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U.S. Officials Stymied in Salmonella Search
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One factor complicating the search for the cause of the outbreak is a common food industry practice called "repacking."
"Repacking is a situation in which a supplier or a distributor will repack tomatoes to meet a specific customers' requests," Acheson explained. "So, if a customer is wanting small, ripe tomatoes and the supplier does not have a box of small ripe tomatoes, then they will typically go through multiple boxes and pull out ones that meet customers' specifications and repack them. It's a very, very common practice. We've seen reports that it may be as common as 90 percent of tomatoes get repacked, but we don't have confirmation that the number is that high. Obviously this complicates the trace-back," Acheson said Friday.
He also said that it was possible that tomatoes were contaminated at a packing and distribution center, not a particular farm. That means that produce from states that have been cleared may have gone through packing or distribution houses elsewhere, and become contaminated there.
The food poisoning scare ranks as the largest on record in terms of illnesses linked to tainted produce, the CDC said. "This is so far the biggest outbreak with this number of illnesses confirmed by culture," Griffin noted.
More than 300 of the total cases from the current outbreak have come from Texas. Patient ages range from under 1 year old to 99 years old. Half the victims are women.
Salmonella is a bacteria that can cause bloody diarrhea in humans. Some 40,000 cases of salmonellosis are reported in the United States each year, although the CDC estimates that because milder cases are not diagnosed or reported, the actual number of infections may be 30 or more times greater. Approximately 600 people die each year after being infected.
However, the strain ofSalmonellaSaintpaul had been previously considered rare. In 2007, according to the CDC, there were only three people infected in the country during April through June.
More information
Visit the CDC for more on the salmonella outbreak.
SOURCES: July 1, 2008, teleconference with David Acheson, M.D., associate commissioner for foods, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and Robert Tauxe, M.D. deputy director of foodborne, bacterial and mycotic diseases division, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; June 27, 2008, teleconference with Patricia Griffin, M.D., chief, Enteric Diseases Epidemiology Branch, CDC; and David Acheson, M.D., associate commissioner for foods, FDA
