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No Quiero Salmonella: Taco Bell Linked to Outbreak

Posted by Flora Sawita Labels: , , , ,

By CINDY GALLI

After weeks of anonymity as "Restaurant Chain A" in an investigation into a salmonella outbreak that infected dozens of people in ten states, Taco Bell has been outed as the "Mexican-style" restaurant chain linked to the dangerous infections.

The outbreak, which occurred in October 2011, infected 68 people total, mostly in Texas, and sent more than 20 to the hospital, according to a January report by the Centers for Disease Control. No deaths were linked to the outbreak.



While the CDC and Food and Drug Administration officials were unable to pinpoint exactly what food product may have caused the outbreak, the report said "data indicat[ed] that contamination likely occurred before the product reached Restaurant Chain A locations."

But it was not until Wednesday that Restaurant Chain A was identified by Food Safety News as the fast food favorite Taco Bell, based on data provided by a health official at the Oklahoma State Department of Health. In that state, 16 people had been infected with salmonella.


In a document provided by the Oklahoma State Department of Health to ABC News, health officials noted that of the 16 cases, at least half of the victims had eaten at Taco Bell prior to their infections.

Taco Bell noted in a statement to ABC News that the CDC had not discovered the definitive source of the outbreak and said the department only "indicated that some people who were ill ate at Taco Bell, while others did not."

"We take food quality and safety very seriously," the statement said.

The CDC kept Taco Bell's name out of their report in accordance with long-standing policy of not necessarily identifying restaurants involved in investigations as long as there is "not a public health theat."

"By the time we posted information about this outbreak, it was over," CDC spokesperson Lola Russell told ABC News. "If it was over, there would have been no public need to disclose it."

She added that this latest case hasn't triggered conversations about changing the policy.


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No Quiero Salmonella: Taco Bell Linked to Outbreak

Posted by Flora Sawita Labels: , , , ,

By CINDY GALLI

After weeks of anonymity as "Restaurant Chain A" in an investigation into a salmonella outbreak that infected dozens of people in ten states, Taco Bell has been outed as the "Mexican-style" restaurant chain linked to the dangerous infections.

The outbreak, which occurred in October 2011, infected 68 people total, mostly in Texas, and sent more than 20 to the hospital, according to a January report by the Centers for Disease Control. No deaths were linked to the outbreak.



While the CDC and Food and Drug Administration officials were unable to pinpoint exactly what food product may have caused the outbreak, the report said "data indicat[ed] that contamination likely occurred before the product reached Restaurant Chain A locations."

But it was not until Wednesday that Restaurant Chain A was identified by Food Safety News as the fast food favorite Taco Bell, based on data provided by a health official at the Oklahoma State Department of Health. In that state, 16 people had been infected with salmonella.


In a document provided by the Oklahoma State Department of Health to ABC News, health officials noted that of the 16 cases, at least half of the victims had eaten at Taco Bell prior to their infections.

Taco Bell noted in a statement to ABC News that the CDC had not discovered the definitive source of the outbreak and said the department only "indicated that some people who were ill ate at Taco Bell, while others did not."

"We take food quality and safety very seriously," the statement said.

The CDC kept Taco Bell's name out of their report in accordance with long-standing policy of not necessarily identifying restaurants involved in investigations as long as there is "not a public health theat."

"By the time we posted information about this outbreak, it was over," CDC spokesperson Lola Russell told ABC News. "If it was over, there would have been no public need to disclose it."

She added that this latest case hasn't triggered conversations about changing the policy.


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Raw almonds must be treated, federal judge rules

Posted by Flora Sawita Labels: , , , ,

BY MICHAEL DOYLE

WASHINGTON -- A federal judge has again upheld U.S. Agriculture Department rules requiring treatment of raw almonds, in the latest blow to organic farmers in California's San Joaquin Valley.

The mandatory pasteurization or chemical treatments protect consumers from salmonella. The requirement to apply them is also well within the Agriculture Department's power, a federal judge ruled this week.

"The salmonella rule does not exceed the (department's) authority," U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle concluded in a decision quietly issued late Wednesday, "and it was promulgated pursuant to the proper procedures."

Huvelle's decision is a victory for the Modesto-based Almond Board of California, which administers the agricultural marketing order by which the industry regulates quality control, research and advertising. The board recommended new safety rules in 2006 following incidents of salmonella contamination, and the Agriculture Department subsequently put them in place.

