Category Archives: Research

South Africa – Tiger Brands outbreak killed young mother, leaving her twin sisters to raise her daughter – Listeria monocytogenes

Posted on March 1, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

South African Nthabiseng Zaza liked traveling and gospel music. She liked shoes, especially designer brands like Michael Kors. “She was the life of the party,” Matlhogonolo said, Nthabiseng’s 26-year-old sister.

Nthabiseng was a person who loved family above all else. She always wanted to have kids and was blessed with a daughter, Onthathile, who turns 5 this month. Matlhogonolo Chantell and her twin sister Michell Masego Zaza are raising their sister’s daughter.

Onthathile doesn’t remember much of her mother, who at the age of 35 died from listeriosis in Oct. 2018. Her death was part of a Listeria outbreak in South Africa that was traced to Tiger Brand’s polony — processed deli meat similar to baloney.

However, it wasn’t until 2020 that the family found out what had caused their Nthabiseng’s mysterious illness. They knew only that many people in the country were getting sick.

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Posted in Death, food bourne outbreak, food death, Food Illness, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Foodborne Illness, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, Illness, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, listeriosis, microbial contamination, Microbiology, outbreak, Research, south africa

Germany – Resurgence of an international hepatitis A outbreak linked to imported frozen strawberries, Germany, 2018 to 2020

Posted on March 1, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Eurosurveillance

Hepatitis A virus (HAV) causes acute inflammatory hepatic infections in humans. Transmission occurs primarily via the faecal-oral route through contaminated food or water or person-to-person spread [1]. While the disease is often asymptomatic or mild in younger children, it can cause debilitating symptoms and fulminant hepatitis in adults. After an abrupt onset with fever, malaise and abdominal discomfort, jaundice is the predominant symptom. The average incubation period is 28 to 30 days (range: 15–50) with maximum infectivity during the latter half of the incubation period, i.e. while being asymptomatic [1]. HAV retains infectivity after freezing and can persist in the environment, being able to withstand food-production processes routinely used to inactivate bacterial pathogens [2].

Direct or indirect detection of HAV infection in humans is notifiable in Germany to local public health authorities (LPHA), which transmit case reports electronically via the state level to the national public health institute (Robert Koch Institute, RKI). The case definition of hepatitis A in place for surveillance purposes in Germany is: a symptomatic disease (defined as one or more of the following: fever, abdominal discomfort, increase of serum transaminases, jaundice), plus laboratory confirmation (i.e. detection of HAV nucleic acid or HAV-specific IgM or a distinct increase of HAV-IgG concentrations). Symptomatic cases with an epidemiological link to a laboratory-confirmed hepatitis A case also fulfil the case definition. Forwarding of HAV-reactive serum or stool samples from diagnosing laboratories to the National Consultant Laboratory for HAV for sequencing is voluntary, and is intensified during outbreaks.

In 2016, the European Union/European Economic Area (EU/EEA) incidence of hepatitis A was 2.4 cases per 100,000 population; the highest incidences were in eastern EU countries, while HAV infections in other EU/EAA regions were mostly associated with infections acquired abroad [3]. Like most high-income countries, Germany is a low-incidence country with a median hepatitis A incidence of 1.02 per 100,000 inhabitants between 2010 and 2018. The median hepatitis A incidence in Berlin, Germany is slightly higher (1.79/100,000 in 2010–2018). European outbreaks of hepatitis A among men who have sex with men caused higher case numbers in Berlin and the EU/EEA in 2017 [4,5]. Recently, several hepatitis A outbreaks associated with frozen berries have been described in Europe [6,7].

This HAV subgenotype IB strain has previously caused outbreaks in Sweden (June–July 2018) and Austria (July–September 2018) [8], comprising a total of 34 reported cases. Combined epidemiological and microbiological outbreak investigations identified imported frozen strawberries produced in Poland as the vehicle. In Sweden, the HAV outbreak strain was detected in frozen strawberries and the contaminated batch was withdrawn from the Swedish market. Trace-back investigations from both Sweden and Austria identified Polish producer Y as the source for the implicated frozen strawberries.

