Category Archives: Contaminated water

USA -FDA Advises Restaurants and Retailers Not to Serve or Sell and Consumers Not to Eat Certain Mussels from Newfoundland, Canada Due to Potential Contamination

Posted on March 11, 2024 by | Leave a comment

FDA

Certain live mussels from Allen’s Fisheries, Ltd. (NL0047SP), Benoit’s Cove, Newfoundland, Canada were initially harvested on 2/07/2024 (Julian date 24038) from harvest area AQ # 15 Newfoundland, with final harvest date of 2/18/2024 (Julian date 24049) and shipped to  distributors in CT, FL, MD, MA, NJ, NY, and PA on or around 2/21/2024 (Julian Date 24052). The live mussels were distributed to restaurants and retailers in CT, FL, MD, MA, NJ, NY, and PA and may have been distributed to other states, as well.

The following product tag is provided to be representative of labeling that would accompany the implicated mussels.

Sample product tag from the alert concerning certain mussels from Newfoundland, Canada due to potential contamination

Purpose

The FDA is advising restaurants and food retailers not to serve or sell and to dispose of mussels and consumers not to eat mussels from Allen’s Fisheries (NL0047SP) in Newfoundland, Canada, harvested on 2/07/2024 (Julian date 24038), from harvest area AQ # 15 Newfoundland, with final harvest date of 2/18/2024 (Julian date 24049) and shipped to distributors in CT, FL, MD, MA, NJ, NY, and PA on or around 2/21/2024 (Julian Date 24052) because they may be contaminated.

Contaminated shellfish can cause illness, especially if eaten raw, particularly in people with compromised immune systems. Food contaminated with pathogens or biotoxins may look, smell, and taste normal. Consumers of these products who are experiencing food poisoning symptoms such as diarrhea, stomach pain or cramps, nausea, vomiting, or fever should contact their healthcare provider, who should report their symptoms to their local Health Department.

Summary of Problem and Scope

On 3/1/2024, the New Jersey Department of Health advised the FDA of an outbreak of illness associated with consumption of certain mussels. The cases experienced symptoms including nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. The advisory includes mussels from Allen’s Fisheries (NL0047SP) in Newfoundland, Canada, harvested on 2/07/2024 (Julian date 24038), from harvest area AQ # 15 Newfoundland, with final harvest date of 2/18/2024 (Julian date 24049) and shipped to distributors in CT, FL, MD, MA, NJ, NY, and PA on or around 2/21/2024 (Julian Date 24052).

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Posted in bacterial contamination, Biotoxin, Contaminated water, cross contamination, food contamination, food recall, Marine Biotoxin, microbial contamination, product recall, Recall

Sweden – Cryptosporidium outbreak (Sweden December 2023–)

Posted on January 22, 2024 by | Leave a comment

Folkhalsomyndigheten

Since 15 December 2023, 68 people from 14 regions have been reported infected with Cryptosporidium in Sweden. Most of the disease cases are from Halland and Jönköping. Of the disease cases, 72 percent are women, the average age is 41 years and 79 percent are in the age group 21-60 years. Based on the available data, the latest case of the disease contracted on January 3 (see figure). Typing of a selection of samples shows that 13 out of 18 belong to the same type of Cryptosporidium, which indicates that the disease cases have a common source of infection.

Affected infection control units, the Swedish Food Agency and the Public Health Agency are investigating the outbreak to identify the source of infection, which is suspected to be fresh food. Information about what the outbreak cases have eaten before becoming ill is done via interviews and the collection of questionnaires. The answers are then compared to what people in a healthy comparison group indicate that they have eaten to assess whether there are foods that the outbreak cases have eaten to a greater extent than the comparison group.

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Posted in Contaminated water, Cryptosporidiosis, Cryptosporidium, food bourne outbreak, Food Illness, Foodborne Illness, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, Illness, outbreak, Water, water microbiology, Water Safety

France – Spring Water – E.coli – STEC E.coli – Pseudomonas

Posted on January 2, 2024 by | Leave a comment

Gov France

Product category
Food
Product subcategory
Waters
Product brand name
Source of the Garrigues
Model names or references
spring water carboys – Garrigues sources – 10 liters spring water carboys – Garrigues sources – 5 Gallons
Product identification
GTIN Batch
3770020381041 Marking on cap Lot 84042 + date 02/10/2023 or total absence of marking on cap
3770020381089 Marking on cap Lot 84042 + date 02/10/2023 or total absence of marking on cap
Products List
Certificate_lot_concerned_by_the_recall.pdfAttachment
Packaging
10 liter and 5 gallon (18.9 liter) bottles (carboys)
Start/end date of marketing
Since 02/17/2022
Storage temperature
Product to be stored at room temperature
Further information
Carboys (bottles) delivered by the distributor Mont Ventoux Distribution, on which the expiration date may have been removed from its normal location on the cap.
Geographical sales area
Regions: Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur
Distributors
Mont Ventoux Distribution (591, avenue Joseph Vernet 84810 AUBIGNAN)
List of points of sale
List_points_of_sale.pdf

