California botulism outbreak

[pastrygirl]

Saw this yesterday, a botulism outbreak linked to nacho cheese.  Horrible for the people affected, but nacho cheese?  I wonder what had to happen to get botulism into nacho cheese.

 

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39989138

 

[Anna N]

57 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

Saw this yesterday, a botulism outbreak linked to nacho cheese.  Horrible for the people affected, but nacho cheese?  I wonder what had to happen to get botulism into nacho cheese.

 

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39989138

 

Sounds from the article as if the gas station people were attempting to "can" the cheese, i.e., water process it, which  would not be an appropriate treatment. 

[pastrygirl]

28 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Sounds from the article as if the gas station people were attempting to "can" the cheese, i.e., water process it, which  would not be an appropriate treatment. 

 

They could have been making their own - house made (station made?) nacho cheese?  That's a fancy gas station, but it is California ... 

 

I was thinking it was this product and wondering if it was a bad batch or contaminated on site.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Ortega-Bueno-Nacho-Cheese-Sauce/dp/B002YGR0XI

[Anna N]

50 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

 

They could have been making their own - house made (station made?) nacho cheese?  That's a fancy gas station, but it is California ... 

 

I was thinking it was this product and wondering if it was a bad batch or contaminated on site.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Ortega-Bueno-Nacho-Cheese-Sauce/dp/B002YGR0XI

 I based my comment on this quote from the article 

 

"In this case, it is thought the nacho cheese sauce may have been canned. Tinned food is a risk for botulism because the bacterium grows best when there is no oxygen around."

[Lisa Shock]

Many places use canned nacho cheese, it's pretty much the standard for cheap nachos. I thought the article was referring to canned at a factory vs fresh block cheeses.

 

Could have been a bad batch from the manufacturer, or, it could have been poor handling of the product.

 

Remember McGee's takedown of Ruhlman's habit of keeping a pot of stock out at room temp and heating it up every day or so? Botulism was cited as being able to grow at the bottom of the pot as it was fairly deep. A slow cooker type setup with melted cheese in it could also foster botulism if it weren't maintained safely. (like if the pot was repeatedly left out after closing, but the heat was turned off for 6 hours -or if it wasn't cooled down properly prior to refrigerating) Too much time in the danger zone with a deep pool of undisturbed cheese providing lots of food (protein, sugars, water) will breed botulism. Even if a product is full of stabilizers, preservatives, texture enhancers, etc. doesn't mean people can ignore proper storage and handling techniques.

 

And now, people are going to pile on here saying that it's 'oh so unlikely', 'stop scaring people unnecessarily'..... Nine people have been sickened, some may be permanently disabled. Botulism can be cultured relatively easily. Safe food handling techniques can save lives.

Edited May 21, 2017 by Lisa Shock (log)

[Anna N]

 At the moment I can only go by what is reported in the article and I quote again

 

"Health officials have stopped Valley Oak Food and Fuel selling food."

 

At the moment health officials are concentrating on the gas stations nacho cheese NOT manufactured nacho cheese else they would have surely target the manufacturer not the gas station.  

 

 

Edited May 21, 2017 by Anna N (log)

[pastrygirl]

Here is a more local version - http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/05/19/ten-hospitalized-after-gas-station-nacho-cheese-botulism-outbreak/

 

"Inspection reports for the Valley Oaks Food and Fuel station show that on May 6 and 7, officers impounded bags of Montecito nacho cheese tortilla chips and closed the facility. On May 8, health officers from the state Department of Health impounded four bags of Gehls cheese sauce and reopened the store to sell prepackaged food items only."

 

I bet Lisa is right, cheese staying in the warmer too long.  Sad, it may have killed at least one person.

 

 

[Anna N]

10 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

Here is a more local version - http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2017/05/19/ten-hospitalized-after-gas-station-nacho-cheese-botulism-outbreak/

 

"Inspection reports for the Valley Oaks Food and Fuel station show that on May 6 and 7, officers impounded bags of Montecito nacho cheese tortilla chips and closed the facility. On May 8, health officers from the state Department of Health impounded four bags of Gehls cheese sauce and reopened the store to sell prepackaged food items only."

