According to the most recent updates from Pennsylvania news sources, the Pennsylvania Department of Health has received reports of at least 13 people infected with E. coli O157:H7 who swam in the lake at Cowans Gap State Park.
Out of those 13 individuals, Penn State Hershey Medical Center has reported that a total of
In 1999, the USDA-FSIS asked the National Advisory Comittee for Microbiological for Foods whether tenderized beef presented increased risks of contamination by E. coli O157:H7. The answer, of course, was that it does, and that risks to consumer health increased correspondingly. See Recommendations.
This is not surprising, of course, nor is it particularly newsworthy
Injury issues aside (see John Mcdonalds HUS story), the problem with tenderized beef is that it internalizes bacteria from the surface of intact cuts of beef, thereby reducing the likelihood that cooking will serve as an effective kill step. The recent (ongoing???) outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 linked to National Steak and Poultry products occurred
Certain circumstances surrounding the National Steak and Poultry E. coli O157:H7 outbreak have me worried. The pathogen is incredibly dangerous; the vehicle (non-ground beef products) is often not cooked to a high enough temperature to kill E. coli; many of the beef products recalled are frozen, thus extending the shelf-life, putting more people at risk
E. coli O157:H7 strikes again, this time stealing some of Santa’s thunder and delivering a pile of bad news (for the meat industry, the consumer, everybody) on Christmas Eve. The outbreak linked to National Steak and Poultry, an Oklahoma-based purveyor of pre-portioned beef products, has sickened people in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, South Dakota, and
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The CDC did not provide any updated statistics today about the number of people sickened in the ongoing E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks linked to ground beef (still 26 illness in 11 states, with 2 deaths and 3 HUS), but the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) did update the list of retail stores who may
The CDC reports today that there are currently only 26 illnesses in 11 states that are linked to the Fairbank Farms E. coli O157:H7 ground beef outbreak and recall. This represents a reduction in the number of cases attributed to the outbreak by two.
Here is the outbreak rundown:
On October 31, 2009, FSIS
Earlier today, the CDC posted the following update on the E. coli O157:H7 ground beef outbreak and recall on its website:
Several state health departments, CDC, and the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) are investigating a multi-state outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections. On October 31, 2009, FSIS issued
The Wisconsin State Journal recently published an excerpt from an interview on the increased number of food recalls we have seen in the last few years. In the interview, Dr. Kathleen Glass of the Food Research Institute at UW-Madison concluded, in part at least, "That the food-safety system is working, even though the number of