Washington - Construction dust from repairs at a Michigan meat plant may have been the cause of a listeria outbreak in packaged hot dogs that claimed 16 lives, U.S. government investigators said.
The deadly outbreak was the worst in a series of recent listeria contamination cases that are testing the Clinton Administration's resolve to improve food safety. The eruption of cases also has scientists worried that new, more resistant strains of bacteria may be emerging in ready-to-eat foods that consumers do not cook.
Listeria, a microscopic bacteria that clings to drainpipes, plastic surfaces and the spiral threads of screws, is common in the environment and not dangerous to most people. But unborn babies, small children, the elderly and others with weakened immune systems can die from a virulent strain of the bacteria.
Hot dog and deli meat production at Sara Lee Corp's Zeeland, Michigan plant was halted last month after investigators traced some 70 illnesses to meat from the plant. Government investigators spent weeks reviewing company records, tests and other data but found no obvious cause.
“Our working hypothesis now is that construction generated dust which may have contaminated the product,” Dr. Paul Mead, an epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, told reporters. “We believe this is a reasonable theory.”
The plant's air conditioning system was being repaired and modernized when the tainted meats were processed, Mead said.
The CDC will issue a final report on the outbreak in the next two weeks, he said.
The Sara Lee outbreak began last August among consumers in 14 states who ate Bil Mar brand meats, according to the CDC.
Scientists with the CDC, the U.S. Agriculture Department and the Food and Drug Administration met with more than 200 food industry executives, consumer groups and health experts Wednesday to discuss ways of preventing listeria outbreaks.
Tom Billy, administrator of the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, said regulators would issue stricter meat processing guidelines by the end of the month. But the guidelines do not carry the force of law until the USDA has conducted a formal rulemaking procedure, he noted.
“What worked in the past won't automatically work in the future,” Billy said, referring to government and industry food safety practices.
A growing number of Americans have weakened immune systems and are more vulnerable to food poisoning and the shelf life of refrigerated processed foods has been extended to several months instead of weeks, he said.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest urged the USDA to require companies to test ready-to-eat meats for listeria. The USDA randomly tests a small number of samples each year.
“In some instances, lawyers have advised their companies not to test for listeria because they simply don't want to know if product is contaminated,” said Caroline Smith DeWaal, head of food safety for the consumer group.
Meat companies oppose new testing, saying the focus should be on ways to improve the manufacturing process.
“The Bil Mar recall is one that got everybody in the industry saying, 'holy smokes, what can we do here?”' said one meat industry official. “We think there is some promising technology and we want to get working in that direction.”
The technology includes treating packaged foods with high temperatures for pasteurization and the use of irradiation, he said.
Irradiation, a procedure which uses tiny doses of gamma rays to kill bacteria in food, was approved for use on red meat by the FDA last year, but the USDA has dragged its heels in developing rules for its use. Billy said Wednesday that the department would issue the long-awaited rules later this week.
About 1,300 cases of listeriosis are reported to federal health officials annually, and one out of every five patients dies. Scientists say those numbers are likely to rise, with more public health departments reporting foodborne disease to the CDC and new DNA tests that can link cases.
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