Sushi-linked salmonella outbreak reaches 20 states, yellowfin tuna recalled

Sushi from yellowfin tuna lies on a customer's plate at a sushi restaurant on November 23, 2010 in Berlin, Germany. Nearly 59,000 pounds of frozen yellowfin tuna have been recalled by Calif.-based Moon Marine USA Corporation, the FDA said.

/ Getty Images

(CBS News) Yellowfin tuna has been flagged as the culprit associated with a 20-state salmonella outbreak that has sickened 116 people, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said.

Salmonella spreading rapidly across 19 states: Spicy tuna rolls to blame?
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The agency announced Moon Marine USA Corporation of Cupertino, Calif., will voluntarily recall nearly 59,000 pounds of a frozen yellowfin tuna product called "Nakaochi Scrape AA or AAA." The product is tuna "backmeat" scraped from the bones to look like a ground product, and is not sold to customers directly in stores.

The product however is sold to restaurants and grocery store chains around the country to make sushi, sashimi, cerviche, and other raw fish-dishes. Out of the 116 people who have been sickened, 12 have been hospitalized and nobody has died.

"Consumers who think they might have become ill from eating possibly contaminated raw Nakaochi Scrape should consult their health care providers," the FDA said in a statement. "Many of the people who became ill reported eating raw tuna in sushi as "spicy tuna."

Has the sushi outbreak hit your state? The FDA notes the number of cases in each of the 20 states: Alabama (2), Arkansas (1), Connecticut (5), District of Columbia (2), Florida (1), Georgia (5), Illinois (10), Louisiana (2), Maryland (11), Massachusetts (8), Mississippi (1), Missouri (2), New Jersey (7), New York (24), North Carolina (2), Pennsylvania (5), Rhode Island (5), South Carolina (3), Texas (3), Virginia (5), and Wisconsin (12).

Earlier this month, health officials said they were "honing in" on sushi as a potential source of a salmonella outbreak which had sickened 90 people across 19 states at the time, HealthPop reported. A leaked FDA memo that contained hospitalization information pegged sushi as the source, but officials at the time would not confirm.

To report side effects related to eating sushi, contact the FDA district office consumer complaint coordinator for your area.

Most people with a salmonella infection will develop diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps within 72 hours of exposure. The infection typically lasts four to seven days and most people will recover without treatment. However if the infection spreads from the gut into the bloodstream, it could spread throughout the body and cause hospitalization or death without antibiotic treatment. Infants, the elderly and pregnant women are especially at risk.

The FDA says since sushi is uncooked, it's not considered as safe as cooked seafood.

10 Photos

10 Ways to Catch Salmonella

[RonSimon]

First Salmonella Lawsuit Filed Against Sushi Tuna Distributor on Behalf of Wisconsin Resident

Today the national food safety law firm of Simon & Luke, with co-counsel The Gomez Law Firm, filed the first lawsuit stemming from a nationwide Salmonella Bareilly outbreak. Health officials have linked the outbreak to contaminated sushi tuna distributed by Moon Marine (U.S.A.) Corporation of Cupertino, California. A copy of the complaint is attached.

The lawsuit was filed against Moon Marine (U.S.A.) Corporation in the Superior Court of Santa Clara County, California on behalf of 33-year old Wisconsin resident Amber Azzolina. Mrs. Azzolina consumed a spicy tuna roll containing the contaminated tuna at a local restaurant in Brookfield, Wisconsin. Shortly thereafter, she began to experience severe bloody diarrhea, abdomen pain, fever, and chills. She was rushed to West Allis Memorial Hospital where doctors administered IV fluids for dehydration, and determined that she was suffering from Salmonella poisoning. She is still recovering from ongoing symptoms related to her Salmonella infection.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services Laboratory has since confirmed that Mrs. Azzolina's stool culture tested positive for the outbreak strain of Salmonella Bareilly linked to contaminated tuna.

On April 13, Moon Marine (U.S.A.) Corporation issued a nationwide recall of 58,828 pounds of a frozen raw yellowfin tuna product, labeled Nakaochi Scrape AA or AAA, due to potential salmonella contamination. Nakaochi scrape is tuna backmeat, which is specifically scraped from the bones, and looks like a ground product. The product was not available for sale to individual customers, but was used to make sushi, particularly spicy tuna rolls, in restaurants and grocery stores. The product was imported from a yet unidentified tuna processing facility in India.

Mrs. Azzolina is one of at least 141 people in 20 states and the District of Columbia who have contracted the outbreak strain of Salmonella Bareilly. The 141 confirmed victims are distributed throughout the United States as follows: Alabama (2), Arkansas (1), Connecticut (6), District of Columbia (2), Florida (1), Georgia (6), Illinois (13), Louisiana (3), Maryland (14), Massachusetts (9), Mississippi (2), Missouri (4), New Jersey (8), New York (28), North Carolina (2), Pennsylvania (6), Rhode Island (5), South Carolina (3), Texas (4), Virginia (8), and Wisconsin (14).

Ron Simon, counsel for Mrs. Azzolina, issued the following statement today: "We need to determine exactly how and where this tuna product became contaminated so that we can prevent it from happening again. Consumers in our country deserve to eat with the confidence that their food won't harm them. This lawsuit is just one more step towards assuring that all foods imported to the United States be safe and free of dangerous and potentially deadly bacteria."

Simon & Luke currently represents over a dozen of the victims involved in this outbreak.

About Ron Simon and Simon & Luke

Simon & Luke's groundbreaking work on behalf of victims in several recent national food borne illness outbreaks (Peter Pan peanut butter, Castleberry's chili, Nestle cookie dough, Peanut Corporation of America Peanut products, JBS Swift beef, Daniele salami, Subway sandwiches, Wright County Egg / Hillandale Farms eggs, and Agromod papayas, to name a few) have been featured on NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX and virtually all other major television networks and in print media. The firm has represented over 5000 victims of food-borne outbreaks in the past five years alone, and has collected over $500,000,000 for its clients. The firm regularly publishes articles about food safety and litigation at www.myfoodpoisoninglawyer.com, which are read by viewers in over 160 countries.

For media inquiries or more information on this outbreak and ongoing litigation, please contact Ron Simon directly at [phone] or [e-mail].


Ron Simon
Simon & Luke, L.L.P.
2929 Allen Parkway, 42nd Floor
Houston, Texas 77019
[phone]
[phone] (fax)

Please visit our websites at

www.myfoodpoisoninglawyer.com
www.simonluke.com

[tudognight]

See we cry when the FDA does not stop poisoning of Americans....and we cry when have to hire people to monitor the corporate food folks. Cry or die? The Republicans would like you to believe deaths and illness is best hidden from the public. Ignorance is the cure for disease?