CDC: 1 death, 76 illnesses tied to turkey

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Federal officials say one person has died from salmonella poisoning that appears to be linked to eating ground turkey, but the government still is investigating who produced the meat and has not initiated a recall.

Seventy-six people in 26 states have been made sick from the same strain of the disease.

The states with the highest number sickened were Michigan and Ohio, with 10 illnesses each, while nine illnesses were reported in Texas. Illinois had seven, California six and Pennsylvania five.

Three of the illnesses in Ohio were reported in Cuyahoga County. Neighboring Lorain, Lake and Summit counties had reported one illness each.

The counties that include Columbus, Toledo and Dayton also had one case each, as did Warren County, near Cincinnati.

California health officials say a resident of that state is the lone known death in the poisonings.

California Department of Public Health spokesman Mike Sicilia said Tuesday that the death was one of two cases of the illness reported in Sacramento County.

Four other cases have been found in California.

The illnesses date back to March, and the CDC said Monday that cultures of ground turkey from four retail locations between March 7 and June 27 showed salmonella contamination, though those are not linked specifically to the illnesses. The agency said preliminary information showed that three of those samples have been linked to the same production establishment but did not identify the retailers or the manufacturers.

The Agriculture Department oversees meat safety and would be the agency to announce a recall. The department sent out an alert about the illnesses late last week telling consumers to properly cook their turkey, which can decrease the chances of salmonella poisoning. But the department has not given consumers any further warnings about the source of the tainted meat.

USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service “has not linked these illnesses to a particular brand, product or establishment, and therefore has not issued a recall,” spokesman Brian Mabry said Tuesday. “We are continuing to investigate this situation.”

The CDC said it and USDA were “vigorously working to identify the specific contaminated product or products that are causing illnesses and will update the public on the progress of this investigation as information becomes available.”

Food-safety advocate Bill Marler, an attorney who has represented victims of the nation’s biggest food-borne illness outbreaks, said he believes the three positive samples should prompt a recall.

“Consumers have no idea what to do except not eat ground turkey,” he said.

Other states affected by the illness are Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wisconsin.

A chart on the CDC’s website shows cases have occurred every month since early March, with spikes in May and early June. The latest reported cases were in mid-July, although the CDC said some recent cases may not have been reported yet.