Microbiological Testing Program for E. coli O157:H7 and non-O157 Shiga Toxin-Producing E. coli: Individual Positive Results for Raw Ground Beef (RGB) and RGB Components
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Category Archives: E.coli O26
USDA – STEC E.coli Testing in Raw Meats Data 2013
Posted in Bacteria, E.coli, E.coli O103, E.coli O104, E.coli O121, E.coli O145, E.coli O157, E.coli O26, EHEC, Food Hygiene, Food Microbiology, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Microbiology, Pathogen, Poisoning, STEC, USDA
Tagged e coli, ground beef, microbiological testing, toxin, usda
RASFF Alerts – Shiga Toxin E.coli – Beef
RASFF – Shigatoxin-producing Escherichia coli (presence /25g) in bovine meat (Bos taurus) from Argentina in the Netherlands
RASFF -Shigatoxin-producing Escherichia coli in chilled boneless beef (Bos taurus) from Argentina in the Netherlands
RASFF – Shigatoxin-producing Escherichia coli in bovine meat from Belgium
Posted in Bacteria, E.coli, E.coli O103, E.coli O104, E.coli O121, E.coli O145, E.coli O157, E.coli O26, EHEC, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Microbiology, Pathogen, RASFF, Recall, STEC
Tagged argentina, boneless beef, bos taurus, escherichia coli, netherlands, rasff
Research – Study Pinpoints Pathogens Causing Biggest Diarrhea Burden in Kids
While many pathogens cause serious diarrhea in children in developing countries, four stand out as culprits in most of the infections, a finding that could drive new prevention strategies, an international research team reported today.
The group spent 3 years in seven developing countries, collecting health information, lab samples, and outcome data on 3,439 youngsters who had moderate-to-severe diarrhea. They published their findings today in an early online release from The Lancet.
On a global scale each year, diarrheal diseases kill about 800,000 children under age 5, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia, according to the report.
Though interventions such as rotavirus vaccines are starting to have an impact on deaths and disease incidence, scientific data to guide other strategies to curb the diseases are scarce, especially in regions where child deaths are the highest, the group wrote.
To fill the gap, the team focused their analysis on kids under age 5 who did and didn’t have moderate-to-severe diarrhea in selected cities in Bangladesh, Gambia, India, Kenya, Mali, Mozambique, and Pakistan. The study included 13,129 matched controls.
The researchers collected clinical and epidemiologic information, took anthropometric measurements, and took fecal samples to identify pathogens. For each child they made a follow-up home visit 60 days later to assess health status, clinical outcome, and growth measures.
Four pathogens were the most common causes of diarrhea across all sites: rotavirus, Cryptosporidium, enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) producing heat-stable toxin (ST), and Shigella, according to the study.
Posted in Bacteria, Cryptosporidium, E.coli, E.coli O103, E.coli O104, E.coli O121, E.coli O145, E.coli O157, E.coli O26, EHEC, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Micro Blog, Food Safety, Food Testing, Food Virus, Foodborne Illness, Hand Washing, Hygiene, Illness, Microbiology, O103, Pathogen, Research, Shigella, STEC
EFSA – VTEC E.coli Strains
EFSA’s scientific experts say that it is currently not possible to identify which VTEC bacteria strains have the potential to cause human diseases. In order to help risk managers to identify human health risks, EFSA has proposed a scheme to categorise VTEC strains according to their potential to cause disease. This work has been carried out in response to a request of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Health.
VTEC (verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli) is a group of pathogenic E. coli bacteria that can cause bloody diarrhoea and haemolytic uremic syndrome in humans, a serious condition that can lead to kidney failure and be fatal [1].
EFSA’s Panel on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ) has evaluated data from the EU on different VTEC strains with respect to their reported frequency, severity of human disease caused by the strains, and association with outbreaks. The Panel concluded that it is currently not possible to fully predict the potential of a VTEC strain found in food to cause human disease.
However the Panel has provided guidance to assist public health authorities in assessing risks related to VTEC strains. They proposed a scheme that considers the detection of specific genes in VTEC strains from humans, food and animals. EFSA will regularly review this scheme to improve future risk assessments.
