The girl was diagnosed with Salmonella. According to a report on KTRE, an East Texas news station:

Courtney Johnson, the child's mother said Ashlyn's kidney's were failing so she was lifeflighted to a Shreveport hospital Tuesday night. She came home Friday, exactly one week after eating one scoop of some homemade ice cream that was sold at the event.  Her mother said her daughter ate only the homemade ice cream that was made and served by a Center church.

Liability in food poisoning cases can be complex. Both epidemiological and microbiological evidence is used to determine the source of the illness. That evidence is used to determine the liability of a number of parties, from a specific farm to the party that ultimately provided the contaminated food.

We are lawyers who represent Salmonella victims throughout the United States. As such, we are concerned about food safety. Given that the sickened girl only ate the homemade ice cream, it is likely that eggs used to make the ice cream were contaminated with Salmonella. To prevent Salmonella poisoning associated with eggs and products containing eggs, pasteurized eggs should be used. Given the history of Salmonella outbreaks associated with eggs, states should require pasteurized eggs to be used by restaurants, church groups, event organizers and any party that plans on providing food to the public.

To contact one of our lawyers with Salmonella litigation experience, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll-free), e-mail our lawyers, or submit our free case consultation form.

Investigation of the Salmonella Outbreak: DNA Fingerprints

On March 24, 2008, Malt-O-Meal Company, a Minnesota cereal manufacturer, detected the presence of Salmonella during routine food testing. 11 days later, on April 5, 2008, Malt-O-Meal initiated a recall of unsweetened Puffed Rice Cereals and unsweetened Puffed Wheat Cereals produced during the past 12 months at the plant in Minnesota where the food was tested. Read more about the Malt-O-Meal recall.

On April 7, 2008, PulseNet, the molecular subtyping network for foodborne disease surveillance, independently notified CDC's OutbreakNet Team of a cluster of human Salmonella Agona isolates with an indistinguishable PFGE pattern (outbreak pattern) in multiple states. (OutbreakNet is the network of epidemiologists and other public health officials, facilitated by CDC, who investigate outbreaks of foodborne, waterborne, and other enteric illnesses nationwide)

On April 10, 2008, CDC was informed by several state health departments that patients infected with Salmonella Agona with the outbreak pattern had eaten Malt-O-Meal cereal products. On April 11, the Minnesota State Public Health Department confirmed that the Salmonella isolate isolated from the Minnesota plant was Salmonella Agona and had the same indistinguishable PFGE pattern as the isolates from ill humans. Additionally, the Delaware Public Health Laboratory isolated Salmonella Agona from an opened bag of Puffed Rice cereal produced by the same company.

The Malt-O-Meal cereal recall involves unsweetened puffed rice and unsweetened puffed wheat cereals produced with “Best If Used By” codes between April 8, 2008 (coded as “APR0808”) and March 18, 2009 (coded as “MAR1809”). If you have any of the following brands of unsweetened puffed rice and puffed wheat cereal, check the “Best if Used By” date to see if it is part of the recall (a detailed list of recalled cereals can be found on the Malt-O-Meal website, http://www.malt-o-meal.com/recallinfo/):

• Malt-O-Meal Puffed Rice
• Malt-O-Meal Puffed Wheat
• Acme Puffed Rice
• Acme Puffed Wheat
• America’s Choice Puffed Wheat
• Food Club Puffed Rice
• Food Club Puffed Wheat
• Giant Puffed Rice – Bag
• Giant Puffed Wheat – Bag
• Hannaford Puffed Rice
• Hannaford Puffed Wheat – Bag
• Jewel Puffed Rice
• Jewel Puffed Wheat
• Laura Lynn Puffed Rice
• Laura Lynn Puffed Wheat
• Pathmark (Wal-Mart) Puffed Rice
• Pathmark (Wal-Mart) Puffed Wheat
• Shaws Puffed Rice
• Shaws Puffed Wheat – Bag
• Shoprite Puffed Rice
• Shoprite Puffed Wheat
• Top’s Puffed Rice – Bag
• Top’s Puffed Wheat – Bag
• Weis Quality Puffed Rice
• Weis Quality Puffed Wheat

The number of hepatitis A cases associated with Chipotle in La Mesa, California has risen to 18. Health officials are still looking for the source of the outbreak.  According to the San Diego County Health Department, all 26 food handlers identified to date by the restaurant have tested negative for active hepatitis A infection. Given the long incubation period for hepatitis A (10 to 50 days), this is not conclusive evidence that a food handler did not contaminate food eaten by those who have tested positive for hepatitis A. The negative test results do make it a little more likely that the source of the outbreak is a food product that was contaminated before it got to the La Mesa Chipotle restaurant.  The long incubation period for hepatitis A will make it extremely difficult to pinpoint a specific food product that is the source of the outbreak.

