CBS News San Francisco reports that More than 50 attendees attending an NAACP gala in Redwood City Saturday evening were sickened by a case of possible food poisoning.

At least twelve people were taken to local hospitals and treated for dehydration, according to the San Jose Mercury News.  Several others transported themselves to hospitals.

Cynthia Adams, 2nd vice president of the Oakland NAACP, told KPIX 5 there may be as 100 people who became ill. The official said that she had to transport half a dozen kids to the hospital, and at least one of them is still hospitalized late Tuesday night.

Adams said among those hospitalized include former Oakland Mayor Elihu Harris.

More than 300 people attended the event, including former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, which was held at the grand ballroom of the Sofitel San Francisco Bay Hotel in Redwood City.

Guests became sick after a meal of salmon and salad, and reportedly were throwing up in the hotel lobby while firefighters and paramedics treated others.

Public health officials were investigating the source of the illness.

 

Following last week’s recall of fresh Serrano chile peppers by Bailey Farms Inc., Giant Food Stores LLC and Martin’s Food Markets announced that they removed from sale Serrano, Anaheim, Red Cherry Hot and Finger Hot peppers sold in a variety case due to potential Salmonella contamination.

The following product is included in this recall: Serrano, Anaheim, Red Cherry Hot and Finger Hot Peppers, PLU 4691, purchased on or after Oct. 9, 2014. The stores have not received any reports of illnesses to date.

Martin’s Food Markets and Giant Food Stores operate in Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Both retail chains are owned by Netherlands-based Ahold.

New York State Agriculture Commissioner Richard A. Ball today warned consumers in Sullivan County and the surrounding area not to consume “unpasteurized” raw farm milk from the Richard Dirie Farm, due to possible Listeria contamination. The Dirie Farm is located at 1345 Shandelee Road, Livingston Manor, New York. To date, no illnesses are known by the Department to be associated with this product.

A sample of the milk, collected by an inspector from the Division of Milk Control and Dairy Services on October 21, 2014, was subsequently tested by the Department’s Food Laboratory and discovered to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. On October 23, 2014, the producer was notified of a preliminary positive test result and he volunteered to suspend raw milk sales until the sample results were confirmed. Further laboratory testing, completed on October 28, 2014, confirmed the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in the raw milk sample. The producer is now prohibited from selling raw milk until subsequent sampling indicates that the product is free of harmful bacteria.

Listeria monocytogenes is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, cancer patients, elderly people and others with weakened immune systems. Although otherwise healthy persons may suffer only short-term, flu-like symptoms such as high fever, severe headaches, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

It is important to note that raw milk does not provide the protection of pasteurization, which eliminates all pathogenic bacteria, including Listeria.

Chetak New York L.L.C. of Edison, NJ is recalling its 5560 packages of 7oz., 3840 packages of 14oz., & 1920 packages of 28oz. “DEEP RAW CASHEW PIECES” because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis.

The recalled “Deep Raw Cashew Pieces” were distributed nationwide in retail stores from March 12, 2014 to October 21,2014. The product comes in a 7 oz., 14oz., & 28oz. clear plastic package marked with UPC number on the rear of the package.

  • UPC number for 7oz. is 011433133104
  • UPC number for 14oz. is 011433133111
  • UPC number for 28oz. is 011433133128

No illnesses have been reported to date in connection with this problem.

The potential for contamination was noted after routine testing conducted by the FDA.

Aspen Foods Division of Koch Meats, a Chicago, Il., based establishment, is recalling 28,980 pounds of chicken products that may be contaminated with a particular strain of Salmonella Enteritidis, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today. FSIS requested Aspen Foods conduct this recall because this product is known to be associated with a specific illness cluster.

The recalled product includes partially prepared chicken products sold by retailers under the Antioch Farms brand name, with “sell by” dates of October 1, 2015 and October 7, 2015. The products subject to recall bear the establishment number “P-1358” inside the USDA mark of inspection. The chicken products were produced on July 2, 2014 and July 8, 2014. These products were shipped to retail stores and distribution centers in Minnesota.

