it had competition from its big boss, 

After issuing cooking instructions and the before the announcement of the 36 million pound recall of ground turkey from a Cargill facility in Arkansas, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack visited Milwaukee long enough  to address the prestigious International Association for Food Protection.

It might have been a good time for Secretary Vilsack to speak about the antibiotic resistant Salmonella strains that FSIS does not ban from meat. Instead Vilsack did a little tap dance about an eventual action on non-O157 E. coli stains.

The massive recall was only hours away when Vilsack spoke.  The Secretary came across as out of touch with the most important news of the day.  Maybe  he can blame his speech writers, but it still made him one of last week’s turkeys.

Most of the criticism about the great turkey event of 2011 is focused on the government’s investigation, a focus that makes Cargill’s management of the actual recall look good by comparison.

Yet Cargill spokesman Mike Martin also came across as a turkey when he said  no corrective action was taken by the company when Salmonella Heidelberg was found in low levels in the past because its so common.

Martin may be correct, but its an acknowledgement that Cargill is not considering the four antibiotic resistant strains of Salmonella in any special way.   That’s makes him a turkey.

The big turkey companies spend millions advertising their products, and they should be using some of those bucks to educate consumers on those all important cooking instructions.   It’s not enough to rely upon “free media” from FSIS press releases.

In the wake of the Salmonella Heidelberg outbreak, the Hormel Foods-owned Jennie-O Turkey went right on with its television advertising campaign showing happy people eating turkey burgers.  Cooking instructions are not mentioned nor is the public warned about how often Salmonella is found in ground turkey.

Jennie-O did not skip a beat in its turkey burger campaign when its own ground product was recalled in April.   There are no cut-ins with cooking instructions either.  Another turkey?   Most definitely.

No amount of feel good advertising from the airheads that sell such pulp to corporate bigwigs would have made a difference had the federal government’s food safety mechanism worked better.  If as it appears,  a warning  could have gone out maybe as early as May not to eat ground turkey illness and maybe a death could have been prevented.   

Tomato growers did not appreciate having to prove themselves innocent in 2008.  They lost money and, except for those with liberal crop insurance coverage, went without compensation. The warning not to eat tomatoes was still the right public health call at the time.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made the call on tomatoes.  FSIS is once again handing out different treatment at the meat and poultry window.  If we keep accepting this dual standards, well, then, we are all turkeys too.

Denmark takes its Salmonella seriously – even in raw poultry.

Since the beginning of this year, Denmark has recorded seven recalls of raw poultry products due to Salmonella contamination. The recalled chicken and turkey products originated in Brazil (1 recall), Denmark (1 recall), Hungary (3 recalls), Germany (1 recall), and Poland (1 recall).

There were NO Salmonella outbreaks associated with or triggering any of these recalls. Just the detection of Salmonella in a sample of the raw poultry meat. And, in case anyone hasn’t noticed, only one of the recalled items was domestic – raw turkey products that were suspected of being contaminated with Salmonella. Not confirmed. Merely suspected.

Things are different in the USA. USDA accepts – indeed, expects – to find Salmonella in a significant fraction of raw poultry samples. In the fourth quarter of 2010, 4.2% of turkeys, 9.5% of broiler chickens, 9% of raw ground turkey samples and nearly 23% of raw ground chicken samples analyzed under USDA’s HACCP Verification Testing Program were positive for Salmonella.

It’s clear that USDA’s Salmonella policy is not working. CDC has identified two outbreaks of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella illnesses this year – Salmonella Hadar associated with Jennie-O turkey burgers and Salmonella Heidelberg believed to be linked to ground turkey – that are associated with raw turkey meat. In 2010, an outbreak of Salmonella Chester illnesses was traced to contaminated Marie Callender frozen entr√©es. And in 2007, ConAgra (Banquet Foods) frozen pot pies were responsible for more than 270 illnesses and at least 65 hospitalizations.

