Category Archives: E. coli

1 dead, 17 sick from E. coli O26 in Cargill ground beef

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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), public health and regulatory officials in several states, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) investigated a multistate outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O26 (E. coli O26) infections linked to ground beef from Cargill Meat Solutions. This outbreak appears to be over.

On September 19, 2018, Cargill Meat Solutions in Fort Morgan, Colorado recalled ground beef products.

Recalled ground beef products were produced and packaged on June 21, 2018 and were shipped to retailers nationwide.

Products are labeled with the establishment number “EST. 86R” inside the USDA mark of inspection.

Restaurants and retailers should not serve or sell recalled ground beef and should check freezers and storage for recalled products.

If possible, retailers who received recalled ground beef should contact their customers to alert them of the recall.

When available, the retail distribution list will be posted on the USDA-FSIS website.

Consumers with questions regarding the recall can call 1-844-419-1574. Consumers with ground beef in their freezers can contact the store where it was purchased to determine if it is recalled ground beef.

Final Outbreak Information

At A Glance

Reported Cases: 18

States: 4

Hospitalizations: 6

Deaths: 1

Illnesses started on dates ranging from July 5, 2018 to July 25, 2018.

Six people were hospitalized, including one person who developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure. One person in Florida died.

Epidemiologic, laboratory, and traceback evidence indicates that ground beef from Cargill Meat Solutions is a likely source of the outbreak.

On September 19, 2018, Cargill Meat Solutions recalled ground beef products that were produced and packaged on June 21, 2018 and shipped to retailers nationwide. Visit the USDA-FSIS website for a full list of recalled products[PDF – 40.2 KB].

Laboratory testing identified the outbreak strain of E. coli O26 in leftover ground beef collected from the home of one ill person in Florida. WGS analysis showed that the E. coli O26 strain identified in the leftover ground beef was highly related genetically to the E. coli O26 strain isolated from ill people.

28 sick with E. coli O121 in Japan, because they like their burgers rare

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The Mainichi – great newspaper name – reports a total of 28 people have suffered food poisoning after dining at MOS Burger restaurants in Tokyo and other locations in Japan, the operator and other sources said.

Twelve of the 28 were infected with the same O-121 strain of E. coli bacteria, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said Friday.

Those affected had dined at 19 restaurants in eight prefectures in eastern and central Japan between Aug. 10 and 23, the operator, MOS Food Services Inc., said.

One of the restaurants in Ueda, Nagano Prefecture, suspended operations for three days through last Wednesday following an order from a local public health office, the company said.

“It is highly likely that (the illness) was caused by foodstuffs supplied (to the restaurants) by the headquarters of the chain,” it said.

Egypt says E. coli O157 caused the death of 2 British tourists

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Tests showed that E.coli bacteria were behind the death of two British tourists in a hotel in Egypt’s Red Sea resort of Hurghada, the country’s chief prosecutor said on Wednesday.

The statement by Prosecutor Nabil Sadek came a week after travel company Thomas Cook said that there was a “high level of e. coli and staphylococcus bacteria” at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel where John and Susan Cooper died Aug. 21 after falling ill in their room in the five-star hotel.

Forensic tests showed that John Cooper, 69, suffered acute intestinal dysentery caused by E.coli, and Susan Cooper, 64, suffered Hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS), likely because of E .coli, Sadek said.

He said that tests also showed no links between the couples’ death and the spraying of their neighboring room with lambda-cyhalothrin 5 per cent. The insecticide is safe to use, according to the statement.

The couple’s bodies showed “no criminal violence” and other tests showed no toxic or harmful gas emissions or leaks in their room and tests on air and water at the hotel found nothing unusual, the statement said.

There was not an immediate comment from the Steigenberger Aqua Magic Hotel. Thomas Cook meanwhile said it needs time for their own experts to review the prosecutor’s statement.

Hurricane preparation from a Canadian

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I grew up more that 400 miles away from an ocean. The biggest weather events I had to prepare for were snow and cold.