The 30-page decision, though, is another defeat for Fresno, Calif.-area farmers Nick and Steven Koretoff, Livingston, Calif.-based farmer Cynthia Lashbrook and others who complain the required treatments undermine their ability to sell organic produce for a premium price.

"People should be able to buy them," Lashbrook said in a telephone interview Thursday.

Now, Lashbrook lamented, consumers keen on raw almonds will simply turn to foreign sellers, who are not bound by the Agriculture Department rules.

Raw, organic almonds can be sold for as much as 40 percent more than a conventionally treated almond.

All told, 15 organic almond producers signed on to the legal challenge first filed in 2008. Since then, the legal road has been a bumpy one.

In March 2009, Huvelle dismissed the original complaint, partly on the grounds that the farmers hadn't exhausted their administrative options. The next year, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Huvelle and allowed the almond producers' challenge to proceed.

"Producers can sue to challenge agricultural marketing orders, but consumers cannot," concluded Judge Brett Kavanaugh, an appointee of President George W. Bush.

Huvelle, appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton, thereupon began wading through an extensive administrative record that spanned thousands of pages, ranging from transcripts to written statements.

"Many national retailers and smaller retailers of raw and organic almonds have ceased purchasing California organic almonds and replaced them with untreated foreign-grown almonds, which customers prefer based on the fact of non-treatment," the organic farmers declared in a legal brief.

The almond board, in turn, declared at the time the new treatment rules were imposed that "while contamination in almonds is not common, the industry determined that aggressive measures were necessary to prevent any other occurrences."

An almond board spokesperson could not be reached to comment Thursday.

California almond producers in 2010-11 shipped a record 1.6 billion pounds of almonds, with the crop valued at $2.8 billion. Production has grown even more since then.

Huvelle this week ruled on summary judgment, without having the case go to a full-blown trial.

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Raw almonds must be treated, federal judge rules

Posted by Flora Sawita Labels: , , , ,

BY MICHAEL DOYLE

WASHINGTON -- A federal judge has again upheld U.S. Agriculture Department rules requiring treatment of raw almonds, in the latest blow to organic farmers in California's San Joaquin Valley.

The mandatory pasteurization or chemical treatments protect consumers from salmonella. The requirement to apply them is also well within the Agriculture Department's power, a federal judge ruled this week.

"The salmonella rule does not exceed the (department's) authority," U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle concluded in a decision quietly issued late Wednesday, "and it was promulgated pursuant to the proper procedures."

Huvelle's decision is a victory for the Modesto-based Almond Board of California, which administers the agricultural marketing order by which the industry regulates quality control, research and advertising. The board recommended new safety rules in 2006 following incidents of salmonella contamination, and the Agriculture Department subsequently put them in place.

The 30-page decision, though, is another defeat for Fresno, Calif.-area farmers Nick and Steven Koretoff, Livingston, Calif.-based farmer Cynthia Lashbrook and others who complain the required treatments undermine their ability to sell organic produce for a premium price.

"People should be able to buy them," Lashbrook said in a telephone interview Thursday.

Now, Lashbrook lamented, consumers keen on raw almonds will simply turn to foreign sellers, who are not bound by the Agriculture Department rules.

Raw, organic almonds can be sold for as much as 40 percent more than a conventionally treated almond.

All told, 15 organic almond producers signed on to the legal challenge first filed in 2008. Since then, the legal road has been a bumpy one.

In March 2009, Huvelle dismissed the original complaint, partly on the grounds that the farmers hadn't exhausted their administrative options. The next year, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Huvelle and allowed the almond producers' challenge to proceed.

"Producers can sue to challenge agricultural marketing orders, but consumers cannot," concluded Judge Brett Kavanaugh, an appointee of President George W. Bush.

Huvelle, appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton, thereupon began wading through an extensive administrative record that spanned thousands of pages, ranging from transcripts to written statements.

"Many national retailers and smaller retailers of raw and organic almonds have ceased purchasing California organic almonds and replaced them with untreated foreign-grown almonds, which customers prefer based on the fact of non-treatment," the organic farmers declared in a legal brief.

The almond board, in turn, declared at the time the new treatment rules were imposed that "while contamination in almonds is not common, the industry determined that aggressive measures were necessary to prevent any other occurrences."

An almond board spokesperson could not be reached to comment Thursday.

California almond producers in 2010-11 shipped a record 1.6 billion pounds of almonds, with the crop valued at $2.8 billion. Production has grown even more since then.

