Sangar Celery Litigation Backgrounder
The Sangar celery Listeria outbreak in Texas has killed five individuals and called national attention to a human pathogen that isn't as well known as E. coli or Salmonella. Food safety law firm PritzkerOlsen, P.A., has compiled a fact sheet on the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes and Listeriosis, its related disease. The outbreak has been associated with Sangar chopped celery distributed since January to restaurants and institutional entities, such as hospitals and schools..
Sangar Celery Litigation and Listeria Backgrounder
In the United States, an estimated 2,500 persons become seriously ill with Listeriosis each year. Of these, 500 die.
Listeria monocytogenes is found in soil and water. Vegetables can become contaminated from the soil or from manure used as fertilizer. The bacterium has been found in a variety of raw foods, such as uncooked meats and vegetables, including chopped celery at Sangar Fresh Cut Produce in San Antonio, Texas. If cutting surfaces are contaminated with Listeria, vegetables prepared on those surfaces likely will be tainted.
Listeria is killed by pasteurization and cooking. That's what makes ready-to-eat foods such as diced vegetables dangerous if they are consumed without any further safety preparation steps.
Listeria has the ability to grow at temperatures as low as 3°C, a trait that permits multiplication of the pathogen in refrigerated foods.
Confirmed outbreaks of Listeriosis are rare. The vast majority of cases are sporadic, making epidemiological links to food very difficult..jpg)
Most healthy persons probably show no symptoms beyond mild flu-like conditions. The "complications" are the usual clinical expressions of the disease.
The disease affects primarily persons of advanced age, pregnant women, newborns, and adults with weakened immune systems. However, persons without these risk factors can also rarely be affected.
Complications: When Listeria meningitis occurs, the overall mortality may be as high as 70%; from septicemia 50%, from perinatal/neonatal infections greater than 80%.
Pregnant women are about 20 times more likely than other healthy adults to get Listeriosis. About one-third of Listeriosis cases happen during pregnancy. Babies can be born with the disease, but an infection during pregnancy also can result in premature delivery or stillbirth.
Listeriosis symptoms include fever, muscle aches, and sometimes gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea or diarrhea. If infection spreads to the nervous system, symptoms such as headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, or convulsions can occur.
The biggest recent outbreak of Listeriosis happened in Canada in 2008. Twenty-three people died in 57 confirmed cases. Canadian health officials linked the outbreak to deli meats produced in the Maple Leaf Foods plant in North York, Ontario, a neighorhood of Toronto.
