Bean Day goes bad for dozens of patrons who become infected with Salmonella

About 50 people become ill from Salmonella after attending Bean Day, an annual fundraising event in Alabama.

A number of issues were identified in the county health department's inspection report:

• Soaking the beans in a plastic-lined horse trough covered with plywood, with a water hose running water through the trough (the ADPH did not know if or how the trough, which was located at the church, had been used prior to the dinner)
• Handling food without gloves;
• Turning off the heat source for the beans and disconnecting gas lines for burners without monitoring the temperature of the food;
• Transferring the beans in outside cooking pots to a smaller iron pot on wheels to take large quantities of the beans inside the church;
• Using one sterno can per 6-inch-deep chaffing pan to maintain the holding temperature of the beans;
• Re-using chaffing pans and adding new beans to existing beans throughout the serving time. Illness sweeps

While the soaking of the beans in a plastic-line horse trough seems like the worst violation, this may be overstating its true involvement - because one, it was not currently used to water horses but was located there at the church where the fundraiser occurred;  and two, that proper cooking would have eliminated the contamination.

But looking at the sum of errors, one could see a laxness in the use of food safety procedures, indicating there may be a additional factors that may have contributed to this outbreak. 


Health Dept.: Beans soaked in horse trough Dozens taken ill after annual event
By Jean Cole jean@athensnews-courier.com
The News Courier Sun Feb 02, 2014, 02:00 AM CST

— The final report on the Bean Day salmonella outbreak that left a dozen people hospitalized and scores of people ill last October may make some Limestone County residents cringe.

 A nine-page study issued by the Alabama Department of Public Health and obtained Friday by The News Courier reveals that uncooked beans for the annual fundraiser had been soaked in a plastic-lined horse trough covered with plywood before the event and that existing bean soup was topped off with new bean soup during the event.

Those are just some of the possible ways the beans became contaminated with salmonella senftenberg, according to the report. An estimated 250 to 300 people ate food prepared for the Oct. 4 dinner hosted by the Athens-Limestone Foundation for Aging and held at First Baptist Church Family Life Center in Athens. The menu included white beans with ham, onions, vinegar-based coleslaw, cornbread, soft drinks and a variety of homemade desserts.

MMWR on 2010 Salmonella Outbreak from Pulled Portk at Church Fesitval

This week in MMWR, there is a report on the 2010 Salmonella outbreak from consumption of pulled pork with coleslaw from a church festival in Ohio. 64 people became ill….most reporting diarrhea, cramps, fever and headache. The median duration of illness was 5 days. 

While they could not identify how the food became contaminated, the producer of the pulled pork did prepare it in a private home. The pork was said to be cooked to a temperature of 180F.

So if you had to guess….did cross contamination occur in the home kitchen as larger amounts of food were being moved about in a small space? Or was the temperature of 180F actually reached? Was the temperature even checked?



Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
Weekly
January 3, 2014 / 62(51);1045-1047
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6251a2.htm?s_cid=mm6251a2_e


Outbreak of Salmonellosis Associated with Consumption of Pulled Pork at a Church Festival — Hamilton County, Ohio, 2010


On June 18, 2010, Hamilton County Public Health (HCPH), a local health department in Ohio, began receiving reports of gastrointestinal illness from persons who attended a church festival held during June 11–13 in a suburban community of Hamilton County. HCPH investigated and confirmed the existence of a foodborne outbreak associated with consumption of pulled pork prepared in a private home and sold at the church festival. Sixty-four attendees with gastroenteritis were identified. Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium (Salmonella Typhimurium) was found in stool specimens from three patients; no other pathogen was found. Because the outbreak was identified after the church festival had concluded, the environmental investigation was limited to interviews of food handlers. The primary public health interventions consisted of 1) active surveillance for additional cases of salmonellosis associated with the festival, 2) consultation with the festival organizers and food vendors to ensure the pork product was not resold or consumed elsewhere, 3) education of the festival organizers and food vendors about relevant public health regulations and food safety practices, 4) traceback of the implicated product to the retailer in Indiana, and 5) notification of the Indiana State Department of Health. The results of the investigation call attention to the public health implications of unregulated food service at events such as church festivals, which generally are exempt from public health inspection and licensure in Ohio. Food sold in such environments might place populations at risk for foodborne illness.