Ottawa, October 31, 2018 – Canada Herb is recalling Canada Herb brand culantro (Ngò Gai) from the marketplace due to possible Salmonella contamination. Consumers should not consume the recalled product described below.
| Brand Name | Common Name | Size | Code(s) on Product | UPC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada Herb | Culantro (Ngò Gai) | Variable weight | None – all packages sold up to and including October 31, 2018 | None |
Another company is recalling food because it contains ingredients supplied by McCain Foods USA, which has recalled all of the fruit and vegetable products made at its Colton, CA, facility because of bacterial risks.
This time, J&J Snack Foods Handheld Corp. of Holly Ridge, NC, is the recalling company. It has pulled two lots of Fit & Active branded “Southwest Veggie Stuffed Sandwiches” because of potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella, according to a recall notice posted on the Food and Drug Administration’s website.
“Although this product is not ready-to-eat and has baking instructions which, if followed, will reduce consumer risk, there remains some risk that mishandling of this product prior to or without adequate baking may cause illness,” the J&J recall notice states.
“Consumers with affected products are urged to discard or return them to the place of purchase for a full refund.”
The Fit & Active “Southwest Veggie Stuffed Sandwiches” affected have production dates of Julian code: 20027230003106:15 BEST BY FEB 09 2019 and Julian code: 20027235003115:13 BEST BY FEB 14 2019.
If the CDC reported 1 as of 10/23 and New Mexico reported 30 today, the CDC’s count of 120 in 22 states sickened with Salmonella is clearly going to spike.
The New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) is working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) on a multi-state cluster of Salmonella infections linked to ground beef.
Since late August, NMDOH has identified 30 New Mexico residents that were diagnosed with Salmonella after preparing ground beef at home. Illness duration has averaged 13 days and 27% of patients were hospitalized.
Ready-to-eat salmon products, such as cold-smoked and marinated salmon, are reported to be the likely source of an outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes that has affected Denmark, Germany and France since 2015. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) used whole genome sequencing to identify the multi-country outbreak.
In August 2017, Denmark reported the first cluster of cases linked to the consumption of ready-to-eat smoked salmon produced in Poland and control measures were implemented. In October 2017, France reported the detection of the same strain of Listeria in marinated salmon originating from the same Polish processing company as identified in the Danish outbreak investigation. The most recent case linked to the outbreak was notified in Germany in May 2018. By 8 October 2018, 12 cases, including four deaths, had been reported in the affected countries.
Due to the lack of whole genome sequencing data from the environmental and food samples taken at the Polish processing plant, it is not possible at present to confirm whether the contamination occurred in the suspected plant. Moreover, until information on the Norwegian primary producers of the salmon used in the contaminated batches has been reported and assessed, the possibility of contamination at primary production level cannot be excluded.
The identification of the same Listeria strain in a salmon product in France and a new human case in Germany suggest that the source of contamination may still be active and that contaminated products have been distributed to EU countries other than Denmark.
The report on the findings can be accessed at: http://www.efsa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/scientific_output/EN-1496.pdf.
[Source: EFSA, 25 October 2018. http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/press/news/181025]
Posted in food bourne outbreak, food contamination, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Pathogen, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, foodborne disease, Foodborne Illness, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, Salmonella, Uncategorized
A judge sitting at Manchester county court has ordered the disclosure of all documentary evidence relating to investigations carried out by Public Health England (PHE) surrounding cyclospora — a parasite spread by food contaminated with infected human faeces.
According to The Times, many customers claimed Tui did not tell them the Riviera Maya region of Mexico was subject to a public health warning due to cyclosporiasis before they booked.
This is in spite of 359 of the 440 British cases reported between June and October 2016 “involving travel to Mexico”, it is claimed.
Others customers allege they were handed a warning letter “only after their plane landed”.
Tui told TTG it would be inappropriate to comment on the legal process, but added: “We’d like to reassure customers that we regularly audit all of the hotels we feature in respect of health and safety.”
