Category Archives: Uncategorized

USA – Townsend Farms, Inc., Notifies Costco of Possible Health Risk and Recalls Conventional Frozen Kirkland Three Berry Blend – Hepatitis A

Posted on June 13, 2019 by | Leave a comment

FDA

Out of an abundance of caution, Townsend Farms, Inc. has notified Costco that a recent FDA test indicated that a domestic conventional frozen blackberry product manufactured by Townsend Farms, Inc., may be contaminated with Hepatitis A. Townsend Farms, Inc. used the domestic conventional frozen blackberry to manufacture the Kirkland Signature Three Berry Blend product with Best By Dates between February 16, 2020, and May 4, 2020. Costco only sold the product in stores located in San Diego and Los Angles, California and Hawaii. No product manufactured for Costco by Townsend Farms has tested positive for Hepatitis A. Costco has no product in its current inventory. Costco has been notifying its members about the potential health risk.

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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 recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Virus, Hepatitis A, Uncategorized, Virus

Nigeria – FAO Issues Alert On Food Poisoning in Lagos, Kano, Other Cities

Posted on June 13, 2019 by | Leave a comment

AllAfrica

Abuja — The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), an agency of the United Nations, has raised alarm over what it described as worrisome levels contamination of foods in Lagos and Kano States.

The FAO said a “Total Diet” study it carried out in two major Nigerian cities, Lagos and Kano showed various levels of contamination of foods at the point of consumption.

Speaking at an event jointly orgainised by the Federal Ministries of Health and its agriculture counterpart to mark 2019 World Food Safety Day in Abuja, the Country Representative, FAO in Nigeria, Suffyan Koruna said streets foods are now being consumed more than ever before, adding that Nigerians eat at least one meal out of home in restaurants, bukkas and other food vendors.

The FAO country representative who was represented by Mr. Alphonsus Onwuemeka said the organisation conducted a diet study in Lagos and Kano where it discovered rampant unsafe food consumption.

He said: “A Total Diet Study carried out in Lagos and Kano states showed worrisome levels of contamination of foods at the points of consumption with aflatoxins, mycotoxins, heavy metals such as lead and pesticides residues. This should reaweaken Nigeria to the looming health challenges and economic losses that could result from a lack of attention to food safety.”

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Posted in Aflatoxin, food contamination, food handler, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Pathogen, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Moulds, Mycotoxin, Uncategorized

India -14 students fall ill after food poisoning, undergoing treatment

Posted on June 13, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Times of India

Nagpur: Fourteen girls taking basic skill development training under the Deendayal Upadhyaya Kaushalya Yojna (DDUGKY) in city ell ill on Saturday with severe symptoms of vomiting and and motions apparently due to food poisoning.

 

 

 

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

Norway – Norway officials trying to ID water contamination source – Campylobacter

Posted on June 13, 2019 by | Leave a comment

NF Chronicle

Campylobacter

Image CDC

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Norwegian authorities said Tuesday they were trying to identify the source of water contamination that has sent dozens of people in southern Norway to the hospital.

Since Thursday, 55 people — including 13 children — from Askoey, an island north of Bergen, have been hospitalized following the contamination. All have been discharged. Norwegian news agency NTB reported that in all, some 2,000 people had fallen sick.

A 1-year-old child on the island died last week of an infection in the digestive tract, but it was not clear whether it was linked to the contamination.

He said tests showed that the bacteria Campylobacter has been found in 36 cases.

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Posted in Campylobacter, Contaminated water, food contamination, food death, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Pathogen, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Uncategorized, Water, water microbiology, Water Safety

Research – How flow shapes bacterial biofilms

Posted on June 12, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Science Daily

Although we tend to think of them as solitary sojourners of the world, bacteria are actually very social organisms. In fact, the vast majority of bacteria live on surfaces by forming “biofilms”: three-dimensional communities hosting thousands to millions of bacteria of such bustling activity that scientists describe them as “bacterial cities.”

Bacteria form biofilms by attaching to each other on a wide variety of surfaces: the bottom of oceans, lakes or rivers, medical equipment and even internal organs, like the intestine, lungs, and teeth — the latter is the familiar dental plaque, a large source of income for dentists.

In short, biofilms are the preferred lifestyle of bacteria. They grow wide and thick, forming a new, social dynamic among their member microorganisms, while also defending them: biofilms can be notoriously inaccessible to antibiotics, which is why they have drawn a lot of medical research.

But looking at biofilms can also give us clues about broader social dynamics that have shaped the evolution of species across the entire planet, like cooperation, competition etc. And it is such questions that drive the work of Alexandre Persat, director of EPFL’s Microbial Mechanics Lab.