Even if the source of a hepatitis A outbreak is never found, other microbiological evidence along with epidemiological evidence can be sufficient to find a restaurant liable for money damages. In this outbreak the microbiological proof consists of the tests run to determine the people were sickened by hepatitis A.  But just knowing that the people have hepatitis A does not link the illnesses to Chipotle. Health officials made the connection between the illnesses and the La Mesa Chipotle with epidemiological evidence. 

Epidemiology is part detective work and part statistical analysis. It involves trying to piece together potential sources (stores, restaurants, and food products as well as water and animal exposures) and determine if they are the source of the illness that the microbiologists were able to identify.  Epidemiologists develop and test hypotheses to determine if there is a common link between the people with the same foodborne illness. They question foodborne illness patients in order to determine if they ate at the same place, ate the same food, got sick at the same time, lived in the same area, etc. They also visit suspected outbreak sources and do further testing. By a process of elimination, epidemiologists rule out other sources until they can settle on a common link.

In this case, epidemiologists discovered that the people with hepatitis A had eaten at the La Mesa Chipotle within a specific time period.

For more information about proving a foodborne illness case, please see our previous entry, “Proving Foodborne Illness: How Lawyers Evaluate Defective Food Product Cases.”

We contacted The Sarpy County Health Department and spoke with Director Dianne Kelly. She stated that health officials are waiting for additional test results to determine if the E. coli serotype involved is O157:H7. DNA testing is also being done, which will provide genetic fingerprints of the E. coli.  These genetic fingerprints will be analyzed to determine the connection between the E. coli found in the roast beef and the E. coli that  sickened the 14 people. 

The roast beef was implicated in this outbreak due to the positive E. coli test and an analysis of lists and charts of what people at the event ate, according to Kelly. 

According to the researchers involved in this study, “Our results indicate that leaf age and nitrogen content contribute to shaping the bacterial communities of preharvest and post-harvest lettuce and that young lettuce leaves may be associated with a greater risk of contamination with E. coli O157:H7.”

Reference: M.T. Brandl, R. Amundson. 2008. Leaf age as a risk factor in contamination of lettuce with Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enterica. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 74. 8: 2298-2306.

At least 6 people who ate at a La Mesa Chipotle restaurant have contracted hepatitis A.  Using epidemiological and microbiological evidence, we have successfully recovered significant amounts for victims of food poisoning associated with restaurants, even in cases where a food source was not pinpointed.  If you would like to know more about restaurant liability in a hepatitis A case, please contact a lawyer at our office at 1-888-377-8900 (toll-free), email our lawyers or submit our free case consultation form.

In most hepatitis A cases, food served to the sickened patrons was contaminated with the feces of a food handler who had hepatitis A.  In the case of a restaurant like Chipotle, the most likely scenario was that a sickened food handler contaminated food while cooking or serving the food.  In a recent hepatitis case involving a restaurant (not Chipotle), health officials determined that the food source of the outbreak was most likely raw lettuce that the sickened employee had chopped up.  Health officials may not find even a likely food source of this outbreak.

"Our Community Epidemiology Branch and DEH are working closely with the restaurant to determine the source of the hepatitis A infection,” said Wilma Wooten, M.D., M.P.H., County of San Diego Public Health Officer. "Hepatitis A is a vaccine-preventable illness, and we recommend that the public talk to their physicians about getting vaccinated against hepatitis A."

The County recommends that individuals who dined at the restaurant between March 1 and April 22, 2008 - and are symptomatic for hepatitis A - see their physician to be screened for the illness.

Hepatitis A symptoms include fever, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, abdominal discomfort, dark urine, and jaundice. Hepatitis A does not become chronic; symptoms usually last less than 2 months.

