Thursday, October 11, 2012

WHAT DO TURTLES, PEANUT BUTTER AND MANGOES HAVE IN COMMON? (ANSWER - SALMONELLA)

Today's trivia question: what do small turles, mangoes, cantaloupes, peanut butter, tuna, ground beef, dry dog food, live chickens, hedgehogs and raw scraped ground tuna have in common?

The answer- they have all been linked to outbreaks caused by different Salmonella bacteria just in the last 3 months in the United States. No, we can't only blame our food supply. It can also be our pets. And in fact, touching your pet turtle or hedgehog or chicken may prove to be just as dangerous as eating that bad cantaloupe or ground beef!

In case you don't believe me, here are the facts, summarized from information provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - CDC. Remember that these are not the final figures for many of these outbreaks as they are still ongoing:

Peanut Butter – 35 Salmonella-caused illnesses in 19 States, 8 hospitalizations, 0 deaths

Hedgehogs – 14 Salmonella-caused illnesses in 6 states, 3 hospitalizations, 0 deaths.

Mangoes – 121 Salmonella-caused illnesses in 15 states, 25 hospitalizations, 0 deaths.

Cantaloupes – 261 Salmonella-caused illnesses in 24 states, 94 hospitalizations, 3 deaths

Ground Beef - 46 Salmonella-caused illnesses in 9 states, 12 hospitalizations, 0 deaths

Live Poultry - 3 outbreaks in the past 3 months, involving 5 different kinds of Salmonella – total of 276 illnesses in 11, 22 and 26 states, with a total of 58 hospitalizations and 3 deaths.

Dry Dog Food - 49 Salmonella-caused illnesses in 20 states, with 10 hospitalizations, 0 deaths (caused by people touching the dog food - not eating it!).

Raw Scraped Ground Tuna Product - 425 Salmonella-caused illnesses, in 28 states, 55 hospitalizations, 0 deaths.

Small Turtles - 3 different Salmonella bacteria causing 196 illnesses in 31 states, 36 hospitalizations, 0 deaths.

To your good health,
TSF