Produce in public: Spinach, safety and public policy
That’s the title of a book chapter that’s just been published and attempts to answer the question: what does it take for farmers, processors and retailers to pay attention to food safety risks – in the absence of an outbreak?
Last week, trade magazine The Packer did a story about Earthbound Farms, the producer of E. coli O157:H7 tainted-spinach in 2006, which quoted president Charles Sweat as saying,
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“Now that we are three years beyond that, it’s almost always hard to go back and put our mind where it was in 2005 and 2006 because we know so much more today than we knew then.”
What Ben Chapman, Casey Jacob and I asked in the book chapter is, why didn’t companies like EarthBound know a lot more about microbial food safety before over 200 became ill and four died in 2006?
In October, 1996, a 16-month-old Denver girl drank Smoothie juice manufactured by Odwalla Inc. of Half Moon Bay, California. She died several weeks later; 64 others became ill in several western U.S. states and British Columbia after drinking the same juices, which contained unpasteurized apple cider -- and E. coli O157:H7. Investigators believed that some of the apples used to make the cider might have been insufficiently washed after falling to the ground and coming into contact with deer feces (Powell and Leiss, 1997).
Almost 10 years later, on Sept. 14, 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced that an outbreak of E. coli O157: H7 had killed a 77-year-old woman and sickened 49 others (United States Food and Drug Administration, 2006). The FDA learned from the Centers for Disease Control and Wisconsin health officials that the outbreak may have been linked to the consumption of produce and identified bagged fresh spinach as a possible cause (Bridges, 2006a).
In the decade between these two watershed outbreaks, almost 500 outbreaks of foodborne illness involving fresh produce were documented, publicized and led to some changes within the industry, yet what author Malcolm Gladwell would call a tipping point -- "a point at which a slow gradual change becomes irreversible and then proceeds with gathering pace" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipping_Point) -- in public awareness about produce-associated risks did not happen until the spinach E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in the fall of 2006. At what point did sufficient evidence exist to compel the fresh produce industry to embrace the kind of change the sector has heralded since 2007? And at what point will future evidence be deemed sufficient to initiate change within an industry?
We conclude:
Ultimately, investigators showed that the E. coli O157:H7 was found on a transitional organic spinach field and was the same serotype as that found in a neighboring grass-fed cow-calf operation. These findings, coupled with the public outcry linked to the outbreak and the media coverage, sparked a myriad of changes and initiatives by the industry, government and others. What may never be answered is, why this outbreak at this time? A decade of evidence existed highlighting problems with fresh produce, warning letters were written, yet little was seemingly accomplished. The real challenge for food safety professionals, is to garner support for safe food practices in the absence of an outbreak, to create a culture that values microbiologically safe food, from farm-to-fork, at all times, and not just in the glare of the media spotlight.
Powell, D.A., Jacob, C.J., and Chapman, B. 2009. Produce in public: Spinach, safety and public policy in Microbial Safety of Fresh Produce: Challenges, Perspectives, and Strategies ed. by X. Fan, B.A. Niemira, C.J. Doona, F.E. Feeherry and R.B. Gravani. Blackwell Publishing.
Top 10 reasons telling people to 'just cook it' sucks as a food safety strategy
About 18 months after the 1993 Jack-in-the-Box E. coli O157:H7 outbreak, I, the erstwhile graduate student, gave a talk to a bunch of food safety types from government and industry. I showed a clip from ABC’s 20/20 television program about a family fighting for regulatory change, and many in the audience laughed at the family when their kitchen was shown. Audience members commented that the consumers were sloppy in their cooking and of course they got sick, and if only they would cook hamburger properly E. coli O157:H7 wouldn’t happen.
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I thought the response of the audience was sort of appalling.
In mid-1994, Michael Taylor was appointed chief of USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service. On Sept. 29, 1994, USDA said it would now regard E. coli O157:H7 in raw ground beef as an “adulterant,” a substance that should not be present in the product. By mid-October, 1994, Taylor announced plans to launch a nationwide sampling of ground beef to assess how much E. coli O157:H7 was in the marketplace. The 5,000 samples would be taken during the year from supermarkets and meat processing plants “to set an example and stimulate companies to put in preventive measures.” Positive samples would prompt product recalls of the entire affected lot, effectively removing it from any possibility of sale.
That's the long-winded version for what a USDA official said in a 1994 television interview: we'll stop blaming consumers when they get sick from the food and water they consume.
But the just-cook-it crowd persisted. And still does today.
A couple of weeks ago, while announcing a ground beef recall in Colorado, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service stated in a release,
FSIS would like to remind consumers of the importance of following food safety guidelines when handling and preparing raw meat. Ground beef should be cooked to a safe minimum internal temperature of 160° Fahrenheit.
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I would like to remind FSIS that it ain’t so easy to handle contaminated ground beef and not spread it around a home or food service kitchen.
Jim Marsden, a former vp at the American Meat Institute and now a professor at Kansas State University, wrote in his meatingplace.com blog last week, the top-10 reasons “just cook it” does not, and will not, work.
1. E. coli O157:H7 is a unique pathogen. The levels of this organism necessary to cause infection are very low.
2. The severity of the disease E. coli O157:H7 can cause, especially in children is devastating.
3. In many cases, parents order hamburgers for their children and rely on restaurants to cook them properly. In restaurants, parents really have no control over whether the hamburgers they order are sufficiently cooked to eliminate possible contamination from E. coli O157:H7.
4. If consumers unknowingly bring this pathogen into their kitchens, it is almost impossible to avoid cross contamination. Even the smallest amount of contamination on a food that is not cooked can cause illness. Many of the reported cases of E. coli O157:H7 have involved ground beef that was clearly cooked at times and temperatures sufficient to inactivate E. coli O157:H7. Some other vector, i.e. cross contamination was probably involved.
5. Even if consumers attempt to use thermometers to measure cooking temperature, it is difficult to properly measure the internal temperature of hamburger patties. They would have to use an accurate thermometer and place the probe exactly into the center of the patty. In addition, the inactivation of E. coli O157:H7 is dependent on cooking time and temperature. For example, if they cook to 155 degrees F, they should hold that temperature for 16 seconds. It is not realistic to expect that consumers, many of which are children will scientifically measure the internal temperature of hamburgers.
6. The way ground beef is packaged, it is virtually impossible to remove it from packages or chubs and make patties without spreading contamination if it is present.
7. Sometimes ground beef appears to be cooked when it really isn’t. There is a phenomenon called “premature browning” that can make ground beef appear to be fully cooked when in fact it is undercooked.
8. E. coli O157:H7 may be present in beef products other than ground beef. For example, in non-intact beef products, including tenderized steaks that are not always cooked to temperatures required for inactivation.
9. There have been many cases and outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7 associated with foods that are not cooked (i.e. fresh cut produce).
10. As Senator Patrick Leahy said after the 1993 Jack-in-the-Box outbreak – “The death penalty is too strong a punishment for undercooking a hamburger”. He was right –consumers will make mistakes. There needs to be a margin of safety so that undercooking does not result in disease or death.
Improving sampling and risk communication at FSIS
Chuck Dodd is dreamy – as a student, that is.
What teacher wouldn’t be proud when a student does a class assignment, and it eventually gets published in a peer-reviewed journal?
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Chuck took my graduate course, Food Safety Risk Analysis, in the early part of 2008. For the final assignment, students are required to take a food safety risk issue of their choosing, and develop a risk analysis report for an audience, like a regulatory agency, integrating risk assessment, management and communication.
Chuck’s report – after editing and thoughtful comments from colleagues – was recently published in Foodborne Pathogens and Disease, entitled, Regulatory management and communication of risks associated with Eschericia coli O157:H7 in ground beef.
The Kansas State University press release that went out this morning says, in part,
What consumers may not be finding out about recalls and the inspection process, however, could make them doubt the effectiveness of what is actually a pretty good system to keep food safe, according to Kansas State University researchers.
Charles Dodd, K-State doctoral student in food science, Wamego, and Doug Powell, K-State associate professor of food safety, published a paper in the journal Foodborne Pathogens and Disease about how one government agency communicates risk about deadly bacteria like E. coli O157 in ground beef.
Publications, Web pages and recalls are all used in this risk communication.
Dodd said that although the Food Safety and Inspection Service generally does a good job of keeping meat safe, it's easy for consumers to think the opposite, particularly when a recall tells them that the food in the fridge or pantry may be dangerous. In their study, Dodd and Powell looked at what information consumers can take away from the Food Safety and Inspection Service's Web site, and suggest government agencies can more clearly communicate their role in keeping the food supply safe.
"We as Americans tend to expect more from regulatory agencies than we should, so we set ourselves up for disappointment," Dodd said. "Occasionally, regulatory agencies may create unrealistic expectations by the way they communicate with the public. The message of our paper is to say that the Food Safety and Inspection Service is doing a good job, considering the amount of resources it has. We are trying to open up dialogue about how its role could be communicated more effectively." …
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Testing is just one tool that the Food Safety and Inspection Service uses. Its role is to monitor what other stakeholders are doing to keep food safe. "As a regulatory agency, the Food Safety and Inspection Service is monitoring food safety, not necessarily testing it themselves," Dodd said. "I think that's what a lot of us consumers misinterpret. We need to remember that regulatory agencies allocate, not assume, responsibility."
He got an A in the class. And he collects his own cow pies for sampling (left).
Dodd, C.C. and Powell, D.A. 2009. Regulatory management and communication of risks associated with Eschericia coli O157:H7 in ground beef. Foodborne Pathogens and Disease, 6(6): 743-747.
