Category Archives: Uncategorized

USA – Stop & Shop’s and Giant Food Stores Recalls Broccoli because of Listeria

Posted on May 24, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Food Poison Journal 

Frozen broccoli contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes bacteria has been found at Stop & Shop’s store on Ellington Road in South Windsor, and the chain is recalling the product. State food inspectors found the listeria-tainted, 16-ounce “Private Brands Frozen Broccoli Cuts” during a routine test of sample products at the store and the supermarket chain issued the recall on Monday. The product code for this broccoli is “UPC 068826700926” and the packages’ use-by code is “BEST BY MAR 15 2020.” Stop & Shop issued a voluntary recall on the frozen broccoli based on the results of tests done by the state Department of Consumer Protection.

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Posted in Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Recall, Uncategorized

USA – Salmonella outbreak closes Georgia caterer until further notice By News Desk | May 22, 2018

Posted on May 24, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News kswfoodworld salmonella

County health officials continue to investigate a Salmonella outbreak linked to a Georgia caterer who provided food for recent events. At least 70 people reported becoming ill after the events, with at least four admitted to hospitals.

The Plain Nuts Catering & Deli of Covington, GA, closed voluntarily, according to the Gwinnett, Newton, & Rockdale County Health Departments. As of Monday evening the caterer’s website did not appear to have any information about the situation.

Sick people reported attending events on April 28 and May 9 that were catered by Plain Nuts. Another group of people who did not attend the events but did eat food from the caterer is also included in the outbreak count. 

Reports of the illnesses first reached the health department on May 4. With all of the sick people having attended the same invitation-only event on April 28, public health officials began investigating the caterer. On May 15, the department received word of illnesses among attendees of the May 9 event.   

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Posted in food bourne outbreak, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Poisoning, food recall, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Toxin, foodborne outbreak, foodbourne outbreak, outbreak, Salmonella, Uncategorized

UK – Nailsea – Somerset – restaurant The Old Famhouse has zero hygiene rating after 62 diners get food poisoning on Mother’s Day

Posted on May 24, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Bristol Post

A North Somerset pub, where dozens of people fell ill with food poisoning following Mother’s Day meals, has been given a zero food hygiene rating in an inspection after the sickness outbreak.

Health chiefs identified the cause of the food poisoning at The Old Farmhouse pub in Nailsea, where around 62 diners suffered from sickness and diarrhoea.

Public Health England (PHE) and North Somerset Council also launched an investigation after they became ill on March 11, this year.

The Mirror – Original Story

A pub has shut its kitchen after 62 diners reportedly fell ill following a Mother’s Day lunch.

Dozens of people reported to be suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting after eating at The Old Farmhouse in Nailsea, north Somerset, on Sunday.

North Somerset Council is understood to have been alerted to 62 confirmed cases so far, the Bristol Post reports.

The pub , which is operated by the Hall and Woodhouse chain, has voluntarily stopped serving meals while investigations continue.

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

USA – West Virginia hepatitis A outbreak tops 100 cases

Posted on May 24, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Outbreak News Today

As of May 18, 106 cases (98 confirmed, 3 probable, 5 suspect) have been seen. Three-quarters of the cases required hospitalization and no deaths have been reported.

Most (87%) of those cases in have occurred in Kanawha (59) and Putnam (28) counties, with Cabell at 10, and Boone, Jackson, Lincoln, Wayne and Wyoming counties having less than fivPe cases each.

This increase in cases has primarily been among IV and non-IV drug users, homeless or transient individuals, those who have been recently incarcerated, and are co-infected with hepatitis C. Viral sequencing has linked several cases with outbreaks in Kentucky and California.

Hepatitis A virus is excreted from the body through stool. It can live on surfaces for months. Individuals can get Hepatitis A from close personal contact with someone who has the illness, or from encountering food or surfaces and unknowingly ingesting even microscopic particles of contaminated human waste.

