Salmonella-Tainted Turkey

The US Department of Agriculture has traced a recent salmonella outbreak, which has killed one person and sickened nearly 80 others, back to ground turkey distributed by Cargill, one of the nation’s largest meat producers. Roughly 36 million pounds of ground turkey were recalled by the company on August 3, resulting in the third largest meat recall in history. Tests have indicated that this strain of the bacteria may also be resistant to many commonly prescribed antibiotics, and the hospitalization rate for those infected is 38 percent, which is higher than normal. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 50 million people are afflicted with food poisoning every year, and about 3,000 die from it.