Health Law

Put Another Brick Of E. coli On The Fire Campers!

By Marler Clark

Meat contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 was the likely cause of the last summer's outbreak at a 4,000 acre youth camp in the Shenandoah Valley, the Virginia Department of Health says in a final report of its investigative findings.

Fifty-four campers who visited the area between July 20-26, 2008 were part of the E. coli outbreak. Onset of symptoms occurred between July 20 and August 5, 2008.

Virginia health officials include both laboratory confirmed E. coli infections and those who reported diarrhea, fever, vomiting, nausea, and abdominal cramps as victims of the outbreak.

Previously, we knew it was the Virginia Department of Health's investigation at the camp that forced S&S Foods LLC., an Azusa, Calif., firm, last August to recall approximately 153,630 pounds of frozen ground beef products because of the E. coli O157:H7 contamination.

The report says investigators obtained an opened package of frozen raw ground beef and submitted it to bacterial culture. Several other un-opened boxes of ground beef were also collected and tested

The report goes into much detail about its survey of campers and all the food and water provisions at the camp. Some campers had the option of cooking their own meals of camp fires in a method called 'foil dinners.' However, one pound 'bricks' of ground beef provided by Azusa were probably not real suitable to thorough cooking.  Full Report and Exhibits Below:

Full post as published by Food Poison Blog on March 25, 2009 (boomark / email).