Tag Archives: Goat

Gonzalo Erdozain: eight cases of Q fever in two states not related for now

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In what seems to be two unrelated outbreaks of Q fever, five people fell ill in Washington and three in Michigan. The Washington outbreak was caused by infected goats – officials believe the pathogen infected the five people via contaminated dust particles.

Three women in Michigan fell ill after consuming raw cow milk from their dairy herd share program from a Livingston County farm.

Humans in general are at risk of zoonotic infection, but children (especially under the age of 5), pregnant women, the elderly, and immunocompromised people are at a higher risk.

Q fever is not common; this is the first reported Michigan case in 20 years and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports that around 3 per cent of the healthy U.S. population and 10-20 per cent of persons in high-risk occupations (veterinarians, farmers, etc.) have antibodies to C. burnetii, suggesting past exposure. More frequent pathogens associated with animal-human contact and raw milk consumption are E. coli O157, Salmonella, Cryptosporidium and Campylobacter. For more info of the many types of zoonotic diseases that have been linked to animal-human contact outbreaks at petting zoos/farms, and raw milk consumption, visit our tables,

http://bites.ksu.edu/rawmilk and

http://bites.ksu.edu/petting-zoos-outbreaks.
 

Pasteurization protects people

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A Kansas State colleague was telling us about his travels during the winter break, including a visit to a daughter-in-law who is seriously committed to providing her young children – and his grandchildren – with raw or unpasteurized goat’s milk.

I said we’d update the table of outbreaks and he could provide it, as information, without the lectures, to his daughter, and possibly leverage the future health of his grandchildren, although that kind of discussion wouldn’t go very far (even though several of the outbreaks involve raw goat’s milk).

Columnist Stephen Hume of the Vancouver Sun writes today that he doesn’t believe claims that pasteurizing milk destroys its nutritional value or that it’s a conspiracy of big agribusiness and big government to promote the interests of big pharma.

I see pasteurization of dairy products as a blessing. It prevents our return to a dreadful past in which diseases transmitted by raw milk afflicted hundreds of thousands every year. In fact, they still do in many parts of the world where people can’t get pasteurized dairy products. …

Raw milk advocates who trumpet the health benefits of unpasteurized products are in fact the beneficiaries of precisely the public health “conspiracy” to pasteurize that so many deride and vilify.

I’m all for personal choice, and there are lots of risky foods out there. Choice is the reason raw milk farmer Alice Jongerden in British Columbia can risk public health, waste tremendous public health resources that could be better used elsewhere, and take up time in the Supreme Court of B.C. by asking judges to set aside a 2010 court order that prohibits her from producing and packaging unpasteurized dairy products.

I choose not to consume raw dairy because the pasteurized alternatives offer an easy disease control option, and I try not to inflict food poisoning risks on my children, who don’t have much of a choice.

An updated list of outbreaks related to raw and unpasteurized milk and products is available at:

http://bites.ksu.edu/rawmilk
 

Kidding around with St. Louis goats- how to inform the public about petting zoo dangers

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I find it physically impossible for me to get enough animal interaction. I suppose that means I must’ve chosen the right profession: Veterinary Medicine. I’m a frequent patron of Sunset Zoo here in Manhattan, Kansas, but during my last visit I was sad to learn that the petting zoo area was sectioned off from the public. Zoo patrons are still able to go up to the fence to pet the goats, but they can no longer walk amongst them in their enclosure. I have no idea if this change had to do with any of the recent petting zoo outbreaks, but I suppose it’s a step in the right direction for public health.

 I still love going to petting zoos, though they have quite a bad rap these days. The most memorable petting zoo outbreak that comes to mind is of the E. coli O157 outbreak at the Godstone Farm petting zoo that sickened 93.
 
The large number of sick kids resulted from a combination of poor food safety information and slow reporting by health officials. There are quite a lot of petting zoos that do things wrong, such as not providing access to handwashing stations after animal interaction. This past weekend I visited a petting zoo in St. Louis, and I was pleased to see some food safety signs posted outside the gate of the animal area and also by the handwashing station right next to the animals.
 
