Category Archives: Contaminated water

USA – Welcome to the Agricultural Water Assessment Builder!

Posted on March 22, 2022 by | Leave a comment

FDA

Thank you for choosing to use the Agricultural Water Assessment Builder. The Agricultural Water Assessment Builder v. 1.0 is a user-friendly tool designed to help farms understand the proposed requirements for an agricultural water assessment in the “Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption Relating to Agricultural Water” proposed rule (agricultural water proposed rule). If finalized, the rule would replace the microbial criteria and testing requirements for pre-harvest agricultural water for covered produce (other than sprouts) in the 2015 Produce Safety Final Rule with provisions for systems-based agricultural water assessments. Relevant definitions and resources can be viewed by clicking the icon next to the title of this page.
We welcome feedback on v1.0 of this optional tool, such as suggestions related to the tool’s functionality and useability. Feedback on the tool can be sent to agwaterbuilder@fda.hhs.gov.
Use of this tool is not required by law (see legal disclaimer) and would not be required. If the agricultural water proposed rule is finalized, FDA expects this tool to supplement and not replace other education, training, and experience that would be needed to understand and implement the requirements of the rule.
The information entered into this page will not be shared with FDA and will not be saved. If you need to pause while entering information, we recommend that you export a copy of your data and save it to your local machine. Once the document is saved, you may resume at a later time, and upload the file to begin from where you paused. Once you have reached the end of this tool, you will be given the opportunity to print out a summary of the information entered. Remember, the data that is entered here is not saved unless your export a file to save on your computer.
This tool is being provided for illustrative purposes only because the requirements for agricultural water assessments under proposed § 112.43 have not been finalized.
Legal disclaimer: Use of the Agricultural Water Assessment Builder v. 1.0 does not constitute FDA approval of an agricultural water assessment or guarantee compliance with FDA’s requirements, if finalized. FDA has taken all reasonable precautions in creating the Agricultural Water Assessment Builder v. 1.0. However, FDA is not responsible for errors, omissions or deficiencies regarding the tool. The Agricultural Water Assessment Builder v. 1.0 is available “as is” and without warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, warranties of performance, merchantability, and fitness for a particular purpose. FDA is not making a commitment in any way to regularly update the tool. Responsibility for the interpretation and use of the Agricultural Water Assessment Builder v. 1.0 lies solely with the user. Third parties’ use of or acknowledgment of the tool does not in any way represent that FDA endorses such third parties or expresses any opinion with respect to their statements.

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Posted in Contaminated water, Decontamination Microbial, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Research, Water, water activity, water microbiology, Water Safety

Research – Rainfall strongly affects infectious Vibrio bacteria in Ala Wai Canal

Posted on March 8, 2022 by | Leave a comment

Science Daily

Food Illness

Study authors Olivia Nigro, then a graduate student in the oceanography at UHM and now an assistant professor at HPU, and Grieg Steward, professor in the UHM School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), first assessed Vibrio in 2006 when Oliver Johnson died from a V. vulnificus infection after having cuts and scrapes exposed to Ala Wai Harbor water.

“His exposure occurred after many days of heavy rainfall, which, given our results, suggests this may have been an exacerbating factor,” said Steward. “At the time, we realized there was almost no data on the ecology of V. vulnificus in the canal, or in Hawai’i generally, and remarkably, very little in tropical waters anywhere.”

After a quick pilot study in 2006 that showed the bacteria are present in high, but not unexpected numbers, the team geared up for a year-long study in 2008-2009 with better methods to understand the variability in abundance over a seasonal cycle.

At higher latitudes, the abundance of V. vulnificus shows a very strong seasonal cycle — nearly disappearing in winter when temperatures are cold. In Hawai’i, temperatures are warm year-round, so freshwater input becomes a more important control.

“V. vulnificus occurs naturally in warm, brackish waters,” said Nigro. “So we expect to find this bacterium anywhere that temperatures are warm and freshwater and seawater mix in about equal proportions. When conditions are right, the Ala Wai Canal can be a great incubator for this bacterium!”

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Posted in Contaminated water, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Research, Vibrio, Vibrio vulnificans, Vibrio vulnificus, Water, water microbiology, Water Safety

Research – Rising Incidence of Legionnaires’ Disease and Associated Epidemiologic Patterns, United States, 1992–2018

Posted on March 6, 2022 by | Leave a comment

CDC

Abstract

Reported Legionnaires’ disease (LD) cases began increasing in the United States in 2003 after relatively stable numbers for >10 years; reasons for the rise are unclear. We compared epidemiologic patterns associated with cases reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before and during the rise. The age-standardized average incidence was 0.48 cases/100,000 population during 1992–2002 compared with 2.71 cases/100,000 in 2018. Reported LD incidence increased in nearly every demographic, but increases tended to be larger in demographic groups with higher incidence. During both periods, the largest number of cases occurred among White persons, but the highest incidence was in Black or African American persons. Incidence and increases in incidence were generally largest in the East North Central, Middle Atlantic, and New England divisions. Seasonality was more pronounced during 2003–2018, especially in the Northeast and Midwest. Rising incidence was most notably associated with increasing racial disparities, geographic focus, and seasonality.

