Minnesota's 'Team D' garners praise
Last year Minnesota's food-borne illness group, dubbed "Team D" discovered that hot peppers — not tomatoes — were the cause of the largest salmonella outbreak in a decade.
This year, the Minnesota team was the first to identify King Nut peanut butter as the culprit, and Peanut Corp. of America as the producer. It was the first big break in a case that has sickened more than 677 nationwide.
“People die who don't need to die. It happens all the time in food-borne illness outbreaks,” Michael Osterholm (pictured), director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy at the University of Minnesota, told USA Today. “If each state was as effective as Minnesota, more of these could be detected.”
When it comes to food-borne illness investigation, "Minnesota is leap years ahead of … most of the rest of the nation," says James Phillips, head of infectious diseases for the Arkansas Department of Health.
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