Cereal linked to food poisoning

[Amelia]

Cereal linked to food poisoning

23 people in 14 states sickened by salmonella found in cereal; probe begins

The Associated Press

April. 12, 2008

MINNEAPOLIS - At least 23 people in 14 states have been sickened by the same strain of salmonella found in two breakfast cereals recalled by Malt-O-Meal, the federal Food and Drug Administration said Saturday.

Officials in Minnesota are investigating whether a case in that state might be linked to the cereals produced by the Minneapolis-based company, the state health department said.

Malt-O-Meal voluntarily recalled its unsweetened Puffed Rice and Puffed Wheat cereals April 5 after finding salmonella contamination during routine testing. The affected bags were produced in the past 12 months in Northfield.

"The Malt-O-Meal company has been extremely cooperative in this investigation and has done the right thing to protect the public's health," Heidi Kassenborg, director of the dairy and food inspection division at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, said in a statement.

Symptoms of salmonella infection include nausea, vomiting, fever, diarrhea and abdominal cramps. It can be life-threatening for people with poor health or weakened immune systems, including young children and the elderly.

The FDA said people who experience such symptoms after eating a puffed wheat or puffed rice cereal made by Malt-O-Meal should contact their doctors and report the illness to state or local health authorities.

The FDA said the recalled products were distributed nationally under the Malt-O-Meal brand name, as well as private labels including Acme, America's Choice, Food Club, Giant, Hannaford, Jewel, Laura Lynn, Pathmark, Shaw's, ShopRite, Tops and Weis Quality. The cereal bags have "best if used by" dates from April 8, 2008 (coded as APR0808), through March 18, 2009 (coded as MAR1809).

Consumers with products from the recalled lots are advised to throw them out, and retailers have been told to remove the cereals from their shelves.

[CyberGuy]

I guess we cannot blame China for this one.

[aldona]

Nor can we point our righteous vegetarian fingers at the meat-eaters.

aldona

[olger]

Instead of blaming anyone, how about we remain grateful to the Lord for His government, and heed His eternal counsel about what is best for us?

[Dr. Shane]

Lucky for me I don't eat puffed wheat or puffed rice. They have something like 0 fiber.

Most salmonella does have its traces back to animal products. How would wheat or rice get salmonella all by itself? It lives in the intestinal tract so the wheat or rice had to somehow come in contact with animal flesh, eggs, milk or feces to become contaminated. So some kind of cross contamination had to have taken place.

[aldona]

Lucky for me I don't eat puffed wheat or puffed rice. They have something like 0 fiber.

Most salmonella does have its traces back to animal products. How would wheat or rice get salmonella all by itself? It lives in the intestinal tract so the wheat or rice had to somehow come in contact with animal flesh, eggs, milk or feces to become contaminated. So some kind of cross contamination had to have taken place.

There are all sorts of places that salmonella and other bugs can come from.

- The soil that the cereal crop grew in

- The fertilizer used on the crop (if they are using manure-based fertilizers, which many farms do not, but "organic" ones certainly will)

- Any wild animals, birds, or other critters that come in contact with the crop when it is still in the field

- Water being used to irrigate the crop (especially if it comes from rivers or other sources that have run-off from animal farms or sewage)

- Surfaces of machinery and containers used to harvest and store the crop (these kinds of things can never be completely sterilized)

- And very commonly: hands of any personnel who process and handle the product anywhere along the production process. With the product passing through so many hands before it reaches the consumer, all it takes is one person who went to the bathroom and then did not wash their hands properly.

In Ellen White's day, when food was grown on the family farm and the farmer knew exactly what happened to it from start to finish, it may have been possible to look at someone who had food poisoning and say "You got sick from that food? You must have violated the laws of health in some way."

In this day and age, it is impossible.

And it is also impossible to smugly sit back and say "we are vegetarian - therefore we are supernaturally protected against the nasty bugs that only infest animal foods."

