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Monday, July 7, 2008
How has the salmonella outbreak affected you?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
(updated 07/10)
If you love fresh fruit and vegetables, there’s no better time than summer. But this year, news of a widespread salmonella outbreak has kept many people from eating tomatoes, which federal disease detectives initially blamed for the infections.
Now, the cause is up in the air. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are looking at other foods that could be to blame, from jalapeno and serrano peppers to cilantro, all ingredients commonly found in fresh salsa, guacamole and pico de gallo. The CDC is warning those at increased risk of food-borne illness to avoid jalapenos and serranos, based on findings that some of those sickened with salmonella ate jalapenos but not tomatoes. Healthy people who want to avoid illness may want to steer clear, too, they said.
But they’re still warning against eating raw round red tomatoes, Roma or plum tomatoes from growing regions that haven’t been cleared in the investigation. By now, the FDA has cleared almost every region in production, including Georgia — but the outbreak is continuing, with 1,017cases as of the most recent CDC update, on July 9.
How about a burger instead? Earlier this month, Nebraska Beef, Ltd., recalled 5.3 million pounds of beef that could be contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7, after dozens of people in Ohio and Michigan were sickened with the bacteria. Some of that beef went to Kroger supermarkets. (Here’s the complete Kroger recall notice, which includes meat sold in Georgia supermarkets in the self-serve case, labeled as Private Selection Natural ground beef packages with sell-by dates of July 11 to July 21.)
And health authorities in Southwest Georgia are checking into a cluster of E. coli 0157:H7 infections in Moultrie that may be related to the ground beef recall. So far, one case showed the same strain found in patients in Ohio and Michigan; the CDC continues to investigate to see if they are linked. Meanwhile, the state health department has linked eight Georgia cases to the Barbecue Pit restaurant in Moultrie and is looking into four others that may be related.
There is much information online about protecting yourself from food-borne illness, including common-sense advice to keep hot foods hot, cold foods cold, to cook meat thoroughly and to avoid contaminating kitchen counters, plates and other foods with raw meats, eggs and seafood. Hand-washing is important, too. (You can find more information on precautions from the Partnership for Food Safety Education and from a federal food safety web site that lumps together resources from various agencies, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the Environmental Protection Agency, which monitors agricultural pesticide use.)
That’s helpful information if you’re at higher risk of food borne illness. People who suffer from a chronic health condition or illness, such as cancer, HIV/AIDS or diabetes, as well as those who are pregnant, elderly or young children, are at greater risk because their immune systems don’t work as well as those in healthy adults.
But it’s no guarantee you won’t get sick from food-borne illness at some point. The CDC estimates there are 76 million cases each year in the United States. That’s about a 1-in-4 chance. Trust for America’s Health, a nonprofit public health advocacy group, issued a report earlier this year warning of major gaps in the country’s food safety systems.
What do you think of the advice you’re getting from the government on keeping yourself and your family safe from food-borne illness outbreaks? Have you changed what you’re buying in stores or farmers’ markets, or ordering in restaurants, based on recalls or government advisories? How about how you handle food at home? And — do you dare to dip a chip?
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