Category Archives: outbreak

Canada – Outbreak connected to shredded pork rinds leads to CFIA warning – Salmonella

Posted on September 21, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the Ontario Ministry of Health are warning restaurants in the Greater Toronto Area not to purchase, use, or serve certain brand less Shredded pork rinds because of possible Salmonella contamination.

This warning was triggered by an investigation into a foodborne illness outbreak of salmonellosis. The outbreak is associated with consumption of food dishes containing shredded pork rind and/or shredded pork skin from certain restaurants serving Vietnamese NS other Asian cuisine in the GTA.

These products were sold frozen to restaurants in clear plastic bags with no labels, no lot codes, no identifiers, and no cooking instructions.

Recalled products:

The following products are known to have been sold to certain restaurants in the GTA which serve Vietnamese/Asian meals

Brand Product Size UPC Codes Additional Information
None Shredded pork rind various none none Products are sold frozen in clear plastic bags, with no labels, no lot codes, no identifiers, and no cooking instructions.
None Shredded pork skin various none none

Restaurants should check to see if you have the affected products. If the products are in their facility, they should not be used.

As of the posting of this warning, there have been reported illnesses associated with the consumption of these products. The Ontario Ministry of Health, in collaboration with Public Health Ontario, local public health units and food safety partners are investigating an outbreak of human illness.

Leave a comment

Posted in food bourne outbreak, food contamination, Food Hazard, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, outbreak, Salmonella

India – 100 People Suffer Food Poisoning After Attending Wedding Feast in Rajasthan’s Churu

Posted on September 3, 2021 by | Leave a comment

India.com

Jaipur: Over 100 people, including 45 children, fell ill on Wednesday after having food at a wedding ceremony in Rajasthan’s Churu. People who fell in after having contaminated food had to be rushed to a hospital for treatment. “Some people came to hospital last night with complaint of vomiting after attending a wedding in Shobhasar village. Around 90 people were discharged after treatment,” an official told news agency

Leave a comment

Posted in food bourne outbreak, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Poisoning, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, outbreak, Poisoning

Korea – Food Poisoning Victims Sue ‘Gimbap’ Franchise – Salmonella

Posted on September 2, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Korea BizWire

Over 130 people have lodged a damages suit against a restaurant franchise that sells “gimbap,” or seaweed rice rolls with vegetables, over food poisoning.

Park Young-saeng, an attorney at Jungjin law firm, said Tuesday that he filed a damages suit the previous day with the Suwon District Court in Seongnam, a Gyeonggi Province city just south of Seoul, on behalf of 135 victims of food poisoning incidents at two stores of a gimbap chain in the city.

The victims have requested a total of about 400 million won (US$342,960) in compensation, or 3 million won per person, from the franchise and the two restaurants.

A total of 276 people who ate gimbap at the two branches of a gimbap chain in Seongnam between July 29 and Aug. 2 showed food poisoning symptoms. Forty of them were hospitalized for treatment.

According to health authorities, salmonella bacteria were found in clinical specimens from the patients and cooking tools used at the restaurants.

Leave a comment

Posted in food bourne outbreak, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, outbreak, Salmonella

Research – Epidemiological investigations identified an outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli serotype O26:H11 associated with pre-packed sandwiches

Posted on September 1, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Cambridge Org

In October 2019, public health surveillance systems in Scotland identified an increase in the number of reported infections of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O26:H11 involving bloody diarrhoea. Ultimately, across the United Kingdom (UK) 32 cases of STEC O26:H11 stx1a were identified, with the median age of 27 years and 64% were male; six cases were hospitalised. Among food exposures there was an association with consuming pre-packed sandwiches purchased at outlets belonging to a national food chain franchise (food outlet A) [odds ratio (OR) = 183.89, P < 0.001]. The common ingredient identified as a component of the majority of the sandwiches sold at food outlet A was a mixed salad of Apollo and Iceberg lettuce and spinach leaves. Microbiological testing of food and environmental samples were negative for STEC O26:H11, although STEC O36:H19 was isolated from a mixed salad sample taken from premises owned by food outlet A. Contamination of fresh produce is often due to a transient event and detection of the aetiological agent in food that has a short-shelf life is challenging. Robust, statistically significant epidemiological analysis should be sufficient evidence to direct timely and targeted on-farm investigations. A shift in focus from testing the microbiological quality of the produce to investigating the processes and practices through the supply chain and sampling the farm environment is recommended.

Leave a comment

Posted in E.coli O26, food bourne outbreak, food contamination, Food Hazard, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, Food Poisoning, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Toxin, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, outbreak, STEC, STEC E.coli, STX 1, STX 2

USA – Active Food Poisoning Outbreak Investigations From FDA and USDA

Posted on September 1, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Food Poisoning Bulletin

What are the current active food poisoning outbreak investigations that the FDA and USDA are investigating? While there have been several outbreak investigations that have closed, there are still six open investigations on the FDA Outbreak Table, and one, possibly two, investigations on the USDA Table.

