There’s a Major Foodborne Illness Outbreak and the Government’s Shut Down

Late-breaking news, and I’ll update as I find out more: While the government is shut down, with food-safety personnel and disease detectives sent home and forbidden to work, a major foodborne-illness outbreak has begun. This evening, the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the US Department of Agriculture announced that “an estimated 278 illnesses … reported in 18 states” have been caused by chicken contaminated with Salmonella Heidelberg and possibly produced by the firm Foster Farms.

“FSIS is unable to link the illnesses to a specific product and a specific production period,” the agency said in an emailed alert. “The outbreak is continuing.”

(Updates to this post are at the bottom.)

This is the exact situation that CDC and other abo

There’s a Major Foodborne Illness Outbreak and the Government’s Shut Down

Well isn't this smashing. The states so far affected: Arizona, Arkansas, Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin.

This is sad, and a could spin into a worst case scenario we're making educated guesses at something that shouldn't be toyed with because the government is shut down. Even though I want to bring up political issues, the safety of people, and what they eat, takes precedence.

Keep to the topic at hand.

reply to post by Evil_Santa


You kill Salmonella by safe handling practices. outlined HERE

It is the reason I wash my egg shells before cracking and my hands frequently and overcook my chicken. I had Salmonella poisoning while camping and it is NOT FUN.

Even if the government was up and running, these sorts of food-related illnesses happen all the time. The inspectors do not prevent these problems....they come in after the fact to find out where it came from and where the product was delivered/served.

This is just one more angle to attach the shutdown to.

reply to post by Evil_Santa

The Center of Disease Control ordered $11 million worth of antibiotics. Where are they going? FEMA Region lll. When are they due? October 1st. This coupled with the fact that the World Health Organization held an emergency meeting, its second such meeting in its history, to discuss MERS Coronavirus. This is quite unsettling. The WHO determined that a vaccine MUST be in place by October 1st.

Interesting, coincidence or not. October 1st. S&F OP.

13th Zodiac
reply to post by Evil_Santa

 

The Center of Disease Control ordered $11 million worth of antibiotics. Where are they going? FEMA Region lll. When are they due? October 1st. This coupled with the fact that the World Health Organization held an emergency meeting, its second such meeting in its history, to discuss MERS Coronavirus. This is quite unsettling. The WHO determined that a vaccine MUST be in place by October 1st.

Interesting, coincidence or not. October 1st. S&F OP.

Even though Oct 1st is past , it is just as likely all these things were due Oct 1 as that was the start of the new fiscal year as it is anything nefarious.

Next year people will get all worked up, not you poster, again when large quantities of items are purchased in the days leading up to Oct 1.

reply to post by Evil_Santa


See. In one thread, I listed the services that were shut down or crippled by this. I said that they made me nervous. Wellah...this crap happens. I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN.

Just wait for some false flag attacks now.

278 people is hardly an epidemic.... People need to learn the hard way sometimes how to prepare food. I am a guy, and even I know how to do basic things like wash my hands after cracking eggs, handling raw chicken etc. Common sense grandma taught me. I guess there is good reason she lived to 87 lol

reply to post by 13th Zodiac


There sure seems to be a lot of anticipation in region III. Makes me wonder what TPTB know that we don't know.

sheepslayer247
Even if the government was up and running, these sorts of food-related illnesses happen all the time. The inspectors do not prevent these problems....they come in after the fact to find out where it came from and where the product was delivered/served.

This is just one more angle to attach the shutdown to.

You're right, they come in after the fact to find out where it came from and to get the product off the shelves.

That isn't happening right now.

No offense to you OP, but aren't they going to spin every thing that happens right now, because the government is shut down, into something huge? Just to make the public fearful, and all that much more "grateful" when our wonderful government all of a sudden (mysteriously, right?) gets their poop together and saves us all?


I'm so sick of the whole propaganda surrounding this nightmare!!!!

reply to post by Evil_Santa


Just some stats for perspective:-

Data on Foodborne Disease Outbreaks during 2009-2010

During January 1, 2009 through December 31, 2010, public health departments reported 1,527 foodborne disease outbreaks, resulting in 29,444 cases of illness, 1,184 hospitalizations, and 23 deaths.

•Among the 790 outbreaks with a laboratory-confirmed illness, norovirus was the most commonly reported infection, accounting for 42% of outbreaks; followed by Salmonella, with 30% of outbreaks.

•Of the 29,444 outbreak-related illnesses, 1,184 (4%) resulted in hospitalization. Salmonella caused the most outbreak-related hospitalizations (49%), followed by Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (16%), and norovirus (9%).

•Outbreaks caused by some pathogens were particularly severe. For example, Listeria outbreaks resulted in the highest proportion of persons hospitalized (82%), followed by Clostridium botulinum (67%), and paralytic shellfish poisoning (67%).

