Author: Tony Coveny, Ph.D

Foodborne Pathogens Highly Expensive, Study Shows Four pathogens – Campylobacter, Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, and E. coli – have cost Americans approximately 7 billion dollars annually in medical expenses, lost productivity, and premature death, according to a recent government study by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS). Salmonella alone, according to the ERS, generates an annual economic cost of approximately $2.65 billion. But other, larger studies, like those of Ohio State University’s Dr. Robert Scharff, have placed the annual cost of food poisoning at closer to between $52 billion and $78 billion in the U.S. alone. And…

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) is currently investigating two potential salmonella outbreak clusters which, to date, are not believed to be linked. According to health officials, the first potential cluster is comprised of at least eight Beaufort County area residents who were sickened with salmonellosis from a single source. In a second cluster, there is a single South Carolina victim in a national outbreak cluster. In that outbreak, DHEC is assisting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which is leading the national investigation into that outbreak. According to DHEC representative Cassandra Harris, no…

Following a weekend gathering on August 2nd, individuals from at least eight states became ill with salmonellosis following attendance at Southern Michigan’s Reading Summer Festival Days – an event that was attended by just over 250 people, many of whom are senior citizens. Numerous attendees reported illness in the ensuing days, and at least 12 of those were eventually laboratory confirmed as salmonella victims, with many more listed as “probable” or “likely” victims. Following an exhaustive investigation, officials were finally able to trace the salmonella to either berries or melons served at the event, but as of yet have been…

The 18-month salmonella Heidelberg outbreak, in which multiple antibiotic-strains of salmonella were linked to their product, comes as Foster Farms is cited 480 times for non-compliance with proper food safety standards during this period of time, this according to Reuters news. According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service’s (FSIS) records, both Livingston plants and the facility in Fresno were cited for multiple violations. These are the same Foster Farm’s facilitates that have been linked to an outbreak that began last March (2012) and was not deemed to have run its course until July…

Five children, the youngest being only 18 months old and the eldest only 6 years old, have all become sick from E. coli, compelling local and state health officials in Kentucky to begin an investigation into a possible outbreak. The cases come from Boone, Oldham, and Hardin counties – with Hardin county accounting for three of the cases. According to pediatrician Dr. Marquita Ball’s office, two of the victims were a brother and a sister from Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Dr. Ball noted that the patients had suffered from bloody diarrhea, a sign of E. coli infection, and that because E. coli…

Salmonella bacteria is one of the most common bacterial causes foodborne illness in the United States, causing about one million annual illnesses, including approximately 19,000 hospitalizations and 380 deaths. In recent years, major outbreaks have been linked to products such as imported tuna, organic peanut butter, and Foster Farms raw chicken. These “product based” outbreaks are often geographically diffuse, with victims in many parts of the nation, and are only linked together after exhaustive trace-back investigations. But many other outbreaks are linked to a single restaurant, such as the massive 2013 Firefly Tapas restaurant outbreak in Las Vegas, where cross…

The salmonella lawyers at Ron Simon & Associates have filed the first salmonella lawsuit against Costco Wholesale Corporation and its supplier of Norwegian Smoked Salmon, Foppen, for the 2012 outbreak of Salmonella Thompson that sickened at least 1200 individuals (with estimates running into the tens of thousands of victims who were not identified by health agencies). As the statute of limitations for filing a salmonella lawsuit neared, Ron Simon filed the complaint on behalf of his client, Lorena Vasquez, a Texas resident who was sickened after consuming the Norwegian Smoked Salmon at her home in Pharr, Hidalgo County, Texas. She…

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has finally found the source of an E. coli outbreak linked Applebee’s restaurants. According to MDH, the source of the 15 E. coli cases that plagued Applebee’s establishments in Woodbury, Roseville, Blaine, Monticello and Duluth counties between June 24th and 27th has now been found. Mike Schommer, a MDH spokesperson, said early on that the “more people we talk to, the more likely we will find the origin of the problem,” and he was right. An exhaustive trace-back investigation has led investigators to green whole head cabbage as the likely source of E. coli…

Nearly three dozen cases of salmonella food poisoning are suspected in Hillsdale County, MI. following a festival that took place between July 31st and August 3rd. A single event at the festival, however, has been pinpointed as the source of the outbreak – according to health official Rebecca Burns, from Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Counties Community Health Agency, all 33 probable victims, including the eight laboratory-confirmed victims, attended the Reading Summer Festival Days alumni reunion dinner on August 2. According to health officer Steve Todd, the attendees were contacted in the aftermath of identifying the outbreak source, and nearly 150 of the…

According to Utah Department of Health (UDOH) official Becky Ward, there are now 45 victims in a Campylobacter outbreak linked to raw milk and raw cream purchased from the Ropelato Dairy in Weber County, Utah – but as the number grows, so too does the distribution, with illnesses now piling up in neighboring counties, including Cache, Davis, Morgan, Salt Lake, and Utah counties, and two victims have now been identified in California and Idaho. The first case surfaced back in early May, on the 9th, and the most recent was confirmed on July 21st. The UDOH undertook an extensive investigation…