 
The petting zoo I visited was inside of http://www.grantsfarm.com, a historic plot of land within St. Louis formerly owned by Gen. Grant and currently operated by the Busch family. The petting zoo was entirely made up of goats, and for a few dollars patrons could purchase a baby bottle full of milk to feed to the goats. The handwashing stations with soap and water right next to the exits satisfied my public health concerns. However, I would’ve been happier with paper towels for drying rather than the hand dryers that were available.
 
I was also happy about the signs posted around the petting zoo that read,
 
In accordance with the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention, we provide hand washing stations, antibacterial soap, warm water, and air hand dryers for visitors to our animal interaction areas. Additionally, petting brushes are available to reduce hand contact with the animals.
 
Posted below was,
 
Pregnant women, senior citizens and immunocompromised persons are at higher risk of serious infections. When contacting animals, Grant’s Farm suggests heightened precautions, and children under 5 years be closely supervised.
 
Of course these signs were nice to have around, but it doesn’t mean anything if parents don’t read them. Unfortunately I saw quite a few kids with their hands in their mouths inside the petting enclosure. I think Grant’s Farm did a good job of informing the public of the risks while still encouraging people to pet the animals. The petting brushes are a germ-a-phobe’s dream, though I didn’t use one.
 
All in all, the kids had a blast and the goats were fed. And now I have 52 pictures of goats on my camera.

Billy Goat raw milk sick climbs to 24

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Billy Goat Dairy – most unappealing name for a place to buy milk – has an additional eight cases of E. coli O157:H7 and campylobacter linked to its raw goats milk, bringing the number of confirmed sick people to 24.

Two children were hospitalized in connection with the outbreak. One has been released; the other remains under observation, but health officials reported his condition is improving.
 

Raw goat milk sickens 16 in Colorado

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A goat dairy in Longmont, Colorado, has been ordered to stop distributing raw milk products after 16 people became ill with both E. coli O157 and campylobacter.

Two children who drank goat milk from the Billy Goat Dairy required hospitalization, Boulder County Public Health reported Wednesday.

Of the people who reported becoming ill from consuming the milk products, lab tests confirmed the presence of campylobacter and E. coli O157, the health department said.

The Billy Goat Dairy operates a goat share program in which individuals buy a share of a goat and in return receive raw, unpasteurized milk. Health officials are contacting every household who participates in the goat share operation to determine if they became sick and to collect samples.

An updated table of raw-milk related outbreaks is available at ?http://bites.ksu.edu/rawmilk
 

Don’t slaughter goats in restaurant kitchens and don’t store 148 goat carcasses in a van

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Courthouse News Service reports today:

A Texas state trooper found 148 goat carcasses stacked inside Halal Import Food Market’s unrefrigerated van and ordered it to Halal’s warehouse to be inspected, where health inspectors found that 102 dead goats and boxes of organs had mysteriously disappeared in transit, the state says.

The state believes that Zamzam Supermarket and World Food Market received the missing meats, according to the complaint in Tarrant County Court.

The somewhat nauseating complaint describes Halal’s warehouse as filthy, with "dead birds and bird droppings on food products … live birds flying around warehouse and resting on food products," trash piled 6 feet deep in places, "numerous dead rodents, numerous rodent droppings along with gnawed materials and debris," meat rotting on a grinder, "various uncovered and exposed foods in direct contact with wet floor along with debris and trash in produce/dairy cooler," and "cigarette butts, rotting fruit, peels, partially eaten chicken and other food" around the warehouse.

The goat carcasses bore no stamps showing that they were from inspected sourced, and the carcasses in the van were touching "seatbelts, peeling and fraying fabric overhead from van ceiling, and a rusty van floor," the state says.


 

25 people sick with Salmonella Muenster from unpasteurized goat cheese, France, March 2008

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Eurosurveillance reports today on a March 2008 outbreak of Salmonella Muenster in 25 laboratory confirmed cases in France.

Four patients were admitted to hospital. … S. Muenster was isolated from both cases and the incriminated goat’s cheese. …

The place of purchase of the goat’s cheese was known for 10 cases: Seven cases had purchased unpasteurised goat’s cheese at an agriculture exhibition that was held in Paris from 23 February until 2 March, and three cases had purchased this type of cheese at a local market in south-eastern France….  During the same period, a household cluster of salmonellosis involving three cases was reported through the mandatory notification system. The investigation of this cluster incriminated unpasteurised goat’s cheese (consumed on 8 February 2008) as the source of infection. The isolates of these cases were later shown to be positive for S. Muenster.
 

