Spices linked to latest salmonella outbreak

[depakid]

Source: The Oregonian

At least 42 people, including four in the Portland area, have become infected with salmonella from eating pepper, Oregon health authorities said today. The pepper was traced to Union International Food Co. in the San Francisco Bay Area, which sells spices in bulk to markets and restaurants.

Many of the people sickened, including those in the Portland metro area, ate at Asian restaurants, which helped epidemiologists trace the source of the contamination. "Spices are not the easiest thing to figure out," said William Keene, senior epidemiologist at the Public Health Division in Oregon, because they are used in so many ways.

He said all of the cases in the metro area were linked to Asian restaurants or markets. He said three Asian restaurants appeared to be involved, two on the east side of Portland and one in the greater metropolitan area. He would not give the names of the restaurants but said he had eaten at two of them.

The outbreak spans four states, with 33 cases in California, four in Oregon, one in Washington and four in Nevada. There are two more likely cases in California, Keene said. One cluster of people from California and Nevada ate at the same buffet-style restaurant at a casino in Reno, Nev., that also bought spices from Union International Food Co. The company recalled 18 spices sold under the Lian How brand in different size containers. The recalled spices include various forms of white and black pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika, chopped onion, onion powder, various forms of garlic, curry powder, mustard powder and wasabi powder. Although the company initiated a wide recall, Keene said that white pepper is the likely culprit in the outbreak, which appears to have started last year.

Read more: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/03/spices_linked_to_latest_salmon.html

[kestrel91316]

1. Salmonella comes from poop. How in hell does one contaminate PEPPER

with poop??

Sheesh. That took a serious effort at screwing up.

[apnu]

2. I wonder if it was Chinese pepper.

Seems like all these things come from China these days.

[Tempest]

3. Probably not from China

It was white pepper so it most likely came from Malaysia or Vietnam.

[Nikia]

14. The article said Vietnam

If this contamination is from the raw material (the plant), I think they should determine whether any other US companies import from the same place. It could be possible though that their equipment got contaminated too.

[MissMarple]

5. E coli is from poop, I just asked my daughter about salmonella,

Her first response was eggs, but it can live in the intestinal tract of animals. So it may not come directly from poop. Odd, indeed.

Oh, she has a masters in biomedical science and usually seems to know what she's talking about. Me, I'm more liberal arts. She comes in very useful at times.

[Demeter]

8. Samonella Comes from Chicken Poop on or in Eggs

that's how I got mine....sick for 2 weeks.

[bahrbearian]

6. E-coli comes from poop, not Samonella

[kestrel91316]

11. I'm gonna pull rank here as the one with the microbiology degree, lol.

E.coli comes from poop. SO DOES SALMONELLA. In fact, when surveying food and stuff for possible enteric contamination and risk of Salmonella, E.coli is used as the indicator organism because you are much more likely to find it than Salmonella in a given sample.

Was that clear as mud? Good thing I'm not a teacher.

http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~mow/chap1.html

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Search/Search_Results/Index.asp?q=salmonella&mode=simple&num=10&as_occt=any&site=FSIS&btnG.x=20&btnG.y=10

[AndyTiedye]

7. By Not Giving the Farmworkers Any Place to $#!†

[kestrel91316]

12. Trouble is, pepper is a SPICE that comes from Indonesia or wherever.

It grows on bushes. Maybe pepper plantations in Indonesia are as bad a place to work as tomato farms in the San Joaquin Valley? Oy.

[AndyTiedye]

13. Very Likely.

The outbreak a few years ago at least brought some attention to the issue here.
Hopefully this one will do the same where these peppers are grown.

[depakid]

9. There's a lot of potential for cross contamination

along the production, distribution and packaging processes. Tracebacks in complex globalized food networks are notoriously difficult- though not impossible. Some years back there was a widespread salmonella outbreak that was traced back to a European seed producer (after having travelled, been mixed and prepared through an astonishing number of locations).

Unlike these sorts of spices though- with alfalfa sprouts, there's no "kill step" at any level one can use to decontaminate without destroying the product.

Which is why a lot of folks who've follow or are involved professionally with this stuff never eat alfalfa sprouts.

This from last year: http://www.cdph.ca.gov/HealthInfo/news/Pages/PH08-10-ConsumerWarningAlfalfaSprouts.aspx

[Bluenorthwest]

4. Thanks for posting this...I eat a lot of pepper

and I buy it in bulk..in Oregon. And I've not been feeling all that perky, truth be told....

[Trillo]

10. Quick! Regulate the crap out of spices!

All those herbs and spices in folks food! Clearly, spices need more government regulation, perhaps even prohibition!

Perhaps crapping should also be outlawed.

Think of what it will do for the Prison Industrial Complex! All those below-minimum wage employees can finally complete globally!