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Mangoes have been implicated in a growing outbreak of salmonella poisoning.
Health officials in the U.S. and Canada are investigating a possible outbreak of salmonella poisoning from mangoes imported from Mexico that may have sickened more than 100 people.
At least 73 people in California have been infected with a strain of salmonella Braenderup linked to mangoes, said Matt Conens, a spokesman for the California Department of Public Health. Of those, about 67 percent reported eating the fruit.
Those cases are in addition to 22 illnesses from the same strain of salmonella confirmed last weekend by officials with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. And, in late July, six cases of salmonella Braenderup possibly linked to mangoes were reported in residents of Washington state, said Donn Moyer, a health department spokesman.
Officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are working with state officials to determine the cause and scope of the outbreak, said spokeswoman Lola Russell. The genetic fingerprint of the cases in the U.S. is the same as that found in the cases in Canada, "therefore, mangoes are the likely source," she added.
Neither the CDC nor California health officials have confirmed a recall of contaminated mangoes, or named specific brands.
"We will update the public when more information becomes available," Russell said.
But Larry Nienkirk, founder of Splendid Products, a distributor in Burlingame, Calif., said his firm has issued a voluntary recall of Daniella brand mangoes imported from Mexico, which are shipped to grocery stores and other retailers nationwide. Nienkirk declined to estimate the volume of mangoes recalled since contamination was detected in mid-July.
"Our thoughts are with anybody who has been affected by this," said Nienkirk, whose firm has specialized in mangoes for 37 years. "We're doing everything we can to get to the bottom of this."
Canadian officials warned consumers last week not to eat the Daniella brand mangoes.
Canadian officials said the mangoes there were sold as individual fruit, with stickers bearing the PLU #4959. They were sold at retail locations between July 12, 2012 and Aug. 14, 2012.
Health officials in Washington state and California are continuing to investigate the apparent outbreak.
Salmonella poisoning can cause fever, headache, vomiting nausea, abdominal cramping and diarrhea. In people with weakened immune systems, including children and the elderly, it can cause serious illness and death.
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How do you get Salmonella into a mango? These grow on trees and have a thick skin.
I grew up in Jamaica.... for Heavens sake .... are they WASHING the fruit they buy in the store before they eat them?????? You cannot get salmonella into a mango unless it was injected there. Could it be on the skin? well YEAH!! HELLO???? you THINK maybe dirty hands touched the skin of the mango??
But you don't eat the skin.
You can't get rid of salmonella by just rinsing the mango under water. And who does that anyway? Do you rinse your oranges? Your pineapples? Your bananas?
And the salmonella is likely caused by livestock runoff not dirty hands. E. coli is often found in livestock runoff too. The water from the livestock area washes down to fields and infects crops.
I would venture a guess that the salmonella is on the skin, and I dont think merely washing the fruit off removes the salmonella (entirely - though likely helps more than it hurts). The contamination comes from cutting off the skin (touching the salmonella) then cutting up the fruit, then eating the fruit.
I am not a genius, but that seems to be the most obvious path of infection...
and I just cut up a mango last night and made salsa with it...and ate some of it.
and I cant remember how often I washed my hands during that process, but im gonna guess not after i peeled the skin and then cut the fruit...dang it all.
Well I will have to say that mango flavored salmonella probably tastes better than cantalope flavored.
Simply running cold water over the fruit does NOT kill the bacteria. You have to scrub each fruit for 20 seconds with hot soapy water. That applies to all fruits and veggies.
Salmonella is a tough bugger and doesn't always disappear with washing fruits and vegetables even when using proper detergents and surface abrasion. Cutting into the skin of an infected fruit transfers it into the fruit.
Animal fertilizers and contaminated water are generally assumed to be how fruits become contaminated. I've read that it might be possible for vegetables to absorb the bacteria from contaminated soil.
Apparently most of you have missed it but several years ago, a group of pickers actually were caught putting manure and other bacteria into the soil while making certain that when nature called: they didn't have to go anyplace other than where they were...it was the PLAN...
Amazing how much the WTO has welcomed the poisoning of us dba the USA:
Let us all take a bow and thank Slick Willie for making us dependent upon nations who have NO HEALTH REGULATIONs and whose intent it is to make certain we die and de slowly while they make money off of us...and no doubt get our body parts!
I have the actual information: but do not have the time to search...for it.
What a welcomed site to beaware of how we are at the disposal of the world when we produced prior everything for ourselves while we had quality products and were not having over flowing landfills and waste disposals in the Ocean of everything from factory to hospital waste in the Gulf and via Mexico: of which the TNRCC does nothing!
99% of all food borne illnesses originates from the domestic food supply.
Who's Slick Willie?
Good luck growing a mango tree on the mainland. We don't mass produce mangos in th U.S.
PS Humanoids are carriers: those coming from Central America, Africa, Asia without health screening...have it all.and we have those here who do not even wash their hands after using the restrooms..even when they eat...
Your lack of intelligence is truly mind boggling (you can look that up in a dictionary or Google).
"about 67 percent reported eating the fruit"
Wouldn't that need to be 100% for the fruit to be the cause?
Not necessarily. For instance, if you cut the fruit on a cutting board, it then is on the cutting board. Placing another food item or touching the board with your hands might pick it up from there.
