An 8-year-old Massachusetts boy died within two weeks of eating a hamburger during an E. coli outbreak last summer that state and federal health authorities associated with grass-fed ground beef the family purchased from Whole Foods Market in South Weymouth, Mass. Two other people were sickened in the outbreak, which was first disclosed in a hamburger E. coli recall notice published by the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). The recall also covered ground beef sold at Whole Foods Market in Newton, Mass. A Whole Foods ground beef E. coli lawsuit was filed by the boys' parents. They have gone public with their concerns about food safety to prevent other families from having to endure a similar loss. They met in person with federal Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack to … [Read more...]
Did Zerebko Petting Zoo Provide Enough E. coli Prevention?
Petting zoo E. coli outbreaks like the one in Minnesota this summer have been studied in the U.S. for decades. A watershed outbreak 10 years ago at the North Carolina State Fair was the worst in recent history. A total of 108 case patients were identified, including 41 with laboratory-confirmed illness and 15 who experienced kidney failure as part of life-threating complication known as E. coli hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). Within months after the North Carolina outbreak, in March 2005, the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians (NASPHV) published new recommendations for operators that are still viewed as important safety standards. At the time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was saying that its own control measures for petting zoos, published … [Read more...]
Burma Superstar Scored Well on Inspections Before E. coli Outbreak
The Burma Superstar restaurant in San Francisco that is at the center of a city and state E. coli investigation has had a history of mostly low-risk food safety violations, according to a review of health department inspection documents by Food Poisoning Bulletin. One person has been hospitalized in the outbreak for a life-threatening case of HUS kidney failure and a total of 14 ill people are considered case patients. Food poisoning investigators for the San Francisco Department of Public Health and the California Department of Public Health are trying to pinpoint the cause, but nine of the outbreak victims reportedly ate at Burma Superstar in mid-August before falling ill. The City and County of San Francisco's Environmental Health inspection findings show only one high-risk … [Read more...]
Georgia’s BBQ Shack HUS E. coli Outbreak Revisited
Three months of investigation into one of this summer's most serious HUS E. coli outbreaks has not pinpointed what food item sent people to the hospital after eating at the BBQ Shack restaurant in Toccoa, Georgia. But other evidence in the outbreak is supporting victims as they continue to make payment claims for their distress. According to a document from the Georgia Department of Health, officials learned of the outbreak after a state epidemiology surveillance officers noticed a cluster of E. coli cases in lab reports from the Stephens County Hospital - four patients in one week back in early May. The Stephens County Health Department had also received complaints about the BBQ Shack in Toccoa after some customers reported being ill after eating at the restaurant. Public health … [Read more...]
Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS)
The E. coli 0157:H7 outbreak linked to raw milk produced by Foundation Farm in Oregon has sickened at least 19 people. Fifteen of those victims are children; four of those children have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome. According to the FDA's Bad Bug Book, it can take just 10 cells of E. coli bacteria to make someone sick. Dr. Heidi Kassenborg of the Minnesota Department of Health told us that bacteria aren't evenly distributed in milk fluids, so milk samples withdrawn for testing may not contain any bacteria, when there actually is bacteria in the product. Hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) is a severe complication of an infection of Shiga-toxin producing E. coli, usually E. coli O157. The toxins damage red blood cells, which creates small clots that clog the filtering system in the … [Read more...]
