Organically Grown Foods Cause Hepatitis Outbreak

Don't eat these....

Yea Del, we are very quick to jump on the band wagon when these things turn up. My take on all of it is, we process millions of pounds of food per day through out the world. We have had 30 odd cases here in the states. What are the odds of you or I getting something like this? Several billion to one? All and all the food system in the world does a good job.

My 2 cents.

Fixitorelse

Actually the odds are 1 in 6 every year, so greater than 100% in your lifetime....

"Estimates of Foodborne Illness in the United States

CDC estimates that each year roughly 1 in 6 Americans (or 48 million people) get sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases. Estimating illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths for various types of diseases is a common and important public health practice. The 2011 estimates provide the most accurate picture yet of which foodborne bacteria, viruses, and microbes ("pathogens") cause the most illnesses in the United States."

http://www.cdc.gov/foodborneburden/

"The major pathogens that cause food poisoning include: Campylobacter jejuni (bacterium that causes campylobacteriosis), Clostridium botulinum (bacterium that causes botulism), E. coli (bacterium, often O157:H7), Listeria monocytogenes (bacterium that causes listeriosis), norovirus (virus), Shigella (bacterium that causes shigellosis),Salmonella (bacterium that causes salmonellosis)."

"...In January CDC released a report showing that produce accounted for 46 percent of foodborne illnesses between 1998 and 2008, while contaminated meat accounted for fewer illnesses but more deaths -- 29 percent of deaths in total...."

http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/18/17813283-food-poisoning-on-rise-in-us-survey-finds?lite

UPDATE....""Costco recalls frozen berries linked to hepatitis outbreak"

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/03/costco-recalls-berries-linked-to-hepatitis-outbreak/#ixzz2VB7Bfcxi

What you say makes perfect sense, but I can also survive without my berry fix until this gets resolved.

I'm just curious, but does the fact that these berries were organic mean that they were more likely to have been susceptible to Hep A?

Not a tree hugger here at all, but trying to understand how organic makes this product more vulnerable to contamination.

Anyone?

But it's OGANIC Hep A, so that's OK!

Seriously, organic and Hep A contamination are just coincidence. It only takes one of the food handlers in the chain from farm to final packaging who doesn't wash his hands properly to contaminate the process.

The risk comes from the food being handled and processed/prepackaged in a high volume industrial manner, "Organic" is just coincidental. Country of origin is also coincidental, except as the strains are identified.

Although this is the first I recall in frozen produce, I do recall that a few food born illness incidents in the US were from prepackaged produce like lettuce and spinach and bulk ground meats. There was another with peanut butter. The vegetables had been contaminated by wildlife feces. The others from bacteria in processing machines. The increased danger is from the volume of food handled in one facility and then shipping it all over to spread the illness over a larger area.

IMO sanitation would be easier to manage in smaller facilities. Of course that's no guarantee, and food prices would go up without the economies of scale. Best bet: eat locally grown food and prepare it your self from fresh whole produce (well washed) and meats.

Hep A? Wow, that's an interesting one - and for frozen berries. I think these are flash frozen (very cold temperatures). I'm surprised the Hep A survived.

I am surprised too.

Also, since handling and washing of the berries may be potential sources of contamination, I am wondering whether the packaging operations could be involved, not just the food source itself.

Hepatitis A is a virus that spreads by the fecal-oral route, eww, infections often occur in conditions of poor sanitation and overcrowding. It's wide spread in 3rd world countries...It is destroyed by moderately high temp (140ºF) or uv rays or chlorine and water... Organic farming often uses manure as fertilizer which is high in bacteria and viral nasties, add to this the fact that a lot of these organic farms are small and use hand labor as opposed to mechanized farming methods in larger operations, leads to a propensity for contamination if cleanliness protocols are not followed closely....This is why you should always rinse your vegetables thoroughly before eating....

Solar, I heard the same thing about organically grown food and bacteria/viruses. I've also heard that the pesticides help kill the bacteria/viruses. If the goal of organic food is health, are we trading off a more natural way for higher risks?

According to every scientific study I have found, that I consider credible, and there are many, there is no difference in the taste, nutrient content, pesticide levels, safety, look, feel, texture, long term or short term, between organically grown foods and conventional methods.....In fact the only difference is price, organically grown foods are more expensive...What people should be focusing on is food handling and preparation, that is where the problem, and it is a big problem, exists....The number of people that get sick every day from improper food handling and preparation is staggering, and what is equally frustrating is that it gets almost no press coverage....In other words there doesn't seem to be a visible effort underway to educate the public on how prevalent the problem is....

The original title is a non-sequitur: it flat -out makes no sense.

Plenty studies make sense. Organically grown is a classification, not a cleannes grade.

Packing, grading, shipping, displaying is neither.

Nor are YOUR hands in the store, may they be the cleanest chefs hands at home.

No difference in pesticide concentration? Buddy, you may not be as "clean" as you appear to be normally. Different matter.

You want antiseptic?!? Buddy, I have news for you. For plenty of Eons, we swim in a soup of bacteria and viruses.

WHAT WAS THE QUESTION, REALLY?!?