Huvelle this week ruled on summary judgment, without having the case go to a full-blown trial.

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Egg producers may struggle to control Salmonella following cage ban

Posted by Flora Sawita Labels: , , , , ,


Egg producers in the European Union may struggle to control Salmonella when the EU ban on battery cages comes into force in January 2012, according to pathogen elimination and mould control company, Anitox Corporation.

Alan Doyle, the company’s European Business Development Manager, emphasises that despite data published by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in 2011 showing that Salmonella control programmes in laying birds have been highly successful (17 Member States met their 2009 reduction target for flocks of laying hens and the overall incidence of Salmonella in countries which operate control programmes fell from 3.5% in 2008 to 3.2% in 2009) the industry simply cannot afford to be complacent.

“The need for caution was highlighted in a recent study in Belgium to quantify the effects of housing systems on the spread of Salmonella infection within layers and internal egg contamination,” said Doyle. “The study found that, compared with traditional battery cages and furnished cages, aviary and floor housing systems pose a greater risk. Bird-to-bird transmission of Salmonella enteritidis was slightly higher, while a higher number of eggs were contaminated internally by Salmonella.

“The results suggest that a shift from conventional to alternative housing systems for laying hens should be accompanied by a keen concern for optimising Salmonella surveillance programmes. It is critical, therefore, that existing control plans are maintained and additional care is taken to minimise within-flock transmission of Salmonella, which is a persistent problem that cannot be entirely eradicated and poses a major threat to humans who consume contaminated animal products.

“EFSA identified Salmonella spp. as the major hazard for microbial contamination of feed and although feedstuffs for layer, broiler, duck or turkey parent/grandparent stock are sometimes heat-treated in an attempt to reduce the problem, this process may not kill all pathogens. It also significantly increases the cost of the feed, has a high carbon footprint, can damage vitamins/nutrients and has no residual effect, so unless other measures are implemented, re-contamination can occur in the mill, during transport or on the farm. In another recent study, the authors found that non-pelleted feed e.g. mash, was eight times more likely to be contaminated (with Salmonella) than pelleted compound feed.”

Source: Anitox

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Egg producers may struggle to control Salmonella following cage ban

Posted by Flora Sawita Labels: , , , , ,


Egg producers in the European Union may struggle to control Salmonella when the EU ban on battery cages comes into force in January 2012, according to pathogen elimination and mould control company, Anitox Corporation.

Alan Doyle, the company’s European Business Development Manager, emphasises that despite data published by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in 2011 showing that Salmonella control programmes in laying birds have been highly successful (17 Member States met their 2009 reduction target for flocks of laying hens and the overall incidence of Salmonella in countries which operate control programmes fell from 3.5% in 2008 to 3.2% in 2009) the industry simply cannot afford to be complacent.

“The need for caution was highlighted in a recent study in Belgium to quantify the effects of housing systems on the spread of Salmonella infection within layers and internal egg contamination,” said Doyle. “The study found that, compared with traditional battery cages and furnished cages, aviary and floor housing systems pose a greater risk. Bird-to-bird transmission of Salmonella enteritidis was slightly higher, while a higher number of eggs were contaminated internally by Salmonella.

“The results suggest that a shift from conventional to alternative housing systems for laying hens should be accompanied by a keen concern for optimising Salmonella surveillance programmes. It is critical, therefore, that existing control plans are maintained and additional care is taken to minimise within-flock transmission of Salmonella, which is a persistent problem that cannot be entirely eradicated and poses a major threat to humans who consume contaminated animal products.

“EFSA identified Salmonella spp. as the major hazard for microbial contamination of feed and although feedstuffs for layer, broiler, duck or turkey parent/grandparent stock are sometimes heat-treated in an attempt to reduce the problem, this process may not kill all pathogens. It also significantly increases the cost of the feed, has a high carbon footprint, can damage vitamins/nutrients and has no residual effect, so unless other measures are implemented, re-contamination can occur in the mill, during transport or on the farm. In another recent study, the authors found that non-pelleted feed e.g. mash, was eight times more likely to be contaminated (with Salmonella) than pelleted compound feed.”

Source: Anitox

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Recall Prompts More Calls for Action on Ag Antibiotics

Posted by Flora Sawita Labels: , , , , ,


(Food Safety News ©) Reacting to the most ground beef recall and outbreak involving an antibiotic-resistant strain of Salmonella, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and the Center for Science in the Public Interest are again calling for federal action on the growing public health threat posed by antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
  
"When we go to the grocery store to pick up dinner, we should be able to buy our food without worrying that what we put on our plates is exposing our families to dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria," said Slaughter in a statement Monday. "How much longer is the federal government going to wait before waking up to the public health threat, looming quite literally, under our noses?"

