Sarah Flanagan

April 22nd, 2015

Current Event 8

Chemistry 

Listeria: What is it, how do you get it, and what's the risk?

Yan, Holly, and Jacque Wilson. "Listeria: What Is It, and What's the Risk?" CNN. Cable News Network, 21 Apr. 2015. Web. 21 Apr. 2015. <http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/21/health/listeria-explainer/index.html>.

In the article, "Listeria: What is it, how do you get it, and what's the risk?" by Holly Yan and Jacque Wilson, it describes a common, harmful bacteria that has been found in many grocery store products over the years. On April 20th, Blue Bell Creameries has recalled its entire line of frozen products from grocery stores that were produced on March 17th and March 27th of this year. It was found that they were contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, a bacteria causing serious infections. The bacteria is 'resistant to extreme hot or cold' and it is pathogenic, meaning that it is infectious to humans. It is said that about 10% of humans are possible carriers of the bacteria. Listeria can easily be "transferred to raw foods such as unpasteurized dairy products, raw vegetables and raw meats."  It mostly affects people with weak immune systems, the elderly, pregnant women, and newborns. It also says that pregnant women can experience a 'spontaneous abortion' because of infections due to the Listeria. The article states that, "In the U.S., an estimated 1,600 people become seriously ill each year. And about 16% of those illnesses result in death." Some symptoms of the bacteria is muscle aches, diarrhea, nausea, and high fevers, which can commonly be taken for the flu. Blue Bell was not the only company this year to issue a recall of products. Sabra Dipping Co. recalled 30,000 cases of their hummus this month and Amy's Kitchen Inc. recalled 74,000 cases of different products because of traces of the Listeria mynocytogenes. It was also said that, "In January, three companies issued voluntary recalls of caramel apples after seven people died from apples that may have been infected with Listeria." One of the worst outbreaks documented was in 1998 when 21 people were killed from contaminated hot dogs and deli meats. In the United States, about 800 cases of Listeria are reported a year. With Blue Bell, there have been about eight cases recorded so far. The Blue Bell CEO and president, Paul Kruse, has now promised to amend the conditions and testing in the Blue Bell factories. Companies will constantly have this problem, putting their reputation at risk. 

Companies not being careful when testing their food products put the people in great risk of not only being infected by the Listeria bacteria, but maybe other harmful things as well. This is certainly not a new problem that we face. It has gotten better, but it isn't completely gone. There are some recommendations in the article for keeping food safe from bacteria. It says to cook meat to the suggested temperatures, wash fruits and vegetables, keep the fridge below 40 degrees, and eat leftovers within three to four days of putting it in the fridge. Some may think that this bacteria is not serious, but there have been many cases where it has caused people to die. Food companies and the overall public need to keep this in mind. 

I thought that this article was able to explain and give a lot of detail about all the aspects of Listeria. Though the article was informative and gave many good facts, the set up of the article was quite strange. It was like a mix between a question and answer and a regular article. It made it easier to find the information, but I felt that it would have flowed better if the article was written regularly. I never knew that companies recalling their products happens so frequently and that this was the reason they did it so this article was very interesting for me.