Abstract
Foodborne illness outbreaks and ground beef recalls associated with Escherichia coli O157:H7 have generated substantial consumer risk awareness. Although this risk has been assessed and managed according to federal regulation, communication strategies may hamper stakeholder perception of regulatory efforts in the face of continued E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks associated with ground beef. To mitigate the risk of E. coli O157:H7 contamination in ground beef, the beef industry employs preharvest and postharvest interventions, while the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) provides regulatory oversight. Policy makers must understand and clearly express that regulation allocates, not assumes, responsibility. The FSIS role may be poorly communicated, leading consumers, retailers, and others in the farm-to-fork food safety system to misrepresent risks and creating unrealistic expectations of regulatory responsibility. To improve this risk communication, revisions may be needed in FSIS-related documents, Web pages, peer-reviewed publications, and recall announcements.
E. coli O157:H7 and cattle diet - it's messy
“If only” is often how statements begin by food safety wannabes who are sure they have stumbled upon a vast conspiracy meant to subjugate society.
If only Monsanto didn’t genetically-engineer seeds …
If only products like milk were served raw and natural …
If only cattle were fed grass, there would be no E. coli O157:H7.
When someone makes such proclamations, or says they speak fact, usually with an air of authority, I immediately think that person is full of it. People who say “trust me” are immediately untrustworthy.
Megan Jacob, Todd Callaway, and T.G. Nagaraja of Kansas State University write about the dietary interactions and interventions affecting Escherichia coli O157 colonization and shedding in cattle in an upcoming issue of Foodborne Pathogens and Disease. It’s not a movie, not a blog, not a pulp fiction, so they sorta have to get it right. And they do, when they write:
“The specific mechanisms responsible for increased or decreased E. coli O157 shedding or survival are not known … results of studies are conflicting or not repeatable, which speaks to the complexity of the hindgut ecosystem, variation in animal feed utilization, and variation within feed products.”
The complete abstract is below.
Escherichia coli O157 is an important foodborne pathogen affecting human health and the beef cattle industry. Contamination of carcasses at slaughter is correlated to the prevalence of E. coli O157 in cattle feces. Many associations have been made between dietary factors and E. coli O157 prevalence in cattle feces. Preharvest interventions, such as diet management, could reduce the fecal prevalence and diminish the impact of this adulterant. Dietary influences, including grain type and processing method, forage quality, and distillers grains have all been associated with E. coli O157 prevalence. In addition, several plant compounds, including phenolic acids and essential oils, have been proposed as in-feed intervention strategies. The specific mechanisms responsible for increased or decreased E. coli O157 shedding or survival are not known but are often attributed to changes in hindgut ecology induced by diet types. Some interventions may have a direct bacterial effect. Frequently, results of studies are conflicting or not repeatable, which speaks to the complexity of the hindgut ecosystem, variation in animal feed utilization, and variation within feed products. Still, understanding specific mechanisms, driven by diet influences, responsible for E. coli O157 shedding will aid in the development and implementation of better and practical preharvest intervention strategies.
18 sick with E. coli O157:H7 linked to Swift Beef
Sigh. Another E. coli O157:H7 outbreak, with at least 18 suspected cases in the U.S. linked to beef produced by JBS Swift Beef Company, a Greeley, Colo., establishment that is voluntarily expanding its June 24 recall to include approximately 380,000 pounds of assorted beef primal products.
The beef products were produced on April 21, 2009 and were distributed both nationally and internationally.
Each box bears the establishment number "EST. 969" inside the USDA mark of inspection as well as the identifying package date of "042109" and a time stamp ranging from "0618" to "1130." However, these products were sent to establishments and retail stores nationwide for further processing and will likely not bear the establishment number "EST. 969" on products available for direct consumer purchase. Customers with concerns should contact their point of purchase.
The recalled products include intact cuts of beef, such as primals, sub-primals, or boxed beef typically used for steaks and roasts rather than ground beef. FSIS is aware that some of these products may have been further processed into ground products by other companies. The highest risk products for consumers are raw ground product, trim or other non-intact product made from the products subject to the recall.
Three kids stricken with E. coli O157:H7 linked to London, Ontario Halal store
The London Free Press – that’s London, Ontario, in Canada – reports that after three children were diagnosed with E coli O157:H7 infections within five days, the Middlesex-London Health Unit advised the public today to avoid eating any ground beef or spiced ground beef (kofta) purchased from Westmount Halal Food Store located at 490 Wonderland Road South.
In two of the cases, children consumed kofta purchased on June 14 and 15 from the store. The source of the third child's infection has not been identified, but the child's family also eats halal food, although it didn't purchase any from the Westmount store.
The public is being advised to:
• Not eat any ground beef or kofta purchased from the Westmount Halal Food Store between June 2 and today. The store is prepared to refund any customer who purchased these products.
• Contact the Health Unit (519-663-5317 ext. 2330, after hours 519-675-7523) and their healthcare provider if they have developed symptoms of severe or bloody diarrhea since June 2.
• Contact the Health Unit if they have any ground beef or kofta purchased from the Westmount Halal Food Store between June 2 and today in their home.
Ontario E. coli outbreak likely caused by Spanish onions: 235 sickened
In a refreshing change for Canadian public health, a report has actually been issued regarding an outbreak of foodborne illness – specifically the 235 people who got sick dining at a Harvery’s restaurant at a major thoroughfare in North Bay, Ontario, last fall, four hours north of Toronto.
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Apparently it was the Spanish onions.
The North Bay and District Health Unit also criticized the inconsistent cleaning practice of the onion dicer (below, left, exactly as shown).
The full report is available at http://www.healthunit.biz/docs/Ecoli%20Outbreak/2008%20NBPSDHU%20Ecoli%20Report_June%202009_Formatted.pdf
Some questions: where did the onions come from? Health types say they don’t know. How could a Harvey’s not know where its onions were coming from? Or at least provide a list of options? There were also outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7 in southern Ontario at the same time. Same onions?
Where does E. coli O157:H7 come from? Food Inc. and cookie dough versions
Is E. coli O157:H7 associated with things other than feedlot cattle?
I had a few people call me recently, saying, I saw that movie, Food, Inc., which says that E. coli O157:H7 is predominately in feedlot cattle because of the grain they are fed, and that’s how the bug came to exist. So how did it get into Nestle cookie dough?
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It’s sort of a mantra of raw milk enthusiasts and wannabe food safety types that E. coli O157:H7 is a product of feedlot cattle, and that grass-fed creatures are benign entities for the dinner plate.
A blogger yesterday wrote, “… hamburger tainted by e-coli, a virus that breeds in a cow’s stomach when it is feed grain instead of grass (which, of course, most cows are nowadays in order to fatten them quickly and cheaply).”
It’s a bacterium, not a virus.
Nicholas Kristof, a columnist for the N.Y. Times, wrote yesterday, on Sunday, June 21/09, that, “There is some evidence that pathogens, including E. coli, become much more common in factory farming operations. Move feedlot cattle out to a pasture for five days, and they will lose 80 percent of the E. coli in their gut, the film says.”
That evidence is about as strong as the whisps of evidence compiled by Danny Sugarman that The Doors’ frontman Jim Morrisson is still alive and didn’t die from excess in a Paris bathtub in 1971. But, every teenager goes through their Doors phase (I can only find the clip below in Spanish, but Canada’s The Guess Who stands up much better with the hindsight of time; they know they are drunken buffoons, and not a drunken buffoon trying to be a poet).
Scientific uncertainty can easily be exploited by the certainty of filmmakers, who cherry pick facts and flourish on rhetoric. And I guess if it’s repeated ad nauseum for 11 years by writers from the N.Y. Times to your-favorite-bullshit blogger it becomes fact.
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That line, “Move feedlot cattle out to a pasture for five days, and they will lose 80 percent of the E. coli in their gut,” comes from a 1998 paper published in the journal Science by Diez-Gonzalez of Cornell University, and colleagues.
I had one of my colleagues, Rena Orr, write a review of the controversy back in Nov. 2000.
Since September 1998, there has been conflicting information on the effect of diet on E. coli shedding from cattle. The conflict arises in part from the effect of diet on the ability of E. coli to develop acid resistance. … Diez-Gonzalez et. al demonstrated that feeding a high-grain diet to cattle results in an acidic environment in the colon. Because the animals incompletely digested the starch in grains, some starch was able to reach the colon where it fermented, producing fermentation acids. The researchers believe an acidic environment selects for or induces acid resistance among the Escherichia coli population. … Diez-Gonzalez et al. concluded that if cattle were given hay for a brief period (five days) immediately before slaughter, the risk of foodborne E. coli infection would be significantly reduced because the acidity in the colon is greatly reduced. "Our studies indicate that cattle could be given hay for a brief period immediately before slaughter to significantly reduce the risk of food-borne E. coli infection."
The Science article received mainstream media attention, and was covered by the Associated Press and The New York Times, as well as scientific releases and reports. In the Irish Times, it was cited as the basis for concluding that because Irish cattle are fed a grass-based diet rather than grain, Ireland has a low incidence of E. coli O157:H7. Hancock et al. contend that this conclusion is unsupported or contradicted by several lines of evidence. The E. coli that contaminate beef typically originate from the hide, the hooves, or the equipment used in slaughter and processing rather than directly from the colon, and likely replicate in environments unlike the colon. Therefore, the induced acid resistance of E. coli contaminating beef is likely to be unrelated to the pH of its ancestral colonic environment. The E. coli O157:H7 bacterium uses several mechanisms to survive acid environments, some of which are innate and are not influenced by environment . Although acid resistance is likely a factor in an infective dose, induced acid resistance has not been shown to be a factor in E. coli O157:H7 infectivity by experimental (dose-inoculation) or observational (epidemiological) data . Therefore, acid resistance induced by exposure to weak acid may not influence the virulence of this pathogen.
