The latest data from a national surveillance system that monitors foodborne bacterial pathogens for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) shows some concerning changes in resistance patterns among serotypes of Salmonella.
The findings come from the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring Systems (NARMS) 2019 Integrated Summary, which combines data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The report provides a snapshot of resistance patterns found in bacteria isolated from humans, animals, raw meats from retail outlets (chicken, ground turkey, ground beef, and pork chops), and meat and poultry product samples collected at slaughtering facilities.
In addition to Salmonella, which causes an estimated 1.35 million illnesses and 26,500 hospitalizations each year, the NARMS report also includes resistance data on Campylobacter (1.5 million illnesses and 19,500 hospitalizations), Escherichia coli, and Enterococcus. NARMS monitors these bacteria to detect emerging resistance patterns to the antibiotics that are most important to human medicine, multidrug resistance, and specific resistance genes.
The increasing number of diversified small-scale farms (DSSF) that raise outdoor-based livestock in the US reflects growing consumer demand for sustainably-produced food. Diversified farms are small-scale and raise a combination of multiple livestock species and numerous produce varieties.
This 2015-2016 cross-sectional study aimed to describe the unique characteristics of DSSF in California, estimate the prevalence of STEC in livestock and evaluate the association between risk factors and the presence of STEC in livestock, using generalized linear mixed models. STEC prevalence was 13.62% (76/558). Significant variables in the mixed effect logistic regression model included daily maximum temperature (OR = 0.95; CI95%: 0.91-0.98), livestock sample source (cattle (OR = 4.61; CI95%: 1.64-12.96) and sheep (OR = 5.29; CI95%: 1.80-15.51)), multiple species sharing the same barn (OR = 6.23; CI95%: 1.84-21.15) and livestock having contact with wild areas (OR = 3.63; CI95%: 1.37-9.62).
Identification of STEC serogroups of public health concern (e.g., O157:H7, O26, O103) in this study indicated the need for mitigation strategies to ensure food safety by evaluating risk factors and management practices that contribute to the spread and prevalence of foodborne pathogens in a pre-harvest environment on DSSF.
Food poisoning caused by Campylobacter (campylobacteriosis) is the most prevalent bacterial disease associated with the consumption of poultry, beef, lamb and pork meat and unpasteurized dairy products. A variety of livestock industry, food chain and public health interventions have been implemented or proposed to reduce disease prevalence, some of which entail costs for producers and retailers. This paper describes a project that set out to summarize the natural science evidence base relevant to campylobacteriosis control in as policy-neutral terms as possible. A series of evidence statements are listed and categorized according to the nature of the underlying information. The evidence summary forms the appendix to this paper and an annotated bibliography is provided in the electronic supplementary material.
Campylobacter is the leading bacterial cause of diarrheal disease worldwide and poultry remains the primary vehicle of its transmission to humans. Due to the rapid increase in antibiotic resistance among Campylobacter strains, the World Health Organization (WHO) added Campylobacter fluoroquinolone resistance to the WHO list of antibiotic-resistant “priority pathogens”. This study aimed to investigate the occurrence and antibiotic resistance of Campylobacter spp. in meat samples from chickens reared in different production systems: (a) conventional, (b) free-range and (c) backyard farming. Campylobacter spp. was detected in all samples from conventionally reared and free-range broilers and in 72.7% of backyard chicken samples. Levels of contamination were on average 2.7 × 103 colony forming units (CFU)/g, 4.4 × 102 CFU/g and 4.2 × 104 CFU/g in conventionally reared, free-range and backyard chickens, respectively. Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli were the only species isolated. Distribution of these species does not seem to be affected by the production system. The overall prevalence of Campylobacter isolates exhibiting resistance to at least one antimicrobial was 98.4%. All the C. coli isolates showed resistance to ciprofloxacin and to nalidixic acid, and 79.5 and 97.4% to ampicillin and tetracycline, respectively. In total, 96.2% of C. jejuni isolates displayed a resistant phenotype to ciprofloxacin and to nalidixic acid, and 92.3% to ampicillin and tetracycline. Of the 130 Campylobacter isolates tested, 97.7% were classified as multidrug resistant (MDR).
