The Wall Street Journal is reporting this morning that federal health officials suspect that the death of an Arizona man earlier this month could be linked to the food poisoning outbreak in Europe. According to the story, the man recently visited Germany. He died in mid-June from kidney failure linked to an E. coli infection.
The Journal notes that “so far, there have been five confirmed cases in the U.S. - two in Michigan and one in Massachusetts, Wisconsin and North Carolina. All but one had recently been to Germany ... Nearly 3,700 have been reported ill in Germany, including more than 800 with the kidney complication. There have been 42 deaths reported in Germany and one in Sweden.”
The Journal notes that “so far, there have been five confirmed cases in the U.S. - two in Michigan and one in Massachusetts, Wisconsin and North Carolina. All but one had recently been to Germany ... Nearly 3,700 have been reported ill in Germany, including more than 800 with the kidney complication. There have been 42 deaths reported in Germany and one in Sweden.”
- KC's View:
-
Sounds like a perfect time to cut back on planned improvements in food safety vigilance here in the US, which is what some in the Congress are proposing.
Yes, I know that the people affected by the European outbreak probably consumed the tainted food in Europe. But it is arrogance to think that this could not happen here, or that food imports from places like Germany might not hurt US consumers.
Wonder who the people trying to defund the planned food safety improvements will blame when one of these problems hits home?