Some of the worst outbreaks of food poisoning in recent memory, both here in Australia and reported in the news from the USA, have involved:

- Alfalfa sprouts and other raw salad vegetables

- Peanut butter

- Cereals (as reported in this thread)

One of the most potentially serious food poisoning bugs (Bacillus cereus) lives on cooked rice that has been improperly refrigerated.

Another type (staph aureus) is commonly found in potato salad.

The New South Wales (Australia) Food Authority website lists sprouts and tahini (sesame seed paste) as foods that may be contaminated by salmonella.

Our church had an outbreak of gastroenteritis a few years ago after a potluck. 15 people got ill, and some of those hardest hit were the crusading super-vegan health reformers who were extremely particular about what they eat.

There was no official Health Department involvement, but a little "unofficial" investigation by the deaconesses in charge of the kitchen and myself (working out who got sick, what they ate, who else ate what they ate and whether they too got sick) led to the probability that the source of the outbreak was the punch bowl with the mixed fruit juice punch and pieces of floating fruit. It was a warm day and some observers had seen kids putting their hands in the punch bowl to scoop up cups of drink and retrieve pieces of fruit.

I guess the message is that just about any type of food can end up contaminated - what matters most is the hygiene of the person(s) who handle the food from the source until it reaches our plates. The high protein content of animal foods, and the process by which they are produced, means that these foods are more easily able to be colonized by harmful bacteria, but there is no "magical" quality about plant foods that makes them immune.

aldona

[Dr. Shane]

Quote:

- The soil that the cereal crop grew in

- The fertilizer used on the crop (if they are using manure-based fertilizers, which many farms do not, but "organic" ones certainly will)

- Any wild animals, birds, or other critters that come in contact with the crop when it is still in the field

- Water being used to irrigate the crop (especially if it comes from rivers or other sources that have run-off from animal farms or sewage)

- Surfaces of machinery and containers used to harvest and store the crop (these kinds of things can never be completely sterilized)

- And very commonly: hands of any personnel who process and handle the product anywhere along the production process. With the product passing through so many hands before it reaches the consumer, all it takes is one person who went to the bathroom and then did not wash their hands properly.

Aren't these all examples of cross contamination?

[Bravus]

{insert compulsory 'cereal killer' joke here}

[aldona]

Quote:

- The soil that the cereal crop grew in

- The fertilizer used on the crop (if they are using manure-based fertilizers, which many farms do not, but "organic" ones certainly will)

- Any wild animals, birds, or other critters that come in contact with the crop when it is still in the field

- Water being used to irrigate the crop (especially if it comes from rivers or other sources that have run-off from animal farms or sewage)

- Surfaces of machinery and containers used to harvest and store the crop (these kinds of things can never be completely sterilized)

- And very commonly: hands of any personnel who process and handle the product anywhere along the production process. With the product passing through so many hands before it reaches the consumer, all it takes is one person who went to the bathroom and then did not wash their hands properly.

Aren't these all examples of cross contamination?

And your point is...?

Bacteria in meat or milk is a result of cross-contamination too. Cows and sheep do not normally walk around with E.Coli or Salmonella in their muscle tissue, any more than we do. If they did, they would die of blood poisoning (septicemia). Likewise, cow's milk is normally as sterile, when it comes straight from the cow, as a woman's breast milk is.

All bacterial pathogens in food are there as a result of cross-contamination. No food is "naturally" designed to contain bacteria. Certain foods may be easier to contaminate because of the way they are produced and handled, but no food (plant or animal) is exempt. That is the point I am trying to make.

aldona

[Amelia]

All this makes me wonder why I never got sick as a kid; having been sent to school with a tuna sandwich, packed in a lunch pail, that then sat in the cloak room awaiting lunch time.

[Neil D]

All this makes me wonder why I never got sick as a kid; having been sent to school with a tuna sandwich, packed in a lunch pail, that then sat in the cloak room awaiting lunch time.

The sandwich, if made the night before, sat in the referator...If made that morning, probably grew some bacteria, but it wasn't enough to make you sick...