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Posted in Contaminated water, E.coli, food recall, product recall, Pseudomonas, Recall, STEC, STEC E.coli, Water, water microbiology, Water Safety

Research – Diversity of Faecal Indicator Enterococci among Different Hosts: Importance to Water Contamination Source Tracking

Posted on December 23, 2023 by | Leave a comment

MDPI

Abstract

Enterococcus spp. are common bacteria present in the intestinal tracts of animals and are used as fecal indicators in aquatic environments. On the other hand, enterococci are also known as opportunistic pathogens. Elucidating their composition in the intestinal tracts of domestic animals can assist in estimating the sources of fecal contamination in aquatic environments. However, information on the species and composition of enterococci in animal hosts (except humans) is still lacking. In this study, enterococci were isolated from the feces of cattle, pigs, birds, and humans using selective media. Enterococcal species were identified using mass spectrometry technology, and each host was characterized by diversity and cluster analysis. The most dominant species were E. hirae in cattle, E. faecium in birds, and E. faecalis in pigs and humans. Cattle had the highest alpha diversity, with high interindividual and livestock farm diversity. The dominant enterococcal species in pigs and humans were identical, and cluster analysis showed that the majority of the two hosts’ species clustered together.

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Posted in Boil Water Notice, Contaminated water, Enterococcus, Enterococcus faecalis, Enterococcus faecium, Water, water microbiology, Water Safety

USA – FDA Advises Restaurants and Retailers Not to Serve or Sell and Consumers Not to Eat Chopped Clams Illegally Harvested in Massachusetts and Distributed by Red’s Best

Posted on December 13, 2023 by | Leave a comment

FDA

Audience
Restaurants and food retailers in Connecticut (CT), Massachusetts (MA), New York (NY), and Rhode Island (RI) that have recently purchased Red’s Best chopped clams, labeled as lot numbers # 331 and # 333, with shuck dates of 23/331 and 23/333. These clams were illegally harvested from prohibited waters in MA on 11/25/2023 and 11/26/2023.
Consumers in CT, MA, NY, and RI who have recently purchased or consumed Red’s Best chopped clams, labeled as lot numbers # 331 and # 333, with shuck dates of 23/331 and 23/333, that were illegally harvested from prohibited waters in MA on 11/25/2023 and 11/26/2023.
Product
Red’s Best chopped clams illegally harvested from prohibited waters in MA on 11/25/2023 and 11/26/2023 and distributed to CT, MA, NY, and RI. It is possible that chopped clams may have been distributed to other states as well. These chopped clams can be identified by lot numbers # 331 and # 333, with shuck dates of 23/331 and 23/333 and harvest area mhb4, packed by 13027 ma-sp. All chopped clams were packed in one-gallon (8 lbs) plastic containers with “Red’s Best” printed on the sidewall. Both the lot number and shuck date should be printed on a decal label adhered to either the lid or sidewall of each container.

Purpose
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is advising consumers not to eat, and restaurants and food retailers not to sell, and to dispose of Red’s Best chopped clams illegally harvested from prohibited waters in MA on 11/25/2023 and 11/26/2023 with lot numbers # 331 and # 333, and shuck dates of 23/331 and 23/333, because they may be contaminated. The chopped clams were directly distributed to distributors and retailers in CT, MA, NY, and RI and may have been distributed further from these states.

Clams harvested illegally may be contaminated with human pathogens, toxic elements or poisonous or deleterious substances and can cause illness if consumed. Clams are filter feeders that remove and bioaccumulate bacteria and other pathogens from the water. It is not uncommon for shellfish to be consumed raw and whole. Contaminated clams can cause illness if eaten raw, particularly in people with compromised immune systems. Clams contaminated with pathogens may look, smell, and taste normal.

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Posted in bacterial contamination, Contaminated water, cross contamination, Decontamination Microbial, food contamination, Food Pathogen, food recall, Pathogen, pathogenic, product recall, Water, water microbiology, Water Safety

Research – Is Chlorine Dioxide the Perfect Way to Control Legionella Bacteria?

Posted on December 9, 2023 by | Leave a comment

Legionella Control

Chlorine and chlorine dioxide are two popular, but very different chemicals that are commonly used to treat water against lots of different bugs including legionella and other potentially dangerous bacteria. Both have their advantages and disadvantages especially when it comes to the control of Legionella bacteria in water systems.

