Washington

  • 229 sick; norovirus caused cheerleader illness outbreak; don’t barf in public or at least clean it up

    Posted: February 11th, 2012 - 1:00am by Doug Powell

    Last week, some 300 staff and students in San Francisco were sickened with norovirus believed to have been transmitted by someone barfing on a door handle.

    It now appears a similar mode of transmission sickened 229 cheerleaders and cheeries at a Washington state competition.

    JoNel Aleccia of msnbc cites Suzanne Pate, spokeswoman for the Snohomish Health District, as confirming Friday that norovirus was the cause, and the outbreak was likely precipitated by people who were ill in public.

    "Somebody arrived at the event sick," said Pate, noting that janitorial crews were called to clean up vomit in a restroom and on an adjacent walkway. Those areas were likely exposure sites for the cheer and dance teams, she said.

    Some 229 people were sickened and least 33 people sought medical attention for their illnesses, state health officials said late Friday. That number is expected to grow as the investigation continues.

    A Comcast Arena spokeswoman said officials had sanitized the premises in accordance with federal health guidelines before a new event scheduled for Friday night. Tests of the arena's water supply showed no problems, Pate said.

    "It's probably the best-scrubbed place in the county," she added.

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    Barf, cheerleader, clean up, norovirus, Public, Vomit, Washington
  • Cheerleader toll climbs to 200 after Washington tournament

    Posted: February 10th, 2012 - 1:04pm by Doug Powell

    Nearly 200 people across the state have reported illnesses after attending a high school cheer and dance event in Everett earlier this month.

    Preliminary survey results show at least 192 reports of illness from participants and adults who attended the event Feb. 4. Students and adults from Columbia River and Skyview high schools in Vancouver attended the event.

    The Washington State Department of Health is investigating the cause of the outbreak.

    As part of the investigation, questionnaires were sent to participants and their families and stool samples are being collected for testing at the state Public Health Laboratories.

    More than 3,000 people attended the event and more than 1,000 competed in the State Cheerleading and Salute to Spirit in cheer and dance/drill.

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    Other Microorganisms  |  0 Comments
    Animal House, cheerleader, food safety, Illness, Washington
  • 3 sick with E. coli in Wash. state; raw milk products recalled

    Posted: November 24th, 2011 - 10:57am by Doug Powell

    At least three people are sick with shiga-toxin producing E. coli in Washington state, and whole and skim raw milk and cream from Cozy Vale Creamery in Tenino with sell-by dates of Dec. 6 or earlier is being recalled.

    The recall was initiated after Washington State Department of Agriculture environmental swabbing at the facility discovered that locations in the milking parlor and processing areas were contaminated with toxin-producing E. coli.

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    cozy valley, e. coli, food safety, raw milk, Washington
  • Burger King bolstering food safety after failed inspections

    Posted: September 9th, 2011 - 5:41pm by Doug Powell

     A week after Washington State health types made Burger King Corp. aware of a problem with its burger cooking process, the company says that it's inspecting its systems on the West Coast to determine what changes need to be made.

    Most of the undercooking was due to problems with a flame broiler and employees failing to discard undercooked patties.

    Susan Shelton, environmental health specialist for the Benton Franklin Health District, said the problem in a nutshell was one of being unfamiliar with the new technology.

    "It wasn't cooking to temperature because there were a lot of controls. When we started working with them, it was resolved."

    The health district received no complaints about undercooked food or illnesses, and no lab samples were positive for bacteria or other illness-causing contaminants, she added.

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    Restaurant Inspection  |  0 Comments
    Burger King, Cooking, food safety, Hamburger, inspection, Washington
  • Sushi joint shuttered after salmonella illnesses

    Posted: August 12th, 2011 - 2:01pm by Doug Powell

    County health inspectors closed Marinepolis Sushi Land in downtown Bellevue, Washington, at 4 p.m. Thursday after two separate patients with salmonella were connected to the restaurant, according to Seattle and King County Public Health.

