E. coli at Denver Stock Show came from kids' area; do people know the risks with petting zoos?
The Denver Post reports that exposure to animals at Denver's National Western Stock Show was the likely cause of an E. coli outbreak that occurred in the Denver area in January and February, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said today.
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Specifically, contact with animals in the "Feed the Animals" exhibit on the third floor children's area of the exposition center was probably where the outbreak originated, according to the extensive 15-page report.
A total of 30 cases were identified.
Children were disproportionately affected in the outbreak, suggesting a source that children would likely have more contact with than adults.
The report noted that the third floor children's area of the expo center had a variety of exhibits geared towards children, including pony rides, a playground area, cages housing rabbits and poultry, educational exhibits, and hands-on activities.
In addition, food vendors were also located on the floor.
One of the exhibits was the "Feed the Animals" exhibit, where calves, goats, lambs, pigs and other farm animals were brought in from private owners located throughout the region. …
There were opportunities throughout the day for the visitors to feed the animals.
While feeding the animals was not a risk for illness, touching them put the visitors at higher risk of developing E. coli infection.
The investigators said that while hand sanitizer dispensers were readily available in the "Feed the Animals" area, and there were numerous signs instructing visitors to practice hand hygiene, the use of the sanitizers "was not protective against the illness."
In addition, handwashing facilities with running water, soap and paper towels were not readily available in the area.
There were no signs that warned that animals could cause disease or any that specifically cautioned against sipping from cups or eating or drinking in the animal contact areas as well as the use of strollers in that area.
The investigators suggested that such signs be posted in the future.
Bakery source of 9 U.K. E. coli O157 illnesses; 6 more suspected
By bakery, the Brits mean deli-style, with cold-cuts, meat pies, and more of the traditional sources of E coli O157 other than bread.
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Nine adults who bought food from a bakery in Gateshead have been confirmed as having the O157 strain of the infection, with a further six people currently undergoing tests.
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said two people were receiving hospital treatment, with the remainder recovering at home.
Wendy's VP says E. coli salad safe - provides no evidence
From the growing catalogue of worst things to say after an outbreak of foodborne illness, Dan Moore, the owner of the Wendy's franchise on Prospect Street in New Brunswick said yesterday,
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“The senior vice-president of Wendy's was here (on Saturday) to inspect the restaurant."
Further, all required precautions have been taken, and customers can safely eat salads, as well as any other menu items.
The Wendy’s outlet was linked to an E. coli O157 outbreak that hit four people who ate Wendy’s salads.
What any consumer would want to know is, where did the lettuce or tomatoes come from, and what kind of on-farm food safety program is being used by the producer, including water testing, testing of soil amendments, and employee sanitation. Don’t want employees wiping their butts and picking fresh lettuce; same with the Wendy’s staff.
If it only takes a senior vp to make food safe, in the absence of any evidence, then lots more food should be safe because there are lots of senior vps.
Ground beef recall linked to cluster of E. coli O157 illnesses in New England
USDA FSIS has announced a recall of 545,699 pounds of fresh ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 and distributed in seven states. According to FSIS, the product has been linked to a cluster of illnesses in New England.
There are quite a few recalls going on most of the time; this one is notable because this product has been linked to an outbreak of illnesses at a camp in Massachusetts. It's also notable because bulk amounts of the product were shipped down the East Coast for further processing. Retail outlets receiving some of this product include Shaw, Giant, Price Chopper,Trader Joe's, BJs and others.
From the press release:
"Products for further processing:
Cases of 10-pound "FAIRBANK FARMS FRESH GROUND BEEF CHUBS."
Each case bears the establishment number "EST. 492" inside the USDA mark of inspection; has package dates of "09.14.09," "09.15.09," or "09.16.09;" and sell-by dates of "10.3.09," "10.4.09," or "10.5.09. These products were distributed to retail establishments in Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia for further processing. However, these products at retail will likely not bear the package dates and sell-by dates listed above. Customers with concerns should contact their point of purchase."(2).jpg)
It is unlikely that any of the product is still being sold fresh at retail stores (the best-if-sold-before dates range from mid-September to early October) but it's likely that the affected beef is still around in freezers. The meat juices from thawing can provide a nice vehicle for pathogen transfer.
Stick it in with a tip-sensitive digital thermometer (in multiple spots) to ensure that ground beef has reached a safe temperature and be vigilant in containing meat juices when thawing frozen meats. Juicy is good, nasty meat juice spread around the kitchen isn't.
