E. coli Blog - Surveillance & analysis on e. coli news & outbreaks

Recall Release CLASS I RECALL
FSIS-RC-038-2009 HEALTH RISK: HIGH

E. S. Miller Packing Co., a Montgomery, Ill., establishment is recalling approximately 219 pounds of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.

The products subject to recall include: [View Labels, PDF Only]

* 10-pound Cryovaced bags of bulk "EDWARD S. MILLER PACKING CO., GROUND BEEF." Each bag bears the establishment number "EST. 34342" inside the USDA mark of inspection and case codes of "070709," "070809," "070909" or "071009."

* 12- and 15-pound boxes "EDWARD S. MILLER PACKING CO., GROUND BEEF PATTIES." Each box bears the establishment number "EST. 34342" inside the USDA mark of inspection and case codes of "070709," "070809," "070909" or "071009."

These ground beef products were produced from July 7, 2009, through July 10, 2009, and were distributed to consumers and several local restaurants in the Montgomery and Paw Paw, Ill., areas, located in northern Illinois.

The Mountain Mail in Salida, CO reported on a cluster of E coli victims in the small Rocky Mountain community.   Two cases are confirmed and three others have symptoms that are consistent with E. coli 0157:H7 infections.

Both the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Chaffee County Public Health District are investigating, but neither has connected the Salida illnesses with a specific source.

Connections could be made to either one of two national E. coli outbreaks-- the one linked to beef from the JBS Swift Co. in Greeley, CO, which has made at least 23 people infections with E. coli 0157:H7 in nine states or the nationwide Nestle refrigerated raw cookie dough outbreak. Or maybe there is another source.

Or who knows? David Acheson, the nearest thing the federal government has to a utility in-fielder for food safety, was pushed out to say we should not expect much from Uncle Sam’s investigation of the poison Nestle cookie dough.

“This will be one of those situations where we won’t definitely know what went wrong,” Acheson said.

That  “situation,” according to a late Friday update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now involves 74 confirmed cases in 32 states, all matched from PFGE testing with onset ranges from March 16 to June 11. Thirty-four have required hospital stays and ten developed Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS).

Acheson, who started with the feds as senior food scientist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and now is FDA’s assistant commissioner for food safety, sounds like a man giving up.

Cookie dough samples have tested positive for different strains of E. coli, but not yet the exact PFGE match to those who are ill. And how any E. coli is getting in the cookie dough is a mystery.

FDA is good at what its done. Testing equipment and ingredients, including the flour that might have been contaminated in the field. But what it’s done is not good enough. If FDA wants to give up, fine. 

Maybe another agency would be better suited to finishing this investigation.   If equipment and ingredients are all clean, let’s not remove the yellow tape around this crime scene too quickly. Not until everyone who had access to this plant is also investigated, employees, management, visitors.

Let’s turn it over to the FBI.

The “cow to cookie” mystery has yet to be solved. We speak of course about how E. coli O157:H7, which usually originates in the hindgut of cows, made its way into raw refrigerated cookie dough made at the Nestle plant in Danville, VA.

While you are waiting for the answer, you might want to read the paperback edition of  Microcosm: E. Coli and the New Science of Life  by science writer Carl Zimmer which is being published this month.

In his Discovery Magazine blog, Zimmer makes this prediction: “There’s no official word for how the bacteria got from a cow to a cookie (or at least, a cookie in the making). But chances are good that the story is going to be complicated, in a way that’s both disturbing and fascinating.”

It’s well worth checking out, even if the thought that cookie E. coli might has “evolved its own peculiar set of genes” is a whole lot more scary than any cookie monster.

As of the last report, which is now a week and day old, 72 persons infected with a strain of E. coli O157:H7 with a particular DNA fingerprint have been reported from 30 states.

The first lawsuit stemming from the current E. coli O157:H7 (E. coli) recall by JBS Swift Beef Company of Greeley, Colorado that has been linked to 23 E. coli illnesses in California, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Wisconsin was filed today on behalf of an Albuquerque-area child who was infected with E. coli after eating kabobs prepared by his grandmother on Mother’s Day.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the family of 14- year old Alex Roerick by his attorneys, William Marler of the Seattle-based foodborne illness law firm Marler Clark and Kara Knowles of the Denver firm Montgomery, Little, Soran, & Murray.

Alex ate dinner with his grandma on May 10, 2009. He began to experience flu-like symptoms including fatigue, fever, nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting by May 13. Alex’s symptoms worsened and he was admitted on May 15th to Denver's Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical Center. He was released several days later, before being rushed back again due to severe bloody diarrhea. His doctors determined that Alex had developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, or HUS, a devastating complication of his E. coli O157:H7 infection.

