Category Archives: Uncategorized

USA – Listeria Outbreak Linked to Hispanic-Style Fresh and Soft Cheeses

Posted on February 15, 2021 by | Leave a comment

CDC

Photo of soft cheese on a cutting board

Fast Facts
  • Illnesses: 7
  • Hospitalizations: 7
  • Deaths: 0
  • States: 4
  • Recall: No
  • Investigation status: Active

You are at higher risk for severe Listeria illness if you are pregnant, aged 65 or older, or have a weakened immune system due to certain medical conditions or treatments. If you are not in these groups, you are unlikely to get very sick from Listeria.

  • Don’t eat any Hispanic-style fresh and soft cheeses (like queso fresco, queso blanco, and queso panela), until we identify a specific type or brand that is making people sick.
  • Call your healthcare provider right away if you have these symptoms after eating Hispanic-style fresh and soft cheeses:
    • Pregnant people typically experience only fever, fatigue, and muscle aches. However, Listeria infection during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage, stillbirth, premature delivery, or life-threatening infection of the newborn.
    • People who are not pregnant may experience headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions, in addition to fever and muscle aches.

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Posted in food bourne outbreak, food contamination, Food Hazard, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, outbreak, Uncategorized

Belgium – Recall of Colruyt and OKay – Gyros (500g) – Salmonella

Posted on February 12, 2021 by | Leave a comment

AFSCA

Recall of Colruyt and OKay
Product: prepackaged Gyros (500g).
Problem: presence of Salmonella.

During an internal control, the presence of Salmonella was observed in the prepackaged 500 g gyros bearing the expiry date (BBD) of 14/2/2021 .

In consultation with the AFSCA, Colruyt and OKay have therefore decided to withdraw the product concerned from sale.

Customers who have purchased this product are advised not to consume it and to bring it back to the store, where they will be reimbursed. In the meantime, all stores have removed this product from the shelves.

Product description:

For Colruyt:

Pre-packaged gyros (500g)
Best before date (Best before date): 2/14/2021
Sales period: from 5/2/2021 to 10/2/2021 inclusive
Item number: 11096

For OKay and OKay Compact:

prepackaged Gyros 500 g
Best before date (BBD): 2/14/2021
Sales period: from 5/2/2021 to 10/2/2021 inclusive
Item number: 15593

This product has been offered for sale in all OKay and OKay Compact stores as well as in the butcher’s counter of the following Colruyt stores:
CoMarkt Bouwel, Colruyt Maaseik, Colruyt Lanaken, Colruyt Stabroek, Colruyt Haacht, Colruyt Balen, Colruyt Antwerpen Jan Van Gent , Colruyt Antwerpen-Linkeroever, Colruyt Eppegem, Colruyt Hoboken, Colruyt La Calamine, Colruyt Evere, Colruyt Laken, Colruyt Schaerbeek (rue de Jerusalem), Colruyt Schaerbeek (Meiser), Colruyt Deurne Noord, Colruyt Moluytchillon, Colruyt Moluytchillon, Dampremy

For more information, customers can contact Colruyt Group Customer Service on 0800 99 124 .

Possible symptoms of Salmonella poisoning

Possible symptoms of poisoning caused by Salmonella are fever, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea. These symptoms usually appear within 12 to 48 hours of ingestion.

Symptoms usually last 4 to 7 days, and most people recover without specific treatment. Young children, pregnant women, the immunocompromised and the elderly are among the groups at risk. In these people, the symptoms can be severe enough to require hospitalization of the patient.

People who have consumed this product and who present this type of symptoms are invited to consult their doctor, notifying him of this consumption.

Contact person for journalists
Colruyt Group Press Service
Phone. : 0473 92 45 10

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Posted in afsca, food contamination, Food Hazard, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Salmonella, Uncategorized

Mozambique – Aflatoxins in Mozambican Online Mainstream Press

Posted on February 10, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Intech Open

Aflatoxin

Image CDC

Aflatoxins gained increased recognition in Mozambique due to their negative impact on health, food security, and trade. Most contamination occurs in peanuts, maize, and their products. Nevertheless, there is little awareness, probably because the press and mass media do not disseminate enough information. This study analyzed the quantity and quality of information on aflatoxins in Mozambique’s leading online newspapers between 2009 and 2018. After analyzing articles using Atlas.ti, the information was synthesized and compared to scholarly sources. Mozambique requires more press and media coverage of aflatoxin research and development activities. Awareness campaigns should be reinforced, distribute information to multiple organizations, and use multiple means, including online mainstream press, spreading information to reach a broad range of people, given the diversity of cultures and villages’ remoteness. Organizations providing information, including universities, need to translate the highly technical information published in scientific journals to help reporters understand the research’s implications. Furthermore, there is a need to identify groups that do not receive messages from current campaigns and appropriate methods for reaching those populations.

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Posted in Aflatoxin, food contamination, Food Hazard, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Food Toxin, Mold Toxin, Mould Toxin, Mycotoxin, Research, Uncategorized

USA – Super Bowl LV Toolkit to Prevent Foodborne Illness

Posted on February 5, 2021 by | Leave a comment

FSIS USDA

Super Bowl Food Safety

Food Safety Playbook

This toolkit is designed to help you get started with your local Super Bowl Food Safety campaign. In this toolkit you will find the materials you can use to promote safe food handling behavior during the Super Bowl.

