Food Poisoning Law Blog

Scientists from Oxford University believe that two species of the Campylobacter genus may be merging into one.  Campylobacter are found primarily in the gut of birds, especially poultry. Estimates indicate that nearly half of all chicken meat in the U.S. has some of the bacteria on it. In some instances, the bacteria can lead to disease in humans, called camplyobacteriosis. 99% of campylobacteriosis is caused by the species Campylobacter jejuni. The researchers discovered that C. jejuni may well form a new species by combining with Campylobacter coli.

According to Fox News,

"What we're seeing here is hybridization, and it's only been recently acknowledged as an important part of evolution," said Samuel Sheppard, an evolutionary microbiologist at Oxford University in England. "It's really exciting stuff."

The scientists think that C. jejuni and C. coli evolved from a common ancestor due to some external influences in the past.  As of now, the bacteria share about 85% of the same genetic material.  The two species, however, are beginning to meet again and have started mating.  The scientists claim that human involvement is responsible for the phenomenon, with the ever increasing growth of the poultry industry.

According to their theory, the scientists think that overcrowded poultry farms have led to a drastic environmental change for the bacteria. Chickens tend to eat other chickens’ feces, spreading the bacteria from one bird to another.  The conditions increase the chance that C. jejuni and C. coli will meet.

Sheppard explained that bacteria try and most often fail to trade genes, but when two descendants from the same parent meet and then mate, he said, the chance of successfully trading genes gets a big boost.

He couldn't say when the two life forms might finally merge, but thinks evolutionary pressures created by humans will surely speed things up. (Fox News)

The scientists have not posed a theory about how a possible combination of the two Campylobacter species will affect disease in humans or the spread of foodborne illness.

Since a recent E. coli outbreak linked to raw milk, the raw-milk debate has heated up.  Food safety experts, now solidly backed by the FDA and CDC, argue that raw milk should not be consumed because there is a high risk of contamination with a number of foodborne pathogens.  The FDA and CDC issued the following health alert yesterday outlining their position on raw milk:

FDA and CDC Remind Consumers of the Dangers of Drinking Raw Milk
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are reminding consumers of the dangers of drinking milk that has not been pasteurized, known as raw milk.  Raw milk potentially contains a wide variety of harmful bacteria – including Salmonella, E. coli O157:H7, Listeria, Campylobacter and Brucella – that may cause illness and possibly death.

Consuming raw milk may be harmful to health.  From 1998 to May 2005 CDC identified 45 outbreaks of foodborne illness that implicated unpasteurized milk, or cheese made from unpasteurized milk.  These outbreaks accounted for 1,007 illnesses, 104 hospitalizations, and two deaths. This is based on information in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report for the week of March 2, 2007.  The actual number of illnesses was almost certainly higher because not all cases of illness are recognized and reported.

Consumers who become ill after consuming raw milk, and pregnant women who believe they consumed contaminated raw milk or cheese made from raw milk, should see a doctor or other health care provider immediately.

Symptoms of illness caused by raw milk vary depending on which harmful bacteria are present. Symptoms may include but are not limited to: vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever, headache and body ache. 

Most healthy people will recover from illness caused by harmful bacteria in raw milk or in foods made with raw milk within a short period of time.  But some individuals can develop symptoms that are chronic, severe, or even life-threatening.  Illnesses caused by pathogens found in raw milk can be especially severe for pregnant women, the elderly, infants, young children and people with weakened immune systems.

Since 1987, in order to better protect consumers from such risks, FDA has required all milk packaged for human consumption be pasteurized before being delivered for introduction into interstate commerce.  Pasteurization, a process that heats milk to a specific temperature for a set period of time, kills bacteria responsible for diseases such as listeriosis, salmonellosis, campylobacteriosis, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, diphtheria and brucellosis.  FDA's pasteurization requirement also applies to other milk products, with the exception of a few aged cheeses. 

Proponents of drinking raw milk often claim that raw milk is more nutritious than pasteurized milk and that raw milk is inherently antimicrobial, thus making pasteurization unnecessary.  Research has shown that these claims are myths. There is no meaningful nutritional difference between pasteurized and raw milk, and raw milk does not contain compounds that will kill harmful bacteria. 

In fact, raw milk, no matter how carefully produced, may be unsafe. The CDC, the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments, the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, the Association of Food and Drug Officials and other organizations have endorsed the pasteurization of milk and restriction of the sale of products containing raw milk.  Because even pasteurized milk contains low levels of nonpathogenic bacteria that can cause food to spoil, it is important to keep pasteurized milk refrigerated.

