Category Archives: Decontamination Microbial

Research – Growth inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes in fresh white cheese by mustard oil microemulsion

Posted on July 1, 2022 by | Leave a comment

Journal of Food Protection

Although essential oils (EOs) exhibit antimicrobial properties, its application is limited owing to their strong volatility and poor water solubility. Emulsification is a valid strategy for improving chemical stability. In this study, we prepared a mustard essential oil (MO) emulsion with egg yolk lecithin and evaluated its antimicrobial activity against Listeria monocytogenes in vitro and in cheese curd. The particle size of the MO emulsion was approximately 0.19 µmand remained stable for 30 days of storage. The MO emulsion showed strong antimicrobial activity against L. monocytogenes in vitro. Moreover, 40 ppm of MO was sufficient to inhibit the growth of L. monocytogenes in culture, and the addition of 160 ppm MO decreased the population of L. monocytogenes. Meanwhile, when 50 ppm of emulsified MO was added to milk during cheese curd production and it was stored at 10°C for 10 days, the growth of L. monocytogenes was suppressed. When the cheese curd with MO emulsion was stored at 4 °C, the bacterial count was significantly decreased (p<0.05), and no bacterial growth was observed after 14 days of storage. Furthermore, the sensory characteristics of cheese curd with the MO emulsion were acceptable. These results indicate that MO emulsions may be a possible way of controlling the growth of L. monocytogenes in fresh cheese.

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Posted in antimicrobial resistance, Antimicrobials, Decontamination Microbial, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Technology, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Microbiology Risk, Research, Technology

RASFF Alerts – Salmonella – Black Pepper – Polish Chicken – Turkey Meat

Posted on July 1, 2022 by | Leave a comment

RASFF

Salmonella in Brazilian black pepper in the Netherlands

RASFF

Detection of Salmonella in frozen poultry meat from Spain in France

RASFF

Salmonella typhimurium in turkey meat from Poland in Belgium

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Posted in Decontamination Microbial, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Microbiology Risk, Polish Chicken Salmonella, RASFF, Salmonella, Salmonella in Black Pepper, Salmonella in Chicken

RASFF Alert – Animal Feed – Salmonella

Posted on July 1, 2022 by | Leave a comment

RASFF

Salmonella in dried porcine haemoglobin from the UK in Spain and the Netherlands

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Posted in Animal Feed, Animal Feed Salmonella, Animal Feed Testing, Decontamination Microbial, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Microbiology Risk, RASFF, Salmonella

New Zealand – Animal Products Notice: National Microbiological Database Programme

Posted on June 30, 2022 by | Leave a comment

MPI

Introduction

This introduction is not part of the Animal Products Notice, but is intended to indicate its general effect.

Purpose

This notice supplements the requirements of the Animal Product Regulations 2021 and sets requirements for microbiological sampling and testing of animal material and animal products intended for human consumption.

Background

The National Microbiological Database (NMD) Programme is a standardised microbiological sampling and testing programme to provide ongoing monitoring of microbiological process control across all industry participants.

Who should read this Animal Products Notice?

You should read this notice if you are: an operator who processes red meat or poultry intended for human consumption; or a recognised laboratory that tests red meat or poultry intended for human consumption

Why is this important?

A failure to comply with this notice may be an offence under section 135(1)(c) of the Animal Products Act 1999 and may result in further action by an animal products officer.

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Posted in Decontamination Microbial, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Microbiology Risk, Research

India – 120 students taken ill after food poisoning at Siddipet

Posted on June 29, 2022 by | Leave a comment

The Hindu

As many as 120 students studying in the minority residential girls high school at Siddipet took ill on Monday evening. Many of them were shifted to the government hospital where they are undergoing treatment.

According to sources, after having lunch in the afternoon, some students started vomiting and had loose motions. For some time the issue was kept a secret and they tried to hush it up. However, as the situation went out of control, the students were shifted to government hospital for treatment.

