The strain of salmonella thought to have killed two nursing home residents and caused dozens of others to fall ill has been found in a Wollongong bakery, tests have confirmed.
To date, 31 cases of confirmed salmonella have been reported from 10 aged care facilities in the Illawarra, south eastern Sydney and ACT.
Two patients have died as a result of the outbreak.
The nursing homes involved are either run by Illawarra Retirement Trust or supplied catering by IRT.
The FSA is issuing an updated Product Recall Information Notice on the Wanis Ltd recall of Africa’s Finest Ground Egusi (Melon Seeds) because salmonella has been detected in another batch of the product (batch code 10/290). Salmonella is a bacterium that can cause food poisoning
The story below from the Wentworth Courier gives a taste of the disdain and food porn that permeates Australian egg culture.
A table of egg-based Salmonella outbreaks is available here.
The former partner of TV chef Manu Feildel has been implicated in a Salmonella poisoning incident at the Double Bay Public School’s Year 6 farewell event.
The incident, which occurred in December 2014, has since been the subject of a NSW Food Authority and NSW Health investigation.
A NSW Food Authority spokeswoman said an investigation had linked the salmonella outbreak “to a raw egg sauce served”.
Posted in Uncategorized
IF BRISBANE wants to be the world-class city it aspires to be, put aside obsessions with TV cooking shows, with political inanities, with imports and focus on what makes people — such as 175 delegates at a school principals’ conference — sick.
After decades of food safety research, I can conclude anyone who serves, prepares or handles food, in a restaurant, nursing home, day care centre, supermarket or local market needs some basic food safety training. And the results of restaurant and other food service inspections must be made public and mandatory.
THE Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre will continue to source food from the same suppliers, but has suspended the use of poultry and eggs, after the second-worst outbreak of salmonella poisoning in Queensland’s history.
Despite the indication of potential food poisoning, poultry and eggs weren’t struck off the menu until late yesterday.
Up to six events were held at the centre yesterday.
Public health authorities are concerned after two new cases of salmonella emerged at aged care facilities in the Illawarra this week, bringing the total number of patients to 31.
Last week authorities were hopeful the outbreak of the food-borne illness at 10 facilities in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven, south-eastern Sydney and the ACT had been contained.
Two elderly residents have died and 16 residents have been hospitalised after contracting a rare strain of salmonella, with the onset of the first case on January 21.
An E. coli outbreak has sickened at least six children in Lodi, California. The children all attend the same elementary school, but the principal says health officials have ruled out the school as the source of the outbreak.
Two of the children in the same class have confirmed cases of E.coli poisoning , one of them, a second grader, was hospitalized. The school has done a thorough cleaning of affected classrooms and health investigators say no E.coli bacteria was found in the cafeteria.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged California, children, e coli outbreak, elementary school, food poisoning, Lodi
The food recall warning issued on February 21, 2015 has been updated to include additional product information. This additional information was identified during the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) food safety investigation.
Industry is recalling Salish Seafoods brand Candy Smoked Salmon from the marketplace due to possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination. Consumers, food service establishments, retailers, and distributors should not consume, serve, use, or sell the recalled product, sold refrigerated, described below.
The following product has been sold in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan and may have been sold in other provinces and territories.
Please note that some product packages may not bear the same brand, product name or lot code as the product described below, or a brand at all. Also, this product may have been sold clerk-served from deli counters with or without a label or coding. Consumers who are unsure if they have purchased the affected product are advised to contact their retailer.
Recalled products
| Brand Name | Common Name | Size | Code(s) on Product | UPC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salish Seafoods | Candy Smoked Salmon | Variable | Lot # 6919, Lot # 6920, Lot # 6932 and Lot # 6949 | None |
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged additional product information, cfia, Recalled product
Long after we’ve swiped and tapped our smart phones, sent or received personal texts, our devices retain a biological history of our actions.
Students studying bacteriology at the University of Surrey imprinted their mobile phones onto Petri dishes to see what they might carry.