In 2007, there were 82 cases of Hepatitis A in San Diego County. Individuals with no medical provider, or anyone who would like more information, may call the County Epidemiology Branch at (619) 515-6620. Information about Hepatitis A vaccine may be obtained from the HHSA Immunizations Branch at (619) 692-8661.  For questions regarding legal representation in a Chipotle lawsuit, you may contact our law firm at 1-888-377-8900 (toll-free), email our lawyers or submit our free case consultation form.

“We are using Listeria to deliver tumor-specific antigens to the immune system in a manner that we feel results in maximal immune and tumor-clearing response,” said John Rothman, PhD, vice president of clinical development at Advaxis, which is developing Lovaxin C.

The trial included 15 women with progressive, recurrent or advanced cervical cancer. All patients had failed chemotherapy, radiotherapy or surgery. The women had metastatic disease and most were stage IVb.

Listeria monocytogenes infects antigen presenting cells (APCs) — “a very special piece of immune real estate,” Rothman said. These cells instruct the immune system what to attack. Listeria thrives within APCs and Advaxis’ Lovaxin vaccines have the ability to direct a strong immune attack against whatever tumor target is bioengineered into the vaccine. Lovaxin C is engineered as a therapy for people who have cancer caused by HPV.

“We bioengineer Listeria both to attenuate it and to cause it to secrete a tumor-specific antigen fused to a listerial protein, which makes it more effective than Listeria that just secretes the tumor antigen,” Rothman said. “By doing this we focus a very strong immune attack against the antigen in question, which is typically specific to a tumor.

“What we’re doing is taking advantage of millennia of evolution that enabled Listeria to infect human immune systems, and an equal amount of evolution that enables humans to get rid of Listeria once this occurs. We are then co-opting and redirecting all of these complex immune responses and targeting them against cancer,” Rothman said.

The above quote is from an Advaxis press release.  At the bottom of the press release it states, "At the time of this writing, 6 of 13 patients evaluable for efficacy are still alive."  (Reality check: Clinical studies aren't about drugs; they are about people.) We hope additional research and development will produce a cure for this deadly cancer.

This is the first death associated with the Alamosa Salmonella outbreak, which health officials uncovered in early March after several people were sickened after drinking water from Alamosa's city water supply.

Health officials have received at least 411 reports of Salmonella cases.  112 of those cases are laboratory-confirmed.

Much of the risks associated with cantaloupe can be attributed to the grower, but consumers can also take special measures to ensure that enjoying the fruit can be reasonably safe. The main rule is to keep the interior fruit from being contaminated by bacteria living on the cantaloupe rind.

The International Food Safety Network explained one method for safe cantaloupe preparation:

One method uses two knives, two cutting boards and a spoon. Cut the cantaloupe into large pieces with the first knife and cutting board, and then spoon out the seeds. Next, wash your hands with soap and water, rubbing vigorously. Use the second knife to cut the fruit away from the rind, and place the fruit on the second cutting board. Now you can cut the fruit into smaller pieces without worrying about the rind. This method prevents the outer layer of the cantaloupe from contacting the inner. It is known that bacteria can grow and thrive on the fruit of the cantaloupe, so it is important to always keep it refrigerated.

Other good ideas include a thorough washing of the fruit before cutting into it, even going so far as using a vegetable brush.  Even washing and scrubbing the fruit may not be enough, due to the numerous pores on a cantaloupe’s rind.  All in all, it is important to wash the fruit and to take use any necessary precautions to prevent cross-contamination of the cantaloupe surface with the interior fruit.

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.

The product is being recalled because of the possible presence of Listeria bacteria.  Contamination with Listeria in food such as sprouts represents a significant danger to public health.

According to a Stop & Shop press release, upon being notified of the recall, Stop & Shop immediately removed from its shelves the affected product.

Do not eat the recalled Chang Farm Soy Sprouts. Listeria infections can be fatal, particularly for unborn babies, the elderly, and people with compromised immune systems.

If you are diagnosed with listeriosis, contact a Listeria lawyer at our law firm.  We have recently obtained a significant recovery in a Listeria case.  An attorney at our office would be happy to discuss our experience with Listeria lawsuits and your case.  To contact an attorney, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll-free), e-mail our lawyers or submit our free case consultation form.

Information on Stop & Shop from their press release:

The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, based in Quincy, Massachusetts,
employs more than 59,000 associates and operates 389 stores throughout
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, New York
and New Jersey.

