Category Archives: E.coli

Belgium – Carrefour recall American Nature recall of the Carrefour brand. Problem: potential presence of E. Coli STEC.

AFSCA

Following a check and as a precautionary measure in order to guarantee consumer safety, CARREFOUR requests to withdraw from the market the American Nature 200g, 300g, 600g, 1.2kg sold in the BUTCHER department of certain Carrefour stores in Belgium and calls them back to the consumers following a potential presence of E. Coli STEC.


Product description:

– Product name: Américain Nature
– Brand: Carrefour
– Use by date (DLC) (“To consume until”): 07/19/2020 and 07/20/2020
– Sale period: from 13 / 07/2020 to 15/07/2020
– Type of packaging: transparent plastic tray
– Weight: 200g, 300g, 600g and 1.2 kg
– The package bears the supplier’s stamp number 26/1

PRODUCTS PACKED IN STORES ARE NOT CONCERNED

All products have been withdrawn from sale. Some of these products were, however, sold on the Belgian market before the withdrawal measure. It is therefore recommended that people who hold the products described above not consume them and destroy them or bring them back to the point of sale where they will be reimbursed.

People who have consumed these products and who have intestinal disorders are invited to consult their doctor by reporting this consumption. These symptoms can be made worse in young children, pregnant women, immunocompromised people and the elderly.

People who have consumed the products mentioned above and who present these symptoms are invited to consult their doctor by reporting this consumption.

For any further information, you can contact the Carrefour Belgique consumer service by calling the free number 0800.9.10.11 , from 8:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on working days and from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays.

We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.

Belgium – Viangro Recall -Spicy Beef Hamburger 500g. – STEC E.coli

AFSCA

In agreement with the AFSCA, Viangro is withdrawing the 500g spicy beef burger from the sale and is recalling it from consumers due to the potential presence of E. Coli STEC.

LIDL Belgium asks its customers not to consume this product and to bring it back to the point of sale in which it was purchased.


Product description

– Product name: Spicy beef hamburger
– Use by date (DLC) (“To consume until”): 07/19/2020 and 07/20/2020
– Sales period: from 07/13 / 2020 to 07/15/2020
– Type of packaging: plastic tray
– Weight: 500g

The product was sold through Lidl stores in Belgium.

For further information, contact Lidl customer service ( 0800/73520 (free))

Japan – E. coli in salad cause of over 3,400 students’ food poisoning at east Japan schools

Mainichi

ecoli

Image CDC

SAITAMA — The cause of a food poisoning outbreak that affected a total of 3,453 students and others at 15 public schools in the city of Yashio, Saitama Prefecture, eastern Japan, has been pinpointed to a seaweed salad harboring E. coli bacteria, the city’s board of education advised on July 13.

Research – Microbiological Quality of Cooked Chicken: Results of Monitoring in England (2013-17)

JFP

Results from monitoring of the microbiological quality of 2,721 samples of ready-to-eat cooked chicken collected between 2013 to 2017 in England were reviewed: 70% of samples were from retail, catering or manufacture and 30% were imported and collected at English ports. Samples were tested for a range of bacterial pathogens and indicator organisms. Six samples (<1%) had unsatisfactory levels of pathogens which were potentially injurious to health. Neither Salmonella nor Campylobacter were recovered from any sample. Two samples from catering settings contained either an unsatisfactory level of Bacillus cereus (5 x 10 6 CFU/g) or an unsatisfactory level of coagulase positive staphylococci (1.6 x 10 4 CFU/g). Listeria monocytogenes was recovered from 36 samples (one at manufacture, 26 at catering and nine at retail) and in four instances, unsatisfactory levels (≥10 2 CFU/g) were detected (three samples collected at catering and one at retail). For L. monocytogenes there were no significant differences between the rates of contamination with between the samples collected from ports, manufacture, retail supermarkets and other retailers (p = 0.288). There were no differences between the rates of contamination for other potential pathogens detected between samples from different settings. The prevalence of hygiene indicators ( Escherichia coli , Enterobacteriaceae and Aerobic Colony Counts) at import was significantly lower than in samples collected from manufacturers, retail or catering (p < 0.01). Samples collected from catering gave poorer results than all other settings. Regardless of the stage in the food chain, samples from Thailand and from other non-EU countries were of significantly better microbiological quality with respect to indicator organisms than those from the UK or from other EU countries (p = <0.001).

RASFF Alerts -E.coli – Live Clams – Live Venus Clams

RASFF-Logo

RASFF – too high count of Escherichia coli (16000 MPN/100g) in live clams (Ruditapes philippinarum) from Italy in Italy

RASFF – too high count of Escherichia coli (790 MPN/100g) in live venus clams from Italy in Spain

Research – Thermal Resistance of Foodborne Pathogens and Enterococcus faecium NRRL B-2354 on Inoculated Pistachios

