Category Archives: STEC E.coli

Japan and South Korea – Thousands sick in E. coli outbreaks

Posted on July 20, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

Officials in Korea are investigating an E. coli outbreak that has affected 100 people while more than 3,000 students and teachers recently got food poisoning in Japan, according to media reports.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) has been investigating an Enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) outbreak with the local municipality and relevant ministries since mid-June. EHEC is also known as Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC).

The outbreak in a kindergarten in Ansan-si, Gyeonggi Province had 58 confirmed cases as of late June with 114 people showing symptoms. Most of these are students of the kindergarten but three are family members of pupils.

A total of 21 people — 19 kindergarten students and two family members — were in hospital for inpatient care. Sixteen people — 14 students and two family members — had onset of symptoms suspected to be hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a type of kidney failure associated with E. coli infection, and four people were receiving dialysis treatment.

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Posted in Bacterial Toxin, E.coli, EHEC, food bourne outbreak, food contamination, 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 Toxin, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, outbreak, STEC, STEC E.coli, Toxin, Uncategorized

Research – Inactivation of Salmonella and Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) from the surface of alfalfa seeds and sprouts by combined antimicrobial treatments using ozone and electrolyzed water

Posted on July 18, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Science Direct

Individual chemical and non-chemical treatments have failed to disinfect alfalfa seeds and sprouts from pathogens thoroughly. This study investigated the disinfection of alfalfa seeds and sprouts using a procedure combining ozone with acidic (pH 3.0) electrolyzed water (AEW). Inoculated alfalfa seeds with a cocktail of 3 strains Salmonella and 3 strains of STEC were treated sequentially with aqueous ozone followed by AEW. Treatment started by immersing the samples into ozonated water (5 mg/L ozone) for 15 or 20 minutes with persistent oxygen feeding pressurized with 10 psi. The samples then were immersed in 1 L of AEW for 15 min. Salmonella and STEC were significantly (P < 0.05) reduced by 3.6 and 2.9 log CFU/g on seeds respectively, and by 3.1 and 3.0 log CFU/g reduction on sprouts. Significant differences (P < 0.05) were found in the magnitude of the log reduction between Salmonella and STEC on seeds and between seeds and sprouts. Using combined treatments showed no significant changes in the quality, including shelf life, weight, and color in sprouts as compared to controls. The findings suggest that the combination of ozone and AEW is effective in inactivation of Salmonella and STEC on alfalfa seeds and sprouts with no adverse effects on sprouts quality.

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Posted in Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Technology, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Research, STEC, STEC E.coli, Technology, Uncategorized

Scotland – Salmonella and STEC behind most outbreaks in Scotland

Posted on July 17, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

There were 11 foodborne outbreaks in Scotland this past year with almost 50 people falling ill.

Salmonella and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) were the most frequently reported organisms.

Findings come from the Health Protection Scotland (HPS), part of Public Health Scotland (PHS), annual surveillance report on bacterial, protozoal and viral outbreaks of infectious intestinal disease in 2019.

The 11 outbreaks and 49 illnesses in 2019 is down from the 14 outbreaks and 117 illnesses reported in 2018, but in line with the previous five-year average of 13 outbreaks per year. Figures from 2018 include a norovirus outbreak that affected 60 people.

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Posted in food bourne outbreak, food contamination, 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 Poisoning Death, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Toxin, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, outbreak, Research, Salmonella, STEC, STEC E.coli, Uncategorized

RASFF Alert – STEC E.coli – Chilled Beef Meat

Posted on July 17, 2020 by | Leave a comment

RASFF-Logo

RASFF – shigatoxin-producing Escherichia coli in chilled beef meat from Belgium in the Netherlands

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Posted in food contamination, Food Hygiene, 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, RASFF, STEC, STEC E.coli, Uncategorized

Belgium – Carrefour recall American Nature recall of the Carrefour brand. Problem: potential presence of E. Coli STEC.

Posted on July 16, 2020 by | Leave a comment

AFSCA

Following a check and as a precautionary measure in order to guarantee consumer safety, CARREFOUR requests to withdraw from the market the American Nature 200g, 300g, 600g, 1.2kg sold in the BUTCHER department of certain Carrefour stores in Belgium and calls them back to the consumers following a potential presence of E. Coli STEC.


