posted on November 20, 2003 05:35:40 AM new
This has been reported for close to a week now. But at first, they thought it might have been caused from food handlers not washing their hands. Now they suspect it's green onions [scallions] being imported from Mexico.
Please ask your grocier where your scallions are purchased from, until they can find out for sure what's causing this outbreak of hepatitis.
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From Yahoo News
U.S. Bars Mexican Onions Due to Hepatitis a Outbreak
Wed Nov 19, 5:59 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
The United States has halted imports of Mexican green onions suspected of causing an outbreak of hepatitis A that has sickened more than 500 people in Pennsylvania, a Food and Drug Administration official told Reuters on Wednesday.
FDA Deputy Commissioner Lester Crawford said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control on Friday will release an update on the outbreak, including the food source that has caused at least three deaths and where it originated.
Health officials believe Mexican green onions served at a Chi-Chi's restaurant were the source of the Pennsylvania outbreak. Recent cases of the liver disease in Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia have also been linked to scallions.
"We are actually detaining the (green onions) at the border at the present time," Crawford said after testifying on an unrelated issue at the House Governmental Affairs committee.
"This is the best bet of the source, but has not yet been finally confirmed."
Crawford said there were no indications the hepatitis A outbreak was intentional.
Hepatitis A is usually mild but can cause fever, exhaustion, vomiting, abdominal pain and in rare cases death.
As of Tuesday, 520 cases of the illness had been confirmed in Pennsylvania, the state health department said on its Web site.
The Chi-Chi's Mexican restaurant chain voluntarily pulled green onions off the menu at all its more than 100 restaurants after employees and patrons of Beaver Valley, Pennsylvania, restaurant became ill from hepatitis A. The chain is owned by Irvine, California-based Prandium Inc..
posted on November 20, 2003 06:10:44 AM new
You know, twelve, this type of thing being possible has long been a concern of mine. When in CA I first read reports about the food being imported from Mexico, my concern was the conditions in which the food items might be grown.
The reason for my concern was it hadn't been that long ago [then] since I'd read articles about their problems with their waste/sewage problems they were experiencing.
BUT other published articles tried to put those concerns aside. There were reassurances that the growing conditions were well supervised.
Now we've also restarted purchasing cattle meat from Canada, even though they had their own 'mad cow disease' problems.
To me, it seems like we should have the ability to produce enough of our own food products to feed our nation.
posted on November 20, 2003 06:15:24 AM new
We do but we would rather try to export at a higher price and import food for a lower price...
We produce more than enough food to feed us.
posted on November 20, 2003 03:09:55 PM new
It has always sense to me if you are told NOT to each vegetables and fruits while you are visiting Mexico than they are not save to eat after they are shipped to this country either. I made the mistake of buying a canolope from the supermaket and got sick from it. I now only buy locally grown fruit or vegables. It is going to get alot worse. With the price of meat going up you will really have to watch what you buy. Bad meat is already a real bad problem where I live,you soon learn what stores to stay away from.
posted on November 20, 2003 06:30:29 PM new
Living in rural PA I can tell you almost everyone has a garden and they all grow "green onions". We simply dont $hit on the garden!
I cant believe they actually import these onions from mexico. We can grow them almost all year!
posted on November 20, 2003 07:37:46 PM new
Who ever said don't eat fruits or vegetables in Mexico? You can find Mexican grown Mangos, Pomegrates, and darn near everything else in the produce departments of most grocery stores, I doubt this would be a problem if the fruits were unhealthy.
BTW Linda - the problems that you hear of concerning sewage in mexico are generally in residential areas where population has outgrown the infastucture. It is most problematic in the border cities or large citites where people in the poorer middle sections of the county have migrated hhoping to find a way to make living. TJ for example has a hugge problem with this as new reidents, unable to find housing have established the equivalent of shanty towns on unpopulated land that unfortunately have no waster or sewage. When rainy season hits all of this run off into the TJ river which inevitably overruns its banks causing the problems that you probably frequently saw mentioned on the news when you were in California. The inland agricultural lands however are not burdened as burdened with these problems, The people flock away from them, not to them.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
If it's really "common" sense, why do so few people actually have it?
posted on November 20, 2003 07:53:50 PM new
Not that you'd want Hep-A'Onions?
But look at these fugures,
re. American Hospitals-
"investigation found that in 2000, nearly three-quarters of the deadly
infections--or about 75,000--were preventable, the result of unsanitary
facilities, germ-laden instruments, unwashed hands and other lapses."
http://groups.msn.com/messup/hospitalinfections.msnw
[ edited by austbounty on Nov 20, 2003 07:55 PM ]
posted on November 20, 2003 08:40:18 PM new
One infected person in the chain of people who handle produce before it gets to market can infect bushels of produce, and eventually thousands of people. That you can blame an entire nation's agricultural system on a single (possible, not proven) source of Hepatitis truly makes one wonder about your motives. I don't suppose you would care to condemn the US meat industry and call American food unsafe, even given the large number of E Coli infections that have resulted from poorly handled US beef and killed many innocents here?.. I thought not. Those were just unfortunate accidents, right?
Since none of you seem to have any first hand knowlege of Mexican commercial agriculture, let me enlighten you. I do. Most of the produce that crosses the US border headed for the American market is grown by large commercial farms in northern Mexico. Indeed, much of it is farmed by US owned companies which operate under standards designed to meet US regulations.The large Mexican owned farms need to compete, and so they operate under the same standard.
Whether it's mexican or US products, this story shows how vulnerable to mass sickness our modern system of food distribution is.
Blaming Mexico for this is just plain stupid.
Well said, fenix.
___________________________________
The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then gets elected and proves it.
-- P. J. ORourke (Holidays in hell, 1989)
posted on November 21, 2003 03:55:34 AM new
All this does prove my point of what I have said in the past... the US public does not really like foreign imports and given any reason to slow or stop it, it will be done.
E coli killed some people, yes...but it was US meat industry and we trust the FDA...
If this had been Jan and Joe Farms out of Podunk CA, then I don't believe the same results would of happend, they would of track down the cause.
posted on November 21, 2003 04:18:33 AM new
Yes, twelvepole, you are correct. There are many news reports about Americans who are concerned about the safety of food grown outside our country.
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Thanks for your insight fenix, I appreciate you sharing. As the profe said it only takes one person to pass this terrible disease. And I think most are aware that in countries like Mexico, sanitation conditions are not equal to what they are here in the states. Thus the elavated concern.
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profe - My motives??? LOL My motive was to warn those who read here that they might just want to stay away from, or ask their grocier about where their scallions are purchased from, until it can be determined if they are the cause of this, the *largest single hepatitis A outbreak, ever, in the US*.
There were similar outbreaks [of hepatitis A] reported this past September in North Caroline, Tennessee and Georgia. Two of those states outbreaks have been attributed to these scallions from Mexico. That's why the FDA is working with the CDC to see if this same strain of virus is the one that has now reared its face in PA.
In PA 540 people now have hepatitis A from eating at this mexican food restaurant, and three have died. There have been 9,000 people who have been given immune globulin shots to keep more from becoming ill from this outbreak alone. It's serious....that's why I started this thread.
