A LEADING CAUSE OF FOOD POISONING IN OLDER ADULTS

If you have read The Safe Food Handbook (my book, not this blog) you will probably guess that one of my favorite agents of food poisoning is the tiny bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. It is believed to be the third leading cause of death from food poisoning in the United States.

Listeria turns up on a regular basis in our processed foods and in restaurant meals. Recently, it was suspected in Ruth's Pimento Spread, which is distributed in Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.

This blog has often highlighted how dangerous the Listeria bacterium is for pregnant women, that is, for their unborn child (causing miscarriages and stillbirths). But today I want to touch on how dangerous it is for older adults and anyone else with a weakened immune system (such as those receiving cancer therapy).

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states, more than half of all Listeria infections occur in people age 65 and older. Why? The CDC points to the fact that as we age our immune system and organs aren’t as good at recognizing and ridding our body of harmful germs as they used to be. Chronic conditions such as diabetes and cancer also tend to occur more in people who are older and also weaken the immune system. Add to this the fact that as we age, our whole body, including our digestive system, tends to become more sluggish and ineffective, allowing pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes to multiply and cause us more harm.

I suspect it also had something to do with the fact that older people who still live independently tend to eat more processed "easy" foods such as Ruth's Pimento Spread, which is a typical place for this nasty bacterium to hide.



TSF

PREGNANT WOMEN BEWARE: LISTERIA RISK IN FOOD

If you are pregnant, you are wise to avoid catching Listeriosis (infection with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes). And don’t believe those websites that tell you this infection is rare. Listeriosis is usually caught from contaminated foods and it is far more common than most people realize. It’s often just not diagnosed correctly.

Unfortunately, this bacterium still turns up in our food supply on a regular basis. I just took a look at a recent 37 day period (February 20 to March 38): there have actually been 14 U.S. food product recalls because of Listeria (though less if you don’t count repeat/expanded recalls by the same company). Foods involved have been: Fresh Express Italian salad; 10 varieties of Oscar’s Smokehouse Cheese Spreads; a variety of Roos Foods cheeses (both fresh and hard cheeses); various Happy Farms products such as peanut butters, cheeses, salsa, spreads, cheese logs, cheese rolls and more; various Helados La Tapatia ice cream products, popsicles, fruit bars; a number of Dole bagged salads; and Falafel King green chili humus wraps.

Many of these products were sold under a variety of names in well-known stores such as Whole Foods, Costco, Target and more, and were widely distributed throughout the U.S.

This is bad news for pregnant women, because:

• If you are pregnant, you are about 20 times more susceptible to Listeriosis than other people;
• You can catch it any time, but the risk is greatest during the third trimester.
• The biggest risk is to your unborn child, since infection can cause miscarriage, premature birth, infection of the newborn, and even death (about 22 percent of the time, which is pretty high).

So, yes, be careful (my next post will discuss symptoms).

To your good health,

TSF