Author: Tony Coveny, Ph.D

Traditional Sources: The leading source of identified salmonella illness in the U.S remained chicken in 2014, with Foster Farms continuing to produce and sell chicken linked to at least 7 strains of Salmonella Heidelberg – many of them antibiotic resistant. At present, at least 600 victims have been identified in the long running Salmonella Heidelberg outbreak linked to Foster Farms chicken in about 29 states. But Tyson Farms was also implicated in the spread of Salmonella Heidelberg, with the CDC tracing at least 9 illnesses at a Tennessee Correctional Facility to Tysojifn brand chicken. Even though incarcerated, this outbreak became…

On July 11th, 2014, a picnic was held on a native American reservation located in Minnesota for the Elders of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. Within a matter of days, a number of the attendees had become ill, and on July 17th, at least five of them sought emergency medical treatment at Community Memorial Hospital, in Cloquet, Minnesota. An emergency room physician suspected E. coli due to the bloody diarrhea and other symptoms of gastroenteritis, and stool tests were run. When the results of the stool tests confirmed E. coli O157:H7, the illnesses were reported to…

Since 1957, the United States Department of Agriculture, or USDA, has been inspecting poultry produced in the United States. In 1957, the emphasis was on visible defects in the poultry carcasses as they progressed along the inspection line, and to a large part that remained unchanged until very recently. Since 1957, however, with scientific knowledge and understanding growing every day, the emphasis has slowly shifted to an understanding of the presence of microscopic organisms whose presence cannot be visually captured. Now, the USDA is taking additional steps to update the types of requirements that poultry producers are obliged to follow…

Norovirus is one of the most easily spread pathogens, and though it is often associated with contaminated food or water, it is also readily acquired through contact with a person infected with Norovirus or by touching surfaces that have been recently infected. In fact, there are an estimated 21 million cases of Norovirus in the U.S. annually – it has become so common in American life that it often goes by the name of “stomach virus.” But according to CDC estimates, only about 25% of all Norovirus outbreaks are linked to Norovirus in food. The key to understanding how easy…

In 2011, the centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released its most comprehensive accounting of the occurrence of food borne illness in the United States, calculating that 48 million people contract food borne illness each year. In short, according to the CDC, one in six of us consume food tainted with Norovirus, Salmonella, E. coli, or a host of other pathogens, known and unknown, every year. These pathogens, when identified and properly diagnosed, send approximately 129,000 victims to the hospital each year and kill 3000 Americans annually. Most cases of food borne illness are not reported and never linked…

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a recap of a number of major 2014 food borne illness outbreaks, including four Salmonella, two E. coli, one Listeria, and one Cyclospora outbreaks, which it has been investigating this year. This is not the universe of all national outbreaks, but it highlights a few of the major nation-wide outbreaks and their sources in 2014. The CDC plays a major role in investigating outbreaks where individuals in more than one state have been infected by the same strain and serotype of a food borne pathogen.* Here is a recap of…

According to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA), a recent outbreak of Salmonella has been traced back to Antioch Farms brand A La Kiev raw stuffed chicken breasts. At least six confirmed victims, including at least one who was hospitalized, have been identified as part of this outbreak. According to Dr. Carlota Medus, an epidemiologist for the Foodborne Diseases Unit at MDH, “our DNA fingerprinting found that the individuals were sickened by the same strain of Salmonella. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture collected samples of the same type of product from grocery stores…

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. enjoys one of the safest food supplies on earth. But even so, the presence of Salmonella and Campylobacter in leads to more than 2 million consumer illnesses annually. The CDC also says that deaths related to these pathogens come more from poultry than any other source. For this reason, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducted an intensive review of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) recent performance in a report released October 20, 2014. In a review of the last 8 years, the GAO noted the USDA…

A total of six individuals have been identified with Salmonella Braenderup linked to consumption of nSpired Natural Foods Inc.’s Nut Butters, including victims in Tennessee, Texas, Connecticut, Iowa and New Mexico. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) identified Salmonella Braenderup in environmental samples of the product during routine inspections in February and July of 2014, leading to a recall of nSpired products. Among these products recalled were Arrowhead Mills, MaraNatha, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Safeway, and Kroger brands. As a result of the positive environmental tests, the FDA conducted an investigation at nSpired Natural Foods facilities between July 15th…

Oasis Brands, a company based in Miami, Florida, has been compelled to issue a major recall of its numerous products under the label Lacteos Santa Martha after these products were found to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, a potentially deadly bacterium that is especially harmful to the elderly, small children, and pregnant women. The deadly bacterium was discovered by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Food Inspectors, who isolated Listeria monocytogenes in product samples. This finding was confirmed by Food and Drug Association (FDA) sampling, which confirmed that Listeria monocytogenes was in fact present in these ready to…