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Cargill recently announced that it has assembled a panel of food safety experts to review its newly-implemented Salmonella prevention program at its Arkansas processing facility linked to a deadly nationwide outbreak.
More than 100 people have gotten sick and one person has died as a result of eating fresh or frozen ground turkey from Cargill’s massive Springdale, Ark., processing facility. The company issued a recall on more than 36 million pounds of its ground turkey products on Aug. 3, the third-largest meat-based recall in U.S. history.
Following the recall, Cargill ceased production at its facility and announced new measures which are aimed at preventing the spread of Salmonella bacteria among its turkey. Cargill detailed some of those measures in a release. It said it was implementing the following changes: “two additional antibacterial washes, intensifying an existing antibacterial system, disassembling and steam cleaning equipment before resuming ground turkey production, and requiring suppliers of turkey meat to add a new antibacterial wash. The company has also implemented the most aggressive Salmonella monitoring and testing program in the poultry industry.”
The strain of Salmonella bacteria associated with this outbreak has proven to be resistant to common forms of antibiotics.
While Cargill seems to be taking the high road in announcing these changes, it and the federal government have been aware of Salmonella contamination problems at that specific Arkansas facility for more than a year but did nothing to promote these changes or a culture of better sanitation prior to the recall.
It’s likely many more people have been sickened after eating ground turkey from Cargill but have not reported the symptoms or been tested for Salmonella poisoning. Typically less than 20 percent of all victims of Salmonella poisoning report their illnesses.
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