We cannot even rely on USDA’s reported incidence levels of Salmonella in broiler and turkey carcasses, because the agency’s sampling method is badly flawed. One might almost conclude that the procedure was designed to underreport the true incidence of Salmonella in our raw poultry.

This is how USDA samples poultry carcasses for Salmonella testing (from the FSIS Laboratory Guidebook):

4.5.6 Whole Bird Rinses

Due to differences between sample types/sizes (e.g. chicken vs. turkey carcasses), follow instructions given in the specific program protocol.

a. For chicken carcasses, aseptically drain excess fluid from the carcass and transfer the carcass to a sterile Stomacher 3500 bag, or equivalent.

b. Pour 400 ml (or other volume specified in program protocol) of BPW into the cavity of the carcass contained in the bag.

c. Rinse the bird inside and out with a rocking motion for one minute (ca. 35 RPM). This is done by grasping the broiler carcass in the bag with one hand and the closed top of the bag with the other. Rock with a reciprocal motion in about an 18-24 inch arc, assuring that all surfaces (interior and exterior of the carcass) are rinsed.

d. Transfer the sample rinse fluid to a sterile container.

e. Use 30 ± 0.6 ml of the sample rinse fluid obtained above for Salmonella analysis. Add 30 ± 0.6 ml of sterile BPW and mix well.

f. Incubate at 35 ± 2C for 20-24 h.

g. Proceed to Section 4.6 to continue the cultural analysis or refer to MLG 4C for use of the BAX® PCR Assay.

Here are my problems with USDA’s method:

— The first step in the procedure is to throw away excess fluid from the carcass – the very material that is most likely to contain Salmonella.

— The carcass is rinsed with 400 ml (about 13.5 fluid ounces) of liquid – no problem there, if all of the liquid was used in the test. But USDA only uses 30 ml – less than 10% – of the rinse liquid for the Salmonella test.

In essence, USDA has dumbed down its Salmonella test, reducing the sensitivity of the test to less than 10% of what it should be – and easily could be.

USDA is fooling itself if the agency truly believes that its Salmonella data are valid. And it is misleading the US consumer.

The technology is available to address the problem of Salmonella in poultry. Just ask Denmark, or any of the Scandinavian countries.

The technology is available to test for Salmonella in poultry effectively. Just ask any non-USDA food microbiology lab.

It’s time to stop messing around with this food safety time bomb.

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“USDA’s Failed Salmonella Policy” was first posted on eFoodAlert on Aug. 3, 2011.  Reposted with permission.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is working with public health officials across the country and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service to investigate an outbreak of antibiotic-resistant Salmonella Heidelberg infections linked to eating ground turkey. So far there has been one death among the 77 illnesses reported in 26 states.

In response to an uptick in illnesses, FSIS issued a public health alert Friday warning consumers to use caution and thoroughly cook ground turkey, a broad and unusual move for the agency, which hasn’t yet named a manufacturer or announced a recall.
 
Federal public health authorities said Monday in an update they are using DNA “fingerprints” of Salmonella bacteria obtained through diagnostic testing with pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, or PFGE, to identify cases of illness that may be part of the outbreak.
 
Officials are using data from PulseNet, the national network of state, local and federal public health labs that track foodborne infections.

“The outbreak strain of Salmonella Heidelberg is resistant to many commonly prescribed antibiotics; this antibiotic resistance can increase the risk of hospitalization or possible treatment failure in infected individuals,” according to CDC’s update Monday.
 
According to CDC, illness linked to the outbreak have been reported between March 1 and August 1, 2011. The number of ill persons identified in each state is as follows:AL (1), AZ (2), CA (6), GA (1), IA (1), IL (7), IN (1), KY (2), LA (1), MA (1), MI (10), MN (1), MO (2), MS (1), NC (1), NE (2), NV (1), OH (10), OK (1), OH (10), OK (1), OR (1), PA (5), SD (3), TN (2), TX (9), and WI (3).

