Category Archives: Food Poisoning

India – 1 dead, 170 hospitalised for suspected food poisoning at Assam CM’s event

Posted on February 4, 2021 by KSW | Leave a comment

Health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who also attended the event, told journalists on Wednesday that he too had suffered from an upset stomach after consuming food at the event.

Over 170 persons have been hospitalised in a case of suspected food poisoning at an event attended by Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal at Karbi Anglong district on Tuesday.

According to media reports, one youth died on Tuesday night after consuming packed food at the ceremonial launch of the first session of the Diphu Medical College Hospital (DMCH). District officials are yet to confirm the exact cause of the death.

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Posted in food death, Food Illness, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Poisoning, Food Poisoning Death, Foodborne Illness, Illness, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Poisoning

USA – E. coli tainted Raw Milk Recalled

Posted on February 4, 2021 by KSW | Leave a comment

Food Poison Journal

A Washington State dairy is recalling unpasteurized, raw milk from retailers and consumers after state tests showed a sample was contaminated with Shiga toxin-producing E. coli.

Williams Valley Family Farm LLC announced the recall today, warning consumers to stop using the implicated milk.

“The recall was initiated after routine sampling conducted by the Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) revealed the presence of toxin-producing E. coliin retail raw whole milk. . . . Williams Valley Family Farm LLC and WSDA continue to work jointly to address the source of the problem,” company officials of the Clayton, WA, dairy said in the recall notice.

There is concern that consumers may have significant portions of the milk in their homes because its best-by dates range from Feb. 8 through Feb. 17.

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Posted in food contamination, Food Hazard, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, Food Poisoning, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Toxin, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Raw Milk, STEC, STEC E.coli

USA – FSIS tells us that Greater Omaha Packing Co (GOPAC) shipped E. coli tainted hamburger

Posted on February 4, 2021 by KSW | Leave a comment

Food Poison Journal

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is issuing a public health alert because raw beef product produced by Greater Omaha Packing Co. Inc., an Omaha, Neb. establishment, may be contaminated with E. coli. O157:H7. A recall was not requested because the affected product is no longer available for purchase.

FSIS is concerned that some ground beef products may be in consumers’ refrigerators or freezers. Consumers who have purchased these products should not consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.

The raw beef item was produced by Greater Omaha Packing Co. Inc. on January 14, 2021, further processed into ground beef and sold by Art’s Food Market located in Sandwich, Illinois. The following product is subject to the public health alert:

2-lb (approximately) trays containing raw ground beef labeled with a retail label with “PACKED” dates ranging from JAN 28 2021 through JAN 31 2021.
This item was sold by the single retail location in Sandwich, Illinois.

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Posted in E.coli, E.coli O157, E.coli O157:H7, food contamination, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, Food Poisoning, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Toxin, FSIS, Research, STEC E.coli

New Zealand – Annual report concerning Foodborne Diseases in New Zealand 2019

Posted on February 3, 2021 by KSW | Leave a comment

MPI

Annual report concerning Foodborne Diseases in New Zealand 2019

ESR Report FW20013

Human health surveillance and its relationship to foodborne illness is essential for informing the strategic direction that New Zealand Food Safety (NZFS) takes and regulatory measures it puts in place to minimise foodborne illness in New Zealand and overseas consumers.

The annual ESR foodborne disease reports are critical, allowing NZFS to monitor trends in foodborne illness in New Zealand by describing in a consistent manner evidence from notifications, case enquiries, outbreak investigations and other epidemiological studies of human enteric diseases.

This report forms part of a series providing a consistent source of data annually to monitor trends on foodborne illness in New Zealand. The series can be found here. The reduction of human cases of foodborne campylobacteriosis is a top priority for NZFS. The current performance target is a reduction of rates of foodborne campylobacteriosis by 10% from 88.4in 2015to 79.6 by the end 2020.

Progress toward this target is reported in the section entitled Reporting against targets. The surveillance data indicates that during the last ten years the rates of foodborne campylobacteriosis are consistently, albeit slowly, decreasing. NZFS underscores that both total numbers of campylobacteriosis cases and rates per 100,000 population notified in 2019 are the lowest since 1992.Since 2015, NZ diagnostic laboratories have started to replace traditional culture-based methods for enteric pathogens by culture-independent diagnostic tests(CIDT)using molecular polymerase chain reaction.

In 2019, about 78% of human faecal samples were tested using CIDT. However, different laboratories are using different CIDT and six DHBs continue to use culture-based testing methods for enteric pathogens. The implication of improved sensitivity and changes in number of tests is well described in the introduction to the 2019 report. Shiga toxigenic Escherichia coli (STEC) remains a focus for NZFS. A continuing sharp increase in notification of STEC infections is evident, despite the absence of evidence that foodborne sources are increasing. The cause of this is likely to be related to implementation of CIDT and an increase in the number of faecal samples tested for STEC as all community faecal specimens are now screened for STEC.