The genetic fingerprint of the E. coli found in Alex’s stool matches that of others sickened in the nationwide outbreak tied to recalled JBS Swift Beef. He continues to experience effects of his illness.

“JBS Swift and the FSIS were much too slow about releasing information on where the beef was distributed,” said Marler. “Even with widespread consumer pressure, the information was only released a day before the 4th of July holiday, not nearly enough time to get the word out to families that might have the contaminated meat in their homes. Our government agencies need to work faster in recall situations to prevent more people from suffering what Alex and his family have experienced.”

In the early morning hours of Sunday, June 28, the JBS Swift Beef Company expanded its earlier recall of 41,280 pounds of beef contaminated with the highly toxic pathogen E. coli to include an additional 380,000 pounds.

The beef recalls are FSIS (Food Safety and Inspection Service) Class I, meaning that the "use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death." After years of large recalls, focused efforts by meat regulators brought down E. coli contamination recalls to a low of 182,000 pounds in 2006. Recalls shot up again in 2007, and in the ensuing years (2007-2009), over 41 million pounds of beef have been recalled due to contamination with E. coli.

ABOUT MARLER CLARK: William Marler has been a major force in food safety policy in the United States and abroad. His food safety blog, Marler Blog, is read by over 1,000,000 people around the world every year. He and his partners at Marler Clark have represented thousands of individuals in claims against food companies whose contaminated products have caused serious injury and death. His advocacy for better food regulation has led to invitations to address local, national, and international gatherings on food safety, including recent testimony to US Congress Committee on Energy and Commerce. In 1998, Mr. Marler formed the not for profit, Outbreak Inc. He spends much of the year speaking on how to prevent foodborne illnesses.

The Following outlets were identified today by JBS Swift and FSIS:

Price Chopper

Hannaford

Stop & Shop

Food 4 Less

Fry's

Smith's

Costco

Sams Club

Kroger

SAV a Lot

Knight Super Foods #4

Weldon's Meat Market

Jasper Mercantile

Keeney's Food Mart

Sweetbay

All DAY AM PM MART

Hobby's Hoagies Produce

SHRTN HTL Produce

Giant

Full List.

Several state health departments, CDC, and the United States Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) are investigating a multi-state outbreak of Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections. On June 24, FSIS issued a notice about a recall of 41,280 pounds of beef products from JBS Swift Beef Company that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. On June 28, the recall was expanded to include 380,000 pounds of assorted pieces of beef (beef primal products) from the same company. Health officials in several states who were investigating reports of E. coli O157:H7 illnesses found that most ill persons had consumed ground beef, and many reported that it was undercooked. At least some of the illnesses appear to be associated with products subject to these recalls. Samples from unopened packages of ground beef recovered from a patient's home were tested by the Michigan Public Health Laboratory yielded an E. coli O157:H7 isolate that matched the "DNA fingerprint" of the outbreak strain.

Twenty three persons infected with a strain of E. coli O157:H7 with a particular "DNA fingerprint" have been reported from 9 states. Of these, 17 have been confirmed by an advanced DNA test as having the outbreak strain; confirmatory tests are pending on others. The number of ill persons identified in each state is as follows: California (4), Maine (1), Michigan (6), Minnesota (1), New Hampshire (1), New Jersey (2), New Mexico (1), New York (1) and Wisconsin (6).

Most ill persons reported consumption of ground beef, and many reported that it was undercooked. Ground beef with the outbreak strain was obtained from the home of one person infected with that strain. The first reported illness began on April 2, 2009, and the last began on June 13, 2009. Among 17 ill persons for whom hospitalization status is known, 12 (70%) were hospitalized. Two patients developed a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). No deaths have been reported. Of patients with available information, 14 (64%) were male and 59% are less than 19 years old (range 2 to 74 years).

Most of the beef packages in the first recall bear the establishment number "Est. 969" inside the USDA mark of inspection and have identifying package dates of "042109" or "042209." Consumers are urged to check their refrigerators and freezers for beef products produced by this firm and purchased on or after April 21, 2009 and discard or return the recalled beef products to the place of purchase for a refund. The pieces of beef (primal beef products) in the expanded recall were produced on April 21, 2009, and were distributed nationally and internationally. Boxes of these pieces of beef bear the establishment number "EST. 969" inside the USDA mark of inspection, the identifying package date of "042109," and a time stamp ranging from "0618" to "1130." These pieces of beef were sold to retail stores nationwide after April 21, 2009, and some was probably cut again or made into ground beef, then re-packaged, so packages purchased by consumers may not have identifying information. Customers with questions about the source of a package of beef should contact the place where they purchased it (e.g., grocery store, club store, or meat market).