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Ill persons range in age from less than 1 year to 88 years old, with a median age of 23 years old. Forty-eight percent are female. Among the 58 ill persons with available information, 22 (38%) have been hospitalized. One death has been reported.

Public health officials believe ground turkey is the likely source of this outbreak but have not yet named a producer. Among the 51 ill persons with available information, 25 (49%) reported consuming ground turkey, CDC reported.

“Cultures of four ground turkey samples purchased from four retail locations between March 7 and June 27, 2011 yielded Salmonella Heidelberg with the outbreak strain. Preliminary information indicates that three of these products originated from a common production establishment; the fourth is still under investigation,” CDC reported Monday, failing to name specifics.

“These were obtained as part of routine sampling in the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS), and have not been linked to illnesses. Product information (such as date and location of purchase of ground turkey) is also being collected from ill persons and is being used by local, state, and federal public health, agriculture, and regulatory agencies to conduct traceback investigations.”

Food safety attorney Bill Marler, publisher of Food Safety News, said three positive samples should be enough to prompt a recall.  “Consumers have no idea what to do except not eat ground turkey,” he said.

In April, 12 people in 10 states were infected by another antibiotic-resistant bacteria, Salmonella Hadar, after eating turkey burgers from Jennie-O Turkey Store. The company recalled 54,960 pounds of frozen raw turkey products.

Officials are reminding consumers to be vigilant with handling ground turkey, avoiding cross-contamination and cooking all poultry to 165 °F internal temperature as measured with a food thermometer.

People who think they might have fallen ill from eating contaminated turkey should consult their health care providers. Most infected with Salmonella bacteria develop diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection. Most people recover without treatment but in rare cases hospitalization is necessary.
 
“Salmonella infection may spread from the intestines to the bloodstream and then to other body sites and can cause death unless the person is treated promptly with antibiotics. Older adults, infants, and those with impaired immune systems are more likely to have a severe illness from Salmonella infection,” said CDC.

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Case count map from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

An outbreak already infecting 77 people in 26 states with Salmonella Heidelberg prompted an unusual public health alert late Friday about the “critical importance” of safe handling of ground turkey.

The

alert about all frozen and fresh ground turkey was issued by the U.S.

Department of Agriculture (USDA) through its Food Safety and Inspection

Service (FSIS), which regulates meat and poultry. A public health alert

not involving a specific brand or product recall is a rare action for

USDA.

With the public health alert came the

first notice that the federal Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and

state health departments have identified and are investigating the

multistate outbreak of Salmonella Heidelberg.

“The

public health alert was initiated after continuous medical reports,

ongoing investigations and testing conducted by various departments of

health across the nation determined there is an association between

consumption of ground turkey products and an estimated 77 illnesses

reported in 26 states,” the USDA statement says.

CDC

and state health departments made the link through epidemiological

investigation and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis,

according to the FSIS.  While CDC and the state health departments are

investigating the outbreak, FSIS said it is working to determine the

source of the contamination.

That indicates the

agency does not have enough information to recall specific products,

but is trying to guard against new illnesses by educating consumers

about ground turkey in general.

Bill Marler, food-safety attorney and publisher of Food Safety News,

said he found the timing of the alert, which was issued Friday at 8

p.m. EDT, somewhat perplexing. “This is classic ‘release news when no

one will see it.’  The release, other than saying 77 people in 26 states

are sick from possibly eating ground turkey, gives the consumer no

information — no manufacturer, no states named where people are ill.

“Also,

from the point of view of ground turkey manufacturers, is it right to

throw the entire industry under the bus?,” Marler asked.

In April, FSIS did conduct a fairly large recall

(54,960 pounds) of frozen, raw turkey products from Minnesota-based

Jennie-O Turkey Store because of Salmonella contamination, but the

serotype in that instance was Hadar, not Heidelberg. Twelve people in 10

states were sickened.