Shortly after outbreak control in both countries, cases with the identical virus sequence started to appear in Germany in October 2018. The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) and all federal public health authorities were informed about this by the RKI and sequencing of samples of autochthonous hepatitis A cases was intensified.

Here we describe the results of the epidemiological investigation of an outbreak of hepatitis A in Germany presenting in two waves, one in 2018 and another in 2019.

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Posted in food contamination, food handler, 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 recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Virus, Hepatitis A, Research, Virus

Research – Initial reports of foodborne illness drive more public attention than food recall announcements

Posted on March 1, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Journal of Food Protection

Recall announcements by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Food Safety Inspection and Service (FSIS) are important communication tools. Nonetheless, previous studies found that effects of recalls on consumer demand are small. Social media analytics can provide insights into public awareness about food safety related incidents. Using the social listening data this study analyzes how the public, in social and online media space, responds to, interacts with, and references food safety recalls and/or initial announcements of foodborne illness outbreaks as reported by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Analysis suggests that mentions quantified in the social and online media searches conducted moved closer in-step with the CDC’s initial reports of foodborne illness outbreaks than FDA and FSIS recall announcements. Issuance of recalls may not necessarily be a popular source of food risk information in social media space when compared with reactions to the CDC’s initial illness reports. This relative popularity reflects people more often sharing/posting about illness risk regardless of whether a recall occurs. This suggests that recall announcements by FDA and FSIS may not induce wanted changes in consumers’ behavior, while initial illness reports by CDC may. Although recalls by FDA and FSIS may not generate social media posts, their primary role is to take potentially unsafe food items off grocery shelves. Online media analytics provides policy makers with implications for effective food risk communication planning; initial CDC reports drive immediate attention more than FDA and FSIS recalls.

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Posted in 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, Recall, Research

Research – Hepatitis A outbreak with the concurrence of Salmonella Typhi and Salmonella Poona infection in children of urban Vellore, south India – 2019

Posted on February 28, 2021 by | Leave a comment

IJID Online

Background: Outbreaks of Hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection continue to be reported from India, that have transitioned from hyper-to-intermediate endemicity. Hepatitis A and Salmonella sp. share similar routes of transmission and may co-infect individuals at risk. We report here an outbreak of hepatitis A with concomitant Salmonellosis from an urban settlement of Vellore in south India between July and August 2019.

Our findings highlight that Hepatitis A infection can present as sporadic outbreaks in communities with sub-standard water and sewage systems, along with the co-infection of other enteric infections such as invasive Salmonellosis. Thus, population-based surveillance for Hepatitis A is required in India, to identify populations and geographical regions at risk, and thereby potentially plan implementation strategies for Hepatitis A vaccination.

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Posted in Bore Hole Water, Contaminated water, Food Microbiology Research, Food Virus, Hepatitis A, Research, Salmonella, salmonellosis, Virus, Water, water microbiology, Water Safety

Research – Case–control study of gastro-intestinal outbreak in a rural village, Philippines – 2017

Posted on February 27, 2021 by | Leave a comment

IJID Online

On March 21, 2017, field investigating team was sent to Cayapa Village, Abra, Philippines due to an increasing cases of foodborne illness. An epidemiologic investigation was conducted to verify the diagnosis, establish existence of outbreak, identify risk factors, and recommend control and prevention measures.

The epidemic curve indicates a point source outbreak of gastrointestinal Anthrax. We found valid statistical and temporal association of eating by-product of dead water buffalo and gastrointestinal Anthrax. Though, bacterial isolation were both negative for human specimen and environmental sample, all clinical manifestations were consistent with Bacillus anthracis rather than other foodborne bacterial pathogens. Hence, we conducted massive information education campaign sick or dead animal by-product should not be sold or eaten and properly handled and disposed.