I’ve lived in NC for almost 10 years, have not been through much more than power outages for a few hours due to storms. Getting ready for #Florence though. Updating prep and recovery stuff at go.ncsu.edu/florencefoodsafety and here over the next few days.

 

I only remove my hat for one thing: Burt Reynolds

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Missing in the wave of nostalgia following Burt Reynolds death was his turn as the judge in Mystery, Alaska, the second best hockey movie ever, following Slap Shot.

 

It’s become a Christmas Day tradition to watch Trailer Park Boys Christmas, and Mystery, Alaska, starring Australian Russell Crowe who learned to skate at the Big Banana in Coffs Harbour, where the Brisbane Stars host a tournament every year, and my wife has become the fundraising guru.

 

“Smokey and the Bandit” was — and remains — a hell of a lot of fun. It was also a protest movie, both widely popular and unabashedly populist, a word that meant something a little different back then. Cledus and Bandit are southern working-class white men in revolt against, to put it bluntly, state power and capitalist greed.

 

I’m not saying Burt Reynolds (or Hal Needham, the director of “Smokey,” its sequels and others of its ilk) was a Hollywood Marxist. But more than any other movie star he embodied the stance that permeated much of the country-and-western and southern rock of the Carter era, in which regional pride and defiant hell-raising were accompanied — and sometimes drowned out — by class resentment directed against the bosses and their minions.

Food Safety Talk 163: Grown on Chia Pets

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The episode starts with the ongoing history of Canadian cuisine, landing on peameal bacon and how it came to be an Ontario delicacy. The guys go on to talk creamers dropping in hot coffee and contamination potential. The guys put out a request to listeners to send on listener’s food safety in everyday life (send pics). The guys talk date balls, chia and immunocompromised individuals. Ben tells a story about navigating the public health investigation world from a victims perspective and Don provides his insight. They both then go on to chat about risk communication in deception studies with human subjects. The episode ends on rapid listener feedback on double gloving (again), washing onions and cutting boards.

Episode 163 is available on iTunes and here.

Show notes so you can follow along at home:

18 sick: E. coli O26 linked to Publix ground chuck products

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Publix Super Markets Inc., a Lakeland, Fla., retail grocery store chain is voluntarily recalling an undetermined amount of ground beef products made from chuck that may be contaminated with Escherichia coli O26, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.

The ground chuck items were purchased by consumers from June 25, 2018, through July 31, 2018. The following products are subject to recall: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/330436d0-f5bb-4ee3-a3eb-cca6459bf014/072-2018-List-Products.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&useDefaultText=0&useDefaultDesc=0   

These items were shipped to Publix Super Market retail locations in the following Florida counties: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/68f37b9e-2b95-45c9-8ba7-36500f13a6ac/072-2018-Affected-Counties-Florida.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&useDefaultText=0&useDefaultDesc=0

On Aug. 16, 2018, FSIS was notified of an investigation of E. coli O26 illnesses. FSIS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and state public health and agriculture partners determined that raw ground chuck was the probable source of the reported illnesses. The epidemiological investigation identified 18 case-patients, predominantly from Florida, with illness onset dates ranging from July 5 to July 25, 2018. Traceback information indicated that case-patients consumed ground chuck products purchased at various Publix Super Markets that was supplied by a yet-to-be determined source. As this investigation further develops, FSIS will continue to work with the supermarket, suppliers and public health partners, and will provide updated information should it become available.

  1. coli O26, like the more common E. coli O157:H7, is a serovar of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC). People can become ill from STECs 2–8 days (average of 3–4 days) after exposure to the organism.

Most people infected with STEC O26 develop diarrhea (often bloody) and vomiting. Some illnesses last longer and can be more severe. Infection is usually diagnosed by testing of a stool sample. Vigorous rehydration and other supportive care is the usual treatment; antibiotic treatment is generally not recommended. Most people recover within a week, but rarely, some develop a more severe infection. Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a type of kidney failure, is uncommon with STEC O26 infection. HUS can occur in people of any age but is most common in children under 5 years old, older adults and persons with weakened immune systems. It is marked by easy bruising, pallor and decreased urine output. Persons who experience these symptoms should seek emergency medical care immediately

FSIS is concerned that some product may be frozen and in consumers’ freezers. Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.

