Ground turkey meat is said to be responsible for an outbreak of food poisoning in 26 states. It began in March 2011. So far it has sickened 77 people nationwide and caused the death of a victim in California. The current outbreak is still spreading.  

The USDA is conducting an investigation, according to CBS News. Authorities know that salmonella is responsible for the outbreak. It’s “common in poultry” and it’s not illegal for “meat to be contaminated with the pathogen,” the network reported.

According to U.S. health officials, the source of the Salmonella Heidelberg has been traced to Cargill, Inc. of Minneapolis. An initial lawsuit against Cargill has been filed in U.S. District Court in Fayetteville, AR.

This occurred soon after Cargill Value Added Meats Retail, which is a division of Wichita-based Cargill subsidiary Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation, launched a Class I Recall of more than 36 million pounds of its frozen and fresh ground turkey products. That recall, announced Wednesday, was spurred by health officials pinpointing Cargill's ground turkey as source of the recent outbreak of Salmonella Heidelberg food poisoning.

Indeed, all 77 victims identified so far were found to have the same DNA strain of Salmonella Heidelberg as that found in ground turkey products made by Cargill, Inc. The states with the most reported cases are Michigan and Ohio with 10 each, and Texas with 9.

The recall includes frozen and fresh ground turkey products made at Cargill's Springdale, AR plant between Feb. 20 and Aug. 2 of this year. Consumers who may have purchased such products should be on the alert.. Check your turkey product's packaging to see if it's marked with the term “Est. P-963.” If so, that could be contaminated turkey.

What else can you do to protect yourself from this salmonella outbreak in turkey? Avoiding ground turkey meat tops the list. East something else for the time being.

 

If you do buy ground turkey, or you have it on hand in your freezer, cook it thoroughly before serving it. That can decrease the incidence of infection. Internal temperature has to reach 165 degrees to be properly cooked. Washing hands is paramount. Suds your hands up  for 20 seconds before handling the meat. Ditto afterwards. And make sure the meat is refrigerated before and after cooking it.

Food poisoning is not restricted to Third World countries these days. It’s surprisingly common in the United States. Some 3,000 Americans die of it every year and about 50 million get sick. It’s especially dangerous for the elderly and those with weakened immune systems.

Can victims of food poisoning sue sellers of contaminated foods? The answer is yes. Restaurants can be sued. So can food processors, Often violations of federal law are involved in cases of food poisoning in which companies have failed to report findings of bacteria in their plants and knowingly sold products contaminated with it.   

In 2009, scores of people across the U.S. were sickened by contaminated peanut butter. The Washington Post carried a front page story in early 2009 about a Georgia peanut plant that knowingly sold peanut butter products contaminated with salmonella. Its peanut butter wound up in crackers, cookies, energy bars, cereal, ice cream, candy and some dog biscuits made by manufacturers that bought the plant’s contaminated peanut butter.

The 2009 peanut butter outbreak spread to 43 states and Canada. Many victims were kids. In 2007, federal investigators found that salmonella in a dormant state in peanut butter can reproduce once it’s ingested by humans and cause food poisoning. Food poisoning signs include vomiting, diarrhea and fever within hours of eating contaminated foods.