Health Highlights | Bacteria Breakdown
Key takeaways:
- E. coli outbreaks this fall have been linked to organic carrots, ground beef, and slivered onions on McDonald’s Quarter Pounders®
- E. coli is a bacterium with multiple strains
- One strain can live in humans' microbiome, especially in the gut with stool
- Strains that cause food-borne illness are different than the strain found in humans
Organic carrots, ground beef and slivered onions on McDonald's Quarter Pounders® were all linked to E. coli outbreaks this fall.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than one hundred people got sick and nearly three dozen were hospitalized after eating Quarter Pounders in October.
One person died and four others developed life-threatening kidney disease.
In November, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and CDC announced a voluntary recall of multiple sizes and brands of organic carrots.
In the same week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) alerted the public of an E. coli outbreak linked to ground beef products made by a Detroit-based company.
E. coli is a bacterium with multiple strains. Humans' microbiome can contain E. coli, specifically in our guts with stool.
These are different than the strains that cause food-borne illness.
Doug Kasper, MD, an infectious disease specialist with OSF HealthCare, offers some food safety guidance with the holidays here.
“For the person at home, as we head into holiday season, you want to remember safe food practices,” Dr. Kasper says. Whether it's with raw meat or raw eggs, you want to wash all those surfaces after you've cooked with them. Wash with soap and water and scrub the surfaces. You want to cook all necessary products to their recommended temperatures.”
There's no need to break out the disinfectants like bleach to clean surfaces. Cleaning and scrubbing the area with soap and water should suffice.
Also make sure to wash any raw veggies or fruits with water before eating.