Fat Duck spared, chippy owner charged by local council after E. coli O157 illnesses
The Fat Duck sickened 529 customers with norovirus, adopted a ridiculous PR strategy, and continues to blame others even though employees were working sick. The local council decided not to prosecute.
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The Llay Fish Bar, thought to be the source of an E. coli O157 outbreak that sickened four including a new mother left in a coma, will be prosecuted by the Wrexham Council.
It’s like television sports presenter and Fat Duck norovirus victim Jim Rosenthal said a couple of days ago:
“If it was a café at a lay-by doing what he did they would have been taken to court long ago.”
Boxing promoter Frank Warren, who is also still awaiting compensation, said,
"The whole way they have handled this has been a disaster from start to finish. To hear that the council isn't going to take him on doesn't surprise me – it's just because of who he is rather than what he's done or not done.”
Parents pissed E. coli petting zoo reopening
The petting farm at the centre of an E.coli outbreak that left several children seriously ill and more than 90 people reporting symptoms of the infection, has reopened despite a storm of criticism from parents.
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Godstone Farm in Surrey opened its play areas yesterday but kept all visitors out of contact with animals. The attraction, which is still under investigation by the Health Protection Authority, will hold Halloween-related events this weekend.
Tracy Mock, whose two-year-old twins spent weeks in hospital fighting the bug after visiting the site said she was "shocked" to hear of the opening.
"I was under the impression the farm was going to stay closed until they had finished their investigations."
Better food poisoning awareness amongst docs after E. coli O157 inquiry in Wales
Looks like the E. coli O157 death of 5-year-old Mason Jones, the illnesses of 160 other Welsh schoolchildren and the subsequent inquiry headed by Prof. Hugh Pennington were not entirely in vain.
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The South Wales Echo is reporting today that the number of reported foodborne illnesses increased to 631 in June, compared to 234 in January.
The figures highlight the impact the public inquiry into the September 2005 E.coli outbreak in South Wales has had on the willingness of doctors and sufferers to report suspected food poisoning cases.
A spokeswoman for Rhondda Cynon Taf council said,
“The high-profile E.coli court case and subsequent inquiry that has generated increased awareness of food poisoning and, as a result, has driven up the number of cases that are reported to us.
“More GPs are diagnosing cases as food poisoning and not stomach bugs and reporting them to us."
All UK E. coli petting zoo kids released from hospital - illness toll remains 93
The final two children who remained in hospital following the E.coli outbreak at a Surrey farm have finally been allowed home, more than a month after the site was shut down by health officials.
The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said on Tuesday that the total number of E.coli cases linked to Godstone Farm still stood at 93, adding that "all children have been discharged from hospital."
Twin brothers Aaron and Todd Furnell, from Paddock Wood in Kent (right) underwent dialysis at St Thomas's Hospital in London after falling ill with the O157 strain of the infection following a visit to Godstone Farm.
Two-year old Aaron Furnell spent six weeks in hospital; he still has to be fed food through a tube.
The site closed on September 12, two weeks after the first case of E.coli was reported there.
A third out of 102 samples taken from animals were found to contain E.coli 0157, and the chief executive of the HPA, Justin McCracken, admitted the agency should have acted quicker in shutting the farm.
An independent investigation has been commissioned and will be led by George Griffin, professor of infectious diseases and medicine at St George’s, University of London, and chair of the advisory committee on dangerous pathogens.
Families affected will be asked if they want to have their say during the probe, which will look at how Godstone Farm was being operated, according to the standards and guidance set for open farms, and the response to the outbreak from all relevant parties.
Legal action is also being planned by some parents of children who were left seriously ill.
A spokesman for Godstone Farm said a decision on when the site will re-open could be made later this week.
Sick kids from petting zoo climbs to 79; parent vows never to visit farm again
Gemma Weaver, 24, of Bramley Close, has vowed to "never forgive the farm" after her three-year-old son, Alfie (right), suffered kidney failure following a visit to Godstone Farm.
“We are taking legal advice at the moment. I will never, ever be setting foot in a farm with my children again. Not just Godstone Farm but any farm."
Mrs Weaver said she still hadn't heard from (farm manager) Mr Oatway, who added,
“We will definitely be opening again. There are still ongoing investigations but we are sure we will open again."
Three more cases of E.coli linked to a children's petting farm have been confirmed - taking the number of people affected to 79.
First lawsuit filed in E. coli O157 outbreak linked to UK petting zoo
Solicitor Jill Greenfield said she was instructed by relatives of the "seriously ill" youngster to pursue a negligence claim against Godstone Farm in Surrey.