This guidance represents the agency’s current thinking on the hazards associated with fish and fishery products and appropriate controls for those hazards. It does not create or confer any rights for or on any person and does not operate to bind FDA or the public. An alternative approach may be used if such approach satisfies the requirements of the applicable statute and regulations.
To help FDA effectively investigate, remove unsafe seafood products from the market, and develop new prevention strategies, the FDA relies on illness reporting from public health officials and healthcare providers.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Food and Drug Administration
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (240) 402-2300 SeafoodHACCP@fda.gov
This guidance is intended to assist processors of fish and fishery products in the development of their Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) plans. Processors of fish and fishery products will find information in this guidance that will help them identify hazards that are associated with their products, and help them formulate control strategies. The guidance will help consumers and the public generally to understand commercial seafood safety in terms of hazards and their controls. The guidance does not specifically address safe handling practices by consumers or by retail establishments, although many of the concepts contained in this guidance are applicable to both. This guidance is also intended to serve as a tool to be used by federal and state regulatory officials in the evaluation of HACCP plans for fish and fishery products.
The FDA has developed a Seafood HACCP Video Series, designed to help the seafood industry and federal and state regulators better understand specific concepts described in FDA’s Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Controls Guidance. The series consists of 6 videos covering the following topics: Time-Temperature Indicators, Time and Temperature Controls during Unrefrigerated Processing, Secondary Processor Receiving and Storage Controls, Heat Process Validation, Primary Processor Scombrotoxin Controls – Overview and Testing at Receiving, and Primary Processor Scombrotoxin Controls – Harvest Vessel Records.
This guidance represents the agency’s current thinking on the hazards associated with fish and fishery products and appropriate controls for those hazards. It does not create or confer any rights for or on any person and does not operate to bind FDA or the public. An alternative approach may be used if such approach satisfies the requirements of the applicable statute and regulations.
Note: This document was corrected on August 3, 2011. The Agency corrected a typographical error appearing in the April 2011 version of this document. The Agency corrected “15%” to “1.5%” so that the sentence in “Chapter 11: Aquaculture Drugs” now reads “Sodium sulfite Used in a 1.5% solution for 5 to 8 minutes to treat eggs in order to improve their hatchability.”
The source of a bacterial outbreak in Sanders County that caused several people to become ill has been confirmed.
State and county officials recently notified the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) that the Kennedy Creek water box has been associated with a Campylobacter outbreak.
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has labelled this untreated water as a health concern and advised MDT to close off public access to the water.
After Sanders County Public Health officials confirmed several cases of infection from Campylobacter bacteria, the water from the untreated creek was tested and the presence of this bacteria was confirmed, according to MDT.
Over 20 people have tested positive for the bacterial infection and have reported diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea, and fever after drinking water from the location.
Food & Beverages
Vegetable Protein Product
Foodborne Illness
Reason for Announcement:
Gastrointestinal illness and potential liver function issues
Company Name:
Daily Harvest
Brand Name:
Daily Harvest
Product Description:
French Lentil + Leek Crumbles
Company Announcement
June 23, 2022, Daily Harvest, Inc., New York, NY. Daily Harvest has voluntarily recalled all French Lentil + Leek Crumbles due to consumer reports of gastrointestinal illness and potential liver function issues.
From April 28 to June 17, 2022, approximately 28,000 units of the recalled product were distributed to consumers in the continental United States through online sales and direct delivery, as well as through retail sales at the Daily Harvest store in Chicago, IL and a “pop-up” store in Los Angeles, CA. Samples were also provided to a small number of consumers. Daily Harvest directly notified by email those consumers who were shipped the affected product, and other consumers for whom the company had contact information, and consumers were issued a credit for the recalled product.
Consumers who may still have the recalled product in their freezers should immediately dispose of it.
French Lentil + Leek Crumbles is a frozen product packaged in a 12oz white pouch with the words “Daily Harvest” at the top, a large “CRUMBLES” immediately below the top and the words “French Lentil + Leek” in bold, as shown below. All lot codes of the French Lentil + Leek Crumbles are affected. No other Daily Harvest products are affected or part of this recall.
To date, the company has received approximately 470 reports of illness or adverse reactions. Consumer safety is our highest priority, and we have taken immediate steps to stop production and distribution of the product and conduct a root cause investigation, which is ongoing.