In its news release,

FSIS reminds consumers of “the critical importance of following package

cooking instructions for frozen or fresh ground turkey products and

general food safety guidelines when handling and preparing any raw meat

or poultry” and urges people to use a meat thermometer.

“In

particular, while cooking instructions may give a specific number of

minutes of cooking for each side of the patty in order to attain 165 °F

internal temperature, consumers should be aware that actual time may

vary depending on the cooking method (broiling, frying, or grilling) and

the temperature of the product (chilled versus frozen) so it is

important that the final temperature of 165 °F must be reached for

safety. Please do not rely on the cooking time for each side of the

patty, but use a food thermometer.

“Ground

turkey and ground turkey dishes should always be cooked to 165 °F

internal temperature as measured with a food thermometer; leftovers also

should be reheated to 165 °F. The color of cooked poultry is not always

a sure sign of its safety. Only by using a food thermometer can one

accurately determine that poultry has reached a safe minimum internal

temperature of 165 °F throughout the product. Turkey can remain pink

even after cooking to a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F. The

meat of smoked turkey is always pink.”

Consumers

should also take steps to ensure that raw ground turkey and its juices

do not cross contaminate other foods that won’t be cooked or are already

cooked. Use hot, soapy water to clean up spills on cutting boards,

countertops, dishes and in sinks, and wash hands thoroughly after

handling the meat.

Food contaminated with

Salmonella can cause salmonellosis, one of the most common bacterial

foodborne illnesses.  It can be  life-threatening, especially to those

with weak immune systems, such as infants, the elderly and persons with

HIV infection or undergoing chemotherapy. 

The

most common symptoms of salmonellosis are diarrhea, abdominal cramps,

and fever within eight to 72 hours. Additional symptoms may be chills,

headache, nausea and vomiting that can last up to seven days.

Salmonella

Heidelberg is a common strain in the U.S.  Recently associated with a

number of outbreaks in nursing homes, it was also the strain involved at

A & R Barbeque (also known as A & R Bar-B-Q) in Memphis, the

source of an outbreak in 2009.

In Salmonella

outbreaks linked to ground turkey, 26 people were sickened with

Salmonella Saintpaul in 2008 after eating ground turkey at a private

home in Michigan. An outbreak of  Salmonella Typhimurium at a Minnesota

restaurant in 2000 was linked to ground turkey; four people — two of

them food workers — were infected. 

In its first report on a multistate foodborne illness investigation, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that Salmonella found in turkey burgers in the homes of two case patients matches the outbreak strain.

The agency also said the outbreak strain is Salmonella serotype Hadar, which is resistant to many antibiotics.

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According to the CDC, state public health authorities have reported resistance of the outbreak strain to several commonly prescribed drugs including ampicillin, amoxicillin/clavulanate, cephalothin, and tetracycline, meaning those infected are at greater risk for hospitalization and treatment failure.

As of April 1, the CDC said, 12 people infected with Salmonella Hadar had been reported from 10 states, with three cases in Wisconsin and one each in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Washington and Wisconsin. Three people have been hospitalized.

Those ill ranged in age from 1 year to 86 years old. Seven are female. The first illness was reported Dec. 27 and the last March 24.

Epidemiologic investigations in Colorado, Ohio and Wisconsin found that at least three of the case patients specifically reported eating Jennie-O turkey burgers the week before their illnesses began. Samples of the ground turkey burgers collected by public health agencies from the homes of patients in Colorado and Wisconsin tested positive for the outbreak strain, CDC said.

On April 1, Minnesota-based Jennie-O Turkey Store recalled approximately 54,960 pounds of frozen, raw turkey burger products. The boxes of “All Natural Turkey Burgers with seasonings Lean White Meat” contain 12 1/3-pound individually wrapped burgers, which have a “use by” date of Dec. 23, 2011. The burgers were packaged on Nov. 23, 2010 and were sold in Sam’s Clubs nationwide.

The CDC said illnesses that occurred after March 18 might not yet be reported due to the time it takes between when a person becomes ill and when the illness is reported — about two to three weeks.