The selection of diseases covered in the report is based on the potential of the disease to be caused by foodborne transmission and availability of national sources of information related to the disease. The enhanced analysis of risk factors and presentation of the information has resulted in an improved description of foodborne outbreaks in the 2019 report.

Although, some outbreaks reported as foodborne with unidentified food source might be attributed to other routes of transmission, such as water, animal contact or person to person. NZFS and ESR will further continue to improve the analysis and presentation of foodborne human illness surveillance and investigation data in future reports.

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Posted in Food Microbiology Research, Food Poisoning, foodborne disease, Foodborne Illness, foodborne outbreak, Research, STEC, STEC E.coli

USA – Washington, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Virginia and New York linked to mystery E. coli Outbreak

Posted on February 3, 2021 by KSW | Leave a comment

Food Poison Journal

5 states, 16 sick with 1 death. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) shows cases are likely related to same food. Previous outbreak with same WGS linked to romaine lettuce, ground beef, and recreational water.

CDC, public health and regulatory officials in several states, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) are collecting different types of data to identify the food source of a multistate outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections.

As of February 1, 2021, a total of 16 people infected with the outbreak strain have been reported from 5 states. This map shows where sick people live.

State and local public health officials are interviewing people to find out what foods they ate in the week before they got sick.

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Posted in E.coli, food bourne outbreak, food contamination, Food Hazard, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, Food Poisoning, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Toxin, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, Microbiology, outbreak

India – Adilabad medicos suffer from food poisoning, hospitalised

Posted on February 2, 2021 by KSW | Leave a comment

Telangana Today

RIMS Director Dr Banoth Balaram said 22 of the 70 students who had lunch developed vomiting, headache and nausea. They were admitted to the institution and their condition was stable.

They were admitted to the institution and their condition was stable. Water contamination could be the cause of the incident, he said, adding that 200 students attended classes on the first day of the reopening of the college.

District Collector Sikta Patnaik visited the institute and inquired about the incident. She instructed the RIMS authorities to take steps to avoid the recurrence of such issues in the future. The water used to cook the food was from a bore-well since there was a leak in the Mission Bhagiratha pipeline, sources said.

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Posted in Bore Hole Water, Contaminated water, food contamination, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, Food Poisoning, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Toxin, Poisoning, Water, water microbiology, Water Safety

Investigation – Foodborne outbreak in British Columbia related to raw milk Gouda-like products, 2018

Posted on February 1, 2021 by KSW | Leave a comment

Gov

Abstract

Background: In 2018, a Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O121 outbreak that affected seven individuals was associated with raw milk Gouda-like cheese produced in British Columbia, Canada.

Objectives: To describe the E. coli O121 outbreak investigation and recommend greater control measures for raw milk Gouda-like cheese.

Methods: Cases of E. coli O121 were identified through laboratory testing results and epidemiologic surveillance data. The cases were interviewed on exposures of interest, which were analyzed against Foodbook Report values for British Columbia. Environmental inspection of the dairy plant and the cheese products was conducted to ascertain a source of contamination. Whole genome multi-locus sequence typing (wgMLST) was performed on all positive E. coli O121 clinical and food isolates at the provincial laboratory.

Results: Four out of the seven cases consumed the same raw milk Gouda-like cheese between August and October 2018. The implicated cheese was aged longer than the required minimum of 60 days, and no production deficiencies were noted. One sample of the implicated cheese tested positive for E. coli O121. The seven clinical isolates and one cheese isolate matched by wgMLST within 6.5 alleles.

Conclusion: Raw milk Gouda and Gouda-like cheese has been implicated in three previous Shiga toxin-producing E. coli outbreaks in North America. It was recommended product labelling to increase consumer awareness and thermization of milk to decrease the risk of illness associated with raw milk Gouda and Gouda-like cheese.

Introduction

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is a major cause of foodborne illness in North America. STEC infections cause diarrheal illness and may lead to severe complications, such as hemolytic uremic syndrome, and death. The incidence rate of O157 STEC illness has been decreasing, whereas the rate of non-O157 STEC, including O121, has been increasing in many countries, likely due to changes in laboratory methods of detection. Outbreaks of STECO121 have been associated with raw flour, fresh or frozen produce, dairy and beef products

The risk of STEC due to unpasteurized dairy products has been previously described . Between 2002 and 2013, three E. coli O157 outbreaks associated with raw milk Gouda cheeses aged for at least 60 days were reported in North America, including one associated with a British Columbia (BC) dairy plant. Following each outbreak, public health professionals recommended strengthening control measures to decrease the risk associated with raw milk Gouda cheeses . None of these changes had been implemented in Canada by 2018.

In November 2018, another STEC outbreak associated with a raw milk Gouda-like cheese occurred in BC (population: 5.1 million).

The objective of this article is to describe the outbreak investigation and findings and reiterate the need for greater control measures related to raw milk Gouda-like cheese.