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Posted in Bacillus, food bourne outbreak, food contamination, food death, Food Hazard, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, Food Poisoning, Food Poisoning Death, Food Safety, Food Testing, Food Toxin, Pathogen, pathogenic, Research

Research – Escherichia coli in flour – sources, risks and prevention

Posted on February 26, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Click to access escherichia-coli-in-flour-sources-risks-and-prevention.pdf

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Posted in E.coli, E.coli O103, E.coli O121, E.coli O145, E.coli O157, E.coli O157:H7, E.coli O26, eae, EHEC, Food Microbiology Research, HUS, O103, Research, STEC, STEC E.coli, STX 1

Research – Animal petting zoos as sources of Shiga toxin‐producing Escherichia coli, Salmonella and extended‐spectrum β‐lactamase (ESBL)‐producing Enterobacteriaceae

Posted on February 23, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Wiley Online

Animal petting zoos and farm fairs provide the opportunity for children and adults to interact with animals, but contact with animals carries a risk of exposure to zoonotic pathogens and antimicrobial‐resistant bacteria. The aim of this study was to assess the occurrence of Shiga toxin‐producing Escherichia coli (STEC), Salmonella, extended‐spectrum β‐lactamase (ESBL)‐producing Enterobacteriaceae and methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in animal faeces from six animal petting zoos and one farm fair in Switzerland. Furthermore, hygiene facilities on the venues were evaluated. Of 163 faecal samples, 75 contained stx1, stx2 or stx1/stx2 genes, indicating the presence of STEC. Samples included faeces from sika deer (100%), sheep (92%), goats (88%), mouflons (80%), camels (62%), llamas (50%), yaks (50%), pigs (29%) and donkeys (6%), whereas no stx genes were isolated from faeces of calves, guinea pigs, hens, ostriches, ponies, zebras or zebus. Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Stourbridge (S. Stourbridge) was detected in faecal samples from camels. A total of four ESBL‐producing E. coli strains were isolated from faeces of goats, camels and pigs. PCR and sequencing identified the presence of blaCTX‐M‐15 in three and blaCTX‐M‐65 in one E. coli. Antimicrobial resistance profiling using the disk diffusion method revealed two multidrug‐resistant (MDR) E. coli with resistance to ciprofloxacin, gentamicin and azithromycin, all of which are critically important drugs for human medicine. Multilocus sequence typing identified E. coli ST162, E. coli ST2179, extraintestinal high‐risk E. coli ST410 and E. coli ST4553, which belongs to the emerging extraintestinal clonal complex (CC) 648. No MRSA was detected. On all animal petting venues, there were inadequacies with regard to access to hygiene information and handwashing hygiene facilities. This study provides data that underscore the importance of hygiene measures to minimize the risk of transmission of zoonotic pathogens and MDR, ESBL‐producing E. coli to visitors of animal petting venues.

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Posted in E.coli, Enterobacteriaceae, ESBL, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Research, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, STEC, STEC E.coli

Spain – Enniatins, mycotoxins of emerging interest

Posted on February 23, 2021 by | Leave a comment

ACSA

Molecular structure of enniatins

Origin and chemical structure

Enniatins (ENN) are a group of emerging mycotoxins produced by species of the genus Fusarium. They have a cyclic hexadepsipeptide structure that has three d-2 hydrocarboxylic amino acids and three N-methylamino amino acids linked alternately.

Enniatins have been found predominantly in cereal grains, such as barley, corn, oats, wheat, and rice, but they have also been found in nuts, dried fruit, bananas, Chinese medicinal herbs, and river water. Up to 29 natural analogs of enniatins are known, but only seven (A, A1, A2, B, B1, B2 and B3) have been detected in cereals and their derivatives, and enniatins A, A1, B and B1 are the findings most frequently in food and feed.

Table 1 Functional groups that occupy the R positions in the figure and that determine enniatin.

Enniatina R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6
TO sec -butyl sec -butyl sec -butyl CH3 CH3 CH3
A1 iso- propyl sec -butyl sec -butyl CH3 CH3 CH3
A2 iso- propyl sec -butyl iso- propyl CH3 CH3 CH3
B iso- propyl iso- propyl iso- propyl CH3 CH3 CH3
B1 iso- propyl iso- propyl sec -butyl CH3 CH3 CH3
B2 iso- propyl iso- propyl iso- propyl H CH3 CH3
B3 iso- propyl iso- propyl iso- propyl H H CH3
B4 iso- propyl iso- propyl iso -butyl CH3 CH3 CH3
Beauvericin benzyl benzyl benzyl CH3 CH3 CH3

Since they originate from the same fungal species, enniatins are found concomitantly in food with other Fusarium mycotoxins , such as deoxynivalenol, moniliformin and fumonisins, and especially with beauvericin, another mycotoxin of emerging interest, since, in addition, it also shares the hexadipepsidic structure. This coincidence of origin and structural means that beauvericin is grouped analytically and toxicologically with the enniatins. Furthermore, analytical data show a high concomitance between enniatins and beauvericin in cereal grains.

