Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch, has issued a statement about the “remarkable recovery” of Foster Farms. Raw chicken from that company has caused a Salmonella Heidelberg outbreak, the second this year, that has sickened at least 317 people in 20 states and Puerto Rico. Earlier this week, the USDA’s FSIS threatened to shut down three of Foster Farms’ facilities for violations of their HACCP plans and problems with contamination. But just three days later, the USDA announced that Foster Farms will be allowed to continue processing chicken.
Ms. Hauter states, “in just three days, USDA’S FSIS went from threatening to shut down Foster Farms due to serious food safety lapses to declaring last night that the company had made a remarkable recovery. The agency is allowing Foster Farms to continue operations at three of its plants that appear to be implicated in producing salmonella-contaminated poultry that have sickened at least 278 consumers [editor’s note: this was before CDC’s latest update on 10/11/13]. While company officials have expressed their regret over the illnesses that its products have caused, it still refuses to recall its products and FSIS seems to be fine with that.
“Foster Farms is a big company, with some of the largest poultry processing facilities in the country. While FSIS inspectors cited Foster Farms for a whole host of food safety violations, including visible fecal contamination on chicken carcasses and sanitation issues in the plants, FSIS refuses to take action. This food safety crisis is happening while public attention is focused on the government shutdown and looming default. After the fiscal crisis is put to rest, we hope that Congress turns its attaention to the ineptitude of an agency that seems to forget that its primary mission is to protect consumers and not industry.”
More than 40% of those sickened in this current outbreak have been hospitalized because of the seriousness of their infections. That is about twice the average number in a typical Salmonella outbreak. In addition, 13% of those hospitalized have developed Salmonella septicemia, a serious blood infection. That number is almost three times the average. And four of the seven strains of Salmonella Heidelberg on Foster Farms chicken are resistant to antibiotics; some of the strains are resistant to several antibiotics. That makes these infections much harder to treat. It’s also important to remember that Salmonella infections are very under-reported. The multiplier used in outbreaks to estimate the actual number of those sickened is 30.3. That means that almost 10,000 people are likely ill from Foster Farms chicken.
If you or someone you know has been suffering the symptoms of a Salmonella infection, including vomiting, diarrhea that may be bloody, nausea, fever, and abdominal cramps, and they ate Foster Farms chicken, please see a doctor. Long term complications of a Salmonella infection can be severe. Those with Salmonella septicemia may have to be on antibiotics for the rest of their lives to prevent recurrent infections.