Product description:

– Product name: Américain Nature
– Brand: Carrefour
– Use by date (DLC) (“To consume until”): 07/19/2020 and 07/20/2020
– Sale period: from 13 / 07/2020 to 15/07/2020
– Type of packaging: transparent plastic tray
– Weight: 200g, 300g, 600g and 1.2 kg
– The package bears the supplier’s stamp number 26/1

PRODUCTS PACKED IN STORES ARE NOT CONCERNED

All products have been withdrawn from sale. Some of these products were, however, sold on the Belgian market before the withdrawal measure. It is therefore recommended that people who hold the products described above not consume them and destroy them or bring them back to the point of sale where they will be reimbursed.

People who have consumed these products and who have intestinal disorders are invited to consult their doctor by reporting this consumption. These symptoms can be made worse in young children, pregnant women, immunocompromised people and the elderly.

People who have consumed the products mentioned above and who present these symptoms are invited to consult their doctor by reporting this consumption.

For any further information, you can contact the Carrefour Belgique consumer service by calling the free number 0800.9.10.11 , from 8:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on working days and from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays.

We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.

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Posted in afsca, E.coli, food contamination, Food Hygiene, 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, STEC, STEC E.coli, Uncategorized

Belgium – Viangro Recall -Spicy Beef Hamburger 500g. – STEC E.coli

Posted on July 16, 2020 by | Leave a comment

AFSCA

In agreement with the AFSCA, Viangro is withdrawing the 500g spicy beef burger from the sale and is recalling it from consumers due to the potential presence of E. Coli STEC.

LIDL Belgium asks its customers not to consume this product and to bring it back to the point of sale in which it was purchased.


Product description

– Product name: Spicy beef hamburger
– Use by date (DLC) (“To consume until”): 07/19/2020 and 07/20/2020
– Sales period: from 07/13 / 2020 to 07/15/2020
– Type of packaging: plastic tray
– Weight: 500g

The product was sold through Lidl stores in Belgium.

For further information, contact Lidl customer service ( 0800/73520 (free))

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Posted in E.coli, food contamination, Food Hygiene, 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, STEC, STEC E.coli, Uncategorized

Research – Thermal Resistance of Foodborne Pathogens and Enterococcus faecium NRRL B-2354 on Inoculated Pistachios

Posted on July 5, 2020 by | Leave a comment

JFP

ABSTRACT

Process control validations require knowledge of the resistance of the pathogen(s) of concern to the target treatment and, in some cases, the relative resistance of surrogate organisms. Selected strains of Escherichia coli O157:H7 (five strains), Listeria monocytogenes (five strains), and Salmonella enterica (five strains) as well as Salmonella Enteritidis phage type (PT) 30 and nonpathogenic Enterococcus faecium NRRL B-2354 were inoculated separately (as individual strains) onto inshell pistachios. The thermal tolerance of each strain was compared via treatment of inoculated pistachios to hot oil (121°C) or hot water (80°C) for 1 min. Survivor curves in hot oil or hot water (0.5 to 6 min, n = 6 to 15) were determined for one or two of the most resistant strains of each pathogen, as well as E. faecium NRRL B-2354 and Salmonella Enteritidis PT 30, and the Weibull model was fit to the data. A pilot-scale air-impingement oven was used to compare the thermal tolerance of E. faecium NRRL B-2354 and Salmonella Enteritidis PT 30 on pistachios with or without a brining pretreatment and at either dry (no steam) or 30% humidity (v/v) oven conditions. No significant difference in the time to a 4-log reduction in hot oil or hot water was predicted for any of the strains evaluated, on the basis of the 95% confidence interval. In the pilot-scale oven, E. faecium NRRL B-2354 was more thermally resistant than Salmonella in a broad set of differing treatments, treatment times, and temperatures. Salmonella is a suitable target pathogen of concern in pistachios for thermal processes because no other pathogen tested was more thermally resistant under the conditions evaluated. E. faecium NRRL B-2354 was at least as thermally resistant as Salmonella under all conditions evaluated, making it a good potential surrogate for Salmonella on pistachios.