Published data on E. coli O157:H7 tends to contradict or does not support the effects of the dietary change proposed by Diez-Gonzalez et al. In a recent study on three different grain diets (85% cracked corn, 15% whole cottonseed and 70% barley, or 85% barley), the fecal pH of the animals fed the corn diet was significantly lower (P < 0.05) than the fecal pH of the animals fed the cottonseed and barley and barley diets, likely resulting in a less suitable environment for E. coli O157:H7 in the hindgut of the corn fed animals (2000, Buchko et al). In the Journal of Food Protection, researchers concluded that changing from grain to a high roughage diet did not produce a change in the E. coli concentration that was large enough to deliver a drastic improvement in beef carcass hygiene. Sheep experiencing an abrupt diet change have higher concentrations and increased shedding of fecal E. coli O157:H7 for longer periods than sheep fed a consistent high-grain diet. Another study compared the duration of shedding E. coli O157:H7 isolates by hay-fed and grain-fed steers experimentally inoculated with E. coli O157:H7 as well as the acid resistance of the bacteria. The hay-fed animals shed E. coli O157:H7 longer than the grain-fed animals, and irrespective of diet, these bacteria were equally acid resistant.
These results suggest that the proposed dietary change would actually increase contamination with E. coli O157:H7. Also, the 1,000-fold reductions in total fecal E. coli demonstrated by Diez-Gonzales et al. are far greater than those recorded in cattle experiencing similar ration changes . Finally, extensive surveys show that grain-fed feedlot cattle have no higher E. coli O157:H7 infection prevalence than similarly aged dairy cattle fed forage (hay) diets. Abrupt feed change immediately before slaughter could have unexpected deleterious effects. The proposed diet change has the potential to increase the risk of bovine salmonella infections, a potential source of food poisoning. The dietary change results in sharply reduced volatile fatty acid concentrations in the large intestine as well as changes in the bacteria, allowing for colonization of Salmonella.
See, that’s a really long explanation. It’s not as soothing as, change cattle diet, disease prevented. And that was written nine years ago.
Mike Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy and professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota wrote a cleaner critique in 2007 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune:
"Russo cited conclusions from a 1998 study from Cornell University that cattle fed a diet of grass, not grain, had very few E. coli, and that those bacteria that survived in the cattle feces would not survive in the human when eaten in undercooked meat, particularly hamburger. This statement is based on a study of only three cows rotated on different diets and for which the researchers did not even test for E. coli O157:H7. Unfortunately, the authors extrapolated these incredibly sparse results to the entire cattle industry. The Cornell study is uncorroborated in numerous published scientific papers from renowned research groups around the world. Finally, work conducted by the Minnesota Department of Health as part of a national study on foodborne disease recently showed that eating red meat from local farms was a significant risk factor for E. coli infection. ...
And as my colleague David Renter wrote in Sept. 2006,
"Cattle raised on diets of 'grass, hay and other fibrous forage' do contain E. coli O157:H7 bacteria in their feces as do other animals including deer, sheep, goats, bison, opossum, raccoons, birds, and many others.
"Cattle diet can affect levels of E. coli O157:H7, but this is a complex issue that has been and continues to be studied by many scientists. To suggest switching cattle from grain to forage based on a small piece of the scientific evidence is inappropriate and irresponsible. Several pieces of evidence suggest that such a change would not eliminate and may even increase E. coli O157:H7 in cattle.
"The current spinach outbreak may be traced back to cattle manure, but there are many other potential sources. Simplistically attacking one facet of livestock production may be politically expedient, but instead provides a false sense of security and ignores the biological realities of E. coli O157:H7. In 1999, for example, 90 children were felled by E. coli O157:H7 at a fair in London, Ont. The source? A goat at a petting zoo, hardly an intensively farmed animal."
Last time I looked, E. coli O157:H7 and about 60 other shiga-producing E. coli that are known to cause illness in humans are present in about 10 per cent of all ruminants – cattle, sheep, goats, deer, elk -– and I can point to outbreaks associated with all of those species. Pigs, chickens, humans, birds and rodents have all been shown to be carriers of shiga-producing E. coli but the resevoir appears to be ruminants. The final report of the fall 2006 spinach outbreak identifies nearby grass-fed beef cattle as the likely source of the E. coli O157:H7 that sickened 200 and killed 4.
How the E. coli O157:H7 got into the cookie dough remains to be seen. Biology is complex and constantly changing – even at farmer’s markets, which was the big solution of Food, Inc. But it’s only a movie.
That Cornell paper can be found here:
Diez-Gonzalez, Francisco, Todd R. Callaway, Menas G. Kizoulis, James B. Russell. Grain Feeding and the Dissemination of Acid-Resistance Escherichia coli from Cattle. Science: Sept 11, 1998. Volume 281, Number 5383, pages 1666-1668.
Evan finds Nestle refrigerated cookie dough; Doug cooks it (sorta)
During the evening of Thursday, June 18, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment urged Coloradans not to eat raw Nestle Toll House cookie dough because of possible contamination with E. coli O157:H7.
The next morning, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers not to eat any varieties of prepackaged Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough due to the risk of contamination with E. coli O157:H7. At the same time, Nestlé announced a voluntary recall of all Toll House refrigerated cookie dough products, “out of an abundance of caution.”
About 4:30 p.m. central time on Friday, June 19, 2009 (happy birthday, daughter Jaucelynn, avoid the raw cookie dough) colleague Evan reported that he had successfully obtained a package of Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough (above, right, exactly as shown). I say obtained because he didn’t have to pay for it. Evan went to a local supermarket, and saw, “a young kid, armed with a box cutter, standing beside a cart full of Nestle Toll House products.
“I asked if I could have one of them, to which he replied, 'you're not going to get a refund for it are you?' I told him no, but he said he had to cut open the package so I couldn't return it. The kid wasn't wearing any gloves and was sweating, so I'm guessing he was out there for a while handling a potentially contaminated product.”
And he gave Evan the raw cookie dough, which Evan triple-bagged and refrigerated until Saturday.
Amy and Sorenne and I went grocery shopping this morning, and observed that the Nestle refrigerated products had been dutifully cleared out (left, exactly as shown). We did, however, buy a couple of other raw cookie dough products. I never eat the stuff, but understand that many are quite passionate about their raw cookie dough.
There are at least two potential problems with raw cookie dough: eating it, and cross-contamination. Evan and I videotaped a cooking experiment and the cookies get plenty hot to kill off potential pathogens (we’ll post that later).
Bill Marler has written about the uh, inadequacies of the labels on Nestle raw cookie dough. Not that anyone reads labels, or that everyone speaks English, but maybe there shoud be more of a declaration of potential risk.
And bigger type: not to sound like ole-man-grouchy-Powell, but even with my reading glasses I could barely read a damn thing on the label. The Kroger private selection brand says,
Keep refrigerated
Use before date on package
Do not eat unbaked cookie dough.
The Pillsbury refrigerated cookie dough says,
Do not microwave unbaked Poppin Fresh dough
Bake before enjoying
Do not use if unsealed.
It would seems with at least 66 people sick with a serious illness – E. coli O157:H7 – of which 25 had to be hospitalized and seven will suffer long-term kidney damage, these labels sorta suck.
Oh, and according to a story carried by Bloomberg,
“The Toll House cookie brand is named for the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts, whose owner, Ruth Wakefield, is credited with inventing the chocolate chip cookie in the 1930s."
D-listed and the problem with raw cookie dough
Michael K of celebrity blog D-listed encapsulates the problem with Nestle, raw cookie dough, labels and E. coli O157:H7, which has so far sickened 66 people in 28 states.
If you get the craving to eat cookie dough this weekend, lick this picture and don't eat the real thing or you may doody until you dieeeeeee. … This weekend the grocery stores are totally going to be full of single depressed ladies trading in their unused cookie dough for SnackWells.
Why do they always recall delicious things? They never recall crap like peas or multi-grain Cheerios. … I always eat raw cookie dough. I tell myself that I'm going to bake it like a normal person, but then suddenly the bowl is empty and I have the guilties.
Cookie dough? Cookie dough contaminated with E. coli O157:H7?
In yet another example of different jurisdictions having different opinions about when to go public, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment sent out a press release last night urging Coloradans not to eat raw Nestle Toll House cookie dough because of possible contamination with E. coli O157:H7.
If the link is proven, cookie dough would join a long list of foods like produce, pet food, peanut butter and pot pies that consumers really have very little control over; it's up to the producers and processors. Which makes various consumer education programs like FightBac sorta backwards. Consumers have a role in food safety, but not with this stuff.
Colorado state health officials, the CDC and several other state health departments are investigating an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections.
To date, 66 cases from 28 states have been identified. Preliminary evidence from the multi-state investigation suggests that Nestle Toll House cookie dough may be the source of the outbreak, although further investigation is ongoing.
Five cases have been reported in Colorado in the following counties: Denver, Douglas (2), Jefferson and Weld. Two of the people have been hospitalized, and one has developed a severe complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome. Of the four people interviewed so far by the state health department, all had consumed the raw cookie dough during the week before they became ill.