The product is identified as:

• Single 5 once plastic packets of Raw Stuffed Chicken Breast Breaded, Boneless Breast of Chicken with Rib Meat “A La Kiev”

FSIS was notified of an investigation of Salmonella Enteritidis illnesses on October 9, 2014. Working in conjunction with Minnesota Department of Health, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, FSIS determined that there is a link between the Chicken Kiev from Aspen Foods Division of Koch Foods and this illness cluster. Based on epidemiologic investigation, 6 case-patients have been identified in Minnesota with illness onset dates ranging from August, 17, 2014 to September, 27, 2014. Among the 6 case-patients with available information, 1 case-patient was hospitalized; 0 deaths have been reported. All 6 case-patients reported chicken Kiev consumption prior to illness onset. Samples of product collected during the course of this investigation by Minnesota Department of Agriculture tested positive for Salmonella Enteritidis with the outbreak strain. It is not known at this time if this outbreak strain has any drug resistance. On October 17, 2014 FSIS received evidence that linked the illnesses associated with this outbreak to a specific product or production lot. Evidence that is required for a recall includes obtaining case-patient product that tests positive for the same particular strain of Salmonella that caused the illness, and packaging on product that clearly links the product to a specific facility and a specific production date, which were all met. FSIS is continuing to work with our public health partners on this investigation and will provide updated information as it becomes available.

Does it matter that USDA/FSIS has yet to declare Salmonella a per se adulterant?

Yesterday the Minnesota Departments of Health and Agriculture made the following announcement:

State health and agriculture officials said today that six recent cases of salmonellosis in Minnesota have been linked to raw, frozen, breaded and pre-browned, stuffed chicken entrees. The implicated product is Antioch Farms brand A La Kiev raw stuffed chicken breast with a U.S. Department of Agriculture stamped code of P-1358. This product is sold at many different grocery store chains.

Investigators from the Minnesota Department of Health and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture determined that six cases of Salmonella infection from August and September 2014 were due to the same strain of Salmonella Enteritidis. One person was hospitalized for their illness.

The USDA/FSIS has not yet decided to declare Salmonella to be a per se adulterant.  Setting aside for a moment that the USDA/FSIS should in fact make that declaration, now when the USDA declares a pathogen to be a per se adulterant (E. coli O157:H7 and “the Big-Six”), enforcement-action is automatic because the presence of the pathogen has been declared in advance to pose a threat to the public health. Instead of needing to establish on a case-by-case basis that an incident of contamination poses a public health threat, the fact of contamination is deemed to have already satisfied the USDA/FSIS’s burden of showing that it can take regulatory action. That is the real meaning of the following passage from the Federal Register:

Because FSIS does not recognize Salmonella as a pathogen that would ordinarily render the product injurious to health, and thus as an adulterant within the meaning of 21 U.S.C. 601(m)(1), individual Salmonella sample results will not result in regulatory control actions.[1]

In other words, the fact of an individual positive Salmonella test result will not, by itself, prompt the agency to take some sort of enforcement action.  But that does not mean that the agency cannot take enforcement action (like a recall) once other factors are considered, including whether there have been associated illnesses.  More specifically related to poultry:

21 U.S.C. 453 POULTRY AND POULTRY PRODUCTS INSPECTION

(g) The term “adulterated” shall apply to any poultry product under one or more of the following circumstances:

(1) if it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious substance which may render it injurious to health; but in case the substance is not an added substance, such article shall not be considered adulterated under this clause if the quantity of such substance in or on such article does not ordinarily render it injurious to health;

Just because Salmonella has not been declared a per se adulterant, and thus presumed to present a public health risk regardless of the meat or circumstances involved, it does not follow that Salmonella is per se never an adulterant.  Recently the USDA/FSIS announced its Salmonella Action Plan, described in by an official agency press release as follows:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) today released its Salmonella Action Plan that outlines the steps it will take to address the most pressing problem it faces–Salmonella in meat and poultry products. An estimated 1.3 million illnesses can be attributed to Salmonella every year.

“Far too many Americans are sickened by Salmonella every year. The aggressive and comprehensive steps detailed in the Salmonella Action Plan will protect consumers by making meat and poultry products safer.” said Under Secretary for Food Safety Elisabeth Hagen.

The Salmonella Action Plan is the agency’s strategy to best address the threat of Salmonella in meat and poultry products.[2]

The USDA/FSIS has repeatedly stated that Salmonella is, in fact, a threat to the public health:

Salmonella bacteria are among the most frequently reported causes of foodborne illness. In December 2011, a multi-state outbreak linked to a multi-drug resistant strain of Salmonella sickened 19 people in the Northeast United States[.[3]] In June 2012, FSIS was notified of a cluster of Salmonella enteriditis illnesses linked to ground beef consumption with approximately 50 case-patients across nine states[.[4]] The outbreaks referenced here and others suggest that Salmonella in ground beef is a continuing public health concern.

The changes [in FSIS Salmonella performance-standards] will likely improve FSIS’s ability to detect Salmonella by increasing the raw ground beef analytic sample portion for Salmonella analysis and increasing the number of establishments being sampled at any given time. As is also discussed below, FSIS intends to develop new performance standards that will likely lead establishments producing ground beef to strengthen their own Salmonella control measures. Such changes at establishments will likely have a positive impact on public health.

