With just days to go before millions of Americans sit down to eat a huge turkey meal at Thanksgiving, the CDC is warning consumers “about an ongoing outbreak of salmonella linked to raw turkey.”1 But, they are also not willing to name the food producers involved. Which is, incomprehensible.
However, outbreak or not, the USDA doesn’t consider it fair to turkey producers since the issue has been so long and so widespread; they have yet to identify a single source for where the turkeys originated.
“One week ago, the USDA updated the salmonella outbreak. The outbreak is now in 35 states and has left 164 people sickened, 63 hospitalized and one death.
Tuesday, the Center for Science in the Public Interest called on the USDA to name the suppliers. Wednesday, consumer reports did the same. It’s a 1-year-old outbreak just one week before Thanksgiving.
The USDA says they know of 22 products from seven turkey processors.”2
But, if the government won’t name names, Minneapolis Attorney Ryan Osterholm, who specializes in food poisoning cases and has had several clients in the past year sickened from salmonella-tainted turkey, including a 5-year-old in Minnesota,3 thinks the companies should out themselves. For the sake of the public and their good names.
While Turkey is safe to consume as long as it’s cooked properly, these outbreaks have come from cross-contamination- when the meat comes in contact with other foods, utensils or countertops- so it’s incredibly important to pay close attention to what you’re doing while you are preparing to cook the turkey.
If you are planning to eat turkey this year, do you have a recipe planned yet? If not, check out this one here!
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