An employee at the Crescent City Tavern in downtown Dalton, Georgia has been diagnosed with hepatitis A, according to the Whitfield County Health Department. That employee, a food handler, worked while infectious during the time period of December 28, 2018 through January 31, 2019. That means that anyone who ate food or drank beverages during that time may have been exposed to the pathogenic virus.
Update: February 08, 2019
United States Food and Drug Administration, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and state and local partners, is investigating a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Concord illnesses linked to tahini imported from an Israeli manufacturer, Achdut Ltd., located in Ari’el, Israel.
On November 28, 2018, in response to the on-going investigation, Soom Foods voluntarily recalled the following additional products:
And tahini in the following sizes and types:
The tahini product lot codes range from 18-097 through 18-141.
Some of the above listed products were included in the original voluntary recall by Achdut Ltd. on November 27, 2018. The FDA is posting this information to ensure the widest possible dissemination to the public.
Recommendations
The FDA is advising consumers not to eat recalled Achva, Achdut, Soom, S&F, and Pepperwood brand tahini and Soom brand Chocolate Sweet Tahini Halva Spread (lot code 071318CH) with expiration dates ranging from April 7, 2020 to May 21, 2020 and Baron’s brand tahini with the expiration date of May 5, 2021. The product lot codes range from 18-097 to 18-141. Consumers should discard the product or return the product to the store for a refund.
Some brands of tahini manufactured by Achdut Ltd. may lack specific dates or may have labels that are written in Hebrew. Consumers who have purchased a tahini product and are uncertain of where the product was manufactured or cannot identify the brand by lot codes or expiration dates should discard the product or return the food to the store for a refund. More product information and pictures of the recalled product labels can be found in Achdut ‘s recall announcement. View Soom Foods’ recall announcement.
Retailers and restaurants should not use any of the recalled tahini manufactured by Achdut Ltd. at their establishments. Retailers and restaurants should throw the product out.
Firms that may have used the recalled tahini (either repacked or used as an ingredient in a food without a kill step) should consider recalling their products. Recalls should be reported to your local FDA office. View a list of FDA recall coordinators.
In an investigation of a listeriosis outbreak in Ontario, Canada, during November 2015–June 2016, Public Health Ontario identified pasteurized chocolate milk as the source. Because listeriosis outbreaks associated with pasteurized milk are rare in North America, these findings highlight that dairy products can be contaminated after pasteurization.
Listeria monocytogenes is a formidable pathogen acquired primarily through contaminated food. Invasive listeriosis is a reportable disease in Ontario, Canada; ≈50 case-patients (0.4 cases/100,000 persons) have been reported annually since 2005 (1). Recent outbreaks of listeriosis in North America have been associated with delicatessen meats, soft cheeses, raw produce, and unpasteurized dairy products (2–4). However, listeriosis outbreaks linked to pasteurized fluid milk are rare.
A study in the United States reviewed 83 fluid milk-associated disease outbreaks during 1990–2006; however, only 1 outbreak was attributed to L. monocytogenes (5). We report an outbreak of listeriosis associated with pasteurized chocolate milk in Ontario, Canada.
American Society of Microbiology
Poultry are considered a major reservoir and source of human campylobacteriosis, but the roles of environmental reservoirs, including wild birds, have not been assessed in depth. In this study, we isolated and characterized Campylobacter jejuni from western jackdaws (n = 91, 43%), mallard ducks (n = 82, 76%), and pheasants (n = 9, 9%). Most of the western jackdaw and mallard duck C. jejuni isolates represented multilocus sequence typing (MLST) sequence types (STs) that diverged from those previously isolated from human patients and various animal species, whereas all pheasant isolates represented ST-19, a common ST among human patients and other hosts worldwide. Whole-genome MLST revealed that mallard duck ST-2314 and pheasant ST-19 isolates represented bacterial clones that were genetically highly similar to human isolates detected previously. Further analyses revealed that in addition to a divergent ClonalFrame genealogy, certain genomic characteristics of the western jackdaw C. jejuniisolates, e.g., a novel cdtABC gene cluster and the type VI secretion system (T6SS), may affect their host specificity and virulence. Game birds may thus pose a risk for acquiring campylobacteriosis; therefore, hygienic measures during slaughter and meat handling warrant special attention.