Alicia Cronquist, the foodborne disease epidemiologist at the state health department, said,
“We can’t be certain that raw cookie dough is the source of these infections, but we are concerned enough that it might be and want consumers to be aware.”
Daniel Rifkin, Wholesale Food Program manager for the Department of Public Health and Environment’s Consumer Protection Division, said,
“Nestle is currently evaluating what actions they will take regarding their product. In the meantime, it is important that consumers do not eat or use raw Nestle Toll House cookie dough for now. If you decide to use the product, ensure that the cookies are cooked thoroughly and wash your hands well after handling the raw dough. More information will be forthcoming.”
Congressional food safety conspiracies - small farms will be criminal
The New York Times picked up on the burgeoning food safety conspiracy theory business that’s been flooding the Intertubes.
There’s been a lot of outbreaks of foodborne illness and a lot of people barfing. So politicians have been busy bill-making bees, with numerous proposals before the U.S. House and Senate.
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As the Times story put it,
“… small farmers, who are most accountable for their food's freshness and health, may suffer the heaviest burden under proposed new food rules. … Small farmers argue that they are already much more accountable to their customers for the quality of their product than are mass-production facilities, and that they will be crushed under the weight of well-meaning laws aimed at large industrial offenders.”
Farmers, regardless of size, are accountable for food’s freshness and health, and more importantly, the microbial food safety of that food. Farmers, big and small, are accountable to their customers. Small is not better, and there is no evidence that smaller is safer. Small, local, organic, whatever, can be microbiologically safe, but that requires attention to sources of dangerous microorganisms and effective measures to reduce levels of risk – regardless of farm size.
And before someone chimes in with the smaller-is-easier-to-trace-and-contain line, there is no evidence to support that argument other than wishful thinking. To make an effective comparison, the number of illnesses per conventional or local/small/organic meal consumed would have to be calculated. And because a lot more people eat, say, conventional tomatoes compared to local/small/organic tomatoes, illnesses with conventional product are more likely to be detected. The data simply is not available to make any meaningful comparison.
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What can be said is that local/small/organic is a lifestyle choice. And like any lifestyle choice, go for it but play safe. Try not to make people barf and even embrace evidence-based microbiologically safe food. Sales will probably increase.
Back to the story. Alexis Baden-Mayer, political director of the Organic Consumers Association, said,
"Organic standards specifically say you are supposed to cultivate the wild land on your farm, and having the area filter water has a lot of benefits. One of the principles is just that -- we're going to farm in a way that's not disruptive to nature."
Farming is not natural; any type of farming is disruptive to nature. So produce food in a way that minimizes the impact on the natural environment, and doesn’t make people barf. But that isn’t what organic is about. As Katija and I showed in our 2004 paper, organic guidelines could be adjusted to incorporate microbial food safety standards, but as they stand, organic standards are a specification for growing organic -- not microbiologically safe -- food.
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The best and most dangerous mythology in the story is this:
Critics say the rules unfairly penalize small farmers who grow crops and raise cattle on the same farm, while failing to address what they believe is the root of the E. coli problem -- large, mismanaged feedlots that cram cattle together and spew waste runoff.
A percentage of all ruminants carry E. coli O157:H7. Feedlots are an easy target. But there are lots of outbreaks. Like E. coli O157:H7 in spinach in 2006 that sickened 200 and killed at least three. The source of the E. coli O157:H7 in the transitional organic spinach was a neighboring cow-calf operation – not a feedlot.
Any bill that gets past the discussion stage will be considerably modified and even if passed into law will accomplish … nothing. Conspiracy theories are fun, as is busy bee bill making, but will either result in fewer sick people? Growers, processors, retailers, restaurants and consumers should do what they can today to produce microbiologically safe food.
E. coli outbreak linked to Denver cattle show
Health officials are investigating an outbreak linked to Colorado's largest stock show after 20 people, including 17 kids, came down with E. coli O157.
Chris Urbina with Denver Public Health said a lab has confirmed 20 E. coli cases but the number is expected to grow.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said in a news release,
"While the investigation is ongoing, we suspect that these infections are linked to attending the National Western Stock Show, which was held in Denver from Jan. 10 to Jan. 25.”
Although health officials haven't pinpointed the exact cause of the E. coli, the common denominator in all the cases is the stock show, Urbina said.
Many schools and child care centers organized trips to the stock show, and many children attended with their families, so there is the potential that the number of cases could jump, health officials said.
On Wednesday, the CDPHE sent a letter to daycare centers alerting them to the outbreak and asking the staff to take special precautions.
For disease reporting or other questions please contact the CDPHE Communicable Disease program at 303-692-2700.
Bovine super-shedders and E. coli O157:H7
Chuck Dodd, a veterinarian in the U.S. Army, currently disguised as a graduate student in Food Science at Kansas State University who spends a lot of time collecting poop (right below, exactly as shown), writes that researchers have now concluded that some cows present a greater risk for beef contamination by shedding higher concentrations of Escherichia coli O157 in their feces.
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Some food safety researchers, including me, have begun to label these cows as super-shedders. But that may be a witch hunt, or in this case, a super-shedder hunt.
Escherichia coli O157 remains a significant cause of foodborne illness in the United States. From 1982 to 2002, there were 350 reported outbreaks of E. coli O157 in which 8,598 people became ill. Almost 1,500 were hospitalized and 40 died. During this period, 41 percent of food-related E. coli O157 outbreaks were associated with the consumption of contaminated ground beef. Ground beef that came from cattle. Cattle that may have been shedding very high levels of E. coli O157 in their feces.
Cattle do not get sick if they carry E. coli O157 in their feces. A cow with E. coli O157 looks just like any other cow. In order to discriminate, the feces must be tested. Test methods have improved and now the organisms can be detected at lower concentrations in the feces. The numbers of organisms can also be estimated; hence, food safety researchers are able to separate the super-shedders from the low-shedders. Cattle can also be identified that are not carrying E. coli O157.
Studies have shown that E. coli O157 in cattle feces or on cattle hides is correlated with the detectable presence of E. coli O157 on the carcass. Carcass contamination likely occurs during the hide removal and evisceration process; this leads to the contamination of individual beef products sold at retail. In order to mitigate the risk of E. coli O157 contamination in ground beef, the beef industry employs pre- and post-harvest interventions. Yet some bacteria still make it through the harvest process.
Researchers are now scrutinizing cattle because their feces may have a super-sized dose of E. coli O157. Their theory: if the beef industry can detect and mitigate super-shedders, they can mitigate contamination of beef.
But is super-shedding super-bad? Maybe not.
Cattle with higher concentrations of E. coli O157 in their feces probably pose a higher risk for the eventual contamination of beef; however, the fecal shedding of these organisms comes and goes. Fecal shedding may depend upon host immunity and the environment (neither of which are the cow’s fault). What if a super-shedder on Saturday becomes a low-shedder on Sunday? What if a super-shedder is simply having a bad E. coli day? Does a high fecal concentration of E. coli O157 overwhelm the interventions that exist from farm-to-fork?
Researchers have asked whether the variation in fecal shedding “arises from the inherent stochasticity in transmission dynamics or is a signature of underlying heterogeneities in the cattle population.” Translation: are the differences in fecal shedding simply random or is it because cattle are simply different? Apparently, the fecal shedding of E. coli O157 varies by animal and by day.
Admittedly, due to the transience of E. coli O157 in cattle, a steer may shed a lot on the day of harvest. Nevertheless, if transience is real, then some days cattle may pose a high risk, low risk, or negligible risk.
The new super-shedder hunt may lengthen the path in preventing foodborne illness due to E. coli O157. Some cattle carry E. coli O157 and some don’t. There may be some benefit in knowing which cattle are shedding more than 100,000 E. coli O157 per gram in their feces on a given day, but will this knowledge prevent beef contamination? Perhaps, if it is the day of harvest.
It's not raisons, don't eat reindeer poop
Reindeer, like other deer, are ruminants, and like other ruminants, about 10 per cent will carry E. coli O157:H7 and relatives at any particular time.
So when a farmer, or huckster, promoting tourism at his reindeer farm says,
"About the worst that could happen is she could poop on you, but that's not really a problem because they really just poop raisins," he said. Raisins are a favorite part of the reindeer diet at the farm.
"Or she could pee on you, but I wouldn't worry, because I think I've heard something about reindeer pee, Christmas and good luck."
They aren’t poop raisins. Don’t eat poop.
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N.Y. Times food safety editorial misses the point
The New York Times wrote in an editorial Saturday that the Food and Drug Administration is right to focus on imported foods and it is encouraging that the agency has already hired staff for new offices in China and India that will try to ensure the safety of food products before they are exported.
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Yes, imported foods can be problematic. But so can homegrown foods. The silence surrounding California lettuce as a possible source of E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks in Michigan and Ontario is beyond disturbing. And the more fingers are pointed to imports, the fewer questions are asked about domestic supplies.
The Times did get this part of their editorial right:
“The goal is to root out tainted food — whether produced abroad or in this country — at the earliest stages of the production and distribution process while being ready to respond quickly if pathogens start reaching consumers.”
They just couldn’t follow through with a meaningful statement and say, providing safe food actually depends on a culture of food safety from farm-to-fork, wherever that food comes from.
Silence of the lettuce
If there’s one result from the Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak this summer it’s this: public health types sure are reluctant to finger fresh produce in outbreaks of foodborne illness.
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On Tuesday, a spokesman for the bureaucrats club know as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed they are looking to U.S. suppliers of E. coli-infected romaine lettuce that has been linked to 153 illnesses across southern Ontario, “but he had few other details.”
