Salmonella Blog - Surveillance & analysis on salmonella news & outbreaks

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in an interview yesterday with Christopher Snowbeck of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that it has not completed its investigation of a summer salmonella outbreak in Pennsylvania, nor has it cleared any company of responsibility.

"We haven't implicated anyone, nor absolved anyone," said Michael Herndon, an FDA spokesman.

Herndon would not comment directly on a news release issued Thursday by Coronet Foods of Wheeling, West Virginia. that said an FDA report found no objectionable conditions at its processing facility.

A Coronet spokesman said yesterday that the company did not say in its news release that it had been cleared by the FDA.

Coronet distributed sliced Roma tomatoes that were used in sandwiches sold at Sheetz convenience stores and 330 Pennsylvanians who ate the sandwiches got sick with salmonella. The outbreak is thought to have sickened another 80 people in neighboring states.
 

Results of an Establishment
 Inspection Report (EIR) conducted by the Food and Drug Administration find 
that the food processing facility of Coronet Foods Incorporated tested 
negative for "objectionable conditions."

The EIR included environmental facility testing on both food contact and
 non-food contact surfaces as well as product samples of shredded lettuce,
 diced and sliced globe tomatoes, unprocessed Roma tomatoes and sliced Roma 
tomatoes. The EIR was conducted by William A. Warnick, an FDA investigator 
based in the Baltimore District according to PRNewswire.

Warnick "identified no objectionable conditions 
during the inspection" and stated that "the file jacket contains no record of
 regulatory action taken against" Coronet Foods since the company was founded
 in 1966.

In July, it was alleged that sliced Roma tomatoes supplied by Coronet 
Foods to a vendor might have contained a food-borne, illness-causing bacteria.
 

A Seattle law firm announced a settlement has been reached between 49 victims of the salmonella outbreak traced to the former Chili's Bar and Grill in Vernon Hills and Brinker International, owner of the franchise.

The settlement included awards to victims from Antioch, Buffalo Grove, Gurnee, Lake Bluff, Lake Villa, Lake Forest, Lake Zurich, Libertyville, Lincolnshire, Mundelein and Vernon Hills.

Marlene Hunt reported that Marler Clark, a firm specializing in the representation of food poisoning victims, filed individual lawsuits and a class action lawsuit in federal court in Chicago during 2003 that sought punitive damages on behalf of all outbreak victims. The settlement was worked out before the trial was scheduled to start. Due to confidentiality agreements, the amount of the settlement has not been revealed.

Marler Clark partner Denis Stearns said the firm was “far along in the process of preparing these cases for trial when settlement discussions finally seemed to turn serious.” "We believed strongly in our case and the importance of the point we were trying to make about food safety and corporate responsibility. This was a case we really wanted to take to trial. But when finally faced with the chance to not only fully compensate our clients, but to do so in a way that showed the clients that, 'We really did send a message with this one' -- that was something we had to recommend accepting."
 

Safeway is voluntarily recalling green onions because they may be contaminated with salmonella. The recalled green onions, also known as scallions, were sold from August 3rd through August 7, 2004 in Safeway and Pak 'n Save stores located in Northern California and Western Nevada.

Business Wire report that the salmonella was detected through routine testing by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

Safeway and Safeway-owned Pak 'n Save will provide a full refund to anyone who returns this product or has proof that they purchased this product at the store from August 3rd through August 7th.

"Safeway's first concern is the health and safety of our customers," said Frank Calfas, President, Safeway Northern California Division. "Though there are no reported cases of any illnesses, this voluntary recall is being done solely out of an abundance of caution."
 

Marler Clark has settled the claims of 49 individuals who were infected with salmonella after eating at the Vernon Hills Chili's Grill & Bar in late June and early July of 2003.

These lawsuits, along with a class action lawsuit that sought punitive damages on behalf of all outbreak victims, will be dismissed as part of the settlement. The amount of the settlement is confidential.



"We were far along in the process of preparing these cases for trial when settlement discussions finally seemed to turn serious," said Marler Clark partner Denis Stearns. "We believed strongly in our case, and the importance of the point we were trying to make about food safety and corporate responsibility. This was a case my partners and I really wanted to take to trial. But when finally faced with the chance to not only fully compensate our clients, but to do so in a way that showed the clients that, 'We really did send a message with this one'--that was something we had to recommend accepting."

The Lake County Health Department's outbreak investigation revealed that the Vernon Hills Chili's had been under operation despite having a broken dish-machine and a lack of hot water for at least one day, and a lack of any water at all during most of the lunch-rush one day when infected food workers were preparing and serving food to patrons. The Lake County Health Department reported that 305 Chili's patrons reported having symptoms of salmonella infection that could be traced to Chili's.
 

The Roma tomatoes tainted with salmonella that sickened at least 416 people in five states have been traced to farms in Florida and possibly South Carolina. The outbreak linked to Sheetz convenience stores infected people in 31 counties in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland and Virginia with salmonellosis.

