Recent Outbreaks
Significant media and Congressional attention has focused on a number of foodborne outbreaks in the United States in recent years. Each resulted in significant healthârelated consequences to the American public and in significant economic repercussions for the companies involved.
During the first seven weeks of 2010, alone, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced four separate new recalls of beef and ready-to-eat sausage products due to contamination with Salmonella. In addition to beef products, and indicative of the spread of bacterial contamination to multiple food groups, the U.S. Food and Drug Association (FDA) reported seven recalls during the same time period from various manufacturers of cheese spreads, salsa, peanut butter, cheese, granola bars and pet food due to contamination with Salmonella or Listeria monocytogenes.
The United States saw the largest egg recall in its history during the summer of 2010. In August, Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa, and Hillandale Farms of Iowa recalled more than 500 million eggs due to potential Salmonella contamination. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), from May 1 to November 30, 2010, there were approximately 1,939 reports of illness from Salmonella Enteritidis infections.
Throughout most of 2009, back-to-back recalls consumed the media headlines as well, escalating food safety concerns among consumers, Congress, and the Administration.
One of the most massive and widely publicized recalls in history involved Salmonella contamination of peanut butter and peanut products. The contamination was linked to more than 700 illnesses in 46 states and may have contributed to nine deaths. In January 2009, the Peanut Corp of America (PCA) conducted a nationwide recall of peanuts and peanut products, including peanut butter and peanut paste. More than 2,833 peanut-containing products made with the ingredients recalled by PCA were recalled by hundreds of companies.
On the heels of the PCA recall, Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc. conducted a nationwide recall of more than 1 million pounds of pistachios due to potential Salmonella contamination.
Then, in June 2009, the recall of Nestle’s Toll House refrigerated cookie dough products due to potential contamination with E. coli O157:H7 further raised food safety concerns. According to the CDC, 80 people from 31 states were infected with the outbreak strain linked to the recalled cookie dough. Thirty-five were hospitalized, 10 of whom developed a severe complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome.
Perhaps the most alarming recall in recent years involved the destruction of products containing any of the more than 143 million pounds of beef recalled by Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co. of Chino, California. The company recalled the beef on February 17, 2008, after federal officials found it had allowed cattle that could not walk to be slaughtered without notifying a federal inspector to do a required second inspection. Those cattle are generally prohibited from the food supply because they carry a higher risk of mad cow disease and bacterial contamination. Some of the Westland Meat Co. branded products were purchased for Federal food and nutrition programs, including in the National School Lunch Program, the Emergency Food Assistance Program, and the Food Assistance Program on Indian Reservations.
There have been many other food product recalls as well. Simply going back to 2007, there were 21 recalls of beef products due to contamination with E. coli O157:H7, compared with eight in 2006 and five in 2005.
All told, the significant number and scope of food product recalls in recent years punctuate the critical need for accurate and practical diagnostic tools that can help the food industry identify and eradicate harmful pathogens before they enter the food supply.
Source: FDA