On Monday, something called the Produce Safety Project, an Initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts at Georgetown University concluded in a report that weaknesses in food safety policy, organization and communications were all displayed during this summer's outbreak of Salmonella Saintpaul.
The report, "Breakdown: Lessons to Be Learned from the 2008 Salmonella Saintpaul Outbreak," represents an in-depth review of the public record of last summer's Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak that caused illnesses in more than 1,400 people across the country. For a full copy of the report and the executive summary click here: http://www.producesafetyproject.org/reports?id=0001
Highlights and recommendations from the report include:
The need for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to use its existing statutory authorities to establish mandatory and enforceable safety standards for fresh produce. While FDA officials said the outbreak showed the need for these standards, they said Congress needs to pass legislation to grant it explicit authority to do so. However, the report notes that FDA has already used existing authorities to put in place preventive safety standards for seafood in 1995 and for juice in 2001.
The need for organizational reforms throughout the public health system for a more coordinated outbreak response. The report raises questions about how timely and effectively data was shared between public health agencies and if it contributed to a delayed identification of jalapeno and serrano peppers as a vehicle for Salmonella Saintpaul.
The need to have established and unified risk communication plans in place before an outbreak. The report documents "dueling" public health messages from various agencies announcing the outbreak, and questions why the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its presentation of data numerous times in the middle of the outbreak.
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I haven’t read the report in detail but will get to it. And while everyone is pointing fingers, recall that epidemiology is a messy thing, but it can prevent people from barfing. Self-censorship could be worse.
Both CFIA and FDA need to establish clear and transparent protocols on when to go public in outbreaks of foodborne illness. No one will be happy, but it will provide a basis for discussion and a way to move forward; once it’s written down, it can be improved.
Mixed messages from Guelph during E. coli O157:H7 outbreak
There are now seven confirmed cases of E. coli O157:H7, all University of Guelph students, and 43 probable cases, as part of a larger Ontario outbreak believed to involve romaine lettuce.
Cameron Clark, health protection program manager with Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health said the outbreak served “as a reminder for anyone who ate at the campus from that date on, or has experienced symptoms of extreme diarrhea, stomach cramps, nausea and vomiting to contact public health.”
I thought it would be a reminder for food service to check their suppliers of lettuce and ask what is being done to ensure the microbial safety of fresh produce.
Clark also said it's important to continually remind people to wash their hands to prevent human-to-human spread and to thoroughly wash fruits and vegetables.
Does continual reminding work? Or is it nagging? Is washing the lettuce in a Pita Pit wrap -- believed to be the Guelph source -- an effective consumer strategy?
E. coli O157:H7 outbreak links point to lettuce
Two local health units said today that lettuce – specifically Romaine lettuce –was the common factor in an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to food service operations in four southern Ontario towns that has sickened 130 people.
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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency responded by saying,
“Canadians are reminded that the best way to prevent foodborne illness is by handling their food safely. … Canadians can also refer to CFIA’s detailed four point plan to prevent E. coli in the home.”
All of the people got sick at restaurants or cafeterias – not in their homes. And contamination of lettuce and other fresh produce needs to be prevented on the farm – there is little consumers or food service can do when contaminated product arrives.
S. Ontario E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks linked; produce eyed
There are now 24 confirmed cases of E. coli O157:H7 in the southern Ontario towns of Niagara, Burlington, Guelph and Waterloo, with some of the cases sharing the same genetic fingerprint.
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Another 64 suspected cases are being investigated.
Dr. Doug Sider of Niagara Region Public Health said,
"It seems likely there was contaminated produce in the commercial market being distributed to restaurants back to the mid-part of October.”
In Waterloo Region, two high-school students contracted the bacteria and public health officials expect to keep the cafeteria at St. Mary's High School in Kitchener closed for a few more days.
The region's associate medical officer of health, Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, said provincial investigators are studying whether the outbreak is linked to romaine lettuce.
University of Guelph spokesperson Chuck Cunningham said "as a precaution" the university has removed lettuce from the main University Centre food court, cafeterias in residences and the Creelman dining hall. That's because lettuce is part of the probe by public health and the provincial Ministry of Health, he added.
Ontario E. coli victim needs help
Canada has the best healthcare system in the world.
At least that’s what Canadians are taught to believe. Never underestimate the persuasive power of wanting to believe.
The family of a seven-year-old boy who suffered complications from the North Bay, Ontario, E. coli outbreak which has sickened 249, needs help as they remain with their young son in a Toronto hospital.
Sylvie MacDonald, Carter’s mother, said,
“This is a nightmare. And asking for help is definitely one of the hardest things I’ve had to do. We don’t like to do this, but I don’t know how long this could last. It could last forever.”
The child from Mattawa was airlifted to Toronto after he was brought into the North Bay and District Hospital Oct. 24.
E. coli O157:H7 hits Guelph, again
Three months after University of Guelph spokesthingy Chuck Cunningham said, "It seemed to me like it was business as usual," after an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak struck 20 people, the same bug has struck again.
The Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health unit says that four confirmed cases of E. coli O157 are all U of G students. To date, the only commonality among the four students is that they ate at the Pita Pit in the University Centre, so as a precaution, the University is voluntarily closing the UC Pita Pit until Public Health completes its investigation.
In Aug., Cunningham said, "It's a surprise and a shock to us that this has happened.”
So what is it now?
The great food safety school seems to have a lot of poop in their food.
In Aug., a press release from the University said,
“Although health officials said it's unlikely that the source of the outbreak will ever be identified, they believe it's an isolated incident.”
How do they know it’s an isolated incident if the source of the outbreak is never identified?
For a self-proclaimed food safety school, Guelph really sorta sucks. Sorry for the sick kids.
Lettuce or salad source for S. Ontario E. coli outbreak
Dr. Doug Sider, Niagara Region’s associate medical officer of health said a food supply problem likely led to the spread of E. coli O157:H7 that has made 46 people sick and caused Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Little Red Rooster to voluntarily close its doors Oct. 24, and Welland’s M. T. Bellies Tap & Grillhouse to close its kitchen on Oct. 29.
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Sider said that extensive interviews with dozens of people who ate at Little Red Rooster, including 80 people who did not become sick, suggest some type of contaminated lettuce or salad component is to blame, adding,
“All of the evidence is pointing to the fact that the restaurants were, in a way, innocent bystanders of probably some contaminated produce that was distributed.”
Another 28 people in Burlington have fallen ill in an E. coli outbreak primarily linked to Johnathan’s Family Restaurant on Fairview Street. Three cases are confirmed E. coli O157:H7, and one has a similar “fingerprint” or molecular makeup to several cases in Niagara.
Sider was further cited as saying the three affected restaurants do not share a common food supplier, which is puzzling to investigators, adding,
“That’s why we’re scratching our heads and looking farther upstream. You know, could it be a more central distributor? Places like the Ontario Food Terminal (in Toronto), where a lot of regional or local suppliers buy their produce. … The fact that we’ve got these sort of localized areas with a number of people who became ill, frankly, it’s perplexing. I can’t explain it at this point in time.”
As I’ve said before, there are no guidelines – at least not publicly available guidelines -- on when to go public. Federal agencies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency must come clean with the public and industry and articulate the basis for public notification, or even restaurant closures, during outbreaks of foodborne illness. Until then local health units are left cleaning up the mess. Good for Dr. Sider for clearly articulating the process.
Kentucky Fried Chicken marketing food safety
I must have been in grade 11.
The object – no, not an object, the girl -- of my affection worked part-time at the local Kentucky Fried Chicken in Brantford, Ontario (that’s in Canada).
We’d meet after work, and ever since, the Colonel’s secret spices have held a special place.
In university and afterwards, I always seemed to live within smelling distance of the Kentucky version of deep-fried chicken thingies. And then there was the moving ritual: who hasn’t changed residences without a bucket of the Colonel and a case of beer to pay off the movers? (I’m thanking you, Marty)
It’s been a long time, but driving back from Des Moines Sunday morning with Amy, I was suddenly struck with the KFC urge. It was gross, although the corn-on-the-cob was as good as I remember when Chapman and I got a similar meal in upstate New York before crossing the border into Canada -- no corn-on-the-cob in Canadian KFC, at least not in 2003 – returning from a golf trip I was particularly grateful for.
And now KFC is marketing food safety.
Maybe they have been for a long time. I apparently only visit during nostalgia trips. But there it is, right there on the Colonel’s bucket: rigorously inspected; thoroughly cooked; quality assured.
Now, can I get that same assurance on the cole slaw – the cabbage-containg cole slaw that led to an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 in 1998 and again in 1999 at KFCs in Indiana and Ohio?
146 stricken with E. coli from Harvey's in Canada
The North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit is now reporting a total of 146 cases of which 24 are lab confirmed for E. coli O157:H7, linked to dining at a Harvey’s Restaurant on Algonquin Avenue in North Bay, Ontario.
Included are cases being investigated by 6 other health units in Ontario, and the people who are ill range from 1 to 90 years old. Some are in hospital receiving treatment, while most are recovering at home.
“The Health Unit is screening staff at the restaurant located in North Bay. This includes collecting samples and conducting interviews,” reports Dr. Catherine Whiting, Medical Officer of Health for the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit. Health Unit staff continue to collect information and analyze data to ensure that all possible sources of E. coli O157:H7 are being investigated. City of North Bay emergency crews also conducted extra testing on the municipal water last weekend. Lab test results confirm that drinking water is not the source.
