Food Poisoning Lawyer & Attorney : Marler Clark : Food Poison Journal

As reported here earlier, "On February 12, 2010, Huntington Meat Packing, Inc., expanded its January 18, 2010 beef recall to include approximately 4.9 million pounds of beef and veal products that it produced in 2009 and the first few days of this year. "

Now Kalamazoo TV station, WWMT, reports that schools in that area are endeavoring to figure out whether or not that meat is on the menu in the local school lunch program.  It is not always so easy to determine, and is another strong reminder of why being able to trace our food back from fork to farm is so important.  Different school districts have had different reactions:

Grand Rapids Public Schools says its beef is unaffected, while Kalamazoo Schools have pulled its beef products until it's sure they're not at risk.  Portage Schools does get its beef from a supplier connected to the recall, and has pulled beef from the menu

Portage Schools cafeterias are supplied by a subsidiary of Huntington called Chartwells, and to err on the side of caution, the district says for the time being, students will not be eating any beef products associated with the Huntington brand.

According to WWMT, Chartwells has released a statement about the situation, which stated, in part:

Chartwells top priority is the health and safety of our students, faculty and staff of the school districts we serve. Products that may be affected include; ground beef, beef burrito filling mix, ground beef patties, veal patties, diced beef, and sliced beef.

Calls for immediate public release of thorough and accurate distribution lists for recalled products are common here, and at marlerblog.  This is just another example of why the issue deserves so much attention. 

Accomplishing this requires two things.  First, that corporations know both where they shipped products, and where the products they received came from.   While better traceability regulations are needed, there are already regulations on the books that require this.   Compliance with the regulations is a problem. 

Second, public agencies must  actively seek this information disclose the information as soon as they have it.

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Blake Morrison and Peter Eisler report in today's edition of the USA Today:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced sweeping steps Thursday to "assure the safety and quality of food" purchased for the National School Lunch Program.

The measures include tightening requirements on companies that supply ground beef to schools, testing the beef more often and more thoroughly, and improving communications within the USDA to "identify potential food safety issues" before children get sick.

The initiatives come in the wake of a USA TODAY investigation that revealed failures in government programs intended to protect students from food-borne illnesses. More than 31 million children participate in the school lunch program.

The newspaper found that McDonald's and other fast-food chains are far more rigorous than the government in checking for bacteria and dangerous pathogens in beef. USA TODAY also found that the government lacks ways to quickly alert schools when products have been recalled or implicated in safety investigations.

The measures outlined Thursday are intended to address each of those points, bringing the standards and testing protocols in line with those used by the most selective restaurants and retailers. "It's a big deal," food safety consultant David Theno said of the USDA measures. He said the moves will push companies to "play to a higher standard" if they want to continue to supply food to schools.

The USDA also pledged to review the safety records of its school lunch suppliers more carefully and bar companies that have had repeated problems with their commercial products.

Such a move could affect companies such as Beef Packers, a Fresno company that recalled 826,000 pounds of ground beef last summer because it contained a drug-resistant strain of salmonella. Public health officials warned consumers to discard products from the company, which had a history of salmonella problems, but USA TODAY found that the USDA paid Beef Packers hundreds of thousands of dollars for 450,000 pounds of ground beef made during the period covered by the commercial recall.

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BBC has been following an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak among attendees of a dance camp held in Cresselly, Wales.  At least thirteen people who attended the dance camp have reported symptoms consistent with E. coli infection since the camp's conclusion on August 9.  

While the investigation is ongoing and a source has

not yet been identified, the current outbreak resembles a 2002 E. coli outbreak among attendees at a dance camp held at Eastern Washington University (EWU) in Cheney, Washington.  That outbreak was ultimately traced to contaminated romaine lettuce sold by Spokane Produce, and included cases from a cafeteria dinner on a Spokane campus, lunch the following day from the same cafeteria, a restaurant salad in Spokane County, romaine lettuce purchased at several Spokane-area grocery stores, two restaurant salads in Walla Walla County, and romaine served at a restaurant in a Midwestern State.

We trust that educational institutions serve safe food, but the reality is that the E. coli outbreak associated with lettuce served at EWU was not an anomaly.  In 2003, an E. coli outbreak associated with prepackaged lettuce included victims from school districts in San Diego County.  Last year, another lettuce-associated E. coli outbreak sickened students at Michigan State University and the University of Michigan.  The lettuce was supplied to the schools by Aunt Mid's Produce Company of Detroit, Michigan.

