BOTULISM, CHILI SAUCE - USA ALERT, RECALL

Date: Wed 18 Jul 2007
Source: US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) (edited)
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01669.html

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers not to eat
10-ounce (283.5 gm) cans of Castleberry's Hot Dog Chili Sauce (UPC
3030000101), Austex Hot Dog Chili Sauce (UPC 3030099533), and Kroger
Hot Dog Chili Sauce (UPC 1111083942) with "best by" dates from 30 Apr
2009 through 22 May 2009, due to possible botulism contamination.
Botulism can be fatal. The "best by" dates can be found on the can
lids. Consumers who have any of these products or any foods made with
these products should throw them away immediately. If the "best by"
date is missing or unreadable consumers should throw the product out.
[As of 18 Jul 2007,] 2 children in Texas and an Indiana couple who ate
these products had become seriously ill and been hospitalized. Symptoms
of botulism poisoning can begin from 6 hours to 2 weeks after eating
food that contains the toxin. Symptoms may include double vision,
blurred vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech, difficulty
swallowing, dry mouth, and muscle weakness that moves progressively
down the body, affecting the shoulders 1st, then descending to the
upper arms, lower arms, thighs, calves, etc. Botulism poisoning can
also cause paralysis of the breathing muscles, which can result in
death unless assistance with breathing (mechanical ventilation) is
provided. Individuals who show these symptoms and who may have recently
eaten Castleberry's Hot Dog Chili Sauce, Austex Hot Dog Chili Sauce, or
Kroger Hot Dog Chili Sauce should seek immediate medical attention. All
of the products cited are manufactured by the Castleberry Food Company
in Augusta, Georgia. Castleberry has informed the FDA that it is
voluntarily recalling all of the potentially contaminated products and
is cooperating with FDA, the CDC (US Centers for Disease Control &
Prevention), and the states' active investigations into the cause of
this contamination and scope of the product distribution. Communicated
by ProMED-mail promed@promedmail.org In North America, most of the
ProMED-mail posts related to botulism food recalls concern food
products that, by virtue of a problem in manufacture, have the risk of
spore germination and production of one of the botulism toxins by
vegetative _Clostridium botulinum_. Unlike recalls related to other
foodborne disease, which require human cases linked to the recall for
posting, the high morbidity and mortality of botulism causes
ProMED-mail to post all botulism-related recalls whether cases are
linked or not. In this circumstance, however, 4 cases appear to be
linked. The posting does not state what serotype of botulinum
neurotoxin is the culprit here and what the scope of the implicated
vehicle's distribution was. The recent (2006) cluster of cases of
botulism related to carrot juice in the USA and Canada involved 7
cases. Prior to that, over the past 30 years, 2 notable USA foodborne
outbreaks related to distributed food have occurred. One was in the New
York area, involving commercially produced vichyssoise soup in
June/July 1971 (type A) (CDC: Botulism associated with commercial
vichyssoise (Morbid Mortal Week Rep 1971; 20: 242) and another
involving home-canned green peppers in Michigan in March/April 1977
(Terranova W, Breman JG, Locey RP, Speck S: Botulism type B:
Epidemiologic aspects of an extensive outbreak. Am J Epidemiol 1978;
108: 150-6). --Mod.LL Patricia A. Doyle DVM, PhD Bus Admin, Tropical
Agricultural Economics Univ of West Indies Please visit my "Emerging
Diseases" message board at:
http://www.emergingdisease.org/phpbb/index.php Also my new website:
http://drpdoyle.tripod.com/ Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa Go with God
and in Good Health