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Posted in Contaminated water, Food Microbiology Research, Legionella, Research, Water, water microbiology, Water Safety

Research – Flood-Associated, Land-to-Sea Pathogens’ Transfer: A One Health Perspective

Posted on November 18, 2023 by | Leave a comment

MDPI

Similarly to many other countries across the globe, several floods have been recorded in Italy throughout the last few decades, including those of catastrophic magnitude that occurred in the Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany regions last May and a few weeks ago, respectively. This, once again, underscores the increasingly growing probability, in the current “Anthropocene Epoch”, of global warming-related, extreme weather phenomena. Indeed, the last 8 years (2015–2022) have been characterized by the highest average temperatures ever recorded on Earth throughout the last 140 years [1].
“How can we imagine to stay healthy in a sick world?”, Pope Francis wrote three years ago in his missive addressed to the President of Columbia on the “2020 World Environment Day”, while the COVID-19 pandemic was dramatically affecting the entire world, with SARS-CoV-2 likely representing a clear-cut example of a climate change-driven pathogen spillover from bats to humans [2].
Within such a challenging and alarming scenario, the land-to-sea transfer of a huge (and progressively increasing) number of infectious agents appears to be a matter of relevant concern [3,4]. This especially applies to bacterial microorganisms shed into the external environment via the fecal route, such as Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli, Vibrio cholerae and Listeria monocytogenes, alongside protozoan pathogens like Toxoplasma gondii and/or viral agents like the one causing hepatitis A and, last but not least, the pandemic SARS-CoV-2 betacoronavirus. As a matter of fact, evidence of viral fecal shedding has been documented for a median duration of 22 days in 59% of subjects from a cohort of SARS-CoV-2-infected patients in China [5]. Once transferred into sea and ocean waters by flood-derived mud and debris, fecally excreted microbial pathogens may be ingested by edible bivalve mollusks like mussels, an organism in which a single individual is able to filter over 100 liters of water on a daily basis, thus potentially hosting inside its body tissues significant amounts of biological and chemical environmental pollutants [6]. Within this context, it is worth mentioning a V. cholerae infection outbreak linked to the consumption of raw, non-sterilized mussels which diffusely involved the human population from the cities of Naples and Bari during the summer and early autumn months of 1973 [7]. Moreover, the land-to-sea transfer of infectious agents may additionally involve free-ranging cetaceans, whose health and conservation status appear to be increasingly threatened by a long and progressively expanding list of both natural and anthropogenic factors. This holds particularly true for “inshore” species like bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), which are more prone to acquire infections caused by “terrestrial” pathogens like T. gondii [8] while being simultaneously able to accumulate and “biomagnify” inside their body tissues consistent amounts of human-made, persistent, immunotoxic, neurotoxic and endocrine-disrupting environmental pollutants, based upon their well-known position of “apex predators” within the marine and oceanic food chains. Furthermore, the proven capability of micro-nanoplastics—exceedingly contaminating global seawaters—to behave as “attractors and concentrators” for the aforementioned anthropogenic xenobiotics should also be taken into serious account, together with the demonstrated interaction of micro-nanoplastics in marine and oceanic ecosystems with zoonotic protozoan pathogens like T. gondii, Cryptosporidium parvum and Giardia enterica [9]. This scenario, which already appears to be quite intricate and complex by itself, is made even more alarming by the fact that micro-nanoplastics may also host and carry a wide range of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, from which an active and powerful exchange of antimicrobial resistance genes may additionally occur, through horizontal gene transfer, with several environmental bacterial species colonizing the same plastic substrates [10].

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Posted in Contaminated water, Food Microbiology Research, Giardia, Listeria, Research, Salmonella, Vibrio, Water, water microbiology, Water Safety

Ireland – Kildare café closed due to evidence of E coli in the drinking water

Posted on November 13, 2023 by | Leave a comment

The Independent

A closure order was issued on October 26 as the drinking water supply was found to pose “grave and immediate danger to public health”

A Kildare café was among five businesses around Ireland that were served with closure orders by the Food Safety Authority in October.

Base Coffee, at The Mart, on Newbridge Road in Kilcullen, County Kildare, was served the order on October 26, after the FSAI inspectors had “concerns of grave and immediate danger to public health.”

The reasons for closure as stated in the FSAI food hygiene inspection report was that “a drinking water sample taken on October 24 2023 from the food business indicated that the supply [was] contaminated.”

According to the inspection report: “Coliforms, Enterococci and E coli were detected in the drinking water sample. Given these levels of contamination, the drinking water supply pose a grave and immediate danger to public health.”

