Santa Clara Possibly First in Detecting Tainted Eggs
Santa Clara County health officials may have been the first in the country to connect a number of salmonella outbreaks to the bacteria strain that has led to a massive egg recall. The Department of Public Health began investigating several illnesses in late May.
"There was a catered event, it was a prom and graduation, and there were a couple of reports to our public health department of people becoming ill," said Santa Clara County Health Department Director Dr. Marty Fenstershieb.
He says those reports lead health officials to investigate and determine the illness was caused by salmonella. The investigation then linked the salmonella to eggs, and an electronic alert was sent to a network of health officials across the country.
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In June, Fenstershieb's department got word of people becoming ill after eating at a particular restaurant and turned to a popular website for help.
"We actually went on to Yelp to see if people had made comments like they usually do about how good something is, but they also make comments about getting sick at certain restaurants," said Fenstershieb.
Officials were able to connect one illness from the restaurant to same strain of salmonella. Half a billion eggs now have been recalled by two Iowa farms at the center of the controversy.