E. coli and Salmonella found on goat penis in Vietnam; not fit for human consumption

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Ho Chi Minh City destroyed nearly 1.5 tons of goat penis, imported from Australia and contaminated with bacteria.

Nguyen Thi Thu Nga, chief inspector of the HCMC Animal Health Agency, said the products were contaminated with bacteria, including Salmonella and E.coli, and also failed to meet other food safety criteria.

However, inspectors said 47 of the 72 boxes imported had been sold as food. The inspectors issued fines against the company for trading animal products contaminated with bacteria.

In addition to a reproductive organ and Asian meat, GoatPenis is also a heavy metal band from Brazil formed in 1991 and performing under the Satanic Skinhead label. Sounds as bad as Journey.
 

Raw milk goat cheese leads to listeria

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The Quebec ministry of agriculture is warning people not to eat raw milk goat cheese from La Ferme écologique coop d’Ulverton located on Route 143 in Ulverton after a case of Listeria monocytogenes food poisoning was reported in the Montreal area.

Laboratory tests on the raw milk cheese from the Ulverton coop revealed the presence of listeria.

The ministry said the dairy coop does not have the required permit to make cheese destined for consumers and that people should not eat cheese from producers who are not licensed. Only raw milk cheese produced in licensed factories can be consumed safely.

As Amy noted in June, some of the major French producers have switched to using heated milk to reduce the risk of disease. Lactilis’ spokesperson, Luc Morelon said that although they recognize the importance of Camembert traditions, they’re making the change,

 “[b]ecause consumer safety is paramount, and we cannot guarantee it 100 per cent. We cannot accept the risk of seeing our historic brands disappearing because of an accident in production." In response to his critics Morelon added, “I don’t want to risk sending any more children to hospital. It’s as simple as that."

You Buy — You Kill — You Dress — You Take Home

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Amy has survival skills. She knows how to field-dress animals. And has pretty good bowstaff skills.

At Tom Prince’s farm 20 miles west of Indianapolis, a Muslim man kneels over a goat, says a brief prayer, then cuts the animal’s throat. It’s hard to imagine a greater cultural mishmash than the early morning gatherings that take place here every Friday and Saturday.

Tim Evans, who reports for The Indianapolis Star, writes in USA Today this morning that since 1999, Prince has operated a self-service slaughterhouse that specializes in providing goat meat to the Indianapolis area’s growing international community. His card reads "You Buy — You Kill — You Dress — You Take Home," and business is booming. Prince also sells lamb and sheep, but goats are the big seller.

Prince, 80, runs the facility from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Friday and Saturday, selling an average of about 50 goats per weekend. In the weeks before Muslim and other religious holidays, he says, sales often double.

The story provides an excellent overview of several facets of the intersection between food, language and culture, something we at iFSN are beginning to explore in a more structured manner (really, I’m getting’ some culture from Amy the French professor and outdoor survivalist).

Prince’s slow Southern drawl stands out from the languages spoken by customers who have found their way to Central Indiana from Morocco, Yemen, Nigeria, Kenya, Pakistan, Mexico and other places around the globe where goat is a dietary staple.

For some, butchering their own meat helps maintain a link to cultures they’ve left behind in Africa, Central America and the Middle East. Others, including the large number of Muslims who buy from Prince, prefer to kill and butcher the animals themselves to ensure food preparation standards of their faith are followed.

Prince said he doesn’t know a lot about Islam, but he is savvy enough as a businessman to make sure the slaughterhouse meets their needs — including situating the killing table so it faces east toward Mecca.

Goats, like all ruminants, are natural reservoirs for E. coli O157:H7. So be clean, be safe, unlike the employees of the Captains Galley’s restaurant in China Grove, N.C., who earlier this year slaughtered a goat after hours, leading to an O157 outbreak that sickened 21 and killed an 86-year-old. Safety and culture can go together.