Picture from the University of Surrey Website
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged biological history, mobile phones, smart phones, University of Surrey
American Society of Microbiology – Effect of Temperature and Relative Humidity on the Survival of Foodborne Viruses during Food Storage
Millions of people suffer from foodborne diseases throughout the world every year, and the importance of food safety has grown worldwide in recent years. The aim of this study was to investigate the survival of hepatitis A virus (HAV) and viral surrogates of human norovirus (HuNoV) (bacteriophage MS2 and murine norovirus [MNV]) in food over time. HAV, MNV, and MS2 were inoculated onto either the digestive gland of oysters or the surface of fresh peppers, and their survival on these food matrices was measured under various temperature (4°C, 15°C, 25°C, and 40°C) and relative humidity (RH) (50% and 70%) conditions. Inoculated viruses were recovered from food samples and quantified by a plaque assay at predetermined time points over 2 weeks (0, 1, 3, 7, 10, and 14 days). Virus survival was influenced primarily by temperature. On peppers at 40°C and at 50% RH, >4- and 6-log reductions of MNV and HAV, respectively, occurred within 1 day. All three viruses survived better on oysters. In addition, HAV survived better at 70% RH than at 50% RH. The survival data for HAV, MS2, and MNV were fit to three different mathematical models (linear, Weibull, and biphasic models). Among them, the biphasic model was optimum in terms of goodness of fit. The results of this study suggest that major foodborne viruses such as HAV and HuNoV can survive over prolonged periods of time with a limited reduction in numbers. Because a persistence of foodborne virus on contaminated foods was observed, precautionary preventive measures should be performed.
Ingenta Connect – Consumer Education Needed on Norovirus Prevention and Control: Findings from a Nationally Representative Survey of U.S. Adults
Noroviruses (NoVs) are the leading cause of foodborne disease in the United States; however, little is known about consumers’ knowledge of NoV infection and their understanding of how to prevent and control associated illness. A nationally representative Web-enabled panel survey of U.S. adults (n = 1,051) was conducted to collect information on consumers’ awareness and knowledge of NoVs. Respondents who had heard of NoVs were asked 22 true-and-false questions on the transmission, prevention, and control of NoVs. Forty-seven percent of respondents reported awareness of NoVs, and 85% of respondents had heard of the terms “cruise ship virus,” “the stomach bug,” or “the stomach flu,” which are commonly used to describe NoVs. Of those respondents who had previously heard of NoV or other terms used by consumers to describe NoV (n = 948), 36% correctly answered 11 or more of the 22 true-and-false questions, suggesting that consumers have limited knowledge on how to prevent and control NoV infection. Most consumers do not understand that the primary mode of transmission for NoV infection is fecal to oral, and many have the misperception that meat and poultry are sources of NoV infection. There is the need to educate consumers about how to prevent and control NoV infection. Although there is a proliferation of food safety education materials available, most focus on foodborne bacteria rather than viruses. The survey results will be used to revise existing consumer food safety educational materials to include information on NoV prevention and control.
American Society of Microbiology – Inactivation of a Foodborne Norovirus Outbreak Strain with Nonthermal Atmospheric Pressure Plasma
Human norovirus (NoV) is the most frequent cause of epidemic nonbacterial acute gastroenteritis worldwide. We investigated the impact of nonthermal or cold atmospheric pressure plasma (CAPP) on the inactivation of a clinical human outbreak NoV, GII.4. Three different dilutions of a NoV-positive stool sample were prepared and subsequently treated with CAPP for various lengths of time, up to 15 min. NoV viral loads were quantified by quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR). Increased CAPP treatment time led to increased NoV reduction; samples treated for the longest time had the lowest viral load. From the initial starting quantity of 2.36 × 104 genomic equivalents/ml, sample exposure to CAPP reduced this value by 1.23 log10 and 1.69 log10 genomic equivalents/ml after 10 and 15 min, respectively (P < 0.01). CAPP treatment of surfaces carrying a lower viral load reduced NoV by at least 1 log10 after CAPP exposure for 2 min (P < 0.05) and 1 min (P < 0.05), respectively. Our results suggest that NoV can be inactivated by CAPP treatment. The lack of cell culture assays prevents our ability to estimate infectivity. It is possible that some detectable, intact virus particles were rendered noninfectious. We conclude that CAPP treatment of surfaces may be a useful strategy to reduce the risk of NoV transmission in crowded environments.
As the fears associated with Hepatitis A risks from eating imported frozen berries continue, calls are mounting for measures to prevent risks of future outbreaks.
Eating only Australian grown fruit and vegetables, better country-of-origin labelling and stricter biosecurity controls are among measures being called for.
However these are not issues that have emerged overnight.
For more than 20 years the Country Women’s Association of NSW has lobbied against the importation of foods and to improve biosecurity laws so that Australia’s fruit and vegetable industries are protected and the possibility of food contamination is reduced.
Ottawa, February 28, 2015 – Shah Brothers Imports is recalling Shabros brand Kalonji Whole from the marketplace due to possible Salmonella contamination. Consumers should not consume the recalled product described below.
The following product has been sold nationally.
| Brand Name | Common Name | Size | Code(s) on Product | UPC | Reason for Recall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shabros | Kalonji Whole | 170 g | Batch #597 | 0 59011 01037 9 | Microbiological – Salmonella |
