Category Archives: food-safety

Foster Farms and the Salmonella Outbreak

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rawchicken

The Associated Press reports that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is threatening to shut down three California poultry processing facilities linked to a salmonella outbreak that has sickened 278 people across the country.

The USDA said that Foster Farms, owner of the three facilities, has until Thursday to tell the department how it will fix the problem. The company was notified Monday.

In a letter to the company, the USDA warned that sanitary conditions at the facility “could pose a serious ongoing threat to public health.”

The USDA had posted a consumer alert about the outbreak last week. The illnesses, predominantly in California, have been caused by salmonella Heidelberg and have caused twice the normal rate of hospitalization among victims.

As USA Today reported, the outbreak involves multiple antibiotic-resistant strains and 42 percent of those sickened have been hospitalized, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Tuesday.

“That’s a high percentage,” CDC spokeswoman Barbara Reynolds told the newspaper. “You would expect about 20 percent hospitalizations with salmonella Heidelberg.”

The CDC has been hampered in tracing this outbreak because the government shutdown meant the agency had to shut down PulseNet, a national network of public health laboratories that helps spot food-borne-illness outbreaks. It’s one of the CDC’s most important tools in detecting this kind of problem, USA Today said.

“We were trying to do this without the automatic system, and it was nearly impossible,” Reynolds said. Seven of the eight staffers who run the system were furloughed. “We were doing it by hand, and it just become untenable.”

The chicken products were distributed mostly to retail outlets in California, Oregon and Washington state, the FSIS said.

Consumers should look for one of three establishment numbers inside a USDA mark of inspection on the package: P6137, P6137A, P7632.

This is the second time this year Foster Farms has been linked to a national outbreak of salmonella. The company’s raw chicken sickened 134 people in 13 states, including 33 who were hospitalized, before an earlier outbreak ended in July, according to the CDC.

Salmonella typically causes diarrhea, nausea, abdominal cramps, fever and vomiting within eight to 72 hours of eating contaminated food. These symptoms can last up to a week and are particularly dangerous for those with weakened immune systems, babies and the elderly.

Thoroughly washing your hands, utensils and preparation area after handling raw chicken can reduce your risk of spreading the bacteria, and proper cooking — to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit — can also kill the pathogens.

Salmonella and Safe Egg Eating

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According to the CDC, 26 restaurants have been identified with providing eggs which led to salmonella poisoning.

What can you do to best avoid this?

Some people, such as children, pregnant women, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems or debilitating illnesses, are at higher risk for a Salmonella infection and need to be particularly careful when eating out.

Here are some practical things that you can do to keep you and your family safe:

Always ask your server whether the food contains raw or undercooked eggs. If so, find out if the eggs are pasteurized. If not, order something else. Some foods that may contain raw or undercooked eggs include:
Hollandaise sauce
Caesar salad dressing
Mayonnaise
Cold soufflés, chiffons, or mousses
Ice cream
Meringue-topped pies
Tiramisu
Certain ethnic dishes, such as Japanese sukiyaki or Korean bibimbap.

If you order cooked eggs, make sure that they’re thoroughly cooked. Scrambled eggs should be firm, not runny. Fried, poached, boiled, or baked eggs should have firm whites and yolks.

Avoid eating eggs at a buffet, since the eggs may be undercooked or may have been at room temperature for too long.

If you plan to save leftovers to eat later, refrigerate egg dishes as soon as possible – always within two hours (or one hour if it’s a hot day).

Implications of the Jensen Arrests

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This is different than where officials knew they were shipping contaminated product. As seen in the Jensen case, it is more of a point that they should have known and taken preventive actions.

Many were surprised by the recent arrest of the Jensen Farm’s owners for selling Listeria contaminated cantaloupes that caused 33 deaths. Introducing the Park Doctrine. All responsible company officials, whether their company is manufacturing food items OR distributing food items manufactured by someone else, should be aware of the implications.

From the FDA Law Blog – Feb 2, 2011 (reference below):

“… a corporate official can be convicted of a misdemeanor based solely on his position of responsibility and control to prevent the underlying violation of the FDCA. There is no requirement that the official acted personally in the wrongdoing, or that he even had knowledge of it. The Supreme Court determined that the FDCA “imposes not only a positive duty to seek out and remedy violations when they occur but also, and primarily, a duty to implement measures that will insure that violations will not occur.” Park, 421 U.S. at 672.”

This is not limited to the processors, but to those who utilize contract manufacturers. From the FDA Law Blog – May 28, 2013 (reference below):

“The letters cite Park and Dotterweich to support the legal theory that a distributor that uses contract manufacturers or labelers may be liable (or convictable) for Current Good Manufacturing Practice (“CGMP”) violations by its contractors.”

Read more from the FDA on the Park Doctrine.

Safe Back Yard Grilling Ideas

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Good practices fore safe summer grilling.

Get wooly with your grill. There’s probably a little bit of gross stuff stuck to the metal grate, left over from the last time you cooked out. Get rid of that bacteria-covered char with a scrubby, some hot water and a little bit of dish soap.

Be a quicker picker-upper. Paper towels are better than dish rags and sponges for cleaning up meat juice, especially if we’re talking about raw meat drippings. Don’t run the risk of contaminating anything else. We’re talking biohazard here. Wipe that stuff up and get the paper towel into the trash right away.

Say sane with sanitizer. If you can use soap and hot water while cooking outdoors, great. But sometimes you won’t have that option. At the very least, keep your hands clean before cooking and before eating by using hand sanitizer or sanitary wipes.

A plate for everything and everything in its plate. Cross-contamination is the enemy of safe outdoor eating. Raw meat, poultry and seafood need to be separated. Use separate cutting boards. Be mindful of the juices they leave behind. Uncooked and cooked food need separate plates, too. Here’s a common example: Say you bring a raw steak to the grill on a plate and then slap it on the fire. When it’s cooked, for goodness’ sake, don’t put it back on the same plate you used before cooking it (unless you’ve thoroughly cleaned it in the meantime).

A food thermometer will be your best friend when you’re cooking outdoors. The stem of the thermometer needs to sink two inches; if you have a thin, flat piece of meat, you can insert it through the side. Take the meat off the grill to take its temperature. Make sure that steak is 145 degrees. Make sure your burgers are 160 degrees. Make sure your chicken is 165 degrees