In the News Again: Salmonella!
As many of you know, I am a big Salmonella fan (not really that strange for a microbiologist who did his PhD thesis on Salmonella gastroenteritis). However, this notorious food-borne pathogen has once again made its way into the US food supply chain.
This time, an Iowa-based egg producer, Wright County Egg, is at fault. This outbreak which began in May and sickened hundreds of American has resulted in the recall of over 380 million eggs! Ironically, the outbreak started just weeks before new government safety rule went into effect to reduce the risk of Salmonella infection of eggs. Public health officials believe that this is the largest outbreak of salmonellosis of poultry-related products in recent years.
Like most other nationwide Salmonella outbreaks, this one is a result of poor sanitary conditions and inadequate quality control at the production facility. Wright County Egg had repeatedly been cited for violating US Food and Drug Administration regulations. Yet, the company was allowed to continue operations without fixing the problems identified by FDA inspectors and regulators.
For those of you who may not know, chickens are frequently infected by Salmonella spp and can be found in the feces from infected animals. Chickens are not the cleanest of animals and fecal contamination is expected and common at most egg laying and processing facilities. If adequate health, sanitary and quality control procedures are assiduously adhered to at these production facilities, the likelihood of Salmonella infection of poultry products is very low. Conversely, the incidence of infections is sure to increase if these rules and regulations are not adhered to.
Once again we are in the midst of another major “food poisoning” outbreak, because a company cut corners to reduce costs and failed to adhere to federally mandated Good Manufacturing Practices for foods and related products.
As Woody Allen quipped in the closing moments of his film “Annie Hall”....”Most of us need the eggs.” Truer words were never spoken!
Until next time....
Good Luck and Good Job Hunting (try microbiology)
Flu season is upon us and, not surprisingly, there is no dearth of information available to the public about the seasonal and H1N1 flu vaccines. Mostly there are stories about the lack of availability of the vaccines, underreporting of deaths associated from H1N1 infections and perhaps, most importantly concerns about flu vaccine safety. Despite attempts by the CDC and a few dedicated virologists like 