IMPORTANCE The roles of environmental reservoirs, including wild birds, in the molecular epidemiology of Campylobacter jejuni have not been assessed in depth. Our results showed that game birds may pose a risk for acquiring campylobacteriosis, because they had C. jejuni genomotypes highly similar to human isolates detected previously. Therefore, hygienic measures during slaughter and meat handling warrant special attention. On the contrary, a unique phylogeny was revealed for the western jackdaw isolates, and certain genomic characteristics identified among these isolates are hypothesized to affect their host specificity and virulence. Comparative genomics within sequence types (STs), using whole-genome multilocus sequence typing (wgMLST), and phylogenomics are efficient methods to analyze the genomic relationships of C. jejuni isolates.
Listeria monocytogenes is the cause of listeriosis, an important foodborne disease. Contaminated ready-to-eat foods are common sources of L. monocytogenes, yet no global estimates exist for prevalence and levels in high-risk ready-to-eat foods. Our objective was to estimate the prevalence and levels of L. monocytogenes in deli meat, soft cheese, and packaged salad. We searched Medline, Web of Science, Agricola, Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Science, Science.gov, ScienceResearch.com, and OpenGREY for studies on L. monocytogenes prevalence and/or levels, with no restriction on publication date. We used a priori study selection, data extraction, and risk of biases processes. Results were synthesized with random-effects meta-analyses and meta-regressions to evaluate heterogeneity between studies. We included in the review 100 studies with a sample size restriction of ≥100, and we estimated L. monocytogenes prevalence in deli meat at 2.9% (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.3 to 3.6%), in soft cheese at 2.4% (95% CI, 1.6 to 3.6%), and in packaged salad at 2.0% (95% CI, 1.2 to 3.1%). High heterogeneity was present in all food groups, and meta-regressions did not reveal consistent explanations for heterogeneity. Pathogen level was not reported consistently or in the format required for synthesis, so meta-analyses of this variable were not performed. The high heterogeneity between studies indicates that use of global summary prevalence estimates for risk assessments are not advisable, but awareness of risk and the heterogeneity of the risk is relevant for education and further risk assessment.
RASFF – aflatoxins (B1 = 23.1; Tot. = 25.6 µg/kg – ppb) in groundnuts with shell from Egypt in Germany
RASFF – aflatoxins (B1 = 19.2; Tot. = 28.8 µg/kg – ppb) in hazelnut kernels from Georgia in Bulgaria
RASFF – aflatoxins (B1 = 5.6 µg/kg – ppb) in groundnuts from Argentina in the Netherlands
RASFF – aflatoxins (B1 = 10; Tot. = 11 µg/kg – ppb) in groundnuts from the United States in the Netherlands
RASFF – aflatoxins (B1 = 2.59 µg/kg – ppb) in groundnuts from Argentina in the Netherlands
RASFF – aflatoxins (B1 = 4.4; Tot. = 5.1 µg/kg – ppb) in blanched groundnut kernels from Argentina in Italy
RASFF – aflatoxins (Tot. = 16.4 µg/kg – ppb) in nutmegs from Indonesia in Germany
RASFF – aflatoxins (B1 = 17.75 µg/kg – ppb) in pistachios from the United States, processed in Turkey in Italy
RASFF – aflatoxins (B1 = 23; Tot. = 34 µg/kg – ppb) in groundnut paste from Senegal in France
RASFF – aflatoxins (B1 = 47; Tot. = 81 µg/kg – ppb) in groundnut powder from Senegal in France
RASFF – aflatoxins (B1 = 17.19 µg/kg – ppb) in ground ginger from Germany in Germany
RASFF – aflatoxins (Tot. = 102 µg/kg – ppb) in roasted and salted pistachios from Turkey in the UK
RASFF – aflatoxins (B1 = >24; Tot. = >24 µg/kg – ppb) in shelled almonds from Australia, manufactured in Vietnam in Spain
RASFF – ochratoxin A (19.3 µg/kg – ppb) in dried grapes from Turkey in France
RASFF – ochratoxin A (19.1 µg/kg – ppb) in dried grapes from Turkey in France
RASFF – ochratoxin A (20 µg/kg – ppb) in sultanas from Turkey in France
RASFF – ochratoxin A (22 µg/kg – ppb) in sultana raisins from Turkey in France
RASFF – jabuticaba from Brazil infested with moulds in Portugal
RASFF – Bacillus cereus (960000 CFU/g) in chili bean curd from China in the UK
