Category Archives: Food Illness

Belgium – Belgium reports large rise in foodborne illness outbreaks in 2021

Food Safety News

An additional 200 outbreaks were recorded in Belgium in 2021 versus the year before, according to the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC).

There was a significant increase in the number of food poisoning outbreaks from 333 in 2020 to 547 in 2021. The number of people affected in them went from 1,262 with 27 hospitalizations and two deaths to 2,070 sick, 78 hospitalizations but no deaths in 2021.

FASFC, also known as AFSCA and FAVV, said it was important to remember 2020 was an exceptional year because of the closure of many food businesses caused by COVID-19 related restrictions.

Figures for the past year are still slightly lower than 2019, when 571 outbreaks were recorded and 2,457 people were affected.

The agent was unknown in 512 outbreaks with almost 1,700 illnesses in 2021, according to data from Sciensano, the national public health institute.

Read more at the link above.

India – 40 students fall sick after mid-day meal in AP

New Indian Express

KURNOOL: As many as 40 students of a Mandal Parishad upper primary school fell sick after reportedly eating mid-day meal on Tuesday. The school is located at Chakrala village in Pathikonda mandal of Kurnool district.All the students were immediately admitted to the Pathikonda government hospital, where the condition of five was stated to be critical.

According to reports, the authorised agency served mid-day meal to the students as usual in the afternoon. Out of the total strength of 220, 160 students had their lunch at the school. Later, they developed stomach ache, vomiting and motions.

Samples of water and food were collected for lab testing.

USA – Outbreak Investigation of Salmonella: Peanut Butter (May 2022) – Outbreak Over

FDA

FDA’s investigation is complete; CDC declares outbreak over; additional information forthcoming

The FDA, along with CDC and state and local partners, investigated a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Senftenberg infections linked to certain Jif brand peanut butter products produced at the J.M. Smucker Company facility in Lexington, Kentucky.

J.M. Smucker Company voluntarily recalled certain Jif brand peanut butter products that have the lot codes described below. Photo examples are included below.

The FDA is preparing a report to discuss findings and provide information to assist in future prevention efforts.

Recommendation

The affected recalled products should no longer be available for sale. However, the product has a long shelf life and could still be in consumers’ homes. Consumers, restaurants, and retailers should not eat, sell, or serve any recalled Jif brand peanut butter, including recalled products that contain the recalled Jif peanut butter. Consumers should also avoid feeding recalled peanut butter to pets or other animals, including wild birds.

For Consumers

Follow these steps:

  1. Check if you have Jif peanut butter in your home.
  2. Locate the lot code on the back of the jar, under the Best If Used By Date (the lot code may be next to the Best If Used By Date for cups or squeeze pouches).
  3. In the lot code, if the first four digits are between 1274 and 2140, and if the next three numbers after that are ‘425’, this product has been recalled and you should not consume this product. An example is below.

If you are unsure what to do with your recalled product, you can call or email J.M. Smucker Company for more information:

The J.M. Smucker Co. Hotline: 800-828-9980
Website: jif.com/contact-usExternal Link Disclaimer

FDA recommends that if you have used the recalled Jif brand peanut butter that have lot code numbers 1274425 through 2140425 and the first seven digits end with 425, you should wash and sanitize surfaces and utensils that could have touched the peanut butter. If you or someone in your household ate this peanut butter and have symptoms of salmonellosis, please contact your healthcare provider.

For Retailers, Re-packers, and Manufacturers

In addition to the steps above, FDA recommends referring to the firm’s recall press for the UPC codes and other retailer information. Do not sell or serve recalled peanut butter or products containing recalled peanut butter.

USA – FDA Is Focusing on Safety of Frozen Berries

Food Safety Tech

From 1983 to 2018, there were 50 outbreaks globally that were attributed to frozen berries: 36 caused by Norovirus and 14 by Hepatitis A.

On July 22, the FDA announced that it is developing a food safety prevention strategy to enhance the safety of fresh and frozen berries. The move comes in response to multiple hepatitis A (HAV) and norovirus (NoV) outbreaks linked to the consumption of both fresh and frozen berries.

The FDA reports that there have been four HAV outbreaks and three NoV outbreaks linked to frozen berries from 1990 to 2016 in the U.S., and since 2011, there have been three HAV outbreaks linked to fresh berries, including a current outbreak linked to fresh organic strawberries.

In addition, from 1983 to 2018, there were 50 outbreaks globally that were attributed to frozen berries: 36 caused by NoV and 14 by HAV. The FDA noted that although freezing preserves berries it generally does not inactivate viruses that may be introduced at various points in the supply chain, such as by infected workers, contaminated water or contaminated food contact surfaces. In addition, fresh berries are generally eaten raw without a kill-step that could eliminate pathogens.

In August, the FDA plans to resume an assignment to collect and test frozen berries that it paused at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The assignment seeks to estimate the prevalence of HAV and NoV in frozen strawberries, raspberries and blackberries and help the FDA identify sites where practices or conditions may exist that constitute safety vulnerabilities.

The FDA also plans to work collaboratively with industry, academia and regulatory partners in the development of a food safety prevention strategy to identify measures that can be taken to limit or prevent contamination from occurring throughout the berry supply chain, approaches to re-enforce control measures and their application as well as areas where additional research is needed.

France – French E. coli outbreak linked to dairy

Food Safety News

At least a dozen children have been sickened in France with officials linking illnesses to a dairy company.