Raw Milk Q&A [FDA]
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/rawm-toc.html

Food Facts: The Dangers of Raw Milk [FDA]
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/rawmilk.html

MMWR: Escherichia coli O157:H7 Infection Associated with Drinking Unpasteurized Milk [CDC]
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5608a3.htm

21 CFR, Sec. 1240.61 Mandatory pasteurization for all milk and milk products in final package form intended for direct human consumption [U.S. Government Printing Office]   http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/10apr20061500/edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2006/aprqtr/21cfr1240.61.htm

Raw Milk Position Statements

FDA Raw Milk Position Statement [FDA]
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~ear/mi-03-4.html 

AMA Position on Milk and Human Health [American Medical Association]
http://www.ama-assn.org/apps/pf_new/pf_online?f_n=browse&doc=policyfiles/HnE/H-150.980.HTM&&s_t=&st_p=&nth=1&prev_pol=policyfiles/HnE/H-145.999.HTM&nxt_pol=policyfiles/HnE/H-150.946.HTM&

AAP Position on Unpasteurized Milk and Cheese [American Academy of Pediatrics] http://aapredbook.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/2006/1/A.VII

Additional Raw Milk Information

On the Safety of Raw Milk [FDA]
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~ear/milksafe.html 

FDA Testimony on Raw Milk [Ohio Department of Agriculture]
 http://www.ohioagriculture.gov/dairy/documents/FDATestimonyRawMilk.pdf

Consumer Reports bought 525 broiler chickens nationwide and tested them for Salmonella and Campylobacter, two foodborne pathogens often associated with raw poultry.  Over 80% of the broiler chickens were contaminated with one or both of the pathogens.  

Given these results, one has to assume that raw broiler chickens are contaminated and take steps to prevent infection.

1. Wipe off grocery cart handle.  If someone touches a leaky package of raw chicken and then touches the grocery cart handle, that handle could have Campylobacter or Salmonella on it.  Many grocery stores provide wipes to clean off the handle.  Use them.
2. Pick up your chicken last.  When chicken is not refrigerated, Campylobacter and Salmonella bacteria multiply at a faster rate.  
3. Keep raw chicken juices away from other food products, particularly fresh produce.  Double bag your chicken and keep it in its own corner of the grocery cart, away from everything else.  If your chicken is contaminated, its juices could contaminate other food items.
4. Refrigerate your chicken the minute you get home.
5. Put the chicken on something with a rim and place it on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.  Foodborne outbreaks have been caused by raw chicken juices dripping on other foods in the refrigerator (Jello in one instance).
6. Cook chicken thoroughly, to at least 165 degrees.  Use a meat thermometer to be safe.

As the Wyoming Department of Health continues investigating a gastroenteritis outbreak associated with Grace Camp, a Bible camp in Wyoming, laboratory testing has confirmed Campylobacter jejuni (campy) and norovirus infections among attendees. Testing has also confirmed fecal contamination of the facility's water supply, which is the suspected source of the outbreak.

Over 40 people may have been sickened by Campylobacter-contaminated cheese curds. The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection is advising people to avoid eating unpasteurized cheese curds produced by Wesley Lindquist of Highbridge, Wisconsin.

It is not often that milk is the source of Campylobacter, but the California Department of Health Services is looking at milk as the only food item that could be connected to the Campylobacter outbreak that sickened over 1,300 inmates at 11 California prisons and other corrections facilities. However, investigators have not found Campylobacter in any of the milk samples or on the milk processing equipment at the Deuel Vocational Institution farm in Tracy, California, which supplies milk to California prisons, including those involved in the current outbreak.

Professor Tom Humphrey of the University of Bristol suggests that stress increases the incidence of Campylobacter in chickens. He looked at the annual cycle of Campylobacter infection in chickens and found a significant increase in the summer. One possible reason for this, according to Professor Humphrey, is the stress the chickens undergo in the summer due to the higher temperatures. He pointed to an Irish study lead by Professor Paul Whyte that demonstrated that transport-induced stress increased the shedding of Campylobacter in fecal material of chickens (broilers) that would provide the opportunity for extensive carcass contamination.

As consumers, we should consider a number of factors before we buy chicken, including how the chicken was raised, what it was fed, how it was processed, and whether it was a happy chicken. The problem is that we usually don't have access to this information when we are deciding whether to buy chicken at a grocery store or restaurant. Perhaps consumers should insist on it. Perhaps if we did, we would get healthier food to eat. Isn't, for example, what a chicken has been fed as relevant to the consumer as how many calories or grams of protein are in a serving. The reality is that it is more important. We have to start thinking about what we eat. Ask your grocers and restaurants you frequent questions about the chicken they are selling. If they can't give you answers, ask them to find out. Ask them every week. Ask your friends to ask them every week. Let's make a difference one grocery store and one restaurant at a time.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is now advising consumers to cook raw poultry to an internal temperature of 165°F to eliminate pathogens and viruses. According to the FSIS foodborne pathogens, including Salmonella and Campylobacter, are destroyed when poultry is cooked to an internal temperature of 165°F.

Before ordering poultry when eating out, the elderly, those with compromised immune systems, and parents of young children should consider asking how the eating establishment monitors the internal temperature of poultry. Cooking poultry to an internal temperature of 165°F should become the standard at all eating establishments.

Usually Salmonella is associated with chicken, but chicken is more often the cause of Campylobacter, one of the leading caused of food poisoning in the United States.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC):

Many chicken flocks are silently infected with Campylobacter; that is, the chickens are infected with the organism but show no signs of illness. Campylobacter can be easily spread from bird to bird through a common water source or through contact with infected feces. When an infected bird is slaughtered, Campylobacter can be transferred from the intestines to the meat. More than half of the raw chicken in the United States market has Campylobacter on it. Campylobacter is also present in the giblets, especially the liver.