Beef, celery and E. coli…oh my!

By Lauren Buchanan and Lauren Dargay

In November 2015, the Centers for Disease control identified two separate E.coli outbreaks in the United States. Since those initial discoveries, both outbreaks have spread to numerous states and the number of people who have fallen ill in each case continues to increase. But consumers are not the only people who are impacted by the E.coli outbreaks. Retailers and restaurants feel the effects as well.

The Two Outbreaks

The first E.coli outbreak, which was reported in early November, is linked to Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants in nine states. The CDC reported on the second outbreak just before the Thanksgiving holiday, and it was initially linked to Costco rotisserie chicken salad. Soon after the CDC began investigating the outbreak, though, the linkage was expanded to raw celery, which was an ingredient in the chicken salad.

Contamination

E.Coli contamination can occur before products are shipped to retailers and restaurants, or it can happen in the restaurants themselves.

“Foods can be contaminated during preparation,” Chef Tim McCoy, Director of Education at the International Culinary Arts and Sciences Institute in Chesterland, said. For example, E.coli might be found in burger meat because, when a cow is being butchered, “some contents of the intestines may splash out onto the meat and then be ground into the meat,” he explained.

Additionally, the E.coli bacteria in produce is odorless, colorless and flavorless, so cross-contamination can occur when chefs prepare foods. “If something contaminated comes in, it’s very difficult to tell,” McCoy said.

However, contamination doesn’t always occur during food prep in restaurants. “Orders can arrive already contaminated,” McCoy said, “and that’s where some problems with E.coli are coming from.” Usually, E.coli-contaminated products can be tracked to the farm they came from. For example, the contaminated celery linked to one of the current E.coli outbreaks was traced back to Taylor Farms Pacific in Tracy, California. After that discovery, Taylor Farms Pacific recalled a variety of products that contain celery, which led to items being pulled from stores like Costco, Target and Walmart.

E.coli, which is a bacteria, is commonly spread via contaminated water. “E.coli is often associated with the feces of animals,” McCoy said, “and currently we’re seeing a lot of E.coli associated with vegetables. That happens because the vegetables are contaminated by water that carries the animal feces.”

The Spread of E.coli

Although the celery contaminated by E.coli was grown at a farm in California, cases of illness linked to that celery have occurred in 18 different states. How does the bacteria manage to spread so far so quickly?

“It’s not that the E.coli has gotten out into the trucks and other previously safe food is contaminated,” McCoy said, because the bacteria will not live for a very long time in the unfavorable conditions of a delivery truck.

“Typically what happens is you get a load of bad stuff from one farm that moves into the system and then gets distributed all over the place,” McCoy said. That is how contaminated products end up being shipped to different stores across the country, resulting in people in a number of states becoming ill.

The Impact on Restaurants

The major concern during an E.coli outbreak is the health and safety of the public, but businesses can also potentially suffer during an outbreak. “The more common an ingredient is and the more commonly utilized it is, the bigger a problem it can be for restaurants,” McCoy said.

If a specific restaurant is found to be the source of an outbreak, many of the restaurant’s products and food items must be discarded. “The Health Department will assist people in food service in identifying the source. If there’s a foodborne illness outbreak, then they’ll work with you, giving you instruction on what you have to get rid of,” McCoy said.

After the CDC announced the initial E.coli outbreak linked to Chipotle, the restaurant released a statement, saying, “In response to this incident, Chipotle has taken aggressive steps to make sure its restaurants are as safe as possible.” Despite those efforts, consumers have stayed away from the restaurant, resulting in falling stock prices and a predicted decrease in sales.

McCoy experienced the effects that disease outbreaks can have on businesses when he worked as a restaurant chef. “If there was a story about a particular type of food being associated with some kind of health issue, that food would be very difficult to sell,” he said. “I worked in a restaurant that sold a lot of seafood. There was a very unfavorable story about heavy metals in tuna and I had ordered in 30 pounds of tuna for specials that weekend and I could not move that stuff at all. People steered clear of it.”

Keeping the Public Healthy

With Christmas quickly approaching as the two E.coli outbreaks spread, some shoppers are concerned about purchasing fresh produce for their holiday meals. But consumers can protect themselves and their loved ones from falling ill because of the bacteria.

One of the biggest issues with the celery outbreak is that people often eat celery raw, which puts them in greater danger of becoming ill if they happen to consume a contaminated product. “If you don’t cook it, you’re at a lot of risk [of getting sick],” McCoy said. Cooked foods usually do not cause problems. “You can actually kind of protect yourself against [from E.coli] by cooking to the right temperature,” he said.

Restaurants and food service workers also take measures to ensure the health and safety of consumers. “Typically people will be required, if they work in restaurants, to have a valid ServSafe certificate,” McCoy said. ServSafe is a food and beverage safety training program that is administered by the National Restaurant Association. The training program instructs culinary students and food service workers about the different kinds of foodborne illness and the different ways food is contaminated. At least one worker in every restaurant has completed ServSafe training, but “in many places the entire crew is required to have that kind of training,” McCoy said.

 

These two cases are not the first E.coli outbreaks in the United States, and they probably will not be the last. Although it is likely that the number of people who become sick because of eating E.coli-contaminated foods will increase in coming weeks, retailers and restaurants are taking action to keep the public safe. The public can stay informed on the status of each outbreak by checking the CDC’s reports of E.coli outbreak investigations.