Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Edition

Health Protection Agency (HPA) has confirmed that over 7,000 Norovirus cases were reported across hospitals in the Malé region during the month of July.

According to statistics from HPA, there were a total of 3,328 cases of diarrhea and nausea reported in June, and this figure doubled to 7,384 cases in July.

After thousands had gathered to watch the Maldives’ Independence Day parade and festivities, many individuals either consulted or were admitted to hospitals in the Malé region with symptoms of diarrhea and nausea. Most of the hospitals reported that their emergency rooms operated at full capacity due to the surge in cases.

HPA has confirmed that the flu is a strain of the Norovirus, which causes symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea, and fever.

While cases spiked in the Greater Malé region, reports of the flu have been surging across the atolls as well.

Symptoms of the flu, besides diarrhea and nausea, include fever, stomach pain, and fatigue. The virus is also commonly referred to as ‘stomach flu.’

Chilled Food Assoc

Principles of an Environmental Monitoring Program for the Management of Listeria monocytogenes 

This guidance sets out effective environmental hygiene management using monitoring and preventative and corrective actions and how to interpret this data and relate it to other results from raw materials, components and product. This gives much-needed detail to support good hygiene practice particularly for SMEs and for enforcement not only by Competent Authorities but also commercially, e.g. by FBOs buying ready to eat ingredients from suppliers and for final product retail customers.

EDEX Live

Seven students of the Moraji Desai Residential School in Gundlupete, Karnataka, fell ill after consuming the hostel food on Thursday, July 27.

Monitor

150 students of Nakanyonyi SS hospitalised after suspected food poisoning

FDA

Company Announcement

Cooperstown Cheese Company of Milford, NY, is recalling 1400 pounds of cheese purchased, sold or distributed from June 21, 2023 to July 10, 2023 because it has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

Product was distributed in New York State and reached customers through farmers markets, restaurants and retail stores. In a retail store, the product may be repackaged and wrapped in cellophane or cheese paper or vacuum sealed. The products are labelled as Jersey Girl, Toma Celena and Abbie. At farmers markets, the product is wrapped in cheese paper or plastic. The products found at farmers markets are labelled as Jersey Girl, Toma Celena, SK, Jersey Gold, Marielle, Jersey Girl with garlic/rosemary, Jersey Girl spring onion, Bobby’s got the Blues, Toma Torino, Jersey Gold with garlic, and Abbie. Cut and wrapped, the product would last roughly 2 weeks, depending on storage. In restaurants, the products are labelled as Jersey Girl and Toma Celena. All are labelled with Cooperstown Cheese Company labels that contain the company contact information.

The listeria was found through routine environmental testing by the firm and during an FDA inspection.

The company has ceased production as they and FDA continue to investigate the problem.

No illnesses have been reported to date.

Consumers who have purchased any of the products can return them to where they were purchased for refund. For more information, please contact Sharon Tomaselli of Cooperstown Cheese Company at 978-257-4635, 9 to 5, EST.

Food Safety News

TORONTO — Laura Gieraltowski, lead of the Foodborne Outbreak Response Team at the CDC’s Outbreak Response and Prevention Branch, Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, presented a review of multistate outbreaks of Salmonella infections linked to melons grown in Indiana.

Speaking at the annual conference of the International Association for Food Protection, Gieraltowski highlighted the outbreak in 2012, where Salmonella-contaminated cantaloupes from a farm in southwest Indiana as the beginning of a concerning pattern. The outbreak caused illness in 261 people across 24 states, resulting in 94 hospitalizations and three deaths.

Morocco World News

Rabat – About 60 people suffered from food poisoning due to seasonal fruits in Sidi Bennour, a city 174 kilometers away from Casablanca.

A statement from local authorities said that the victims of food poisoning were admitted to the Hospital of Sidi Bennour, with preliminary data showing a consumption of seasonal fruits as a possible cause.

Several ambulances have been deployed to ensure the transfer of urgent cases that need medical care.

No information on the specific products consumed by the victims has been revealed.

The people admitted to the hospital are in stable condition, the statement said, noting that services of the National Office for Food Safety (ONSSA) intervened to take samples of the concerned products to submit them for necessary laboratory analyses.

The Print

Rajouri/Jammu, Jul 9 (PTI) In a suspected case of food poisoning, a teenager from Nepal died and his cousin brother was hospitalised in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Sunday.

Quoting the statement of the accompanying relatives, the official said the condition of the duo deteriorated shortly after having dinner and they were rushed to hospital.