Vitamin E May Prevent Foodborne Illness

Vitamin E May Prevent Foodborne Illness

AMES, Iowa--Adding vitamin E to the feed of turkeys may reduce thelikelihood of consumers contracting the serious foodborne illness listeriosis,commonly caused by eating poultry infected with Listeria monocytogenes,according to the U.S. Department of Agricultures (USDA) Agricultural ResearchService (ARS) (www.ars.usda.gov).Listeriosis is a disease that affects mainly pregnant women, newborns and adultswith weakened immune systems, and accounts for 2,500 annual cases of humanmeningitis, encephalitis, sepsis, fetal death and premature births, according toARS. Supplementing the turkeys; diets with alpha-tocopherol stimulates theirimmune responses, helping to clear the gut of the disease-causing microorganism.A USDA study in 1998 found L. monocytogenes in nearly 6 percent of turkeycarcass rinses and in 31 percent of the ground turkey meat examined.