NOTE: A post concerning this threat appeared last Saturday: https://columbianewsandviews.com/2011/07/30/todays-news-saturday-july-30/#more-6915

PRESS RELEASE

Aug 4, 2011 (CIDRAP News) – Federal officials reported today that ground turkey products belonging to two patients in the current multistate Salmonella outbreak were traced to a Cargill Inc. facility on Jul 20, 2 weeks before investigators presented all their evidence to the company, prompting yesterday’s Cargill recall of 36 million pounds of ground turkey.

But in a press conference, officials from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defended their response to the outbreak, saying the picture wasn’t clear enough to tie the outbreak to the Cargill facility in Arkansas until very recently.

They said the picture was muddied by the small number of cases clearly linked to Cargill and by signs that turkey products from some other companies might have been involved. Also, it took until Jul 29 to confirm the outbreak strain of Salmonella in an open package of ground turkey from one of the patients.

As of today the outbreak includes 78 cases in 26 states, with 22 hospitalizations and one death, said Chris Braden, MD, director of the CDC’s Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases. He said onset dates for confirmed cases range from Mar 9 to Jul 2, but there may be other cases not yet reported.

Late yesterday Cargill announced the recall of almost 36 million pounds of fresh and frozen ground turkey products (continued here).