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Posted in Decontamination Microbial, Food Illness, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Poisoning, Foodborne Illness, Illness, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Microbiology Risk, Poisoning

UK – Retired retail manager, 63, died of Salmonella after eating four fried duck eggs he had bought at country show, inquest hears

Posted on June 29, 2022 by | Leave a comment

Daily Mail

A retired retail manager sadly died from one of the worst salmonella infections a consultant had seen in his career after eating four duck eggs bought at a country show.

Niptoon Tavakoli, 65, died in hospital two months after he was taken ill in June 2019, an inquest jury heard today.

Mr Tavakoli’s wife Cheryl told Doncaster Coroner’s Court that they had bought six eggs from the Melton Mowbray Deli stall at Messingham Show, in North Lincolnshire, during a family day out on Sunday, June 2, 2019.

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Posted in Decontamination Microbial, Food Illness, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Foodborne Illness, Foodborne Illness Death, Illness, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Microbiology Risk, Salmonella, Salmonella in Eggs

Research – Peanut Butter Food Safety Concerns—Prevalence, Mitigation and Control of Salmonella spp., and Aflatoxins in Peanut Butter

Posted on June 28, 2022 by | Leave a comment

MDPI

Peanut butter has a very large and continuously increasing global market. The food safety risks associated with its consumption are also likely to have impacts on a correspondingly large global population. In terms of prevalence and potential magnitude of impact, contamination by Salmonella spp., and aflatoxins, are the major food safety risks associated with peanut butter consumption. The inherent nature of the Salmonella spp., coupled with the unique chemical composition and structure of peanut butter, present serious technical challenges when inactivating Salmonella spp. in contaminated peanut butter. Thermal treatment, microwave, radiofrequency, irradiation, and high-pressure processing all are of limited efficacy in inactivating Salmonella spp. in contaminated peanut butter. The removal of aflatoxins in contaminated peanut butter is equally problematic and for all practical purposes almost impossible at the moment. Adopting good manufacturing hygiene practices from farm to table and avoiding the processing of contaminated peanuts are probably some of the few practically viable strategies for minimising these peanut butter food safety risks. The purpose of this review is to highlight the nature of food safety risks associated with peanut butter and to discuss the effectiveness of the initiatives that are aimed at minimising these risks.

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Posted in Aflatoxin, Aflatoxin B1, Decontamination Microbial, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Microbiology Risk, Research, Salmonella, Salmonella Peanut Butter

USA – Is TikTox, Twitter and Reddit the new FDA and CDC as it relates to the Daily Harvest mystery?

Posted on June 27, 2022 by | Leave a comment

Food Poison Journal

A lot of people say they have had liver complication and have had their gallbladders removed.

A number of people say they got sick after eating different Daily Harvest products, most commonly the recalled Leek and Lentil meals.

Doctors seem to have very few answers as to what is causing their illnesses.

TikTok:

https://www.tiktok.com/foryou?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1 — TIkTok user posts about illness after eating Daily Harvest.

Twitter:

“I ate the Daily Harvest Lentil + Leek crumbles. I was lucky I didn’t end in the ER. I felt really sick: fever, headache, stomach ache, nausea and severe bouts of vomiting. I was not able to eat. I spent 2 days in bed recovering. Daily Harvest response is a joke” — @sandrav_nyc, June 23 (Twitter)

Reddit posts:

“Two weeks ago I tried the crumbles for the first time. That night, I had debilitating stomach pain, like nothing I had ever felt before. It was so bad I had to go to the ER as a last ditch effort to alleviate and manage the pain. After a CT scan, IV, meds, and a week on a bland diet I thought perhaps it was some sort of bug.

