Category Archives: Uncategorized

France -Cryptosporidium outbreak reported in Alpes-Maritimes, France

Posted on November 25, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Outbreak News Today 

The Agence régionale de santé Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (ARS Paca) is reporting (computer translated) a Cryptosporodium outbreak in Grasse and several surrounding municipalities of the Alpes-Maritimes.

Since October 7, at least 92 cases of diarrhea caused by a parasite. There is a suspicion of contamination in the Grasse sector, supplied with water by the Foulon canal (west of the Alpes-Maritimes), which could have been contaminated following heavy rainfall.

Officials recommended as a precaution to drink only bottled water or to boil the tap water before consume it or use it to prepare food.

 

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Posted in Boil Water Notice, Contaminated water, Cryptosporidium, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Uncategorized, Water, water microbiology, Water Safety

USA – Norovirus – Air Force Academy

Posted on November 25, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Gazette Norwalk_Caspid

A stomach flu has laid low 1 in every 10 cadets at the Air Force Academy since late October, and the school’s medics are working with public health authorities and reinforcements from other bases to treat the sick.

The norovirus, famed for striking those in tight living confines from cruise ships to barracks, has caused the academy to cancel some events that include large gatherings and put its janitorial staff on overtime.

 

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Posted in food contamination, food handler, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Pathogen, Food Safety, Food Testing, Food Virus, Norovirus, Uncategorized, Virus

Chile -Salmonella outbreak sickens dozens in Maipú, Linked to sushi

Posted on November 25, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Outbreak News Today

A salmonella outbreak in Maipú commune in Santiago Province has now affected 80 people.

This is up from 45 cases reported ill at the El Carmen Hospital with symptoms of Salmonella on Tuesday.

Health officials have linked to outbreak to the consumption of sushi at a Bokado sushi store.

“This is an important call for the preparation of these products, they must be cooked.  They must not use salmon or raw seafood, they  must use cooked products , ” said Health Seremi, Rosa Oyarce.

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Posted in food contamination, food handler, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Pathogen, Food Poisoning, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Salmonella, Uncategorized

UK -Norovirus outbreak latest: 60 schools in England hit by winter vomiting bug

Posted on November 25, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Express norovirus-1080x655

NOROVIRUS outbreaks have been reported up and down the UK resulting in dozens of school and hospital closure. A new report reveals around 60 schools in the North of England have had pupils and staff off sick. Is the winter vomiting bug set to spread?

 

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Posted in food contamination, food handler, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Pathogen, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Virus, Norovirus, Uncategorized, Virus

UK -Norovirus outbreak at Lego show in Bristol leaves over 40 people ill

Posted on November 25, 2019 by | Leave a comment

NY POST

Eurofins

Image CDC

Dozens of people in the UK have been suffering from Norovirus-like symptoms after attending a huge Lego event in Bristol over the weekend.

The organisers of the Bristol Brick show say they are “devastated” and an investigation has been launched by the city’s health authorities.

Nearly 4,000 people visited the Action Indoor Sports centre to celebrate Lego, but after the event, more than 40 attendees started experiencing sickness and diarrhoea.

One Lego fan, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was not happy with the cleanliness of the venue.

He said: “The state of the place left a lot to be desired.”

“The food wasn’t great and over the weekend, the toilets weren’t well maintained, the basins didn’t work well and there was no hand sanitiser and that sort of thing.”

 

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Posted in food contamination, food handler, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Pathogen, Food Safety, Food Testing, Food Virus, Norovirus, Uncategorized, Virus

USA – Virus Outbreak Shuts Down 46 Colorado Schools, Is It Norovirus?

Posted on November 25, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Forbes

Food Borne Illness - Norovirus -CDC Photo

Image CDC

When the virus may be norovirus, you can’t just ignore-a-virus. That’s why over 22,000 students in Colorado will have no class.

Well, at least for today and tomorrow. Diana Sirko, PhD, the Superintendent of Schools for Mesa County Valley School District 51, has announced the closing of the entire school district through the end of this school week. That’s all 46 schools in District 51.

The reason is that hundreds of students and teachers have already gotten ill with vomiting and diarrhea. Although the cause has not yet been clearly identified yet, this sounds suspiciously like norovirus. Yes, norovirus, the virus that Aron Hall, DVM, MSPH, DACVPM, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has called the “perfect human pathogen.”

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Posted in food contamination, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Pathogen, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Virus, Norovirus, Uncategorized, Virus

USA -E. coli HUS Outbreak: Forty Sick, CDC Says Avoid All Romaine From Salinas, CA

Posted on November 25, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Food Poisoning Bulletin

The CDC just posted a food safety alert, telling consumers that in the wake of the newest E. coli HUS outbreak, they should avoid buying or eating all romaine lettuce from the Salinas, California growing region until more information is available. This is an echo of the same advice from the CDC last April, when another, deadly E. coli O157:H7 outbreak was linked to romaine. The advice in 2018 was to avoid all romaine lettuce until officials found the source.

