Health Law

Nestle Restarts Cookie Dough Production After E. coli Outbreak

By Marler Clark LLP

Fresh on the heels of revelations by ABC news that three different E. coli strains have been linked to the nationwide outbreak of E. coli in cookie dough, the Wall Street Journal reports that Nestle is restarting production.  The Danville, Virginia plant was closed on June 19, when E. coli illnesses across the country were tied to the raw cookie dough produced there.  The FDA investigation of the plant found E. coli in an unopened package of the cookie dough and E. coli was also found in in a package of Nestle refrigerated cookie dough in the home of a victim.   Both of those strains, or serotypes, are different from that found in the stool of the 72 people who were infected by eating the cookie dough, meaning that three strains have now been associated with the product. 

Interestingly, Nestle continued processing other food products at the Danville factory while the cookie dough production was shut down. 

Questions continue to swirl around the outbreak, as no source has yet been identified in the E. coli contamination of the Nestle Cookie Dough product.  Now the multiple strains of E. coli connected to the outbreak add another layer of mystery - and yet, production resumes.

Full post as published by e.Coli Blog on July 10, 2009 (boomark / email).