The FDA and CDC have announced that they are investigating a multistate outbreak of Listeriosis, so far 15 people have been affected. The outbreak is tentatively being linked to fresh cantaloupes from a region in Colorado and the investigation is on going. See the full report through the link below.
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The UK Food Standards Agency are looking for specialists in several areas
Applications by October 10th
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Scientists from around the world have been collaborating on trying to unlock the ‘secrets’ of the E. coli O104 strain that caused the outbreak in Germany and France this year which claimed 50 deaths and over 4000 illnesses.
The researchers have now found ten variants by DNA sequencing, this information should make plotting and tracing any future outbreaks easier and quicker. It may also lead to ways to control the organism more effectively. Full story below
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The ongoing botulinum scare originating from tapenade (spreadable tomato paste)from France has now spread to the USA. The products seem to have come from a tapenade from a company called Le Ruche, similar warnings have been issued in the UK and France.
Eight adults are suffering from respiratory failure after consuming neurotoxin from Clostridium botulinum that had contaminated the food.
Cargill has also recently recalled ground turkey meat after risk of contamination by Salmonella was found.
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The UK are investing £4M in projects aimed at cutting the 300,000 + cases of Campylobacter poisoning case in the UK. The organism accounts for thousands of lost man hours and is estimated to cost the country £600 million every year.
Some projects will look at the poultry industry where it is estimated two-thirds of fresh poultry is thought to contain Campylobacter. Later stages of the projects will look at the organism through the food chain.
Different groups will be looking at bacteriophages specifically developed against Campylobacter and another at a vaccine for poultry flocks.
The full story can be found at Food Production Daily.com
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The FSA are looking at an overhaul of the current import regulations and introduce a new strategy of an intelligence based program, with more analysis and cutting bureaucracy that will boost the safety of food imports into the UK. But industry may have to pay for the cost of this new strategy if imported goods do not comply with UK Standards.
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The FDA are introducing tighter controls after over 100 cases of Salmonellosis have been found in 23 states across the USA. The species in question is Salmonella Agona and has been traced to over 28 firms producing and growing Papaya in Mexico. Full article below.
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The report is not produced by the EFSA but has been circulated by the EFSA to increase awareness. The article and report links can be found below. There are 80 pages in the report although the EFSA article does provide a summary.
The data for the source of Salmonella does differ from region to region and country to country but laying hens provide the source for 43.8%, Pigs 29.8%, Turkeys 4% and broilers 3.4%, 9.2% travel related, 3.6% unknown source and 9% were not attributable.
Regionally Northern and Western Europe had more of an issue with layers and Southern Europe with pigs.
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A Norwegian company called Nofima Mak and Elopak are the first to apply FTIR (Fourier Transfer Infrared) Spectroscopy to the “fingerprinting” of food samples as they progress through a process line. The second stage – which involves building up unique spectral images of microorganisms – examines the finished product. If a microorganism is found it is compared against profiles already stored in a database. From this is can be determined where in the process chain the microorganism entered.
The method has a reputed low-cost and can have a rapid throughput, I have always thought that we would, one day, get to a point where a sample was put into a machine and it would calculate the number and species of every organism in that sample, may be this is one step in that direction.
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An article in Food Navigator (see link below) quotes recent research that has found that coriander oil in foods could help prevent spoilage and food-borne illness. The article originally in the Journal of Medical Microbiology report that solutions of as little as 1.6% coriander oil had antimicrobial effects on certain bacterial strains including E. Coli, Salmonella enterica, Bacillus cereus and MRSA.
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