Category Archives: Uncategorized

GovUK 

Public Health England (PHE) is investigating a number of cases of gastroenteritis caused by Salmonella Enteritidis PT8. This is linked to exposure to reptiles, in particular to snakes. There have been 70 cases of this type of salmonella across England, so far in 2015.

Professor Jeremy Hawker, a salmonella expert at PHE said:

It is already well established that there is a risk of salmonella associated with pet reptiles. Reptiles, including snakes, have long been known to carry particular types of salmonella, most carry salmonella in their gut and shed the bacteria in their droppings. These droppings can quickly spread over the reptile’s skin and any surface or object they come into contact with including cages, toys, clothes, furniture and household surfaces.

Raw or frozen mice used as snake feed may be the principle route of disease transmission in this outbreak. Such feeder mice have previously been found to be a source of salmonella and present a risk to those who handle them.

Babies and children under 5 are particularly at risk from infection. Children who had no contact with reptiles can also get infected indirectly through the reptile handler or by contamination of the environment. However, many children can be curious and like to handle and stroke pet reptiles and as a result their hands and fingers become contaminated. Added to this, children do not have fully developed immune systems and so are therefore at increased risk of becoming severely ill following exposure to salmonella.

To reduce the risk of developing a salmonella infection, reptile owners are advised to:

• always wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water immediately after handling your reptile, their cage or any other equipment such as soaking pools
• defrost frozen feeds on newspaper or kitchen towels preferably overnight, and away from food and food preparation surfaces and equipment and avoid defrosting in warm water or microwave as this can lead to a risk of cross contamination
• always wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water immediately after feeding your reptile, in particular after handling raw (frozen or defrosted) mice, rats or chicks
• ensure that all surfaces that have come into contact with the defrosting food are cleaned thoroughly afterwards
• not eat or drink while handling your reptile or its food and associated equipment
• always supervise children to ensure that they do not put your reptile, or objects that the reptile has been in contact with, near their mouths, and wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water immediately after handling your reptile or such objects
• keep your reptile out of rooms where food is prepared and eaten
• limit the parts of the house where your reptile is allowed to roam freely
• not use kitchen sinks to bathe your reptile, wash their cage or equipment or defrost feed and if you use a bathroom sink or bathtub, it must be cleaned thoroughly with disinfectant afterwards
• dispose of waste water, droppings and urine from your reptile down the toilet instead of a sink or bathtub

If you or other family members become ill with symptoms such as diarrhoea, fever, abdominal pain or vomiting, consult your doctor and inform the doctor that you own or keep a reptile.

Salmonella is a bacterium that is naturally found in the gut of many animals, including reptiles. This bacterium can spread from the animals to cause infection in people, in most just causing a mild illness with diarrhoea, fever, abdominal pain and nausea, but children and babies can develop more serious illness. Just over 1% of the population own or keep reptiles in England.

Guidance on Salmonella: reducing infection from reptiles is available on the PHE website.

FSA
The Golden Cross Cheese Company Ltd is recalling five batches of Flower Marie Sheep Milk Cheese on a precautionary basis because of the presence of Listeria monocytogenes.

Product: Flower Marie Sheep Milk CheesePack size: 200g and 600gBatch codes: 246, 244, 240, 236, 232’Best before’ date: all date codes

The Golden Cross Cheese Company Ltd is recalling the above product and has contacted its customers. A point-of-sale notice will be displayed by businesses selling this product. The notice alerts customers to the recall and advises them of what actions to take if they have bought the product. A copy of the point-of-sale notice can be found via the link below. No other The Golden Cross Cheese Company Ltd products are known to be affected. –

Shigella Blog 

The Kansas City Health Department put out new numbers on Friday, explaining that the city normally sees 10 cases of Shigella a year. So far in 2015, there have already been 150 reported cases. From January 1 to July 1 this year, there were 16 reported cases. In the past two months, 134 additional cases. That total, 150, is 15-times the annual average.

Food Poisoning Bulletin

According to the Washington State Department of Health, at least 18 resident are sick with Salmonella Poona infections linked to cucumbers imported from Mexico by Andrew & Williamson Fresh Produce. Nationwide, at least 558 people are sick in this outbreak.