Lettuce linked to 36 ill in Michigan, 3 in Ontario, came from California
The Detroit Free Press is reporting that state agriculture officials say the tainted iceberg lettuce that has been linked to 36 E. coli O157:H7 illnesses in Michigan and 3 in Ontario originated in California before being shipped to Michigan.
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Aunt Mid’s Produce of Detroit was identified as one of the local suppliers. The company immediately stopped its lettuce distribution, said Philip Riggio, chief executive officer, and had its supply and processing facilities tested by outside experts. The tests found no evidence of contamination.
The Michigan Department of Agriculture also tested Aunt Mid’s lettuce, with no findings of E. coli, but, “we never had product available that was tested from the outbreak timeframe, primarily due to the perishable nature of the product we dealt with,” said Jennifer Holton, MDA spokesperson.
A Michigan State University student sickened by E. coli-tainted lettuce is suing Aunt Mid’s. Samantha Steffen of East Lansing began suffering from bloody diarrhea and was hospitalized with dehydration in mid-September.
“At this point, based on testing…I don’t believe the lawsuit has any merit,” said Riggio.
Canadian food safety bureaucrats continue to stumble -- and more people are sick
I started FSnet, the food safety news, shortly after the Jack-in-the-Box outbreak in Jan. 1993. Sure, Al Gore hadn’t invented the Internet yet, but those of us in universities had access, and I started distributing food safety stories.
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It all seems sorta quaint now, what with Google alerts and blogs and RSS feeds, but my goal was straightforward: during the Jack-in-the-Box outbreak, a number of spokesthingies said, they didn’t know E. coli O157:H7 was a risk, they didn’t know that Washington State had raised its recommended final cooking temperature for ground beef, they didn’t know what was going on.
So FSnet was conceived and made widely available so that no one could legitimately say, they didn’t know.
Yet that’s exactly what federal bureaucrats in Canada said last night when questioned about the delay in warning those in southwestern Ontario that lettuce from Aunt Mid’s in Detroit, implicated in a large Michigan-based E. coli O57:H7 outbreak that has stricken at least 34, had made its way across the border.
And now at least two people in Ontario have tested positive for the same strain of E. coli O57:H7.
David Musyj, president and chief executive officer of the Windsor (Ontario) Regional Hospital, said last night that authorities in Michigan issued a public-health alert about the link to Aunt Mid’s iceberg on Friday, Sept. 26, 2008, but the Canadian Food Inspection Agency didn’t bother notifying Windsor health officials until Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2008.
"What happened between Sept. 26 and Oct. 1? Clearly there is a communication gap that occurred. I want an investigation to be launched into this to find out why there was a communication gap, whether it was our CFIA or whether it was the State of Michigan."
Dustin Pike, a spokesman for Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, said in an e-mail yesterday that the Public Health Agency of Canada notified the CFIA of the E. coli outbreak in Michigan potentially linked to the lettuce on Tuesday, and after determining that the product had been imported into Canada, the CFIA contacted Windsor health authorities the following morning. …
Davendra Sharma, a food-safety recall specialist at the CFIA, said the agency acted promptly when it heard of the outbreak to identify who in Canada purchased the product and to notify Windsor officials.
Again, I started FSnet all those years ago so bureaucrats and others couldn’t say, I didn’t know.
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The Michigan outbreak was first publicly reported on Sept. 16, 2008. Lettuce was identified as the primary suspect on Friday, Sept. 26 2008. Why it took until Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008 for someone at Health Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada or the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to notice there was an outbreak next door in product that could be shipped to Canada is baffling.
Especially because of all the bureaucrats that read FSnet. According to tonight’s numbers, 27 people at PHAC, 149 people at Health Canada, and 316 people at CFIA receive FSnet. That’s almost 500 people, and no one noticed?
Tonight, test results have, unfortunately, revealed that two cases of E. coli O157:H7 in Chatham-Kent, Ontario, are of the same strain identified in 38 cases in the United States. All of the cases are thought to be linked to shredded iceberg lettuce distributed by Aunt Mid's Produce Company. This product is distributed in five pound industrial bags to institutions such as hospitals and long-term care homes, as well as restaurants in southwestern Ontario.
Musyj of the Windsor hospital captures the failings of CFIA when he says:
"Once something is thought of seriously enough to raise a red flag, then you better call everyone affected by the red flag. You can't wait for a death to happen to notify everyone."
Although that seems to have been the CFIA policy with listeria: with 20 dead and counting, it’s a bad policy.
CFIA, what is your policy on going public with information that can prevent illness? Is your primary priority to protect public health? If so, can you provide evidence to back such a claim?
And how can any of you say you didn’t know?
Oh, and for those who see salvation in a single food inspection agency, as is often discussed in the U.S., please notice the dysfunctional mess that is CFIA.
Campus runs: Colorado latest to be hit with E. coli O157:H7
Guelph, Michigan State, Georgetown, that kid in Amy’s class yesterday.
There’s a lot of barf on campus.
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The University of Colorado at Boulder has just announced an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak amongst seven CU students going back to Sept. 23, 2008.
Initial investigations indicate that the source is off campus and on-campus dining is not related to the source. Boulder County Public Health staff is working closely with CU and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to identify the source of the outbreak and any additional cases among students and the public.
Lettuce linked to Michigan E. coli O157:H7 outbreak; MSU needs to check its food safety facts
On the same day that congressional investigators cited shoddy oversight of produce processing operations, wholesale, bagged iceberg lettuce appears to be the culprit in the Michigan E. coli O157:H7 outbreak that has sickened at least 26 people.
“Some of the 26 Michigan cases consumed shredded or chopped iceberg lettuce in restaurants or institutions purchased from Aunt Mid’s Produce Company, a Detroit-based wholesale distributor; and other distributing outlets could be identified. Product trace back and additional tests results are still in progress.
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“Our top priority at the Michigan Department of Community Health is to protect the public,” said Dr. Gregory Holzman, chief medical executive for MDCH. “We appreciate all of the assistance from Aunt Mid’s. They have been very helpful in this investigation. We want to ensure that the public’s health and well-being is protected. Even though the investigation is ongoing, available evidence is strongly pointing to iceberg lettuce.”
Wouldn’t it be nice if just one public health official in Canada had a similar statement – our top priority is to protect public health – during the listeria outbreak that has killed at least 18?
Although I do have some concerns about statements from Michigan State University physician Beth Alexander, who tonight said,
“We will continue to be as cautious as possible, until this issue is completely resolved.”
This is the same MSU physician Beth Alexander who said on Sept 16, 2008,
“Generally, the infection isn’t serious. It’s usually caused by food or water that has been contaminated with that bacteria.”
The eight MSU students who were hospitalized probably thought it was serious.
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Further, a press release from MSU tonight said,
“The one food item typically associated with E. coli outbreaks is undercooked hamburger. Health officials advise all chefs to cook their hamburgers until the juice runs clear.”
I’m not sure what that has to do with lettuce. And color is a lousy indicator for judging whether meat is done or not – a digital, tip-sensitive thermometer is a must. Cooking until the juices run clear seems reckless rather than cautious.
Alexander also stressed that thorough hand washing remains the most effective way of fighting communicable diseases, and,
“Always wash your hands before preparing any foods. Make sure your countertops are clean and don’t do any food preparation if you are sick.”
Again, I’m not sure what this has to do with lettuce. Doesn’t instill a lot of confidence in the ability of MSU food service to provide safe food – no matter how much Spartan spirit they have. Maybe MSU should be examining their food procurement policies. If this is what a top-10 land grant university produces, maybe those rankings don’t mean too much.
A table of at least 28 previous North American outbreaks of shiga-toxin producing E. coli, like O157:H7, is available at:
http://foodsafety.ksu.edu/en/article-details.php?a=3&c=32&sc=419&id=903
27 ill with E. coli at Michigan State; links with another 8 cases in MI
One of the advantages of DNA fingerprinting of bugs that make people sick is that previously hidden patterns emerge.
If Canadians stopped using stagecoaches to transport samples – or developed any kind of urgency around the listeria outbreak – maybe links would have emerged earlier and lives saved.
The outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 at Michigan State University took a new twist Tuesday when state health officials announced that the same strain of O157 has been linked to at least eight other cases throughout the state, including one at the University of Michigan and five at the Lenawee County Jail.
The findings have led investigators to believe that the patients all got ill from ingesting the same contaminated food source.
The Detroit News reports that,
“Within the last two weeks, 27 students at MSU fell ill with bloody diarrhea, including seven who needed to be hospitalized. Stool samples in eight of the patients showed that E. coli O157:H7 was the culprit. …
“Lab test results, called DNA fingerprinting, for three MSU students matched those of patients who became sick from E. coli in Washtenaw, St. Clair, Wayne and Lenawee counties since Sept. 8.”
DNA fingerprinting is a wonderful tool – when used in a timely fashion.
USDA says Nebraska Beef doesn't know how to manage shit
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Or at least how to reduce it in Nebraska Beef products.USDA just announced that Nebraska Beef, Ltd., an Omaha, Neb., establishment is expanding its June 30 recall to include all beef manufacturing trimmings and other products intended for use in raw ground beef produced between May 16 and June 26, totaling approximately 5.3 million pounds, that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.
“FSIS has concluded that the production practices employed by Nebraska Beef, Ltd. are insufficient to effectively control E. coli O157:H7 in their beef products that are intended for grinding. The products subject to recall may have been produced under insanitary conditions.”
That’s insane. Or unsane. And why thermometers and cleanliness are a must at retail, food service and the home, cause companies like Nebraska Beef would rather blame consumers than take care of their own shop.