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Posted in Hepatitis A, outbreak, Uncategorized

USA – Golden International Corporation Issues Public Safety Warning For Stolen Tilapia Because of Possible Health Risk – Salmonella

Posted on May 24, 2018 by | Leave a comment

File:Oreochromis-niloticus-Nairobi.JPG

Bjørn Christian Tørrissen 

FDA 

 

Golden International Corporation of Renton, WA is issuing a public safety notice for 405 cartons of stolen frozen tilapia, because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis.

Golden International Corporation also warns consumers, food distributors, grocery stores, and food processors not to consume or sell certain cartons of stolen tilapia.

No illnesses have been reported to date. This notice is being made with the knowledge of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

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Posted in Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, food recall, Food Safety, Food Testing, Salmonella, Uncategorized

Research – Reduction of Environmental Listeria Using Gaseous Ozone in a Cheese Processing Facility

Posted on May 23, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Journal of Food Protection

ABSTRACT

A cheese processing facility seeking to reduce environmental Listeria colonization initiated a regime of ozonation across all production areas as an adjunct to its sanitation regimes. A total of 360 environmental samples from the facility were tested for Listeria over a 12-month period. A total of 15 areas before and 15 areas after ozonation were tested. Listeria isolations were significantly (P < 0.001) reduced from 15.0% in the preozonation samples to 1.67% in the postozonation samples in all areas. No deleterious effects of ozonation were noted on the wall paneling, seals, synthetic floors, or cheese processing equipment. The ozonation regime was readily incorporated by sanitation staff into the existing good manufacturing practice program. The application of ozone may result in a significant reduction in the prevalence of Listeria in food processing facilities.

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Posted in Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Research, Uncategorized

Information – The pain of E. coli O157: Walkerton survivor ends his life

Posted on May 23, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Barf Blog

On Sunday, May 21, 2000, at 1:30 p.m., the Bruce Grey Owen Sound Health Unit in Ontario, Canada, posted a notice to hospitals and physicians on their web site to make them aware of a boil water advisory and that a suspected agent in the increase of diarrheal cases was E. coli O157:H7.

Ultimately, 2,300 people in a town of 5,000 were sickened and seven died. All the gory details and mistakes and steps for improvement were outlined in the report of the Walkerton inquiry.

On the first day of May, in the afternoon, Ribey lay down next to her brother. It was time. A doctor administered three injections.

“I was lying beside him and holding his hand and he just put his head down on mine and said, ‘How’s my little sister?’ And that’s when I started to cry. Then I said something like, thank you for being such a kind brother and a good brother to me. I’m going to miss you … I told him I loved him.”

She said it was “very, very peaceful and very quick.”

For Schnurr, a man broken beyond repair, the pain stopped.

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Posted in Uncategorized

Research – Response Surface Methodology for Salmonella Inactivation during Extrusion Processing of Oat Flour

Posted on May 23, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Journal of Protection 

 

An increase in the number of foodborne outbreaks and recalls due to Salmonella in low-moisture foods has resulted in the need for the development and validation of process controls to ensure their microbiological safety. Furthermore, the Food Safety Modernization Act Preventive Controls for Human Food final rule requires food processors to validate their process controls to ensure food safety. The objective of this study was to develop a response surface model to predict Salmonella inactivation in oat flour, as affected by moisture, fat content, screw speed, and temperature. Oat flour was adjusted to different moisture (14 to 26% wet basis) and fat (5 to 15% [w/w]) contents and was then inoculated with a five-strain cocktail of Salmonella. Inoculated material was extruded through a single-screw extruder running at different screw speeds (75 to 225 rpm) and temperatures (65 to 85°C), without a die. Once steady-state conditions were attained, extruded samples were collected, cooled, and stored under refrigeration, and Salmonella survivors were enumerated. A split-plot central composite second-order response surface design was used, with the central point replicated six times. Temperature showed a significant (P < 0.0005) positive effect on microbial reduction. Moisture content showed significant linear (P = 0.0014) and quadratic (P = 0.0005) effects, whereas higher fat content showed a significant (P < 0.0001) protective effect on Salmonella destruction. The screw speed did not play a major role in inactivating Salmonella, but it had a significant (P = 0.0004) interactive effect with temperature. Results indicated that a >5.5-log reduction was achieved in oat flour extruded at a temperature above 85°C at all moisture and fat contents evaluated at a screw speed of 150 rpm. The developed response surface model can be used to identify the extrusion process conditions to achieve a desired reduction of Salmonella based on the moisture and fat contents of the product.

