Food Safety Network

Camp food safety

02.aug.02, Douglas Powell, Commentary from the Food Safety Network

02.aug.02, Douglas Powell, Commentary from the Food Safety Network
Looks like I picked the wrong week to send my kids to camp.
From sea to diarrheal sea, North Americans have been stricken by illnesses
most likely transmitted in food.
Two years ago, Canada was just beginning to have some myths shattered about
Canadian clean water as reports trickled out regarding an outbreak of E.
coli O157:H7 in Walkerton, Ont. In the end, 2,300 were sickened and seven
killed, all in a town of 5,000.
Now, 29 attendees at a cheerleading camp in Washington State have been
stricken with the same bug, including a teenager whose kidneys were so
damaged that she is on dialysis. Sleuthing by health investigators sparked a
U.S.-wide recall of a brand of Romaine lettuce on Monday, which was clearly
implicated in the outbreak.
That's lettuce. Sure, there's lots of outbreaks related to hamburger -- the
second largest recall of ground beef in U.S. history involving some 18
million pounds is underway right now because of E. coli O157:H7 and illness
in some 30 people -- but at least hamburger can be cooked to reduce the
risk.
The point is, foodborne pathogens can lurk anywhere, and the idyllic
settings of camp, cruises and cook-outs can leave revelers complacent about
food safety.
Summertime and the living is easy. After all, it's natural.
Last week, up to 17 passengers got sick with a so-called Norwalk-like virus
aboard a Via Rail train that left Jasper for Toronto on July 5, the second
incident this month, and those passengers in turn infected as many as 100
people they came in contact with after leaving the train.
The week before, a similar outbreak affected between five and 10 passengers
on a Via Rail train that left Toronto for Vancouver on July 16. A
Norwalk-type virus also raced through a Christian children's camp on the
Sunshine Coast in B.C. in July.
Same for cruise ships. One-hundred-and-sixty-three passengers and seven crew
members among the 1,266 on a seven-day Alaskan cruise came down with Norwalk
virus last week. After disinfection and setting sail, another 189 of the
ship's 1,318 passengers and 29 of its 564 crew were found to be stricken
upon returning to port on Thursday.
The next outing has been cancelled.
Theme parks? Visitors to Universal Studios Japan, when not faced with
terrorizing rides featuring the characters from Jaws or Jurassic Park, have
had to deal with a contaminated water supply and out-of-date food.
The county fair? Make sure there are handwashing stations. For example, last
year's Ozaukee County Fair in Wisconsin came complete with 25 confirmed
cases of infection caused by E. coli O157:H7 with more than 200 more people
reporting symptoms. State health investigators linked the illnesses to
people visiting the cattle barns and petting zoo at the fair, then not
washing their hands before eating.
And last week, health authorities in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, said
they believe children may have been infected with E. coli O157:H7 from
animals at a petting zoo. Three of the children had to receive kidney
dialysis
How about a trip to the beach? Twenty-six people were sickened in July at
Sherkston Shores, just east of Port Colborne, Ont.; cause unknown.
World Youth Day may have left a pile of sewage for one retail outlet in
Toronto, but at least the Pope got out of Canada without leaving a trail of
sick Mounties. In 1984, the Pope visited the restored 350-year-old Jesuit
mission of Ste. Marie-among-the-Hurons in Midland, Ont. After departing,
1,600 hungry Ontario Provincial Police officers who had worked the ropes
gathered for a boxed lunch. Of those 500 officers who chose ones with roast
beef sandwiches, 423 came down with salmonella.
But those officers have shown, over the years, that a touch of the flu -- as
foodborne illness is often mistakenly refered too -- is more than a couple
of days praying at the porcelin goddess of foodborne illness. Some 5-10 per
cent of those officers have developed reactive arthritis which will plague
them for life.
For those who can't wait to get their kids back to the safety of school --
as a father of four September may be, as the ads say, "the most wonderful
time of the year," but in July? -- forget it. A report by researchers at the
University of California, San Francisco published in the July issue of the
Pediatric Infectious Diseases Journal found that over the last 25 years,
outbreaks of foodborne illness linked to subsidized school lunches in the
U.S. sickened tens of thousands of students and school staff, sent hundreds
to the hospital and caused one death.
But for now, the kids are at camp.
A Nova Scotia summer camp was forced to close last week after 60 of 77 kids,
the camp director and 13 other staff got sick. Health officials ruled out
food, and instead reasoned that someone came to the camp with a
gastrointestinal illness and spread the virus, although they conceded it's
possible the virus could have spread through food.
A camp news release was cited as saying the camp cook is an experienced
professional, with 30 years' experience at summer camps, who works full time
in the food-service industry, and that, "In fact, we believe the quality and
consistency of the food service at the camp is one of the major drawing
cards to kids returning."
Except quality and safety are not the same thing.
Dr. Robert Strang, medical officer of health for the Capital health
district, was cited as saying earlier this week that food was likely
mishandled, adding, "We've identified really one major problem in
food-handling at the camp that they're being made aware of and is being
corrected."
There is a particular kind of food snobbery that people resort to in
response to the incessant headlines about foodborne illness, along the lines
of, "I eat in the best restaurants," or "I only buy fresh produce a the
farmer's market."
Maybe, but that has nothing to do with safety. Those responsible for our
children for a week of parental relief, those preparing and serving on
cruises and cookouts, those who grow, harvest, distribute, process, sell and
prepare food -- everyone in the farm-to-fork food safety system -- need to
put the myths of food safety aside and concentrate on proper training and
reducing risk. For example, University of Georgia researchers reported in
New Scientist last week that long fingernails on chefs, bakers and others
who work with food could be a health hazard because they harbor 90 percent
of the bacteria that accumulates on hands, and that even vigorous washing
does not remove all the bacteria under long or artificial nails. So if
you're preparing food, keep those fingernails short.
Despite the outbreaks, our food remains largely safe. The suppliers of food
-- farmers, retailers, food service -- are increasingly taking steps to
verify that they are supplying safe food. After all, making one's customers
sick is a bad business strategy. But for consumers, they need to ask the
hard questions: in the restaurant, in the grocery store, at the cook-out, at
home. Set the myths aside, ask about basic sanitation, and then enjoy the
summer.
Douglas Powell is an assistant professor and scientific director of the Food
Safety Network at the University of Guelph.