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

• Colby (lots 210317 and 19177).
• Jalapeno natural cheese (lots 2617, 21017 and 11017).
• “Homemade” cheese (lots 19267 and 19227).
• Monterey Jack (lots 18207 and 2937).
• Garlic pepper cheese (lot 19147).

Grassy Meadows products were sold directly to consumers from the dairy farm, as well as more than a dozen retail health food stores in northeast Indiana. The state board is working to secure a complete list of retail outlets that carry the products.

All of the samples taken indicated higher-than-allowed levels of staph, according to the statement. No consumer illness or complaints have been reported.

Staph infections can cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramping, headache and muscle cramping, the statement said. The greatest health risk is to the very young, the very old and those with compromised immune systems.

On average, symptoms of hepatitis A occur within 28 days following exposure and may include fever, fatigue, body ache, nausea, abdominal discomfort, dark colored urine and pale stools. Jaundice or yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes may follow. The illness usually lasts 1-2 weeks, although in rare cases, symptoms can be severe and recovery can take several months. Many people infected with Hepatitis A may have no symptoms or may have mild symptoms without jaundice. For symptom related questions, please contact your medical provider.

Hepatitis A virus is spread by close physical contact and through fecal contamination of liquids or food that does not get cooked and is then consumed. Close contacts, including household and sexual partners, are at risk for acquiring Hepatitis A from an infected person. The incubation period is 2 to 7 weeks. Prompt diagnosis is a benefit in minimizing the spread of infection. Thorough handwashing with soap and warm water after using the toilet and before handling food is the most important factor in preventing the spread of the disease.

Michigan's troubled New Era Canning Company was forced on Friday night to expand its botulism recall to all canned green beans and garbanzo beans distributed by the company nationwide over the last five years.

That could be a great deal of product.  According to the company's website:

• New Era Canning now processes over 100 million pounds of produce annually for the private label industry.
• New Era's customers' products are on the shelves from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Great Lakes to the Deep South.

However, New Era began recalling some of its various bean products and labels beginning last Dec. 21.   Its addition of No. 10 cans of green beans and garbanzo beans to its now month-old recall list came in at about 8 pm, Friday. 

But exactly one hour later,  the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA)  announced the much expanded recall.  Here's what it said about the investigation:

FDA and the Michigan Department of Agriculture launched a joint investigation of New Era's processing plant. This investigation resulted in the identification of C. botulinum contamination in several lots of canned green beans and one lot of garbanzo beans, the identification of serious food violations, and this expanded recall.

The FDA's complete release can be found here.   A few more highlights:

• C. botulinum can cause botulism, a serious and sometimes life-threatening condition. The affected cans are large institutional-sized containers, weighing approximately six and a half pounds
• To date, no illnesses have been reported to the FDA; however, consumers should not consume these products, even if they appear to be normal, because of the potential serious risk to health. Consumers who have the affected products or who have used them in recipes should immediately throw the cans and food away.
• New Era took this voluntary action in the interest of public health in accordance with FDA's recall request. The company is taking immediate action to retrieve all inventories of the products throughout the distribution chain, including consumers' homes, nursing homes, schools, warehouses, restaurants, retail stores, health care facilities, and other facilities.

FDA is also keeping track of New Era's whole bout with botulism on a separate website that can be found here.

Less we forget, FDA reminds us how serious botulism can be:

• Clostridium botulinum bacterium spores have the potential for growth that produces a toxin that causes a potentially fatal form of food poisoning - botulism.  Symptoms of botulism poisoning in humans can begin from 6 hours to 2 weeks after eating food that contains the toxin.
• Symptoms may include double vision, blurred vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech, difficulty swallowing, and muscle weakness that moves progressively down the body, affecting the shoulders first, then descending to the upper arms, lower arms, thighs, and calves.
•  Botulism poisoning also can cause paralysis of the breathing muscles, which can result in death unless assistance with breathing (mechanical ventilation) is provided.
• Individuals who have these symptoms and who may have recently eaten the green beans or garbanzo beans currently under recall or other food products made with these items should seek immediate medical attention.

More than 100 environmental and milk samples were taken from the processing plant as part of the investigation. A total of twelve milk samples and four environmental samples tested positive for varying strains of Listeria contamination (see summary below).

The findings do not pinpoint where the contamination of the milk occurred, but they do suggest that Listeria bacteria colonized somewhere in the processing plant and that the bacteria entered the milk products at some point during the production process. Records indicate that the plant’s equipment met federal standards for time, temperature and flow for effective pasteurization, however, pasteurization at the processing plant will be further examined.

The presence of Listeria in the physical plant of the facility is consistent with contamination occurring during post-pasteurizing processing and bottling. One theory under consideration by health officials is that cleaning activities at the plant may have unintentionally caused contamination of the processing equipment allowing bacteria to enter the finished milk products. Three of the four positive environmental tests for Listeria were collected from sections of the plant that are considered part of the post-pasteurization areas of the facility.

• Melamine in pet food, antifreeze in toothpaste, and chemical-contaminated fish feed resulted in large recalls of imported products this year.  Illness and death due to imported products such as these has increased American consumers' skepticism about whether imported foods are safe to eat.
  
• An increase in the availability of fresh produce year-round through import programs has led to an increase in the amount of food we consume that contain high levels of pesticides.  According to the article's authors, the source of the problem is under-funding and a lack of resources at the Food and Drug Administration:

Trouble is, inspections by the FDA -- either at the source of production or at the borders -- can't keep up. The agency is responsible for inspecting all imported foods with the exception of meat and egg products, which are covered by the Food Safety and Inspection Service, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Overall, "there's been an 81 percent drop [in FDA inspections] since 1972," noted Michael Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia, in Griffin. "That's a huge reduction, and, at the same time, compared to 1972, we have a huge amount more of food imports."

In fact, the FDA's own data show that the number of inspectors at its Office of Regulatory Affairs dropped from 1,642 in 2003 to 1,389 in 2005 -- even as food imports rose from 9.3 million shipments per year to more than 13.8 million shipments annually.

The reason for the shortfall is simple, Doyle said: "Reduced budgets."

• Finally, the article discusses the traceability of products.  In the United States, public health officials are fairly successful at identifying the source of outbreaks beyond a brand - they can trace spinach to a specific field or supplier and meat to a particular slaughter house.  But in developing countries, some of which we import from, trace-back systems are not fully in place and can complicate outbreak investigations.