Leave a comment

Posted in food bourne outbreak, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Poisoning, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, microbial contamination, Microbiological Risk Assessment, Microbiology, Microbiology Investigations, outbreak, Poisoning

USA – Jackson County Public Health Investigating Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) cases

Posted on September 1, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Jackson County

Jackson County Public Health is investigating an unusually high number of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) cases. Since August 8, 2021, 16 cases have been reported to Jackson County, and 12 (75%) of these cases have been hospitalized. Age range for cases is from 11 months to 65 years of age, with the median age being 23.5. Majority of the cases are in the teens and twenties. Of the total cases 62.5% are males.

Jackson County Public Health is working with the Oregon Health Authority on this outbreak investigation.  “Right now, we do not have a definitive hypothesis on what the source of infection may be. The genome sequencing, performed at the state public health lab, has not matched any other cases in the state or nationally,” states Dr. Jim Shames, Health Officer for Jackson County Public Health. “Therefore, we continue to do in-depth interviews with those that have tested positive to help us identify a possible source of exposure.”

Jackson County Public Health is asking medical providers to be aware of the increases in STEC cases in Jackson County and collect and test stool specimens on patients suspected to have bacterial gastroenteritis. Shiga-toxigenic Escherichia coli (including 0157, HUS, and other serogroups) are reportable infections to local and state public health.

Leave a comment

Posted in E.coli O157, E.coli O157:H7, food bourne outbreak, food contamination, food handler, Food Hazard, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Toxin, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, HUS, outbreak, STEC, STEC E.coli

Finland- Two dead in Finnish E. coli outbreak – E.coli O103

Posted on August 31, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

Two people have died in Finland as investigations into a Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) outbreak continue.

The National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) has received nine reports of suspected E. coli outbreaks from across Finland from June to August. Seven E. coli O103 outbreaks reported to the agency from municipalities in different parts of the country belong to the same incident.

Updating a previous report, the agency said the start date of the epidemic has been set as the end of July. This is defined based on typing of patient isolates. In THL’s laboratory from July 27 to Aug. 24, there were 57 E. coli O103 cases with the Shiga toxin 1 (stx1) gene recorded. Of these, 40 clustered based on whole genome sequencing (WGS) indicating they could be from the same source.

Women are slightly more affected than men. The median age is 37 years old and the range is 2 to 97 years of age.

Leave a comment

Posted in food bourne outbreak, food contamination, food handler, Food Hazard, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, Food Poisoning, Food Poisoning Death, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Toxin, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, outbreak

Research- Michigan Restaurant at Center of 11-Year Salmonella Outbreak

Posted on August 28, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Med Page Today

Salmonellaa

While most outbreaks of foodborne illness peak and recede, one southern Michigan restaurant struggled with an intermittent Salmonella outbreak for more than a decade.

From September 2008 to July 2019, there were 35 primary cases and one secondary case of Salmonella Mbandaka ultimately traced to the restaurant by the local public health department, William Nettleton, MD, medical director of the Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services Department, and colleagues reported in the August 20 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The unusual persistence of the outbreak was due to a complex interplay between the restaurant environment and asymptomatic food workers, Nettleton told MedPage Today.

“It was very challenging to identify the source of the outbreak,” he said in an interview. “Typically with Salmonella or other types of enteropathogens, there’s a foodborne vehicle. People get sick over a period of days to weeks, and once the source is eliminated, people stop getting sick. You get the traditional bell curve.”

“This was different,” he said. “The sporadic incidence made it very challenging.”

The restaurant initially made it on the county health department’s radar in 2012, when the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services sounded an alarm about Salmonella Mbandaka cases occurring intermittently in the county since 2008.

Kalamazoo health officials at the time launched a hypothesis-generating questionnaire, and by 2014 they’d homed their sights on the restaurant in question, after five known cases reported a meal there.

Leave a comment

Posted in food bourne outbreak, Food Microbiology Research, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, outbreak, Research, Salmonella

USA – Dozens Of Boys From Rockland, Brooklyn Hospitalized With Food Poisoning After Ukraine Trip

Posted on August 27, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Daily Voice

More than two dozen boys were reportedly taken to hospitals in Rockland County, the Catskills and Brooklyn after they apparently suffered food poisoning while returning from a trip to Ukraine.

The boys, all in their upper teens, were nauseous, vomiting and feverish, among other reactions, after landing at an unidentified New York City airport, responders said.

They apparently had been eating tuna sandwiches before their flight and began feeling ill during the journey, according to unconfirmed reports.

Leave a comment

Posted in food bourne outbreak, food contamination, Food Hazard, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, Food Poisoning, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Toxin, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, outbreak, Poisoning

USA – Jackson County E.coli Outbreak, Children Among those Sick

Posted on August 26, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Make Food Safe

Media Reports in this Jackson County Ecoli Outbreak

Jackson County Public Health has told NewsWatch 12 that some of the hospitalizations include several children.

“A couple of children are at OHSU are receiving emergency treatment,” said Dr. Jim Shames. “We need citizens to be aware that serious diarrhea or bloody diarrhea should be reported to their health care provider.”

Jackson County Public Health says they are still trying to figure out where the E.coli outbreak is coming from, but right now they do believe the outbreak to be localized in the county.

Leave a comment

Posted in E.coli, escherichia coli, food bourne outbreak, food contamination, food handler, Food Hazard, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, outbreak