The Department of Disease Control of Thailand (DDC) is advising people to be careful with what they eat this summer to avoid food poisoning and diarrhea.
He said diners must ensure the food they are served is hot and clean, adding that ice cubes are also carriers of germs.
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) is reporting a Salmonella outbreak which is geographically spread over large parts of country.
Twenty cases have been reported–12 confirmed and 8 suspected cases. The same genetic profile have been detected in all 12 confirmed cases. Preliminary analyzes of samples from the 8 suspected cases indicate that these also carry the outbreak strain.
Those affected are aged from 11 to 91 years, median age is 59 years. 60% are women. The infected live in Viken (9), Oslo (3), Innlandet (2), Vestfold and Telemark (1), Agder (1), Rogaland (1), Vestland (1), Møre og Romsdal (1) and Nordland (1). 10 of the cases have been hospitalized.
“The infected live in many different counties. Therefore, we believe that they are infected through a food that is widely distributed”, says doctor Hilde Marie Lund at the department of infection control and emergency preparedness.
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South Korea’s drug safety agency said Thursday that the number of food poisoning cases in South Korea declined sharply last year, falling to about a half of the annual average for the previous five years, with the number of food poisoning patients more than halving.
The number of food poisoning cases occurring last year in the country stood at 178, which is equivalent to 52 percent of the annual average of 343 cases for the previous five years from 2015 to 2015, according to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.
Accordingly, the number of food poisoning patients also dropped to 2,747 last year, a level that is equivalent to 40 percent of the annual average of 6,874 for the previous five years.
The number of food poisoning patients per 1 million people stood at 139 in 2016, 109 in 2017, 222 in 2018, 79 in 2019 and 53 in 2020.
The numbers of both cases and patients marked the lowest the ministry has ever seen during the entire period that it has been collecting relevant data, since 2002.
The ministry attributed the decline in both food poisoning cases and patients to the sharp decrease in the number of group meal programs, including school meals, due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.
A new study has shown that gentle streams of water carrying sound and microscopic air bubbles can clean bacteria from salad leaves more effectively than current washing methods used by suppliers and consumers. As well as reducing food poisoning, the findings could reduce food waste and have implications for the growing threat of anti-microbial resistance.
Salad and leafy green vegetables may be contaminated with harmful bacteria during growing, harvesting, preparation and retail leading to outbreaks of food poisoning which may be fatal in vulnerable groups.
Because there is no cooking process to reduce the microbial load in fresh salads, washing is vital by the supplier and the consumer.
Washing with soap, detergent bleach or other disinfectants is not recommended and the crevices in the leaf surface means washing with plain water may leave an infectious dose on the leaf. Even if chemicals are used, they may not penetrate the crevices.
In this new study, published in the journal Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, scientists used acoustic water streams to clean spinach leaves directly sourced from the field crop, then compared the results with leaves rinsed in plain water at the same velocity.
Professor Timothy Leighton of the University of Southampton, who invented the technology and led this research, explains: “Our streams of water carry microscopic bubbles and acoustic waves down to the leaf. There the sound field sets up echoes at the surface of the leaves, and within the leaf crevices, that attract the bubbles towards the leaf and into the crevices. The sound field also causes the walls of the bubbles to ripple very quickly, turning each bubble into a microscopic ‘scrubbing’ machine. The rippling bubble wall causes strong currents to move in the water around the bubble, and sweep the microbes off the leaf. The bacteria, biofilms, and the bubbles themselves, are then rinsed off the leaf, leaving it clean and free of residues.”
The results showed that the microbial load on samples cleaned with the acoustic streams for two minutes was significantly lower six days after cleaning than on those treated without the added sound and bubbles. The acoustic cleaning also caused no further damage to the leaves and demonstrated the potential to extend food shelf life, which has important economic and sustainability implications.
Improving how food providers clean fresh produce could have a major role to play in combating the threat of anti-microbial resistance. In 2018 and 2019, there were fatal outbreaks of different strains of E. coli on romaine lettuce in the USA and Canada and samples from humans infected showed strains that are resistant to antibiotics.
University of Southampton PhD student Weng Yee (Beverly) Chong, who was part of the research team added: “I am very grateful to Vitacress and EPSRC for funding my PhD. I came from an engineering background, and took Professor Leighton’s classes, but he told me that I could be a trans-disciplinary PhD student, and become a microbiologist whilst increasingmy engineering skills. I am also very grateful to Sloan Water Technology Ltd.: They opened up their laboratories for use by students like me, so that I can keep working on my experiments. It is an exciting environment to work in because they are doing so much inventive work to combat the pandemic and infections as a whole.”
Previously as part of her PhD Beverly has studied how the technology could reduce the infection risk to horses and other livestock through hay cleaning.
The work was sponsored by Vitacress, whose Group Technical Director Helen Brierley said: “Ensuring food safety for our products is an essential requirement. At Vitacress, we wash our produce in natural spring water, and this type of ground-breaking new technology helps to enhance our process whilst ensuring our commitment to protect the environment is maintained. We are always interested in new developments and are excited to see the results of this research.”
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Materials provided by University of Southampton. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
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Forty people have reported illnesses after eating at an Arby’s in Springfield, Ill. since Feb. 15, the Sangamon County Department of Public Health confirmed to two local news stations, NewsChannel 20 and WAND 17.
Officials first visited the Arby’s restaurant on Feb. 23 after calls were made to the health department. They then returned on Feb. 24 as the store was closed for deep cleaning. They also visited again the next day, still finding issues, but are still unable to pinpoint the exact cause of the food poisonings.
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Lucknow: Over 40 people took ill after consuming food at an event in Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh. Subsequently, they were taken to a hospital for treatment.
“Around 40-50 people are admitted to the hospital after they had a meal at an event in Mahmudabad,” an official said.
After having food at the event in Sitapur’s Mahmudabad town, the health of the people worsened, following which they were rushed to a hospital for food poisoning treatment.
Around 15 persons in Ternekal village of Andhra’s Kurnool district have fallen sick with nausea, vomiting and diarrhea in the past four days, causing anxiety among the residents. One of the affected persons, a 62-year-old man named Venkatesh, died while undergoing treatment at Kurnool GGH (Government General Hospital) on Tuesday. Authorities have said that the illness could have been caused by consumption of stale food. Water samples have been sent to a regional lab to test for water contamination.
A seafarer has died and many others taken ill following a food poisoning incident on a Precious Shipping bulker.
A jar of pickled bamboo shoots is said to be the source of the incident, which occurred earlier this month on the 34,000-dwt handysize bulker Lanna Naree (built 2012) in the Indian Ocean.
The chief cook passed away and up to 13 others were reported to have become unwell before the bulker could divert to Male in the Maldives.
Four crew members who did not eat the pickle suffered no ill effects.
Hashim said all seafarers who had shown symptoms were replaced in Male as a safety precaution.
“We are now in the process of getting this pickle analysed and reporting the same to the authorities so that action can be taken to avoid any such incident in the future,” Hashim said.
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Nearly 100 people fell sick due to food poisoning after eating at a marriage feast in Kendrapara district of Odisha, police said.
“It is a case of food poisoning”
As many as 40 people fell ill after consuming food at a public gathering in Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior on Friday. Out of these, four persons were shifted to the hospital after their food poisoning due to having food at the event in Bamor village got worse.
However, those hospitalised are said to be stable. An official said said a survey will be conducted in the village.
“Four persons were shifted to hospital after their condition deteriorated. They are stable now. It was a case of food poisoning. A team will conduct survey in the village,” said CMHO, Gwalior.
FoodWorld 