Category Archives: Uncategorized

India – 200 Children Fall Ill After Eating Sweets ‘Infected With Fungus’ Distributed During School Celebration

Posted on January 29, 2020 by | Leave a comment

IBTimes

At least 200 students fell ill after eating contaminated sweets distributed during the Republic Day celebrations at a school in the southern Indian state of Telangana on Sunday,

According to local reports, several students complained of vomiting and uneasiness after consuming sweets distributed by the school authorities during the celebration. The students were immediately rushed to local hospitals for treatments.

Confirming the incident, the school authorities said, “We immediately shifted 140 students to government hospital in Makthal for treatment as they had complained of vomiting and stomach ache. While about 40 students are being treated at local primary healthcare in Karni village, others are given first aid and were sent home.”

Speaking to local media, an unidentified student said the sweets were contaminated.

“The sweets distributed were of poor quality and were infected with fungus because of which many students had fallen ill,” the student said.

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Posted in food contamination, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Poisoning, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Toxin, Mould Toxin, Mycotoxin, Uncategorized

Canada – Duck rillettes sold in Montreal butcher shop may be contaminated by Listeria bacteria

Posted on January 29, 2020 by | Leave a comment

CTV News listeria

MONTREAL — “Homemade style” duck rillettes produced and sold at Boucherie du Marche (224 Place du Marche-du-Nord) are being recalled due to possible contamination by the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes.

Anyone who has purchased the product – sold in a 175-g container with a best-before date of Jan. 29, 2020 and containing a label that also reads “Boucherie du Marche – Depuis 1994” – is being warned not to consume it, but to either return it to the shop or throw it away, even if it does not smell or appear suspicious.

The rillettes in question were sold up to Jan. 28, 2020, inclusively.

The recall notes that no cases of listeriosis have been linked to the product being recalled.

 

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Posted in food contamination, 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, Uncategorized

Kenya – Police arrest Embu man over Aflatoxin-laced flour

Posted on January 29, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Daily Nation

  • Acting on a tip-off, the officers raided the trader’s factory at Kianjokoma market and arrested him.
  • Officers also confiscated some flour which will be tested by the Government Chemist in Nairobi.

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Posted in Aflatoxin, food contamination, food handler, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Poisoning, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Toxin, mold, Mould Toxin, Moulds, Mycotoxin, Uncategorized

Argentina/ Iceland -Botulism suspected in Argentina, confirmed in Iceland

Posted on January 29, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

Authorities in Argentina are investigating two suspected cases of foodborne botulism linked to a brand of pickled wild boar.

The National Administration of Drugs, Foods and Medical Devices (ANMAT) reported those ill are associated with eating “Escabeche de jabalí” 400-gram of the “Fatto in casa” brand with a date of July 1, 2020, produced by Norma Coatti.

A 27-year-old woman and a 30-year-old man are affected and both needed hospital treatment.

Meanwhile, a case of botulism has been confirmed in Iceland for the first time since 1983.

The Public Health Institute of Iceland (Landlaeknir) revealed an adult began experiencing symptoms on 12 January with poisoning confirmed a week later.

Local health authorities, the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authrority (Matvælastofnun) and Matis, a government owned, non-profit, research company, are trying to find the source of the poisoning with no evidence as yet pointing toward food available on the market.

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Posted in Clostridium botulinum, food bourne outbreak, food contamination, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, Food Poisoning, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Toxin, Uncategorized

Research – A Study on Prevalence and Characterization of Bacillus cereus in Ready-to-Eat Foods in China

Posted on January 28, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Frontiers in Microbiology

Bacillus cereus is widely distributed in different food products and can cause a variety of symptoms associated with food poisoning. Since ready-to-eat (RTE) foods are not commonly sterilized by heat treatment before consumption, B. cereus contamination may cause severe food safety problems. In this study, we investigated the prevalence of B. cereus in RTE food samples from different regions of China and evaluated the levels of bacterial contamination, antibiotic resistance, virulence gene distribution, and genetic polymorphisms of these isolates. Of the tested retail RTE foods, 35% were positive for B. cereus, with 39 and 83% of the isolated strains harboring the enterotoxin-encoding hblACD and nheABC gene clusters, respectively. The entFM gene was detected in all B. cereus strains. The cytK gene was present in 68% of isolates, but only 7% harbored the emetic toxin-encoding gene cesB. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing revealed that the majority of the isolates were resistant not only to most β-lactam antibiotics, but also to rifamycin. Multilocus sequence typing (MLST) revealed that the 368 isolates belonged to 192 different sequence types (STs) including 93 new STs, the most prevalent of which was ST26. Collectively, our study indicates the prevalence, bacterial contamination levels, and biological characteristics of B. cereus isolated from RTE foods in China and demonstrates the potential hazards of B. cereus in RTE foods.