Ottawa, October 26, 2018 – Sofina Foods Inc. is recalling Janes brand Pub Style Chicken Burgers from the marketplace due to possible Salmonella contamination. Consumers should not consume the recalled product described below.
| Brand Name | Common Name | Size | Code(s) on Product | UPC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Janes | Pub Style Chicken Burgers – Uncooked Breaded Chicken Burgers | 800 g | Outer package: 2019 MA 14 Inner package: 1348M |
0 69299 12491 0 |
A total of 364 samples of vegetable- and meat-based meals were collected at three processing steps: step I, preparation of raw ingredients; step II, processing and cooking; and step III, finished meals. Microbiological quality was evaluated by using data for the prevalence and concentration of the aerobic plate counts, total coliforms (TC), fecal coliforms (FC), and Escherichia coli. The data were analyzed for differences between cafeterias, seasons, raw materials, and processing steps. Fourteen (15.2%) of the 92 finished meal samples were microbiologically unsatisfactory. Neither cafeteria nor season was significantly associated with microbiological quality (P > 0.05). However, the type of raw ingredients and processing steps were significantly associated with differences in microbiological quality. Vegetable-based meals had higher TC concentrations than meat-based meals because salad and seasoned and fermented vegetables are not cooked, unlike heat-processed meat products. Microbial counts tended to decrease through the processing steps, and E. coli, which could only be enumerated on uncooked chicken breast (1.6 log CFU/g) and sliced pork (2.6 log CFU/g), was totally eliminated by boiling and roasting. However, the presence of FC was not completely eliminated, even by cooking, and so this group of organisms should be considered as an important indicator of hygienic meal preparation in cafeterias. Although pathogenic E. coli was not isolated in this study, continuous microbiological monitoring of composite foods served in cafeterias should be performed as the presence of TC and FC in finished meals indicates the potential for contamination by pathogenic E. coli.
Several Salmonella outbreaks linked to black pepper call for effective inactivation processes, because current decontamination methods result in quality deterioration. Radio-frequency (RF) heating provides a rapid heating rate and volumetric heating, resulting in a shorter come-up time. This allows for choosing a high-temperature and short-time combination to achieve the desired inactivation with minimal quality deterioration. The objectives of this study were to evaluate RF heating for inactivation of Salmonella enterica and Enterococcus faecium in black peppercorn and evaluate quality changes of RF-treated black peppercorn. Black peppercorns were inoculated with a five-strain cocktail of Salmonella or E. faecium to attain initial population levels of 6.8 and 7.3 log CFU/g, respectively, and were then adjusted to a moisture content of 12.7% (wet basis) and a water activity of 0.60 at room temperature. A stability test was performed to quantify the microbial reduction during inoculation and equilibration before RF heating inactivation. During RF heating, the cold spot was determined to be at the center on the top surface of the treated sample. In addition to inoculating the entire sample, an inoculated packed sample was placed at the cold spot of the tray. An RF heating time of 2.5 min provided a 5.31- and 5.26-log CFU/g reduction in the entire sample contained in the tray for Salmonella and E. faecium, respectively. Color parameters (L*, a*, b*), piperine content, total phenolics, scavenging activity, and most of the volatile compounds of 2.5-min RF-treated samples were not significantly different from those of the control samples. These data suggest that RF heating is a promising thermal inactivation treatment for Salmonella without significant quality deterioration, and E. faecium seems to be a suitable surrogate for Salmonella to validate the efficacy of RF heating of black peppercorn.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state and local partners, investigated a multi-state outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis illnesses linked to shell eggs.
Update – October 25, 2018
As of October 25, 2018, there are 44 illnesses associated with shell eggs from Gravel Ridge Farms, in Cullman Alabama. The CDC has announced that this outbreak appears to be over.
Recommendations
The FDA advises consumers not to eat recalled shell eggs produced by Gravel Ridge Farms. Consumers who have purchased these products should discard the eggs or return them to the store for a refund. For a complete list of stores, visit the recall notice.
Consumers should always practice safe food handling and preparation measures. Wash hands, utensils, and surfaces with hot, soapy water before and after handling raw eggs and raw egg-containing foods. Dishes containing eggs should be cooked to 160° F. For recipes that call for eggs that are raw or undercooked when the dish is use either eggs that have been treated to destroy Salmonella, by pasteurization or another approved method, or pasteurized egg products.
