Salmonella Blog - Surveillance & analysis on salmonella news & outbreaks

WALB 10 reported that Salmonella has been found in the roaster that Con Agra intended to destroy and replace.

Sylvester- FDA investigators finally have some details on the location of that Salmonella outbreak that shut down the Sylvester ConAgra Foods plant five weeks ago. Thursday, ConAgra Foods blamed a $48 million loss this quarter on its recall of Peter Pan and Great Value Peanut Butter and there's still no timetable of when production will start back.

It's been five weeks since the lines at ConAgra Foods looked like this and it could be the end of May before production resumes. The clean up can begin now that the FDA has pin-pointed the cause.

"The two environmental positives that we did find were, one of them was in relation to the roaster and the other was on some cleaning equipment," said Dr. David Acheson.

Because it was found twice in the environment, the FDA investigators assume it's other places and recommend a complete cleanup. ConAgra is working with microbiologist on a plan to resume operations, but doesn't have an exact date.

"The precise way to clean up is up to them to decide what the recommendation we make is pretty general and that is that the company needs to do a through clean up to ensure the absence of Salmonella in any future product that's produced in the facility, said Acheson.

FDA inspectors are gone from the plant now, but will return once the cleanup is complete to make sure there are no future problems.

The Centers for Disease Control stopped updating the number of reported Salmonella cases last week. The CDC reported 425 people in 44 states were sickened by the peanut butter. Twenty percent of those illnesses were serious enough to require hospitalization.

FDA investigators have found two sources of Salmonella after inspecting the ConAgra facility.  The roaster and some cleaning supplies were contaminated and they assume the bacteria will be found in other places as well.  Full story from WALB.com

Sylvester, GA - FDA investigators finally have some details on the location of that Salmonella outbreak that shut down the Sylvester ConAgra Foods plant five weeks ago. Thursday, ConAgra Foods blamed a $48 million loss this quarter on its recall of Peter Pan and Great Value Peanut Butter and there's still no timetable of when production will start back.

It's been five weeks since the lines at ConAgra Foods looked like this and it could be the end of May before production resumes. The clean up can begin now that the FDA has pin-pointed the cause.

The CDC, Arizona and Cochise County health departments investigated a total of 59 Salmonella Oranienburg cases diagnosed in the Sierra Vista area starting last September. The CDC traced 14 cases of illness to The Palms dining and banquet facility in Sierra Vista, but could not find a source of contamination for the other 45 cases. The Palms in Sierra Vista, a well-known banquet hall that regularly hosts large groups of people or private meetings, also happens to be where 14 people became infected with salmonella. The culprit was actually the iced tea machine. The Cochise County Health Department says that they found the Salmonella Oranienburg bacteria on the outer surface.

According to Steven Bodzin of  www.bloomberg.com reporting on the FDA, the Peanut Butter recall has once again been expanded.

March 10 (Bloomberg) -- ConAgra Foods Inc.'s recall of its Peter Pan butter and other peanut items will apply to products made by the third-largest U.S. food company since October 2004, a year earlier than the date in a prior recall notice.

``Consumers who purchased any of the products since October 2004 should discard them,'' the Food & Drug Administration said in an e-mailed statement. ``FDA's advice to consumers continues to be not to eat any Peter Pan peanut butter or any Great Value peanut butter beginning with the 2111 product code.''

``We recalled all peanut butter products out there, including those back to October 2004,'' she said in a telephone interview. ``This is to our perspective an ongoing effort to recall all the product from the marketplace.''

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention said in a statement March 7 that 425 people in 44 states were infected with the strain of salmonella also found in the peanut products and 71 people had been hospitalized. Two-thirds of the cases began after Dec. 1, 2006, it said.

We at Marler Clark have been involved in quite a few Salmonella cases over the years:

Ongoing Salmonella Outbreak Investigations:

Peanut Butter Salmonella Outbreak
Wal-Mart Salmonella Outbreak
Sushi King Salmonella Outbreak

Marler Clark has brought Salmonella claims against:

Black Forrest Bakery
Brook-Lea Country Club
C.L. Swanson
Cafe Santa Fe
Chili's
ConAgra
Corky & Lenny's
Golden Corral
Harmony Farms
KFC
Linh's Bakery
Malt-O-Meal
Old South Restaurant
Orchid Island
Paramount Farms
Quality Inn
San Antonio Taco
Seasons at the Pond
Sheetz
Sun Orchard
Sunset House
Sushi King
Susie Cantaloupe
Viva Cantaloupe
Wal-Mart
Western Sizzlin'
Wyndham Anatole Hotel

Here is a warning from The Canadian Food Inspection Agency regarding possible salmonella contaminated black forest ham:

 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Siena Foods Ltd., Toronto are warning the public not to consume the Siena Deli brand sliced black forest ham described below because it may be contaminated with Salmonella.

The affected Siena Deli brand Dry Roasted Black Forest Ham is sold in 100-200 g packages bearing Best Before date of 07MR22 and UPC 0203580 101949. The affected black forest ham was distributed in Ontario.

There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of this product.

Food contaminated with Salmonella may not look or smell spoiled. Consumption of food contaminated with this bacteria may cause salmonellosis, a foodborne illness. In young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems, salmonellosis may cause serious and sometimes deadly infections. In otherwise healthy people, salmonellosis may cause short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea. Long-term complications may include severe arthritis.

 

Laboratory tests have proved that 143 guests of Krasnoyarsk student ball have salmonellosis. The diagnosis was confirmed by bacteriological tests, which showed that the patients had salmonella enteritidis. The cause of the outbreak was infected food at the drink reception.

SIERRA VISTA, Ariz. Health officials still don't know the cause of a salmonella outbreak that has sickened at least 56 Sierra Vista residents since September.  Officials with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been in the area since January trying to figure out where the victims came down with the infection. They've interviewed people who came down with the food-borne illness and their friends and family.  But they say they've had no luck and are working on a computer analysis to try to find a link. They're also doing a phone survey to try to find a common exposure, such as a restaurant or type of food they've all eaten.