The King County Department of Health is investigating the outbreak of Salmonellosis associated with the Good Vibe Tribe Luau held on July 3 at Golden Gardens Park in Seattle, according to Food Safety News.
Seattle health officials say Salmonella victims ate pork from Kapowsin Meatsfoodsafety
— Food Safety News (@foodsafetynews) July 20, 2016
Public health officials are being very cautious: “A number of different foods were eaten, and we have not determined what food was the cause.”
But in a Tuesday afternoon update, the Department of Health issued a statement saying: “We know that the pork served at the luau was supplied by Kapowsin Meats, and we know that everyone who got sick after the luau had eaten the pork that was served there. We also know that the genetic fingerprints of cases in this outbreak match the fingerprint of the Salmonella outbreak cases from last year.”
In the current outbreak, six people have been confirmed to have been infected with Salmonella I 4,[5],12:i:- and Salmonella Infantis. Five other people who filled out survey forms also described having symptoms consistent with Salmonella infection but were not tested. All reported eating pork at the event.
In a summary of the investigation published on Monday, public health officials said that anyone who attended the event, even if they did not get ill, are being asked to complete a survey. “Comparing food histories between those who became ill and those who did not can help us determine what might have caused illness and prevent others from becoming sick.”
Kapowsin Meats 2015 Salmonella outbreak
Digital Journal covered the August 13, 2015, Class I recall that was issued by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) for approximately 116,262 pounds of whole hogs from Graham, Washington-based Kapowsin Meats Inc. that may have been contaminated with Salmonella I 4,[5],12:i:-.
On August 27, an expanded recall of pork products from Kapowsin Meats was issued. The expanded recall included approximately 523,380 pounds of pork products.
The Salmonella outbreak eventually spread to include 192 people infected with the outbreak strains of Salmonella I 4,[5],12:i:- (188) and Salmonella Infantis (4) in five states. A total of 30 people were hospitalized, but thankfully there were no deaths.
CDC’s National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System (NARMS) laboratory conducted antibiotic resistance testing on clinical isolates collected from 10 ill people infected with one of the outbreak strains of Salmonella I 4,[5],12:i:-. All 10 of the isolates were multi-drug resistant.
Using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), DNA fingerprints (outbreak strains) were included in this outbreak investigation, enabling investigators to identify clinical isolates from ill people in other states who were suspected to be part of the outbreak.
Because some of the isolates proved to be identical to the known DNA fingerprints in the PulseNet database, it was proven that the unknown strains were related to the outbreak strain.
This information, already available in the PulseNet database has helped investigators in this latest Salmonella outbreak to identify the outbreak strain. And that is where the link with Kapowsin Meats was discovered.