In other words, and again, the USDA/FSIS remains free to premise a whole host of regulatory and enforcement actions on the presence of Salmonella in plants or on meat, even if such actions are neither automatic nor premised on Salmonella have been already declared to be a per se adulterant. Salmonella can—and is—deemed an adulterant in plants and on meat, but only if there are facts sufficient for the bacteria to be deemed an adulterant under FMIA Section 601(m)(1), (3) or (4).

USDA /FSIS again restated its view of Salmonella as an adulterant when illnesses occur in meat products in the Federal Register discussion of HACCP Plan Reassessment for Not-Ready-To-Eat Comminuted Poultry Products and Related Agency Verification Procedures:

When NRTE poultry or meat products are associated with an illness outbreak and contain pathogens that are not considered adulterants, FSIS likely will consider the product linked to the illness outbreak to be adulterated under 21 U.S.C. 453(g)(3) or 21 U.S.C. 601(m)(3) because the product is ‘‘* * * unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or otherwise unfit for human food.’’ In such cases, the Agency would request that the establishment recall the product if it is still in commerce.

FSIS will also evaluate whether the particular product associated with the illness outbreak may also be adulterated because it was ‘‘* * *prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with filth, or whereby it may have been rendered injurious to health’’ (21 U.S.C. 453(g)(4) or 21 U.S.C. 601(m)(4)). FSIS would likely find that such product is adulterated because it was produced under insanitary conditions where the establishment produced the product of concern under conditions that did not adequately address control of the pathogen in the product associated with the illness.

That Salmonella has repeatedly been treated as an adulterant is proven beyond question by the recalls that the USDA has initiated when ground beef and other products have been found to be contaminated with Salmonella. The following recalls are but a representative sample.

  • Salmonella Enteriditis Due to Contaminated Cargill Ground Beef 2012: On July 22, 2012 Cargill Meat Solutions announced a recall of 29,339 pounds of fresh ground beef products due to possible contamination with Salmonella Enteriditis.
  • Hannaford Stores Ground Beef Salmonella Outbreak 2011: A total of 16 persons infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium have been reported from 7 states. Epidemiologic and traceback investigations conducted by officials in local, state, and federal public health, agriculture, and regulatory agencies linked this outbreak to eating ground beef purchased from Hannaford stores.
  • Beef Packers, Inc., Cargill, Ground Beef 2009 (two recalls): In December, Beef Packers, Inc., owned by Cargill, recalled over 20,000 pounds of ground beef contaminated with a drug-resistant strain of Salmonella Newport. The company issued an earlier recall in August 2009, due to contamination of ground beef with the same strain of Salmonella Newport.
  • King Soopers, Inc., Ground Beef 2009: King Soopers, Inc., a supermarket chain, recalled approximately 466,236 pounds of ground beef that was linked to an outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium DT 104 in the state of Colorado.
  • Emmpak/Cargill Ground Beef 2002: In early 2002, isolates of Salmonella Newport in New York State were found to be resistant to more than nine antibiotics and had a decreased susceptibility to the antibiotic, ceftriaxone. When the cases were investigated, it was found that consumption of undercooked ground beef was the only food that was significantly associated with a risk of infection. Traceback of the meat implicated Emmpak Foods Inc., a subsidiary of Cargill, Inc.

And given that the basis for instituting a recall is a determination that “products are adulterated or misbranded under the provisions of the FMIA or the PPIA,”[5] the fact of recalls is by itself evidence that Salmonella is deemed an adulterant by the USDA on a case-by-case basis – especially when illnesses have occurred.

[1]           See 78 Fed. Reg. 53017, 53019 (August 28, 2013).

[2]           See FSIS Releases Comprehensive Plan to Reduce Salmonella (Dec. 4, 2013).

[3]           See CDC, Outbreak Report.  The USDA included a link to this CDC outbreak report as a parenthetical in the paragraph quoted above.

[5]           FSIS Directive, 8080.1, Rev. 7, Recall of Meat and Poultry Products.

State health and agriculture officials said today that six recent cases of salmonellosis in Minnesota have been linked to raw, frozen, breaded and pre-browned, stuffed chicken entrees. The implicated product is Antioch Farms brand A La Kiev raw stuffed chicken breast with a U.S. Department of Agriculture stamped code of P-1358. This product is sold at many different grocery store chains.

Investigators from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) determined that six cases of Salmonella infection from August and September 2014 were due to the same strain of Salmonella Enteritidis. One person was hospitalized for their illness.