JFP

ABSTRACT

Process control validations require knowledge of the resistance of the pathogen(s) of concern to the target treatment and, in some cases, the relative resistance of surrogate organisms. Selected strains of Escherichia coli O157:H7 (five strains), Listeria monocytogenes (five strains), and Salmonella enterica (five strains) as well as Salmonella Enteritidis phage type (PT) 30 and nonpathogenic Enterococcus faecium NRRL B-2354 were inoculated separately (as individual strains) onto inshell pistachios. The thermal tolerance of each strain was compared via treatment of inoculated pistachios to hot oil (121°C) or hot water (80°C) for 1 min. Survivor curves in hot oil or hot water (0.5 to 6 min, n = 6 to 15) were determined for one or two of the most resistant strains of each pathogen, as well as E. faecium NRRL B-2354 and Salmonella Enteritidis PT 30, and the Weibull model was fit to the data. A pilot-scale air-impingement oven was used to compare the thermal tolerance of E. faecium NRRL B-2354 and Salmonella Enteritidis PT 30 on pistachios with or without a brining pretreatment and at either dry (no steam) or 30% humidity (v/v) oven conditions. No significant difference in the time to a 4-log reduction in hot oil or hot water was predicted for any of the strains evaluated, on the basis of the 95% confidence interval. In the pilot-scale oven, E. faecium NRRL B-2354 was more thermally resistant than Salmonella in a broad set of differing treatments, treatment times, and temperatures. Salmonella is a suitable target pathogen of concern in pistachios for thermal processes because no other pathogen tested was more thermally resistant under the conditions evaluated. E. faecium NRRL B-2354 was at least as thermally resistant as Salmonella under all conditions evaluated, making it a good potential surrogate for Salmonella on pistachios.

HIGHLIGHTS
  • Salmonella Enteritidis PT 30 is a reasonable target strain for laboratory-based studies.
  • E. coli O157:H7 or L. monocytogenes were less thermally resistant than Salmonella.
  • E. faecium NRRL B-2354 was at least as thermally resistant or more so than Salmonella.
  • E. faecium NRRL B-2354 is a good potential thermal-treatment surrogate for pistachios.

Research – Risk of Foodborne Illness from Pet Food: Assessing Pet Owners’ Knowledge, Behavior, and Risk Perception

JFP

Pet food has been identified as a source of pathogenic bacteria, including Salmonella and Escherichia coli. A recent outbreak linked to Salmonella -contaminated pet treats infected over 150 people in the United States. The mechanism by which contaminated pet food leads to human illness has not been explicated. Pet owners’ food safety knowledge and their pet food handling practices have not been reported. This study evaluated pet owners’ food safety knowledge and pet-food handling practices through an online consumer survey. The survey consists of 62 questions and assesses (1) owners’ food safety knowledge and pet-food handling practices; (2) owners’ interaction with pets; (3) owners’ risk perception related to their own health, their children’s health, and their pets’ health. The survey was pilot-tested among 59 pet owners before distribution to a national consumer panel, managed by Qualtrics XM. All participants (n=1,040) were dog and/or cat owners in the United States. Almost all pet owners interacted with their pets (93%) and most cuddled, allowed their pets to lick them, and slept with their pets. Less than one-third of pet owners washed their hands with soap after interacting with their pets. Over half (58%) the owners reported washing their hands after feeding their pets. Most pet owners fed their pets dry pet food and dry pet treats. Some fed their pets raw meat or raw animal product (RAP) diets because they believed these diets to be beneficial to their pet’s overall health. Many owners (78%) were unaware of pet food recalls or outbreaks associated with foodborne pathogens. Less than 25% considered dry pet foods and treats as a potential source of foodborne pathogens. The findings of this study indicated the need for consumer education about pet food handling. The data collected can assist in developing more accurate risk assessment models and consumer education related to pet food handling.

RASFF Alert – E.coli – Live Clams

RASFF-Logo

RASFF – too high count of Escherichia coli (790 MPN/100g) in live clams (Ruditapes philippinarum) from Italy in Italy

Research -Sneaky Salmonella finds a backdoor into plants

News Wise

Newswise — As the world wrestles with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which arose after the virus jumped from an animal species to the human species, University of Delaware researchers are learning about new ways other pathogens are jumping from plants to people.

Opportunistic bacteria — salmonella, listeria and E.coli, for example — often piggyback on raw vegetables, poultry, beef and other foods to gain entry into a human host, causing millions of foodborne illnesses each year.

But University of Delaware researchers Harsh Bais and Kali Kniel and their collaborators now have found that wild strains of salmonella can circumvent a plant’s immune defense system, getting into the leaves of lettuce by opening up the plant’s tiny breathing pores called stomates.

The plant shows no symptoms of this invasion and once inside the plant, the pathogens cannot just be washed off.

Stomates are little kidney-shaped openings on leaves that open and close naturally and are regulated by circadian rhythm. They open to allow the plant to cool off and breathe. They close when they detect threats from drought or plant bacterial pathogens.

Research – From Jekyll to Hyde: New study pinpoints mutation that makes E. coli deadlier

Science Daily

As far as humans are concerned, bacteria can be classified as either harmful, pathogenic bacteria and harmless or beneficial non-pathogenic bacteria. To develop better treatments for diseases caused by pathogenic bacteria, we need to have a good grasp on the mechanisms that cause some bacteria to be virulent. Scientists have identified genes that cause virulence, or capability to cause disease, but they do not fully know how bacteria evolve to become pathogenic.

To find out, Professor Chikara Kaito and his team of scientists from Okayama University, Japan, used a process called experimental evolution to identify molecular mechanisms that cells develop to gain useful traits, and published their findings in PLoS Pathogens. “We’re excited by this research because no one has ever looked at virulence evolution of bacteria in an animal; studies before us looked at the evolution in cells,” said Prof Kaito.

The scientists decided to start with a non-pathogenic Escherichia coli (or E. coli for short) and repeatedly mutate it and use it to infect silkworms, an insect that is often used as a model for infectious diseases, and then test whether it will cause death in silkworms.