This recall is being made in cooperation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
In a shocking incident of negligence, about two dozen students of Kaushal Vikash Kendra, Mango fell victim to food poisoning at their hostel on Tuesday. The students fell sick after eating egg curry and ‘puri’ for breakfast this morning.
One of the victims said she fell sick after consuming egg curry and puri this morning. “ Though a section of girls have other versions but I must say all the girls fell sick after almost an hour of consuming breakfast only,” she said.
Significantly, none of the people from the Kaushal Vikash Kendra management was available for comment on the issue.
Another section of the students claimed that they fell sick due to eating food brought online during a birthday party on Monday night. “It was my friend’s birthday on Monday. We celebrated the occasion by throwing a party at the hostel. She had bought cake, fast food from Mango. In the morning, all those who enjoyed the party had started suffering from loose motion and vomiting. Then we were brought to the MGM medical college hospital by the management,” informed a student.
However, one of the five ailing students who were admitted to the medical college hospital’s emergency ward, could not say anything about five other girls from the same centre found undergoing treatment lying in the corridor of the emergency block.
Arun Kumar, superintendent, MGM Medical College Hospital said that in all two dozen girls were brought for the treatment at noon. “The girls were down due to food poisoning. Six of the girls were sent back after first-aid, but the rest of them were admitted for treatment,” said Kumar, adding that the condition of all the girls is stable.
While public health risk assessments for Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) have been published for different foods, firm-level decision making on interventions targeting Lm involves considerations of both public health and enterprise risks. Smoked seafood is a ready-to-eat product with a high incidence of Lm contamination and associated with several recalls. We thus used cold-smoked salmon as a model product to develop a decision support tool (the Regulatory and Recall Risk [3R] Model) to estimate (i) baseline regulatory and recall (RR) risks (i.e., overall risks of a lot sampled and tested positive [e.g., by food regulatory agencies]) due to Lm contamination and (ii) the RR risk reduction that can be achieved through interventions with different underlying mechanisms: (i) reducing the prevalence and/or level of Lm and (ii) retarding or preventing Lm growth. Given that a set number of samples (e.g., 10) are tested for a given lot, the RR risk equals the likelihood of detecting Lm in at least one sample. Under the baseline scenario, which assumes a 4% Lm prevalence and no interventions, the median predicted RR risk for a given production lot was 0.333 (95% credible interval: 0.288, 0.384) when 10 25-g samples were collected. Nisin treatments, which reduce both the prevalence and initial level of Lm, reduced RR risks in a concentration-dependent manner to 0.109 (0.074, 0.146; 5 ppm), 0.049 (0.024, 0.083; 10 ppm), and 0.017 (0.007, 0.033; 20 ppm). In general, more effective reduction in RR risks can be achieved by reducing Lm prevalence, compared to retarding Lm growth, as the RR risk was reduced to 0.182 [0.153, 0.213] by a 50% prevalence reduction, while only to 0.313 [0.268, 0.367] by bacteriostatic growth inhibitors. In addition, sensitivity analysis indicates that prevalence and initial level of Lm, as well as storage temperature have the largest impact on predicting RR risks, suggesting that reliable data for these parameters will improve model performance.
A significant decrease in norovirus prevalence and concentration was observed in oyster production areas in Ireland during winter 2020/21. Oyster production areas impacted by human wastewater discharges that were under-going norovirus surveillance since 2018 were investigated. Samples collected in the winter seasons of 2018/19 and 2019/20, prior to when the COVID-19 pandemic interventions were applied, showed a prevalence of 94.3% and 96.6% respectively and geometric mean concentrations of 533 and 323 genome copies per gram (gcg -1 ) respectively. These values decreased significantly during the winter of 2020/21 (prevalence of 63.2% and geometric concentration of <LOQ) coinciding with the control measures to mitigate the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Divergence between norovirus GI and GII prevalence and concentrations was observed over the three year monitoring period. Norovirus GII was the dominant genogroup detected in winter 2020/21 with over half of samples positive although concentrations detected were significantly lower than pre-pandemic winters with a geometric mean concentration of <LOQ.
FoodWorld 