 

I bet Lisa is right, cheese staying in the warmer too long.  Sad, it may have killed at least one person.

 

 

I think we will need to wait and see whether this is local to this one gas station in which case it's poor handling or whether it spreads further in which case it's improperly processed. 

[Toliver]

During college, I worked part-time at a movie theater. We served hot nacho cheese over tortilla chips in addition to the usual popcorn, candy, etc.

When we "made" the cheese sauce for the nachos, the cheese sauce was from a (large) can. But we also added a little bit of the pickling juice from the mega-bottle of jalapeños we had to help flavor the cheese sauce. The sliced pickled jalapeños were offered to people who ordered the nachos. 

So it's possible any contamination may have come from a source other than the cheese sauce itself.

[Anna N]

3 minutes ago, Toliver said:

During college, I worked part-time at a movie theater. We served hot nacho cheese over tortilla chips in addition to the usual popcorn, candy, etc.

When we "made" the cheese sauce for the nachos, the cheese sauce was from a (large) can. But we also added a little bit of the pickling juice from the mega-bottle of jalapeños we had to help flavor the cheese sauce. The sliced pickled jalapeños were offered to people who ordered the nachos. 

So it's possible any contamination may have come from a source other than the cheese sauce itself.

Anything is possible  but botulism needs very specific conditions in order to produce its toxins. 

[Lisa Shock]

 I was also wondering if some genius added garlic to the cheese.... (not that it's necessary, a deep tub of cheese left in the danger zone too long can harbor botulism all by itself)

[kayb]

Gas station food makes me shudder. Except for corn nuggets. Corn nuggets rock.

 

[Martin Fisher]

The spores are potentially anywhere or everywhere (outside a sterile environment). No need for special introduction.

 

"C. botulinum is prevalent in soil and marine sediments worldwide, most commonly
as spores. These spores are found everywhere. While the spores are
generally harmless, the danger can occur once the spores begin to grow out
into active bacteria and produce neurotoxins. A neurotoxin is a poisonous
chemical that affects the central nervous system. It can destroy, paralyze, or
adversely affect nerves or nerve tissue. C. botulinum produces seven different
types of neurotoxins designated by the letters A through G; only types A, B, E,
and F cause illness in humans."

 

Source: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/a70a5447-9490-4855-af0d-e617ea6b5e46/Clostridium_botulinum.pdf?MOD=AJPERES

 

 

Edited May 22, 2017 by DiggingDogFarm (log)

[Doofa]

On 22/05/2017 at 10:24 PM, Lisa Shock said:

 I was also wondering if some genius added garlic to the cheese.... (not that it's necessary, a deep tub of cheese left in the danger zone too long can harbor botulism all by itself)

Pardon my ignorance but why the mention of garlic, are you referring to pickled garlic? 

 

D

[gfweb]

Garlic grows in the ground and can carry spores of the botulism bug.

[Doofa]

On 09/06/2017 at 4:17 AM, gfweb said:

Garlic grows in the ground and can carry spores of the botulism bug.

@gfweb Thanks for this and duly noted. D

[lindag]

I guess that's why I never buy food (or anything else) from gas stations!  Really?  Who needs it?

[andiesenji]

On 6/11/2017 at 6:27 PM, Doofa said:

@gfweb Thanks for this and duly noted. D

Any low-acid food can carry the clostridium botulinum.  CHILE PEPPERS are often the culprit in cheese sauces that are not kept sufficiently refrigerated after opening - or when fresh chiles (not sufficiently processed) are added to the cheese sauce.

A previous outbreak was also traced to a family picnic where nachos were served.  A big can of cheese sauce, mixed with chopped fresh jalapeno peppers - not refrigerated sufficiently and then heated just prior to serving over the chips.

 

 

[Lisa Shock]

Earlier this week, state of California health department officials confirmed that one person has died and nine others were hospitalized from this incident. Apparently, six victims are still in the hospital, paralyzed. Lawyers are looking at suing the cheese factory in WI, but so far, samples from the same batch (sold in plastic bags) have tested negative for botulism.