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Posted in Bacillus, Bacillus cereus, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Research, Uncategorized

Research -Researchers report temperature important for controlling Listeria in rakfisk

Posted on January 27, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

Researchers have looked at the effect of different ripening temperatures and salt concentrations on the growth of Listeria monocytogenes in a traditional Norwegian fermented fish product.

Rakfisk is made from lake trout or arctic char by mild-salting and brine maturation at low temperatures for several months and is eaten without heat treatment.

Ripening temperature had the largest impact on Listeria monocytogenes growth during rakfisk production as low ripening temperatures resulted in essentially no growth. However, even freezing temperatures cannot kill Listeria.

Chosen salt concentrations and temperatures reflect the prevailing types of commercial rakfisk production, said researchers in the study published in the journal Foods.

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Posted in Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Technology, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Uncategorized

USA -New York company recalls cheese in five states after tests find E. coli

Posted on January 27, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

Random testing by state officials has found E. coli contamination in cotija cheese, spurring a recall in five states.

The New York company Quesos La Ricura Ltd. is recalling an undisclosed number of packages of the cheese because they may be contaminated with Shiga toxin producing E. coli bacteria, according to test results from Florida inspectors.

Quesos La Ricura Ltd. reported distributing the cheese to retail stores in New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Florida, according to the company’s recall notice posted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The notice did not include any product photographs.

The cheese is packaged on yellow foam trays wrapped in plastic with labels with the following information: “Quesos La Ricura Queso Cotija, Cotija Cheese aged over 60 days” UPC: 7 69087 00933 6 and a weight of 12 oz. “Sell By” date May 20, 2020-3/ May 20, 2020-4.

No illnesses had been confirmed in relation to consumption of this cheese as of the posting of the recall notice.

 

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Posted in E.coli, food contamination, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Pathogen, Food Poisoning, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Toxin, Uncategorized

Philippines – 6 youth performers for Sinulog sa Naga downed by suspected food poisoning

Posted on January 27, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Cebu Daily News

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Six young persons who were expected to perform for the Sinulog sa Naga on Sunday, January 26, landed in the hospital after they reportedly complained of having symptoms of food poisoning.

 The City of Naga Disaster and Rescue Unit (DRU) confirmed this in a phone interview with Cebu Daily News Digital this Sunday afternoon.

They said they received the alert at around 4 p.m. and immediately deployed ambulances to transport the patients from Barangay Uling to a hospital in Barangay East Poblacion of City of Naga, which is about 24 kilometers south of Cebu City.

 The six persons, all from Barangay Uling of the city, got sick after eating a lunch viand made of pork, reports from the city’s response unit said.

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Posted in food contamination, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Toxin, Poisoning, Uncategorized

India – 50 People Including Children Fall Ill After Consuming Food From Container With Dead Snake

Posted on January 27, 2020 by | Leave a comment

ibtimes

At least 50 people, mostly children and women, fell ill after eating food from a container that had dead snake in it. The incident took place during a community feast organised by a self-help group in the Indian state of Odisha on Thursday.

According to local reports, at least 30 families were having their meal at a temple when most of them started vomiting and complained of uneasiness. They were immediately rushed to a nearby hospital.

Confirming the incident, a medical officer said, “They showed signs of food poisoning. However, many of them were discharged after administration of intravenous fluid.”

Speaking about the condition of the patients, a doctor said, “The patients were treated for suspected food poisoning and administered intravenous fluid. All those admitted in the hospital responded well to the treatment and are being discharged from the hospital in a phased manner.”

While washing the utensils after the feast was over, the locals came across a dead snake that was one foot long.

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Posted in Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Testing, Food Poisoning, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Poisoning, Uncategorized

Italy – Salmonella-contaminated eggs

Posted on January 27, 2020 by | Leave a comment

Poultry Med

 

The fear for salmonella contaminated eggs in Italy is rising while the number of recalls in the sector is increasing. Some suspected cases of Salmonella enterica ser. Enteritids that have registered in France have been linked to organic eggs from Italy. Analysis of other cases in Norway is still ongoing, but the source may be expected to be the same. According to RASFF, the multi-nation outbreak could be traced back to an egg packing center in Italy. The Rapid Community Alert System (RASFF) reported that two countries have reported cases of Salmonella Enteritidis on 09-01-2020, but until now it has not been possible to link individual cases to possible sources. The French authorities and those of other EU Member States have now blocked the distribution of eggs from that Italian center.

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Posted in food contamination, 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, Salmonella, Uncategorized