The eighteen people sick in Washington live in these counties: Clark (3), King (5), Kitsap (2), Pierce (3), Snohomish (3), Thurston (1) and Yakima (1). None of those patients were hospitalized. State health officials are working with the CDC and FDA on this investigation.

Food Poisoning Bulletin 

OC Raw Dog of California is recalling 640 pounds of their raw dog food because it may be contaminated with Salmonella bacteria. No illnesses have been reported to date in connection with this recalled product.

The recalled product is Chicken, Fish & Produce Raw Frozen Canine Formulations that was packaged into 6.5 pound Doggie Dozen Patties, 4 pound Doggie Sliders, and 3 pound Meaty Rox. The lot number is 1819, and the use by date is 05/05/16. Distribution is limited to customers in Colorado, Vermont, and Pennsylvania, and sold to consumers through independent pet specialty retailers. You can see pictures of product labelsOC at the FDA site.

CFIA

Kiskadee Ventures Limited is recalling freshKIS brand water mint from the marketplace due to possible Salmonella contamination. Consumers should not consume the recalled product described below.

The following product was sold at Real Canadian Superstore, 3050 Argentina Road, Mississauga, Ontario.

FSA – Northern Ireland

The report covers the targeted, risk-based, sampling and testing of food carried out by local councils in Northern Ireland across the food supply and retail chain.

Overall, a high percentage of the wide range of foodstuffs sampled were found to comply with food safety and standards legislation. The main issues continue to be in relation to incorrect labelling and description of food.

Similar to 2013, the results of sampling in 2014 indicate that there have been relatively few detections of foodborne pathogens. In 2014, 6,371 samples were submitted for microbiological examination and 1894 samples were submitted for chemical analysis.

Key findings of the report were:

• In total, 61% of microbiological samples and 69% of chemical samples were satisfactory.
• Only a small number of the samples, which did not meet microbiological standards, were found to contain pathogens that could present a risk to health.
• The majority of samples that failed chemical analysis were due to labelling issues, rather than the presence of harmful substances.

As with the committee’s previous reports, the eighth report contains a number of recommendations to further improve food safety compliance and gives an indication of the issues the committee might explore in future work.

Science Direct

Commission Regulation (EC) No. 2073/2005 established, as a food safety criterion for tolerable levels of Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat foods which do not support the growth of the pathogen or with shelf life below 5 days, a maximum of 100 cfu g⁻¹. Blue-veined cheeses are among these foods because their rinds can be contaminated, and the pathogen can be transferred to the paste during slicing. The aim of this research was to investigate whether cutting procedures could be responsible for cheese paste contamination. Considering that the Commission Regulation limit is allowed when the pathogen does not grow during the shelf life, we also wanted to verify whether, in the case of positive dragging, L. monocytogenes was able to grow on cut slices beyond the limit imposed, thereby becoming a risk for consumers during storage at 4 °C. Gorgonzola cheese was chosen for this investigation. The cutting simulation on artificially inoculated wheel rinds indicated that greater rind contamination corresponded to a higher percentage of contaminated paste samples. The growth of L. monocytogenes transferred to cut slices was variable relative to the physicochemical characteristics of the cheese, to the contamination level and to the time of storage. In particular, the sweet typology was able to support the growth of L. monocytogenes in the shelf life conditions considered and the quick overcoming of the limit imposed by food safety criteria would not ensure the safety for consumption.

Food Poisoning Bulletin 

Three Chicago area schools were closed last week because their water systems had dangerous levels of Legionella, the bacteria that causes Legionnaires Disease. Officials from School District U-46 closed Eastview Middle School, Larkin High School and the Educational Services Center, housing Gifford Street middle and high schools and the Central Schools Program, on Thursday and Friday while cooling towers were cleaned and sanitized.

The closures affected an estimated 3,000 of the district’s 40,000 students and about 300 employees. No illnesses have been reported.

Food Poisoning Bulletin

Matt Hongoltz-Hetling and Jordan Cuddemi of the New Hampshire Valley News report that Vermont Health officials are investigating a cluster of E. coli O157:H7 cases and warning physicians to watch for more cases.