It will be interesting to learn what Welsh public health authorities determine to be the source of the current dance camp-related E. coli outbreak.  Whether the source is lettuce or some other food, it is a good reminder for educational institutions to review their food safety policies and take a close look at their suppliers.  As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

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At least seven children have been confirmed ill with E. coli O157:H7 infections, with another six illnesses awaiting confirmation from health officials in an E. coli outbreak among students of Galena Elementary School and their siblings.  In an article about the Floyd County E. coli outbreak that looked into whether the outbreak was part of an E. coli outbreak traced to consumption of Topps Meats ground beef, the Louisville Courier-Journal interviewed school district and health department officials about the investigation into the  Floyd County children's illnesses.

Dave Rarick, a spokesman for the New Albany-Floyd County schools, said the district does not use frozen hamburger supplied by the Topps Meat Co. in New Jersey, which on Tuesday announced a recall of more than 330,000 pounds of frozen meat because of possible E. coli contamination.

The Floyd County cases all involve students or siblings of students at Galena Elementary in Floyds Knobs, with seven of the cases confirmed as caused by the E. coli bacteria and six others deemed probable.

Rarick said the school system uses precooked hamburger supplied by the J.T.M. Co.

E. coli outbreaks and outbreaks of other foodborne illnesses have been traced back to school lunches in the past.  There have been outbreaks associated with improperly cooked ground beef, ammonia-contaminated chicken tenders, contaminated lettuce, and other foods. 

Background on the National School Lunch Program (NSLP):

Congress created the NSLP decades ago, as a measure of national security, to safeguard the health and well being of the Nation's children. It was a direct response to the fact that many of the young men responding to the draft call in WWII were rejected due to conditions arising from serious nutritional deficiencies. The 1946 National School Lunch Act was enacted to provide the opportunity for children across the United States to receive at least one healthy meal every school day. It is presently an $8 billion program.

The NSLP provides per meal cash reimbursements as entitlements to schools to provide nutritious meals to children. The NSLP provides school children with one-third or more of their Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for key nutrients. United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) research indicates that children who participate in school lunch have superior nutritional intakes compared to those who do not.

The NSLP provided meals to 26.1 million children in 1998. More than 15 million low-income children receive free or reduced-price school lunches daily. Over 93,000 schools currently participate in the NSLP. About 95 percent of all elementary and secondary school students are enrolled in participating schools.

The USDA spends over $200 million annually buying over 200 million pounds of meat through its commodities program to supply, in part, the NSLP and to support food prices when the market has gone soft. An arm of USDA, Food Safety and Inspection Services (FSIS), has the responsibility of inspecting plants that supply meat to the NSLP and the public at large.

In most States, the meat is distributed by the USDA to the Superintendent of Public Education (SPI) through the Child Nutrition Program (CNP), at no cost to school districts throughout the state.

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Students at a Connecticut school became ill after consuming milk that containted a food-grade sanitizer, according to a story posted at wfsb.com. 

Six second-grade students at Kathleen E. Goodwin Elementary School fell ill after consuming the milk. A student at Old Saybrook Middle School also developed symptoms after drinking the milk that included dizziness, nausea, headaches, stomach aches and burning in their throats.

"The kids said it tasted funny and the first child was sick less than 20 minutes after consuming the product," said Mary Jane Engle, Old Saybrook's health director.

The students reported the color of the milk was lighter than usual and that they noticed an odor.

In 2002, Marler Clark represented dozens of children who became ill with ammonia poisoning after eating contaminated chicken tenders in a school lunch.  The firm has also represented victims of school lunch E. coli outbreaks.

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Libby Quaid from the Associated Press wrote a comprehensive story about the dangers of the school lunch program:

Millions of children eat in school cafeterias that don't get the twice-yearly health inspections required by Congress to help prevent food poisoning.

Schools are supposed to get two visits from health inspectors every year. But one in 10 schools didn't get inspected at all last year, according to Agriculture Department data obtained by The Associated Press. Thirty percent were visited only once.

"Do you want to go to a restaurant that hasn't been inspected?" asked Ken Kelly, attorney for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer group that has studied cafeteria safety.

Fewer inspections don't necessarily translate into more cases of food poisoning _ "but it contributes to all the other little things _ temperatures, rat droppings _ to all those things that could make your child sick," Kelly said.