But she would not disclose her clients' names or the age of the child involved.
"We need to establish what went wrong and who if anyone is at fault. I would hope that the farm representatives and the Health Protection Agency (HPA) will agree to meet with me as soon as possible in order that I can establish the facts as quickly as possible.
"I have contacted both the farm and the HPA today suggesting a meeting this week and I wait to hear."
The HPA said eight children remained in hospital and 67 cases of E.coli have been linked to Godstone farm.
Nestle Toll House cookie dough returns; Linda Rivera still hospitalized
In Room 519 of Kindred Hospital, Linda Rivera can no longer speak.
Her mute state, punctuated only by groans, is the latest downturn in the swift collapse of her health that began in May when she curled up on her living room couch and nonchalantly ate several spoonfuls of the Nestlé cookie dough her family had been consuming for years. Federal health officials believe she is among 80 people in 31 states sickened by cookie dough contaminated with a deadly bacteria, E. coli O157:H7.
The impact of the infection has been especially severe for Rivera and nine other victims who developed a life-threatening complication known as hemolytic uremic syndrome. One, a 4-year-old girl from South Carolina, had a stroke and is partially paralyzed.
But good news. Two weeks ago, Nestle announced, in breathless PR-speak,
After almost two months of being out of the U.S. marketplace, Nestle USA is pleased to announce that Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough is returning to stores this week.
To make it easy for both retail partners and consumers to identify the new batch of cookie dough, a blue "New Batch" label will appear on all new production cookie dough items. Nestle Toll House shipping cases also are marked in blue (rather than the previous black) to denote new production and will contain the statement: "Do not consume raw cookie dough." The adoption of this distinct labeling is the result of helpful discussions between Food & Drug Administration (FDA) officials and Nestle, following reports of E.coli O157:H7 illnesses that appeared to be related to the consumption of raw cookie dough.
I bet the discussions were helpful. Probably similar to the ones ConAgra had with the U.S. Department of Agriculture geniuses who said, safe cooking instructions for frozen $0.50 pot pies should tell consumers to use a thermometer to make sure the pie is safe. Food safety is a shared responsibility apparently means it’s the consumer’s responsibility, especially in foods that may be perceived as ready-to-eat.
This is what the new Nestle cookie label looks like, on a package I picked up at a local store on Saturday (front, above, right; back, below, left).
Labeling is a lousy way to provide information about food safety risks, but better than nothing. I’m sure Nestle and ConAgra, in the best interests of their consumers, will publicly release the evaluative data they (probably? maybe?) acquired to show that these particular labels have a positive impact on consumer food safety behavior.
MarlerBlog: Dave Theno had it right - Secretaries Vilsack and Sebelius should pay attention
Bill Marler writes:
Lauren Beth Rudolph (below, right) died on December 28, 1992 in her mother’s arms due to complications of an E. coli O157:H7 infection - Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome. She was only 6 years, 10 months, and 10 days old when she died. Her death, the deaths of three other children, and the sicknesses of 600 others, were eventually linked to E. coli O157:H7 tainted hamburger produced by Von’s and served at Jack in the Box restaurants on the West Coast during late 1992 and January 1993. Roni Rudolph, Lauren’s mom, I have known for 16 years.
Dave Theno became head of Jack in the Box’s food safety shortly after the outbreak. I too have known Dave for 16 years. However, I only learned recently a significant fact about Dave – one that made me admire him even more – one that I think, not only that all leaders in corporate food safety should emulate, but one that both Secretaries Vilsack and Sebelius should pay attention too.
Dave and I shared the stage at the Nation Meat Association annual convention a few months ago. The NMA is an association representing meat processors, suppliers, and exporters. Dave, spoke just before I did and was rightly lauded as someone who takes food safety to heart. However, it was his story about Lauren Rudolph and his relationship with Roni that struck me. Dave told the quiet audience about Lauren’s death. Dave also told us that the death of Lauren and his friendship with Roni had changed him. He told us all that he had carried a picture of Lauren in his brief case everyday since he had taken the job at Jack in the Box. He told us that every time he needed to make a food safety decision – who to pick as a supplier, what certain specifications should be – he took out Lauren’s picture and asked, “What would Lauren want me to do?”
I thought how powerful that image was. The thought of a senior executive holding the picture of a dead child seeking guidance to avoid the next possible illness or death is stunning, but completely appropriate. I wonder if Secretaries Vilsack and Sebelius do anything similar when they do their work on President Obama’s Food Safety Working Group? If they do not, perhaps they should?
