Del Monte Fresh Produce, a company that recalled its cantaloupes in March after health investigators in several states linked them to a Salmonella Panama outbreak, said yesterday that is plans to sue Oregon Health Authority and, Dr William Keene, one of the nation's most well-known disease outbreak investigators (right, exactly as shown), claiming that the company's products were wrongly singled out.

Lisa Schnirring of CIDRAP news at the University of Minnesota interviewed several public health types, who say the company's suit is unprecedented, and some worry that it may inhibit future foodborne illness investigations.

Lon Kightlinger, MPH, PhD, state epidemiologist with the South Dakota Department of Health, said some of his department's disease investigations have involved legal tug-of-wars. "Although we do have some worries of legal threats, that does not drive our investigation, but causes us to do a better job," he said.

In Iowa, laws require public health officials to treat the names of entities such as restaurants or companies the same as people, said Patricia Quinlisk, MD, MPH, medical director and state epidemiologist for the Iowa Department of Public Health.

She said that, before going public with names, health officials must discuss the issue with the state attorney general's office to make sure the action complies with a "necessary for public health" clause. "Thus something like this might have more scrutiny here than other places," she said, adding that she's never seen a legal threat like Del Monte's.

Tim Jones, MD, MPH, state epidemiologist for the Tennessee Department of Health, said he's been bullied and subjected to implied threats in the course of epidemiologic investigations. "I've never taken them seriously, and legally I've never been worried," he said.

Though Del Monte's legal threat could create an inhibitory effect, epidemiologists take pride in being able to respond to outbreaks faster and freer than federal agencies, which are often bound by legal restrictions, Jones said.

"Our job is to protect people."

Some measure of immunity is needed for investigators, Jones said. "If anyone in public health is nervous about getting sued, it could be dangerously inhibitory."

William Keene, senior epidemiologist with Oregon Public Health, told Lynne Terry of The Oregonian that 10 percent of the samples collected over the weekend from Jaquith Strawberry Farm tested positive for E. coli O157:H7.

Those samples included deer feces, which he initially suspected caused the outbreak. Now it seems certain they were the culprit.

"We're increasingly confident that we will be able to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that deer were the source of contamination of the strawberries," Keene said.

"It could be there but in such low quantities that you have to collect thousands of samples," he said. "We don't have the resources to pay for that kind of testing."
Now the lab has to confirm whether the specific strain of the bacteria in the samples matches the strain that sickened the 15 people. Two suffered kidney failure, including an elderly woman in Washington County who died. Two patients are still in the hospital.

That study, published in 1997, marked a big breakthrough. Until then the bacteria had been found in other animals, including horses, dogs and sheep, but scientists had always thought that cattle were responsible for poisoning food with E. coli O157:H7. Keene's study showed that three samples of deer pellets out of 32 were positive for the bacteria.

Oregon Public Health officials have identified fresh strawberries from a Newberg, Oregon, farm as the source of a cluster of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections that sickened at least 10 people last month, including one person who died.

The strawberries were produced last month by Jaquith Strawberry Farm located at 23135 SW Jaquith Road in Newberg. Jaquith finished its strawberry season in late July, and its strawberries are no longer on the market. Jaquith sold its strawberries to buyers who then resold them at roadside stands and farmers' markets.

Health officials are urging consumers who may have purchased strawberries grown on this farm to throw them out.

Strawberries that have been frozen or made into uncooked jam are of particular concern. Cooking kills E. coli O157:H7 bacteria.

"If you have any strawberries from this producer - frozen, in uncooked jam or any uncooked form - throw them out," says Paul Cieslak, M.D., from Oregon Public Health Division. He says people who have eaten the strawberries, but remain well need take no action. The incubation period for E. coli O157:H7 is typically two to seven days.

Ten people have confirmed an E. coli O157:H7 infection caused by a single strain. These individuals include residents of Washington, Clatsop, and Multnomah counties. Six other people in northwest Oregon also have recently developed an E. coli O157:H7 infection and appear to be part of this outbreak.

Of the confirmed cases, four have been hospitalized, and one elderly woman in Washington County died from kidney failure associated with E. coli O157:H7 infection. There were 12 females and four males among the cases, and their ages ranged from 4 to 85. They fell ill between July 10 and July 29.

I don’t know why Jimmy John’s continues to serve raw sprouts on its sandwiches, continues to make people sick, and continues to get sued.

The Oregon Department of Human Services reported yesterday that clover sprouts produced by Sprouters Northwest, Inc. of Kent, Wash. have been fingered as the source of a separate salmonella outbreak that has sickened three in Oregon and four in Washington. Reported illnesses began between Dec. 4 and Dec. 17. No hospitalizations or deaths have been reported.

The Oregonian reports the Northwest sprout outbreak dates to Dec. 4 when a woman in Bend was sickened by salmonella. In a routine food survey, she told Deschutes County health authorities she had eaten sprouts from Jimmy John's.

In the past two years, the sandwich chain has been linked to four sprout outbreaks, including one at the end of 2010. Nearly 100 people were sickened by alfalfa sprouts sold by Jimmy John's in the Midwest.

But the Jimmy John's store in Bend only uses clover sprouts from Sprouters Northwest, and that company was not implicated in the Midwest outbreak.

Initially, the woman appeared to be a solitary case. Then on Dec. 17, a 3-year-old boy in Bend got sick after munching on a sandwich from Jimmy John's.

That prompted William E. Keene, a senior epidemiologist at Oregon Public Health Division and his colleagues to whirl into action. They contacted the FDA and Washington state authorities, which in turn found four more cases linked to Sprouters Northwest clover sprouts.

Then on Monday, Keene learned that a woman in Multnomah County had been sickened, hours after the recall was announced.

Keene was quoted as saying, “This is at least the 13th sprout-caused outbreak that has sickened Oregonians since 1995, when we first started warning consumers about the risks of eating sprouts. Anyone concerned about foodborne disease should consider this before eating sprouts.”

This is the fourth time since 1997 that Sprouters Northwest sprouts have been cited as a source of salmonella contamination, Keene said.

Sprouters Northwest owner Bill Jones said Monday the brand is widely sold in major retail chains, including Albertsons and Safeway.

So I’m sure Albertson’s and Safeway will be forthcoming with the food safety audit reports of Sprouters Northwest as a supplier, to convince consumers that food safety is job one.

Said Keene, "This is a food to avoid. If you're concerned about getting sick, I wouldn't eat sprouts."

The original table of North American raw sprout-related outbreaks is available at:
http://bites.ksu.edu/sprout-associated-outbreaks-north-america-1990-2009