Dr. Damon T. Arnold, state public health director, is warning consumers not to eat  the recalled puffed rice and puffed wheat cereal due to possible Salmonella contamination. Malt-O-Meal recalled the cereal after the company’s internal routine food safety testing found Salmonella. A link between the cereal and Salmonella cases has not yet been confirmed.

“I want people to check their shelves for the recalled puffed rice or puffed wheat cereals and get rid of them. Although it has not yet been confirmed that this cereal has caused people to become ill, it’s better to be safe than sorry. Either take the cereal back to the store where you bought it for a refund or throw it out, but just make sure you don’t eat it,” said Dr. Arnold.

If you are experiencing symptoms of Salmonella poisoning, please get medical attention.  If you are diagnosed with Salmonella, do not throw away or return the bag of cereal until you contact a Salmonella lawyer.  To contact our law firm regarding Salmonella poisoning, please call 1-888-377-8900 (toll-free), e-mail our attorneys, or submit our free case consultation form. 

Symptoms of Salmonella, which last from 24 hours to 12 days, include headache, muscle aches, diarrhea, vomiting, rumblings in the bowels, chills, fever, nausea and dehydration. Symptoms usually appear 6 hours to 72 hours after ingestion.

The CDC, FDA and state health departments are investigating the Salmonella Agona outbreak.  The investigation includes interviews of persons with Salmonella Agona infections and comparison of the DNA fingerprints suggests that cereal from Malt-O-Meal unsweetened Puffed Rice Cereals and unsweetened Puffed Wheat Cereals is likely related to these illnesses.

The recalled cereal products were distributed nationally under the Malt-O-Meal brand name as well as under private label brands including Acme, America's Choice, Food Club, Giant, Hannaford, Jewel, Laura Lynn, Pathmark, Shaw's, ShopRite, Tops and Weis Quality. The cereals have "Best If Used By" dates from April 8, 2008 (coded as "APR0808") through March 18, 2009 (coded as "MAR1809").

Yesterday's CDC information on the Salmonella Agona outbreak linked to the cereal recall stated:

Health departments from 13 states identified 21 ill persons infected with Salmonella Agona with the same genetic fingerprint. Ill persons with the outbreak strain have been reported from California (1), Colorado (1), Delaware (1), Maine (3), Massachusetts (2), Minnesota (1), North Dakota (1), New Hampshire (2), New Jersey (3), New York (3), Pennsylvania (1), Rhode Island (1), and Vermont (1). Illness onset dates, which are known for 9 patients, ranged from January 22 to March 2, 2008. Their ages range from 1 to 95 years; 62% are female. Three hospitalizations and no deaths have been reported.

Investigation of the Salmonella Agona Outbreak Linked to the Malt-O-Meal Cereal Recall

According to the CDC:

On April 5, 2008 Malt-O-Meal Company initiated a recall after the company's routine food testing detected the presence of Salmonella on March 24, 2008 in a Minnesota plant that produces and packages dry cereals. Malt-O-Meal issued a recall of unsweetened Puffed Rice Cereals and unsweetened Puffed Wheat Cereals produced during the past 12 months at the plant in Minnesota. The recall products have "Best If Used By" dates of April 8, 2008 to March 18, 2009.

On April 7, 2008, PulseNet, the molecular subtyping network for foodborne disease surveillance, notified CDC's OutbreakNet Team of a cluster of human Salmonella Agona isolates with an indistinguishable PFGE pattern (outbreak pattern) in multiple states. On April 10, 2008, CDC was informed by several state health departments that patients infected with Salmonella Agona with the outbreak pattern had eaten Malt-O-Meal cereal products. On April 11, the Minnesota State Public Health Department confirmed that the Salmonella isolate isolated from the Minnesota plant was Salmonella Agona and had the same indistinguishable PFGE pattern as the isolates from ill humans. CDC, multiple state health departments, and FDA are working collaboratively to identify additional cases and determine the source and factors that contribute to this outbreak.

Most persons infected with Salmonella develop diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps 12–72 hours after infection. Infection is usually diagnosed by culture of a stool sample. The illness usually lasts 4 to 7 days. Although most people recover without treatment, severe infections may occur. Infants, elderly persons, and those with impaired immune systems are more likely than others to develop severe illness. When severe infection occurs, Salmonella may spread from the intestines to the bloodstream and then to other body sites, and can cause death unless the person is treated promptly with antibiotics.