Other premises which were closed in October included: Indian Spices (restaurant/café), 138 Parnell Street, Dublin 1; Mizzoni Pizza (takeaway), 12 Railway Street, Navan, Meath; Seasons Chinese, Bridge Street, Strokestown, Roscommon.

Meanwhile, one Prohibition Order was served under the Eurpoean Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations 2020 on: Meghans Café, 8 Cecilia Street, Dublin 2.

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Posted in Coliforms, Contaminated water, E.coli, Enterococcus, Water, water microbiology, Water Safety

Research – New Insights into Inhibiting the Spread of Cholera-causing Bacteria

Posted on November 11, 2023 by | Leave a comment

Express Health Care Management

A recent research article published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) has provided new insights into inhibiting the spread and infection of Vibrio cholerae, the bacteria responsible for causing cholera. The study, titled “A peptide-binding domain shared with an Antarctic bacterium facilitates Vibrio cholerae human cell binding and intestinal colonization,” was coauthored by Karl Klose, director of The South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases (STCEID), and Cameron Lloyd, a UTSA doctoral student.

Traditionally, V. cholerae is found naturally on various surfaces within marine environments. When contaminated water or food is consumed by humans, the bacteria colonize the gastrointestinal tract and cause cholera, leading to symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting, and circulatory collapse. If left untreated, severe cases of cholera can be fatal.

The research team, in collaboration with other international laboratories, identified a peptide, a short chain of amino acids, that can inhibit the virulence of V. cholerae. They discovered that the peptide inhibitors, which bind to an Antarctic bacterium called Marinomonas primoryensis, can disrupt V. cholerae from adhering to human cells, forming biofilms, and colonizing the gastrointestinal tract.

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Posted in Biofilm, Contaminated water, Food Microbiology Research, Research, Vibrio cholera, vibrio cholerae, water microbiology

Research – USA -FDA -Cyclospora cayetanensis in Produce

Posted on November 5, 2023 by | Leave a comment

FSIS USDA

Executive Summary of Findings
Cyclospora cayetanensis (C. cayetanensis) is a coccidian protozoan parasite, belonging
to the phylum Apicomplexa, order Eucoccidiorida, family Eimeriidae, described between 1993 to 1994 as a newly identified human gastrointestinal pathogen.

Within the genus Cyclospora, only C. cayetanensis is known to infect humans. However, recent advances in genomics separated C. cayetanensis into 3 proposed species, with the two new proposed species also considered parasitic to humans (Cyclospora ashfordi sp. nov. and Cyclospora henanensis sp. nov.).

For the purpose of this document and to reflect the proposed status of the new
nomenclature “C. cayetanensis” refers to all three species of Cyclospora parasitic in humans.
The parasite produces oocysts that are resistant to harsh environmental conditions and many
chemical treatments commonly used to reduce the presence of bacterial pathogens in the
specialty crop production environment and in agricultural inputs (e.g., agricultural water). C.
cayetanensis is the etiologic agent of cyclosporiasis, its host range is limited to humans.
Detected in association with human illness in many parts of the world, C. cayetanensis
previously was considered to be a pathogen acquired during childhood in developing nations.

In the United States, cyclosporiasis was previously associated with international travel or
consumption of contaminated imported foods. In recent years, the U.S. has seen an increase in cases and positive samples associated with domestically grown produce, both as raw
agricultural commodities and fresh cut. Laborers with the history of recent travel to countries
where C. cayetanensis is endemic have not been ruled out as the sources of the pathogen in
these outbreaks. Since 2016, the number of cyclosporiasis cases has increased approximately
3-fold, often linked to the consumption of leafy herbs and ready-to-eat salads. Fecal
contamination from symptomatic or asymptomatic carriers is, ultimately, the only known source of C. cayetanensis. The hypothesis that C. cayetanensis has become endemic in the production regions of the U.S. remains to be robustly supported. The hypothesis that farm workers with a history of recent travel to areas where the parasite is common are the likeliest source of the pathogen has not been ruled out. C. cayetanensis likely spreads via the fecal-environment-oral route when sanitation controls break down. Efforts have been made to develop molecular detection methods for C. cayetanensis in both food and environmental samples.

However, due to the high degree of genome-level conservation between C. cayetanensis and its close relatives that are not pathogenic in humans, results of some environmental surveys that relied solely on the PCR-based detection of ribosomal RNA genes likely overestimated the prevalence of C. cayetanensis. There remain significant knowledge and data gaps that hamper the implementation of effective measures to prevent the contamination of produce with the oocysts of this parasite. Awareness of the factors that can contribute to C. cayetanensis contamination of domestically grown and imported produce is key to developing an effective prevention and management strategy.

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Posted in Contaminated water, Cyclospora, Cyclosporiasis, Food Microbiology Research, Parasite, Protozoan, Research, Water, water microbiology