This newest outbreak is growing by leaps and bounds. Now 40 people in 16 states are sick. That’s an increase of 23 more patients and 8 more states in just the last two days. Twenty-eight people have been hospitalized, which is a very high percentage of cases. Five people have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which is a type of kidney failure.

Forty Sick in E. coli HUS Outbreak: CDC Says Avoid All Romaine From Salinas, CA

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

Canada -Bonduelle brand salad products may be unsafe due to E. coli O157:H7

Posted on November 25, 2019 by | Leave a comment

CFIA

Ottawa, November 22, 2019 – The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is warning the public not to consume the products described below due to E. coli O157:H7.

The following products have been sold in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick and may have been distributed in other provinces or territories.

Products

Brand Product Size UPC Codes
Bonduelle Caesar Salad with Chicken and Bacon 174 g 0 77745 27111 8 Use by:
10/29/2019
Bonduelle Chef Inspired Salad with Turkey & Ham 220 g 0 77745 27113 2 Use by:
10/31/2019
Bonduelle Cobb Salad with Turkey & Bacon 206 g 0 77745 27112 5 Use by:
10/31/2019
Bonduelle Santa Fe Style Salad with Chicken 177 g 0 77745 27114 9 Use by:
10/31/2019

Background

This warning was triggered by a recall in another country. The CFIA is conducting a food safety investigation, which may lead to the recall of these or other products. If products are recalled, the CFIA will notify the public through a Food Recall Warning.

Illnesses

There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of these products in Canada. However, the Public Health Agency of Canada has issued guidance to Canadians with regard to all types of romaine lettuce from Salinas, California, please refer to the Public Health Notice for additional information.

Product photos

Printer ready version of photos

  • Bonduelle Caesar Salad with Chicken and Bacon
  • Bonduelle Chef Inspired Salad with Turkey & Ham
  • Bonduelle Cobb Salad with Turkey & Bacon
  • Bonduelle Santa Fe Style Salad with Chicken

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Posted in CFIA, E.coli, E.coli O157, E.coli O157:H7, food contamination, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Pathogen, Food Poisoning, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Toxin, STEC, STEC E.coli, Uncategorized

Research -Influence of surface properties of produce and food contact surfaces on the efficacy of chlorine dioxide gas for the inactivation of foodborne pathogens

Posted on November 24, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Science Direct

The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of surface properties of produce and food contact surfaces on the antimicrobial effect of chlorine dioxide (ClO2) gas against Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella Typhimurium, and Listeria monocytogenes. The hydrophobicity of the selected surfaces was evaluated by water contact angle measurements. White light scanning interferometry (WLSI) was used to acquire surface roughness values of each surface. Produce and food contact surfaces inoculated with foodborne pathogens were treated with 20 ppmv ClO2 gas for 5, 10, and 15 min. As treatment time increased, different levels of inactivation of the three pathogens were observed among the samples. Contact angles of produce and food contact surfaces were highly and negatively correlated with the log reduction of all three pathogens. There were generally weaker correlations between the roughness values of sample surfaces and microbial reduction compared to those between hydrophobicity and microbial reduction. The results of this study showed that surface hydrophobicity is a more important factor relative to bacterial inactivation by ClO2 gas from the surface than is surface roughness. Also, the existence of crevices with features of similar size to the pathogen cell was more important than the Ra and Rq values in the inactivation of pathogens.

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Posted in E.coli, E.coli O157, E.coli O157:H7, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, Food Technology, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Research, Salmonella, Technology, Uncategorized

Research – Population dynamics of Salmonella spp. and Shigella spp. in ready‐to‐eat Mediterranean vegetable salads

Posted on November 23, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Wiley Online

Abstract

This study evaluated the behavior of Salmonella and Shigella (5–6 log CFU/g) in tomato–cucumber (TC) salad without additives (control), TC with 1.0% lemon juice and 0.5% salt, TC with 10% wt/wt tahini, coleslaw, and toum sauce at 4, 10, or 24°C for 5 days. At 4°C, both pathogens survived well in all salads, with a 0.2–1.6 log CFU/g reduction after 5 days (except for toum sauce with >3.5 log CFU/g reduction after 4 days). At 10°C, Salmonella in the different TC salads remained constant, whereas Shigella numbers significantly increased by 1.0–1.7 log CFU/g after 5 days. Yet, both pathogens significantly decreased by 1.2–1.4 log CFU/g in coleslaw after 5 days and by >3.5 log CFU/g in toum sauce after 3 days. At 24°C, Salmonella significantly increased in TC salad without additives by 1.4 log CFU/g after 5 days and were below the detection level in the other types of salad after 5 days. However, Shigella numbers significantly increased by 1.0 log CFU/g in TC with tahini, but they significantly declined by 1.9–2.9 log CFU/g in TC salads after 5 days, and the pathogen was not detected in coleslaw and toum sauce after 4 days.

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Posted in Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Microbiology Research, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Research, Salmonella, Shigella, Uncategorized