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A new study on ground beef related Salmonella illnesses indicates potential socioeconomic impacts on those illnesses.
An estimated 1.35 million Salmonella infections causing 26,500 hospitalizations and 420 deaths occur in the United States each year. Food is the most common source of these illnesses.
Are people in lower socioeconomic status more susceptible to foodborne illness? One study suggests this phenomenon.
Here’s what they found.
A recent study published in Journal of Food Protection finds that there is a linked to increased risk of ground beef-linked Salmonella infections and socioeconomic level.
The study, comprised of data collected from case reports between 2012 and 2019 ground beef-associated outbreak, analyzed certain demographics of outbreak patients. Those with lower socioeconomic status were represented at a much higher rate than those with higher socioeconomic status.
According to the reports, for every 10-point percentile increase in county-level socioeconomic status vulnerability rank, the risk of Salmonella outbreak increased by 24%. In fact, the odds of being linked to a ground beef-associated outbreak increased by a solid 21% for every 10-point percentile increase.
“These findings suggest that community-level factors, such as socioeconomic status, might be markers of risk for ground-beef-associated salmonellosis, and if such a relationship is confirmed in future analyses, it could help identify communities at higher risk for Salmonella infections linked to ground beef, and inform community-based intervention strategies to prevent these infections.”
Socioeconomic status is a complicated term with many variables. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) set up parameters to measure this concept.
This analysis was dubbed, The Social Vulnerability Index (SVI). This social vulnerability is defined by the CDC as “the potential negative effects on communities caused by external stresses on human health.”
Four factors are used to create this Index:
In addition to the strong association between lower socioeconomic status with increased vulnerability factors and ground beef-related Salmonella illness, the study also uncovered a few other interesting findings.
While California is indeed a large state with a equally large population, ground beef-related Salmonella illnesses were significantly over represented.
Nearly half of all Salmonella cases discovered in outbreak data were attributed to those living in California.
A whopping 49%!
A surprising age group was most often linked to ground beef-related Salmonella outbreak. While you would expect the more susceptible population to be the very young, the very old, and those with a compromised immune system, this wasn’t the case.
Those between the ages of 18 and 34 were strongly represented. More research is needed to better understand this phenomenon.
The study brought about more questions than answers, though the answers were fairly close to those that were expected.
Contributing factors to related illnesses may come down to “systematic differences at the community level.”
Access to and condition of appliances to store and cook it as well as access or use of food thermometers are significant factors often leading to foodborne illness.
Are people in these groups less likely or able to keep temperature sensitive foods cold? More likely to consume food past its expiration date? Are they more likely to undercook it?
“Further research is needed to identify and better understand whether these or other specific factors that may be related to socioeconomic status at both the individual and community levels and ultimately contribute to the risk of salmonellosis from ground beef consumption,” the investigators wrote.
Safe ground beef handling starts at the store and continues through to leftover storage and reheating. Prevention is the best approach in all aspects of safety.
Here is what the USDA recommends.
When shopping for ground beef, pay attention to the packaging.
If the package is torn or exposed. Skip it!
If the package doesn’t feel cold. Skip it!
When possible, place the package in a plastic bag to catch any leaking juices. This will help keep it away from other foods in your shopping cart. Place ground beef and other meats in a separate part of the cart, away from ready-to-eat items and other potential contamination risks.
Make ground beef the last item on your shopping list. This will minimize the time it travels outside the safety of refrigerated temperatures.
If possible, place it in a cold bag or bring a cooler with you to keep your cold perishables cold.
Once in your possession, you will want to get it back to refrigeration temperatures as quickly as possible.
If refrigerating it, keep it at 40° F or below. Plan to use it within one to two days.
If you plan to freeze it, place it in freezer either in its original packaging (if you plan to use it soon) or wrap in heavy duty plastic wrap, freezer paper, or freezer bags.
While ground beef can be safely frozen indefinitely if kept frozen, you may notice a reduced quality over time. Plan to use it within 4 months of freezing.
For tracking purposes, it is a good idea to mark packages with the date placed in the freezer so you can keep track of storage times and use older packages first.
Your best bet for safely thawing frozen ground beef is to place in the refrigerators. This allows the meat to remain cold as it is defrosting. Plan to cook or refreeze it within a day or two.
For more rapid defrosting, you can use the microwave. Follow your microwave’s defrosting procedures and cook microwave-defrosted meat immediately.
A cold water defrost falls somewhere in the middle. Faster than refrigerator thawing but slower than microwave thawing. Place meat in a watertight plastic bag and submerge. Change the water every 30 minutes until fully defrosted. Cook immediately.
It is dangerous to eat raw or undercooked ground beef. The USDA recommends cooking ground beef products like meat loaf, meatballs, and hamburgers to a minimum internal temperature of 160° F to ensure that any potential bacteria present are completely destroyed. Use a food thermometer to ensure that food reaches safe internal temperature.
Leftovers should be refrigerated within 2 hours of cooking. This is reduced to 1 hour if the ambient temperature is above 90° F.
When refrigerated, these leftovers can be stored for three or four days. If frozen, you can keep it for around four months.
Always reheat ground beef products to a safe internal temperature of 165° F.
If you’d like to know more about food safety topics in the news, like “New Study on Salmonella Illnesses for Ground Beef Shows Socioeconomic Impact,” check out the Make Food Safe Blog. We regularly update trending topics, foodborne infections in the news, recalls, and more! Stay tuned for quality information to help keep your family safe, while The Lange Law Firm, PLLC strives to Make Food Safe!
By: Heather Van Tassell (contributing writer, non-lawyer)
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