E. Coli Outbreak Investigation of Flour Ends, More Illnesses to Come
Last week the CDC announced the end of its investigation involving Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) in General Mills flour and flour products. However, many consumers may still have these products in their homes, and thus the agency is warning that it expects to see more illnesses. As of September 26, 2016, the CDC recorded 63 infections with strains of STEC O121 or STEC O26 in 24 states, 17 of which resulted in hospitalizations, and no deaths. The agency continues to urge consumers to refrain from eating (this includes a simple “taste”) raw dough or batter. It is also advising against giving playdough made with raw flour to children.
CDC worked with FDA and used PulseNet to identify illnesses that were part of the outbreak. This investigation led General Mills to initiate several recalls of its branded flours (May 31, 2016, July 1, 2016 and July 25, 2016), affecting more than 10 million pounds of product.
“In an epidemiologic investigation, investigators compared the responses of ill people in this outbreak to those of people of similar age and gender reported to state health departments with other gastrointestinal illnesses. Results from this investigation indicated an association between getting sick with STEC and someone in the household using Gold Medal brand flour.
Federal, state, and local regulatory officials performed traceback investigations using package information collected from ill people’s homes and records collected from restaurants where ill people were exposed to raw dough. These initial investigations indicated that the flour used by ill people or used in the restaurants was produced during the same week in November 2015 at the General Mills facility in Kansas City, Missouri, where Gold Medal brand flour is produced,” according to the CDC’s outbreak summary.