Monthly Archives: January 2018

Xinhuanet

SHIJIAZHUANG, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) — More than 90 kindergarten children were taken to hospital with suspected food poisoning in north China’s Hebei Province, the local government said Monday.

The kids fell ill after lunch at a private village kindergarten in Lingshou County in Shijiazhuang, the provincial capital. They were all taken to hospital for observation and treatment and are in stable condition.

Preliminary investigation showed that nitrite was mistaken for regular salt by kindergarten canteen staff and put into the food.

The local health, educational, public security and market supervision departments are making further investigation.

FSAI

In June 2017, Mars Ireland recalled a range of its products due to the possible presence of Salmonella (see 2017.09). Two pallets of the above implicated products were on hold with an Irish distributor awaiting destruction but were placed on the market accidentally. Mars Ireland is recalling the above specific batch of the 42g Galaxy Smooth Milk bar and Maltesers Fun Size bags.

Nature Of Danger:

Consumption of product from the implicated batches could cause salmonellosis. Symptoms can include diarrhoea, stomach cramps, vomiting and fever. There are no reports of illness.

Ths Scotsman

A cheese maker suffered a £515,000 drop in sales after being linked to an E.coli outbreak that saw a three-year-old girl die, a court has heard. Errington Cheese owner Selina Cairns said her family’s firm had been hit after the incident in August 2016 where the young girl died and others fell ill. A range of the company’s products are made from unpasteurised milk and environmental workers seized batches of their Lanark Blue and Corra Linn as a result of the outbreak.

Read more at: https://www.scotsman.com/news/council-to-take-errington-cheese-to-court-over-e-coli-warning-1-4668959

iwaspoisoned.com    

WHAT

Iwaspoisoned.com is for people who love to eat out but don’t expect to be ill because of it. It is a consumer led website for diners to report suspected food poisoning or bad food experiences. This real time information is shared by consumers, food authorities, restaurants, and industry with one aim – to make eating a safer experience.

HOW

Iwaspoisoned.com collects and screens reports of foodborne illness across the United States and the world, and shares that information with public health departments and industry. Your reports can help identify and track outbreaks in their earliest stages. So whether it’s bad food from a restaurant or your local store, Iwaspoisoned.com welcomes your report.

WHY

Iwaspoisoned.com was founded in 2009 in response to the lack of any co-ordinated, consumer led, national food reporting system. More reports and greater visibility will lead to safer food, safer communities and a healthier economy. Food poisoning is a common, costly, and avoidable menace. Our goal is to reduce the number of foodborne illlness outbreaks by making the system more transparent. We do that with the help of your reports.

HPS Scotland

Feeding raw meat-based diets (RMBDs) to companion animals has become increasingly popular. Since these diets may be contaminated with bacteria and parasites, they may pose a risk to both animal and human health. A study recently described in the Veterinary Record tested a range of Dutch commercial RMBDs for the presence of zoonotic bacterial and parasitic pathogens, 35 commercial frozen RMBDs from eight different brands being analysed.

As a result, Escherichia coli serotype O157:H7 was isolated from eight products (23%) and extended-spectrum beta-lactamases-producing E. coli in 28 products (80%). Listeria monocytogenes was present in 19 products (54%), other Listeria species in 15 products (43%) and Salmonella species in seven products (20%). The parasites, Sarcocystis cruzi and S. tenella were both found in four products (11% each) while two products (6%) were positive for Toxoplasma gondii.

Food Safety News

National Frozen Foods Corp. issued a Class I recall of individual quick frozen green beans because of potential Listeria monocytogenes contamination, according to notices posted by US Foods Inc. and the U.S. Department of Defense Commissary Agency.The frozen food manufacturer issued its recall following the detection of Listeria monocytogenes in a third-party test by a downstream customer, a pet food company.

Outbreak News Today

Three family members contracted suspected foodborne botulism, resulting in the deaths of the father and mother, according to the  the Nigerian Centres for Disease Control (NCDC). Fish appears to be the common food source.

Food Poisoning Bulletin

Five people are sick in Wisconsin in the multistate Salmonella Montevideo outbreak that happened after consumers ate sprouts at Jimmy John’s restaurants in that state and Illinois. Two people are sick in Illinois, and one person is sick in Minnesota. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services is working with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, health departments, and the CDC to investigate this outbreak. All five patients are sick with the outbreak strain of Salmonella. And all of those patients said they ate sprouts at a Jimmy John’s restaurant in the state in mid-to-late December, 2017.

Food Poisoning Bulletin  

Two dietary supplements: Break Ventures “Zero For Him” and “Arthri-D” are being recalled for possible Salmonella contamination. No illnesses have been reported to date in connection with this issue.

Zero for Him is a supplement that is distributed nationwide through Amazon. The product has 150 capsules in a 400 cc Light Amber PETE bottle. The lot number is 1710-638 on the bottom. The expiration date of November 2020 is stamped on the side of the container.

Routine testing by the company discovered the potential for contamination found Salmonella bacteria in one bottle. the product has been tested and re-tested and no more bacteria were found, but the supplement is being recalled out of an abundance of caution. Distribution of the product is suspended while the FDA and the company investigate the problem.

Cebu Daily News

Six persons were rushed to the Cebu City Medical Center (CCMC) on Sunday, January 21 due to food poisoning.

According to the Chief of the Cebu City Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office (CCDRMO) Nagiel Bañacia, Laboratory findings showed that they ate spoiled rice.