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Posted in Research, Salmonella, Uncategorized

Research – Effect of Electrolyzed Water on the Disinfection of Bacillus cereus Biofilms: The Mechanism of Enhanced Resistance of Sessile Cells in the Biofilm Matrix

Posted on May 23, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Journal of Food Protection

This study examined the disinfection efficacy and mechanism of electrolyzed water (EW) on Bacillus cereus biofilms. B. cereus strains, ATCC 14579 and Korean Collection for Type Cultures (KCTC) 13153 biofilms, were formed on stainless steel (SS) and plastic slide (PS) coupons. Mature biofilms were treated with slightly acidic EW (SAEW), acidic EW (AEW), and basic EW (BEW). SAEW (available chlorine concentration, 25 ± 1.31 mg L−1; pH 5.71 ± 0.16; and oxidation reduction potential, 818 to 855 mV) reduced ATCC 14579 biofilms on plastic slides to below the detection limit within 30 s. However, biofilms on SS coupons showed a higher resistance to the SAEW treatment. When the disinfection activities of three types of EW on biofilms were compared, AEW showed a higher bactericidal activity, followed by SAEW and BEW. In contrast, BEW showed a significantly (P < 0.05) higher biofilm dispersal activity than AEW and SAEW. SAEW disinfection of the B. cereus biofilms was due to the disruption of the B. cereus plasma membrane. The higher resistance of biofilms formed on the SS coupon might be due to the higher number of attached cells and extracellular polymeric substances formation that reacts with the active chlorine ions, such as hypochlorous acid and hypochlorite ion of SAEW, which decreased the disinfection efficacy of SAEW. This study showed that the EW treatment effectively disinfected B. cereus biofilms, providing insight into the potential use of EW in the food processing industry to control the biofilm formation of B. cereus.

 

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Posted in Bacillus cereus, Food Inspections, Food Safety, Food Testing, Uncategorized

Research – Contamination by Meat Juice When Shopping for Packages of Raw Poultry

Posted on May 22, 2018 by | Leave a comment

Journal of Food Protection Campylobacter kswfoodworld

Raw poultry products often are contaminated with Salmonella and Campylobacter, and these bacteria can be transmitted through meat juice on the packages. An observational study was conducted to assess consumer exposure to meat juice during shopping and to quantify the transmission of meat juice from poultry packages to hands and other surfaces. Ninety-six participants completed the shopping study; 402 swabs were collected and analyzed for the presence of meat juice by an immunoassay. Overall, meat juice was detected on 61% of poultry package surfaces, 34% of shoppers’ hands, 41% of grocery bags, 60% of kitchen surfaces, and 51% of food item surfaces. When meat juice was detected on the purchased poultry packages, the chance of the meat juice being on the shopper’s hands, grocery bags, food items, and kitchen surfaces was significantly higher (P < 0.005) compared with packages on which meat juice was not present. Shoppers who had poultry wrapped separately during checkout had a significantly lower (P < 0.05) chance of meat juice on the food items. However, using plastic bags and wrapping poultry separately did not significantly reduce the likelihood of meat juice on kitchen surfaces at home due to consumers’ practices of repackaging before storage. Results suggested that the transfer of meat juice through direct contact with the poultry packages is a major concern during shopping and should be prevented.

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Posted in Campylobacter, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Microbiology, Food Microbiology Blog, Food Safety, Food Testing, Research, Salmonella, Uncategorized