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American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 101, No. 6: 502-511
Copyright © 1975 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health

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THE MIDDLETON OUTBREAK: 125 CASES OF FOODBORNE SALMONELLOSIS RESULTING FROM CROSS-CONTAMINATED FOOD ITEMS SERVED AT A PICNIC AND A SMORGASBORD

BARRY S. LEVY1,, WARD McINTIRE2, LEON DAMSKY3, ROBERT LASHBROOK2, JOHN HAWK2, G. S. JACOBSEN4 and BAXTER NEWTON5

1 Epidemic Intelligence Service Medical Epidemiologist, Field Services Division, Bureau of Epidemiology, Center for Disease Control, assigned to the Minnesota Department of Health 717 Delaware Street SE, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55440
2District Sanitation Inspector, Hotels, Resorts, and Restaurants Section, Minnesota Department of Health
3Chief, Microbiology Section, Division of Medical Laboratories, Minnesota Department of Health
4Poultry Epidemiologist, Wisconsin Animal Health Laboratories, Wisconsin Department of Agriculture
5Poultry Specialist, Animal Health Division, Wisconsin Department of Agriculture

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One hundred and twenty-five of 173 people who ate at a picnic and/or a smorgasbord prepared by a bar-restaurant in a Midwestern town in September 1973 developed diarrhea, abdominal cramps, and other symptoms 23 hours (median time) later. Eleven were hospitalized. Stool cultures from 18 ill individuals grew Salmonella infantis, Salmonella agona, and Salmonella schwarzengrund. Stool cultures from 5 of 8 restaurant employees grew S. infantis or S. agona. Cultures of remaining foods and food-contact surfaces were negative. Food-specific attack rates, based on interviews with 121 eaters, implicated potato salad and chicken dressing as vehicles of transmission, both likely contaminated when prepared in pans that shortly before contained uncooked, chicken pieces suspected to have harbored salmonellae. Chickens were eventually traced to 3 farms where feed samples were found to contain Salmonella typhimurium and Salmonella cubana, raising the possibilty that other feed samples may have contained the serotypes responsible for the outbreak. The main control measure was temporarily closing the food service, which was to have catered a large church picnic the next day. The outbreak had an economic impact estimated at $28,733.

epidemiologic methods; food handling; outbreaks; poultry; Salmonella food poisoning


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