Secretaries Vilsack and Sebelius right now there are hundreds of families struggling right now due to illnesses and death related to food that you oversee that has been tainted with E. coli O157:H7.
Yesterday, I spent time with a family in South Carolina whose 4 year old ate cookie dough and suffered months of hospitalizations, weeks of dialysis and seizures. She faces a lifetime of complications. And, there is a woman in Nevada who is still hospitalized, who has lost a portion of her large intestine, was on dialysis until a few days ago. She faces months if not years of rehabilitation.
Both ate cookie dough that was watch over by Secretary Sebelius’s FDA.
Today I sat across the kitchen table with a family who lost their only daughter because she died from an E. coli O157:H7 infection from meat inspected by Secretary Vilsack’s USDA/FSIS. I then visited families in a Cleveland hospital whose children are struggling in their battle against Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome – again E. coli O157:H7 tainted hamburger is to blame.
Secretaries Vilsack and Sebelius you should be like Dave Theno. Run your departments like Dave ran food safety at Jack in the Box. Go meet these families. Sit across their kitchen tables. Go to their child’s hospital room and see more tubes and wires than you can count. Understand what these people have lived though. Take their stories into your heart. It is hard, very hard, but it will give you a real reason to do your jobs.
Welsh government responds to E. coli outbreak report; parents of Mason say it's not enough
After the 2005 E. coli O157 outbreak which killed 5-year-old Mason Jones and sickened 160 schoolchildren in Wales, Professor Hugh Pennington led a public inquiry which revealed the futility of food safety training, government inspection, and pretty much anything to do with the so-called food safety system.
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Yesterday, First Minister Rhodri Morgan announced more of the same in responding to Pennington’s report in the Wales Assembly.
“We know already that the Food Standards Agency is to review the use of equipment such as vacuum-packing machinery for both raw and cooked products.”
Duh. It shouldn’t happen.
“The training of inspectors and their managers is also being examined, with the aim of making this more comprehensive, helping them develop a sixth sense of what is potentially catastrophic.”
So they can see dead people?
“Inspections will be unannounced unless there is a clear requirement otherwise.”
Just make the inspections unannounced.
Sharon Mills and Nathan Jones, the parents of Mason Jones (above, right) said they would like to see Mr Morgan take more direct action and impose measures on the authorities involved, instead of leaving them to correct their own mistakes, with Ms. Mills stating,
“It was a bit disappointing because there was nothing definite about what he said. I thought we were going to get some answers and there still aren’t any. I don’t think we are any further forward than we were before.”
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Somewhere, Prof. Pennington, who also headed the inquiry after the 1996 E. coli O157 outbreak in Scotland that killed 21 and sickened over 400, is wondering how to escape this Groundhog-Day-esque cycle of outbreak-illness-death-report-repeat.
Cooking the poop out of pepperoni pizza
General Mills said nine of 21 people in 10 states reported having eaten Totino's or Jeno's pizza with pepperoni topping at some point before becoming ill, although all recovered from the illness later on.The recall hit the Pillsbury USA ranges particularly hard, as net sales for the division fell two per cent.
The International Food Safety Network has started to load videos on YouTube, as a prelude to the on-line cooking show planned for next year, Live … From the Safe Food Café.
The first, entitled E. coli O157:H7 and Pizza, covers the recent E. coli O157:H7 outbreak and subsequent recall of Totinos and Jeno’s frozen pizzas. More videos will be uploaded soon, so keep an eye out, or subscribe to our YourTube profile “SafeFoodCafe.”
Bill Marler, guest barfblogger: Topps - Lessons America Forgot from Upton Sinclair's "Jungle"
Tort deformers decried the “tragedy” that is this Topps’ collapse - that a business went under and employees had lost their jobs. Yes, a company bankrupt and unemployment are tragic. What makes it more so is that the catastrophic breakdown in the food-safety chain at Topps could have and should have been prevented by Topps management.
It’s been a century since Utpon Sinclair published the “Jungle,” which exposed the contaminated underbelly of the American meat industry. Reform quickly followed. America got the Pure Food and Drug and Meat Inspection Acts. In the early 1990s, when these safeguards failed – e.g. Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak – again there was a public push for improving food safety.
The U.S.D.A. Food and Inspection Service responded with creating and aggressively enforcing the mandatory Risk Management System. Derived from research and operations in the American space program, this approach HACCP prevented new outbreaks by establishing check-points at every phase of meat processing. In addition, the agency classified the presence of E. coli O157:H7 as an adulterant under the Meat Inspection Act. Until recently, the meat contamination problem seemed fixed.