The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has identified one laboratory-confirmed case of Salmonella agona in the state that matches the genetic fingerprint of strain of Salmonella found in the cereal that was recalled April 5. 12 other state health departments have identified cases of the outbreak-strain of Salmonella agona.

On April 5, the Malt-O-Meal company issued a recall due to Salmonella contamination of unsweetened Puffed Rice cereals and unsweetened Puffed Wheat Cereals produced during the past 12 months at its plant in Northfield. The recalled products have “Best If Used By” codes between April 8, 2008 (coded as APR0808) and March 18, 2009 (coded as MAR1809). Malt-O-Meal initiated the recall after its routine food safety testing detected the presence of Salmonella in a product produced on March 24. The recalled cereal was distributed nationally and marketed under the Malt-O-Meal label as well as a variety of private labels, including Malt-O-Meal, Acme, America's Choice, Food Club, Giant, Hannaford, Jewel, Laura Lynn, Pathmark, Shaw's, ShopRite, Tops, and Weis Quality.

We have been contacted by a number of people who suspect they were sickened by the recalled puffed rice and puffed wheat cereal.  Our law firm has extensive experience with Salmonella cases.  To contact the firm about the puffed rice recall and puffed wheat recall, please call 1-888-377-8900, e-mail a Salmonella lawyer at our law firm or submit our  free case consultation form for review by a Salmonella lawyer.

The new testing procedures will be done primarily for collecting data. As of now, the USDA does not plan on declaring non-O157 STECs as adulterants like O157:H7, but will use the data collected to determine that at a later date.  The USDA will test samples that tested positive for O157 and also those that did not.  No recalls will be issued by the USDA if a sample tests positive only for non-O157 STECs.

Samples will be tested for six different strains: 026, 0111, 0103, 0121, 045, and 0145. These strains have been shown to cause the greatest number of illnesses among non-O157 STECs.  If the USDA declares these strains as adulterants after collecting data, products contaminated with they will undergo the restrictions applied to O157:H7.  According to Meatingplace, the USDA has prepared the following checklist if non-O157 STECs are labeled as adulterants:

• define applicable products from slaughter/dressing and further processing operations
• issue a Federal Register Notice in the form of an interpretive rule
• establish an effective date that ensures sufficient time to address seamless implementation for both domestic and imported products
• issue compliance guidelines
• issue policy implementation instructions and train FSIS inspection personnel
• conduct outreach to the regulated industry

Foodconsumer.org provided information from FoodNet showing that the number of cases and incidence per 100,000 population in 2007 for non-O157 STECs were 260 per 100,000, or .57%.  The incidence for O157 STECs was 1.20%. However, CIDRAP has stated that states such as Virginia and Idaho (not part of FoodNet) have shown that the prevalence of non-O157 STECs is already equal or greater than the prevalence of O157:H7. This information provides raw numbers, showing that non-O157 STECs are almost as big, if not bigger, a problem as O157 STECs.

A study on PubMed shows that even if non-O157 STECs aren’t as prevalent as O157, they may be just as dangerous.  After examining 940 non-O157 cases of human illness between 1983 and 2002, researchers discovered that the six strains the USDA will be focusing on are indeed the most prevalent in human illness. The data also showed that many of the bacteria were producing Shiga toxin 1 and Shiga toxin 2.  Shiga toxin 2 had a strong association with causing hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). According to the data, the 0111 strain caused the most cases of HUS and also caused 3 outbreaks reported in the United States.

Much of the danger associated with E. coli O157:H7 involves its ability to cause HUS, which can often be fatal.  Research shows that non-O157 STECs can also cause HUS, making them just as dangerous as O157:H7.  Non-O157 STECs also contained genes for intimin, which has been shown to increase the risk of bloody diarrhea.  These are serious symptoms, which pose a great health risk to consumers.  More research and the new plan from the USDA to test for these bacteria can only help to better understand illness rates and to better protect the American consumer.

The food industry may have to start regulating their products more intensely, especially if the USDA’s study shows that non-O157 STECs are indeed as dangerous as E. coli O157:H7. The food industry seems to want to keep doing business as usual. In response to this, FSIS Under Secretary Richard Raymond said, “You certainly may hear things you don’t agree with...Progress won’t occur if we’re just wanting to avoid discomfort by maintaining the old status quo. The E. coli bug is obviously not satisfied with the status quo and neither should we be.”