•Among the 23 deaths, 22 were linked to bacteria (9 Listeria, 5 Salmonella, E. coli O157, 3 Clostridium perfringens, and 1 Shigella), and 1 was linked to norovirus.

www.cdc.gov...

crimvelvet
reply to post by Evil_Santa

 

You kill Salmonella by safe handling practices. outlined HERE

It is the reason I wash my egg shells before cracking and my hands frequently and overcook my chicken. I had Salmonella poisoning while camping and it is NOT FUN.

Practicing food safety when cooking is always a big thing in my house too. However, this current issue means that there will be more people exposed to it then necessary because we don't have the current resources to stop the spread of the outbreak. The suspected company has also had previous outbreaks this year, and those outbreaks had incidents of anti-biotic resistant strains, which is frightening to know that this chicken is still out on the shelves in grocery stores.

Just wanted to add that I am in the Food Service business and as of this morning the USDA is still sending alerts for possible foodborne illness' and contaminations.

This morning there was an alert about salmonella and peppers from Orange County California.

chiefsmom
No offense to you OP, but aren't they going to spin every thing that happens right now, because the government is shut down, into something huge? Just to make the public fearful, and all that much more "grateful" when our wonderful government all of a sudden (mysteriously, right?) gets their poop together and saves us all?


I'm so sick of the whole propaganda surrounding this nightmare!!!!

The reality is that the government has a job to do, and the US public is hurting every day that it's shut down. You can argue all you want that the government isn't necessary, but please do so while living in China, or a third-world nation, so you can actually have the perspective of what it's like to think that 50 years old, is a blessing (like we think 100 is in the states).

Evil_Santa

sheepslayer247
Even if the government was up and running, these sorts of food-related illnesses happen all the time. The inspectors do not prevent these problems....they come in after the fact to find out where it came from and where the product was delivered/served.

This is just one more angle to attach the shutdown to.

You're right, they come in after the fact to find out where it came from and to get the product off the shelves.

That isn't happening right now.

This is not an issue of contamination. These products are known to have salmonella and must be handled/cooked properly. That is an issue for the recipients of the products......not the product itself. So they cant pull it.

In the food service industry, you treat chicken as if each piece has salmonella. Because it probably does. This food was not cooked properly.

reply to post by Evil_Santa


I'm sorry, you miss understood my post. I don't think that the government is unnecessary. I think that the way the media is blowing everything that happens during the shutdown out of proportion is the problem.

Yes, there are things happening due to the shutdown, but the MSM is blowing little things that happen all the time into monstrous, deadly things, all BECAUSE of the shutdown.

Don't let this news make you sick guys. Inspectors hardly ever catch the food poisoning anyway. They probably have a third party testing firm testing for certain E-Coli and Samanila bacteria. They may not even test for this specific bacteria.

We were born with good immune systems but we wind up screwing them up. We are supposed to have many strains of bacteria in our gut and when we do they keep other bacteria in check. We should be asking why we have so few strains of bacteria in our gut now, it is because of all of the anti-microbials on our foods to keep them fresh longer. This creates a vulnerability, since we do not have all the different strains we are supposed to have we do not have all the different kinds of soldiers that keep everything in balance. Then we have to go to the doctors and get bacteria or fungus pee to kill off the ones that are taking over the world inside our guts.

Think of the gut as the world, when one country gets powerful they try to take over other countries and rule things. This is what is going on in our guts. We have made a few powerful strains of bacteria and we do not have the others in place to fight them. Oh well, we can't live forever.

Not sure if this is a scare tactic or curious timing...they are saying that this strain seems to be resistant to drugs and is effecting twice as many people as a usual outbreak would.

Salmonella tied to Foster

About 42 percent of patients reporting complete information have been hospitalized, about double the proportion typically expected from a salmonella outbreak, Reynolds said. Of 183 complete cases, 76 patients have been hospitalized. Among those, many infections appear to be resistant to the most common antibiotics used to them, she added.

chiefsmom
No offense to you OP, but aren't they going to spin every thing that happens right now, because the government is shut down, into something huge? Just to make the public fearful, and all that much more "grateful" when our wonderful government all of a sudden (mysteriously, right?) gets their poop together and saves us all?


I'm so sick of the whole propaganda surrounding this nightmare!!!!

High Five!

Although it is bad, it does happen everyday.
It is just a way to make you THINK you need to the GOVT to run your LIFE in EVERY way!
Don't fall for it!
Cook your food properly and keep everything clean

Don't let fear disable your rational mind, it is there for a reason!
Turn off your TV too! Don't watch all the crap they are trying to shove down our brain imaging centers.

reply to post by Starwise


Yes, it happens all the time. But unfortunately, most people think these illnesses only come from meats. The fact is that most salmonella outbreaks come from fruits and veggies.

Not because they are not properly prepared, but because most growing fields do no have bathrooms. Ya, bathrooms! So when a worker has to go.....they go right in the field!

You should always wash your fruits and veggies because most likely it has been pissed on by the person that picked it.