I feel naked without my thermometer -- when cooking
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As Bill Marler pointed out last night, Nebraska Beef tried to downplay the seriousness of its recall of over 265 tons of ground beef and components when it said in a press release, "The Company has processed over 10 billion pounds of product without a confirmed customer illness."
Not sure what confirmed means, but …
What I tried to explain with Misti was that it’s not nearly enough to expect people to just handle things safety because food safety is so simple; that pathogen loads – the sheer numbers of dangerous microorganisms on product like hamburger – need to be reduced from farm-to-fork.
If you’ve ever tried making hamburgers from scratch, you’ll know why.
The opportunities for cross-contamination -- a few of those E. coli O157:H7 moving from hamburger to hands or counters or utensils, and then somewhere else –are just overwhelming.
And if the burger does make it to the grill, it has to be cooked. As I said,
"I feel naked without a thermometer," and that brown meat is not necessarily cooked meat. "Color is just a terrible indicator. Over half of hamburger will turn brown before it's actually done.”
That’s why a risk reduction approach, beginning on the farm and right through to the fork, is essential. Especially with E. coli O157:H7.
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Raw milk: Should the state ban it? Or drink it up?
“Although the number of cases nationwide is low, contaminated raw milk can contain a strain of E. coli that sometimes causes hemolytic uremic syndrome, a life-threatening complication that can cause kidney failure and death.It took a 2005 outbreak of E. coli in raw milk that sickened 18 people in Washington and Oregon and put two children on life support to get all the players -- the dairy and raw milk communities, lawmakers, the state agriculture and health departments -- together to try to figure out what to do, Gordon said.
Last week, the owners of the dairy that sold the tainted milk, Michael and Anita Puckett, pleaded guilty in federal court in Seattle to the charge of distributing adulterated food.
Claudia Coles, food safety manager for the state Department of Agriculture, agreed that something had to done, that "in these outbreaks, it is almost always the children that become the victims."
The state's options for trying to control the sale of raw milk products were limited. In other states where it was banned completely, a black market flourished. So the question facing regulators is whether public health is better protected by regulating, testing, licensing and inspecting the raw milk or just by banning it so it goes underground with no oversight.
Doug Powell says he's not surprised that government health officials denounce the dangers of raw milk then turn around and license the sale of the same milk.
"In part, it's because of the almost evangelical way people talk about raw milk and that America is founded on consumer choice," said the associate professor of food safety at Kansas State University.
"The numbers of illnesses from outbreaks caused by unpasteurized milk are not that high. You could very easily make the cases that 'Wow, maybe tomatoes should be regulated a whole lot more than we do now because the numbers of cases of salmonella saintpaul are up to 550 now,' " said Powell, who is also scientific director for the International Food Safety Network.
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"I don't care if people drink raw milk. What I'm particularly concerned about is them then imposing their choice on their kids, because they're the ones who get sick. People have the right to sell a product, but if it makes people sick, they have a right to sue."Seattle food safety lawyer Bill Marler is up to his neck in many of those lawsuits. He grew up drinking raw milk on the farm "because that's what my dad wanted us to do," he said. He has tried injury suits stemming from most of Washington's raw milk outbreaks and is now handling similar cases in California and Missouri.
"The entire raw milk debate is so emotionally charged that there's no common ground at all," Marler said. "The reality is if you poison a little child by selling a product that could easily be pasteurized, you're going to have to deal with the legal issues surrounding that," he said.
The human face of E. coli O157:H7: 3-year-old died in 2000
Brianna, along with most of the other 140 people who were sickened in the outbreak, consumed watermelon that had been cross-contaminated with raw meat.Genetic testing showed the microbes that made the restaurant patrons sick matched microbes contained in an unopened package of meat.
The national Sizzler chain, its local franchise and an insurance company are suing Excel Corp., the subsidiary of Cargill Inc. that produced the meat.
On Friday Brianna's family reached a $13.5 million settlement with the company's meat supplier and others.
The Kriefalls' case had been dismissed in 2004 by a different Milwaukee County Circuit judge after Excel lawyers argued the company was exempt from state lawsuits because it had followed federal regulations in handling the beef sold to Sizzler.
An appeals court reversed the dismissal, saying the legal action fit within the federal goal of making food safer for consumers. The U.S. Supreme Court declined Excel's appeal.
E. coli O157:H7, possibly in romaine lettuce, sickens 9 in Washington State
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The Washington State Department of Health said today that nine confirmed cases of E. coli infection found in Thurston and Pierce counties have been traced to romaine lettuce and a tenth case may be linked but was not tested.Health Department spokesman Tim Church says five of the victims were hospitalized, but all have been released.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is tracing the source of the contaminated lettuce.
A table of known outbreaks of verotoxigenic E. coli -- including but not limited to E. coli O157:H7 -- associated with fresh spinach and lettuce is available at http://foodsafety.ksu.edu/en/article-details.php?a=3&c=32&sc=419&id=903.
UPDATE: The Department of Health says nine confirmed cases of E.coli infection found in north Thurston and south Pierce counties have been traced to bagged, commercial romaine lettuce.
Health officials say it's not the same type of lettuce you would buy in a grocery store.
Raw milk thought to sicken one with E. coli O157 in Missouri
Bureaucrats: We were told to take a "softly softly" approach to food safety plans in Wales
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Bridgend County Council responded by saying it made a "reasonable" decision to allow William Tudor, the Butcher of Wales, to use one vacuum-packing machine for both cooked and uncooked meat and that the rules on the issue were "unclear."The BBC reports that Bridgend council do accept that there were deficiencies in the way its officers worked with the factory to introduce a hazard assessment plan, but it says that the government had intended the scheme to be introduced on a "softly softly" basis.
It also says that Mr Tudor's "undoubted attempts at deceit" gave their officers the impression that he was a "competent and informed food operator."
Hamburgers contaminated by E. coli O157:H7 in France
Amy, the French professor partner took a crack at this one:
"On March 25, 2008 the press conference held by DGS, DGAL, InVS and AFSSA made precisions on the available information on the contamination of hamburger by the bacteria E. coli O157:H7 on which the shelf life has expired.
This outbreak was revealed by analyses that were undertaken at the producer’s initiative, conforming to communal and national hygiene rules.
It remained to be clarified the levels of contamination of these products because the first analyses were conducted without a microbial count. The official count analyses performed on the same hamburgers confirmed an important contamination on two samples and a weaker one on two others.
Since beginning informing consumers on March 21, 2008, there have been no human cases confirmed tied to this outbreak. In specific, no hemolytic uremic syndrome cases have been found.
Recommendations for consumers:
You are reminded that if you bought or are storing in your freezer the lots of hamburgers in question (fresh ground steak or ground meat, 5-15% fat, Monoprix or Carrefour brands, expiration date March 17 or 18, 2008, sanitary check number FR 50.147.02), you are formally recommended to not consume them and to bring them back to the store where you bought them.
In case digestive problems arise within a maximum of 10 days after consumption of the hamburgers from the incriminated lots, you are recommended to consult your physician and indicate your consumption to him."
And in what I've learned to love about the French, the press release says,
If you have not consumed any of the hamburgers from the incriminated lots or i
f you have no symptoms, it is useless to worry or to consult anyone.The release also says to cook hamburger to the center. Whatever that means. What is French for piping hot?
Generally, it is advisable to remember that cooking the hamburgers through to the center prevents the consequences of such an outbreak, as the bacteria are destroyed by a temperature of 65°C.
Here's our advice.
Mother tells how E. coli killed son
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In her statement to the inquiry, Ms Mills said,"When Mason was hallucinating he said to me, 'Mamma, I'm dying.' Mason had never been a child who had ever talked about death - his words therefore hit me for six. You could see it in Mason's eyes that when he said these words he meant what he was saying. That was the first time that I began to form a deep-rooted feeling that Mason could die. I tried to reassure him and talked about things like how many children he was going to have when he got older. I told him that the doctors and nurses were going to make him better. This night was the worst of my life. ...
"He was a beautiful child and I couldn't understand why this had happened. When Mason passed away I felt numb. I felt as if I were looking at someone else's child. I thought that it couldn't be Mason lying there. It was unreal. I felt that I was having a nightmare and that I couldn't wake up. I have felt like that ever since. Returning home without Mason felt as if my life had ended."
Child sickened by raw milk; Marler sues
According to the lawsuit filed Feb. 6, Chris developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a common cause of kidney failure, due to E. coli infection.
Hospitalized from Sept. 7 to Nov. 2, 2006, Chris "suffered life-threatening injuries that have left him permanently injured," the suit states. The Martins have incurred more than $450,000 in medical bills.
The suit says the source of the E. coli was raw milk produced at Organic Pastures Dairy in Fresno and sold by a Sprouts store in Temecula.
Sprouts store owner Linda Watson was quoted as saying,
"There is no information I know of that any E. coli in any raw milk was sold at our store, or anywhere else for that matter."
A table of raw-milk related outbreaks is available at http://www.foodsafety.ksu.edu/articles/384/RawMilkOutbreakTable.pdf
Mark McAfee, owner of Organic Pastures Dairy in Fresno, said there is no proof that his company is at fault, as also alleged in the lawsuit, adding,
"When a person sues for a food-related illness, they must be able to show a connection between a product and the person. There isn't a connection here. … Because there isn't any connection, we feel confident we have a very strong defense."