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Posted in Contaminated water, Cooling Towers, Food Microbiology Research, Legionella, Legionnaires’ disease, Research, Water, water microbiology, Water Safety

Research – Contamination of Soil, Water, Fresh Produce, and Bivalve Mollusks with Toxoplasma gondii Oocysts: A Systematic Review

Posted on March 5, 2022 by | Leave a comment

MDPI

Toxoplas

Toxoplasma gondii is a major foodborne pathogen capable of infecting all warm-blooded animals, including humans. Although oocyst-associated toxoplasmosis outbreaks have been documented, the relevance of the environmental transmission route remains poorly investigated. Thus, we carried out an extensive systematic review on T. gondii oocyst contamination of soil, water, fresh produce, and mollusk bivalves, following the PRISMA guidelines. Studies published up to the end of 2020 were searched for in public databases and screened. The reference sections of the selected articles were examined to identify additional studies. A total of 102 out of 3201 articles were selected: 34 articles focused on soil, 40 focused on water, 23 focused on fresh produce (vegetables/fruits), and 21 focused on bivalve mollusks. Toxoplasma gondii oocysts were found in all matrices worldwide, with detection rates ranging from 0.09% (1/1109) to 100% (8/8) using bioassay or PCR-based detection methods. There was a high heterogeneity (I2 = 98.9%), which was influenced by both the sampling strategy (e.g., sampling site and sample type, sample composition, sample origin, season, number of samples, cat presence) and methodology (recovery and detection methods). Harmonized approaches are needed for the detection of T. gondii in different environmental matrices in order to obtain robust and comparable results.

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Posted in Contaminated water, food contamination, food handler, Food Hazard, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Research, Toxoplasma gondii, Toxoplasmosis, Water, water microbiology, Water Safety

Research – Legionellosis: A novel mechanism by which the bacterium Legionella pneumophila regulates the immune response of its host cells

Posted on February 27, 2022 by | Leave a comment

Science Daily

Legionellosis or Legionnaires’ disease affected more than 1 800 people in France in 2019 and caused 160 deaths. This emerging disease is caused by Legionella pneumophila, an environmental bacterium that thrives in hot water systems. Researchers have discovered a mechanism that allows Legionella pneumophila to target the immune response of the cells it infects by secreting a small regulatory RNA. This mechanism, not described before, facilitates the survival and proliferation of Legionella pneumophila during infection. The work provides precious information on the strategies used by bacteria to manipulate their host cells.

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Posted in Contaminated water, Cooling Towers, Decontamination Microbial, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Legionella, Legionnaires’ disease, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Research, Water, water microbiology, Water Safety

Ireland – EPA – Drinking Water Quality in Private Group Schemes and Small Private Supplies in 2020 – E.coli

Posted on February 24, 2022 by | Leave a comment

EPA

Click to access DWQinPrivateGroupWaterSupplies-2022-02-21.pdf

Key Findings for 2020

➤The quality of drinking water in private supplies was not as good as it should be: one in 20 private water supplies were contaminated with E. coli.

➤93% of Private Group Schemes complied with the Trihalomethanes standard. However, 13 supplies are cited on EU infringement proceedings against Ireland for failing to take the measures necessary to ensure compliance.

➤Over a quarter of Small Private Supplies were not monitored by Local Authorities.

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Posted in Bore Hole Water, Contaminated water, E.coli, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Water, water microbiology, Water Safety

USA – FDA, growers agree on many points of water safety; consumer group has concerns

Posted on February 18, 2022 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

The public and industry had the opportunity this week to hear FDA representatives talk about a proposed rule regarding how to make water used in the growing of fresh produce safer.

The session with the Food and Drug Administration officials included about 30 minutes for comments from the audience, which consisted of three-minutes each from industry spokespeople.

During one portion of the five-hour session a representative from the Center for Science in the Public Interest provided comments about public welfare issues concerning the proposed water safety rule. That portion of the session also included a presentation by a representative of Western Growers, which is a group of produce growers in western states. 

One thing the government speakers and other commenters had in common was the fact that the ag water rule is complicated. They all also said the proposed rule is more flexible than the one-size-fits-all proposal previously put forward by the Food and Drug Administration.

The agency has been working on the rule regarding agricultural water requirements under the Produce Rule since 2013. The rule is one of the mandates included in the federal Food Safety and Modernization Act of 2011. It covers water safety issues for fresh fruits and vegetables. It has a special section for the production of sprouts that is already in place.

Provisions of the proposed water rule do not include most small farmers, if their annual income generated by their sales of fresh produce is less than $25,000. Many of those growers use organic methods.

