Health Law

Michigan, Ohio no strangers to E. coli

By Drew Falkenstein

The ongoing E. coli outbreak in Michigan and Ohio is reminiscent of several other outbreaks, resulting in lots of illnesses, that have occurred in those states in the past several years:

    --Of course, residents of both states were sickened by E. coli O157:H7 in the infamous outbreak linked to Dole baby spinach in September 2006. 

    --More recently, 26 Michigan residents were sickened in an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to iceburg lettuce grown by Santa Barbara Farms and distributed by Aunt Mid's produce company.   Additionally, nine individuals in Illinois and three from the Province of Ontario had also been identified with the same genetic strain of E. coli O157:H7

    --Also, in the summer of 2008, multiple residents of Ohio were sickened in the E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to ground beef products manufactured by Nebraska Beef.  Outbreak summary:

On June 24, 2008, the CDC announced an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 illnesses among 24 residents of Michigan and Ohio. The next day, the CDC announced that the number of outbreak linked cases had grown to 32, and that ground beef sold at Kroger stores, the Cincinnati based grocery chain, was the likely outbreak vehicle. That afternoon, Kroger recalled all varieties and weights of ground beef products bearing a Kroger label sold between May 21 and June 8 at Michigan and Central and Northwestern Ohio Kroger retail establishments. By June 26, the outbreak had claimed 33 victims; and by June 30, the CDC counted 35 confirmed cases linked to ground beef sold by Kroger, with 19 people hospitalized and 1 known case of hemolytic uremic syndrome.

See details of 2008 E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to Nebraska Beef, Kroger, Coleman Meats, and Whole Foods. 

Full post as published by Food Poison Blog on April 26, 2010 (boomark / email).