Ground turkey cause of Salmonella Heidelberg outbreak in 26 states

During a media briefing today, CDC and USDA-FSIS officials reported 78 illnesses caused by Salmonella Heidelberg across 26 states, including one death. Reported dates of illness onset were between March 9 and July 2. Officials said it is possible that there are other cases that have not yet been reported.

Thirty-six million pounds of turkey products have been recalled — the third largest recall on record.

“Among the patients for with whom we have information, 22 have been hospitalized, which is higher than the hospitalization rate typically seen with Salmonella infections,” Chris Braden, MD, director of the CDC’s division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, said during the briefing. “We’re working to explore why this may be. One possible reason is that the outbreak strain is resistant to several antibiotics. This antibiotic resistance may increase the risk for hospitalization and can sometimes lead to treatment failure. I want to note that the samples do respond to several other common antibiotics that are used in clinical practice.”

During the investigation, the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System identified the same strain of S. Heidelberg in four ground turkey packages purchased at four retail stores. This identification was made during routine surveillance between April and July. All four samples were ultimately traced to Cargill Inc., in Arkansas.

David Goldman, MD, assistant administrator of the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) said: “Last night, USDA’S FSIS was able to develop a link between some of the reported illnesses in the investigation, and a particular plant, in this case, the Cargill plant in Arkansas. After discussing these findings with the company, the plant agreed to implement a recall, and FSIS issued a recall notice, which we hope will prevent additional illnesses.”

The CDC and USDA-FSIS are advising consumers that ground turkey has a long shelf life, so contaminated ground turkey may be in grocery stores or in freezers at home. “We’re urging people to check packaging on any ground turkey in their home, and not to eat ground turkey that was part of the recall announced yesterday.”

“FSIS will continue to work with CDC and relevant state officials to complete a thorough, aggressive investigation of this outbreak to determine if there any improvements that can be made in the food safety standards or in our recall processes,” Goldman said.

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