The Farm Rich E. coli outbreak, which has sickened 24 people in 15 states, was detected because of a strong public health system that is threatened by sequestration, according to Rep. Rosa De Lauro (D-Conn). De Lauro, a senior member, and former Chair, of the subcommittee responsible for funding the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), issued a statement April 1 about the outbreak and related recall of 98 tons of frozen food urging consumers to check their freezers for recalled items including frozen quesadillas, mini pizzas, mozzarella bites and cheesesteak sandwiches.
Rich Products Corp of Buffalo, NY issued a recall for the products, sold under the Farm Rich brand name, on March 28. Click here to see the USDA’s full list of Farm Rich products recalled for potential contamination with E.coli O121, a rare bacteria.
Almost 80 percent of those who became ill are 21 and under. Eight people have been hospitalized, one of whom has been diagnosed with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) a life-threatening condition that develops after some E.coli infections. With HUS, red blood cells are destroyed prematurely. They accumulate, clogging the kidneys’ filtration system, which can cause kidney failure.
“This situation highlights the need to maintain our investments in our nation’s public health infrastructure. This outbreak was identified because of the strong leadership of state and federal public health officials and a robust PulseNet. Without adequate resources we are asking those same officials to protect us with one hand tied behind their back. We should not let the deeply harmful, across the board cuts known as sequestration result in less funding for their work.”
PulseNet is a network of federal, state and local public health laboratories that performs molecular surveillance of foodborne infections by identifying and then sharing with the network bacterial strains that have caused infection. Using DNA “fingerprints” of the strains, health officials can tell if cases were caused by the same source.
