Investigation into a national outbreak of STEC O157:H7 associated with frozen beef burgers, UK, 2017

In November 2017, Public Health England identified an outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 in England where whole genome sequencing results indicated cases were likely to be linked to a common source, and began investigations. Hypothesis generation included a review of enhanced...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Epidemiology and infection Vol. 148; p. e215
Main Authors: Byrne, Lisa, Kaindama, Lukeki, Bentley, Maria, Jenkins, Claire, Aird, Heather, Oliver, Isabel, Paranthaman, Karthik
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.01.2020
Subjects:
Beef
Cooking
E coli
Epidemics
Epidemiology
Food contamination & poisoning
Food packaging
Food safety
Freezers
Frozen foods
Gene sequencing
Genomes
Health surveillance
Hypotheses
Infections
Laboratories
Legislation
Loyalty cards
Microbiology
Original Paper
Outbreaks
Product recalls
Product safety
Public health
Questionnaires
Retail stores
Salmonella
Shelf life
Shiga toxin
Supermarkets
Toxins
Trawling
Vehicles
Whole genome sequencing
United Kingdom > UK
England
Scotland
gastrointestinal infections
outbreaks
Food-borne infections
Shiga-like toxin-producing E. coli
ISSN:0950-2688, 1469-4409, 1469-4409
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:In November 2017, Public Health England identified an outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7 in England where whole genome sequencing results indicated cases were likely to be linked to a common source, and began investigations. Hypothesis generation included a review of enhanced surveillance data, a case-case study and trawling interviews. The hypothesis of interest was tested through the administration of focussed questionnaires and review of shopping history using loyalty card data. Twelve outbreak cases were detected, eight were hospitalised and four developed haemolytic uraemic syndrome. Frozen beef burgers supplied by a national retailer were identified as the vehicle of the outbreak. Testing of two left-over burger samples obtained from the freezers of two separate (unlinked) cases and a retained sample from the production premises were tested and found to be positive for the outbreak strain. A voluntary recall of the burgers was implemented by the retailer. Investigations at the production premises identified no contraventions of food safety legislation. Cooking guidance on the product packaging was deemed to be adequate and interviews with the cases/carers who prepared the burgers revealed no deficiencies in cooking practices at home. Given the long-shelf life of frozen burgers, the product recall likely prevented more cases.
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ISSN:0950-2688
1469-4409
1469-4409
DOI:10.1017/S0950268820001582