Ecoli Victim helped push for change in USDA Rules  –  exceprts –
By JoNel Aleccia, Health writer, msnbc.com; updated 9/13/2011 /12:26:23 PM ET

The mother of a 10-year-old girl critically sickened by an outbreak of a rare strain of E. coli bacteria welcomed the news this week that the government will soon start screening for that bug and five other new pathogens in the nation’s beef supply.

“By classifying these dangerous pathogens as adulterants, the USDA is adopting a ‘zero-tolerance’ policy toward E. coli in meat that we have long fought for,” said Jean Halloran, Director of Food Policy Initiatives at Consumers Union. “These strains of E. coli have been identified for years as causing serious illness and even death. This higher standard will help to ensure that disease-causing food is kept off store shelves and out of consumers’ homes.”

It’s not clear what kind of food caused the 2008 restaurant outbreak of E. coli O111 that sickened Shiloh Johnson and 340 other people in Oklahoma. Shiloh ate a range of foods including chicken, boiled egg, bread and olives, her mother said. State health officials were never able to identify exactly how the E. coli bacteria entered the facility or the food at the Country Cottage restaurant in Locust Grove, Okla.

So, even though they could not find any evidence that meat was even involved, they now have the right to place even stiffer regulations on the meat industry, costing them millions of dollars, and adding more chemicals into our already overloaded with chemicals meat supply.  Which they are now radiating to boot??  Unbelievable. Zero tolerance means they can put the meat industry out of business on a whim.

“There was speculation that it came through the well water,” said Belinda Johnson. She and Shiloh’s brother, Gabe, who was 7, became only mildly ill.

Johnson, a divorced mom who works as an office manager, said testing for E. coli O111 in meat would be a first step toward detecting and preventing the organism in one type of food. That may prevent other children from developing E. coli infections like the one that sickened Shiloh, leading her to develop hemolytic uremic syndrome, a severe complication that can cause kidney failure and death.

However, meat industry officials said the move was not based on sound science and that the testing already in place for E. coli O157:H7 was adequate to protect against the other pathogens.

“Imposing this new regulatory program on ground beef will cost tens of millions of federal and industry dollars — costs that likely will be borne by taxpayers and consumers. It is neither likely to yield a significant public health benefit nor is it good public policy,” James H. Hodges, executive vice president of the American Meat Institute, said in a statement.
spacer

Multistate Outbreak of E. coli O157:  H7 Infections Linked to Romaine Lettuce (FINAL UPDATE) – excerpts – Posted March 23, 2012

As of March 21, 2012, 58 persons infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 were reported from 9 states. The number of ill persons identified in each state was as follows: Arizona (1), Arkansas (2), Illinois (9), Indiana (2), Kansas (2), Kentucky (1), Minnesota (2), Missouri (38), and Nebraska (1). Two cases were removed from the case count because advanced molecular testing determined that they were not related to this outbreak strain. Among persons for whom information was available, illnesses began from October 9, 2011 to November 7, 2011. Ill persons ranged in age from 1 to 94 years, with a median age of 28 years. Fifty-nine percent were female. Among the 49 ill persons with available information, 33 (67%) were hospitalized, and 3 developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). No deaths were reported

I have to inject something here.  This may be the reason why GOD had me drive a semi truck for a few months.  I drove a refrigerated Semi cross country and on one occasion I had to go to California and pick up a load of lettuce.   I was held over at that pick up point for a long time.  When I got anxious and started asking why it was taking so long, a man who worked at that facility told me that we were waiting for them to finish “gassing the lettuce”.  I said what?  He said they gas all the vegetables to help them to stay fresh longer.  Hmmm, how curious.  Now, I am wondering if they are contaminating all of our food before it goes to market.  

Just When Did E. Coli Start Showing Up in Flour?

This story begins May 31, 2016, when General Mills recalled flour due to potential contamination with E. coli. The company expanded the recall three times, on July 1, July 11 and July 25. In total, General Mills recalled about 45 million lbs. of the product, representing about 2% of its annual output.

   – By Coral Beach on June 10, 2016

Federal officials have matched E. coli O121 from a sample of General Mills flour recovered from a sick person’s home to the outbreak strain that has sickened at least 38 people since December. The discovery is the smoking gun investigators have been looking for since late April when patient interviews revealed that raw dough made with flour was a common denominator among outbreak victims.

