The State Milk Board, in conjunction with the Missouri Department of Agriculture and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, announced today that Homestead Creamery of Jamesport, Mo. is voluntarily withdrawing a batch of its Flory’s Favorite cheese from the marketplace.
Preliminary test results received from the Missouri State Health Laboratory indicate the cheese may be contaminated with Shiga-Toxin producing E.coli, which can lead to food borne illness. Confirmatory tests are ongoing.
The Homestead Creamery plant license to sell milk products in Missouri has been temporarily suspended, pending the results of the investigation by the State Milk Board and Missouri departments of Agriculture and Health and Senior Services.
The withdrawn product, Flory’s Favorite, is a 60-day aged cheese made with raw milk. Packages of the cheese are marked with “Packed On 210” on the label. This affects approximately 250 pounds of cheese and does not affect any other dairy products from Homestead Creamery.
The owner of a Cardiff takeaway has been jailed for eight months following an outbreak of E. coli.
Diar Wali Ali admitted at Cardiff magistrates’ court to 23 food hygiene offences and was jailed on Monday.
In August 2011, nine customers fell ill with food poisoning after visiting the Adonis Kebab House in City Road, Roath.
The takeaway was closed for two weeks while inspections were carried out and the council was satisfied the risks had been removed.
Councillor Derek Morgan, chair of Cardiff council’s public protection committee, said people had a right to eat safe food and certain levels of hygiene.
“However, where poor hygiene practices and substandard conditions are found, we take immediate action to safeguard public health,” he said.
“I hope this case helps to show how seriously we take this commitment and demonstrate that, where appropriate, we will use the full force of the law to ensure food safety regulations are met.”
Posted in Bacteria, E.coli, EHEC, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Hygiene, Illness, Microbiology, outbreak, Pathogen, Recall, STEC
Tagged environment
The State Milk Board, in conjunction with the Missouri Department of Agriculture and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, announced today that Homestead Creamery of Jamesport, Mo. is voluntarily withdrawing a batch of its Flory’s Favorite cheese from the marketplace.
Preliminary test results received from the Missouri State Health Laboratory indicate the cheese may be contaminated with Shiga-Toxin producing E.coli, which can lead to food borne illness. Confirmatory tests are ongoing.
The Homestead Creamery plant license to sell milk products in Missouri has been temporarily suspended, pending the results of the investigation by the State Milk Board and Missouri departments of Agriculture and Health and Senior Services.
The withdrawn product, Flory’s Favorite, is a 60-day aged cheese made with raw milk. Packages of the cheese are marked with “Packed On 210″ on the label. This affects approximately 250 pounds of cheese and does not affect any other dairy products from Homestead Creamery.
Abstract
Lethal and sublethal injury of two Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes) and one Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria in milk by pulsed electric fields (PEF) were determined using non-selective and selective media. PEF inactivation kinetics including lethal and sublethal injury fractions was also studied. The proportion of the sublethally injured microbial cells depended on the microorganisms, electric field strength and treatment time. The proportion of sublethally injured microbial cells reached maximum after a specific PEF treatment, and it kept constant or progressively decreased at greater electric field strengths and with longer PEF treatments. For the strain of L. monocytogenes, the proportion of sublethally injured cells increased from 18.98% to 43.64% with the increasing electric field strength from15 to 30 kV/cm. While for the strains of E. coli and S. aureus, the proportion of sublethally injured cells achieved the maximum (40.74% and 36.51%, respectively) at 25 kV/cm and then decreased. The proportion of the sublethally injured microbial cells reached maximum at 400 μs (S. aureus and L. monocytogenes) or 500 μs (E. coli), and decreased at longer treatments at 30 kV/cm. The PEF inactivation kinetics including lethal and sublethally injured fractions was analyzed by the Hülsheger model, and the model parameters (EC, tC, kE, bt) for lethal and sublethal injury were also calculated.
Abstract
A previously developed multiplex PCR targeting gyrB of Vibrios at genus level and pntA genes for specific detection of Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio vulnificus was evaluated. The sensitivity of the multiplex PCR on spiked seafood was 1.5 × 103 CFU g−1. One hundred and fifty seafood samples were collected from retail stores and hypermarkets in different locations in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya and Seri Kembangan. The prevalence of V. parahaemolyticus was 29% (43/150). The pntA primers for V. parahaemolyticus detection were 100% specific and comparable to the toxR gene-based PCR. Six (12%) and 2 (4%) isolates contained trh and tdh genes, respectively. Repetitive Extragenic Palindromic PCR (REP-PCR) was used to genetically characterize the V. parahaemolyticus isolates in which 41 REP profiles were observed and all the isolates were categorized into 11 distinct clusters at the similarity of 80%. tdh-positive isolates shared a low level of similarity with trh-positive isolates. The prevalence of V. parahaemolyticus and particularly the presence of virulent gene such as trh and tdh among the isolates reiterate a high risk of contamination for seafood consumers in Malaysia. DNA fingerprinting of V. parahaemolyticus in this study indicates a high genetic diversity among the isolates and REP-PCR was able to distinguish the isolates with different virulotypes.