Inspections are meant to ensure cafeteria workers wash their hands properly and that they keep lunchtime staples like pizza hot or milk cold to prevent germs from growing.

Common violations in cafeterias involve wrong temperatures _ failing to keep hot food hot enough or cold food cold enough _ or things like having an open Dumpster outside the cafeteria.

Kelly's group issued a report in January that found:

_Rhode Island schools were commonly cited for cross-contamination of utensils, improper holding temperatures and the presence of vermin;

_Washington, D.C., schools had hot and cold holding equipment that needed repair; and

_Schools in Hartford, Conn., have been cited for having dirty floors that needed repair and inadequate handwashing stations and sanitation.

Recent outbreaks of food poisoning in kid favorites like peanut butter _ and not-so-favorite spinach _ have renewed the focus on safety.

In school cafeterias, the news is not all bad: Sixty-one percent of schools got two or more inspections in the 2005-2006 school year. That was the first year Congress required two inspections; the old requirement was one inspection per year.

"We have some good news here, in terms of what states have already done, but now it's time to go and look at where we have challenges," said Agriculture Department spokeswoman Jean Daniel.

The inspection rules apply to all schools that participate in the federal school lunch program, which provides free and reduced-price meals to low-income children.

Nearly every public school participates in the program, which is run by the Agriculture Department. Half of the nation's 60 million students eat lunches prepared in school, according to the department.

According to the department, of 94,132 schools reporting in the 2005-2006 school year:

_Ten percent, or 9,498 schools, were not inspected at all.

_Twenty-nine percent, or 27,184 schools, were inspected once.

_Sixty-one percent, or 57,450 schools, were inspected at least twice.

No data was reported by 7,309 schools.

The missed visits mirror a drop-off in food safety inspections by the Food and Drug Administration. A recent AP analysis found FDA inspections fell by nearly half between 2003 and 2006.

When inspections don't happen in cafeterias, it's not the school's fault. Cafeteria workers don't inspect themselves. It's up to state and local health authorities to schedule inspections, and many health departments are severely understaffed, particularly those in small towns and rural areas.

In some places, "we could get down on our hands and knees and beg, but they are only staffed to do certain things, and you cannot get them to come twice a year," said Janey Thornton, president of the School Nutrition Association and a child nutrition director in Hardin County, Ky., public schools.

When Congress doubled the inspection requirement, lawmakers didn't provide any money for more inspections.

"This was a federal mandate which came down with no resources to support increased levels of inspection," said Paul E. Jarris, executive director of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

Schools are also lower on the priority list for health departments, because there are fewer outbreaks in schools than in restaurants, government data indicate. School cafeterias were the source of only about 3 percent of the 7,390 food poisoning outbreaks reported between 1990 and 1999, say congressional investigators and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"The system in many states, left to work on its own, would inspect schools perhaps less frequently than it would a more high-risk setting," Jarris said. "A number of states and locals would look at this as an arbitrary rule and really not a rule based on performance."

Among the more well-known outbreaks, hundreds of Michigan school children and teachers got sick from hepatitis A-tainted strawberries in 1997, and 11 children in Finley, Wash., got sick in 1998 from school tacos made with ground beef that had been contaminated with E. coli.

Thornton contends cafeteria workers are generally better trained than restaurant workers.

She pointed out that schools are the only retail food service operations required by federal law to have food-safety plans similar to those required in meat and poultry plants. The standards require a scientific look at vulnerable places in the production chain and constant monitoring of those points.

"We do daily self-inspection and record all temperatures of foods when foods are put on the line. They're checked for temperatures every 30 minutes," Thornton said. "We don't know ever when the health department is going to come. Therefore, we're not operating for the health department."

While outbreaks in schools are rare, children are at greater risk for complications from E. coli, salmonella and other foodborne germs, said Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

"For that reason, we have to remain vigilant and do all that we can to ensure that our school food safety system provides the best possible protection for our kids," Harkin said.

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The Center for Science in the Public Interest issued a press release titled, "What danger lies in the school cafeteria?" this week, announcing the publication of its study on school lunch safety.  The study, MAKING THE GRADE:  An analysis of food safety in school cafeterias, involved an inspection of reports from high school cafeterias across the United States. 