Due to under-reporting of human cases and the unavailability of complete information, EFSA’s scientific experts also recommended that all Member States collect comprehensive data on VTEC strains when these are detected. Accurate reporting will help in predicting the factors responsible for the severity of human infections and outbreaks.
To carry out this evaluation, the Panel used data from the European Surveillance System (TESSy data) provided by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and from the EU Summary Report on Trends and Sources of Zoonoses, Zoonotic Agents and Food-borne Outbreaks in 2011published today as well as data from relevant scientific literature.
Posted in Bacteria, E.coli, E.coli O103, E.coli O104, E.coli O121, E.coli O145, E.coli O157, E.coli O26, EFSA, EHEC, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Technology, Food Testing, Microbiology, O103, Pathogen, Research, STEC, VTECH
Tagged austrian federal ministry, e coli bacteria, human health risks, public health authorities
Research New Bacterial Identification Technology
xTAG Gastrointestinal Pathogen Panel (GPP), which recently received approval from US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is one lab test that can do the job of many, expertly scanning a solitary stool sample for 11 different illness-inducing organisms.
To many, that sounds an impressive feat in an of itself. But considering that 179 million Americans are stricken with gastroenteritis every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it’s also one that can come in handy. Infectious gastroenteritis is caused by certain viruses, bacteria, or parasites and can be spread easily through person-to-person contact or from contaminated food, water, and surfaces. Symptoms include vomiting and diarrhea.
The xTAG can scan for bacteria including Campylobacter, Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) toxin A/B, Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157, Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) LT/ST, Salmonella, Shigella and Shiga‐like Toxin producing E. coli (STEC) stx 1/stx 2. It can scan for viruses including Norovirus and Rotavirus A. And it can scan for parasites such as Cryptosporidium and Giardia.
Posted in Bacteria, Campylobacter, Clostridium difficile, Cryptosporidium, E.coli, E.coli O103, E.coli O104, E.coli O145, E.coli O157, E.coli O26, EHEC, Food Safety, Food Technology, Food Testing, Food Virus, Giardia, Methods, Microbiology, Norovirus, Pathogen, Rotavirus
Tagged c difficile toxin, enterotoxigenic escherichia coli, environment, food and drug administration fda, infectious gastroenteritis, science
USA – Research -STEC Sampling and Listeria Outbreaks 1998-2008
This notice provides new instructions to inspection program personnel (IPP) for verifying and documenting the sample source (beef, veal, or mixed) in the Public Health Information System (PHIS) when collecting raw beef samples under FSIS’s verification testing programs for Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC).
Listeria monocytogenes, a bacterial foodborne pathogen, can cause meningitis, bacteremia, and complications during pregnancy. This report summarizes listeriosis outbreaks reported to the Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during 1998–2008. The study period includes the advent of PulseNet (a national molecular subtyping network for outbreak detection) in 1998 and the Listeria Initiative (enhanced surveillance for outbreak investigation) in 2004. Twenty-four confirmed listeriosis outbreaks were reported during 1998–2008, resulting in 359 illnesses, 215 hospitalizations, and 38 deaths. Outbreaks earlier in the study period were generally larger and longer. Serotype 4b caused the largest number of outbreaks and outbreak-associated cases. Ready-to-eat meats caused more early outbreaks, and novel vehicles (i.e., sprouts, taco/nacho salad) were associated with outbreaks later in the study period. These changes may reflect the effect of PulseNet and the Listeria Initiative and regulatory initiatives designed to prevent contamination in ready-to-eat meat and poultry products.
USDA – Revised Microbiology Methods Links
USDA Isolation of Non 0157 Shiga Toxin E.coli with Appendix
USDA Isolation of Listeria monocytogenes with Appendix
USDA Isolation of Listeria monocytogenes PCR
Posted in Bacteria, E.coli, E.coli O104, E.coli O145, E.coli O157, E.coli O26, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Safety, Food Testing, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Methods, Microbiology, Pathogen, Recall, STEC, USDA
Tagged e coli, isolation, Methods, science, toxin, usda methods
US – Non – O157 Testing Preliminary Results
On June 4, food regulators began screening beef for six more strains of E. coli beyond the already-monitored E. coli O157:H7. Since that time, 110 samples of beef trim have been tested for non-O157 E. coli; 3 were found to be carrying these bacteria.
USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service published these initial findings in a results chart this week. The three positive test results represented three different strains of E. coli: O45, O103 and O145, each of which was found once. No samples have yet tested positive for the other three strains: O26, O111 and O121.
Posted in Bacteria, E.coli, E.coli O104, E.coli O145, E.coli O157, E.coli O26, EHEC, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Microbiology, Pathogen, Research, STEC, USDA
Tagged food safety and inspection service, food safety news, initial findings
US – E.coli STEC Strains Testing to Start Monday?
Barring any last-minute delays, U.S. food safety inspectors will begin testing Monday for six new strains of potentially deadly E. coli bacteria to be banned from certain cuts of raw beef.
The move implements long-delayed federal regulations aimed at a group of E. coli bacteria collectively known as “the Big Six,” bugs capable of causing severe infection and death.
Under the new rules, the six additional strains of E. coli will be classified as adulterants on par with the better-known E. coli O157:H7, which is often linked to serious illnesses tied to hamburger. The new strains include E. coli O26, O111, O103, O121, O45 and O145.
Meat producers such as Cargill Inc., who have long opposed expanded testing, said they are ready to begin.
Posted in Bacteria, E.coli, E.coli O157, E.coli O26, EHEC, FDA, Food Inspections, Food Safety, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Microbiology, Pathogen
Research- Sheep E.coli O26 and Clostridium difficile
American Society of Microbiology
A previous national survey of Escherichia coli in Norwegian sheep detected eae-positive (eae+) E. coli O26:H11 isolates in 16.3% (80/491) of the flocks. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the human-pathogenic potential of these ovine isolates by comparing them with E. coli O26 isolates from humans infected in Norway. All human E. coli O26 isolates studied carried the eae gene and shared flagellar type H11. Two-thirds of the sheep flocks and 95.1% of the patients harbored isolates containing arcA allele type 2 and espK and were classified as enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) (stx positive) or EHEC-like (stx negative). These isolates were further divided into group A (EspK2 positive), associated with stx2-EDL933 and stcEO103, and group B (EspK1 positive), associated with stx1a. Although the stx genes were more frequently present in isolates from patients (46.3%) than in those from sheep flocks (5%), more than half of the ovine isolates in the EHEC/EHEC-like group had multiple-locus variable number of tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) profiles that were identical to those seen in stx-positive human O26:H11 isolates. This indicates that EHEC-like ovine isolates may be able to acquire stx-carrying bacteriophages and thereby have the possibility to cause serious illness in humans. The remaining one-third of the sheep flocks and two of the patients had isolates fulfilling the criteria for atypical enteropathogenic E. coli (aEPEC): arcA allele type 1 and espK negative (group C). The majority of these ovine isolates showed MLVA profiles not previously seen in E. coli O26:H11 isolates from humans. However, according to their virulence gene profile, the aEPEC ovine isolates should be considered potentially pathogenic for humans. In conclusion, sheep are an important reservoir of human-pathogenic E. coli O26:H11 isolates in Norway.
American Society of Microbiology
The prevalence of Clostridium difficile in retail meat samples has varied widely. The food supply may be a source for C. difficile infections. A total of 102 ground meat and sausage samples from 3 grocers in Pittsburgh, PA, were cultured for C. difficile. Brand A pork sausages were resampled between May 2011 and January 2012. Two out of 102 (2.0%) meat products initially sampled were positive for C. difficile; both were pork sausage from brand A from the same processing facility (facility A). On subsequent sampling of brand A products, 10/19 samples from processing facility A and 1/10 samples from 3 other facilities were positive for C. difficile. The isolates recovered were inferred ribotype 078, comprising 6 genotypes. The prevalence of C. difficile in retail meat may not be as high as previously reported in North America. When contamination occurs, it may be related to events at processing facilities.
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