Tag: Salmonella Enteritidis

Wegman’s Puzzling Pine Nut Salmonella Outbreak

What is puzzling about a Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak that is linked to contaminated Turkish pine nuts?

Surely not the possibility that pine nuts can be contaminated with Salmonella. In 2009, Hines Nut Company recalled pine nuts that were contaminated with Salmonella.

And a nut-borne Salmonella outbreak certainly is not unique. Who can forget the 2008/2009 outbreak sparked by contaminated peanuts from Peanut Corporation of America?

In fact, what is puzzling is not the outbreak vehicle. Rather, the puzzle lies in FDA’s and Wegman’s response to the outbreak, and in a noticeable discrepancy between the information released just two days ago by CDC, and the information released today by FDA.

Two days ago – on October 26th – CDC announced that it was investigating an outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis that had sickened 42 people in six states: Arizona (1), Maryland (1), New Jersey (2), New York (26), Pennsylvania (8), and Virginia (4). Epidemiological and lab investigations linked the illnesses to Turkish Pine Nuts sold in Bulk Bins – or consumed as an ingredient in a prepared food – sold in Wegmans stores in five states: New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, and Maryland. The report specifically mentioned Caprese salad and asparagus with pine nuts.

That same day, Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. recalled the bulk Turkish Pine Nuts sold in its stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, and Maryland. The implicated pine nuts were supplied to Wegmans by Sunrise Commodities of Englewood Cliffs, N.J. FDA is looking into whether any of these pine nuts were also supplied to other Sunrise Commodities customers.

Today (October 28th), FDA issued a warning to consumers not to eat “…Turkish pine nuts purchased from unlabeled plastic bulk containers at Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. or any food items they may have prepared using the bulk Turkish pine nuts, such as pesto, salads, or baked goods.” The FDA Press Release added that CDC was reporting 43 confirmed illnesses in seven states: California, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington.

Here’s what has me puzzled:

  1. If some of the contaminated pine nuts were used as an ingredient in ready-to-eat items prepared and sold by Wegmans, why has the retailer limited its recall to just the bulk nuts?
  2. Why has FDA not warned consumers not to eat the prepared items sold by Wegmans that contain the implicated pine nuts as an ingredient?
  3. Why is there a discrepancy between CDC’s illness report and FDA’s illness report? I’m not quibbling about 42 versus 43 confirmed illnesses. But, why is the list of affected states so different?
  4. Why does the Sunrise Commodities web site offer Pine Nuts from China and Spain, but not from Turkey?

Until more light is shed on these mysteries, I strongly urge consumers not to eat any bulk pine nuts, or any ready-to-eat dishes, spreads or dips that contain pine nuts.

Pine Nuts From Turkey Behind New Salmonella Outbreak

Pine nuts imported from Turkey by Sunrise Commodities (Englewood Cliffs, NJ) and sold in Wegmans supermarkets have been identified as the source of a strain of Salmonella Enteritidis that has infected 42 people in six US states.

CDC reports that the illnesses, which began on August 20, 2011, have been reported in Arizona (1), Maryland (1), New Jersey (2), New York (26), Pennsylvania (8) and Virginia (4). Two people were hospitalized.

Sixty-three percent (63%) of the 30 outbreak victims for whom information is available reported having eaten Turkish pine nuts, or products containing them, during the week before they became ill. Among the prepared foods identified as containing the contaminated pine nuts were Caprese salad or asparagus with pine nuts, sold at Wegmans stores. The CDC report is unclear whether these prepared foods were purchased ready-made from Wegmans stores, or whether they were home-prepared using pine nuts purchased at Wegmans.

The Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak strain was recovered by the Virginia Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services from Turkish pine nuts purchased from a Wegmans bulk bin and collected from a patient’s home, and from samples of Turkish pine nuts obtained directly from a Wegmans store. New York found Salmonella Enteritidis in two separate samples of homemade pesto containing the implicated pine nuts, as well as from a Wegmans store in that state and from pine nuts collected from a New York patient’s home. The Salmonella recovered from the pesto samples is identical to the outbreak strain.

Today, Wegmans Food Markets Inc. (Rochester, NY) recalled approximately 5,000 pounds of Turkish Pine Nuts sold in the bulk food departments of Wegmans stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and Maryland between July 1, and October 18, 2011.

Pine nuts have a fairly long shelf life, and may linger in consumers’ homes – either plain or as an ingredient in a pesto or prepared meal – for a long time after the retail recall is complete. CDC offers the following advice:

  • Consumers should check their homes, including refrigerators and freezers, for Turkish pine nuts purchased from bulk bins at Wegmans stores between July 1, 2011 and October 18, 2011 and not eat them. Consumers should also not eat any foods prepared with the recalled product, including pesto, salads, and baked goods.
  • Restaurants and food service operators should not serve the recalled product.
  • Consumers, retailers, and others who have any of the recalled product should dispose of it in a closed plastic bag placed in a sealed trash can. This will prevent people or animals from eating it.
  • Persons who think they might have become ill from eating possibly contaminated recalled products should consult their health care providers. Infants, older adults, and persons with impaired immune systems are more likely than others to develop severe illness.

Salmonella: Eggs From Spain Do It Again

The UK’s Health Protection Agency reports that a batch of imported eggs has been linked to an outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis Phage Type (PT) 14b infections in England and Wales since the start of 2011.

One hundred and seventy-four (174) cases have been reported, including 77 from North West England and 35 from the West Midlands. The illnesses were traced to eggs from a single shed on one farm in Spain. The outbreak strain was recovered from samples taken from a single batch of eggs produced from that laying shed.

Spanish authorities have been alerted and have initiated measures to eliminate the risk of further contamination from the source of the outbreak.

A review of recent Food and Feed Alerts (RASFF) reveals that the implicated Spanish eggs were shipped both to the UK and to France. Specifically:

  • Reference #2011.0831: foodborne outbreak suspected (Salmonella enteritidis) to be caused by eggs from Spain; notification from France on 24/06/2011; updated 22/07/2011.
  • Reference #2011.0896: Salmonella enteritidis in eggs from Spain; notification from the United Kingdom on 05/07/2011; updated 22/07/2011.
  • Reference #2011.1009: foodborne outbreak suspected to be caused by eggs from Spain; notification from France on 26/07/2011.

Notwithstanding France’s two notifications to RASFF, I have seen no mention of any outbreak investigation or egg recall in France.

For readers experiencing a sense of déja vu, let me assure you that you are not going slightly mad. A September 2010 Press Release from the UK’s Health Protection Agency began with the following:

How international co-operation curtailed a salmonella outbreak

14 September 2010

Contaminated eggs from a single flock of hens on a Spanish farm were implicated in an upsurge in Salmonella food poisoning notifications in England and Wales over a 16 week period between September and December 2009, delegates to the Health Protection Agency’s annual conference – Health Protection 2010 – at the University of Warwick will hear.

A search of the RASFF Alert Notifications from 2009 uncovered three notices relating to these food poisonings – one from the UK (#2009.1437), and two from France (#2009.1424 and #2009.1085).

As I explained during last year’s massive egg recall in the US, each individual egg sold in the UK must be stamped with the method of production, the country of origin and the production establishment. Only producers with fewer than 50 laying hens are exempted from this mandate.

It’s fortunate that the UK Health Protection Agency has published the results of its outbreak investigation. Otherwise, how are French consumers to know that they, too, may be at risk of salmonellosis from contaminated Spanish eggs?