미국 동부의 뉴햄프셔와 뉴욕에서 쇠고기 분쇄육(ground beef)에서 병원성 대장균 O157 오염 식중독 사고때문에 2명이 사망(hemolytic uremic syndrome에 의한 신장기능부전으로 사망 )하고, 16명이 입원하고, 28명의 환자가 발생했다는 소식입니다.
문제의 햄버거는 뉴욕주의 애쉬빌( Ashville)에 공장이 있는 페어뱅크사(Fairbank Farms)에서 생산되었는데, 2009년 10월 31일자로 54만 5천 파운드의 분쇄육에 대해 자발적 리콜조치를 취했다고 합니다.
리콜된 제품에는 “EST 492”라는 작업장 번호와 미국 농무부 인증 마크가 찍혀 있고…주로 9월 14일에서 16일에 생산된 것이라고 합니다.
이런 엄청난 식중독 사고에도 항상 강제 리콜조치가 아니라 자발적 리콜조치만을 실시하고 있는 미국의 식품안전 시스템의 문제점을 적나라하게 보여주고 있는 사례라고 생각합니다.
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E. coli outbreak hits East Coast, kills 2
By Elizabeth Weise, USA TODAY
출처 : USA Today - Nov 02 2:36 PM
Two people — one in New Hampshire and a second in New York — have died, 16 have been hospitalized and 28 have been sickened in an outbreak of E. coli that may be linked to ground beef distributed on the East Coast, the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.
As of October 28, there have been 28 persons whose illness appears to be associated with this outbreak, all but three from the Northeast. Eighteen of the 28 are from New England, says the CDC’s Lola Scott Russell. There have been two cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome, which causes kidney failure.
The New York patient had other ongoing health problems, says Russell. The New Hampshire death is still under investigation, she says. Patients were between 1 and 84 years old — 68% were male. Most became ill between the middle of September to the middle of October.
State health departments, the CDC and the Dept. of Agriculture began to investigate the outbreak in mid-October. Very early ground beef became the focal point, Russell says.
The hamburger was produced by Ashville, N.Y.-based Fairbank Farms, which recalled more than 545,000 pounds of its product on Oct. 31. The ground beef was distributed in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states, and the company says customers can return the meat to the store where they bought it for full credit.
The hamburger was sold by several popular chains, including ACME, BJ’s, Ford Brothers, Giant Food Stores, Price Chopper, Shaw’s and Trader Joe‘s, the company says. Each package has the number “ET. 492″ on the label.
This is the third recall for Fairbank Farms. In Sept. 2007 it recalled 884 pounds of ground beef products because of possible E. coli contamination, according to USDA records. In May 2008, it recalled 22,481 pounds of ground beef due to possible contamination with pieces of plastic.
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E. Coli Kills 2 and Sickens Many; Focus Is on Beef
출처 : 뉴욕타임즈(NT) Published: November 2, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/health/03beef.htmlTwo people, one from New Hampshire and another from upstate New York, have died after eating ground beef that may be responsible for an E. coli outbreak linked to illness in more than two dozen people
The suspect beef was produced by a company in western New York State, Fairbank Farms, which issued a voluntary recall Saturday for 545,699 pounds of ground beef products.
The products in question are ground beef or packaged beef patties that were made from Sept. 14 to Sept. 16 and distributed mostly in the Northeast. All are stamped “EST 492,” either within the Department of Agriculture’s mark of inspection or near the nutrition facts.
The products went to retailers in eight states: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The stores receiving them included Trader Joe’s, Giant, Price Chopper, Wild Harvest and Shaw’s.
Agnes Schafer, a spokeswoman for Fairbank Farms, based in Ashville, N.Y., noted that no tests had yet proved conclusively that the company’s products were the source of the bacterial outbreak, to which public health investigators have linked the illnesses of at least 28 people.
Ms. Schafer also said all the recalled products were 23 to 32 days past their sell-by dates as of Monday, and so none should still be on grocery store shelves.
But Beth Daly, an epidemiologist with the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, said there was still some danger. “We’re more concerned that people have this product in their freezer and might still be eating it,” Ms. Daly said.
Infection with E. coli O157:H7 can have a wide range of effects, from mild intestinal discomfort to death. The New Hampshire resident who died of it contracted hemolytic uremic syndrome, a disease that attacks red blood cells and can cause kidney failure.
The New Yorker who died was an adult from Albany County who had several underlying health problems, The Associated Press reported.
While thorough cooking can kill E. coli O157:H7, it is dangerous even in microscopic doses and can be spread from utensils or cooking surfaces to other foods.
Donna Rosenbaum, executive director of Safe Tables Our Priority, a food safety organization, said the Fairbank Farms recall, and a smaller beef recall on Oct. 26 in Massachusetts by Crocetti’s Oakdale Packing Company, showed that the nation’s food inspection system needed reform.
“To this day,” she said, “contamination problems are not found by any checks on the products by companies. They’re found when people get sick, and that’s a failure in the system.”
At more than 270 tons of beef, Saturday’s recall was a large one. The Agriculture Department said the median beef recall last year was 7,733 pounds.