According to the CSPI press release:

Of the 20 jurisdictions evaluated, Hartford, Conn., received the lowest score, 37 out of a possible 100. Hartford had the highest number of critical violations, including multiple cases of dirty equipment and utensils, inadequate hand-washing facilities, and poor personnel hygiene. Hartford also had infrequent inspections (on average, one per year, violating the federal requirements for two inspections), poor access to inspection reports, and a weak food code. Other jurisdictions with failing scores include the District of Columbia, with the lowest inspection frequency; Rhode Island; Minneapolis, Minn.; and Hillsborough (includes Tampa) and Dade (includes Miami) counties in Florida. Montgomery County, Md., barely passed, as it has the most outdated food code.

Fort Worth, Texas, had the best food safety score, with a score of 80 out of 100. Other top performers overall were King County, Wash. (includes Seattle); Houston; and Denver, Colo. Fort Worth; Maricopa County, Ariz. (includes Phoenix); Farmington Valley Health District, Conn.; Fulton County, Ga. (includes Atlanta); Hillsborough County; and Minneapolis scored well in inspection frequency (even though it failed overall). Maricopa County and Virginia also earned top scores for access to inspection information.

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WLTX News (SC) reports that a Winnsboro daycare warned parents that under-cooked food might have been served to students. The school issued a memo to parents Thursday afternoon.

"It simply states that some of the chicken served Thursday, February 9th was undercooked," said George Pinckney, a spokesperson for Fairfield County School District.

Parents are encouraged to contact the pre-school if their child becomes ill. So far, Pinckney said only one of the 160 students at Gordon has been reported ill.

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Shanna Shipman of the Pekin Times reports that local parents and students can breathe - and eat - easier, following assurance from Aramark Food Service that the tortilla shells suspected to have caused illness among District 150 students are not used in other local schools.

Joyce Phillips of Aramark Food Services at Pekin Community High School was on hand at Monday's District 303 Board meeting to assure the board that recent concerns regarding food safety in Peoria are not directly relevant to Aramark services in Pekin.

An inquiry was made at the meeting by board member Jim Mangan in light of three recent incidents in Peoria and Mason counties resulting in large numbers of local school children becoming ill at school.

Philips informed the board that although Aramark serves both Districts 303 and 150, the Peoria schools often use different vendors than PCHS.

The tortilla shells suspected to have caused illness are from a vendor that is not used by District 303, Pekin Grade School District 108, or any other local school district, according to Aramark spokesperson Karen Cutler.

Cutler maintains that "food safety is of the utmost importance" to the Aramark Food Service company, despite the recent outbreak of illness in Peoria.

Last Wednesday, 45 Peoria District 150 students complained of feeling sick after lunch. This follow a December incident in which about 80 students at five District 150 schools became ill after lunch, complaining of the same symptoms reported last Wednesday.

The cause of student illness in both cases has not yet been officially determined by a health department investigation.

However, the same tortilla shells were served on both days, and have been found to contain an unusual amount of a certain preservative, according to state health officials.

Chicago-based Del Ray Tortilleria did agree to recall the tortilla shells and adjust its ingredients, said Marlena Bordson of the Illinois Department of Public Health Friday.
Peoria County Health Department voluntarily pulled the tortillas from school menus in advance of Del Ray's recall.

District 303 Superintendent Paula Davis told board members at Monday's meeting that she received an e-mail last week from the State Board of Education directing schools not to use the tortilla shells, and took note of the precaution.

"To the best of my knowledge, we have never had a problem with kids getting sick," in connection with the school's food service, Davis said.

School food poisoning was also suspected in Mason County recently, when about 80 students at New Central Elementary School in Havana, also served by Aramark, stayed home sick or left school early Thursday.

However, the illnesses have since been linked to a flu-like virus.

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Brock Spencer of WHOI News (IL) reports that Peoria's District 150 is pulling some food items off its menu for safety reasons.

In the past six weeks, there have been two separate outbreaks with around 120 kids saying they felt ill after lunch.

At each of those lunches, the district schools served tacos.

Now, the Illinois Department of Health is recommending that all Illinois schools stop serving Del Rey flour tortillas.

District 150 Community Relations Director Stephanie Tate said, "Well, we decided Friday to voluntarily just take off all mexican items from our primary and middle school menu's just because it seems to be the main item that has caused problems in the past."

As a precaution, the school district is also getting rid of food and salad bars because it's easier for germs to spread in those places.

Two years ago, Del Rey tortillas was also named in similar outbreaks in Massachusetts.

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The Peoria Journal Star reports that students at five District 150 middle schools went home sick Wednesday after eating lunch, the second time in a little more than a month children fell ill at district schools after lunch.

