Author: Tony Coveny, Ph.D

In 2011, Evergreen Fresh Sprouts was at the center of a salmonella outbreak liked to alfalfa sprouts and spicy sprouts, both of which are members of the sprout family that has a long history of contamination with food borne pathogens. In that outbreak, at least 112 victims were made ill after consuming alfalfa and spicy sprouts. Ironically, the founder of Jimmy John’s, Jimmy John Liautaud, made a corporate-wide recommendation to store owners to switch to clover sprouts in the aftermath of the 2011 outbreak linked to alfalfa and spicy sprouts, arguing that clover sprouts are easier to clean. Mr. Liautaud…

This time, the raw clover sprouts come from an Idaho producer, Evergreen Fresh Sprouts, LLC. Sprouts, including many types such as alfalfa, bean, or clover, have been linked to outbreaks of food borne pathogens such as salmonella and E. coli many times in the past. And Jimmy John’s has been at the center of a number of outbreaks. So it is no surprise to food safety experts that once again Jimmy John’s finds itself at the center of an outbreak with at least 10 victims of E. coli O121. Five of the victims are from Spokane, Washington, in the far…

A Detroit company, Wolverine Packing Inc., issued a recall late last week after nearly a dozen individuals were sickened by E. coli O157:H7. The outbreak was first believed to be a localized outbreak in 5 Michigan counties, but that was before Ohio residents tested positive for the same serotype, and more importantly, an identical PFGE match, to the outbreak strain of E. coli. As the trace-back investigation continued Massachusetts and Missouri were added to the list of states that received the tainted beef. Now, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA),…

As the outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 spreads from Michigan to Ohio, Missouri, and Massachusetts, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced that Wolverine Packing Company, a Detroit Michigan company, is recalling nearly 2 million pounds of ground beef in a Class I recall (High Risk) due to the presence of E. coli O157:H7 bacteria.  The product being recalled was produced between March 31st and mid April, which coincides with at least 11 confirmed cases of E. coli poisoning in Michigan, Ohio, Massachusetts, and Missouri.  Those victims all report illness onset from April 22…

Officials from the Ohio Department of Health, the Michigan Department of Community Health, and the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development are reporting the identification of at least 10 victims of an E. coli outbreak linked to ground beef that has been identified in Portage and Lucas counties in Ohio and Kent, Livingston, Oakland, Ottawa, and Washtenaw counties in Michigan.  According to at least one official from Washtenaw County, Public Health spokeswoman Susan Cernigli, the focus in on undercooked ground beef.  The source of the beef, however, has not yet been named. All of the victims were sickened from…

Officials from the Michigan Department of Community Health and the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development are reporting the identification of at least 5 adult victims of an E. coli outbreak linked to ground beef that has been served at multiple locations in the counties of Kent (Grand Rapids, MI), Livingston (Howell, MI), Oakland (Pontiac, MI), Ottawa (Grand Haven, MI) and Washtenaw (Ann Arbor, MI).  According to Washtenaw County Public Health spokeswoman Susan Cernigli, state officials and the USDA are focusing on undercooked ground beef as the source, which at least one unnamed state official admitted was served at…

Health Officials Detect the E. coli O157:H7 Outbreak On October 24, 2011, the St. Louis County Department of Health identified a cluster of 17 E. coli O157:H7 cases centered in a multi-county area on the Missouri/Illinois border.  Almost immediately, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the St. Louis County Department of Health, and the Missouri Department of Health initiated a multistate outbreak investigation that began assembling clinical isolates sharing an indistinguishable pulsed-field electrophoresis (PFGE) pattern. For those already collected, the PFGE patterns from two restriction enzymes (Xbal and Blnl) were then submitted to national molecular subtyping network for…

One year ago, 35 people in 19 states became ill with shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O121 in what turned out to be the seventh largest E. coli outbreak of 2013. The victims illnesses were linked to consumption of Farm Rich frozen foods products. The outbreak led the product manufacturer, Farm Rich, to recall approximately a million pounds of product, with nearly a third of it having been distributed to schools.  Approximately 82 percent of those infected with the outbreak strain of  E. coli were under the age of 21. The outbreak also led to the hospitalization of nearly a dozen…

Glass Onion Catering’s chicken and ham salads and wraps, sold at (among other locations) Trader Joe’s, have been implicated in at least 33 E. coli O157:H7 illnesses in four states, with the majority occurring in California, which has reported 28 confirmed cases. Washington State has reported three confirmed cases, and Arizona and Texas one each.  Unfortunately, at least ten of the victims have required hospitalization and two of the victims have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) which causes kidney failure and can be life threatening. Notably, this E. coli O157:H7 PFGE pattern is the first of its kind in the…

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Foster Farms chicken has been linked to at least 524 victims of Salmonella Heidelberg in 25 states. With confirmed victim counts averaging about three percent of the total number of victims in a given outbreak (as indicated by CDC projections), as many as 16,000 victims have likely contracted salmonella poisoning after eating Foster Farms chicken since March 1, 2013. The majority of the victims are California residents, who make up just over 3 in 4 of the victims nationwide.  In California alone, nearly 400 confirmed victims have been identified.  Health…