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Posted in Decontamination Microbial, food bourne outbreak, Food Illness, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Foodborne Illness, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, Illness, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Microbiology Risk, outbreak

Research – Temporal changes in the proportion of Salmonella outbreaks associated with twelve food commodity groups in the United States

Posted on June 26, 2022 by | Leave a comment

Cambridge Org

kswfoodworld Salmonella

Abstract

Using data from twenty years of Salmonella foodborne outbreaks, this study investigates significant trends in the proportion of outbreaks associated with twelve broad commodity groups. Outbreak counts are demonstrated to have a stronger trend signal than outbreak illness counts.

The number of outbreaks with an identified food vehicle increased significantly between 1998 and 2000. This was followed by a 10-year period when the number of outbreaks decreased. The number of outbreaks increased significantly between 2010 and 2014 and then remained unchanged for the remainder of the study period.

During the period of 1998 through 2017, the proportion of outbreaks for three commodities groups, consisting of eggs, pork, and seeded vegetables, changed significantly. No significant changes were observed in the remaining nine commodity groups. Simple approximations are derived to highlight the effect of dependencies between outbreak proportions and a consumption analysis for meat and poultry is used to enhance the limited interpretability of the changes in these proportions.

Given commodity-specific approaches to verifying food safety and promoting pathogen reduction, regulatory agencies benefit from analyses that elucidate illness trends attributable to the products under their jurisdiction. Results from this trend analysis can be used to inform the development and assessment of new pathogen reduction programs in the United States.

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Posted in Decontamination Microbial, food bourne outbreak, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Microbiology Risk, outbreak, Research, Salmonella

Research – Interlaboratory Evaluation of Enterococcus faecium NRRL B-2354 as a Salmonella Surrogate for Validating Thermal Treatment of Multiple Low-Moisture Foods

Posted on June 26, 2022 by | Leave a comment

Journal of Food Protection

This multi-institutional study assessed the efficacy of Enterococcus faecium NRRL B-2354 as a non-pathogenic Salmonella surrogate for thermal processing of nonfat dry milk powder, peanut butter, almond meal, wheat flour, ground black pepper, and date paste. Each product was analyzed by two laboratories (five independent laboratories total), with the lead laboratory inoculating (E. faecium or a five-strain Salmonella enterica cocktail of S. Agona, Reading, Tennessee, Mbandaka, Montevideo) and equilibrating the product to the target water activity before shipping. Both laboratories subjected samples to three isothermal treatments (between 65 and 100°C). A log-linear/Bigelow model was fit to survivor data via one-step regression. Based on D80°C  values estimated from the combined model, E. faecium was more thermally resistant (P < 0.05) than Salmonella in ), nonfat dry milk powder (DEf-80°C: 100.2 ± 5.8 min; DSal-80°C: 28.9 ± 1.0 min), peanut butter (DEf-80°C: 133.5 ± 3.1 min; DSal-80°C: 57.6 ± 1.5 min), almond meal (DEf-80°C: 34.2 ± 0.4 min; DSal-80°C: 26.1 ± 0.2 min), ground black pepper (DEf-80°C: 3.2 ± 0.8 min; DSal-80°C: 1.5 ± 0.1 min), and date paste (DEf-80°C: 1.5 ± 0.0 min; DSal-80°C: 0.5 ± 0.0 min). Although the combined-laboratory D80°C for E. faecium was lower (P < 0.05) than for Salmonella in wheat flour (DEf-80°C: 9.4 ± 0.1 min; DSal-80°C: 10.1 ± 0.2 min), the difference was ~7%. The zT-values for Salmonella in all products and for E. faecium in milk powder, almond meal, and date paste were not different (P > 0.05) between laboratories. Therefore, this study demonstrated the impact of standardized methodologies on repeatability of microbial inactivation results. Overall, E. faecium NRRL B-2354 was  more thermally resistant than Salmonella, which provides support for utilizing E. faecium as a surrogate for validating thermal processing of multiple low-moisture products. However, product composition should always be considered before making that decision.

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Posted in Decontamination Microbial, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, Microbiology Risk, Research, Salmonella