The organisers of the event, BNP Media said it received a detailed investigation report from the Office of Infectious Disease and Outbreak Response at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) claiming the pan seared breast of Chicken Marsala was the food item most commonly consumed by afflicted cases at the 2014 Food Safety Summit at Baltimore Convention Center (April 8-10, 2014).
Control experts in the kitchens and serving areas
“We worked very closely with the Maryland DHMH, the Baltimore Convention Center and Centerplate, the exclusive caterer of the Covention Center, to ensure all steps and procedures regarding the prep and serve foodservice process before and during the 2015 Food Safety Summit was done with active managerial control experts in the kitchens and serving areas,” said Amy Riemer, media relations, Food Safety Summit.
“The Food Safety Summit has been an industry leading event for the past 16 years and has never had an incident like this happen before.
“The well-being of our customers, attendees, exhibitors, speakers and guests has always been our top priority. When we learned that attendees to the Food Safety Summit were ill after attending the 2014 event we fully cooperated with Maryland DHMH regarding this matter and assisted them with their investigation.”
The Maryland DHMH carried out a study of conference attendees to develop a hypothesis about what caused the outbreak. Their investigation methods included an epidemiologic investigation, environmental investigation and laboratory analyses.
The findings indicated through internet and phone interviews, 669 viable respondents were identified. Of the 669, 604 responses were used in the analysis and 65 responses were excluded from the analysis.
Pan seared breast of Chicken Marsala
Of the 604 confirmed responses that were used in the investigation analysis, 216 were confirmed afflicted cases 338 were well cases. The 216 afflicted cases reported diarrhea, stomach cramps, nausea, headaches, chills, vomiting and fever.
“Through discussions and extensive interviews with those affected, the pan seared breast of Chicken Marsala was the food item most commonly consumed by afflicted cases, with 146 of all 216 (67.6%) cases consuming it and 146 of the 157 (93.0%) cases who ate lunch on Wednesday April 9,” said Christopher Garrett, office of communications, Maryland DHMH.
The Food Safety Summit and Centerplate, the exclusive caterer of the Baltimore Convention Center, put together a Food Safety Summit 2015 Foodservice Oversight Plan ahead of this year’s event.
The plan included hiring independent contractor, Victor Konters of Regulatory Compliance Services, to conduct an audit of the Baltimore Convention Center and all foodservice operations prior to the 2015 Food Safety Summit and participating in menu development and procurement with Centerplate’s regional head chef, who was on site during the show to oversee all food preparation.
Purchased and installed a blast chiller
Baltimore Convention Center bought a new blast chiller to further reduce temperature exposure during preparation and refresher courses for service and culinary staff took place in the week preceding the Food Safety Summit.
Collaboration and integration were key themes at the summit this year and food safety professionals from around the world discussed pressing issues facing the industry including Food Fraud, the Food Safety Modernization Act, and the Integration of the Nation’s Food Safety Systems.
Over 150 vendors showcased products and services designed to help food safety professionals do their job more efficiently and speakers including FDA’s Mike Taylor, USDA’s Al Amanza, AFDO’s Joe Corby, CDC’s Chris Braden and senior operations executives from Chiquita Brands, Hormel Brands and The Cheesecake Factory shared their insights on departmental cooperation with guests.