Eric and Ryan Jensen, who own the Colorado cantaloupe farm linked to a deadly 2011 Listeria outbreak have reportedly indicated to a federal court that they intend to plead guilty to the criminal misdemeanor charges brought against them. Additional information about the charges appears in Issue 498 of this Update. The six misdemeanor charges of adulteration of a food and aiding and abetting carry potential jail terms of one year and a fine per charge of $250,000. The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reportedly found that the brothers failed to adequately clean their cantaloupes after changing their produce-cleaning system and that their actions were responsible for the deaths of 33 consumers. See NBCNews.com, October 16, 2013.
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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has extended until December 16, 2013, the period for submission of comments, scientific data and other information related to its risk assessment of human salmonellosis associated with the consumption of tree nuts. Originally published in the July 18 Federal Register, the assessment seeks to quantify the public health risk associated with eating tree nuts potentially contaminated with Salmonella and evaluate the impact of interventions to prevent contamination with the bacterium or to reduce contamination levels. Additional information about the risk assessment appears in Issue 491 of this Update. See Federal Register, October 4, 2013.
Brothers Eric and Ryan Jensen who own the Colorado cantaloupe farm linked to a deadly 2011 Listeria outbreak have reportedly been arrested on six misdemeanor charges of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce and aiding and abetting. According to court records, they purportedly changed their cantaloupe cleaning process in May 2011 and never used the chlorine spray incorporated into the system. The Department of Justice (DOJ) alleges that they “were aware that their cantaloupes could be contaminated with harmful bacteria if not sufficiently washed.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention determined that people in 28 states consumed the contaminated cantaloupe, 33 died, 147 were hospitalized, and a pregnant women miscarried. The brothers reportedly pleaded not guilty and face a December 2, 2013, trial. If convicted, each could serve one year in prison and be fined up to $250,000 for each charge. See DOJ News Release, September 26, 2013; Fox…
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a report examining the impact of antibiotic-resistant bacteria on human health. Titled Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States, 2013, the report categorizes bacterial strains as either urgent threats, serious threats or concerning threats according to their clinical and economic impacts, incidence, 10-year projection of incidence, transmissibility, availability of effective antibiotics, and barriers to prevention. Among the bacteria identified by CDC as serious threats are drug-resistant Campylobacter, drug-resistant non-typhoidal Salmonella, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and drug resistant tuberculosis. In particular, the agency has noted that the “use of antibiotics in foodproducing animals allows antibiotic-resistant bacteria to thrive while susceptible bacteria are suppressed or die.” Warning that “much of antibiotic use in animals is unnecessary and inappropriate and makes everyone less safe,” the report highlights CDC’s work with the Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Department of Agriculture to monitor trends in antibiotic resistance…
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently issued a report finding that the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) did not adequately evaluate the impact of proposed poultry and hog inspection changes that would replace some USDA inspectors on slaughter lines with plant personnel tasked with ensuring quality and safety standards. According to the report, USDA implemented several pilot projects at poultry and hog processing plants over the past decade but ultimately failed to gather enough data to assess the effectiveness of these new systems. Nevertheless, the agency has since proposed an optional inspection scheme for both poultry and hog operations “based on its experience with the pilot projects at young chicken and young turkey plants.” Asked to review these pilot projects by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), GAO determined that the proposed changes would give production plants more flexibility and responsibility while allowing inspectors to focus…
A recent article in The New York Times reports that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is set to release a three-year-long study concluding that imported spices, particularly those from India and Mexico, are contaminated with Salmonella—reportedly the most common source of foodborne illness—at twice the rate of all other imported foods. “In a study of more than 20,000 food shipments,” the article states, “[USDA] found that nearly 7 percent of spice lots were contaminated with salmonella, twice the average of all other imported foods. Some 15 percent of coriander and 12 percent of oregano and basil shipments were contaminated, with high contamination levels also found in sesame seeds, curry powder and cumin. Four percent of black pepper shipments were contaminated.” “Salmonella is a widespread problem with respect to imported spices,” Deputy U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Michael Taylor was quoted as saying. “We have decided that spices are…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued a request for comments regarding changes to its procedure for Salmonella verification sampling of raw beef products. Among other things, FSIS stated that it will (i) begin “analyzing for Salmonella all raw beef samples that it collects for Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) analysis,” including all raw ground beef, beef manufacturing trimmings, bench trim, and other raw ground beef components; (ii) increase the raw ground beef sample used for Salmonella analysis from 25 grams to 325 grams; and (iii) discontinue Salmonella sampling set procedures in ground beef products, except in those establishments that exceeded the standard for Salmonella in their most recent tests. FSIS intends to use the results from its verification sampling program to develop new Salmonella performance standards for ground beef products and to estimate Salmonella prevalence in raw ground beef and trimmings. Comments will be accepted…
U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) has sent an August 23, 2013, letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Under Secretary for Food Safety Elisabeth Hagen about “the ongoing problems with the Public Health Information System (PHIS) used by the Food Safety [and] Inspection Service (FSIS).” Citing reports that PHIS recently experienced a system-wide shutdown that lasted three days and allowed “millions of pounds of meat products” to leave processing plants without being tested for E. coli, DeLauro has asked USDA to provide a record of similar major incidents as well as an “analysis of the problems with the system, the impact on food safety and steps being taken to remedy these problems, including those related to software and connectivity.” She has also asked for details about the parameters of the PHIS contract “that ensure long-term solutions are made to issues that arise in the system,” in addition to “the metrics…
A recent New York Times report has claimed that the failure of a new computer system used by meatpacking and processing plant inspectors did not stop untested shipments of beef, poultry, pork, and lamb from reaching consumers. According to an August 17, 2013, article by Ron Nixon, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) acknowledged the August 8, 2013, system failure but “played down the threat to public safety and insisted that the breakdown of the $20-million computer system had not compromised the nation’s meat supply.” Designed to speed up the inspection process, which involves sending meat samples to laboratories to test for E. coli and other contaminants, the new computer system is an important piece of USDA’s plan “to provide real-time information about the conditions at meat processing plants and make it easy for the agency to track food safety problems before they led to outbreaks.” But Nixon notes that…
A federal court in Georgia has issued an order continuing the criminal trial against former Peanut Corp. of America officials and employees, including owner Stewart Parnell, until February 10, 2014. United States v. Parnell, No. 12-12 (M.D. Ga., order entered August 15, 2013). The company was the source of a nationwide Salmonella outbreak in 2009, and the 76-count indictment charges four individuals with conspiracy, mail and wire fraud, obstruction of justice and other counts related to the distribution of adulterated and misbranded food. Details about the indictment appear in Issue 472 of this Update.
