A hospital outbreak of salmonella food poisoning due to inadequate deep-fat frying.
In an outbreak of plasmid-free Salmonella enteritidis phage type 4 (PT4) food poisoning at a hospital for mentally handicapped people in July 1990, 101 residents and 8 staff were affected and a cohort study implicated beef rissoles cooked by deep-fat frying as the vehicle of infection (relative risk 2.92, 95% confidence interval 1.73-4.93, P << 0.001). Replication of the cooking process demonstrated that the rissoles achieved core temperatures of only 48-60 degrees C despite external temperatures of 91-95 degrees C and an oil temperature of 142-154 degrees C. No residual food was available for microbiological testing but plasmid-containing S. enteritidis PT 4 was isolated in shell eggs from the hospital kitchen.
Evans
M R
MR
Department of Public Health Medicine, South Glamorgan Health Authority, Cardiff.
Hutchings
P G
PG
Ribeiro
C D
CD
Westmoreland
D
D
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004531:Eggs / Q000382:microbiology*; D005511:Food Handling; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012478:Salmonella Food Poisoning / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D012477:Salmonella enteritidis / Q000302:isolation & purification; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires