Contaminated Food People Eating Peanut Butter E Poisoning

There have been many "outbreaks" (occurrences of a disease in many people) of "food-borne illnesses" or "food poisoning" (sickness caused by food) in the United States in recent years. The "deadliest" (causing the most deaths) one "occurred" (happened) in 1985 in California, when approximately 50 people died from eating cheese contaminated with Listeria (a type of bacteria). The second-deadliest U.S. food poisoning incident occurred in 2011 throughout the United States when 29 people died from eating "cantaloupes" (an orange-colored melon) from Colorado, also contaminated with Listeria.

In 2010, more than 500 million eggs were "recalled" (taken back from stores so they cannot be sold) after almost 2,000 people became ill. The eggs were contaminated with Salmonella (another type of bacteria). Salmonella was also the "culprit" (the thing or person responsible for some problem or crime) in the food illnesses caused by peanut butter in 2009. The peanut butter was used as an ingredient in many products sold by many different manufacturers across the country. "Altogether" (in total), the foods containing the peanut butter made more than 22,000 people sick and killed nine people.

The E. coli bacteria have been the source of many other instances of food poisoning. E. coli is normally found in meats like "poultry" (chicken and turkey) and ground beef, but it has been found in other products, too. For example, in 2009 more than 65 people became ill after eating "raw" (not cooked) cookie "dough" (the mixture of ingredients used to make bread, cookies, or muffins) "presumably" (probably, but not proven) contaminated with E. coli.