The United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has released a new video today to demonstrate safe food handling for spring celebrations.
The three problematic foods for Easter and Passover are eggs, brisket, and ham.
The Food Standards Agency has launched the Play it Safe campaign, to raise awareness of food safety during the London 2012 Games. The Agency is working with food businesses and food safety enforcement officers to ensure all food sold, cooked and eaten during the Games is safe.
The first strand of the campaign focuses on the Food Safety Squad, the 10 environmental health officers acting as ambassadors for food safety. They represent the hundreds of environmental health officers around the country who are carrying out vital work to keep visitors to the Games safe and healthy.
The campaign highlights the Agency measures being undertaken to minimise the risk of food safety incidents occurring during London 2012. These include a food safety coaching programme for small businesses in Olympic areas that are in need of improvement; funding and training initiatives for local authorities in Olympic areas; and providing extra equipment for sampling and checks on cleaning.
To me this seems to be a reasonably logical assumption and this report attempts to back that up.
The transmission of foodborne pathogens may be impacted by the effects of climate change, according to a report released March 28 by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
Studying hundreds of peer-reviewed publications on six different food- and waterborne pathogens, the report’s authors observed 1,653 “key facts” that link the viability of those pathogens to a range of climatic variables such as air temperature, water temperature and precipitation. The pathogens under study included Campylobacter, Listeria, Salmonella, Norovirus, Cryptosporidium and non-cholera Vibrio.
Link to Report : Free Report
Seven students at a primary school in Southwest China remain in the hospital after they had eaten a free meal provided by the government and got sick, according to a local official.
The rest of the 79 students, who all attend the Babuzhen Central Primary School, in Bijie city’s Zhijin county, Guizhou province, have been discharged, according to Chen Guangshi, director of the county’s publicity department.
Eighty-six students at the school began to vomit and suffer abdominal pains after they had eaten the free breakfast on March 29.
Posted in Bacteria, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Microbiology, Pathogen
Tagged health
A health ministry panel on Friday proposed banning all raw beef liver served at restaurants, after it was discovered that it contains the O-157 strain of E. coli bacteria.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will swiftly refer the matter to the Food Safety Commission under the Cabinet Office. Once the commission compiles a report, the new ban could be incorporated in the Food Sanitation Law and come into effect as early as June.
Violations regarding raw liver, considered a delicacy, would be punishable by up to two years in prison or a maximum fine of ¥2 million.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is warning the public not to consume the La Vecchia Fattoria brand Cacciatore Dry Cured Sausages described below because it may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.
The affected product, La Vecchia Fattoria brand Cacciatore Dry Cured Sausages, is sold in packages of 2 units each (approximately 300g), bearing UPC 8 81248 33336 1 and a Best Before date of 12 23 JL.
This product has been distributed in Quebec.
There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of this product.
Posted in Bacteria, CIFA, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Microbiology, Pathogen, Recall
Tagged canadian food inspection, canadian food inspection agency, canadian food inspection agency cfia, food inspection agency
New York City Health Department is currently investigating two cases of foodborne Botulism linked to fresh bulk tofu sold at a store in Flushing. As reported by WABC, New York City has reported only one other foodborne-linked botulism over the past 15 years.
The two reported cases are Chinese-speaking residents of Queens who recently purchased the unrefrigerated bulk tofu from the same store. According to reports, the tofu was not made at the store and its source is under investigation.
FDA – Tropical Fish Food Flakes – Salmonella
The Hartz Mountain Corporation, located in Secaucus, N.J. is voluntarily recalling product from four specific lots of Wardley® Advanced Nutrition™ Perfect Protein™ Tropical Flake Fish Food 1 oz. size due to concerns that one or more containers within the specified lots may have been potentially contaminated with Salmonella. Hartz is fully cooperating with the US Food and Drug Administration in this voluntary recall.
CDC – Small Pet Turtles – Salmonella – 66 Ill. 
CDC is collaborating with public health officials in multiple states to investigate three overlapping, multistate outbreaks of human Salmonella infections linked to exposure to turtles or their environments (e.g., water from a turtle habitat). The first is an outbreak of human Salmonella Sandiego infections, the second is an outbreak of human Salmonella Pomona infections, and the third is an outbreak of human Salmonella Poona infections. These are rare types of Salmonella.
Portales News Tribune – Chicks For Easter Presents – Salmonella 
The New Mexico Department of Health and the New Mexico Livestock Board issued a press release Thursday advising families to avoid potential exposure to salmonella by not giving baby chicks and ducklings to children as Easter gifts:
In the last six years, New Mexico has had 16 Salmonella cases related to baby chicks. Many of the cases were in young children. The Department also discourages families from buying small turtles (less than 4 inches) sold at flea markets and roadside stands because they are also known to carry salmonella that could infect people and their children.
Posted in Bacteria, CDC, Eurofins Laboratories, FDA, Food Testing, Microbiology, Pathogen, Salmonella
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Mumm’s Sprouting Seeds Ltd. are warning the public not to consume the Mumm’s brand Sprouting Seeds described below because the product may be contaminated with Salmonella. The affected product, Mumm’s brand Sprouting Seeds – Sunflower, are sold in 75 g packages bearing UPC 7 73295 07582 3 and lot # SF2020.
This product is known to have been distributed in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario and may have been distributed nationally.
There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of this product.
