August 2, 2011 – According to reports ground turkey salmonella is blamed in the death of a California man.
According to state health officials a California man’s death is believed to be linked to a multi-state outbreak of antibiotic resistant salmonella. It is believed that the California resident ate some of the contaminated ground turkey.
The multi-state ground turkey salmonella outbreak included California, Texas, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania with reported cases of illness in 77 people and covered at least 26 states, between March 1 and August 1. Most of these cases were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
According to a California Department of Public Health spokesperson the California man’s death was one of two illnesses that were reported in Sacramento County. Other California counties that have reported one case of the antibiotic resistant salmonella included Los Angeles, Riverside, San Francisco and San Diego.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service issued a public health alert during the past week for both fresh and frozen ground turkey. This alert advised consumers fully cook the turkey until a food thermometer reaches 165 Fahrenheit. Public health officials are still looking for the source of the contamination, but believe it might be related to one production facility.