Posts Tagged ‘celery’
Celery + Listeria = five dead in Texas
State health officials Wednesday ordered a San Antonio produce company to halt production and ordered a recall of all products shipped from the plant since January after five people — three of them in Bexar County — died from a foodborne illness.
Over the past nine months, 10 people in Bexar, Travis and Hidalgo counties were infected with the same strain of listeria, including the five who died. Six of the 10 were conclusively linked to chopped celery sold by Sangar Fresh Cut Produce at 1500 S. Zarzamora St., health officials said.
They said most of the listeriosis patients were elderly with serious underlying health problems, and many were hospitalized before and during the onset of their infection.
As of Wednesday night, health officials weren’t releasing any further information about the patients…
Of the shutdown, Texas Department of State Health Services spokeswoman Carrie Williams said: “This is a rare action that we took. … We closed the plant, we ordered a recall, but we’re not at the end. We’re still investigating the situation.”
The emergency order prohibits the plant from resuming operations without permission.
The recalled products were cut produce in sealed packages, and were not believed to have been sold in grocery stores, but rather used in restaurants and institutions such as schools and hospitals…Oh!
Inspectors found sanitation problems at the plant, including a condensation leak above a food product area, soil on a preparation table and improper hand washing by employees.
Officials said the bacteria found in the celery may have contaminated other food processed at the plant…
The long investigation was made more difficult by the fact most of the victims were frail with poor memories or had died.
Getting medical history from dead people is always difficult.
