Category Archives: Eurofins Laboratories

US – Norovirus One Page Fact Sheet

Posted on February 2, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Factsheet Link

This is a very basic fact sheet but could be used in some establishments or as a general reminder.

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Posted in Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Testing, Food Virus, Microbiology, Norovirus

MRSA – Retail Pork – Higher Levels Than Expected

Posted on February 1, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) may be more prevalent in retail pork products than previously thought, according to a study published in the Public Library of Science’s PLoS ONE in January.

More than six percent of 395 pork samples, taken from 36 grocery stores in Iowa, Minnesota, and New Jersey, were contaminated with MRSA, which is significantly higher than previous studies. More than 64 percent of samples tested positive for Staphylococcus aureus, or staph bacteria. The results also did not show a significant difference in MRSA contamination between conventional meats and alternative, or antibiotic-free meats.

Study Link

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Posted in Eurofins Laboratories, Food Illness, Food Testing, MRSA, Staphylococcus aureus

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New Form of MRSA – From India – ca-MRSA

Posted on February 1, 2012 by | 1 comment

Although not foodborne in this instance, with US studies linking MRSA to foodborne illness and other world studies linking MRSA to retail meats the article in Lab Saints is quite interesting.

Community-acquired methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (ca-MRSA) bacterium that is resistant to almost all common antibiotics.

In India, where poor hygiene and the availability of over-the-counter antibiotics lead to development of resistance, an estimated 100 to 200 million people are reportedly already carriers of these virtually unbeatable killer bacteria. The killer bugs have also reached England, presumably through medical tourists who travelled to India for cosmetic surgery, and reportedly already infected several hundred people. A few cases have also turned up in Germany.

The bacterium has become a serious health threat in the United States

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Posted in Eurofins Laboratories, Food Testing, MRSA, Staphylococcus aureus

High Pressure Processing and Pathogens

Posted on January 31, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News HPP

This is some copy from the article in Food Safety News which is quite extensive and has links to videos of HPP in practice.

“Pascalisation,” commonly known in the food industry as HPP, or high pressure processing. Has only been used on the commercial level for the past 2 decades or so, the technology has been around far longer than that.

This process doesn’t rely on heat, such as pasteurisation; or chemicals, such as preservatives; or irradiation to kill the harmful bacteria on food. And while heat and cooking are good ways to kill bacteria, they can also impair the flavor, texture, color and nutrition of the food. For the most part, the same is true of irradiation.
 
Under high pressure processing, already packaged products such as fresh hamburger and turkey; processed fruit such as apple sauce; oysters; fish; guacamole; and ready-to-eat meats such as sliced turkey, pastrami and beef are put inside a pressure chamber. Water is then added to the chamber before it is sealed. From there, the pressure is increased to the maximum desirable level and sustained for a set period of time. The chamber is then decompressed and drained and the packaged products are removed.
 

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Posted in E.coli O157, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Technology, Food Testing, Listeria monocytogenes, Microbiology, Salmonella

Food Outbreak Detection and Social Media

Posted on January 31, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Food Quality News

The above publication is running an article which fully encompasses modern-day  trends. The article reports on an US study extolling the virtues of Twitter and Facebook as a surveillance tool for food illness outbreaks.

There is also a webinar at the following link on February 3rd.

Food Product Tracing Technology Capabilities and Interoperability

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Posted in Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Microbiology, outbreak, Recall

EFSA Safety Measures Help to Reduce Salmonella by Half

Posted on January 31, 2012 by | Leave a comment

EFSA

Salmonella – a bacterium causing salmonellosis in humans – was until 2005 the most common food-borne disease in European Union (EU) with almost 200.000 reported human cases that year. It is estimated that the overall economic burden of human salmonellosis for the EU could be as high as EUR 3 billion a year.

Salmonellosis is a zoonosis – disease or infection that can be transmitted directly or indirectly between animals and humans. The bacterium is commonly found in the intestines of healthy birds and mammals. It can spread to humans through contaminated eggs and meat, most often poultry and pig meat. Usual symptoms include fever, diarrohea and abdominal cramps.

The coordinated approach by all EU actors has had significant results: human Salmonella cases have been reduced by almost one-half in the EU over five years (2004-2009). At the same time, the prevalence of Salmonella in poultry decreased significantly, especially in laying hen flocks. The reduction of the bacteria in laying hen flocks is likely to be the main reason for the decline of Salmonella cases in humans, since eggs are considered the most important source of human infections in EU.

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Posted in EFSA, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Testing, Microbiology, Salmonella

E.coli O113 – Child Hospitalised in Norway

Posted on January 31, 2012 by | Leave a comment

The Foreigner

The one-year-old was infected with the bacteria and was hospitalised two weeks ago, and is now recovering.

Just four serious incidents following O113 infection have ever been recorded in Europe. Antibiotics are not prescribed for the bacteria, but fluids are the best course of action to combat it instead.

The Brattås nursery in Nøtterøy, Vestfold, where the child attends has been asked to tighten up its hygiene policy.

Assistant General Manager Stig André Kragnes told Tønsbergs Blad, Saturday, “All door handles and other contact surfaces are to be cleaned. This is in addition to the other extraordinary hygiene measures we have initiated. We are collaborating with community health services.

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Posted in E.coli, E.coli O157, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Testing, Microbiology

US Raw Milk – Campylobacter Outbreak

Posted on January 28, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

Six people have been infected with Campylobacter in an outbreak linked to raw milk from a farm in Pennsylvania, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said Friday.
 

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Three cases of campylobacteris have been reported in Pennsylvania and three in Maryland. All six infected individuals drank unpasteurized milk from the Family Cow dairy in Chambersburg, PA, according to the health department news release.
 

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Posted in Campylobacter, Eurofins Laboratories, FDA, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Microbiology, outbreak, Recall

Zero Tolerance Causes More Listeria monocytogenes Food Recalls

Posted on January 28, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Marler Listeria Blog

The USDA announced that 18th Street Deli Inc., a Hamtramck, Mich., establishment, is recalling approximately 118 pounds of julienne salad products with turkey, ham and hard-boiled eggs. The salads contain eggs that are the subject of an FDA recall due to contamination with Listeria monocytogenes.

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Posted in Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Microbiology, outbreak, Recall

E.coli O104 Strikes Again

Posted on January 28, 2012 by | 2 comments

Food Safety News

A group of French tourists returned home from Turkey last autumn with diarrheal illnesses, and two of them developed a life-threatening kidney disease linked to the foodborne pathogen E. coli.

Now French health officials have completed an investigation into this illness cluster and say the two women were infected with a strain of E. coli similar to the rarely seen bacteria that caused the devastating European outbreak linked to sprouts grown from Egyptian fenugreek seeds.
 
And they conclude this is “further evidence” that Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) serogroup O104 circulates in Turkey, along with Afghanistan, Egypt and Tunisia. “Public health authorities and clinicians should be vigilant for possible STEC O104 infection in individuals returning from these areas who present with post-diarrhoeal HUS,” the article advises.

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Posted in E.coli, E.coli O157, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Testing, Microbiology