Remember the Salmonella outbreak linked to the bean dinner at the First Baptist Church Family Life Center in Athens, Alabama in October 2013? Turns out the beans were soaked in a plastic lined horse trough covered with plywood, and that existing soup was mixed with new soup during the event instead of being replaced as it should have been.
The News Courier in that state has obtained a nine-page study issued by the Alabama Department of Public Health. Officials determined that the beans were the source of the outbreak within a few weeks. The event was the Bean Day Athens-Limestone Foundation for Aging held at the church.
Other ways the beans could have been contaminated were workers handling food without gloves, turning off the heat under the beans, not monitoring the temperature of the food, using just one sterno can for every 6″ deep chafing dish to maintain the temperature, and re-using chafing pans. In addition, a water hose ran through the horse trough, and beans were transferred from the outside cooking pots to smaller iron pots on wheels to take the food into the church.
Public health officials started getting complaints about the outbreak on October 7, 2013, three days after the bean dinner. No one died as a result of their illness, but some people didn’t feel normal until months later.
Salmonella senftenberg was isolated in two environmental samples at the church, in nine food samples, and in stool samples of all of the patients. At least 50 people were sickened in that outbreak. The report concludes that the outbreak was likely caused by “opportunities for person-to-food, food-to-food and equipment-to-food cross-contamination or improper holding temperatures.” Health officials recommend that anyone holding a food fundraiser learn about how to prepare, serve, and hold food safely before the event.
