July 2008

The first lawsuit stemming from the Salmonella outbreak that has sickened 1319 people, hospitalized 255 and caused the death of 2 in 43 states, the District of Columbia and Canada was filed today in the District Court of Montezuma County, Colorado. The complaint was filed on behalf of Delores, Colorado resident Brian Grubbs against Wal-Mart

So, Senator Obama’s Food Safety Bill landed in my inbox about a minute ago.  I have not read it, but thought I would get it out to my avid blog readers.  I’ll comment on it between dealing with more meat and produce recalls.  The Bill is S. 3358 – “A bill to provide for enhanced

To borrow a well used phrase, and change it a bit – "I love the smell of a recall in the morning."

It seems that our friends in Omaha have been busy.  Apparently, a ground beef sample collected from Est. 20420 (All American Meats) on 6/25/08 tested positive for E. coli O157:H7 with

According to Jane Zhang of the Wall Street Journal, "the issue of food safety is also gaining attention on the campaign trail. Tuesday, Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, introduced legislation that, among other things, aims to identify the needs of state health departments and increase the sharing of information among

So, what’s with Nebraska Beef? Nine people in southeast Nebraska have tested positive for E. coli infections, and health officials said a community event may be to blame for some of the illnesses. E. coli at nother potluck?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that every year at least 2000 Americans are

Botulism in food is a rare occurrence – Death by Botulism even rarer. However, I received a call today from a Florida family horribly impacted by the September 2006 Bolthouse Farms Botulism-tainted carrot juice. A full report from the CDC can be found here – “Botulism Associated with Commercial Carrot Juice — Georgia and Florida, September 2006”

According to the CDC, on September 8, 2006, the Georgia Division of Public Health (GDPH) and CDC were notified of three suspected cases of foodborne botulism in Washington County, Georgia. On September 25, the Florida Department of Health and CDC were notified of an additional suspected case in Tampa, Florida. The Florida case, whose family contacted me, is described below:

On September 25, officials at the Florida Department of Health, the Hillsborough County Health Department, and CDC were notified that a patient had been hospitalized in Tampa, Florida, on September 16, with respiratory failure and descending paralysis. On September 28, botulinum toxin type A was identified in the patient’s serum. Circulating toxin persisted more than 10 days after illness onset in this completely paralyzed patient, indicating ingestion of a massive toxin dose. Accordingly, the patient was treated with antitoxin, which prevents binding of circulating botulinum toxin to nerve endings. The patient remains hospitalized, paralyzed, and on a ventilator [actually, the patient has died].

The Hillsborough County Health Department collected an open, 450-milliliter bottle of Bolthouse Farms carrot juice, which had been found by a family member in the hotel room where the patient had been staying during the month before being hospitalized. The hotel room had no refrigerator. The bottle, which had a "best if used by" date of September 19, 2006, had a different lot number than the bottle associated with the Georgia cases. On September 29, botulinum toxin was identified in carrot juice from the bottle found in the patient’s hotel room; the toxin was subsequently identified as botulinum toxin type A.Continue Reading Bolthouse Farms Botulism Revisited