Category Archives: Pathogen

Australian Dairy Product Recall – E.coli and Listeria

Posted on March 9, 2012 by | Leave a comment

NSW Alerts

The NSW Food Authority advises:
Almarae Dairy Products is recalling batches of their soft cheese sold in NSW through their retail store and a convience store in Punchbowl.

The batches are being recalled because of the presence of E.coli and Listeria which can cause illness if consumed. Listeria can cause illness especially in pregnant women, children under 5 years, people over 70 years and people with weakened immune systems.

The recalled product is:

  • Almarae Dairy Products Country Cheese Soft Cheese in brine in 500g and 1.25kg glass jars with white lid and ‘use-by’ date 20 MAY 2012.

The recall applies only to the above batches of the product and date.

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Posted in Bacteria, E.coli, EHEC, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Microbiology, Pathogen

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UK- Staffordshire School Closed – E.coli O157

Posted on March 9, 2012 by | Leave a comment

BBC News

A Staffordshire primary school has been closed due to an outbreak of E. coli. Three cases have been confirmed and all pupils at Friarswood Primary School in Newcastle-under-Lyme are being tested, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) said. The E. coli O157 bacteria usually causes diarrhoea, it added.

Staffordshire County Council said it is believed the infection was brought into the school from an outside source. A thorough clean is now under way.

The school will reopen when it safe to do so, the council added.

 

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Posted in Bacteria, E.coli, E.coli O157, EHEC, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, HPA, Microbiology, Pathogen

US Investigation – Food Illness Linked to Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria

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Meating Place Article

The Center for Science in the Public Interest reported there were 38 pathogen outbreaks resistant to at least one antibiotic between 1973 and 2011. Of those, 45 percent occurred between 2000 and 2011, but the group could not determine whether increased use of antibiotics played a role in the increase.

While the data did not make the link between antibiotics use in food animals and increased incidents of antibiotic-resistant strains of pathogens, CSPI did.

CSPI Report Link

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Posted in Antibiotic Resistance, Bacteria, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Technology, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Microbiology, Pathogen

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Chicken Livers – Cooking – Campylobacter

Posted on March 9, 2012 by | Leave a comment

University of Aberdeen 

Aberdeen researchers have found further evidence that one of Britain’s most popular starters – chicken liver pate – can be a source of food poisoning if it is not cooked properly.

 

University of Aberdeen scientists bought raw chicken livers from a typical range of supermarkets and butchers over a two-year period and, after testing in the lab, discovered the bug Campylobacter in 81% of them.

In a study published in the International Journal of Food Microbiology the researchers also reveal that 56% of the types of Campylobacter found in contaminated chicken livers matched the 10 most common strains of the bug found in people with Campylobacter poisoning

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Posted in Bacteria, Campylobacter, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Microbiology, Pathogen

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Canada – Curry Powder – Salmonella

Posted on March 9, 2012 by | 4 comments

CIFA 

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and G. Dion Foods are warning the public not to consume the Dion brand curry powder described below because the product may be contaminated with Salmonella. The affected product, Dion brand Organic Curry powder is sold in 36 g packages bearing lot code 02B01G and UPC 6 20383 02007 7. This product has been distributed in Quebec and Ontario.

There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of this product.

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Posted in Bacteria, CIFA, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Microbiology, Pathogen, Recall, Salmonella

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ECDC and EFSA – Food-borne Outbreaks in EU Report 2010

Posted on March 8, 2012 by | Leave a comment

ECDC

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) launched their annual report on zoonoses and food-borne outbreaks.

The report,  providing data on 15 zoonotic diseases in the European Union for 2010, supports the European Commission and EU Member States in their consideration of possible measures to protect citizens from risks related to zoonoses.

The report highlights a positive progress in the reduction of reported human cases of salmonellosis by almost 9% in 2010, as well as decreases in other zoonoses such as infections caused by Yersinia enterocolitica, Trichinella and Listeria monocytogenes. “Decreases in human cases of salmonellosis and other zoonotic diseases show that EU level control measures, resulting from surveillance of disease in humans with information from food and animals, are effective”, states Johan Giesecke, Chief Scientist at ECDC.

On the other hand, the number of cases of  campylobacteriosis has been increasing over the last five years, and human cases of Shiga toxin/verotoxin -producing Escherichia coli (STEC/VTEC) are also increasing. These trends “highlight the need of further joint efforts”, continues Prof. Gieseke. “For this, ECDC will continue to strengthen its links with all important partners and foster collaboration in order to decrease the occurrence of these diseases in the EU”.

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Posted in Bacillus, Campylobacter, E.coli, E.coli O157, EFSA, EHEC, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Technology, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Microbiology, Pathogen, Salmonella, STEC

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Ingenta Studies – High Pressure E.coli/Campylobacter – Essential Oils E.coli/Salmonella

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Ingenta High Pressure

This study evaluated the high pressure inactivation of Campylobacter jejuni, Escherichia coli, and poultry meat spoilage organisms. All treatments were performed in aseptically prepared minced poultry meat. Treatment of 19 strains of C. jejuni at 300 MPa and 30°C revealed a large variation of pressure resistance.

Ingenta Essential Oils

The efficacy of cinnamaldehyde and Sporan for reducing Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella on spinach leaves was investigated. Spinach leaves were inoculated with a five-strain cocktail of Salmonella or E. coli O157:H7, air dried for ca. 30 min, and then immersed in a treatment solution containing 5 ppm of free chlorine, cinnamaldehyde, or Sporan (800 and 1,000 ppm) alone or in combination with 200 ppm of acetic acid (20%) for 1 min or with water (control).

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Posted in Bacteria, Campylobacter, E.coli, E.coli O157, EHEC, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Safety, Food Technology, Food Testing, Microbiology, Pathogen, Salmonella

Lettuce Coring Knives – E.coli O157:H7

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Ingenta

This study was undertaken to examine the effect of ultrasound in combination with chlorine on the reduction of Escherichia coli O157:H7 populations on lettuce coring knives. Two new coring devices designed to mitigate pathogen attachment were fabricated and evaluated.

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Posted in E.coli, E.coli O157, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Safety, Food Technology, Food Testing, Microbiology, Pathogen

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Dirty Money!

Posted on March 8, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Food Poisoning Bulletin

Dr. Ron Cutler, a biomedical scientist in London specialising in infectious diseases and their control and treatment, has run studies at Queen Mary – University of London, proving that such things as restaurant high chairs and your car’s steering wheel are likely to have more germs than a public toilet seat.

Now he’s examined 200 bills of currency (British bank notes) and 45 credit cards and discovered that 26 per cent of the notes and 47 per cent of the cards had high levels of bacteria. In other words, money and credit cards are dirtier than a toilet seat.

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Posted in Bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, Hygiene, Microbiology, Pathogen

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French Cattle Not a Reservoir For E.coli O104

Posted on March 7, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Science Direct

After the 2011 outbreak of E.coli O104 :H4 in Europe this study investigated the theory that cattle could be the reservoir for the organism but non of the cattle tested showed positive for the markers they searched for.

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Posted in Bacteria, E.coli, E.coli O104, EHEC, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Safety, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Microbiology, outbreak, Pathogen, STEC