Nine more people have been affected by an outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis that has been traced to frozen raw breaded chicken products sold in Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada reported.
The health agency on June 18 gave an update on the case, revealing that now 68 people have became ill after consuming the products in which a food recall warning was issued on June 2. Fifty-nine people had been affected at the time of the first recall. Recalled were no-name chicken burgers that came in 1-kilogram packages. The products contained the UPC code 0 60383 16636 6, as well as the code 2019 FE 06 on the outer package and the code 0378M on the inner package.
The products connected to the outbreak and recall were distributed nationally across Canada, and the Salmonella cases also sickened people across the nation. According to the agency, there have been 23 cases in Quebec, 15 in Ontario, nine each in Alberta and Manitoba, eight in British Columbia, and one each in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Northwest Territories. Of those patients, 15 were hospitalized between March and May 2018, but there were not fatal cases. The average age of those affected was 35, with 56 percent of those patients being males.
Symptoms and precautions
CFIA further advises that people who purchased the chicken burger products throw them away or return them to the store where they were purchased. It also cautions that food contaminated with Salmonella may not look or smell spoiled, but can still make people sick. Young children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems may contract serious and sometimes deadly infections, according to CFIA. Healthy people may also experience short-term symptoms such as fever, headache, vomiting, nausea, abdominal cramps and diarrhea, CFIA stated, while long term-complications may include severe arthritis.
U.S Salmonella case over
While new cases of Salmonella Enteritidis infections are occurring in Canada, a Salmonella Braenderup outbreak in the United States, appears to be over, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced last week. In that case, roughly 207 million eggs were recalled and 45 people became ill.
The recalled eggs originated in a Rose Acre Farms facility in North Carolina. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspected the facilities and asserted that proper rodent control methods were not being utilized and other sanitary measures were not being followed.