"We have a duty to protect the public health, and frankly the foot-dragging we are seeing on this issue here in Washington is legislative malpractice."

Late last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) said Hannaford, a Scarborough, ME-based grocery chain, had initiated a recall of an undetermined amount of fresh ground beef that may be contaminated with Salmonella Typhimurium, after a 14 person outbreak was linked to the product.

Individuals linked to the outbreak purchased beef in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York, Slaughter's home state. 

The outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium has initially tested resistant to multiple commonly prescribed antibiotics, including drug classes such as beta-lactams, aminoglycosides and cephalosporins, which can make the illnesses harder to treat. Seven of the 14 people linked to the outbreak have been hospitalized.

"If an animal is sick, it should be treated," said Slaughter, who has sponsored legislation aimed at limiting antibiotic usage in animal agriculture. "But the routine, regular dosing of antibiotics to healthy animals is absolutely contributing to the rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria. It would be like a mother sprinkling antibiotics on their son or daughter's Cheerios every morning to prevent them from getting sick. It's ridiculous. We must act now or we will continue to see more and more cases like this as we diminish the effectiveness of life-saving medications."

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is attacking the issue from a different angle. The group has petitioned FSIS to declare certain antibiotic-resistant strains Salmonella, including Typhimurium, as adulterants, which would make them illegal in meat and poultry products. 

"That declaration would trigger enhanced testing for these dangerous pathogens, and could minimize their entry into commerce," the group said Monday. 

"FSIS says it is developing regulations to require better recordkeeping by retailers who grind beef--but that process can take years and consumers cannot afford to wait.  Retailers must be responsible for keeping track of where beef is coming from so that they can assist FSIS and consumers with timely traceback during an outbreak investigation."

BY HELENA BOTTEMILLER

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Recall Prompts More Calls for Action on Ag Antibiotics

Posted by Flora Sawita Labels: , , , , ,


(Food Safety News ©) Reacting to the most ground beef recall and outbreak involving an antibiotic-resistant strain of Salmonella, Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and the Center for Science in the Public Interest are again calling for federal action on the growing public health threat posed by antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
  
"When we go to the grocery store to pick up dinner, we should be able to buy our food without worrying that what we put on our plates is exposing our families to dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria," said Slaughter in a statement Monday. "How much longer is the federal government going to wait before waking up to the public health threat, looming quite literally, under our noses?"

"We have a duty to protect the public health, and frankly the foot-dragging we are seeing on this issue here in Washington is legislative malpractice."

Late last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) said Hannaford, a Scarborough, ME-based grocery chain, had initiated a recall of an undetermined amount of fresh ground beef that may be contaminated with Salmonella Typhimurium, after a 14 person outbreak was linked to the product.

Individuals linked to the outbreak purchased beef in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York, Slaughter's home state. 

The outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium has initially tested resistant to multiple commonly prescribed antibiotics, including drug classes such as beta-lactams, aminoglycosides and cephalosporins, which can make the illnesses harder to treat. Seven of the 14 people linked to the outbreak have been hospitalized.

"If an animal is sick, it should be treated," said Slaughter, who has sponsored legislation aimed at limiting antibiotic usage in animal agriculture. "But the routine, regular dosing of antibiotics to healthy animals is absolutely contributing to the rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria. It would be like a mother sprinkling antibiotics on their son or daughter's Cheerios every morning to prevent them from getting sick. It's ridiculous. We must act now or we will continue to see more and more cases like this as we diminish the effectiveness of life-saving medications."

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is attacking the issue from a different angle. The group has petitioned FSIS to declare certain antibiotic-resistant strains Salmonella, including Typhimurium, as adulterants, which would make them illegal in meat and poultry products. 

"That declaration would trigger enhanced testing for these dangerous pathogens, and could minimize their entry into commerce," the group said Monday. 

"FSIS says it is developing regulations to require better recordkeeping by retailers who grind beef--but that process can take years and consumers cannot afford to wait.  Retailers must be responsible for keeping track of where beef is coming from so that they can assist FSIS and consumers with timely traceback during an outbreak investigation."

BY HELENA BOTTEMILLER

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