Salmonella cases rise
after ice cream recall
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Ice
cream made in Minnesota and dis
tributed nationwide has been
linked to hundreds of reports of
salmonella poisoning in at least 12
states.
Schwan’s Sales Enterprises,
based in Marshall, recalled all of
its ice cream on Friday after the
first reports of food poisoning. In
vestigators with the Food and Drug
Administration in Minneapolis on
Wednesday found more salmonella
bacteria in a batch of Schwan’s ice
cream from someone who got sick.
Cases of salmonella have been
confirmed in Minnesota, South
Dakota and Wisconsin, Bob
Howard, a spokesman for the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, said Wednesday.
Health officials in Georgia, In
diana and North Dakota also re
ported confirmed cases.
People in Arizona, Illinois.
Iowa, Nebraska, Oregon and
Washington got sick after eating
the ice cream, but the exact cause
of their illness has not yet been
confirmed.
Schwan has temporarily closed
its Marshall plant and moved its
bulk ice cream production to the
Weils Dairy Inc., plant in LeMars,
Iowa. The state Department of
Agriculture is trying to isolate the
source of the contamination.
Salmonella bacteria causes nau
sea, vomiting, abdominal cramps,
diarrhea, fever and headaches.
Symptoms are most severe in in
fants, the elderly and people with
weak immune systems.
Two Iowa girls, ages 10 and 11,
got sick after having root beer
floats at a slumber party.
“She was really aijck. She
missed seven daws of school,” said
Joe Schloss of Spencer, Iowa, the
father of the 10-year-old. “Then 10
days after she was diagnosed, she
was diagnosed again and she still
had it. We had to go through the
antibiotic treatment again.”
More than 700 Minnesotans
have reported symptoms of salmo
nella poisoning that may be linked
to the ice cream. At least 80 cases
in the state have been confirmed
and some people have been hospi
talized, said Health Department
spokesman Buddy Ferguson.
Two people in Minnesota who
got sick are suing Sch wan's for at
least $50,000 each.
Wisconsin has confirmed 51
cases since Sept. 1, and South Da
kota has confirmed eight cases
since Sept. 6. Georgia, Indiana and
North Dakota reported at least one
case each.
Sch wan’s was No. 68 last year
on Forbes magazine’s list of most
profitable privately held compa
nies. The company is the biggest
U.S. supplier of frozen pizzas to
schools and other institutions, ac
cording to Forbes.
The company said its other
products are not affected.
Corn and soybean harvests
produce record-high yields
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Ag
riculture Department today forecast
a record-high com harvest this fall
of 9.6 billion bushels, and a record
high soybean harvest of 2.46 billion.
It was the second straight month
that the department has raised its es
timate of the harvest for both crops,
and reflects a stunning recovery from
last year's flood- and drought-short
ened harvests.
The reports were based on field
surveys done Oct. 1.
The report said corn yields were
expected to average a record-high
133.8 bushels an acre. Soybean yields
were forecast at a record-high 40.5
bushels an acre.
The previous harvest record for
corn was set in 1992, when farmers
produced 9.48 billion bushels. The
biggest previous harvest for soybeans
was 2.26 billion bushels in 1979.
The corn production forecast is
345 million bushels, or 4 percent,
higher than last month’s. As a result,
the department projected a drop in
prices of 10 cents a bushel. Prices
should range from $1.90 to $2.30 a
bushel.
The forecast com harvest is also
51 percent higher than last year's
harvest of 6.34 biHion bushels. The
forecast soybean harvest is 6 percent
above September’s and 32 percent
above last year’s crop of 1.87 billion
bushels.
The soybean harvest should bring
the season-average price this month
down to $4.60 to $5.30 a bushel, the
department said, noting that strong
export demand will ease some of the
downward pressure on prices.
The growing weather had been
ideal this year, and warm, dry weather
in September had caused the corn and
soybean crops to mature ahead of
normal in the Midwest.
In Nebraska, up to 4 inches of rain
in the Panhandle, and lesser amounts
elsewhere, slowed harvest activity but
should benefit the winter wheat crop.
The state Agricultural Statistics
Service said Tuesday the corn harvest
was 29 percent complete as of Sun
day, still 2 percentage points higher
than the five-year average of 27 per
cent, despite the rain.
Soybean harvest also progressed
well, but slower, with 64 percent of
the crop combined compared with 55
percent last year and a five-year av
erage of 58 percent.
Sorghum harvest at 33 percent
complete is well ahead of last year's
4 percent and the average 28 percent.
Sugar beet harvest continued and
the dry edible bean harvest neared
completion, the crop reporting ser
vice said.
Winter wheat seeding is deemed
complete with 84 percent of the crop
emerged. Panhandle wheat growers
indicated the benefits from the mois
ture outweighed any damage from
surface erosion.
Record crops
The nation's farmers are
harvesting record crops of com
and soybeans. The bumper
crops will knock down prices
received by farmers, so the
government may spend more to
maintain farm income.
U.S. com production g.go
10 In billions of bushels
Infant receives
heart transplant
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A Nebraska
infant who had been kept alive by
machines for most of his 28 days of
life was breathing and functioning
well on his own Wednesday aAer re
ceiving a new heart, doctors said.
“The surgery lasted a little longer
than expected, but he came through
it fine,” said Kim Kitson, spokes
woman for St. Louis Children’s Hos
pital.
Surgery on Dallas Brown, son of
Cindy and Terry Brown of La Vista.
Neb., lasted more than five hours. It
began just hours aAer a donor was
found early Wednesday that was a
suitable match for the baby.
“7he surgery lasted a
little longer than
expected, but he came
through it fine. ”
■
KIM KITSON
St. Louis Children's Hospital
spokeswoman
The team included two surgeons,
two anesthesiologists, nurses and two
technicians who operated a bypass
machine that took over the baby’s
vital functions during the surgery.
The head surgeon. Dr. Charles
Huddleston, said the surgery was ac
tually the easiest part of the success
ful procedure. He said much credit
belonged to the doctors and nurses
who had kept Dallas alive and strong
while awaiting a donor and the spe
cial Air Force team that transported
him to St. Louis.
Dallas, who was bom Sept. 15,
was flown to St. Louis by a special
Air Force medical team earlier this
month. He had been on heart-lung
support since Sept. 26 at the Univer
sity of Nebraska Medical Center in
Omaha because of damage done to
his heart by a virus he was bom with.
“He’s still in critical condition,
like he has been for some time, but
he’s no longer on life-support,”
Kitson said. She said the baby would
remain in the intensive care for at
least several more days.
The baby was brought to St. Louis
because Children’s Hospital special
izes in treating newborns. The hos
pital has done more than 60 infant
neart transplants since 1986.
Kitson said she could not release
any information about the donor.
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