Arly
You wrote, "If anyone knows for a fact, not rumor, what the source of the E.
sakazakii was in the contaminated infant formula in the U.S., I would like to
know."

The "source" of E. sakazakii according to the CDC and the FDA was the
powdered infant formula, Portagen.

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5114a1.htm

"To determine the source of infection, microbiologic studies were performed
on samples of commercially sterile water used for formula preparation and from
samples of formula taken from opened cans of Portagen from the same two
batches used in the NICU during the study period. Environmental swab cultures were
taken from surfaces on which the product had been prepared. Cultures also were
performed on unopened containers of Portagen supplied by the manufacturer with
batch codes matching those of opened cans. The water was cultured using
membrane filtration. The powdered infant formula was cultured using a modification
of a previously described enrichment method (3). Specifically, for each
culture of formula, 100 grams of Portagen were inoculated in phosphate-buffered
peptone water, incubated overnight, subcultured, reincubated, and picked and
streaked. Colonies that demonstrated a yellow pigment characteristic of E.
sakazakii were then picked for identification. Cultures of formula taken from both
opened and unopened cans of Portagen from a single batch grew E. sakazakii. Water
and all environmental cultures were negative. Pulsed-field gel
electrophoresis revealed that isolates of E. sakazakii from the CSF culture of the neonate
with meningitis and from the culture of formula from both opened and unopened
containers were indistinguishable"

Hang times for infant formula have been lowered and the use of powdered
infant formula is being discouraged in NICUs because of this problem.

Arly wrote, "It would be enlightening in any case to know how something like
this is still able to slip by our safeguards."

I'd like to know what you mean by safeguards.  Processed foods are relatively
safe but they aren't 100% safe and infant food is a processed food.  I think
there are some assumptions made about infant formula and its safety that are
totally erronous.  I certainly would make no bones about my previous post being
speculative.  But when you have the regulators (FDA) making assumptions that
the genetically engineered product is the equivalent to the real thing, how
much questioning is truly going on by "our monitors?"  Supposedly 70% of our
foods in the USA are genetically engineered.  Where is the long term studies on
how this will effect our health?  Infants are our most vulnerable population
and therefore they should not be part of this experiment.
The other major problem is that the monitoring of this industry has been
hijacked by allowing the industry to monitor itself. I don't believe that
multi-national corporations can self-monitor themselves.  It never has worked before
and it certainly isn't working now.
Valerie W. McClain, IBCLC









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