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Posted in Enniatins, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Toxin, Fusarium Toxin, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Mold Toxin, Mould Toxin, Mycotoxin, Research, Uncategorized

Canada – FoodNet Canada tables and figures 2019.

Posted on February 22, 2021 by | Leave a comment

FoodNet

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThe Public Health Agency of Canada’s (PHAC) FoodNet Canada surveillance system is pleased to present this tables and figures report which provides the annual results of our surveillance activities conducted in 2019.The report is based on findings from its sentinel sites in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario.It also provides preliminary findings from Quebec, representing a partial year due to their implementation part way through the year in July 2019. The report focuses on trends in enteric pathogen disease rates, as well as trends in the prevalence of these pathogens found on potential disease sources: retail meats, manure from food producing animals and water.It is our hope that this report will be used to inform and shape discussions on food safety issues regarding enteric diseases and their sources.Key findings:In 2019, Campylobacter and Salmonella remained the most common causes of human enteric illness in the FoodNet Canada sentinel sites. Travel continues to bean important factor in the burden of enteric disease. In 2019, approximately 30% of all cases of enteric disease were associated with travel outside of Canada.

Exposure to retail meat products remains a potential source of infection for human enteric illness. However, decreases in the prevalence of certain pathogen-food combinations were observed in 2019. For example, Salmonella on frozen breaded chicken products significantly decreased in 2019 compared to 2018 and is likely associated with interventions implemented at the industry level in 2019.

Other exposures, such as the farm environment and water, are also possible sources of infection for human enteric illness, with differences noted between the sites. For example, Salmonella is commonly found in broiler chicken manure, however, the prevalence significantly increased in BC whereas it significantly decreased in the AB site in 2019, resulting in an overall significant decrease in the combined sites.

The majority of clinical cases of shiga toxigenic Escherichia coli(STEC) were domestically acquired in 2019, with a significant increase in both travel and endemic incidence rates, which is primarily driven by the AB sentinel site who test all STEC-confirmed stool samples for non-O157 serogroups.

In 2019, surface water sampling was initiated for the first time in the ON site for STEC testing. The prevalence of STEC in the ON site (27%) was similar to the combined BC and AB irrigation water prevalence in 2019 (28%).

Continued monitoring of human illness and the potential exposures is important to ensure the continued health and safety of Canadians.The collection and integration of information across all of FoodNet Canada surveillance components (human, retail, on-farm, and water) in an enhanced and standardized way allows for the analysis of sub-type distributions among human cases and potential exposure sources over time. This report will be followed by a comprehensive annual report, which will include more extensive analyses of temporal trends and sub-typing information for an integrated perspective on enteric disease from exposure to illness.

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Posted in Campylobacter, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Research, Salmonella, STEC, STEC E.coli

Research – Food risk survey shows low awareness of Campylobacter

Posted on February 21, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

There is low awareness of Campylobacter and its impact despite it being the main cause of food poisoning in the UK, according to a project on how people perceive food-related risks.

Results come from a survey by Kantar Public and analysis at the Food Standards Agency (FSA). The study was online and had 1,194 participants in March 2017 but results were only published this month.

The objective was to improve the FSA’s understanding of consumer perceptions on food risk. This could help develop the targeting, messaging and effectiveness of communication with the public, researchers said.

Consumer risk perception on 17 topics identified by FSA and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) including E. coli O157, food allergens, chemicals in food, Campylobacter, norovirus, pesticides, and radioactivity in food were measured.

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Posted in Campylobacter, E.coli O157, E.coli O157:H7, 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 Safety, Food Testing, Food Toxin, Norovirus, Research