USDA Recalls Ground Turkey: Salmonella ALERT

Turkey Recall

According to WASHINGTON (AP) and other news sources,  "Meat giant Cargill is recalling 36 million pounds of ground turkey linked to a nationwide salmonella outbreak that has killed one person in California and sickened at least 76 others.

Turkeys at Pitman Family Farms' 
turkey ranch in Sanger, Calif. 

Illnesses in the outbreak date back to March and have been reported in 26 states coast to coast.

Cargill said Wednesday that it is recalling fresh and frozen ground turkey products produced at the company's Springdale, Ark., plant from Feb. 20 through Aug. 2 due to possible contamination from the strain of salmonella linked to the illnesses.

Company officials said that all ground turkey production has been suspended at the plant until the company is able to determine the source of the outbreak."

Minnesota Meat Giants NOT Mental Giants

Did Cargill have to wait  FIVE (5) months to ACT on this issue?  I get that Cargill is a "meat giant" but obviously not a mental giant.  Cargill's president, Steve Willardsen now says, "Given our concern for what has happened, and our desire to do what is right for our consumers and customers, we are voluntarily removing our ground turkey products from the marketplace."   "Voluntarily"?  That's mighty kind of you Mark.

From personal experience of working in a plant, you know when you have contamination.  DAILY testing of machinery, surfaces, employees and product are MANDATED by the FDA, USDA as well as company policy. Cargill's turkey recall is a direct result of not following SOPs--Standard Operating Procedures. 

I am just guessing this will be a BIG problem.

1.  36 MILLION POUNDS of ground turkey is A LOT of MEAT

2.  It was likely packaged and sold to other companies

3.  The turkey could be in MULTIPLE products such as fresh, frozen and a variety of canned products such as soups all the way down to pet food. 

Cargill does state the recall code "Est. P-963" on the label.....including Cargill's Honeysuckle White."

Positive News:  Negative News

Salmonella is a Gram Negative (Gracilicutes) Bacteria and part of the family, Enterobacteriaceae or enteric bacteria.  It is a motile (has a flagella), rod shaped, facultatively anaerobic with simple nutritional requirements (Urease negative(-) and Mannitol (salt) positive(+).

(+) News
The CDC (Center for Disease Control) states that the contamination is all the same "strain of salmonella."  What does that mean?  Salmonella has around 2,500 different serovars (strains)--however, less than 100 have been incriminated as pathogens (strains that make a person ill).  If more than one strain were identified, the situation would be far more complicated--if you can imagine that!  
A "strain" is an identified and numbered strain or serovar used as a reference.  In the case of salmonella, the serovar is the basic taxon (classification) instead of a strain used in most Gram Positive (Firmicutes) and some Gram Negative bacteria.

S. typhi

Some examples:  (S. represents salmonella) S. abortusequi is hosted in the Equine species (horses) and causes mares in foal to abort.  S. choleraesuis is hosted in Porcine and causes pneumonia and septicemia in pigs.  S. typhi is hosted in Man and causes TYPHOID (results from ingestion of food or water that have been contaminated with feces).  In other selected serovars that infect humans and animals result in SALMONELLOSIS and Enterocolitis.  S. gallinarium and 
S. pullorum are host-adapted pathogens of birds.


 (-) News

"The CDC said the strain is resistant to many commonly prescribed antibiotics, which can make treatment more difficult. The agency said 38 percent of those sickened were hospitalized. The states with the highest number sickened were Michigan and Ohio, 10 illnesses each, while nine illnesses were reported in Texas. Illinois had seven, California six and Pennsylvania five.

The remaining states have between one and three reported illnesses linked to the outbreak, according to the CDC: Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin."

NOTE:  This means if you eat contaminated turkey, antibiotic therapy is NOT usually effective though may be used to prevent secondary infections.  Treatment requires MEDICAL ATTENTION.

Symptoms

Within 6 to 72 hours is the incubation time--meaning from time of ingestion to time of illness.  "Symptoms of Salmonella gastroenteritis include diarrhea, abdominal cramps, fever, nausea, and/or vomiting. In mild cases diarrhea may be non-bloody, occur several times per day, and not be very voluminous; in severe cases it may be frequent, bloody and/or mucoid, and of high volume."
NOTE:  Bloody diarrhea is a result of motile bacteria and important to mention for proper diagnosis.

"Fever generally occurs in the 100°F to 102°F (38°C to 39°C) range. Vomiting is less common than diarrhea. Headaches, myalgias (muscle pain), and arthralgias (joint pain) are often reported as well. Whereas the diarrhea typically lasts 24 to 72 hours, patients often report fatigue and other nonspecific symptoms lasting 7 days or longer."  A primary concern is dehydration.  Death can occur in infants, elderly and people with compromised immune systems."

NOTE:  Never buy into that stupid story that food poisoning takes at least 24 hours after ingestion.  This is NOT TRUE as it depends on the strain of bacteria as to how long it takes to act on the intestinal tract.

More Bad News--Cargill is Literally "Sorry"

"Cargill executive Willardsen said, "Public health and the safety of consumers cannot be compromised."

Disclaimer:  Opinions expressed here are solely those of the author unless otherwise stated.  You can put lipstick on a turkey but it's still a turkey.

Thank you:  Dr. Charles M Scanlan, Instructor of Microbiology, Texas A&M University