Article posted: 2/17/2014 5:30 AM
Salmonella outbreaks expose weaknesses in USDA oversight
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Noah Craten of Glendale, Ariz., is
shown after surgery at Cardon Children's Medical Center in Mesa, Ariz.,
in October. An infection in his bloodstream had caused abscesses on his
brain. Tests by state health officials showed he had been infected with a
strain of Salmonella Heidelberg.
Courtesy of Amanda Craten
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By Kimberly Kindy and Brady Dennis
The Agriculture Department inspector showed up at
Rick Schiller's home last November to collect potential evidence from
his freezer: three pounds of chicken thighs, wrapped in plastic and
stamped with a Foster Farms label.
Schiller, a 51-year-old California advertising executive,
had recently returned from a five-day stay in the hospital, prompted by
severe vomiting, diarrhea and an infection that left his joints
throbbing and his right leg purple and twice its normal size.
"I've been around the block. I've had some painful things," he said. "But nothing like this."
State lab tests run on Schiller had already confirmed the
diagnosis: a salmonella infection linked to Foster Farms chicken, part
of a widespread outbreak that has food-safety advocates and some public
health officials warning about the potential for food-borne illnesses to
become more and more severe in the age of antibiotic-resistant
"superbugs."
Federal regulators and poultry companies are scrambling to
find new ways to reduce salmonella contamination, which sickens a
million Americans annually. And the Agriculture Department is planning
to expand rules to limit salmonella on chicken parts, not just whole
birds.
But food-safety groups say this doesn't go far enough and
the USDA should ban the most perilous salmonella strains from poultry
altogether. Poultry processors have resisted such an approach, arguing
that it would be expensive and ultimately futile, because salmonella is
so pervasive.
The salmonella strain that sent Schiller to the hospital — a
type known as Heidelberg — has been linked to numerous outbreaks in
recent years, including the one at Foster Farms, which officially has
sickened 430 people in 23 states.
The pathogen has sent double the usual rate of victims to
hospital emergency rooms, one reason the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention called dozens of experts and investigators back to work
during the government shutdown last fall to more closely track the
outbreak. Some strains of Heidelberg also have proved resistant to
several types of commonly prescribed antibiotics.
"This isn't your grandmother's salmonella," said Sarah
Klein, an attorney for Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI),
a nonprofit health watchdog group.
Noah Craten was 18 months old when he ended up in an Arizona
children's hospital last October after an unshakable fever that lasted
nearly a month. Doctors eventually discovered that an infection in his
bloodstream had caused abscesses on the boy's brain. Surgeons had to
slice open his scalp and cut open a piece of his skull to remove them.
After three weeks in an isolated hospital room and countless
doses of antibiotics, Noah returned home in early November. Tests run
by state health officials showed he had been infected with a Heidelberg
strain, linked to the Foster Farms outbreak.
Cases similar to Noah's prompted the CSPI to file a petition
with the USDA in 2011, outlining legal arguments for why it believes
certain strains of salmonella should be banned because they present
acute health risks.
The petition points to the USDA's own efforts with
dangerous, drug-resistant E. coli strains, beginning with its ban a
decade ago of E. coli 0157:H7.
The agency declared a zero-tolerance policy for the strain
in many beef products after hundreds of Americans fell ill and four
children died in 1993 after eating tainted hamburger meat from fast-food
chain Jack in the Box.
As researchers eventually identified other types of E. coli
that were particularly virulent and resistant to antibiotics, those
likewise got labeled "adulterants" by the USDA, meaning the agency
considers them dangerous substances that should be banned from commerce.
A ban gives the USDA legal authority to order recalls, something it
does not have with salmonella.
The result: Over time, deaths and infections from E. coli have decreased significantly.
"It worked," said Seattle lawyer Bill Marler, who
specializes in food poisoning cases and is representing Schiller.
"Ninety-five percent of my cases used to be E. coli. Today it is nearly
zero. The industry will kick and scream, but they can fix it."
The chicken industry has long argued that it would not be
realistic to expect processors to do away with salmonella on raw meat
and that consumers must bear some responsibility in appropriately
preparing it.
"Eliminating bacteria entirely is always the goal. But in
reality, it's simply not feasible," said Tom Super, a spokesman for the
National Chicken Council. "No legislation or regulation can keep
bacteria from existing. … The only way to ensure our food is safe 100
percent of the time is by following science-based procedures when
raising/growing, processing, handling and cooking it."
Both salmonella and E. coli can be killed by cooking meat to
the appropriate temperature, but the USDA has determined that the risks
are too great to place that responsibility on the shoulders of
consumers when it comes to the more dangerous E. coli strains.
CSPI and epidemiologists hope that by expanding this
approach to select salmonella strains the industry will be provided with
the incentive it needs to scale back on the overuse of antibiotics on
the farm. Experts say this practice has contributed to the rise of
superbugs, both in animals and in humans.
As George Washington University epidemiologist Lance Price
explains it, as more and more antibiotics are used on chickens, some
types of salmonella are better able than others at surviving the
bacteria-killing treatments.
"It's like someone is shooting at the bacteria and some of
them have put on bulletproof vests," Price said. "The bacteria with the
bulletproof vests are going to be the ones that survive."
Read More Here
.....
Attorney Ryan Osterholm is leading our law firm’s investigation
of a Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak associated with a Maple Grove,
Minnesota, restaurant. The specific food responsible for the cluster of
Salmonella infections (salmonellosis) has not been determined.
Ryan and our team of
Salmonella lawyers
are looking at whether there is a connection with a nationally
distributed product. If so, there may be illnesses associated with other
locations in Minnesota and other states.
Read More Here
.....
MN Salmonella Outbreak May Be Linked to Maple Grove Restaurant
February 20, 2014 by
Carla Gillespie
A Salmonella outbreak in Minnesota may be linked to a
restaurant in
Maple Grove, Food Poisoning Bulletin has learned. A cluster
of Salmonella Enteritidis infections has been identified and may be
linked to a restaurant about 30 miles northwest of the Twin Cities
metropolitan area.
A
potential source of the outbreak has not yet been identified. Health
officials are collecting environmental samples from the restaurant and
stool samples from those who were sickened. Tests on the samples will
determine the genetic fingerprint of the Salmonella, allowing health
officials to determine if the isolates from the patients are a match to
any of the samples from the restaurant.
Read More Here
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