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Safeway and Other Stores
in Colorado Linked to 21 Hamburger Salmonella Newport Illnesses Source of
Article: http://www.marlerblog.com/ Colorado State health
officials, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and several other state health
departments have been investigating an outbreak of infections that are
resistant to several commonly used antibiotics. To date, cases of illness
have been identified in 11 states. The majority of cases, 21 illnesses, have
been reported in Colorado in the following counties: Arapahoe (3), Broomfield
(3), Denver (3), Douglas (1), Elbert (1), Garfield (1), Jefferson (5), Mesa
(1), Pueblo (1) and Weld (2). Four people have been hospitalized. Most people became ill
during late June and early July, with the most recent illness occurring July
13. Because it can take at least two weeks for cases of illness to be
reported to the state health department, it is possible additional cases may
be reported. This is the second large outbreak of Salmonella the department
has investigated since July 1. Both outbreaks have been linked to ground
beef. The ground beef products
associated with the known cases were produced on various dates ranging from
June 5, 2009, through June 23, 2009, and bear the establishment number
"EST. 31913" printed on the case code labels. The ground beef
products were distributed to retail distribution centers in Arizona,
California, Colorado and Utah. Of Colorado’s confirmed cases, the state has
epidemiologic data showing that 15 of 16 confirmed illnesses (out of a total
of 21 confirmed cases) purchased their ground beef product at Safeway Stores.
Point of purchase information is not available on the other Colorado cases.
At this time, it is not known whether the product was distributed to other
stores. Because these products were
repackaged into consumer-sized packages and sold under different retail brand
names, consumers should check with their local retailer to determine whether
they may have purchased any of the products subject to recall. As part of its
investigation into an outbreak of Salmonella Newport associated with ground
beef products, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
notified the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service of the situation.
Epidemiologic and traceback investigations determined there is an association
between the fresh ground beef products and illnesses reported in Colorado. The illnesses also were
linked through the epidemiologic investigation by their uncommon pulsed-field
gel electrophoresis (PFGE) pattern found in PulseNet, a national network of
public health and food regulatory agency laboratories coordinated by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. |
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