Summary: According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, an outbreak of Hepatitis A has been traced back to frozen strawberries which were imported from Egypt. 89 people have been infected in seven states. The outbreak made it's first appearance in Virginia, where 70 of the 89 infected are located. Almost all the infected drank from a Tropical Smoothie Café, which has recently changed suppliers. Hepatitis A symptoms take a while to appear so figuring out when exactly the outbreak began was a bit difficult. Thankfully though, a Hepatitis A vaccine became available in 1995.
Analysis: When something like this happens it's always worrysome, it's hard to think that something harmful could possibly be in our food. Especially with all the rules and restrictions food companies have to follow to make sure everything is safe. Of course every once in a while something slips through, like now. I am relating this Hepatitis A outbreak to Sinclair's horrid stories in The Jungle which was written in 1906. In The Jungle we read stories about sick workers infecting meat, unclean work environments and a few missing fingers. The food industry has made many improvements since 1906, however there is still much more room for improvement.
Sources:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/08/health/hepatitis-a-outbreak-strawberries-89-sick/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4840a1.htm
Thats not good, were lucky we don't live in colonial times where people dies much more frequently because they didn't have a vaccination.
ReplyDeleteIt's always sad to hear about an outbreak in foods, because people are harmed by consuming something that is supposed to nourish them. This reminds me of the salmonella outbreak in peanut butter a couple of years ago.
ReplyDeleteIt is devastating to hear about how many people have died from an innocent smoothie. These things unfortunately do happen and it's difficult to always know whether or not our food is safe, especially in this day and age.
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