FSIS routinely conducts recall effectiveness checks to verify recalling firms notify their customers of the recall and that steps are taken to make certain that the product is no longer available to consumers. When available, the retail distribution list(s) will be posted on the FSIS website at www.fsis.usda.gov/recalls.

Food Safety Talk 161: Two shows for the price of one

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The episode starts with a discussion on food safety media coverage, Chipotle and fish-related worms (anisakiasis and cod worms). Don and Ben then talk New Jersey, Thor, British scandals and get into a lengthy segment on how cockroaches, flies and other critters can impact the risk of foodborne illness. The guys then get into a bunch of listener feedback on lava rock and Clostridium botulinum control in canned beverages. The conversation goes to Toxoplasma and entrepreneurialism and Mongolian style grill cooking. The episode ends on the differences in food safety between 41°F and 42°F, in North Carolina.

Download the show on iTunes or here.

Show notes so you can follow along at home:

E. coli O157 outbreak at Marine base in San Diego and chest thumping

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The leading cause of immobilizing U.S. troops?

Foodborne illness.

My former dean was known as Dr. Clorox while serving in Vietnam.

I used to give training sessions to food types headed for Iraq and Afghanistan from Fort Riley (in Manhattan, Kansas) and would sheepishly say, I have no idea what you’re going to face in terms of potable water, but bleach is your friend.

I reported in Nov. 2017 that a bunch of Marines training in San Diego got sick from Shiga-toxin producing E. coli.

The eventual number would be about 220.

Food safety lawyer Bill Marler wrote the other day that the outbreak “seemed to fall a bit below the radar.”

That means below his litigation radar, not the public awareness radar. Yesterday he filed a lawsuit in the Southern District Court of California against Sodexo Inc. on behalf of Illinois resident, Vincent Grano who developed an E. coli O157:H7 infection from food served at the cafeteria and mess hall at a Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego.

Sodexo, a Delaware company, provides food and facility management services for the United States Marine Corps Depot in San Diego. Mr. Grano is represented by Marler Clark, the food safety law firm, and Gordon and Holmes, a local San Diego firm.

Marler also wrote the other day that two of his blogs made the Top 30 Food Safety Blogs, Websites & Newsletters to Follow in 2018 by Feedspot.com.

I don’t pay attention to this kind of shit and wouldn’t unless Marler’s chest-thumping could be heard across the Pacific Ocean.

Maybe he’s like Sarah Palin and looks out and sees me.

It’s nice to be included in some BS list of top-30 food safety bloggers, but it’s better to be #1.

That would be barfblog.com.

And we’re not trying.

It is called barfblog…

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When I woke up this morning I didn’t think I’d be blogging about this.

Zee news reports:
A video filmed in Zhengzhou in China is going viral and you may not even want to watch this one. A hungry woman in the video can be seen mixing rice balls in the loo and eating it.
The lady, in the presence of a group of onlookers, can be seen taking a bite from one of the balls after mixing them in the urinal. What is even bizarre is that the woman looks to be enjoying the taste of those rice balls.
According to local media, the woman works at Tenfu Group, a China-based company that specialises in tea products. In the video, she can be heard saying: “I will fry them in it (the urinal). It still has water inside. It is the same as frying food.
She was not forced to eat it, but in fact did it out of her own choice. “Let me be the first one to eat,” she can be heard saying.
And it looks like she was not the only one. Two other ladies can also be heard relishing the rice balls. “It tastes good – yummy,” the can be heard saying.
Reports suggest that the idea behind this exercise was to show that the washrooms were extremely clean and that they observed high level of cleanliness there as well. And the big meal in the bathroom was just an experiment to put forth their point.
The video was reportedly filmed on July 16. Ever since it was shared on social media, the vomit-inducing video has gone viral.