Category Archives: Food Poisoning

Research-Decontamination of Leafy Green Vegetables Using Edible Plant Extracts

Posted on February 12, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Journal of Food Science

Abstract

Fresh cilantro, parsley, and spinach are products that are regularly consumed fresh, but are difficult to decontaminate, as a result, they are common vehicles of transmission of enteropathogenic bacteria. In this study, the efficacy of plant extracts as alternatives for disinfection of cilantro, parsley, and spinach that were artificially contaminated with Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157:H7, and Shigella sonnei was determined. Edible plant extracts obtained using ethanol as the extraction solvent were tested to determine the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) and those that exhibited the lowest MBC were selected for further studies. Leaves of fresh greens were washed with sterile water and dried. For seeding, leaves were submerged in suspensions of 2 different concentrations of bacteria (1.5 × 108 and 1 × 105), dried, and then stored at 4 °C until use. To determine the effects of the extracts, inoculated leafy greens were submerged in a container and subjected to treatments with chlorine, Citrol®, or selected plant extracts. Each treatment type was stored at 4 °C for 0, 1, 5, and 7 d, and the bacterial counts were determined. From the 41 plant extracts tested, the extracts from oregano leaves and from the peel and pulp of limes were found to be as effective as chlorine or Citrol® in reducing by > 2 logs, the population of pathogenic bacteria on leafy greens and therefore, may be a natural and edible alternative to chemicals to reduce the risk of Salmonella, E. coli O157:H7 and S. sonnei contamination on leafy vegetables.

Practical Application:  The antimicrobial efficacy of the extracts of Mexican lime and oregano was clearly demonstrated on cilantro, parsley, and spinach. The extracts of Mexican lime and oregano provide alternatives to chlorine to significantly reduce bacterial pathogens that have been associated with outbreaks from contaminated leafy green vegetables. A simple, low cost, and labor-saving extraction system for production of the extracts was used.

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Posted in Bacteria, Food Hygiene, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Technology, Food Testing, Methods, Microbiology, Pathogen, Research

Research- Rsing Sea Temperatures Increased Vibrio?

Posted on February 12, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Huffington PostVibrio

In December, Darrell Dishon became one of the approximately 15 people each year who succumb to vibriosis after eating raw oysters. Vibriosis is an incredibly rare disease — but Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show that it’s getting more common.

“While all the other pathogens have shown a nice decline, the vibrios are about twice what it was since 1998. In a little over a decade, incidence has doubled. They’re still relatively small numbers — but it’s a very striking increase,” leading vibrio researcher Glenn Morris of the University of Florida’s Emerging Pathogens Institute told The Huffington Post.

Vibrio thrive in warm water. (That’s why the majority of cases happen in the summer, and why vibriosis is more closely associated with oysters from the Gulf of Mexico than from, say, the Pacific Northwest.) One widely publicized study published in July 2012 indicated that a 1-degree increase in the temperature of a body of water triples its vibrio population. For that reason, many scientists believe that climate change has contributed to the recent rise in vibriosis, and that it could make vibrio bacteria much more prevalent in coming years.

“Vibrios are in many ways the poster children for global warming, because they are so temperature sensitive and the temperature breakpoint for them is right around the point that we’re seeing temperature increases,” Morris explained.

The disease has already cropped up in places it had never been seen before: Israel, the Baltic Sea, even Alaska. Yet vibrio vulnificus, the form of vibrio bacteria that’s considered the most dangerous and the one that killed Dishon, remains most closely associated with oysters from the Gulf of Mexico. With only about 30 total cases in the United States a year, it’s exceptionally rare. Your chances of finding a valuable pearl in one of the 2.5 billion oysters Americans eat a year are about 100 times greater than your chances of contracting vibrio vulnificus.

Yet when it strikes, it strikes hard. It kills about half the people who get it, a rate comparable, among foodborne illnesses, only to the dreaded listeria monocytogenes. And many of these deaths are unusually painful.