Since early June, 12 cases of haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) have been reported in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur and Occitanie regions. HUS is a severe complication associated with E. coli infection that causes kidney failure and sometimes death.

Seven boys and five girls aged 11 months to 9 years old are sick. They fell ill from June 4 to July 18.

In France, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) surveillance is only based on HUS in children younger than 15, so it only catches the most severe cases.

Santé publique France, the Directorate General for Food (DGAL) and Directorate General for Health (DGS) are part of the investigation.

India – Karnataka: 40 students fall sick after eating midday meal

India Express

Forty students of Government Higher Primary School in Gollarahatti, in Chitradurga district, fell sick and 26 of them had to be hospitalised after eating the midday meal served at the school on Thursday afternoon.

Doddappa MC, headmaster of the school, said, “On Thursday afternoon I received calls from villagers and teachers who complained that students are falling unconscious and are vomiting. By the time I reached the school, some students had been admitted to the hospital. However, all students are okay.”

He added that food samples have been sent to the laboratory to ascertain if it was a case of food poisoning.

Research – From chicken to salad: Cooking salt as a potential vehicle of Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes cross-contamination

PubMed

Epidemiological studies show that improper food handling practices at home account for a significant portion of foodborne illness cases. Mishandling of raw meat during meal preparation is one of the most frequent hazardous behaviours reported in observational research studies that potentially contributes to illness occurrence, particularly through the transfer of microbial pathogens from the raw meat to ready-to-eat (RTE) foods. This study evaluated the transfer of two major foodborne pathogens, Salmonella enterica and Listeria monocytogenes, from artificially contaminated chicken meat to lettuce via cooking salt (used for seasoning) during simulated domestic handling practices. Pieces of chicken breast fillets were spiked with five different loads (from ca. 1 to 5 Log CFU/g) of a multi-strain cocktail of either S. enterica or L. monocytogenes. Hands of volunteers (gloved) contaminated by handling the chicken, stirred the cooking salt that was further used to season lettuce leaves. A total of 15 events of cross-contamination (three volunteers and five bacterial loads) were tested for each pathogen. Immediately after the events, S. enterica was isolated from all the cooking salt samples (n = 15) and from 12 samples of seasoned lettuce; whereas L. monocytogenes was isolated from 13 salt samples and from all the seasoned lettuce samples (n = 15). In addition, S. enterica and L. monocytogenes were able to survive in artificially contaminated salt (with a water activity of 0.49) for, at least, 146 days and 126 days, respectively. The ability of these foodborne pathogens to survive for a long time in cooking salt, make it a good vehicle for transmission and cross-contamination if consumers do not adopt good hygiene practices when preparing meals.

China – Mostly children sick in Chinese Salmonella egg outbreak – 2019

Food Safety News

A Salmonella outbreak that mainly sickened children in China was caused by contaminated kitchen-made mayonnaise used in egg sandwiches, according to a study.

In September 2019, the Shenzhen and Dongguan Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were notified of a large cluster of suspected gastroenteritis involving primarily children who sought medical care at hospitals in the two cities.

A total of 254 cases were reported in Shenzhen and Dongguan, Guangdong province, found the study published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology.

China – Research – Vital Surveillances: Epidemiological Analysis of Foodborne Botulism Outbreaks — China, 2004–2020

China CDC

kswfoodworld

Abstract

IntroductionFoodborne botulism is a rare, potentially fatal illness resulting from the ingestion of foods contaminated with preformed botulinum neurotoxin types A, B, E, or F, produced by Clostridium botulinum. The descriptive epidemiology of foodborne botulism outbreaks in China during 2004−2020 was performed to inform public health response strategies.

Results

During 2004−2020, a total of 80 foodborne botulism outbreaks occurred in China, involving 386 illnesses and 55 deaths; most outbreaks were reported between June and August, with a sharp peak in January; 22 out of 31 PLADs reported foodborne botulism outbreaks, Xinjiang reported the largest number of outbreaks (20), followed by Qinghai (13); the most commonly implicated food was home-prepared traditional processed stinky tofu and dried beef, accounting for 51.25% events. Improper processing and improper storage in contributing factors accounted for 77.50% outbreaks. Initial misdiagnosis occurred in 27.50% of cases.

Conclusions

Outbreaks of foodborne botulism had a high case-fatality rate. Targeted food safety and popularization education to farmers and herdsmen in Xinjiang and Qinghai related to botulism prevention should be carried out, and timely outbreak investigation and hospital surge capacity should be improved.

USA – Big Olaf Who? Amid Outbreak Shops Ditch Ice Cream, Branding

Food Poisoning Bulletin

Listeria kswfoodworld food safety food poisoning

Image CDC

For Big Olaf, the break-ups came quickly but not all at once. And not all of them quietly.

In the two and half weeks since Big Olaf ice cream was linked to a deadly Listeria outbreak, licensed shops throughout Florida started switching to new suppliers. One owner has permanently changed the names of the two stores she operates.

Although Listeria isn’t as common as other foodborne pathogens. It is the most deadly. And it targets pregnant women, who can suffer a miscarriage or stillbirth if they develop an infection.

“Five of the patients in this outbreak are women who contracted listeriosis while they were pregnant,” said Eric Hageman, a Listeria lawyer, and Food Poisoning Bulletin Publisher. Hageman has extensive experience with Listeria lawsuits including one filed on behalf of a 31-year-old man who suffered permanent brain damage after eating ice cream contaminated with Listeria in 2013.

Read the full story at the link above.