Washington - A 12th death has been linked to an outbreak of the listeria bacteria, a deadly microbe that also has forced a Michigan firm to recall a record 30 million pounds (13,600 tons) of hot dogs, U.S. government agencies said Monday.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that a 12th death has been linked to an outbreak of the listeria bacteria. Since August, the bacteria also has caused three women to have miscarriages and sickened at least 79 people in 17 states.
The illnesses were linked to hot dogs and luncheon meat produced by Bil Mar Foods, a division of Sara Lee Corp., at its Zeeland, Mich., plant.
Thorn Apple Valley, a Michigan firm, Friday recalled hot dogs and luncheon kits produced over a six-month period at its Forrest City, Arkansas, plant after government tests detected listeria bacteria. No illnesses have been linked to the Thorn Apple Valley products.
A spokesman for Thorn Apple Valley said the company had produced about 30 million pounds (13,600 tons) of hot dogs over the six months in question.
An Agriculture Department official said Monday the Thorn Apple recall was the biggest ever, surpassing the previous U.S. record recall of 25 million pounds (11,300 tons) of tainted ground beef by Hudson Foods Inc in 1997.
Thorn Apple Valley estimated that 25 million pounds (11,300 tons) of the meat had already expired and was hopefully out of refrigerators and that a third of the food that had not expired was still on grocery store shelves when the recall was announced. The products were sold nationwide, as well as in South Korea and Russia, by a variety of companies and packaged under different names.
Lester Crawford, director of Georgetown University's Center for Food and Nutrition Policy and former head of the Agriculture Department's food safety division, called the spate of listeria cases a "mini-epidemic.”
"You've got a lot of product that was in the marketplace that was capable of exposing susceptible people to listeria,” Crawford said. "The least you could say is it's a serious situation.”
Listeria bacteria is found in soil and water, and causes a condition called listeriosis, which is not normally contracted by healthy people.
The most common symptoms are meningitis, which has symptoms including high fever, severe headaches, neck stiffness and nausea. Listeriosis can cause miscarriages and stillbirths, and can be fatal for those with weakened immune systems, including infants, the elderly or people with chronic diseases.
In all, four U.S. companies have issued recalls since December after their products tested positive for listeria.
Last month, Bil Mar Foods initiated a massive voluntary recall that could exceed the amount of hot dogs recalled in the Thorn Apple Valley case.
Crawford said the Bil Mar outbreak was the worst since 1985, when 40 people died and 100 others became sick after eating contaminated cheese.
In another case Friday, Bosell Foods, Inc., of Cleveland recalled 350 pounds (160 kg) of sliced ham. No illnesses were reported.
Earlier this month, Oscar Mayer Foods, a unit of Philip Morris Cos, voluntarily recalled two types of luncheon meat after an elderly man in Kansas City, Missouri, became sick from the company's deli meat.
Government officials said there was no evidence that the four cases are linked.
Caroline Smith DeWaal of the Center for Science in the Public Interest said the cases showed the Agriculture Department's system for ensuring food safety had holes.
"These recalls and outbreaks show that the ... system isn't working as well as it should be against listeria,” she said.
An Agriculture Department official said: "This recent spate of recalls is causing us to reevaluate our listeria testing effort to make sure we are doing all that we can.”
According to the CDC, about 1,850 people become seriously ill with listeriosis each year and 425 of them die.
Listeriosis and other food-borne illnesses can be prevented by cooking meat thoroughly and washing raw vegetables before eating them.
Meat Industry Insights News Service
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Phone: 631-757-4010
Fax: 631-757-4060
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