“On June 10, FDA whole genome sequencing on E. coli O121 isolates recovered from an open sample of General Mills flour belonging to one of the consumers who was sickened was found to be closely genetically related to the clinical isolates from human illnesses. The flour came from a lot that General Mills has recalled,” according to an update from the Food and Drug Administration this evening. As of 10:45 p.m. EDT, General Mills had not updated the recall and outbreak information on its website. The most recent information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has not been updated since June 1, showed that 10 of the 38 confirmed victims had such severe symptoms they had to be admitted to hospitals. Outbreak victims were spread across 20 states as of May 3, which was the most recent illness onset date reported by CDC last week. The first confirmed victim became ill Dec. 21, 2015. Prevention Branch said consumers should check packages they have on hand and throw the flour away if the label codes match those of the recalled products.

Ok, so first they said they Federal Officials had found “a MATCH, the smoking gun investigators have been looking for since late April when patient interviews revealed that raw dough made with flour was a common denominator among outbreak victims.”  just a few sentences below that, when describing the culprit they say: “flour belonging to one of the consumers who was sickened was found to be closely genetically related to the clinical isolates from human illnesses.  Typical double talk.  So they have no true evidence.

CDC’s standing warning about raw dough. “It is very important for people to never eat raw dough or batter,” Neil said, explaining that there is the inherent possibility for raw flour to be contaminated because it is made from wheat, which is grown outdoors, and not subjected to a kill step during production.  

Oh really?  Thousands of years our food has been grown outdoors. I don’t know where else you could grow it.  Never been a problem until recently. Kids have been licking the bowl and betters from cakes and cookies forever. That was one of the joys of childhood.  Kids used to compete for the privlege.  Hmmm.. and we never had to have a KILL STEP to treat our food before we eat it either. 

Five dead, nearly 200 sick in E. coli outbreak from lettuce. And investigators are stumped. – excerpts – By Kristine Phillip, The Washington Post – Posted Jun 3, 2018, at 5:10 PM

Why were the investigators “STUMPED”?  Because no one ever heard of this before.  We NEVER had any reason to be afraid of poisoning when eating vegetables or a salad.  Who EVER heard of that??  Of course now, that is the norm.  Recalls happen quite often of all kinds of fruits and vegetables.  Seems like NOTHING is safe to eat anymore.

Five people have died and nearly 200 people from nearly three dozen states have been sickened by E. coli in a growing outbreak that has so far stumped federal investigators.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the death tally Friday, more than two months after the first illnesses occurred in mid-March. Although investigators have determined that E. coli came from contaminated romaine lettuce that were grown in Arizona’s Yuma region near the border to Southern California, the Food and Drug Administration has not been able to link the outbreak to one farm, processor or distributor, Scott Gottlieb, the agency’s commissioner, and Stephen Ostroff, the deputy commissioner for foods and veterinary medicine, said in an update Thursday.

The CDC said 197 people have been sickened, nearly half of whom were hospitalized. Some told officials that they did not eat romaine lettuce but became sick after close contact with someone who ate contaminated vegetables, the CDC said. Twenty-six developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure that can be life-threatening to people with weak immune systems, such as young children and the elderly.

A majority of those who have been affected come from California, where one death was reported, and Pennsylvania. The four other deaths were reported in Arkansas, Minnesota and New York, according to the CDC.

Last month, the Canadian government announced that six of its citizens were also sickened with Escherichia coli with “similar genetic fingerprint” with those reported in the United States. Two of the six told officials that traveled across the border before they became sick. Three became infected in Canada. Canadian officials, though, said that the risk to their citizens are low.

FDA Discloses New E. Coli Romaine Outbreak After It Ends
CR believes the agency waited too long to alert consumers
By Kevin Loria
November 01, 2019       (Except Only –  New Addition 11/2/20)

An outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections that was linked to romaine lettuce sickened at least 23 people across 12 states between July 12 and Sept. 8, the Food and Drug Administration announced Friday.

The announcement came more than a month after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began investigating the cluster of cases Sept. 17.

This strain of E. coli produces a toxin that in some cases can lead to serious illness, kidney failure, and death. Eleven of the victims in this latest outbreak were hospitalized as a result of the infection, but there were no deaths reported.

Romaine lettuce has been implicated in three separate outbreaks of E. coli O157:H7 in the last two years; one in December 2017, one in spring 2018, and one in the fall 2018. The outbreak that occurred in spring 2018 was the largest and most deadly E. coli outbreak in the U.S. in decades. The type of E. coli involved in the latest outbreak was the same severe form of the pathogen as that involved in the two major E. coli outbreaks in 2018.

There have been no new illnesses related to this current outbreak since the CDC began its investigation, and the FDA’s announcement states that this latest outbreak appears to be over.

“Not all foodborne illness outbreaks are announced by the FDA or CDC, but after the severity of 2018’s outbreaks, it’s surprising that the FDA waited more than a month to inform consumers after discovering the outbreak,” says Michael Hansen, Ph.D., a senior staff scientist at Consumer Reports.