HIGHLIGHTS
  • Salmonella Enteritidis PT 30 is a reasonable target strain for laboratory-based studies.
  • E. coli O157:H7 or L. monocytogenes were less thermally resistant than Salmonella.
  • E. faecium NRRL B-2354 was at least as thermally resistant or more so than Salmonella.
  • E. faecium NRRL B-2354 is a good potential thermal-treatment surrogate for pistachios.

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Posted in E.coli, E.coli O157, E.coli O157:H7, Enterococcus faecium, Food Microbiology Research, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Research, Salmonella, STEC E.coli, Uncategorized

South Korea – Food poisoning sickens about 100 kindergarten pupils in Ansan

Posted on June 26, 2020 by | Leave a comment

YNA

ANSAN, South Korea, June 25 (Yonhap) — About 100 pupils at a kindergarten in Ansan, just south of Seoul, have complained of food poisoning symptoms over the past week, with a fifth of them hospitalized for hamburger disease and other disorders, municipal health officials said Thursday.

According to the officials in Ansan, 50 kilometers south of the capital, 99 out of 184 children attending the unidentified kindergarten showed symptoms of food poisoning from June 16 to Monday, and 22 of them were sent to hospitals.

Some of them are reportedly showing signs of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), also known as hamburger disease, which could cause severe kidney failure, they noted, adding doctors raised the possibility of hamburger disease among some ailing students.

The number of patients has been increasing since four children complained of stomachaches on June 16. By June 17, 10 pupils exhibited symptoms of stomachache and diarrhea.

Authorities have found hemorrhaging E. coli bacteria in samples taken from about 30 pupils. HUS is one of the complications caused by E. coli bacteria.

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Posted in E.coli, food contamination, 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, Haemolytic Uremic Syndrome, HUS, STEC E.coli, Uncategorized

Research – Prevalence of Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia Coli in Beef Cattle

Posted on June 20, 2020 by | Leave a comment

PubMed

A large number of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) strains have caused major outbreaks and sporadic cases of human illnesses, including mild diarrhea, bloody diarrhea, hemorrhagic colitis, and the life-threatening hemolytic uremic syndrome. These illnesses have been traced to both O157 and non-O157 STEC. In a large number of STEC-associated outbreaks, the infections were attributed to consumption of ground beef or other beef products contaminated with cattle feces. Thus, beef cattle are considered reservoirs of STEC and can pose significant health risks to humans. The global nature of the human food supply suggests that safety concerns with beef will continue and the challenges facing the beef industry will increase at the production and processing levels. To be prepared to address these concerns and challenges, it is critical to assess the role of beef cattle in human STEC infections. In this review, published reports on STEC in beef cattle were evaluated to achieve the following specific objectives: (i) assess the prevalence of STEC in beef cattle, and (ii) determine the potential health risks of STEC strains from beef cattle. The latter objective is critically important because many beef STEC isolates are highly virulent. Global testing of beef cattle feces revealed wide ranges of prevalence rates for O157 STEC (i.e., 0.2 to 27.8%) and non-O157 STEC (i.e., 2.1 to 70.1%). Of the 261 STEC serotypes found in beef cattle, 44 cause hemolytic uremic syndrome and 37 cause other illnesses.

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Posted in E.coli, E.coli O157, E.coli O157:H7, food contamination, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, Food Safety, Food Testing, Food Toxin, Research, STEC, STEC E.coli, Uncategorized

Research – Raw is still risky: Six years after a toddler died, Australian advocates want raw milk back on the table

Posted on June 19, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Barf blog

In late 2014, three children in the Australian state of Victoria developed hemolytic uremic syndrome linked to Shiga-toxin toxin producing E. coli in unpasteurized bath milk produced by Mountain View Dairy Farm. One child died, and two others developed cryptosporidiosis.

The Victorian government quickly banned the sale of so-called bath milk, which although labeled as not fit for human consumption, was a widely recognized way for Australian consumers to access raw milk.

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Posted in Cryptosporidiosis, Cryptosporidium, E.coli, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Raw Milk, STEC, STEC E.coli, Uncategorized