Author: Tony Coveny, Ph.D

Solano County, California public health officials closed Alejandro’s Taqueria on Wednesday. The county closed the popular Mexican food establishment, located on Texas Street in Fairfield, after initial efforts of county public health investigators indicated that the establishment was responsible for at least 32 reported cases of Campylobacter in June alone. The 32 cases reported in the first eight days June 2016 – a rate of four cases day – “almost double[s] the number of reported cases that [Solano County] had for the whole month of June in 2015,” said Dr. Michael Stacey, Solano County Deputy Health Officer, who also confirmed that “since…

Odessa, located near the Texas-Mexico border, is not a town that lived in obscurity, as many towns of similar size do. Rather, the city already is already known nationwide, but mostly for the fact that Friday Night Lights, a famous book and movie about high school football in Texas, were set there. In a matter of days, the town has come to be known for something else entirely, as national media outlets took note of a Salmonella outbreak tied to locally popular Ajuua’s Mexican Restaurant. As details about the outbreak emerged, Odessa quickly lost its association with the book and instead began to evoke images and ideas…

Ajuua’s Mexican Restaurant & Drive Through, located in Odessa, Texas, boasts on its website that the establishment “has been a great tradition to Odessa, Texas’s Mexican & Seafood cuisine for many years.” Over the past week or so, however, the establishment appears to have had a great tradition giving cases of Salmonella poisoning to a substantial number of its customers. Now, two individuals who fell ill after eating at the establishment have officially tested positive for Salmonella, according to public health officials, and the restaurant is temporarily closing its doors to the public. Ajuua’s Mexican Restaurant Hospitalizes Two with Confirmed Cases of Salmonella…

A day after the CDC announced an ongoing outbreak of E. coli O121 linked to General Mills flour, individual states that have confirmed outbreak cases have started to issue statements of their own. Michigan responded quickly and on multiple fronts, releasing slightly more detailed demographic information for confirmed cases, issuing advice and guidance regarding the use and handling of recalled flour to consumers, and spot-checking retailers to make sure that they have pulled all affected product from their shelves. Michigan Implements Quick, Comprehensive Response The CDC outbreak announcement reports four confirmed outbreak cases of E. coli O121 in Michigan. Only Illinois…

Yesterday afternoon, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released an outbreak announcement confirming that thirty-eight individuals in twenty different states had been infected with the same strain of E. coli O121 in an outbreak that the agency has linked to flour produced by General Mills, which includes Gold Medal, Wondra, and Signature Kitchens-brand flour. The information substantiated a May 31st recall announcement by Fortune 500 company General Mills.  In a statement, posted to the industry giant’s website, the company said it was “cooperating with health officials to investigate an ongoing, multistate outbreak of E. coli O121 that may be potentially linked to…

General Mills flour has been linked to an outbreak of E. coli O121 that has caused 38 illnesses across 20 different states. The company stated that federal and state health authorities actively investigated the E. coli O121 outbreak, which involves illnesses with onset dates from December 21, 2015 through May 3rd. General Mills Announces Link to E. coli O121 Outbreak; Recalls Multiple Brands of Flour The company itself announced that it is voluntarily recalling select lots of  General Mills Gold Medal flour, the Golden Valley-based company’s signature product, in addition to Signature Kitchen and Wondra brand flour. Vons, Safeway, Albertsons,…

According to a report in the German newspaper “Süddeutsche Zeitung,” a massive amount of listeria-contaminated meat produced by German company Sieber has been recalled and pulled from distribution. The main products targeted by the recall are sausage and ham products, though all meat products from the company are being recalled out of an abundance of caution. The company, one of the largest distributors of packaged meat to supermarkets in the country, will have to dispose of 100 tons of meat, according to current estimates. Company Confirms Contamination; Warns of Widespread Distribution Sieber’s webpage admits the positive test results for listeria…

Given the massive number of recent recalls due to concerns regarding foods contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes – a foodborne bacteria that can cause potentially fatal illness in the elderly, young children, and people with immune systems that are otherwise already compromised – it would be easy to overlook an outbreak of an illness that is very rarely fatal, which is exactly what we’ve done with the outbreak of norovirus infections at the University of Oregon. “Over the past week and a half,” reports Oregon newspaper the Daily Emerald, the University of Oregon “has taken extensive sanitary precautions in an effort…

C.J. Dannemiller Co., a Norton, Ohio company, has initiated a recall of industrial-sized bags of sunflower kernels due to the possibility of contamination with Listeria monocytogenes, a bacteria that can cause potentially lethal infections, particularly in the elderly, young children, and other individuals who otherwise have suppressed immune system, such as individuals on chemotherapy or with autoimmune conditions. Dannemiller Recalls SunOpta-Supplied Sunflower Kernels The recall affects SunOpta 50# bags and 30# cases of “sunflower kernels roasted no salt” and “roasted sunflower kernels roasted and salted,” and is part of a larger SunOpta recall announced by the production and distribution company on…

E S Foods, a Woodbury, New York company, recalled 3,700 cases of “Meal Breaks” items this Tuesday. The product was widely distributed to school meal programs, as well as other foodservice distributors. The lack of labeling on the individual products makes the recall of the items particularly problematic. ”Meal Breaks” Distributed to School Meal Programs Recalled Due to Listeria Concerns E S Foods recalled the Meal Breaks due to the fact that each contained individually packed Sunrich Natural Sunflower Kernels (Roasted & Salted), Net Wt. 1 oz. The Sunrich kernels may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, and are part of the…