Food and Drug Administration investigators are visiting farms in one state this week. Florida officials were told that growers in five states that supplied tomatoes that could have ended up at Sheetz are being checked out.

Investigators likely will spend two weeks on the farms, but it could be "several weeks to months" before the agency identifies the cause of the outbreak or farms.

Past investigations of salmonellosis outbreaks have traced the source to humans, animals and contaminated water.

 

The salmonellosis outbreak that sickened at least 416 people in five states might have been caused by four bacterial strains, an unusual occurrence, health officials said Friday.

Investigators suspect that all strains were found on contaminated Roma tomatoes served at convenience stores owned by Altoona-based Sheetz. Officials said they believe the tainted tomatoes have been removed from the market and are no longer infecting people.

Finding multiple strains of salmonella in a single outbreak is unusual, but it has happened several times, said Jennifer Morcone, CDC spokeswoman. Three strains of salmonella were found in beef jerky that sickened 93 people in New Mexico in 1995, and two salmonella strains were associated with orange juice that sickened people in Florida.

An animal could carry more than one strain and contaminate food growing in the field, the CDC said.
 

39-year-old Jerri Reges got severe stomach cramps after eating a hoagie at a convenience store July 5, becoming one of more than 300 people sickened in a recent salmonella outbreak that has hit five states. Roma tomatoes are believed to be the cause.

Tainted fresh foods pose more concerns than others because fruits and vegetables are often eaten raw or lightly cooked. That means salmonella, cyclospora, shigella, E. coli and other pathogens often aren't killed before eating, and they generally can't be removed by washing.

International and federal laws don't allow the United States to set tougher safety rules for imported produce than for domestic products. Though the Food and Drug Administration tightened seafood and juice regulations after outbreaks in the late 1990s, officials are still studying whether to tighten fruit and vegetable standards.

The CDC estimates 76 million Americans get foodborne illnesses each year, based on a study of 1997 statistics, said Dr. Robert Tauxe, chief of CDC's foodborne and diarrheal diseases branch. In that study, the CDC concluded that 325,000 Americans are hospitalized and 5,000 die each year, but that one in 38 cases is never reported.

Those numbers are based on the assumption that millions of people, unlike Reges, are never hospitalized and blame their illness on a virus or the flu.

The CDC is now actively tracking foodborne illnesses in nine states and using those numbers to set nationwide estimates.
 

Jul 30, 2004 9:33 am US/Eastern

Pittsburgh (AP) Pennsylvania health officials say they've identified a second strain of salmonella bacteria linked to people sickened by eating tomatoes on Sheetz convenience store sandwiches.

Some 295 people were sickened by a strain of bacteria known as Javiana, even though lab tests turned up none of that strain on food samples taken from Sheets stores where the sick people ate.

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources says at least 30 cases of salmonella have been linked to Roma tomatoes supplied to Sheetz stores by Wheeling, West Virginia-based Coronet Foods.

West Virginia's Barbour County had 12 cases, the remaining were reported in nine other counties, the agency said.

Tests conducted last week found a second strain -- known as Anatum -- in an unopened bag of tomatoes at a Sheetz store. At that time, health officials dismissed the discovery because none of the victims was sickened by that strain.

Since then, three people have turned up ill with that bacteria.

Health officials say there is no cause for alarm because, no matter which strain of bacteria was involved, everybody who is known to be sick got ill in the first week of July.

Q: What are salmonella and E. coli and how are they spread?

A: Both are bacteria that occur commonly in the intestinal tracts of animals and humans, but some types cause serious illness. They are often spread by the unwashed hands of food workers.

Some strains of salmonella can turn up on fruits and vegetables; others are found in eggs and poultry. E. coli is most often linked to undercooked meat but also can be found in raw sprouts and lettuce. Both bacteria are also found in unpasteurized milk and juice.

Q: What are the symptoms of these illnesses?

A: People exposed to salmonella can get sick in one to three days, with diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps and vomiting which lasts up to seven days. E. coli's basic symptoms are similar, but can take up to eight days to develop, and may last up to 10 days. Both germs are most dangerous to young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems. Deaths are rare, although one strain of E. coli causes particularly severe illness.

Q: What outbreaks have been the worst?

A: Perhaps the largest salmonella outbreak in the country sickened about 20,000 people in 1994 who ate ice cream from Schwan's, a home food delivery company based in Marshall, Minn. Investigators traced the bacteria to tanker trucks used to haul both ice cream and raw eggs. Over the last decade, hundreds also have become sick from tainted tomatoes and orange juice.

A major E. coli outbreak in 1993 sickened about 700 people and killed four who ate undercooked Jack in the Box hamburgers in Washington state. That outbreak led to tighter U.S. Department of Agriculture safety standards for meat and poultry producers.