We have organized this material to help make your outreach informative, helpful and fun. Resources include:

  • Press Release – A general press release that can be personalized by your organization to email to local news outlets, radio, newspapers and blogs
  • Talking Points
  • Blog
  • Social Media – Suggested tweets and Facebook posts are included to help spread the word about food safety during Super Bowl
  • Infographics

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Posted in Food Hygiene, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Technology, Food Temperature Abuse, Food Testing, foodborne disease, Foodborne Illness, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, Research, Uncategorized

USA – FDA Core Investigations Table Update

Posted on February 5, 2021 by | Leave a comment

FDA

The following is a list of outbreak investigations being managed by FDA’s CORE Response Teams. The investigations are in a variety of stages, meaning that some outbreaks have limited information, and others may be near completion.

Two are not yet completed – Salmonella Potsdam and Salmonella Miami source not known.

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RASFF Alerts -Animal Feed – Salmonella – Soybean Meal – Dog Chews

Posted on February 5, 2021 by | Leave a comment

European Food Alerts

RASFF

Salmonella enterica ser. Llandoff (presence /25g) in soybean meal from Italy, via Germany in Austria

RASFF

Salmonella enterica ser. Infantis (presence /25g) in dog chews from Poland, via Germany in Italy

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Posted in Animal Feed, Animal Feed Testing, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology Blog, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Pet Food, Pet Food Testing, RASFF, Salmonella, Salmonella Dog Food, Uncategorized

Belgium – Dry Ham from the South pre-sliced ​​from the Athos Line brand – Listeria monocytogenes

Posted on January 29, 2021 by | Leave a comment

AFSCA

Cordier Salaisons recalled
Product: dry ham from the South pre-sliced ​​from the Athos Line brand.
Nature of the problem: presence of Listeria monocytogenes.

In agreement with the AFSCA, Cordier Salaisons is withdrawing from the sale the Italian ham “Prelanched Southern Ham” of the Athos Line brand and is recalling it to consumers because of the presence of Listeria monocytogenes.

Cordier Salaisons asks its customers not to consume this product and to return it to the point of sale where it was purchased where it will be refunded.


Product description

– Product name: Dry Southern Ham, pre
– sliced – Brand: Athos Line
– Use by date (DLC): 06/02/2021 and 13/02/2021
– Lot number: 20307109
– Sales period: from 01/08/2021 to 01/25/2021
– Type of packaging: plastic
– Weight: ± 500 / 600g

The product was sold via Cordier Salaisons (Cash & Carry Store) – 7170 Manage

For any further information , contact:
Anne De Bondt
Tel: 064.52.20.21 during office hours or info@cordor.be

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Posted in afsca, food contamination, Food Hazard, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Uncategorized

USA – FDA CORE Response Team Update

Posted on January 28, 2021 by | Leave a comment

FDA

core

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Posted in E.coli, E.coli O157, E.coli O157:H7, FDA, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Salmonella, Uncategorized

USA – Discovery of spoilage problems prompts company to recall tartar sauce

Posted on January 27, 2021 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

House-Autry Mills Inc. is recalling tartar sauce because the company’s “co-manufacturer” has verified spoilage associated with the product. 

The company reports sending two samples to two different laboratories, but results were not yet available when House-Autry provided the Food and Drug Administration its recall notice.

Several factors cause food spoilage, making items unsuitable for consumption. Light, oxygen, heat, humidity, temperature and spoilage bacteria can all affect both the safety and quality of perishable foods. When subject to these factors, foods will gradually decline, according to the recall notice.

 

 

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Posted in food contamination, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, food recall, Food Safety, Food Spoilage, Food Temperature Abuse, Food Testing, Uncategorized

Research – Japan – Changes in the Risk Perception of Food Safety between 2004 and 2018

Posted on January 24, 2021 by | Leave a comment

J Stage

CDC E.coli

To afford the future agenda of risk communication through an evaluation of the past, we examined the changes in risk perception in the food safety sector over the 15 years (2004–2018) since the establishment of the Food Safety Commission of Japan (FSCJ) in 2003 by analyzing the data of the food safety monitor survey.

Hazards such as contaminants including cadmium, methylmercury and arsenic, and pesticide residues caused high levels of concern among the public in 2004.

In contrast, hazards such as food poisoning by harmful microorganisms and so-called “Health foods” have been ranked high among concerns since 2008 and 2014, respectively. Scoring of concern levels showed that concern related to food additives and pesticide residues intentionally added to foods and controlled has gradually decreased in a time-dependent manner.

These concern scores were considerably lower in male monitors than in female ones; the scores were also lower for individuals with professional experience in the food sector than without the experience. The concern scores for contaminants were lower for males with professional experience.

The concern scores related to food poisoning and health foods were not decreased and were remained high in recent years. These scores did not show clear dependence on job experience or gender of the monitors. A gap between food specialists and other attributes in the basic recognition of risk seems to make it difficult to communicate effectively and constructively among various interested individuals. T

o improve the quality of risk communication in the food safety field, it will be necessary to provide scientific knowledge and information regarding food safety management mechanisms for individuals without professional experience in the food sector, taking into account the changes in information media and influence on risk perception.

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Posted in Uncategorized