E.coli and Listeria have been spreading through some popular food companies, but the RCMS cafeteria manager said RCMS is protected.
Recalls have included Wegmans waffles, several brands of carrots, McDonald’s quarter pounder sandwiches, and an outbreak in Boar’s Head Meat. These have all caused a total of 12 deaths.
Ms. Maria Escobar, Food Services kitchen manager at RCMS, said she worries about the outbreaks. She said staff triple checked to make sure our food was not part of any recall.
She also said the cafeteria takes steps to make sure that the food is safe to eat.
She says, “We review procedures sanitizing, specifically hand washing, once a week. We go through maintaining hygiene and temperature making sure the food that stays hot stays hot and what is cold stays cold.”
The McDonald’s quarter pounder burger is the most popular McDonald’s meal to include E.coli. The burger ingredient that caused E.coli was the onions. It caused a gastrointestinal strain of E.coli that killed one person but gave 104 people E. coli infection and had 37 hospitalizations.
Dr. Deise Galan, a professional in public health who lives in Reston, says it should be taken seriously.
“Yes, I was worried,” she said. “E. coli, the strain of the current outbreak with McDonald’s and Listeria are very serious.”
Dr. Galan has a doctorate in public health from George Washington University.
“If someone is healthy, they might not get sick,” she said,” but especially young children, the elderly, pregnant women, they can get very sick, and there were actually a few deaths that were related to these outbreaks.”
The Belgian waffles and pancakes at Wegmans were also being recalled for Listeria. There have been no deaths, but many still got sick and hospitalized.
Carrots in popular companies such as Wegmans, Trader Joe’s, and Nature’s Promise, etc., infected dozens of people and killed one.
Boar’s Head Meat has been blamed for 10 deaths from Listeria. A Boar’s Head Meat factory was infected by Listeria and spread it to 61 people in 19 states. It caused 60 hospitalizations and 10 deaths. Food inspectors found insects, mold and blood puddles. The company has now closed down the Jarratt, VA, plant indefinitely, and they discontinued their liverwurst product.
The government conducts inspections to try to protect people from outbreaks.
“So what local health departments do, first they are required to go every year and inspect the restaurants,” said Dr. Galan. “The local health departments have professionals that are specialized in going to the restaurants, making sure that the way that they are preparing the food, that they are storing the food, if it is in compliance with the rules and regulations.”
