Not that I care about celebrities but it was reported that Elton John was recovering in the hospital from E-coli.
NY Times In-Depth Investigation into the American Hamburger World
Stephanie Smith - Picture from NY Times
A simple hamburger caused a young children’s dance instructor to become violently ill, in a coma for 9 days and ultimately left paralyzed. Later it was revealed that e-coli was the culprit.
The New York Times Sunday edition paper published an in-depth investigation about the outbreak. The investigation is probably the best researched article ever and will surely do more for the American beef industry than any lawyer, legislator, or lobbyist ever will.
The Times traced the story of the burger that Smith (the dance instructor) consumed. Ground beef is usually produced by companies referred to as grinders or processing plants. In this case it was Cargill.
The meat is typically purchased from slaughterhouses, “a single portion of hamburger meat is often an amalgam of various grades of meat from different parts of cows and even from different slaughterhouses.”
In this case, confidential Cargill records indicated that the hamburger was made from, “a mix of slaughterhouse trimmings mash-like product derived from scraps that were ground together at a plant in Wisconsin. The ingredients came from slaughterhouses in Nebraska, Texas and Uruguay, and from a South Dakota company that processes fatty trimmings and treats them with ammonia to kill bacteria.”
Note, there are no Federal requirement for the grinder to test the meat purchased from the slaughterhouses. In fact, the article states that slaughterhouses might refuse to sell the meat if they know that the grinder is testing the meat.
Furthermore:
the largest ingredient was beef trimmings known as “50/50” — half fat, half meat — that cost about 60 cents a pound, making them the cheapest component.
Cargill bought these trimmings — fatty edges sliced from better cuts of meat — from Greater Omaha Packing, where some 2,600 cattle are slaughtered daily and processed in a plant the size of four football fields.
It was reported that:
Cattle often arrive with smears of feedlot feces that harbour the E.coli pathogen, and the hide must be removed carefully.
This is a lengthy article that is difficult to summarize. Click here for NY Times anatomy of a burger.
Trade secret, confidential logs redacted, federal inspectors noting citations and lack of adequate industry standards seems to have contributed to this outbreak.
Tagged american, beef, E-coli, hamburger, New York Times, slaughterhouses
County Fairs and Petting Zoos
With the Fall se
ason here many people will be attending local agricultural fairs that also host petting zoos. The largest fair in Ontario the Canadian National Exhibition is now closed for the season. However, there are others that will continue on until late November and sometimes further into the winter season.
As we have seen recently, fairs and petting zoos can be dangerous places due to the possible transmission of pathogens that could pose serious health hazards for children and the elderly. This is largely the result of direct contact with animals. Two very common illness could be e-coli and salmonella.
Just recently, two e-coli outbreaks occurred at a British Columba petting zoo and one in the UK.
Over the last few years there have been e-coli outbreaks at a Florida petting zoo, Lane County in Oregon, North Carolina State Fair, County fair, Fort Bend County, Texas, Petting Zoo, Zutphen, The Netherlands, Farm, Wellington, New Zealand, Washington County Fair and the Agricultural Fair, Ontario to name but a few.
Recently, a Microbiologist cautioned parents to ensure their children were practising safe hand hygiene when visiting fairs and petting zoos.
In the United States, in 2003 the Pennsylvania Legislature passed the Senate Bill No. 1325 that was in response to a 2002 e.coli outbreak at a Montgomery County petting zoo. The law was aimed at protecting fair and petting zoo visitors.
In 2005 North Carolina passed the Aedin’s Law in response to an e-coli outbreak in 2004 at the North Carolina State Fair.
Ontario does not have a specific law that addresses such problems. I am not certain whether British Columbia has any such laws but it might consider the option given the recent outbreak.
Tagged british columbia, county fairs, E-coli, north carolina, ontario, petting zoo, salmonella, texas, UK
14 E-Coli Victims Sue Restaurant
The Country Cottage Restaurant located in Locust Grove, OK faces a lawsuit brought by 14 people who allege to have become ill due to an e-coli outbreak at the restaurant. One of the victims was reported to have been in a coma for three weeks as his, “liver, kidney and digestive system shut down, and his family was told he probably wouldn’t make it.”
Another victim a 26 year old actually died.
The article can be found here and states:
While the state Health Department was never able to pinpoint the exact source of the outbreak at Country Cottage, the victims’ lawyer says that doesn’t mean the restaurant isn’t liable. Country Cottage’s lawyer was unavailable for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Tagged cottage country restaurant, E-coli
Hand Hygiene is Important
A Microbiologist tells the BBC that children under five should not touch animals at petting farms due to the recent outbreak of e-coli in the UK. If you are planning on visiting a petting farm good hand hygiene should always be a safety priority.
The article can be found here.