Food Safety Lacking at Stadiums
Sports media network ESPN has published a complete list of stadium food inspection summaries, sorted by state.
The project found a high number of critical food safety violations at 28 percent of the 107 pro football, baseball, basketball and hockey venues in the U.S. and Canada. At 30 of the stadiums, more than half of the concession stands or restaurants had been cited for at least one “critical” or “major” health violation. Such violations pose a risk for foodborne illnesses that can make someone sick, or, in extreme cases, become fatal.
ESPN’s review of inspection reports found mold in ice machines at six stands at Miller Park in Milwaukee, a cockroach crawling over a soda dispenser in a private club at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh and food service workers repeatedly ignoring orders to wash their hands at a stand at Detroit’s Ford Field.
One of the most worrisome violations to health inspectors is food not being cooked, reheated or held at safe temperatures, because that’s when dangerous bacteria such as E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella and Campylobacter can cluster and make people sick with painful diarrhea, fever and vomitting.
At Tropicana Field — home of the Tampa Bay Rays — every one of the stadium’s 47 food and drink outlets inspected incurred a critical violation during inspections within the past year, according to Florida inspection reports. Violations include food residue in a cooler, toxic chemicals stored too close to food preparation areas, “slime” in the ice machines and thermometers not readily visible to measure the temperature of hot foods
Other complaints to inspectors came from employees, including one food service worker at what is now called Sun Life Stadium near Miami who told them that several small insects were mixed into frozen alcoholic beverages at a stand where workers hadn’t cleaned equipment.
Chris Waldrop, director of the Food Policy Institute at the Consumer Federation of America, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit organization that lobbies for stronger food safety laws, said the ESPN report tells consumers that they should be “very concerned about some of the food that they are eating and purchasing in a lot of these stadiums.”
Cranberry Juice and the Mechanical Forces Involved in the Attachment of E. coli O157:H7
Researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Massachusetts may have discovered why cranberry juice fights off E. coli O157:H7 infections. In a paper published this month by Molecular Nutrition and Food Research, “Direct adhesion force measurements between E. coli and human uroepithelial cells in cranberry juice cocktail“, Professor Terri Camesano and his team present the first specific measurements of the mechanical forces involved in the attachment of the virulent E. coli to human urinary tract cells.
The study also documents how the force of attachment is reduced in the presence of cranberry juice cocktail. “This is not a clinical study—it’s a mechanical study that shows us the direct forces that can lead to infection,” Camesano said.
E. coli O157:H7 is covered with small hair-like projections known as fimbriae which act like hooks and latch onto cells that line the urinary tract. When enough of the virulent E. coli adhere to cells in this way, they cause an infection. Previous work by Camesano has shown that exposure to cranberry juice causes the fimbriae on E. coli to curl up, reducing their ability to attach to urinary tract cells.
“We know, on average, how many fimbriae are on each E. coli cell. And the total force we measured correlates with that number. So the data lead us to believe that the fimbriae each bind to a specific receptor on the uroepithelial cells,” Camesano said.
The data showed that the attachment force of the virulent E. coli weakened as the amount of cranberry juice cocktail increased. The study also showed that a strain of E. coli without fimbriae did not bind well to the human urinary tract cells, regardless of the concentration of cranberry juice cocktail, providing further evidence that fimbriae are essential for infection.
Furthermore, Camesano’s team found that in the absence of cranberry juice, the strength of the virulent E. coli’s bond to the human cells was so strong that it could not be broken by the typical force of urine flowing through a person’s urinary tract. However, as the cranberry juice concentration increased, the bond weakened to the point where the E.coli could be stripped away by the force of flowing urine. “The shear force created by flowing urine is a defense mechanism against urinary tract infection,” Camesano said.
E. coli and Campylobacter Outbreak Associated With Colorado Raw Milk
An outbreak of E. coli and Campylobacter has been associated with raw goat’s milk from Billy Goat Dairy in Longmont, Colorado, according to local news reports. Sixteen people have become ill after drinking the milk, two of which are children who required hospitalization, according to Boulder County Public Health (BCPH).
The dairy has been ordered by BCPH to cease the sale and distribution of its raw milk products. The farm has operated on a goat share system, allowing consumers to buy a share of a goat to receive unpasteurized milk from the goat. Every household member of the program is being contacted by the BCPH to conduct questioning and microbiological tests to determine if they have experienced any illnesses related to this outbreak. According to BCPH:
“We strongly advise residents to avoid consuming any raw milk or milk products,” said Murielle Romine. “It can be extremely dangerous, particularly for young children and people with weakened immune systems.”
E. coli and Campylobacter in Raw Milk
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides the following information about outbreaks linked to raw, unpasteurized dairy products between 1998 and 2005:
- 45 foodborne illness outbreaks attributed to raw milk or cheese made from raw milk
- 1,0007 illnesses
- 104 hospitalizations
- Two deaths
The food safety attorneys at Pritzker Olsen Law firm have represented victims in E. coli lawsuits and Campylobacter lawsuits. “Currently, one of our clients is a man who contracted Campylobacter in a Pennsylvania raw milk outbreak,” said Attorney Fred Pritzker. “This man’s illness developed into a serious complication called Guillain-Barre Syndrome that left him paralyzed. When it comes to raw milk the risks are simply too high.”
E. coli infections can also lead to serious health complications, including kidney failure and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which attacks blood cells and can lead to long-term kidney damage or even death.
Montclair Meat Ground Beef E. coli Recall
Montclair Meat Co., Inc., a Montclair, Calif., establishment is recalling approximately 53,000 pounds of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).
The products subject to recall include:
- Various pound packages of “MONTCLAIR MEAT CO. GROUND BEEF”
- Various pound packages of “MONTCLAIR MEAT CO. ALL BEEF PATTIES”
Each package bears establishment number “Est. 6116″ inside the USDA mark of inspection. These ground beef products were produced between the dates of May 3, 2010 through May 13, 2010, and were shipped to retailers and federal establishments for further processing in the Los Angeles, California, metropolitan area.
The problem was discovered through FSIS microbiological sampling. FSIS has received no reports of illnesses associated with consumption of these products.
Official Says Fatal E. coli Case Was Isolated
By Kathy Will
The Solano County Public Health Department in California has closed its investigation into the E. coli death of a 15-year-old boy with no finding of what caused the infection.
Dr. Ronald Chapman, deputy director of the department, told The Reporter newspaper the case was isolated and not caused by municipal drinking water in the boy’s town of Dixon. Nor could his illness be tracked to any food source, Chapman said.
The boy died last week. Parts of Dixon were under a boil water advisory in early December after a utility pipe broke and E coli was detected. But Chapman told the newspaper that recent tests on the city’s water supply came back negative for E. coli bacteria.
In addition, E. coli tests were negative in stool samples taken from a Dixon girl who was treated for diarrhea last week in a hospital emergency room. Health officials were concered that the diarrhea was a symptom of an E. coli infection.
“We do not know how or why this child (the 15-year-old boy) became infected with E. coli, but we do know that it was an isolated case and there is no threat to the public’s safety,” Chapman said in a press release. ”We are deeply saddened by this loss and our hearts go out to the child’s family and friends.”
Chapman said the county is waiting for state lab test results to determine what strain of E. coli was responsible for the fatal infection in the boy.
