Category Archives: Food Spoilage

UK News Items – Unpaid Work – Hairy Bikers – Undercooking Meat

Consumer Food Safety

The boss of the Ocean Grill in Alexandra Parade, Servet Cicek, UK, has been ordered to do 250 hours of unpaid work after he admitted 10 food safety offences at North Somerset Magistrates Court.

He was also given a 12 month community, six-month curfew and told to pay costs of £2,658.92.

Council food safety officers made an unannounced inspection of the takeaway last December, the court heard, finding a build-up of dirt, grease and food throughout the premises.

Raw meats were stored next to and on top of salads and cans of drinks, allowing bacteria and blood to contaminate the food.

Consumer Food Safety

A south Indian restaurant has been closed until further notice until tests confirm the source of an outbreak which has claimed 19 victims in total.

The restaurant, in Leicester, has received five-star ratings in its last three council inspections – the most recent of which was just last month. It has also won awards for its service and standards and has featured on Hairy Bikers’ Best Of British BBC2 show.

Consumer Food Safety

The UK Food Standards Agency says the undercooking of meat products, such as burgers and sausages, continues to be a significant concern, particularly for enforcement officers responsible for assessing the safety of practices used by food businesses. 

Meat products, such as burgers, have been associated with food poisoning and they can pose a risk of illness because of the way they are prepared if they are then undercooked. For example, with whole pieces of meat, bacterial contamination is usually present on the outer surfaces. Internal (deep muscle) contamination is unlikely unless the meat has been pierced. External contamination can become spread throughout the meat during mincing, such as in the preparation of burgers, kebabs, sausages and other products.

There are indications that consumers and caterers are showing a preference for serving burgers undercooked and in a variety of settings. Local authority enforcement officers are concerned about the risk posed by such practices. A number of bacterial hazards may be associated with meat of which verocytotoxin-producing E.coli and salmonella are considered to be the most important.

 

Canada – CFIA Recall – Listeria monocytogenes – Smoked Meat

CFIA

– Les Salaisons Desco Inc. is recalling Schwartz’s At Home brand Smoked Meat  from the marketplace due to possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination.  Consumers should not consume the recalled product described in the link above.

UK – FSA Recall Plum Baby Foods Recall

FSA

Plum Baby Foods is recalling some ready-to-eat baby food products that have been found to be bloated. This is thought to have been caused by packaging defect and food spoilage. As a precautionary measure, Plum Baby Foods is recalling the batches of the products affected. The FSA is issuing a Product Recall Information Notice.

Ireland – FSAI – Plum Baby Foods Recall – Microbial Spoilage

FSAI

Plum Baby Foods has identified a manufacturing defect on some packs of the above six new varieties of baby food causing the contents to spoil.  Where the seal has failed, the pouch will either have leaked or bloated. In the unlikely event of consumption, there will be a sour taste or ‘off’ flavour. Plum Baby Foods has received no reports of associated illness. Plum Baby Foods is recalling the implicated batches of the listed products. No other Plum Baby Food products are affected by this recall. Customers are asked to return implicated pouches to the retailer. No action is required by official agencies.

Research -Mycotoxin Producing Moulds

NeoGen BlogAspergillus

With the harvest underway, it’s important to keep a watchful eye out for mycotoxin-producing molds. These species include Aspergillus flavus, which causes Aspergillus ear rot and produces the carcinogenic toxin aflatoxin, as well as species of Fusarium molds. These toxins can lead to production losses as grain may be rejected, as well as leading to illness in humans or animals that consume the toxin in significant quantities. Here’s a quick primer on some molds of concern and the toxins they produce. For more information and regulatory thresholds for toxins, please see Neogen’s Mycotoxin Handbook.

Chile – Norovirus Outbreak 3000 Sick

BarfBlogNorwalk_Caspid

The city of Ovalle in Chile’s Coquimbo region suffered a massive outbreak of norovirus in the first week of September, infecting 3,000-plus residents, due to insufficient chlorine levels in the potable water supplied by water utility Aguas del Valle, according to a release by the regional health authority Seremi.

RASFF Alerts – Hepatitis A Oysters and Berries- ASP in Scallops- Enterococci in Dessciated Coconut

RASFF – Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning (ASP) toxins in chilled scallops from France

RASFF – Hepatitis A virus in chilled oysters from France and the Netherlands

RASFF – Hepatitis A virus in frozen berry mix from Italy, with raw material from Bulgaria in Italy

RASFF – Faecal streptococci (17000 CFU/g) in desiccated coconut from Indonesia, via Malaysia in Italy

USA – Fruit Juice Recall Patulin – Mould

Food Poisoning Bulletin

Wegmans is recalling two types of its store brand fruit juices because they contain an unacceptable level of patulin, which is a by-product of mold. Patulin is a mycotoxin produced by molds such as Penicillium, Aspergillus, and Byssochylamys. An ingredient used to make the juices is the problem. Patulin is not Penicillin and it is not a mold. It’s not likely that exposure to patin at the low levels found in the juice would cause any symptoms, but you should not consume it because in laboratory animals it can cause DNA damage and damage the immune and nervous systems.

USA – Foodborne Illness Outbreaks Database 1984 – 2012

Marler Clark

Welcome to outbreakdatabase.com, a searchable database of illness outbreaks caused by one or more of the following

  1. consumption of contaminated foods or beverages,
  2. exposure to animals,
  3. exposure to contaminated recreational water,
  4. person-to-person contact with someone whose illness initiated from animal exposure or consumption of contaminated foods and beverages.

The database describes outbreaks occurring since 1984.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines an outbreak as “two or more ill persons linked to a common source” and this serves as the basis of outbreakdatabase.com. To be included in outbreakdatabase.com, the outbreak must have supporting documentation from public health agencies, journal articles, media reports, etc. Names of stores, brands, restaurants, or other sources are listed if they have been publicly identified previously.

The database is a work in progress. It will continually be updated and revised. Significant effort has been made to ensure the data are accurate. We welcome contributions, corrections, comments, etc. Please use the contact form for comments.

 

USA – Recall Dog Pet Food – Moulds

FDA Mould

The product in question is a single production run and packed in a 7.5 ounce paw print bag marked with a best by date of 08-2015. The best by date can be found on the ingredient label on the back of the package just above the UPC bar code.  The UPC for the Blueberry Hound Cake is:  692614010058; The UPC for the Holiday Hound Cake is:  692614010041.

The recall applies to 7.5 oz. bags of DogCandy® Holiday Hound Cake and Blueberry Hound Cake because the cakes have the potential to become moldy.  These cakes were manufactured specifically for PetSmart Corporation and distributed to approximately 130 PetSmart stores in 36 states.  No other products have been impacted.