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Outbreak map from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

When I am not traveling the world in search of the most recent Foodborne Illness Outbreak, or trying to prevent the next one, I try to spend time with my kids. My youngest, Sydney (a.k.a. Squid) is an animal lover, so we tend to watch some episode of “Animal Planet” before she (more likely me) falls asleep.

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One of our favorite shows has been “Shark Week,” which is usually filled with scary scenes of near misses or not. For some reason, the fear of being munched by a shark (about 60 shark attacks a year on average, world-wide) is of far greater concern than the some 1,000,000 Salmonella cases yearly – just in the United States alone.

Perhaps I need to produce a new show for TV – “Food That Can Kill You.”  Here are a few episodes from the past week:

Episode 1 – Salmonella Hadar-contaminated Jennie-O Turkey Causes 12 Illnesses in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The detection of this outbreak began with the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services notifying the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of a patient diagnosed with salmonellosis caused by Salmonella serotype Hadar.  The investigation expanded to include 12 people in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Washington, and Wisconsin who also have been diagnosed with Salmonella Hadar infection, with illnesses occurring between December 2010 and March 2011.

Working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state public health partners, FSIS determined that three of the patients in Colorado, Ohio, and Wisconsin specifically reported eating Jennie-O Turkey prior to illness onset and hospitalization; the last of these illnesses was reported on March 14, 2011.

Jennie-O Turkey Store, a Willmar, Minn. establishment, is now recalling approximately 54,960 pounds of frozen, raw turkey burger products that may be contaminated with Salmonella, the FSIS announced Friday. As FSIS continues its investigation of illnesses related to this recall, additional raw turkey products may be recalled. As a result, FSIS is alerting consumers to take extra care when preparing all raw turkey products.

Episode 2 – Salmonella Outbreak from DeFusco’s Bakery Leads to at Least 56 Illnesses, with 26 Requiring Hospitalization.

The outbreak of severely injured folks stemming from the DeFusco’s Bakery continued to get worse this week, with news that nine new cases have been detected, bringing the total to 56, including 1 death, and 26 hospitalizations.  The number of hospitalized victims in this outbreak is unusually high and likely due to the age of the majority of the victims.

The elderly are especially vulnerable to serious complications as a result of foodborne illnesses.  It was reported that as of Friday, 9 people still remained hospitalized.  Also, swabs taken from cardboard boxes where empty pastry shells were stored at DeFusco’s Bakery in Johnston, tested positive for Salmonella. The boxes previously held raw eggs. If any of those eggs were infected and had broken open, residue in the boxes could have led to the Salmonella outbreak that has sickened dozens of people, health officials say.

Episode 3 – Marler Clark Files the First Lawsuit Related to the Del Monte Salmonella Cantaloupe Outbreak.

On Friday, Marler Clark filed the first lawsuit stemming from an outbreak of Salmonella-contaminated Del Monte cantaloupe that, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has led to 13 persons infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Panama in Oregon (5 cases), Washington (4 cases), California (2 cases), Colorado (1 case) and Maryland (1 case).  According to the FDA, Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A., Inc. recalled 4,992 cartons of cantaloupes because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella Panama. The cantaloupes were distributed through warehouse clubs in Alaska, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.

Episode 4 – Salmonella Contaminated Sausages at Pancake Feed in Maryland Result in Illnesses.

Illnesses from Salmonella have been linked to consumption of sausage at a benefit pancake breakfast held in early March in Thurmont, according to the Frederick County Health Department.  The sausage for the Thurmont event was from a previous event, the Frederick County 4-H Camp Center Country Butchering, held Jan. 27 at the Mount Pleasant Ruritan Club in Mount Pleasant. Samples of sausage sold to consumers from the same butchering were tested at the state health department laboratory and found to contain Salmonella.

If you want to keep up on current outbreaks, visit my blog, Marler Blog.  If you are the historical type, you can search the Foodborne Illness Outbreak Database.