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Posted in Bacteria, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Microbiology, Pathogen, Research, Shellfish, Vibrio, Vibrio cholera, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Vibrio vulnificans, Water

Research – FDA Risk Assessment of Listeria monocytogenes in Cheese

Posted on February 10, 2013 by | 2 comments

FDA FDA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced a draft quantitative assessment of the risk of listeriosis from soft-ripened cheese consumption in the United States and Canada. The risk assessment is a joint effort between FDA and Health Canada. View the Federal Register Notice for the assessment.

The new FDA/Health Canada draft risk assessment found that the risk of listeriosis from soft-ripened cheeses made with raw milk is estimated to be 50 to 160 times higher than that from soft-ripened cheese made with pasteurized milk. This finding is consistent with the fact that consuming raw milk and raw milk products generally poses a higher risk from pathogens than do pasteurized milk and its products.

While raw milk and raw milk products put all consumers at risk, the bacteria they may contain can be especially dangerous to people with weakened immune systems, older adults, pregnant women and children. View guidelines for avoiding illness by choosing milk and milk products carefully.

FDA invites comments that can help FDA and Health Canada improve:

  • the approach used;
  • the assumptions made;
  • the modeling techniques;
  • the data used; and
  • the clarity and transparency of the draft quantitative risk assessment documentation.

To submit comments electronically, go to docket FDA-2012-N-1182 on regulations.gov. The comment period opens February 11, 2013 for 75 days.

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Posted in Bacteria, FDA, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Technology, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Methods, Microbiology, Pathogen, Research

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Research – Flash Drying Poultry Cages – Reduces Campylobacter Levels

Posted on February 10, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Food Poisoning Bulletin Campylobacter

Campylobacter is a bacteria that is commonly found in the intestines of poultry and shed  in their feces. During slaughter, these bacteria sometimes make their way onto cuts of meat, posing a health threat to consumers.

Sometimes these bacteria are spread from infected birds to healthy ones during transport. For example, a healthy bird may be placed in a poultry cage whose previous occupant was infected, or the healthy bird’s poultry cage may be placed beneath an infected bird’s cage on a truck. Despite the risk to consumers, there hasn’t been much progress in reducing the presence of the pathogen in poultry, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

A few years ago, researchers discovered that drying the cages for 24-48 hours after washing them, cut down and even eliminated Campylobacter levels in poultry cages. But these drying times were found to be overly long and impractical by the industry. So  microbiologists Mark Berrang and Richard Meinersmann at the US Department of Agriculture’s  Agricultural Research Service and their colleague Charles Hofacre at the University of Georgia in Athens researched a shorter drying time with a blast of hot air.

They found that flowing hot air for 15 minutes on cages that had been spray washed with water “lowered the numbers of Campylobacter to an undetectable level,” according to a report of their study published in the January 2013 edition of Agricultural Research, a USDA publication. No word  yet on how the poultry industry views the breakthrough.

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Posted in Bacteria, Campylobacter, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Technology, Methods, Microbiology, Pathogen, Research

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Israel – Foodborne Illness – Hepatitis A – Market Vegetables

Posted on February 10, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Link

Dozens of hepatitis A cases reported in the Tel Aviv area in Israel since last year may be linked to vegetables health officials say, according to a Haaretz report Friday.

Israeli health officials say since the beginning of 2012, there have been 69 cases of the viral liver disease reported from the area, with the majority reported in the latter half of the year.

This is a dramatic increase from the seven cases reported in all of 2011.

According to the report, Health Ministry officials believe the source may be vegetables sold in open-air markets in the south of the city.

 

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Posted in Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Food Virus, Foodborne Illness, Hepatitis A, Microbiology, outbreak, Pathogen

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Australia – Third Death Linked to Listeria monocytogenes in Cheese

Posted on February 10, 2013 by | 2 comments

Courier Mail Au

A LISTERIA outbreak linked to a Victorian cheese factory has claimed a third life. A 68-year-old NSW man died from the infection last month, a Victorian health department spokesman confirmed on Sunday.

A Tasmanian man, 44, and a Victorian man, 88, have also died of the illness.