I keep a soap dish with dish soap and a little bleach and a veggie brush at my sink at all times for washing fruits and vegetables with skins. As for a cutting board, if it is wooden use bleach and salt to scrub clean, for the plastic ones I use my soap and bleach combo. Simple hygiene goes a long way.
All right, more Mexi-Poop to consume!
beaners are getting back at us for wanting them to stay home...crapping on their fingers as they pack the exports
You are an idiot.
News flash just in today idiot! Looks like YOUR farmers in Indiana are doing the same thing! LOL
"U.S. health officials say the number of people sickened with the strain of salmonella linked to cantaloupe from an Indiana farm has grown to 204 in 22 states."
And here Im wondering why Im running to and in the can...What crap!
In unrelated news...The Mexicans that prepped these mangoes have crossed into the States...
They don't have { Port- a - Potties} in the Orchirds, Just like the lettuce fields,etc. Why do you think for years you could not bring back fruit or veggies from these Country's, but since NAFTA its OK.
Filthy work conditions means a filthy Product.
Go to your local Farmers Market.
LOL! Have you ever worked in an Orchard? Do you know how important migrant workers are to your food supply?
Your local farmer's market isn't any better than food grown abroad except that it may retain more flavour and nutrients.
Phalaeo; Yes I have, under clean American rules, Don't piss on the Fruit or Veggies
We haven't seen so many cases since we opened the door to third world trade.
Never got sick from a US Farmers Market. You think you have more experience than this 65 year old American. Wake up!!!
This is likely not caused by human waste, but by cattle runoff. Do you know how sick the meat you eat is? If you really knew, people crapping in fields would be the least of your worries.
slick Willie=Bill Clinton. It is true that "contaminated foods" that are imported are due to wide use of "Night soil" i.e. human poop, animal poop for fertilizer. Untreated, all your cute killer bugs can then make their way into the said food product. Yes, thank you Slick Willie for forcing us to open our borders to killer bugs.
Its very sad that this strain of salmonela is linked to the mangoes. We love mangoes and this year was a bumper year for good mangoes. Since June we have consumed more than one hundred mangoes and never fell sick. We even had a mango yesterday. Very unfortuante indeed and my thoughts are with those who got sick eating mangoes...
thanks to the CDC for getting right on this....NOT!! TONS of people are sickened but there is a voluntary recall, the CDC has yet to confirm anything. thanks for the oversight! They'll tell us in a month not to wat the mangos we bought in July. they are idiots!
No more mangoes for our 12 year old mango-muncher. She'll be sad. :(
The pickers in the field use them as toilets people. Use your heads and wash your fruit thoroughly.
WTF its not safe to eat anything anymore. what is the purpose of FDA other to tell us after it's too late.
i eat mangoes almost every day
It's safe to eat it...they're just looking for another reason to Irradiate more food to render it absolutely useless. You don't want it anyway...it's grown from aluminum resistant seed from Monsanto. If you look around very closely, you'll catch their new breed of Bees, too. They bought that bee farm for 'testing' and I found 2 of the most mutant bees you'd ever want to see. They ARE 1/2 fly, and 1/2 bee. Ever see a carnavor bee trying to eat chicken? I have...watched it on my grandkids food. It poked it looking for pollen, then kept stinging it. The second awful 2 I saw were the flies, with the eyes and wings of the fly, and the back like a bee, and it was trying to get pollen. I'm telling you folks, this is a scam. Grow your own food, please...and IN a greenhouse if you're wise.
Whatever happened to sweetening the soil with lime? For a while the white potatoes purchased at the WM superstore smelled like dirty dirt. All the way through the potato it smelled like they were grown in filthy dirt. Grocers don't care anymore, it's all about the money.
I hope you are kidding. You do realize potatoes are grown in dirt right? If they smelled like anything other than dirt I would be alarmed.
“AN APPLE FELL UPON HIS HEAD”
Picking mangos for my friends
Up their tree did I ascend.
My favorite membrance as a child,
Twelve years old but monkey wild!
So many branches did I bend,
And with so much heat did I contend,
That my sweat with mango nectar
Dreamed my body was a river.
And while the sun upon us smiled,
All the mangos I stockpiled.
The mango girl of Mindanao
With mango sweat upon my brow.
The tree its fruit did me allow,
Sweet mango girl of Mindanao.
Mango dancer, mango bomber,
Mango burglar, mango daughter,
Mango grasper, mango plucker,
Mango danger, mango plunder.
The mango girl of Mindanao,
My tangled locks were not highbrow,
But the mango tree did I transcend.
Earthward mangoes did I send.
And as the mangos did descend,
Newton’s Law was I, pretend!
This is excellent, and it easily can be the lyrics for a song, which is fabulous . . .
Fabulous! :-D
Your a poet and don't know it. Im going to eat my mango now, still brave.
Next up. Salmonella tainted marijuana from Mexico. Support locally grown product.
this good reason i don't buy fruit and sea food from other countries...they don't have the same food safety we have...
hahahahahahaha! This is from today's NBCnews.com: "U.S. health officials say the number of people sickened with the strain of salmonella linked to cantaloupe from an Indiana farm has grown to 204 in 22 states.
Guess you'd better stop eating food period you dumbass!