Had Topps complied with the letter and spirit of HACCP, it would not have processed contaminated meat in 2005 and again in 2007. So, why hadn’t Topps done what was the right thing to do for it and its now unemployed? We will be researching that question for years.
My theory is that Topps’ leadership might have chosen to take short-cuts on systemic food-safety procedures. Therefore, contamination which should have been detected early in meat processing wasn’t. The result wasn’t pretty: Food-poisoned consumers went through the agony that E. coli inflicts. They had incorrectly trusted that label “Inspected by the U.S.D.A.” as guaranteeing safety.
Over a century, two waves of reform in ensuring the safety of the American food supply chain have given business a total systems approach. That approach works if management follows the rules. Unfortunately, employees at Topps who lost their means of making a living were among those punished - severely.
Will other businesses be able to learn that century-old lesson: Inattention to proper food processing will be the kiss of death for their brand name, profitability and, yes, very existence.
Bill Marler has been a lawyer representing E. coli victims, mainly children, since 1993.
It's OK, no one died, says PR-type
In a bizarrely inaccurate statement, Owen Roberts, a public relations-type for the University of Guelph in Canada, wrote in the local paper on Monday after his latest junket to a conference for agricultural journalists in Japan that,"The Japanese government is trying to solve the food safety and self-sufficiency problems in one clean sweep by convincing consumers that the only safe food product is locally grown. Unfortunately they've experienced a few hiccups along the way -- an E. coli outbreak in 1996, a foot and mouth problem in 2000, BSE in 2001, and an "inappropriate" food labelling problem in 2002.
"Even so, nobody in Japan ever died from any of these scares. So why are the Japanese so paranoid?"
Huh?
In the summer of 1996, over 9,500 Japanese, largely schoolchildren, were stricken with E. coli O157:H7 and 12 were killed, most likely linked to the consumption of raw radish sprouts.
In July, 2000, an outbreak of Staphylococcus aureu in Snow Brand milk sickened 14,700 after workers failed to clean factory pipes for weeks.
In Aug. 2002, five elderly patients died from E. coli O157:H7 linked to food served at a nursing home.
There have been dozens of other outbreaks of foodborne illness in Japan -- and in every other country -- involving not only death but countless untold illnesses. Healthy skepticism seems warranted. Especially of PR-types.
Indiana, Illinois and E. coli O157:H7
The Effingham County Health Department in Illinois is investigating at least six confirmed cases of E. coli O157, all linked to eating at El Rancherito restaurant in Effingham at I-57 and I-70. The health department says the restaurant is cooperating and has been closed since Thursday.And in neighboring Indiana, two students have been confirmed with E. coli O157:H7 and several others are showing symptoms. Hundreds of elementary students were apparently sent home with warning letters on Friday.
One of Seattle attorney Bill Marler's many blogs, http://www.about-ecoli.com/, has lots of background information on E. coli.
But it's local, it must be safe
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Hawaii's Department of Health was cited as reporting earlier this month that four tourists and four others on Kaua'i in March were most likely infected by eating contaminated lettuce from a Kaua'i farm, where heavy rains and flooding had carried E. coli O157 from a cattle pasture onto the lettuce patch.The story notes that health investigators took DNA from the disease organisms in patients, and were able to determine that the strain of E. coli O157 bacteria in all the victims had the same DNA fingerprint.
Janice Okubo, public information officer for the state Department of Health, was quoted as saying,
"It was determined that one item, locally produced lettuce, was common to at least one restaurant eaten at by each case during their probable exposure."
Sorry, Scottish bureaucrats aren't that into you either
As the latest E. coli O157 outbreak ravages Scotland, including one death and seven ill linked to cold cuts, Professor Hugh Pennington today said there was no excuse for allowing contaminated cold meat to be sold, after lessons were learned from a major outbreak in Lanarkshire 10 years ago."We had hoped we'd seen the last of outbreaks associated with butchers. I think there really is no excuse for it. We know how to prevent it. … There is no excuse for putting your customers at risk. Undoubtedly this outbreak will be down to human error - either someone doing something they shouldn't or not doing something they should."
Meanwhile, an editorial in The Herald has questioned why there appears to have been a delay of several days before information regarding the outbreak was made public, echoing my comments about Canadian officials,
"There is always a danger that premature announcements provoke unnecessary panic. However, public protection must outweigh the danger of spreading unwarranted alarm. Vulnerable people and their carers have a right to expect the enforcement of basic hygiene in the handling of food and a right to know promptly when things go wrong."
