FRANKFORT, Ky. — In the midst of an outbreak of E. coli last September attributed to tainted spinach, consumers faced another outbreak, salmonella, believed to be caused from tomatoes.

The salmonella outbreak was recently detected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through a national computer lab system that searches for patterns in reports of food-borne illness.

The Kentucky Department for Public Health (DPH) has identified at least 15 cases in the state, all but one occurring in September. The latest was identified in early October with no further cases being reported since.

Additionally, the DHP is investigating four suspect cases.

“The DPH continues to partner with local health departments to investigate cases of salmonella reported in Kentucky during September related to this national outbreak,” said Dr. William D. Hacker, Commissioner of Public Health.

“As always we encourage people to prepare food safely by taking simple steps such as hand washing before cooking, washing vegetables and cooking eggs other foods thoroughly.”

Salmonella is a bacterial infection that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people and those with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses. The sickness usually lasts 4-7 days and most recover without treatment.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced last Friday the results of an investigation by state and CDC investigators, finding tomatoes in restaurants as the cause of illnesses in the Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak.

To date, 21 states have reported 183 cases to the CDC.

The FDA report also said, “Based on information currently available from the CDC, the investigation shows a peak in cases of illness in late September. This suggests that the outbreak is not ongoing. The agency believes that the tomatoes that caused the illnesses have at this point been consumed, destroyed or thrown out because they are perishable. Therefore, FDA does not believe a consumer warning about tomatoes on store shelves is warranted at this time.”

A trace-back of the tomatoes was initiated by the agency to identify the source of contamination on tomatoes in this outbreak. In particular, officials from Minnesota, Massachusetts and Con-necticut are working closely with the FDA since groups of illnesses were specifically reported in those states.

A variety of scientific and technological methods are used to trace the source of reported illnesses. The FDA said that modern technologies, such as PulseNet (the network of public health laboratories that performs “DNA fingerprinting”), have greatly improved the speed and precision of these types of investigations.

The CDC released a statement last week as well saying “contaminated tomatoes associated with this outbreak have been consumed or destroyed and are no longer on the market or present in the food chain. Therefore, there is no evidence of ongoing risk, and CDC does not recommend that tomatoes be withdrawn from the market, nor does CDC advise that tomatoes should be avoided by consumers.”

E. coli update
The CDC issued its last web update on Oct. 6 concerning the E. coli outbreak that infected nearly 200 people in 26 states, including eight in Kentucky, and caused three confirmed deaths.

“E. coli O157 was isolated from 13 packages of spinach supplied by patients living in 10 states,” the report noted. “Eleven of the packages had lot codes consistent with a single manufacturing facility on a particular day. Two packages did not have lot codes available but had the same brand name as the other packages. The ‘DNA fingerprints’ of all 13 of these E. coli match that of the outbreak strain.”

This investigation is still ongoing with the FDA, the State of California, the CDC and the USDA working closely to determine the cause and scope of the outbreak.

This farm news was published in the Nov. 8, 2006 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.