Listeria Monocytogenes in Adolf’s Deli Meats and Whole Foods Curry Chicken

American Thanksgiving is coming up, which is a prime time for meat producers as they will be selling a lot of turkey, ham, chicken, and many other meats that most families traditionally consume on Thanksgiving. If families are tight for time to prepare food, or have a lot of people to prepare food for, some will resort to getting Ready-to-Eat meats from the deli, such as ordering deli turkey breasts or deli ham.
With the purchase of ready-to-eat (RTE) meats comes the risk of Listeriosis, as RTE meats are one of the favourite breeding grounds for L. monocytogenes.

On October 29th, 2015, and still currently, American consumers have been warned about meat that could be potentially contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. This particular outbreak was attributed to smoked kielbasa, hams, Canadian Bacon, bone-in pork loins, and liverwurst that were produced on October 20th, 2015 that was produced by Adolf’s Meat Products in Connecticut. About 224 pounds of meat have been recalled.

In another incident, a Whole Foods supplier in Massachusetts is recalling curry chicken products, such as their salad, salad wraps, and salad roll-ups that could also possibly have been infected with L. monocytogenes. Customers who have purchased these items are told not to consume them and to return the products straight to the store.
This problem was confirmed during FSIS sample testing, although there have not been any cases or adverse reactions reported due to consumption of these meat products.

L. monocytogenes favours growth in refrigerated to room temperature (4 to 37 degrees C), which is the reason why they are so prevalent in these meats that are eaten on their own without cooking. It is also present in many raw foods such as milk, ice cream, and produce. Despite this, most of the big outbreaks in Central/Eastern North America have been attributed to RTE meats. To put statistics into the prevalence of L. monocytogenes in the USA, 1600 illnesses and 260 deaths happen annually due to the contamination of food. Per 100,000 people, 0.26 cases are estimated. Despite these statistics, listeriosis has declined by 42% in 2013 compared to 1996-1998. An example of a major outbreak was the big Listeria outbreak at a Maple Leaf foods branch in Toronto in 2008, which resulted in 57 cases of illness and 23 deaths. This outbreak cost the company $20 million dollars, and 23 of their products were recalled. L. monocytogenes proved to be a forced to be reckoned with as the company had lost not only the money, but their image as well.

In North America, Listeria is considered to be an increasing threat to human health due to antimicrobial resistance, its ability to grow in refrigerated temperatures, and its large prevalence in the environment. Listeriosis can be fatal in those who are elderly and those that are still young children. Luckily this was found before the outbreak actually had caused illness in a consumer, however, it is still early to tell as the outbreak was very recent.

It is important that consumers understand that they must be vigilant when consuming RTE meats. Although hot dogs, luncheon meat (SPAM), and deli meats are convenient because they are already pre-cooked, the risk of contracting listeriosis is very real.
Hopefully this thanksgiving, those who choose to purchase RTE meats to serve at dinner cook it very thoroughly past 40 degrees C. It is advised that they use thermometers and put it into the deepest part of the meat to ensure that this temperature is meat. If there are any leftovers (which is definitely bound to happen) they should divide them into shallow containers to promote rapid cooling.

What do you think about this outbreak? Do you think that the government and companies generally do a good job in recalling products and preventing illnesses? How do you consume your RTE meats?

SOURCES:

http://www.foodpoisonjournal.com/food-recall/whole-foods-recalls-listeria-curry-chicken-salad/#.VjQY5mSrR68

http://www.globalmeatnews.com/Industry-Markets/Listeria-recalls-hit-US

http://www.foodsafetywatch.org/factsheets/listeria/

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/recalls-and-public-health-alerts/recall-case-archive/archive/2015/recall-132-2015-release

http://www.foodpoisonjournal.com/food-poisoning-resources/everything-you-never-wanted-to-know-about-listeria-but-need-to/#.VjQe2WSrR68