Category Archives: Microbiology

USA – Salmonella News – Thai Peppers – Holiday Inn Update

FDA Recall

FRUIT TREASURE of CHULA VISTA, CA is recalling 43 boxes (25lb) of fresh THAI PEPPERS, because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis.

The recalled fresh Thai peppers were distributed on April 7, 2013 to April 10, 2013 to retail markets in California.

The product comes in a 25lb white wax box with a logo that says “JAMMIN PEPPERS”.

No illnesses have been reported to date in connection with this problem.

Food Poisoning Bulletin

The outbreak of Salmonella associated with the Holiday Inn Bordeaux in Fayetteville, North Carolina has grown to 99 ill persons, up 11 from yesterday. Sixteen cases are lab-confirmed, according to Buck Wilson of the Cumberland County Health Department.

The two restaurants that served food associated with this outbreak are the Cafe Bordeaux and the All American Sports Grill. If you ate at these restaurants and suffered the symptoms of a Salmonella infection, including fever, chills, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and muscle pains, see a health care provider as soon as possible.

 

USA – Raw Milk Issues Again – Campylobacter

Campylobacter BlogEurofins Food Testing

The Pennsylvania Departments of Agriculture and Health today advised consumers to discard raw milk produced by The Family Cow in Chambersburg, Franklin County, because of potential bacterial contamination.

Agriculture and Health Department laboratory tests and several recent illnesses indicate the raw milk may contain Campylobacter bacteria.

The Department of Health has confirmed five cases of confirmed Campylobacter infection in people who consumed milk from the farm at 3854 Olde Scotland Road.

Based on the reported illnesses, the Department of Agriculture collected samples of raw milk during an investigation of The Family Cow, on May 17. Positive tests for Campylobacter were confirmed Tuesday.

The packaged raw milk is sold under The Family Cow label in plastic gallon, half-gallon, quart and pint containers. It is labeled as “raw milk.” Raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurized

Research – Salmonella Protective Switch

HACCP Europa

Salmonella Typhimurium causes food poisoning in people and can be fatal in the elderly or very young. Recent technological advances in the field known as proteomics are allowing researchers to explore how proteins, the workhorses of the cell, allow the bacteria to infect and cause illness. Most technologies that examine a cell’s ensemble of proteins do so by chopping the proteins up. Adkins, lead author Charles Ansong and other colleagues wanted to look at whole proteins, which provides more information such as how proteins are regulated.

For the first time, researchers have found a particular kind of molecular switch in the food poisoning bacteria Salmonella Typhimurium under infection-like conditions. This switch, using a process called S-thiolation, appears to be used by the bacteria to respond to changes in the environment during infection and might protect it from harm.

Research – Copper Kills Norovirus

Food Posioning BulletinNorwalk_Caspid

New research presented last week at the American Society for Microbiology’s 2013 general meeting showed that copper can destroy norovirus. The research was conducted at the University of Southampton. That virus causes more than 20 million illnesses in the United States every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and norovirus causes 267 million infections worldwide every year.

Norovirus is extremely contagious and often affects people in contained situations, such as cruise ships and retirement homes. It is spread through person-to-person contact, contact with contaminated objects, and through food and drink.

Scientists discovered that norovirus is quickly destroyed on contact with copper.

RASFF Alerts – Campylobacter in Dill – Listeria monocytogenes in Sushi and Mackarel – Histamine in Achovies – E.coli in Clams

RASFF – Campylobacter (presence /25g) in fresh dill from Italy in Norway

RASFF – Listeria monocytogenes (<100 /g) in chilled sushi from Germany in the Netherlands

RASFF– Listeria monocytogenes (presence /25g) in chilled vacuum-packed smoked mackerel from Poland

RASFF -Histamine (290; 4200 mg/kg – ppm) in anchovies in olive oil from Spain in Switzerland

RASFF – Too high count of Escherichia coli (1.300 MPN/100g) in chilled clams from Portugal in Spain

RASFF – Too high count of Escherichia coli (13000 MPN/100g) in chilled clams (Venus gallina) from Italy

RASFF – Too high count of Escherichia coli (330 MPN/100g) in chilled clams (Venus gallina) from Italy

 

RASFF Alerts – Salmonella – Paan Leaves – Poultry – Pork – Minced Meat – Fish Meal

RASFF -Salmonella spp. in paan leaves from Thailand in the UK

RASFF – Salmonella spp. in paan leaves from Thailand in the UK

RASFF – Salmonella group C (group O:8 detected in 2 out of 5 samples /25g) in frozen poultry kebab from Poland

