Come February, milk sold in India will have to be tested for harmful bacteria like E Coli.
According to the new food safety rules that come into effect six months from August, 2011, the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has made it mandatory for milk manufacturers to test it for organisms such as E Coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes before bringing it into the market.
Tyson Fresh Meats Inc., a Dakota City, Neb. establishment, is recalling approximately 40,948 pounds of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)
The following products are subject to recall:
The products subject to recall have a “BEST BEFORE OR FREEZE BY” date of “11/13/11” and “EST. 245C” on the box label. The products were shipped to institutions and distributors in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
The problem was discovered through routine FSIS monitoring which confirmed a positive result for E. coli O157:H7. FSIS and the company have received no reports of illnesses associated with consumption of these products.
Posted in E.coli, E.coli O157, Food Hygiene, Food Poisoning, Food Safety Alert, Microbiology, Recall
A Nebraska meatpacker recalled more than 40,000 pounds of ground beef products distributed in 16 states after a test confirmed the presence of E. coli, the Agriculture Department said Friday.
The products were shipped to institutions and distributors in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. of Dakota City, Neb., recalled 10-pound chubs of chuck fine ground beef 80/20, packed in cases containing eight chubs.
USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said in a statement that the problem was discovered through routine monitoring that confirmed a positive result for E. coli. No reports of illness have been received.
An article in Bakery and Snacks has reported on pressure being put onto manufacturers to make raw cookie dough into a ready to eat (RTE) product. This is in response to a study that an E.coli O157 outbreak in 2009 was linked to raw cookie dough. There were over 70 cases and 11 developed Haemolytic Uremic Syndrome fortunately nobody died.
Posted in E.coli, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Microbiology, Recall
Researchers think they now know why a particularly virulent form of E. coli that swept through northern Germany last May was so hard to trace: The germs responsible eluded detection by going into a self-induced deep sleep.
Two new studies show that when stressed, E. coli can turn off most signs of life. That’s a problem for food-safety officials because their germ-screening techniques rely on germs reproducing to establish the presence of live bacteria.
In the lab, the scientists stressed the germs by exposing them to copper. Within a few days, many of the bacteria entered the dormant state and remained that way unless the researchers removed copper from the germs’ growth medium. Antje Flieger and her colleagues describe their findings in the December Environmental Microbiology.
Once resuscitated, the germs still had all of the features needed to be infective. For example, they had retained the genes to produce their lethal toxin and to make the sticky hairlike features that foster gut attachment. “That’s why we speculate they should be active and allow infection,” Flieger says.
Posted in E.coli, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Testing, Microbiology
An article in Food Production Daily has reported that industry in the US and government abroad have ‘blasted’ the US for wanting to take a zero tolerance stance to six serotypes of E.coli.
Posted in E.coli, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Testing, Microbiology
An article in Huff Post has reported on research by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) that claims feeding cattle citrus fruit peelings can drastically reduce the levels of pathogenic E.coli and Salmonella in the intestinal tract of the cattle. This is turn could lead to lower transmission rates of these organisms during slaughter and preparation.
FoodWorld 