Thirty-five students became sick after eating their choice of chicken fajitas or turkey and noodles served with golden corn, assorted fruit, milk and juice, said district spokeswoman Stephanie Tate.

Lincoln Middle School was hit the hardest; 15 students complained of stomach cramps, vomiting, diarrhea and/or a fever.

Ten students at Blaine-Sumner, five at Roosevelt Magnet, three at Mark Bills and two at Washington Gifted suffered from the same symptoms. None of the students required hospital care and were sent home with their parents, Tate said.

Similar circumstances occurred during the first week of December. School officials reported 82 students from five elementary schools complained of illness. The students all ate chicken tacos paired with green beans and fruit. Almost 20 of those students went to area hospitals, where they were treated and released the same day. They suffered almost identical symptoms as students who ate Wednesday's lunch.

"This incident isn't as bad as the one in December because of the number (of students) involved and severity of the symptoms," Tate said.

"There wasn't the hysteria or emotional response this time," she said, referring to large number of upset students and angry parents.

About noon Wednesday, District 150 officials were alerted that clusters of students had fallen ill, Tate said.

Students who ate first-period lunch started complaining of feeling ill while second-period lunch students were eating, Tate said. Suspecting something may be wrong with the food, school officials scraped the lunch for third period and served cold ham and cheese and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches instead. "Kids in the second-period lunch appeared to be affected," said Tate, adding only children who ate the first lunch became sick.

The sick students, from fifth through eighth grades, were isolated from the rest of the student body while nurses assessed their conditions.

Peoria City/County Health Department officials were sent to the affected schools where interviews with students and staff were conducted. Whether they were able to determine if the sick students had eaten something in common was unavailable Wednesday night.

Food samples from the kitchens at the schools where the meals were served were collected by the Health Department, Tate said, though no tests were done at the high schools where the lunches were prepared.

Kitchen staff at Richwoods, Manual and Woodruff high schools prepare the food and it is then sent to middle and grade schools to be served. Students attending elementary schools where food is prepared at Peoria High School did not become sick.

Aramark, a private company, supplies meals to the district. Officials with the food service provider also collected food samples Wednesday, Tate said. When test results would be completed, Tate didn't know.

The district still is waiting for results sent to the Illinois Department of Public Health last month to conclude its investigation from the Dec. 5 and Dec. 7 incidents.

"Right now we haven't been able to determine what may have caused this," Tate said. "We're just waiting to see what comes out of this."

A week after the outbreak in December, Health Department spokesman Hla Phone told the Journal Star that an infection like the flu wasn't likely at fault. Rather, it could have been food poisoning or contamination in the water or air.

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Officials say about 15 students became ill after eating lunch today at a Peoria school. It is the second outbreak in six weeks in the central Illinois city's public schools.

Authorities say the Lincoln Middle School students complained of upset stomachs and vomiting and were sent home with parents after eating school lunches that included tacos and turkey with noodles.

City and county health officials as well as the Illinois Department of Public Health are assisting in an investigation.

An earlier investigation revealed no cause for a rash of illnesses involving dozens of students who ate school lunches last month at five Peoria schools. Laboratory tests found no bacterial toxins in food samples and inspections showed no signs of negligence in food preparation or handling.

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ChannelOklahoma.com reports that several metro middle school students were sick Friday night after eating food that had been left out since before Christmas.

Cafeteria workers at Western Oaks Middle School, in the Putnam City school district, on Northwest 23rd Street made the mistake, officials said. According to reports, the workers left behind a tray of about 25 burgers inside a warmer.

When school resumed after the holiday break, that food was mixed with fish sandwiches and served to students.

Officials said they took immediate action to get the bad food out of the cafeteria rotation. However, 10 students took at least a bite of old hamburger. Some ate the whole thing.

Now, parents are concerned that their children will come down with food-borne illnesses. One parent said that doctors have told them there's a waiting period for some of the bacteria in the old hamburger to become present.

Sodexo Foods handles all the food for Putnam City Schools, and a spokesperson for the company admitted the mistake, saying the cooked hamburgers were left in the warmer. Fish was then stacked on top of the bad hamburger, and because both were wrapped in foil, workers didn't notice the difference.

Officials said they were considering doing some training and retraining with employees to ensure this never happens again.

However, education is not enough for some parents.

