Illness Is Blamed on Faulty Cooking

Faulty cooking of stuffed ham probably caused an outbreak of salmonella poisoning among patrons of a Maryland church dinner that left 746 people ill and one dead, health officials said. A change from traditional cooking methods probably increased contamination of the hams served Nov. 2 at Our Lady of the Wayside Roman Catholic Church, said Ebenezer Israel, the St. Mary’s County health officer. The hams were steamed in large pots at a commercial seafood distributor rather than boiled at parishioners’ homes, Israel said. He said it was the second year that hams were prepared using the new method, which was meant to ensure safe practices.