Published Date: 2005-04-25 23:50:00
Subject: PRO/AH/EDR> Salmonellosis, frozen chicken - USA (MN, MI)
Archive Number: 20050425.1151

SALMONELLOSIS, FROZEN CHICKEN - USA (MINNESOTA, MICHIGAN)
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[1]
Date: Fri 22 Apr 2005
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy [edited]
<http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/fs/food-disease/news/april2205salmo.html>


Salmonella cases linked to frozen chicken entrees
-------------------------------------------------
Health officials have warned consumers to make sure they fully cook frozen
meat and poultry products, in the wake of several _Salmonella_ infections
linked to frozen chicken entrees sold in Minnesota and Michigan.

4 cases of salmonellosis have been linked with frozen, prebrowned stuffed
chicken entrees in Minnesota, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH)
reported in a news release yesterday, 21 Apr 2005. About 9 salmonellosis
cases associated with similar products have been reported recently in
Michigan, according to Steven Cohen, a spokesman for the US Department of
Agriculture's (USDA's) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) in
Washington, DC.

"We don't have a recall situation, and we don't have an adulteration
situation, because _Salmonella_ is not an adulterant" on uncooked poultry,
Cohen told CIDRAP News. "We want to remind people to cook [these products]
at safe cooking temperatures for poultry."

The entrees implicated in Minnesota were sold at Cub Foods stores under the
Cub name, the MDH reported. They were produced at an Illinois plant with
the plant code P-1358, which appears on product labels with the USDA
inspection logo. Products from the same plant may have been sold by other
store chains, officials said. "While these products are breaded and
prebrowned, and so may appear to be precooked, they are in fact still raw
and need to be prepared accordingly," Minnesota State Epidemiologist Dr.
Harrry Hull said in the news release.

An FSIS statement said consumers heated the products in microwave ovens and
might not have realized they contained raw chicken. Such products should be
cooked to an internal temperature of at least 165 F, the statement said.
Minnesota investigators determined that at least 4 cases of salmonellosis
from January through March 2005 involved the same strain of _Salmonella_
Heidelberg [_Salmonella enterica_ serotype Heidelberg - Mod.LL], the MDH
said. At least one package of frozen chicken with broccoli and cheese from
a Cub store was found to contain serotype Heidelberg that matched the
strain identified in the 4 illness cases.

Cub voluntarily pulled the implicated product lots from store shelves, the
MDH said. Cub officials told MDH they would redesign the labels before
putting the products back on shelves.

Cohen said he didn't know which stores in Michigan sold the implicated
products. He added that a number of different facilities provided the raw
product used in the entrees. The FSIS is investigating "to see if there's
anything in the product that was unusual or if time and temperature
parameters were adhered to in the entire supply chain," he said.

USDA testing has shown that, on average, about 13 percent of raw broiler
chickens contain _Salmonella_, according to Cohen. The standard in the
USDA's HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) rule is 20
percent, he said. He said FSIS plans to look at how frozen chicken entrees
are marketed and consider whether the package labeling should be changed to
make it clearer that the products are raw.

--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>

******
[2]
Date: Thu 21 Apr 2005
From: ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>
Source: ConsumerAffairs.com [edited]
<http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/salmonella_chicken.html>


Salmonella cases linked to frozen chicken entrees
-----------------------------------------------
The USA Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service
(FSIS) is issuing a public health alert to remind consumers to ensure that
frozen meat and poultry products are fully cooked before they are consumed.
Using a food thermometer is the only sure way of knowing if your food has
reached a high enough temperature to destroy foodborne bacteria.

FSIS has linked cases of _Salmonella_ infections in people to stuffed
frozen chicken products sold in Minnesota and Michigan. FSIS is working
with the CDC and officials in Michigan and Minnesota to identify the source
of the infections and to ascertain whether the chicken products are the
sole source of the illnesses.

Food contaminated with _Salmonella_ can cause salmonellosis, one of the
most common bacterial foodborne illnesses. There is evidence that consumers
in these states may not have realized that the stuffed frozen chicken
products contained raw chicken that only had been browned but not fully
cooked. These consumers used a microwave to warm the products. The USDA
recommends cooking poultry products similar to the stuffed frozen chicken
products to an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees F.

Products labeled with phrases such as "Cook and Serve," "Ready to Cook,"
and "Oven Ready" are intended to convey to the consumer that the product is
not ready-to-eat and must be fully cooked for safety. Although products may
appear to be pre-cooked or browned, such products should be handled and
prepared no differently than raw product. Many frozen entrees containing
stuffed poultry products, such as a poultry product stuffed with cheese and
other ingredients, typically are not-ready-to-eat and must be fully cooked
as if they were raw.

Consumers must always follow the microwave instructions completely. If
using a microwave oven to cook meat and poultry products, be sure to take
multiple temperature readings at different locations throughout the product
due to the non-uniformity of the heating process and the creation of "cold
spots."
Because a microwave oven typically cooks product at non-uniform rates, it
is important to ensure that the product is covered sufficiently for steam
to build in the product, and that the product is set aside for a sufficient
time for the heat to uniformly spread throughout the product at the
completion of the microwave cycle. This will ensure that there are no "cold
spots."

--
ProMED-mail
<promed@promedmail.org>

[Although so far there are not many cases and the serotype of the specific
organism (or organisms) is not stated, it is important for consumers to
realize the appropriate methodology to cook food in a microwave oven. The
latter is well outlined in the 2nd posting above. - Mod.LL]

See Also

Salmonellosis, serovar Bovismorbificans, raw pork - Germany 20050325.0869
Salmonellosis, kebab shop - UK (London)(03) 20050317.0776
Salmonellosis, kebab shop - UK (London) 20050311.0719
Salmonellosis, food-borne - Australia (VIC)(05) 20050127.0298
Salmonellosis, food-borne - Australia (VIC) 20050122.0231
Gastroenteritis - Australia (Victoria): salmonellosis susp, RFI 20050121.0208
2004
----
Salmonellosis, tomatoes, convenience stores - USA (10) 20041227.3423
Salmonellosis, serotype Thompson, lettuce - Norway: alert 20041128.3178
Salmonella, eggs - UK ex Spain 20041019.2835
Salmonellosis, serotype Newport - UK (England)(03) 20041012.2786
Salmonellosis, serotype Newport - UK (England) 20040920.2604
Salmonellosis, meat products - UK (Durham) (02) 20040808.2185
Salmonellosis, meat products - UK (Durham) 20040804.2124
Salmonellosis, foodborne - Russia (W. Siberia): RFI 20040803.2114
Salmonellosis, tomatoes, convenience stores - USA (Multistate) 20040715.1911
Salmonella, almonds - worldwide recall 20040523.1381
Salmonella, almonds - USA (multistate): recall 20040519.1336
2003
----
Salmonellosis, restaurant related - Greece 20030810.1975
Salmonellosis, restaurant related - USA (IL) 20030709.1682
Salmonellosis, foodborne - UK (England), USA (NM) 20030626.1578
Salmonellosis, sesame seed prod. - Australia (NSW) 20030407.0847
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