One parent said, "And I think personally that some heads should roll. I think that they should fire the entire cafeteria staff. Dismiss everybody on that staff."

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MMWR reports that ten outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness among school children at nine different schools were reported during February 2003--May 2004 to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MDPH). These outbreaks occurred among children who ate lunch provided by the schools and were characterized by short incubation periods and short durations of illness.

The clinical and epidemiologic characteristics of the outbreaks were similar to those of previously reported outbreaks of vomiting associated with burritos served at multiple schools in the United States in 1997--1998 (1,2). Epidemiologic investigation of the 1997--1998 outbreaks implicated burritos made with flour tortillas as the suspect vehicle; no etiologic agent was identified, but symptoms suggested either a biotoxin or chemical agent.

This report describes epidemiologic and laboratory findings from three of the 10 outbreaks in Massachusetts. Consumption of flour tortillas from a single manufacturer was significantly associated with illness. Preliminary results indicated elevated levels, relative to common industry practices, of potassium bromate and calcium propionate in the implicated tortillas. School officials should be aware of the need for rapid action during outbreaks with short incubation periods and short durations and should notify local and state health officials immediately to ensure rapid response and collection of epidemiologic information, clinical specimens, and food samples.

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Clare Jellick of the Journal Star News reports that officials still are searching for what caused the after-lunch illnesses of 82 students at five District 150 schools this week.

No similar outbreaks occurred Thursday, but officials from the Peoria City/County Health Department were at the schools collecting food samples, running tests in kitchens and interviewing staff and students. They also conducted investigations at the four high schools, where lunches are prepared and distributed to the primary and middle schools.

Students at three schools complained of illness Wednesday, and students at two schools complained of illness Monday.

Hardest hit was Loucks-Edison Junior Academy, where 47 students went home sick Wednesday. Nineteen of those students went to OSF Saint Francis and Methodist. Nineteen of those students went to OSF Saint Francis and Methodist medical centers, where they were treated and released, district officials said. Only four of those students were back at school Thursday.

Also Wednesday, Roosevelt Magnet School had 10 sick students and Calvin Coolidge Middle School had eight. Roosevelt's illnesses were not reported until Thursday. On Monday, Tyng Elementary School had five sick students after lunch and Blaine-Sumner Middle School had 12.

Vomiting, stomach cramps, diarrhea and headache were common symptoms of those affected and developed within an hour after students ate.

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Students in two Park Forest schools became sick twice in two weeks this month after eating or drinking lunchroom fare.

So far, there is no known cause for the apparent food contamination that led to stomach aches and nausea and some students being briefly hospitalized. Cook County health officials are testing food items that were served to students at Forest Trail Middle School and 21st Century Preparatory Center, both in Park Forest-Chicago Heights School District 163.

The first incident took place Oct. 5 at Forest Trail. Seventeen students were treated at the hospital and released after getting sick. Last Monday, another 48 Forest Trail students and four 21st Century preschoolers complained of digestive symptoms, and a handful vomited after eating lunch.

It's bad enough when students get sick one time. For it to happen twice, and in such a short period of time, should sound something of an alarm. It is essential that school officials, the food vendor and county health officials find the cause of the contamination, and as soon as possible.

The response from all parties has been good. The food company, which services about 350 Chicago-area schools, is ordering tests and working to find the cause of contamination. No similar outbreaks have been reported elsewhere. The county began its investigation after the first incident. District 163 suspended service with the vendor until the county investigation is done.

Preliminary results have shown that the contamination is not related to the bacteria or viruses that normally cause food poisoning. The food may have been tainted by an outside chemical, investigators say.

The safety of school food, of course, should never be in doubt. Answers are needed so parents know their children will be safe when they enter the lunchroom.

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Kati Phillips of The Daily Southtown Star reports that the Cook County Department of Public Health plans to test 14 food items, including chicken tenders, peas and fruit cups that were served Monday at Forest Trail Middle School and 21st Century Preparatory Center. Fruit juice served Oct. 5 that may have triggered illness in 17 middle school students also will be tested.

Health officials expect the tests to rule out pathogens typically associated with food poisoning.

Ceres Food Group, the Chicago-based food management company, also is ordering laboratory tests, and results should be available in a few days, said Park Forest-Chicago Heights School District 163 Supt. Joyce Carmine.

But the school board is taking no chances of a third food poisoning and unanimously voted Monday night to suspend service with Ceres until the health department investigation is complete.