RASFF– Salmonella typhimurium in frozen chicken (Gallus gallus) from Brazil in Bulgaria

RASFF – Salmonella spp. (presence /25g) in frozen pork stomachs from Slovakia, via the Czech Republic in Poland

RASFF – Salmonella Dublin (presence /25g) in chilled minced meat (pork and beef) from Sweden

RASFF – Salmonella spp. (presence /25g) in chicken meat preparations from Brazil in the Netherlands

RASFF -Salmonella spp. (presence /25g) in frozen poultry meat preparation from Brazil in the Netherlands

RASFF – Salmonella spp. (presence /25g) in frozen poultry meat preparation from Brazil in the Netherlands

RASFF – Salmonella spp. (presence /25g) in frozen poultry meat preparations from Brazil in the Netherlands

RASFF – Salmonella spp. (presence /25g) in fish meal from Mauritania in Denmark

RASFF – Salmonella spp. (presence /25g) in fish meal from Mauritania in Denmark

Vietnam – Food Poisoning Incident – 107 Cases – Sandwich

Thanh Nien News

Ben Tre authorities concluded Sunday that a sandwich sold by a local bakery was responsible for the food poisoning of 107 people in the Mekong Delta province on May 23.

Cao Thi Diem Thuy, deputy director of the province’s Food Safety Agency, said Minh Tuyen Bakery has been shut down following the incident. Only four people have been discharged from hospital so far, with the other 103 still yet to recover.

All of them ate sandwiches at Minh Tuyen on the evening of May 22 and began to develop stomachache, diarrhea, vomiting, and high temperature by early the following day. More than 20 people were hospitalized immediately, while the others were taken in the next few days after self-medication failed to help.

Thuy said her agency has taken samples from the patients for testing, and the results would determine the action to be taken against the bakery

New Zealand – Food Outlet 9 Cases Salmonella Infantis

The New Zealand Herald Salmonella

An unnamed Northland food outlet is being investigated over nine confirmed cases of a rare type of Salmonella. In the past few weeks, Northland District Health Board has found a total of eleven cases of the food poisoning, which has been identified as salmonella infantis.

The Board’s medical officer Clair Mills says it was odd to have a cluster all at once and in a region where this type of bug is uncommon. She says nine of the eleven people had eaten at the same outlet in Whangarei.

“So then of course we look further at the premise and we take samples from food and we take stool samples from staff.”

Pakistan – Polluted Water – Culltivated Vegetables – Hepatitis A

Business Recorder

Cultivations of vegetables from polluted water in the outskirts of the city is posing serious public health hazard and authorities concerned are doing almost nothing to stop this practice. Experts believe that contaminated water, industrial waste and unhygienic food are causing a surge in the incidence of Hepatitis-A disease.

They said that different government and private hospitals reported that patients of Hepatitis-A were increasing. Experts feared that the situation was worsening in cities such as Karachi, Multan, Swat, and areas near Islamabad where the polluted water contaminated drinking water because of poor sanitation system.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had conducted tests in few areas and found them prone to Hepatitis-A. However, scores of areas are also affected with the same problem and continue to cause health hazards to people with infectious disease. Medical experts say that it is the responsibility of the government to providing clean drinking water to the citizens on a regular basis. Doctors advised patients to get vaccinated against Hepatitis-A as preventive measures.

USA Research – Report on Anitmicrobial Resistance

Food Poisoning Bulletincocci

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has released a white paper titled “Antibiotic Resistance in Foodborne Pathogens.” The paper details information about more than 55 foodborne illness outbreaks since 1973. In 31 of those outbreaks, the bacteria were resistant to five or more antibiotics. Forty-eight of the 55 outbreaks were caused by Salmonella bacteria.

The foods most likely associated with antibiotic resistant bacteria included dairy products, ground beef, and poultry; those foods were associated with 31 out of 55 outbreaks. The paper states that the two populations that are most at risk of foodborne illness are children and immune-compromised people.

CSPI is critical of the FDA’s approach to dealing with this problem. In April 2012, the FDA issued guidance documents for industry that just “encourage” drug companies to change labeling on antibiotics used in animals to prevent their non-therapeutic use for growth promotion or feed efficiency. Scientists, including those at Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, say that the government should issue regulations about antibiotic use that have enforcement capability. Furthermore, CSPI and other groups want legislation such as “The Preservation of Antibiotics for the Medical Treatment Act” or PAMTA, passed into law.