Food Safety
2009 Peanut Butter Outbreak: Three Years On, Still No Resolution for Some
When Shirley Almer’s grown children describe their mother’s death just days before Christmas Day 2008, they say that the lively 72-year-old grandmother beat cancer twice, but she couldn’t beat peanut butter.
Clifford Tousignant’s family tells a similar story. The decorated Korean War veteran and devoted great grandfather fell ill from Salmonella in his peanut butter sandwiches around the same time. After struggling against the infection for weeks, he died in January 2009 at the age of 78, a year and a half short of his goal to outlive his father.
Almer and Tousignant were two of the nine victims who died in the 2008-2009 Salmonella peanut butter outbreak that sickened at least 714 Americans across 46 states. The outbreak, one of the deadliest and widespread in U.S. history, resulted in recalls of 3,913 different products made by 361 companies. It captured national attention and even attracted commentary from President Barack Obama, who said parents shouldn’t have to worry about their children’s peanut butter, something his daughter Sasha ate for lunch “probably three times a week.”
But more than three years later, many of those affected by the outbreak have yet to find any resolution.
Executives at the company responsible for the outbreak, Peanut Corporation of America (PCA), have never been charged with any crimes, though many accuse them of knowingly shipping contaminated peanuts to processors. The company has gone through bankruptcy and lawsuits, but some still say the individuals who called the shots at PCA deserve their day in court.
Food and Drug Administration officials first investigated PCA’s facilities in January 2009 and soon learned that employees had previously been ordered to ship peanuts with samples that tested positive for Salmonella after a second sample tested negative. (Contaminated batches can test negative if there is no Salmonella in the particular section that gets sampled).
According to inspectors, at least 12 samples from the company’s production chain were contaminated between 2007 and 2008, but PCA did little to clean their facilities or remedy the problem. On some occasions, PCA shipped out peanuts before initial test results came back positive for Salmonella.
Chicken Council Denies Request for Access to Plants
The National Chicken Council has denied Food & Water Watch lobbyist Tony Corbo’s request to work in a HACCP Based Inspection Models Project (HIMP) poultry plant to better understand how the new program works.
Corbo recently wrote to NCC asking that the group make arrangements for him to work for a full week as a sorter in a poultry plant participating in HIMP, a pilot project that uses fewer federal inspectors, focuses the remaining inspectors on food safety tasks, and allows plants to operate with faster line speeds.
Food & Water Watch has sharply criticized a proposed rule to expand the pilot, calling the plan a privatization scheme that’s bad for public health. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service says the proposal will modernize the inspection system, save taxpayers millions, and prevent 5,200 foodborne illnesses annually.
“Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has repeatedly observed in recent weeks that most consumers do not know how their food is produced in this country. He is correct,” Corbo wrote to NCC. “Therefore, I want to learn first-hand how poultry processed with fewer government inspectors will lead to a safer and more wholesome food supply.”
Update on the Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Nakaochi Scrape
The CDC has released more details about their investigation into the Salmonella Bareilly outbreak that has sickened 116 people in 20 states and the District of Columbia.
Nakaochi Scrape, which is tuna scraped from the bone and chopped, from Moon Marine USA Corporation is “the likely source of this outbreak of Salmonella Bareilly infections”, according to the government. The CDC interviewed 53 of the patients about what they ate the week before they got sick. Forty-three of them (81%) reported eating sushi.
This proportion is significantly higher than indicated in a FoodNet Survey conducted by the CDC for the years 2006 to 2007. In that report, on page 20, 5.3% of healthy adults reported consuming sushi in the past seven days.
Of those 43 people, 39, or 91%, reported eating a sushi item made with tuna, and 36, or 84%, reported eating a sushi item containing “spicy tuna”. Spicy tuna rolls are made with chopped tuna or Nakaochi Scrape.
Nakaochi Scrape looks like, and is, raw ground tuna. And when meat is ground or chopped, any bacteria on the surface of the meat is mixed throughout the entire batch. That makes raw fish made with this method, also called comminuted, very different from other types of sushi, in which the flesh is left whole.
Footage of Illegal Slaughterhouse Prompts Arrest
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Recalls
Listeria Warning for Sub Sandwiches in Canada
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Dole Recalling Seven Lettuces Salad for Possible Salmonella
Dole Fresh Vegetables is voluntarily recalling 756 cases of DOLE® Seven Lettuces Salad for possible Salmonella contamination. No illnesses have been reported in connection with the consumption of this product.
Product details:
- Dole® Seven Lettuces Salad
- UPC code number 71430 01057
- Product codes 0577N089112A and 0577N089112B
- Use-by date of April 11, 2012
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Allergen Alert
Allergen Alert: Milk in Taco Shells
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Articles of Interest
Magazine Cautions Against 10 ‘Dirtiest’ Foods
This list of dirtiest foods is far from unique. Various publications and organizations have in recent years come up with their lists of the “most dangerous” foods and ingredients.
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