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Another outbreak solved. As we reported previously, numerous students from the Woodbury Middle School (in Salem, N.H.) and the Florence Rideout Elementary School (in Wilton, N.H.) fell ill after an overnight stay at the Stone Environmental School (in Madison, N.H.). Although approximately 120 children and adults reported some form of illness, only fifteen cases of Salmonella were confirmed. In turn, these illnesses led to the temporary closure of the camp while Department of Health and Human Services (“DHHS”) investigators worked closely with Stone Environmental to locate the source of the problem.

During the ensuing investigation, health officials confirmed that pudding served to the campers was contaminated with Salmonella. Interestingly, however, they also confirmed that the mixer used to prepare the pudding was sanitized by the camp after each use. According to Beth Daley, a DHHS epidemiologist, "the mixer was actually being sanitized in accordance with the manufacturer's specifications."

Nevertheless, it appears that, in addition to using the mixer to prepare pudding, the mixer was also used to prepare scrambled eggs (which can sometimes contain Salmonella). Thus, investigators suspect that a possible defect in the mixer design may have allowed bacteria to get into an area where it couldn't be cleaned out. The mixer has been removed and is undergoing further testing.

In any event, Stone Environmental was pleased that the source of the illness had been found. According to David Freese, executive director of the camp, "our first priority, of course, was the safety of our campers.” And, now that the likely source has been identified, both he and staff are looking forward to reopening soon.

Congratulations to both DHHS and Stone Environmental for their cooperative efforts to find and eliminate the source of these illnesses.

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The USA Today tells readers across the country what many food safety professionals already know:

“When it comes to food-borne illness investigation, ‘Minnesota is leap years ahead of . . . most of the rest of the nation,’ says James Phillips, head of infectious diseases for the Arkansas Department of Health.”

[Read the Full Article]

One of Minnesota’s advantages is the resources devoted to “Team Diarrhea,” a group of seven to nine graduate students who work the phones interviewing and taking detailed exposure histories from every person who tests positive for Salmonella or E. coli O157:H7. Victims may be interviewed twice as further exposure evidence is gathered from other consumers. With this attention to detail, more outbreaks can be identified.

“Minnesota ‘has a lot of best practices . . . to get to people quickly to find out what they ate, the CDC’s [Ali]Kahn says.”

So congrats to the hard-working professionals in Minnesota.

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Nearly 365 billion meals are served each year in the United States. Notably, almost all of these meals are prepared and consumed without incident. Of the 365 billion annual servings (not including snacks), only a very small fraction will result in a food-borne illness.  

Although actual illnesses are likely constant, recent improvements in surveillance have resulted in more outbreaks being identified.  In turn, more people are bringing claims.  Over the years, we have observed that, because of limited governmental resources (along with other factors too numerous to list), many food-borne illness outbreak investigations are still unable to identify a cause, and some investigations (or lawyers) continue to identify the wrong source.  In these and other instances, ill claimants sue the wrong party.  Thus, from turkeys to tomatoes, we plan to take some time in coming posts to dissect notable outbreak investigations - the good, the bad and -- of course -- the very ugly.

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