Category Archives: Food Poisoning

US -Hard Boiled Eggs – Listeria monocytogenes

FDA – Recall

Michael Foods, Inc. is recalling specific lot dates of hard-cooked eggs in brine sold in 10- and 25-pound pails for institutional use that were produced at its Wakefield, Nebraska facility because the product has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. Listeria monocytogenes is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.  Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

There have been no confirmed reports of illness in connection with this product.

The recall was initiated after lab testing revealed that some of the eggs within the recalled lot dates may have been contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

Dubai Eateries Told to Improve Food Safety

Khaleej Times

The Dubai Municipality has ordered rapid quality improvement measures for 257 eateries and temporarily closed down 15 others for low standards in food safety.

The action against the violators took place after the inspections during the last quarter of 2011, it was announced on Monday.

The 15 food outlets that were closed down due to critical violations considered to be hazardous to public health were cafeterias and restaurants in different parts of the emirate, said Sultan Ali Al Tahir who heads the Food Inspection Section at the Food Control Department of the municipality. “The major violations we found in many of these outlets were ineffective pest control measures and a lack of hygiene,” he said, adding that the eateries were allowed to reopen after they took corrective measures within a week or so.

US – Norovirus One Page Fact Sheet

Factsheet Link

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

Food Outbreak Detection and Social Media

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

EFSA Safety Measures Help to Reduce Salmonella by Half

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.

E.coli O113 – Child Hospitalised in Norway

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.

Vaccines for E.coli O157?

Food Safety News

“For those who have been working on food safety for years — even decades — the promise of a quick-fix holds no allure.  Experts know that food safety is multi-faceted, and no silver bullet exists to wipe the scourge of E. coli 0157:H7 from existence.  But where promising new technologies could — in combination with common-sense approaches — make serious contributions to public health, they should be advanced.  Pre-harvest vaccines for E. coli O157:H7 could very well be one of them.”

US Raw Milk – Campylobacter Outbreak

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.
 

Zero Tolerance Causes More Listeria monocytogenes Food Recalls

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.

E.coli O104 Strikes Again

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.