4.5 thousand tonnes of flour recalled due to E. coli scare

Huge recalls cause huge damage to brands, profitability and even viability — and 4500 million kg of flour is a huge recall.

Since 1 December last year, 38 people across 20 states in the US have been confirmed infected with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O121 (STEC O121). Public health investigators have established that the isolates from ill people are closely related genetically so they believe there is a common source of infection causing this outbreak.

Accessing the PulseNet system, a national subtyping network of public health and food regulatory agency laboratories, investigators used pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and whole genome sequencing to DNA fingerprint the STEC bacteria isolated from the ill people.

So far 38 people, aged from 1–95 years, have been confirmed ill with 10 being hospitalised. None have developed haemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure, and no deaths have been reported.

However, the outbreak cannot be considered contained as more cases of illness cannot be ruled out since the time between infection and symptoms averages two to three weeks. This time lag makes identifying the source of disease quite difficult.

Can you remember what you ate three weeks ago?

The infected people (or their carers) were interviewed about what they had eaten and other exposures in the week before they became ill.

• Sixteen (76%) of 21 people reported that they or someone in their household used flour in the week before they became ill.
• Nine (41%) of 22 people reported eating or tasting raw homemade dough or batter.
• Twelve (55%) of 22 people reported using Gold Medal brand flour.
• Three ill people reported eating or playing with raw dough at restaurants.

From this scant information, collaborative investigative efforts of state, local and federal health and regulatory officials indicated that flour produced at General Mills’ Kansas City, Missouri, facility was a likely source of this outbreak. In an epidemiologic investigation, investigators compared the responses of ill people in this outbreak to those of people of similar age and gender reported to state health departments with other illnesses. Preliminary results of this investigation indicated an association between STEC O121 infection and someone in the household using Gold Medal brand flour to make something to eat.

Federal, state and local regulatory officials performed traceback investigations using package information collected from ill people and records collected from restaurants where ill people were exposed to raw dough. These investigations indicated that the flour used by ill people or used in restaurant locations was produced in the same week in November 2015 at the General Mills facility in Kansas City, Missouri.

On 31 May 2016, General Mills issued a voluntary recall of more than 4.5 million kilos of flour due to the possible E. coli contamination. The recalled flours were produced in the Kansas City facility during a time frame identified by traceback and sold nationwide.

To date, E. coli O121 has not been found in any General Mills flour products or in the flour manufacturing facility and the company has not been contacted directly by any consumer reporting confirmed illnesses related to these products.

“As a leading provider of flour for 150 years, we felt it was important to not only recall the product and replace it for consumers if there was any doubt, but also to take this opportunity to remind our consumers how to safely handle flour,” said Liz Nordlie, president of the General Mills Baking division.

Whether or not it is ultimately established that General Mills flour was the source of this foodborne disease outbreak, the effect on the brand will be huge.

Companies do it tough after recalls

Do you remember the Hepatitis A outbreak that was linked to Patties Foods’ Nanna’s and Creative Gourmet businesses early last year? The product recall saw thousands of packets of berries pulled from shop shelves and put a major dent into the company’s full-year profit report. Its net profit after tax was down from $16.7 million to just $2.1 million — more than $14 million gone!

The company decided to exit the frozen fruit market and sold its frozen berries business to Entyce Food Ingredients for an undisclosed sum earlier this year and now has agreed to a private equity takeover bid from Pacific Equity Partners (PEP).