Abstract
The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of Listeria spp., specifically Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat (RTE) foods and ascertain the efficiency of detecting L. monocytogenes with different selective culture media. A total of 396 RTE food samples were purchased from hypermarkets and streetside hawker stalls to examine the presence of Listeria spp. and L. monocytogenes. The presumptive isolates were characterized biochemically and were further confirmed by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Out of 396 samples, Listeria spp. was detected in 71 (17.9%) samples in which 45 (11.4%) were positive for L. monocytogenes. Among the studied RTE foods, salads and vegetables had the highest prevalence (14.7%) of L. monocytogenes, followed by chicken and chicken products (13.2%), beverages (10%), eggs and egg products (9.5%), beef and beef products (6.7%), lunch boxes (6.7%) and seafood and seafood products (6.7%). Both Listeria selective agar and PALCAM agar displayed a low sensitivity and specificity in L. monocytogenes detection compared to CHROMagar™ Listeria which demonstrated 96.9% of sensitivity and 99.1% of specificity in L. monocytogenes detection in naturally-contaminated foods. In conclusion, this work revealed consumption of RTE foods as a potential risk of listeriosis in this region. The high contamination rate of L. monocytogenes in salads and vegetables from hypermarkets and streetside hawker stalls was of great concern due to emerging fresh produce-borne L.monocytogenes globally. The scenario warrants further surveillance and action by the local authority to control the incidence of L. monocytogenes contamination in RTE foods.
This notice provides new instructions to inspection program personnel (IPP) for verifying and documenting the sample source (beef, veal, or mixed) in the Public Health Information System (PHIS) when collecting raw beef samples under FSIS’s verification testing programs for Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC).
Listeria monocytogenes, a bacterial foodborne pathogen, can cause meningitis, bacteremia, and complications during pregnancy. This report summarizes listeriosis outbreaks reported to the Foodborne Disease Outbreak Surveillance System of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during 1998–2008. The study period includes the advent of PulseNet (a national molecular subtyping network for outbreak detection) in 1998 and the Listeria Initiative (enhanced surveillance for outbreak investigation) in 2004. Twenty-four confirmed listeriosis outbreaks were reported during 1998–2008, resulting in 359 illnesses, 215 hospitalizations, and 38 deaths. Outbreaks earlier in the study period were generally larger and longer. Serotype 4b caused the largest number of outbreaks and outbreak-associated cases. Ready-to-eat meats caused more early outbreaks, and novel vehicles (i.e., sprouts, taco/nacho salad) were associated with outbreaks later in the study period. These changes may reflect the effect of PulseNet and the Listeria Initiative and regulatory initiatives designed to prevent contamination in ready-to-eat meat and poultry products.
Grape seed extract (GSE) is reported to have antibacterial properties with few current studies on antiviral activity. Recently, we reported the effects of GSE against foodborne viral surrogates in vitro. This study evaluated the application of GSE (commercial Gravinol-S) against hepatitis A virus (HAV) and human norovirus surrogates, feline calicivirus (FCV-F9) and murine norovirus (MNV-1), on model produce. Washed and air-dried lettuce (3 × 3 cm2) and jalapeno peppers (25–30 g) were inoculated with FCV-F9, MNV-1, or HAV at high (∼7 log10 PFU/ml) or low (∼5 log10 PFU/ml) titers, and treated with 0.25, 0.5, 1 mg/ml GSE or water for 30 s to 5 min. Treatments were stopped/diluted with cell-culture media containing 10% heat-inactivated fetal bovine serum and evaluated using plaque assays. At high titers, FCV-F9 was reduced by 2.33, 2.58, and 2.71 log10 PFU on lettuce; and 2.20, 2.74, and 3.05 log10 PFU on peppers after 1 min using 0.25, 0.50, and 1 mg/ml GSE, respectively. Low FCV-F9 titers could not be detected after 1 min at all three GSE concentrations. Low titer MNV-1 was reduced by 0.2–0.3 log10 PFU on lettuce and 0.8 log10 PFU on peppers, without reduction of high titer. GSE at 0.25–1 mg/ml after 1 min caused 0.7–1.1 and 1–1.3 log10 PFU reduction for high and low HAV titers, respectively on both commodities. Instrumental color analysis showed no significant differences between treated and untreated produce. GSE shows potential for foodborne viral reduction on produce as part of hurdle technologies.
