Some LI consumers more cautious of menu choices amid foodborne illness outbreaks

Recent foodborne illness outbreaks involving listeria and E. coli have some Long Island shoppers taking extra caution with their menu choices, shunning potentially contaminated ready-made items and doing more meal prep at home.

A spate of wide-scale product recalls also has caused concerned consumers to discard or return suspect items and think about their eating habits, according to interviews with shoppers and a local nutrition expert.

"I've been making things more from scratch," Port Washington resident Jill Mellow said Monday after leaving Trader Joe's on Old Country Road in Garden City.

She said she had just returned frozen waffles to the store because of a potential problem with products from TreeHouse Foods, which earlier this month announced a recall of more than 100 waffle and pancake products sold at various stores. 

Mellow, who has a teenage daughter, also was trying to figure out which products were impacted after another recent recall.

The Oregon-based company BrucePac recalled nearly 12 million pounds of ready-to-eat meat and chicken products found in everything from salad bowls to burritos due to concerns about listeria contamination, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"It’s very concerning," said Mellow. “... Sometimes you put stuff in the freezer and then it gets lost in the back. It’s a little scary because nobody wants to get sick."

Deborah Salvatore, director of graduate nutrition programs at LIU Post, said the foodborne illness outbreaks will help people think twice "about the food that we're putting in our bodies on a regular basis."

She said the outbreaks also could cause longer-term changes in eating habits as people avoid what she called "convenience"-type foods and change their nutritional intake.

"They’re going to be preparing more foods and thinking about their food choices more. It's going to positively impact their diet," Salvatore added.

The food recall from BrucePac began Oct. 9 and is far-reaching, with hundreds of items potentially contaminated with listeria packaged and sold under different brands at various big-name supermarkets that include Trader Joe's, Whole Foods Market, Walmart, Target and others, according to the USDA and recalls listed by those stores. 

The agency said no one has gotten sick after eating the products.

TreeHouse Foods began voluntarily recalling frozen waffles due to potential listeria contamination on Oct. 18 and expanded its recall on Oct. 22 to include all frozen toaster waffles, Belgian waffles and pancake products, according to the Food and Drug Administration, which said no illnesses have been reported.

That follows a deadly listeria outbreak this summer traced back to meat processing company Boar’s Head, which pulled 7 million pounds of deli meats off the shelves beginning in July, according to the USDA. 

Ten people died, including two in New York, as a result of eating listeria-contaminated food tied to the outbreak, and 59 related hospitalizations have been reported across 19 states, Newsday previously reported.

In addition to the listeria outbreaks, there have been reports of E. coli contamination linked to Quarter Pounder burgers at McDonald’s in 13 states but not in New York or the Northeast, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

That agency said the outbreak started Sept. 27 and sickened 75 people, including in Colorado, where 26 people fell ill and one person died. While the source of the outbreak still is being investigated, McDonald’s has stopped using slivered onions and Taylor Farms, its supplier, has initiated a voluntary recall of the onions. 

"America’s food source is in a lot of trouble but who cares if people are eating it," Jean Marie Leveque, a chef, said Monday after stopping by a gourmet bakery in Garden City.

"As far as me and my family, I cook fresh and don’t buy premade," said Leveque, 66, of Queens.

He added that he believes few households are cooking anymore and it’s to their detriment.

Kristine Donofrio, 52, of Queens, said Monday while shopping in Garden City that it’s important to know where our food is coming from and she has concerns because of the outbreaks about whether food safety practices are being followed.

"Look at Boar’s Head. I mean, that it was allowed to get to that point where the factory was so disgusting. We completely stopped eating cold cuts after that," she added of her family.

Farmingdale resident Aaron Hernandez said Monday he was avoiding any potentially tainted items and staying away from fast food chains.

"I’ve been cooking my food more," said Hernandez, 43, who added that safety procedures should be better enforced when it comes to the country's food supply.

Sharryn M. Kasmir, director of the Food Studies program at Hofstra University, said the recalls highlight vulnerabilities within the food supply network, which she said is run by a limited number of food manufacturing and processing companies.

"Unfortunately, our food system … is susceptible to these kinds of outbreaks and recalls," she said. "An outbreak or a problem in one plant or one location has outsized ramifications down the food chain to consumers, and we've seen it before."

Consumers, the professor said, need to be aware of where and how food is being sourced while keeping up to date on recall notifications.

Kasmir had another tip too when it comes to wise food choices.

"It's always a better idea for this kind of thing to eat less rather than more processed foods," she said.