Salmonella Blog - Surveillance & analysis on salmonella news & outbreaks

Bryan Gentry reported yesterday that “[t]he victims of a salmonella outbreak that was traced to Lynchburg-based Peanut Corp. of America nearly 18 months ago could finally see some money next month. On Wednesday a U.S. District Court judge in Roanoke agreed to speed up the process of approving the personal injury claims received in PCA’s bankruptcy case.”

In January 2009 salmonella was found in a jar of peanut butter made by PCA. That led to the recall of thousands of food products, several lawsuits and PCA’s bankruptcy.

Last fall, the bankruptcy court set up a $12 million fund using money from Peanut Corp. insurance policies to pay the personal injury claims of people who had been sickened by the salmonella. Eventually 123 claims were submitted by people who had suffered from salmonella poisoning or whose relatives had died from it.

According to court documents, most claims are valued at $100,000 or less. One is valued at more than $2 million. Eight of the claims involve wrongful death claims, and 44 involve minors who became sick.

The Public Health Agency of Canada is warning Canadians to avoid two brands of headcheese as the number of people becoming sick due to salmonella continues to grow. A total of 18 Canadians, 17 in B.C. and one in Ontario, have now become ill due to salmonella. Most are older than 70 years of age. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has issued recalls for Freybe and Brandt brands of headcheese.

Headcheese is a deli product made out of meat from the head of a pig, combined with gelatin and spices.

Miravalle Foods, Inc. S. El Monte, CA is recalling 37,318 lbs. of "Miravalle Chile California & Miravalle Chile Nuevo Mexico" Brand Peppers" distributed between March 15th and May 6th 2010 to some customers in CA, CO, UT, NC, NE, ID, OR and NV because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis.

The recalled Peppers distributed to a small group of customers through direct delivery, distributors and retail stores are in 3oz. (UPC Code: 7 12810-00301 & 7 12810-00304), 6 oz. (UPC Code: 7 12810-60001 & 7 1280-60004), 8oz. (UPC Code: 7 12810-00802 & 7 12810-00803) and 16 oz. (UPC Code: 7 12810-16005 & 7 12810-16007) clear plastic packages under the "Miravalle Chile California & Miravalle Chile Nuevo Mexico" Brand and in bulk 25lb. boxes.

CDC has been collaborating with public health officials in many states and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate a multistate outbreak of Salmonella serotype Newport infections linked to the consumption of raw alfalfa sprouts. Investigators used DNA analysis of Salmonella bacteria obtained through diagnostic testing to identify cases of illness that may be part of this outbreak.

As of June 24, 2010, a total of 44 individuals infected with a matching strain of Salmonella Newport have been reported from 11 states since March 1, 2010. The number of ill people identified in each state with this strain is as follows: AZ (4), CA (19), CO (1), ID (6), IL (1), MO (2), NM (2), NV (4), OR (2), PA (1), and WI (2). Among those for whom information is available about when symptoms started, illnesses began between March 1, 2010 and June 1, 2010. Case-patients range in age from <1 to 85 years old, and the median age is 38 years. Sixty-eight percent of patients are female. Among the 34 patients with available hospitalization information, 7 (19%) were hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.

The outbreak can be visually described with a chart showing the number of people who became ill each day. This chart is called an epidemic curve or epi curve. Illnesses that occurred after June 11, 2010, might not yet be reported due to the time it takes between when a person becomes ill and when the illness is reported. This takes an average of 2 to 3 weeks. For more details, please see the Salmonella Outbreak Investigations: Timeline for Reporting Cases.

Investigation of the Outbreak

Collaborative investigative efforts of many local, state, and federal public health, agriculture, and regulatory agencies have linked this outbreak to eating raw alfalfa sprouts. Interviews of case-patients found that most reported eating raw alfalfa sprouts before becoming ill. Some case-patients reported eating sprouts at restaurants; others purchased sprouts at grocery stores. The initial investigation traced the implicated raw alfalfa sprouts to a single sprout processor in California. Investigations were conducted at the sprout processor.

Recall Information

On May 21, 2010, J.H. Caldwell and Sons Inc. of Maywood, CA, voluntarily recalled several brands of alfalfa sprouts distributed to wholesale distributors, restaurants, delicatessens, and grocery stores.