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Posted in Contaminated water, FDA, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Water, water microbiology, Water Safety

Turkey – Norovirus behind mass hospitalizations in Turkey’s Bilecik – Water Contamination

Posted on February 18, 2022 by | Leave a comment

Daily Sabah

Authorities announced that norovirus is the culprit behind the hospitalization of hundreds of people in the western province of Bilecik in recent weeks. An investigation found out that the virus, whose symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea and stomachache, originated from city’s drinking water. Health Ministry crews discovered that unfiltered water from a spring had contaminated drinking water supplies to the city of more than 228,000 people.

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Posted in Contaminated water, food bourne outbreak, Food Illness, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Virus, Foodborne Illness, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, Illness, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Norovirus, outbreak, Virus, Water, water microbiology, Water Safety

Research – IFST – Building biofilm knowhow.

Posted on February 15, 2022 by | Leave a comment

IFST

Mark Richardson outlines the aims and activities of the National Biofilms Innovation Centre (NBIC) and explains why the occurrence of foodborne pathogens in biofilms is a major concern.

The National Biofilms Innovation Centre (NBIC) is still a relatively young organisation but we are proud of what we have achieved since our formation in late 2017. We were funded through UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) by BBSRC (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council), Innovate UK and the Hartree Centre as an Innovation Knowledge Centre (IKC) to support and connect the biofilm community in industry and academia.

Foodborne pathogens within biofilms

Biofilms are communities of microorganisms (often multiple species) within an extracellular matrix associated with a surface; this allows them to communicate and collectively behave very differently to individual organisms. Biofilms have a role to play across multiple industrial sectors in terms of both the problems they present and opportunities they offer. In respect to human health and food they can, for example, potentiate the emergence of bacterial resistance to antibiotics, antiseptics and disinfectants. From farm to fork they have a role to play in the health of soils, plants and animals; in addition they impact on food processing and then subsequently on supply chain safety (particularly for ready to eat or chilled produce).

For example, Listeria monocytogenes, a pathogenic bacterium found in moist environments, soil, water, decaying vegetation and animals, can survive and even grow under refrigeration and other food preservation measures. It can cause food poisoning if ingested and due to the severity of infection and high case fatality rate, listeriosis is an important public health concern. A high level of vigilance is maintained in food manufacturing environments for the occurrence of this organism. There were 142 cases of food borne listeriosis in the UK in 2019 resulting in 23 deaths plus eight miscarriages or stillbirths.

Listeria monocytogenes typifies the problems that biofilm modality imparts to organisms in that when it grows within a biofilm, it is very difficult to detect, remove and destroy. When measures relating to its control go wrong, this can lead to significant human health issues, adverse impacts on the food sector’s reputation and significant economic costs. As recently as July 2021, Tyson Foods in the USA recalled nationally almost 4100 tonnes of ready-to-eat chicken products after finding they may have been contaminated with Listeria. The US Department of Agriculture announced the recall a month after two consumers reported falling ill with listeriosis. Further investigation revealed one death.

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Posted in Biofilm, Contaminated water, Decontamination Microbial, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Research, Water, water microbiology, Water Safety

Research – Emerging Legionella species data

Posted on February 13, 2022 by | Leave a comment

HPS

Legionella_Plate_01

08 February 2022

Article: 56/502

In July 2021, the Legionella Control Association (LCA), in conjunction with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Public Health England (PHE) and local authorities, held a webinar aimed at raising awareness of increasing Legionella positivity rates post lockdown.  The data demonstrated that the average positive rate in the UK had increased by around 2% following the lockdowns in response to COVID-19.

To investigate if there were particular species that could have led to this increase, LCA approached the three commercial laboratories in the UK that use MALDI-ToF to confirm down to species level, and asked if they would share their data. This information has now been returned by some laboratories, with findings from over 70,000 positive result samples in a two-year period revealing:

  • over 53% of the results were L.anisa
  • over 32% of the positives were L. pneumophilia, both SeroGroup 1 and SeroGroup 2-15
  • nearly 1% of positives were for L. rubilucens
  • over 6.5% of the results did not confirm a species type
  • there were over a dozen other species identified in results that accounted for less than 1% of the data set

The first line clinical diagnostic tool used to confirm Legionnaire’s disease in the UK is commonly a urinary antigen test (UAT), and this method looks predominantly for L. pneumophilia SeroGroup 1. Given the data LCA has provided so far, this could potentially mean missing over 70% of Legionella infections in patients. It should be highlighted that this data is in its infancy, and LCA state that further research needs to take place before any significant changes are considered or undertaken.

Source: LCA, January 2022

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Posted in Contaminated water, Cooling Towers, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, L. pneumophilia, Legionella, Legionella anisa, Legionella rubilucens, Legionnaires’ disease, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Research, Water, water microbiology, Water Safety