A total of 26 cases, including the three fatal cases and one miscarriage, have now been linked to the Jindi cheese factory in Gippsland.

Some soft cheeses produced by Jindi were pulled from supermarket shelves last year but the Victorian health department spokesman said the bacteria had a long incubation period.

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Posted in Bacteria, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Hygiene, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Microbiology, outbreak, Pathogen

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RASFF- Alerts – Norovirus – Salmonella – Histamine – Moulds – E.coli

Posted on February 9, 2013 by | Leave a comment

RASFF – Salmonella in Bovine Meat in Sweden sourced in Ireland

RASFF – Salmonella in Chilled Beef in Sweden sourced in Ireland

RASFF – Moulds in Soft Toffee in Czech Republic sourced in Poland

RASFF– Histamine in Tuna in Italy sourced in Spain

RASFF – E.coli in Live Bivalve Molluscs in the Netherlands sourced in Denmark

France – Norovirus warning for the English Channel

Due to poisonings related to collective consumption of shellfish, fish and shellfish all marketing from one of the main production areas of Lower Normandy oysters in an area about 5 kilometers Blainville-sur-Mer , in the English Channel, is prohibited. Products shipped since January 28 are recalled to be destroyed, said Thursday the prefecture of Manche.

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Posted in Bacteria, E.coli, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Technology, Food Testing, Food Virus, Histamine, Microbiology, Moulds, Norovirus, Pathogen, RASFF, Recall, Salmonella, Virus

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European Epdiemiological Report into the Salmonella Stanley Outbreak 2012

Posted on February 8, 2013 by | Leave a comment

ECDCecdclogo

In July 2012, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) initiated a Europe-wide investigation on a Salmonella Stanley outbreak, together with the affected Member States, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Reference Laboratory for Salmonella (EURL Salmonella). Cases were associated with strains showing an indistinguishable PFGE pattern not previously reported in Europe.

Between July and September 2012, ECDC encouraged European Union (EU) and other European Economic Area (EEA) Member States to perform Xbal-PFGE typing on all S. Stanley human isolates. The image profile of the outbreak strain was shared with all EU countries. ECDC collected and analysed molecular typing data on S. Stanley from EU/EEA Member States to explore potential sources of infection within the food production chain in this multi-country outbreak.

Full report at the link above.

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Posted in Bacteria, ECDC, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Technology, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Hand Washing, Hygiene, Illness, Methods, Microbiology, outbreak, Pathogen, Salmonella

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USA – Walmart Cheese Recall – Salmonella

Posted on February 6, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Food Poisoning Bulletin Salmonella

Walmart is recalling Stallings Head Cheese which has been linked to a cluster of Salmonella Uganda  illnesses in Louisiana.  Stallings, which is based in Houston, issued a recall for 4,700 pounds of the product on January 24 after health officials had discovered the link to the illnesses.

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Posted in Bacteria, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Hygiene, Illness, Microbiology, Pathogen, Recall, Salmonella

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Research – China’s Foodborne Illness Statistics

Posted on February 6, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Science Direct

Abstract

To understand the general trends and status of China’s food safety, we analyzed 2387 individual incidents of acute foodborne illnesses that had been reported by medical professionals in published journal papers during the last decade. As a result, 99,487 illnesses and 380 deaths were found in these 2387 incidents. In our analysis, we tried to understand the risks of acute foodborne illnesses and deaths corresponding to food pathogens, food location and settings, implicated food vehicles, sources of contamination and human causes. Based on our analysis, we made recommendations for risk communication, risk management and future research in regard to foodborne illnesses in China.

Highlights

► We analyze China’s food safety problem in the case of acute foodborne illness. ► Data were extracted from detailed reports on 2387 incidents of foodborne illness. ► Risk factors are discussed from multiple perspectives. ► Recommendation for policies and strategies towards food safety are provided. ► This is so far the most comprehensive analysis of acute foodborne illness in China.

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Posted in Eurofins Laboratories, Food Chemistry, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Technology, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Methods, Microbiology, outbreak, Pathogen, Research

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