FOOD BORN ILLNESS

Just a reminder, always cook to the minimum temp requirements for the paticular meat to prevent food borne illness..
FYI...
FROM CNN.COM
Update: 70 sick after eating fundraiser BBQ 5:07 PM
TEGA CAY, S.C. -- Dozens of people got sick and some were even hospitalized after eating barbecue from a volunteer fire department fundraiser.
Now, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control is worried some people may have bought extra meat and are freezing it.
The health department says 70 people have reported getting sick, and two remain in the hospital. A spokesperson says it will take several more days before lab reports show what caused the illnesses, but the department suspects it was a food handling and preparation issue.
The health department says people who purchased food at the March 30 fundraiser should throw the meat out immediately.
“Firefighters sold approximately 3,000 servings of food, and many people bought barbeque in bulk for freezing and later use,” Connie Marin, of the health department, said in a news release.
Jessica Williams’ whole family was in the car when they went by the fire department to pick up several platefuls.
“We didn't want to cook,” she says.
They waited in a line that stretched down the street, even requiring police to direct traffic.
“It was very busy. There were a lot of people,” she said.
The annual Tega Cay Volunteer Fire Department fundraiser is always popular, with chicken and pork plates going at $5 a pop.
Peter Schoenfuss ate the pork too.
“It was delicious," he said. "The pork was very good and I had no problems with it."
But plenty of others apparently did. On Wednesday, the state health department said 46 people got sick with cramping and diarrhea, and they all ate the pork from the barbecue. On Thursday, after word was out about the fundraiser, more people report sickness, bringing the total up to 70.
Three of those people were hospitalized and two are still there. One is in a North Carolina hospital and the other in a South Carolina hospital.
The health department is running tests to figure out what caused it but a spokesman says it could be the way the meat was cooked.
"Something like this, amateurs are cooking, obviously, and something was probably undercooked because they had to feed so many people," Schoenfuss said.
Williams' family bought extra meat to freeze, but trashed it.
“I actually feel very grateful because, like you said, some of us could have ended up in the hospital," she said

Ouch.

Just a guess, but I'll bet this had nothing to do with undercooked meat. I'd bet it had to do with holding the meat at the wrong temp (or who says it was even the meat? I'll bet they served sides, too...).

With barbecue, it is hard to get food born illness from the meat not cooking to the correct internal temp. since the meat is almost always taken well beyond the safe temp. There are several other candidates that are far more likely--poor hand washing, or some type of cross contamination, or not keeping hot foods hot and cold foods cold.

Late on the draw--you beat me by two minutes, Phil.

3,000 meals and only 70 sick .not great but i suspect only 1 bad hunk.
sounds like maybe one spoiled piece that got cooked and spread out after pulling.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Phil R.:
Just a guess, but I'll bet this had nothing to do with undercooked meat. I'd bet it had to do with holding the meat at the wrong temp (or who says it was even the meat? I'll bet they served sides, too...). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

My thought exactly on the side items! What were they? I will be really interested in knowing what they actually find out.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">"Something like this, amateurs are cooking, obviously, and something was probably undercooked because they had to feed so many people," Schoenfuss said. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

This is a frequent sort of response. The other is that it's the mayonnaise in the side salads. The former shows not only a lack of understanding of barbecue (as David points out) but also a lack of understanding of FBI vectors; the latter is a myth that has perpetuated for years.

It certainly could be a problem with one (or more) of the sides--but mayo wouldn't be the issue.

It is highly unlikely that it comes from meat that was spoiled and then cooked. First, spoilage bacteria are not the bacteria that cause FBI, they cause spoilage. (They are also the bacteria that cause odors and sliminess. Bacteria that cause illness do not cause odors nor changes in surface texture.) Second, spoilage bacteria rarely make anyone sick. Third, cooking would have eliminated these bacteria and reduced to safe levels or eliminated the bacteria associated with FBIs.

Problems like this one almost always have to do with temperature abuse: post-cook cross contamination (failing to cool quickly enough especially after handling; using unlean hands or utensil with the cooked item; placing the cooked item on or in unclean surfaces), or improper hot- or cold-holding (failing to keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold sometimes due to the extended prep or service times that are necessary for large amounts of food for large gatherings).

(See this post about avoiding bacterial problems.)

The sad thing is that I bet a whole bunch of these people contact lawyers about their belly ache and diarrhea. I hope not, but it seems to be human (er, American) nature.