“Our DNA fingerprinting found that the individuals were sickened by the same strain of Salmonella,” said Dr. Carlota Medus, epidemiologist for the Foodborne Diseases Unit at MDH. “The Minnesota Department of Agriculture collected samples of the same type of product from grocery stores and the outbreak strain of Salmonella was found in packages of this product.”

There have been six outbreaks of salmonellosis in Minnesota linked to these types of products from 1998 through 2008. This is the first outbreak since improvements were made in 2008 to the labeling of these products. The current labels clearly state that the product is raw.

Salmonella is sometimes present in raw chicken, which is why it is important for consumers to follow safe food-handling practices. This includes cooking all raw poultry products to an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit. “The problem arises when consumers don’t realize that they are handling and preparing a raw product,” according to Dr. Carrie Rigdon, an investigator for the MDA Dairy and Food Inspection Division.

Symptoms of salmonellosis include diarrhea, abdominal pain and cramps and fever. Symptoms usually begin within 12 to 72 hours after exposure, but can begin up to a week after exposure. Salmonella infections usually resolve in 5 to 7 days, but approximately 20 percent of cases require hospitalization. In rare cases, Salmonella infection can lead to death, particularly in the elderly or those with weakened immune systems.

The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development today issued a consumer advisory for serrano peppers supplied by Bailey Farms Inc. of Oxford, North Carolina and distributed by Meijer stores in Michigan. The advisory was issued because the peppers have the potential to be contaminated with salmonella. No illnesses have been reported to date.

Serrano peppers are typically eaten raw and have a bright and biting flavor that is notably hotter than the jalapeno pepper. They commonly are used in making salsa and pico de gallo. These serrano peppers were sold in Meijer stores from October 14 to October 19, 2014.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in a 67-page report publicly released today entitled, “USDA Needs to Strengthen Its Approach to Protecting Human Health from Pathogens in Poultry Products,” GAO suggests that USDA take four specific actions:

  • To help ensure that FSIS efforts protect human health by reducing Salmonella and Campylobacter contamination in FSIS-regulated poultry products, the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the Administrator of FSIS to expeditiously develop Salmonella performance measures with associated targets for young turkey carcasses to monitor whether activities to bring plants into compliance with the standards are meeting the agency’s goals.
  • To help ensure that the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) efforts protect human health by reducing Salmonella and Campylobacter contamination in FSIS-regulated poultry products, once FSIS revises its Salmonella standards for ground chicken and ground turkey, the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the Administrator of FSIS to expeditiously develop Salmonella performance measures with associated targets for these products to monitor whether activities to bring plants into compliance with the standards are meeting the agency’s goals.
  • To help ensure that FSIS efforts protect human health by reducing Salmonella and Campylobacter contamination in FSIS-regulated poultry products, once FSIS establishes plant compliance categories for Campylobacter in young chicken and turkey carcasses, the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the Administrator of FSIS to expeditiously develop Campylobacter performance measures with associated targets for these products to monitor whether activities to bring plants into compliance with the standards are meeting the agency’s goals.
  • To help ensure that FSIS efforts protect human health by reducing Salmonella and Campylobacter contamination in FSIS-regulated poultry products, in future revisions of the compliance guidelines on controlling Salmonella and Campylobacter, the Secretary of Agriculture should direct the Administrator of FSIS to ensure the inclusion of information on the effectiveness of each recommended farm practice to reduce these pathogens in live poultry.

“Get the Shit out of our Poultry”

A total of six persons infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Braenderup were reported from five states since January 1, 2014.

The number of ill persons identified in each state was as follows: Connecticut (1), Iowa (1), New Mexico (1), Tennessee (1), and Texas (2).

One ill person was hospitalized. No deaths were reported.

Collaborative investigation efforts of state, local, and federal public health and regulatory agencies indicated that almond and peanut butter manufactured by nSpired Natural Foods, Inc. was the likely source of this outbreak.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) isolated the same strain of Salmonella Braenderup from environmental samples collected from an nSpired Natural Foods facility during routine inspections in February and July 2014.

Between July 15 and August 29, 2014, FDA conducted an inspection at nSpired Natural Foods. FDA issued a Form 483 Inspection Report documenting eight observations made during the inspection.

FDA’sinvestigation is ongoing.On August 19, 2014, nSpired Natural Foods, Inc. voluntarily recalled certain lots of almond and peanut butters because of potential contamination with Salmonella.

The recalled brands included Arrowhead Mills, MaraNatha, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Safeway, and Kroger.

A complete listing of all of the recalled products is available on the FDA website.