Food Poison Journal - Food poisoning outbreaks and litigation: surveillance and analysis

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved Cyanokit (containing the drug hydroxocobalamin, intravenous tubing and a sterile spike for reconstituting the drug product with saline) for the treatment of known or suspected cyanide poisoning. The approval, which is based on evidence of the drug's effectiveness when tested in animals, improves the nation's ability to respond to emergencies, including a potential attack by terrorists.

The U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reminds consumers to pay special attention to the handling of eggs and preparation of foods that contain eggs during this holiday season. Some holiday favorites, such as cookie dough, homemade eggnog, and some types of stuffing, may contain eggs that are raw or undercooked.

Eggs sometimes contain a bacteria called Salmonella enteriditis (SE), which can cause illness if eggs are not handled and cooked properly. An FDA national survey of consumer food safety practices, the 2006 FDA/FSIS Food Safety Survey, found that cookie dough is one of the major sources of raw egg in the American diet, and that only three percent of respondents always use a food thermometer when they cook baked egg dishes such as stuffing.

To avoid egg-related illness from holiday foods:

• Do not eat unbaked cookie dough.
• Cook baked egg-containing dishes to160 degrees F.
• Make recipes that call for raw or undercooked eggs, like eggnog, with eggs that have been treated to destroy Salmonella or with pasteurized egg products.

In a recent article at TomPaine.com, Caroline Smith DeWaal says Americans should be eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, not less. That’s why the recent food poisoning outbreaks linked to fresh produce contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 are so troubling. This month’s outbreak at Taco Bell—shredded lettuce is the suspected culprit—and September’s outbreak linked to fresh bagged spinach provide a fresh reminder: Despite similar outbreaks in years past (linked to scallions, lettuce, raspberries and melons), the federal government is doing far too little to close the gaping holes in America’s food safety net.

Contaminated foods kill about 5,000 Americans each year, and sicken another 76 million, according to the Centers for Disease Control. While the numbers seem enormous, what often isn’t counted is the cost to survivors, who sometimes suffer loss of kidney function, miscarriage, colitis or reactive arthritis after a bout of food poisoning. The liability costs of the recent spinach outbreak may well exceed $100 million, money that should have been invested in preventing the outbreak with more effective oversight of growers.

Although many people probably assume meat and poultry are responsible for most food poisoning outbreaks, the Center for Science in the Public Interest’s Outbreak Alert database contains more outbreaks linked to fresh produce than to any other single food source. In fact, outbreaks show that lettuce, green onions, melons, tomatoes and other healthful foods have sickened consumers from a variety of hazards, including Hepatitis A, Salmonella or harmful E. coli strains.

SouthCoastToday.com reports that vegetables are nearly as dangerous as under-cooked meat when it comes to transmitting deadly food illnesses like E. coli, salmonella and hepatitis, according to a study of federal outbreak records by Scripps Howard News Service.

Fresh raw vegetables like lettuce, spinach, tomatoes and green onions were responsible for the illness or deaths of nearly 19,000 people nationwide over a five-year period.

Beef, chicken, pork and their byproducts were responsible for nearly 22,600 deaths or illnesses, according to the study of 6,374 outbreaks reported from Jan. 1, 2000 through Dec. 31, 2004.

No other foodstuff came close to the threats posed by vegetables and meats, the study found. Seafood like raw oysters and tuna was a distant third, causing fewer than 3,000 deaths or illnesses.

"Given several E. coli outbreaks linked to produce in recent years, we believe there's a need for thorough review of the produce supply system in our country today," Taco Bell President Greg Creed said. 

Today, United States Senators Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Dick Durbin (D–Ill.), Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D–N.Y.) and Robert Menendez (D–N.J.) sent a letter to the heads of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to call for the creation of a joint task force to examine the recent E. coli outbreaks in New Jersey, New York, Delaware, South Carolina and Utah. The task force would report to Congress and the public on the cause of these incidents and recommend changes in laws and regulations to protect American’s food and health.