Feb 6, 2008 4:01 pm US/Central
MN To Question 25 More In Meatpacking Illness
AUSTIN, Minn. (AP) ―
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Those employees worked at the head table, where the plant once used air compressors to extract brain tissue from hog skulls for food. The practice has stopped. (File)
CBS
The state Health Department plans to interview another 25 people at Quality Pork Processors in Austin as part of its investigation into a mystery disease.
State Epidemiologist Dr. Ruth Lynfield says the next group of interviewees work in the rendering portion of the plant directly below the "head table."
That area has been the focus of the investigation into the disease that has sickened about a dozen employees of the hog processor.
Those employees worked at the head table, where the plant once used air compressors to extract brain tissue from hog skulls for food. The practice has stopped.
Earlier this week someone who worked in the rendering area was found with the same symptoms as those sickened head table workers.
The meatpackers in Austin have reported fatigue, numbness and tingling in their arms and legs, with a wide range in severity.
One theory is that the air compression system sprayed droplets of pig brain tissue into the air, which somehow caused nerve damage in workers who were exposed to it.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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