"Salmonella Outbreaks Expose Weaknesses in USDA Oversight"

"The Agriculture Department inspector showed up at Rick Schiller’s home in November to collect potential evidence from his freezer: three pounds of chicken thighs, wrapped in plastic and stamped with a Foster Farms label."



"Schiller, a 51-year-old California advertising executive, had recently returned from a five-day stay in the hospital prompted by severe vomiting, diarrhea and an infection that left his joints throbbing and his right leg purple and twice its normal size.

'I’ve been around the block. I’ve had some painful things,' he said. 'But nothing like this.'

State lab tests run on Schiller had already confirmed the diagnosis: a salmonella infection linked to Foster Farms chicken, part of a widespread outbreak that has food-safety advocates and some public health officials warning about the potential for food-borne illnesses to become more and more severe in the age of antibiotic-resistant 'superbugs.'"

Kimberly Kindy and Brady Dennis report for the Washington Post February 6, 2014.

Source: Wash Post, 02/07/2014