Category Archives: Laboratory

USA – Texas – Shigella and Botulism Outbreaks

Posted on December 12, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Shigella BlogShigella_stool

Shigella outbreak continues to hit Grayson County hard. Health Department officials say new cases are being reported every day.

News 12 last reported there were 36 cases just before Thanksgiving. But, in just 13 days that number has jumped to 61 confirmed cases in Grayson County.

A command center has been set up at the Health Department, where they say employees are working to stop Shigella from spreading.

Botulism Blog

On Friday, the Health Department was informed of the first potential case here in Amarillo. They soon began investigating and discovered three other possible cases.

Two of the patients matched the criteria and were given the antitoxin. Doctors say they are slowly improving.

All four patients are adults and are currently hospitalized.

“We’ve got a small group of people who know each other in some manner, we hope that there are no other cases, but we just want to do our due diligence and make sure that we are protecting our community by providing information,” Casie Stoughton who is the Assistant Director of the City of Amarillo Public Health Department.

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Posted in Bacteria, Clostridium botulinum, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Hygiene, Laboratory, Methods, Microbiology, outbreak, Pathogen, Shigella

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RASFF Alerts – Aflatoxin -Pistachio – Ginger – Groundnuts – Dried Figs – Peanuts

Posted on December 9, 2013 by | Leave a comment

RASFF -aflatoxins (B1 = 15.9; Tot. = 18.1 µg/kg – ppb) in pistachio kernels from Afghanistan, via Turkey in Italy

RASFF -aflatoxins (B1 = 10.7; Tot. = 30.8 µg/kg – ppb) in organic ginger from India in Germany

RASFF-aflatoxins in blanched groundnuts from China in France

RASFF – aflatoxins (B1 = 0.5 / B1 = 38.3 µg/kg – ppb) in dried figs from Turkey in France

RASFF-aflatoxins (B1 = 38.6; Tot. = 43.6 µg/kg – ppb) in dried figs pulled from Turkey in France

RASFF-aflatoxins (B1 = 25.2; Tot. = 29.0 / B1 = 23.7; Tot. = 27.5 µg/kg – ppb) in peanut kernels from China in Cyprus

 

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Posted in Aflatoxin, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Laboratory, Microbiology, Moulds, Mycotoxin, Pathogen, RASFF, Recall, Toxin

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RASFF Alert – Hepatitis A – Frozen Berries

Posted on December 9, 2013 by | Leave a comment

RASFF -hepatitis A virus (presence) in frozen mixed berries from Italy, with raw material from Bulgaria and Poland in Italy

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Posted in Food Hygiene, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Virus, Hepatitis A, Laboratory, Microbiology, RASFF, Recall, Virus

RASFF Alert – Histamine -Canned Sardines

Posted on December 9, 2013 by | Leave a comment

RASFF – histamine (104; 112; 137 mg/kg – ppm) in canned sardines in olive oil from Morocco in France

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Posted in Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Histamine, Laboratory, RASFF, Recall

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USA/Canada – USDA Recall – Prosciutto – Listeria monocyotgenes

Posted on December 7, 2013 by | Leave a comment

USDAFood Testing

Santa Maria Foods, a Brampton, Ontario, establishment, is recalling approximately 2,600 pounds of whole boneless ham prosciutto product due to possible contamination with Listeria monocytogenes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.

The ham product was shipped to California and Michigan for further distribution. Case labels bear the Canadian establishment number “473A” within the Canadian mark of inspection. The following product is subject to recall: [Labels]

  • Approximately 50-lb. boxes labeled “PROSCIUTTO x 4 GOLD” with the case codes BR031356 or BR031374, produced on Nov. 14 and Nov. 15, 2013. Each box contains 4 individually packaged hams with the case codes BR031341 or BR031354.

The problem was discovered by FSIS sampling collected during routine reinspection. The sampled product was held, but further investigation by Santa Maria Foods revealed that additional potentially implicated product had been released into commerce. FSIS and the company have received no reports of illnesses associated with consumption of these products. Anyone concerned about an illness should contact a healthcare provider.

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Posted in Bacteria, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Laboratory, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Microbiology, Pathogen, Recall, USDA

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USA – Vibrio Outbreak Raw Oysters

Posted on December 4, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Food Poisoning BulletinVibrio

Vibrio outbreak associated with eating raw oysters and raw clams has sickened at least 104 people in 13 states over the last six months, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Six people have been hospitalized.

Public health investigators have traced the source of some of these illnesses to shellfish harvest areas in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia. Massachusetts issued a recall of oysters,  Connecticut issued a recall of oysters and clams. Implicated harvest areas in Virginia were closed in July and remain closed.  In Massachusetts, they were closed in August and remain closed. In New York they were closed in June and reopened in mid-September. In Connecticut, they were closed in August and reopened in mid-September.

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Posted in Bacteria, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Hygiene, Laboratory, Methods, Microbiology, outbreak, Pathogen, Vibrio

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Research – Bacterial Adaptation to Cold

Posted on December 2, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Microbiology

Micro-organisms react to a rapid temperature downshift by triggering a physiological response to ensure survival in unfavourable conditions. Adaptation includes changes in membrane composition and in the translation and transcription machineries. The  cold shock response leads to a growth block and overall repression of translation; however, there is the induction of a set of specific proteins that help to tune cell metabolism and readjust it to the new conditions. For a mesophile like E. coli, the adaptation process takes about 4 h. Although the bacterial cold shock response was discovered over two decades ago we  are still far from understanding this process. In this review, we aim to describe current knowledge, focusing on the functions of RNA-interacting proteins and RNases involved in cold shock adaptation.

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Posted in Bacteria, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Safety, Food Technology, Food Testing, Laboratory, Microbiology, Research

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RASFF Alerts – E.coli -Clams – Mussels – Bovine Meat

Posted on December 2, 2013 by | Leave a comment

RASFF -too high count of Escherichia coli (490 MPN/100g) in live clams (Venus verrucosa) from Greece in Italy

RASFF -too high count of Escherichia coli (330; 1090 MPN/100g) in live mussels from France

RASFF – shigatoxin-producing Escherichia coli (presence /25g) in frozen boneless bovine meat (Bos taurus) from Brazil in the Netherlands

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Posted in Bacteria, E.coli, E.coli O157, EHEC, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Laboratory, Microbiology, Pathogen, RASFF, Recall, STEC, Toxin

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RASFF Alerts – Campylobacter – Chicken – Bacillus cereus Toxin – Rocket

Posted on December 2, 2013 by | Leave a comment

RASFF – Campylobacter coli (8 of 12 samples /25g) and Campylobacter jejuni (4 out of 12 samples /25g) in chilled boneless skinless chicken breast fillets from Poland in Denmark

RASFF – Bacillus cereus diarrheal enterotoxin (17000 CFU/g) in packed rocket from the Netherlands in Finland

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Posted in Bacillus cereus, Bacteria, Campylobacter, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Laboratory, Microbiology, Pathogen, Toxin

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RASFF Alerts – Listeria monocytogenes – Meat Spread – Chilli Sausage – Speck

Posted on December 2, 2013 by | Leave a comment

RASFF -Listeria monocytogenes (presence /25g) in onion flavoured meat spread from Poland

RASFF -Listeria monocytogenes (presence /25g) in chilled chili sausage from Poland

RASFF -Listeria monocytogenes (>1500 CFU/100g) in chilled speck from Italy in France

 

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Posted in Bacteria, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Hygiene, Laboratory, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Microbiology, Pathogen, RASFF, Recall

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