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Posted in Biofilm, Food Microbiology, Microbiology, Uncategorized, water microbiology

India – Six hospitalised due to food poisoning in Shamli

Posted on June 11, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Business Standard

Six people were hospitalised in a suspected food poisoning case in Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli district on Sunday, police said.

The victims complained of headache, stomach pain and vomiting after eating food at their home in Umerpur village under Thana Bhawan Police Station limits, they said.

According to reports, the victim family ate a potato curry in the meal prior to falling sick.

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

UK – Listeria outbreak: Action was taken to protect vulnerable patients, experts insist

Posted on June 11, 2019 by | Leave a comment

The Telegraph

Listeria warnings were not issued to the public until it was confirmed by test results because experts were confident it had been contained and vulnerable patients protected.

Three patients have been killed by hospital sandwiches and 43 NHS trusts placed on alert in one of the worst cases of food poisoning in the health service.

Six people were diagnosed with a serious listeria infection between April 25 and May 15.

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Posted in food contamination, food death, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Pathogen, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Uncategorized

Europe – Multi-country outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes clonal complex 8 infections linked to consumption of cold-smoked fish products

Posted on June 11, 2019 by | Leave a comment

ECDC ecdclogo

Summary
A prolonged multi-country outbreak of 22 listeriosis cases caused by Listeria monocytogenes sequence type (ST) 1247, clonal complex (CC) 8 has been identified through whole genome sequencing (WGS) in five EU countries: Denmark (9 cases), Estonia (6), Finland (2), France (1) and Sweden (4). Five patients have died due to, or with, the disease. The first case had symptom onset in July 2014 in Estonia, and the most recent case occurred in Denmark in February 2019. Eight patients, out of twelve for whom a food consumption history was available, confirmed the consumption of cold-smoked fish products. L. monocytogenes food isolates, matching the human outbreak strain by WGS, were detected at wholesale and retail level in four countries (i.e. France, Denmark, Italy and Sweden) from 13 batches of cold smoked or gravad salmon and from six batches of cold smoked trout products. Traceability information of the contaminated batches pointed to the Estonian processing Company A as the single common manufacturer of these fish products. The raw fish was received from suppliers in Norway and Finland. Environmental investigations and food testing at the Estonian processing plant showed the presence of L. monocytogenes that matched the outbreak strain in two samples on the processing line and in four batches of the final product.
The presence of L. monocytogenes matching the outbreak strain over several years in the fish products suggests the persistence of the microorganism at the Estonian company’s premises. Further investigation is needed to identify points of (cross-)contamination in the food processing plant. Control measures were implemented in Estonia, Denmark, France and Italy following the RASFF (Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed) notifications, but until the source of infection has been identified and controlled, new invasive listeriosis cases associated with this event may still occur.
In general, pregnant women, the elderly and immunocompromised individuals are at increased risk of invasive listeriosis, which is associated with severe clinical course and potentially death.

 

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

USA – NYC officials advise providers to look out for Legionnaires’ disease

Posted on June 10, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Outbreak News Today

Legionella A

Image CDC

New York City health officials are advising providers to test for Legionella in adults with pneumonia, particularly patients who are > 50 years or have lung disease, immune-suppression, or a history of smoking.

Legionnaires’ disease follows a seasonal pattern in New York City, with an increased number of cases
reported from June to October each year.  NYC sees between 200 and 500 cases of Legionnaires’ disease each year.

While it remains a relatively rare infection, the rate of Legionnaires’ disease is increasing significantly in NYC. From 2007-2017, there was an 8.1% average increase in the rate of Legionnaires’ disease cases citywide each year.

The rate of Legionnaires’ disease increased significantly in all boroughs and demographic groups over this period.

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Posted in Contaminated water, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology Blog, Legionella, microbial contamination, Microbiology, Uncategorized, Water, water microbiology, Water Safety

USA – Winnebago County Illinois Health Department monitoring STEC E. coli Mystery

Posted on June 10, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Food Poison Journal

The Winnebago County Illinois Health Department has confirmed three cases of Shiga toxin‐producing E. coli (STEC) in the county.

The patients experienced diarrhea beginning May 31. The cause of the illness has not yet been determined, the department announced Friday evening.

The following are symptoms of E. coli and may be seen with or without a fever: abdominal cramps, watery or bloody diarrhea and vomiting. Residents are urged to contact a health care provider if they experienced symptoms on or after May 21.

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Posted in E.coli, 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, STEC, STX 1, STX 2, Uncategorized