Seattle attorney Bill Marler who is representing the Martins in their lawsuit, said,
"Under California law, the whole distribution chain is strictly liable. We don't have to prove the store did anything wrong or was negligent, just that it was in the product. Selling unpasteurized milk is a risk stores shouldn't be willing to take. … The message here is, whether it is raw or pasteurized milk, you have to be willing to take the responsibility of making sure your product is safe for your consumers."
Tony Martin was further quoted as saying,
"We live in a society where people are not that concerned with getting a pathogen and they need to be," and that some proponents of raw milk are "zealots" in the ways they push the product.
The Butcher of Wales
More like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, than Billy Pilgrim.
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In November 1996, over 400 fell ill and 21 were killed in Scotland by E. coli O157:H7 found in deli meats produced by family butchers John Barr & Son. The Butcher of Scotland, who had been in business for 28 years and who was previously awarded the title of Scottish Butcher of the Year, was using the same knives to handle raw and cooked meat. That's a food safety no-no.In a 1997 inquiry, Prof. Pennington recommended, among other things, the physical separation, within premises and butcher shops, of raw and cooked meat products using separate counters, equipment and staff.
In the past two weeks, Prof. Pennington has heard in a new inquiry how John Tudor and Son, the Butcher of Wales, used the same machine to vacuum package both raw and cooked meats, leading to an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak beginning in Sept. 2005, which sickened some150 children in 44 schools in southern Wales and killed five-year-old Mason Jones.
How can the good professor awaken from this recurring national nightmare?
The inquiry into the 2005 outbreak, which began in Feb. 2008, is again chaired by Prof. Pennington and has again heard testimony highlighting gross managerial failures and shocking levels of complacency.
So far, the Butcher of Wales has been shown to have:
• encouraged staff suffering from stomach bugs and diarrhea to continue preparing meat for school dinners;
• known of cross-contamination between raw and cooked meats, but did nothing to prevent it;
• used the same packing in which raw meat had been delivered to subsequently store cooked product;
• operated a processing facility that contained a filthy meat slicer, cluttered and dirty chopping areas, and meat more than two years out of date piled in a freezer;
• a cleaning schedule at the factory that one expert called "a joke;"
• falsified crucial health and safety documents and lied about receiving hygiene awards; and,
• supplied schools with meat that was green, smelly and undercooked.
Professor Chris Griffith, head of the food research and consultancy unit at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, told the inquiry the culture at the premises was “dominated by saving money.”
This would explain why Tudor retained his contract to supply schools: because he was the cheapest.
So who allowed Tudor to operate under such conditions?
Government inspectors.
(This is why I get substantially nervous when any food producer, such as California lettuce and spinach growers, says they meet inspection standards.)
Prof. Pennington has heard that Tudor and Son was visited several times in the months leading up to the Sept. 2005 outbreak, that inspectors knew there was only one vac-pac machine being used for both cooked and raw meats but, despite Pennington's 1997 recommendation, inspectors decided the business did not pose "an imminent risk" to human health.
A retired senior Food Standards Agency official, who now works as a freelance food safety consultant, told the inquiry that the use of a single vac-pak for both raw and cooked meat was “like playing Russian Roulette."
The official also chided inspectors for failing to note deficiencies in Tudor's written food safety plan and stated, rather bluntly, "There was a failure in the series of inspections to identify poor hygiene and working practices and a failure to take action."
The inspectors also took on "face value" explanations offered by Tudor and his staff for various food safety failures.
Buyers with the school boards were equally eager to look the other way to save a pound. One supervisor told the inquiry, “You have to have faith in people. You don’t expect them to make up stories about meat.”
Except that inspection and regulatory regimes for meat were created in Southern France in the 12th century precisely because people do make up stories about meat. Europe has almost 1,000 years of regulatory experience with shoddy food suppliers; that experience was not applied in southern Wales in 2005. As a result, 5-year-old Mason Jones died a painful and unnecessary death. Dozens of kids were hospitalized and will suffer life-long effects.
The official purpose of the inquiry is to provide recommendations designed to prevent a similar outbreak happening again.
As Prof. Pennington knows, that was supposed to happen in 1997.
20 sick, 2 serious, with E. coli O157:H7 after church potluck
Teresa Porter with the Baldwin County Health Department, said,"Three of the people infected are still in the hospital. And there's an two-to-ten day incubation period for this organism so we've got a couple more days to go."
Two brothers reportedly 10- and 8-years-old sickened in the outbreak remain in fair and good condition today after being transferred from Mobile to Birmingham.
Associate Pastor Ken Wilson at the Eastern Shore Baptist Church said,
"It's affected all of us as a church family. We're doing whatever we can to help the families affected and we're cooperating with the health department."
A table of church-community-potluck style outbreaks is available at http://www.foodsafety.ksu.edu/en/article-details.php?a=2&c=5&sc=25&id=881.
We say, anyone serving food, especially in a public setting, should have some minimal food safety training.
'Fecal contamination will continue to occur and shit always flows downstream'
Author Tom Groneberg quotes several folks with their theories for the increase.
Richard Raymond, M.D., the USDA's undersecretary for food safety, says,
"The amount of product we test that's positive has gone up about 33 percent this year from the past 3 years. I don't think it's that the agency has fallen asleep at the switch. I don't think it's that the industry has gotten sloppy. I think it's the cows."
Specifically, Dr. Raymond cites high corn prices for prompting a switch to cheaper feeds for fattening cattle. "When you change their feed, their intestinal flora change."
T.G. Nagaraja, Ph.D., a professor of microbiology at Kansas State University and the leader of a team of researchers targeting ways to decrease levels of E. coli in cattle before they reach the slaughterhouse, says,
"We found that cattle consuming distiller's grains as 25 percent of their diet had about a twofold higher incidence of E. coli O157:H7. Our observation is preliminary, but we've done three studies that show a positive association between this feed and increased levels of O157."
David Smith, D.V.M., Ph.D., a professor of veterinary and biomedical science at the University of Nebraska, says,
"One factor associated with cattle shedding the E. coli organism is wet and muddy pen conditions. I suspect the slaughterhouses may have had cattle arrive this summer with a higher probability of shedding E. coli, or the cattle had it present on their hides, which led to greater opportunities for ground-beef contamination than during droughts."
Michael Doyle, Ph.D., director of the center for food safety at the University of Georgia and one of the world's leading authorities on E. coli and other foodborne pathogens, says,
"There is often an increase in bacterial contamination when experienced workers on the slaughter line are replaced with less-experienced workers, such as before and after holidays, and raids this year on illegal slaughterhouse workers by the INS led to replacement with less-experienced line workers."
Doug Powell, Ph.D., an associate professor of pathobiology and scientific director of the International Food Safety Network, says,
"You're not going to eliminate E. coli O157:H7. Down-line processors have to be operating under the assumption that they're going to get some E. coli just like we expect consumers to operate under the assumption that they're going to have some in their product, which is why we tell them to cook it."
So cook that burger. And stick that thermometer in it.
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E.coli butcher: How the system failed
The South Wales Echo reported that Amy Lewis, an environmental health officer, admitted failing to check Tudor’s claims that his staff had food hygiene certificates – but only after a series of questions by lead counsel to the inquiry James Eadie, including the evidence that Tudor himself had admitted the staff were never trained.
A second officer, Ian Sullivan, who was responsible for advising on a critical food handling plan had only been employed for a few months when he became responsible for supervising Tudor and had never dealt with a business of that size.
A third officer, Joanne Evans, admitted mistakes in filling out forms that affected how often the Bridgend Industrial Estate plant was inspected.
Earlier in the week, Tudor said in a letter read out at the Cardiff inquiry, he followed official hazard analysis guidelines, and the practices used by his firm were supervised by Bridgend Council.
It was also revealed that Tudor, who was sentenced to 12 months in jail for his actions, was released after serving on 12 weeks.
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The parents of five-year-old Mason Jones (right), who died during the outbreak, were unaware of Tudor’s early release until the start of this week’s public inquiry and called it a “travesty of justice.”Garyn Price, 12, who almost died after contracting E.coli during the outbreak, was quoted as saying he was “disgusted” Tudor was allowed out of prison so soon and said,
“I got upset when my mum told me he was out. They should’ve kept him in prison longer. I don’t think he will have learned his lesson.”
There were 157 probable cases of the E.coli O157 strain and 118 confirmed during the outbreak, which was declared on 16 September 2005 and declared over on 20 December that year.
It affected 44 schools across south Wales, making it the largest outbreak of its kind in Wales, and the second biggest in the UK.
E. coli butcher encouraged ill staff to prepare meat
Professor Chris Griffith, head of the food research and consultancy unit at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, was asked by South Wales Police to compile a report assessing the health risk posed by John Tudor and Son butchers.
Media Wales is reporting that,
E. coli butcher William Tudor encouraged staff suffering from stomach bugs and diarrhoea to continue preparing meat for school dinners.
He was also aware of cross contamination between raw and cooked meats, but did nothing to prevent it.
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Some 150 schoolchildren were sickened in the outbreak and five-year-old Mason Jones died in October 2005.Prof Griffith was quoted as telling the inquiry,
"Packaging in which raw meat had been delivered was subsequently used to store cooked product," and that a cleaning schedule at the factory was so bad it was "a joke."
Yesterday the inquiry was told that a routine inspection of John Tudor and Son in January 2005, by Bridgend Council environmental health officer Angela Coles, found that one vacuum-packing machine – referred to in the inquiry as a vac-packing machine – was being used to package raw and cooked meats – a potentially serious source of cross-contamination, and that there were no facilities for small equipment – such as knives – to be cleaned.