Fresh-cut iceberg lettuce inoculated with Escherichia coli O157:H7 was submitted to chlorine washing (150 mg/mL) and modified atmosphere packaging on laboratory scale. Populations of E. coli O157:H7 were assessed in fresh-cut lettuce stored at 4, 8, 13 and 16 °C using 6–8 replicates in each analysis point in order to capture experimental variability. The pathogen was able to grow at temperatures ≥8 °C, although at low temperatures, growth data presented a high variability between replicates. Indeed, at 8 °C after 15 days, some replicates did not show growth while other replicates did present an increase. A growth primary model was fitted to the raw growth data to estimate lag time and maximum growth rate. The prediction and confidence bands for the fitted growth models were estimated based on Monte-Carlo method. The estimated maximum growth rates (log cfu/day) corresponded to 0.14 (95% CI: 0.06–0.31), 0.55 (95% CI: 0.17–1.20) and 1.43 (95% CI: 0.82–2.15) for 8, 13 and 16 °C, respectively. A square-root secondary model was satisfactorily derived from the estimated growth rates (R2 > 0.80; Bf = 0.97; Af = 1.46). Predictive models and data obtained in this study are intended to improve quantitative risk assessment studies for E. coli O157:H7 in leafy green products.
Posted in Bacteria, E.coli O157, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Technology, Food Testing, Food Virus, Hepatitis A, Hygiene, Illness, Methods, Microbiology, Norovirus, Pathogen, Research, STEC
Tagged cell culture media, fetal bovine serum, plaque assays, science
Produce related outbreaks have been traced back to the preharvest environment. A longitudinal study was conducted on five farms in New York State to characterize prevalence, persistence, and diversity of foodborne pathogens in fresh produce fields and to determine landscape and meteorological factors that predict their presence. Produce fields were sampled four times per year for two years. A total of 588 samples were analyzed for L. monocytogenes, Salmonella and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC). The prevalence measures of L. monocytogenes, Salmonella and STEC were 15.0, 4.6, and 2.7%, respectively. L. monocytogenes and Salmonella were detected more frequently in water samples, while STEC was detected with equal frequency across all sample types (soil, water, feces and drag swabs). L. monocytogenes sigB gene allelic types 57, 58 and 61, and Salmonella Cerro, were repeatedly isolated from water samples. Soil available water storage (AWS), temperature, and proximity to three land cover classes: water, roads and urban development, and pasture/hay grass, influenced the likelihood of detecting L. monocytogenes. Drainage class, AWS, and precipitation were identified as important factors in Salmonella detection. This information was used in a geographic information systems framework to hypothesize locations of environmental reservoirs where the prevalence of foodborne pathogens may be elevated. The map indicated that not all croplands are equally likely to contain environmental reservoirs of L. monocytogenes. These findings advance recommendations to minimize the risk of preharvest contamination by enhancing models of the environmental constraints on the survival and persistence of foodborne pathogens in fields.
Posted in Bacteria, E.coli, E.coli O157, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Hygiene, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Microbiology, Pathogen, Research, STEC, Toxin
Tagged environment, information systems framework, nature, salmonella detection, science
USDA Isolation of Non 0157 Shiga Toxin E.coli with Appendix
USDA Isolation of Listeria monocytogenes with Appendix
USDA Isolation of Listeria monocytogenes PCR
Posted in Bacteria, E.coli, E.coli O104, E.coli O145, E.coli O157, E.coli O26, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Safety, Food Testing, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Methods, Microbiology, Pathogen, Recall, STEC, USDA
Tagged e coli, isolation, Methods, science, toxin, usda methods
RASFF – Salmonella in White Pepper in Sweden sourced in Sri Lanka
RASFF – Salmonella in Marinated Pork in Sweden sourced in Denmark
RASFF – Salmonella in Pork Meat in Swede sourced in Germany
RASFF – Histamine Tuna Fillet in Italy sourced in Spain
RASFF – Histamine Tuna Loins in Italy from Spain
RASFF – Listeria in Smoked Salmon in Italy sourced in Spain
RASFF – Listeria in Raw Milk Cheese France
RASFF – Listeria in Vac Pac Smoked Salmon in Italy sourced in Poland
RASFF – Campylobacter in Chicken Breast Fillet in Denmark sourced in France.
RASFF – Pseudomans aeruginosa in Mineral Water in Cyprus sourced in Greece
RASFF – STEC E.coli in Soyabean Sprouts in Austria sourced in Italy
RASFF – Aflatoxins in Whole Nutmeg in France souced in Indonesia.
Posted in Aflatoxin, Bacteria, E.coli, EHEC, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Histamine, Hygiene, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Microbiology, Pathogen, Pseudomonas, RASFF, Recall, Salmonella, Sprouting Seeds, STEC, Toxin
Tagged food, raw milk cheese
FoodWorld 