"If food is placed out on the holiday or picnic table without temp control (chafers for hot items, iced platters/bowls or some other method of maintaining cold) for cold items, the food should be consumed relatively quickly--in less than 4 hours, in most cases. Food not consumed in this period of time should be discarded--not saved"


When I think of all the Thanksgiving leftovers I have fed my family, I am greatful we are all still alive! Thanks for the VERY useful info!

Phil--So right. One thing tort laws can do is keep people on their toes. Things can go overboard though and, unfortunately, often do.

Michele--Most FBIs do not cause more than mild (though uncomfortable) symptoms for most people. There are exceptions: Young children, the elderly and the immuno-compromised are especially susceptible to FBIs and can become far sicker than healthy adults. That said, it is important to learn safe food handling practices for raw and cooked items, safe cooling practices, safe reheating practices, proper handwashing, proper cleaning practices and so forth. While it is important to cook foods to safe temps, the lack of doing so isn't all that common (it happens, certainly, but most people tend to overcook food). Far more often the problem stems from cross contamination after cooking (for cooked foods), cross contamination before service (for uncooked foods), and temp abuse. Foods not kept cold or hot, depending on the food, and allowed to languish on the buffet table or in the kitchen should be discarded after 4 hours. If the ambient temps are higher (say food out on the porch or at a picnic in the summer) should be discarded after 2 hours as the warmer temps (temps of 85-105) allow for dramatic outgrowth of many of the bacteria in question.

Though a little juggling might be required--and forethought and a bit of expense--it is easier and safer to figure out ways to keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold.

I remember you talking about cooling off quickly when I posted the Poaching liquid for lobster, I wasn't to clear on how th do that, but after reading the Pasteurization post, I get it now.

This is really good info to have, I am guilty of keeping things out too long when company is over.
I will be investing in some good chafing dishes.

Just a thought that has not been mentioned yet.
There are always a small amount of people who
are not equipped to digest smoky BBQ foods.
Their bodies react to it with the cramping
and diarhea symptoms spoken of in the article.
Approximately 2.3% of those who ate at the
firefighters benefit complained of symptoms.
A true food born illness would probably have affected a much greater percentage of diners.

I have no idea if that is true, Bob, but if that is so, wouldn't those people generally know that they can't handle BBQ and thus avoid an event such as this like the plague? I.e. the people who eat at this type of event do belong to a random sample of the population. It includes people who like Q and probably includes zero or very few people who hate it or know that they always get sick when they eat it.

Nope, never heard of such a thing either. 'Cramping and diarrhea syndrome' caused by smoky barbecue in the absence of pathogens? Hard to imagine. But those symptoms are common among several pathogenic bacteria implicated in FBIs.

It's actually rather easy to see how an outbreak might be limited. Pork for 3000 people isn't all mixed together before it is served. It's more likely that the meat from 2-4 butts is put into bags or pans to hold in the fridge or freezer for the day of the event--or simply into pans to hold if they had organized a massive cook and didn't do it ahead of time. The same could be said for the chicken or even the salads.

I was interested in this so I followed up today. Seems it was due to C. perfringens...Story. My guess is that most food is contaminated by C. perfringens, but that the firemen held the food at the wrong temp for too long, allowing it to multiply to disease causing levels. Just a guess, of course...there's always so many variables.

Re: why some people got sick and others didn't, I found this interesting tidbit on wiki about the pathogen:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> It is likely that many cases of C. perfringens food poisoning remain sub clinical, as antibodies to the toxin are common amongst the population. This has led to the conclusion that most, if not all, of the population has experienced food poisoning due to C. perfringens.[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clostridium_perfringens </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Could it have been the sauce? Vinegar, mainly apple cider, is used as a natural laxative. Some people can handle it, while others (like myself) cannot. I never understood why I didn't have the "intestinal fortitude" to handle certain BBQ at certain restaurants. After doing some research, I discovered why.
Just another opinion from someone who wasn't there.

No, I don't think it is possible for that many people to get sick from having an intolerance for vinegar.

Vinegar intolerance is too rare to have been a factor.

C. perf. posinoning certainly seems possible. C. perf. is a sporulator. Illness is usually caused by spores that are produced in the intestines. A fairly large number of cells (vegetative) need to be consumed for sporulation/toxin formation and illness to occur.

While true that many foods carry C. perf., the numbers are low and thus unlikely to cause illness. The toxin is not very heat resistant but the spores are. Still, again, illness is most often caused by intestinal toxin formation in the consumer. When C. perf. is suspected as the cause of illness, it is nearly always post-cook cross-contamination and subsequent temp abuse, or improper cooking to begin with. C. perf. has about the fastest known growth rates (optimum growth temps: 109-113), so implicated foods are most often those that were not cooled quickly enough.