Forty-eight middle schoolers and four preschoolers complained of stomachaches and nausea, and three or four students vomited shortly after eating the hot lunch two days ago. They were treated from seven area hospitals Monday afternoon and released, authorities said.

The apparent food poisoning comes within two weeks of a similar outbreak at Forest Trail Middle School. On Oct. 5, 17 students were briefly hospitalized with similar symptoms. Fruit juice with an elevated level of yeast appeared to be the culprit, according to tests commissioned by Ceres, though the juice producers contest that claim.

Chemical food poisoning can be caused by cleaning products, pesticides or elevated levels of certain vitamins, minerals or preservatives.

Carmine said any such contamination would occur before the food reaches the school. Breakfasts and lunches are delivered, cooked and served in sealed containers that are opened by the students, she said.

Health department officials checked the cooler at Forest Trail Middle School on Monday and found food at temperatures below 40 degrees, she said.

If tests show the lunches were tainted by chemicals, it would not be a first in the south suburbs.

More than 150 students and teachers suffered from vomiting, headaches, oral burning and diarrhea after eating ammonia-soaked chicken nuggets at a Joliet school in 2002.

An operations manager from a downstate trucking company was sentenced to 366 days in prison after he ordered the chicken -- damaged by an industrial ammonia leak -- be reboxed and sent to schools.

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A new food vendor supplied pizza, juice boxes and fruit to a suburban Chicago school district Tuesday after children got food poisoning for a second time.

Forty-seven students, mostly at the Forest Trail Middle School in Park Forest, Ill., were sickened after eating lunch Monday in the second incident of suspected food poisoning in Elementary School District 163 in less than two weeks, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Seventeen 6th graders suffered stomach distress and were treated at hospitals after drinking funny-tasting juice 12 days earlier. District officials hired a new food vendor.

Some parents said they'll pack a lunch each day for their children from now on.

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The Daily Southtown reports that in the second such incident in two weeks, nearly 50 kids at Forest Trail Middle School and 21st Century Preparatory Center in Park Forest complained of stomachaches and nausea Monday after eating lunches that included pineapple and applesauce cups that some students said smelled and tasted funny.

Earlier in the month, Forest Trail sent 17 students to the hospital with the same symptoms. Fruit juice boxes were suspected then of causing the illnesses.

An investigation by Ceres Food Group, a food management company that services 350 Chicago area schools, indicated some of the juice boxes served Oct. 5 had elevated levels of yeast. Ceres is no longer serving juice from Country Pure Foods, which produced the juice boxes.

The two incidents in one month have parents rethinking meals at the school.

Officials from the Cook County Department of Public Health and Ceres were investigating both incidents.

Sean McDermott, a Health Department spokesman, said the situation is peculiar for two reasons: The outbreaks occurred at the same school with the same students within two weeks. And, typically, symptoms of food poisoning take five to six hours to occur.

John Koubek, president of Ceres, said his company is trying to determine if the outbreak Oct. 5 was related to the juices' production or its distribution.

As for the fruit cups mentioned by students Monday, the product was served at 34 other Chicago area schools without complaint, he said.

Two employees were at Forest Trail on Monday afternoon to investigate, Koubek said.

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Evelyn Holmes of ABC7 News reports that health investigators will try to determine what made dozens of children ill for the second time in two weeks in Park Forest. Forty-seven children at Forest Trail Junior High were treated at local hospitals for what appears to be food poisoning. All of the students are expected to be OK.

Emergency crews were called to Forest Trail Junior High School, 215 Wilson Street, late Monday morning. The students were taken to six hospitals, including St. Francis Hospital and Health Center in Blue Island and Our Lady of Mercy Hospital in Dyer, Ind.

All of the sick students were able to walk.

Twelve days ago, students at the same school reported feeling nauseous after drinking juice boxes. Since then, school officials said they changed lunch providers.

"If you notice that the food was bad last week, why didn't you pull the food off the shelf?" said Linda Johnson, parent. "They need to find out if this food is hurting these children."

School officials would not comment on the incident, but students said they were served milk, chicken nuggets, apple sauce and fruit cup during the first lunch period became sick. Forty-four students complained of stomach pains and nausea.

"One of the teachers said that the food was spoiled, but they told us right after we had started eating," said Desiree Booker, student.

School officials pulled the school lunches and are working with a local restaurant in the meantime.

"We're packing lunches. It's just a shame," said Tom Peters, parent.

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