    The two people who fell ill were not hospitalized and have recovered from their illnesses, said James Apa, spokesman of Seattle and King County Public Health.

    Marinepolis manager Keith Negley told the Bellevue Patch the restaurant, a conveyor belt style sushi restaurant, is cooperating with the investigation fully, and could be reopen as soon as Friday.

    "We're doing everything we can to assist, even if it's a potential that it could have been through here," he said.

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    food safety, Marinepolis Sushi Land, salmonella, Washington
  • 22 sick with vibrio from raw oysters in Washington state

    Posted: August 4th, 2011 - 8:12pm by Doug Powell

    The Washington State Department of Health reports that 18 people have been sickened with Vibrio parahaemolyticus after eating raw oysters linked to commercial operations and four illnesses to recreational harvesting in Puget Sound and on the Washington coast.

    Cooking shellfish thoroughly will prevent vibriosis illness and is always a good idea. This is especially important during the summer months of July and August when warm temperatures and low tides along ocean beaches and in Puget Sound allow the bacteria to thrive.

    If you harvest oysters recreationally this summer, follow these steps to avoid vibriosis:

    • Put oysters on ice or refrigerate them as soon as possible after harvest.
    • If a receding tide has exposed oysters for a long time, don’t harvest them.
    • Always cook oysters thoroughly. Cooking oysters at 145° F for 15 seconds destroys vibrio bacteria. Rinsing fully-cooked oysters with seawater can recontaminate them.

    For commercial harvesters, special control measures are in place from May through September to keep people from getting sick if they eat raw oysters.

    Guess those special measures didn’t work this time.
     

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    food safety, Illness, puget sound, raw oysters, Vibrio, Washington
  • 4 cases of E. coli in visitors to Wash. petting zoo

    Posted: June 17th, 2011 - 7:57am by Doug Powell

    courtlynn.petting.zoo_.jpg

    The Snohomish Health District confirms four suspected cases of E. coli found in people who visited the Animal Petting Farm at Forest Park in Everett, Wash.

    Two adults and two children reported symptoms after visiting the farm on opening day June 4th. One of the children was hospitalized for three days but is now recovering.

    It is believed that the suspected E. coli poisoning originated with the animals who naturally carry bacteria. The Health district believes the infected people did not properly wash their hands.

    The city bleached the entire farm and enhanced fences around the animal cages to further limit contact between children and animals. No animals are in quarantine.

    Proper handwashing requires access to proper tools. Were sinks with running water, soap and paper towels available near the animals, as is now being recommended, or was it just some sort of wipe that was available.

    An updated table of international petting zoo outbreaks is available at http://bites.ksu.edu/petting-zoos-outbreaks
     

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    E. coli  |  0 Comments
    e. coli, food safety, handwashing, Petting Zoo, Washington
  • DC don’t know food safety

    Posted: January 18th, 2011 - 10:35pm by Doug Powell

    waynes-world_l.jpg

    Washington, D.C. is always on the cutting edge of food safety.

    Not.

    Which is why 13 years after Los Angeles started posting restaurant inspection grades, nine years after Toronto started posting red-yellow-green restaurant inspection grades, and a year after New York City started posting letter grades, someone in D.C. decided, hey, we should do that too.

    D.C. Councilwoman Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) has introduced a bill that would require D.C. restaurants to publicly display letter-grade report cards on their premises, based on Department of Health inspections.

    Cheh believes the grades would decrease the number of hospitalizations caused by foodborne diseases.

    Not.
     

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    dc, food safety, grades, Mike Myers, Washington, wayne's world
  • Salmonella and sprouts again – but just a few sickies

    Posted: January 3rd, 2011 - 5:02pm by Doug Powell

    Clover and clover mix products from Sprouters Northwest Inc. of Kent, Wash., have been recalled because they have the potential to be contaminated with salmonella. The company reports that a few cases of salmonella might be linked to sprouts.

    Is that like saying monkeys might fly out of my butt? Sprouters Northwest does offer this mission statement on its website:

    “To provide our customers and the public with the freshest, healthiest, and best tasting sprouts available. We pride ourselves in the quality of our product while strictly adhering to all local, state, and federal regulations and guidelines.”

    And only a few will get salmonella.

    This is the problem with setting standards with everything. The growers say, “we meet all stringent standards,” without bothering to go above and beyond. Ford may have once said the Pinto met all federal standards.

    The recall includes the following products, all with a "best by" date of 1/16/11 and earlier:
    —4 oz. (UPC 8 15098 00201 6) and 5 oz. (UPC 0 33383 70235 3) containers of Clover sprouts.
    —1-lb. bags of Clover (UPC 0 79566 12351 5), and 2-lb. trays of Clover (UPC 0 79566 12362 1).
    —Clover Onion sprouts in 4 oz. (UPC 0 79566 12361 4) and 5 oz. (UPC 0 79566 12361 4) containers.
    —Deli sprouts in 4 oz. (UPC 8 79566 12305 4) and 5 oz. (UPC 0 33383 70267 4) containers.
    —Spicy sprouts in 4 oz. (UPC 8 15098 00202 3) containers.
    —Brocco sandwich sprouts in 4 oz. (UPC 8 15098 00028 9) containers.
    For more information: Call the company at 253-872-0577.
     

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    clover, food safety, salmonella, Sprouters Northwest, Sprouts, Washington
  • Fancy food not safe food; Sally Jackson Cheese recalled, 8 sick with E. coli O157:H7

    Posted: December 18th, 2010 - 7:15am by Doug Powell

    It’s the phrase every food safety type has heard; experienced investigators will convey their disdain with a wry smile, rather than the full eye-rolling and gnashing of rookie teeth: “I’ve been making cheese (substitute your favorite food) this way for 30 years and I’ve never made anyone sick.

    That’s the line Oroville, Washington, farmer Sally Jackson told a state inspector a few weeks ago as preliminary evidence linked Sally’s cheese to an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak.

    The Seattle Times reports this morning that over the past week, Jackson learned that eight cases of E. coli illness are likely linked with her products. On Friday, she announced a recall and is cooperating with government agencies.

    It is the second time in two months that an artisan cheesemaker in Washington was connected with a bacteria that causes foodborne illnesses, though the reaction of the two cheesemakers could not have been more different.

    Inspectors found Listeria monocytogenes in cheese made by the Estrella Family Creamery, and also repeatedly identified the bacteria in swabs of its Montesano facility, yet that Grays Harbor County dairy refused a request to recall its product. In October, the Food and Drug Administration obtained a court order forcing it to shut down. The creamery is battling the court action.

    To her credit, Jackson said, "I do not want to be associated with their fight. The bottom line is, I don't want to make anybody else sick."

    Four cases of E. coli O157 came to the state Health Department's attention in the fall, including the case of one woman who was briefly hospitalized. Laboratory tests confirmed the four were linked to each other. Four additional E. coli cases in Oregon, Minnesota and Vermont also were linked to the Washington outbreak via laboratory tests.

    According to the state Department of Agriculture, one unopened cheese wheel tested positive for E. coli. Investigators are awaiting the results from additional lab tests that will compare the strain of E. coli from the illnesses with that found in the cheese.

    For years, Jackson operated with few problems, however in the last year, inspectors have noted several violations at her facility, including finding that she did not sanitize equipment after use. She has worked to fix the problems.

    She and a part-time helper milk 40 sheep, 12 goats and a cow named Renata. They sell to high-end restaurants, as well as retail stores across the country, and the cheeses are distinctively wrapped in grape leaves from neighbors' farms.

    Over the years, her products have been served in most Seattle fine-dining establishments, including Douglas' Palace Kitchen. Gourmets rave about the quality, so news of the problem and the listeria issue at Estrella came as a shock.

    Get over it. Fancy food doesn’t mean safe food.

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    E. coli  |  0 Comments
    Cheesehead, e. coli O157, fancy, food safety, Raw, sally jackson cheese, unpasteurized, Washington