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Outbreak News Today 

The Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) is advising consumers that Arruda’s Dairy Farms of Tiverton, Rhode Island is recalling its pint, quart, and half-gallon containers of egg nog because they may be contaminated with Salmonella bacteria.

The recalled packages were distributed to home delivery customers and throughout eastern Rhode Island and the Fall River area of Massachusetts through retail stores. The product comes in a pint, quart, and half-gallon, clear plastic containers with a sell by date of 2/3/18 and 2/10/18.

No illnesses have been reported to date in connection with this issue.

Outbreak News today

In a follow-up on the gastrointestinal outbreak onboard the recent Royal Caribbean’s Independence of the Seas voyage last week, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed the causative agent of the outbreak was indeed norovirus.

Norovirus sickened 310 passengers and 22 crewmembers (revised number). Federal health officials say cases reported are totals for the entire voyage.

Norovirus, a very contagious virus that can affect anyone, is the most common cause of gastroenteritis in the US. In fact, the average American gets infected with this virus five times in their lifetime.

The usual symptoms of norovirus include diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, and stomach pain. There is no specific treatment for this illness and most individuals recover in 1 to 3 days. The illness can last longer and be more severe in young children, older people, or people who have other chronic health conditions.

CFIA

Recall date:December 21, 2017Reason for recall:Microbiological – Listeria Hazard classification:Class 1 Company / Firm:HQ Fine Foods Distribution:National Extent of the distribution:Consumer

Ottawa, December 21, 2017 – HQ Fine Foods is recalling various brands of sandwiches from the marketplace due to possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination. Consumers should not consume the recalled products described below.

Food Standards Scotland

Errington Cheese Ltd is voluntarily recalling a batch of Dunsyre Blue cheese because they have been notified by a wholesaler that Listeria monocytogenes has been detected in the product.  The company has already taken steps to withdraw the product from sale.

Product details

Brand: Errington Cheese Ltd

Name: Dunsyre Blue

Batch No: J9

Pack size: All sizes

Use by Date: All date codes

Our advice to customers:

If you have bought the above product do not eat it.  Instead, return it to where it was bought for a full refund.

FSS

FSA

Food Poisoning Bulletin

A possible foodborne illness outbreak at Chipotle Mexican Grill in California has been reported by the Los Angeles City Health Department. The city has activated its Acute Communicable Disease Control unit. The facility is located at 4550 West Pico Boulevard in Los Angeles.

Outbreak News Today

Federal and Kansas state health officials have linked one person’s Salmonella infection to taking rattlesnake pills from Mexico and are advising that the public talk to their doctor if they are considering taking rattlesnake pills, particularly if you in a group more likely to get a severe Salmonella infection like people with weakened immune systems, including people who are receiving chemotherapy or have HIV; pregnant women; children younger than 5 years; and older adults.

Epidemiologic and laboratory evidence indicate that one person in Kansas became sick with Salmonella Oranienburg after taking the rattlesnake pills the week before getting sick. Advanced laboratory testing called whole genome sequencing showed that the Salmonella that made the person sick matched the Salmonella found in rattlesnake pills from Mexico collected in an earlier, unrelated investigation.

Rattlesnake pills are often marketed as remedies for various conditions, such as cancer and HIV infection. These pills contain dehydrated rattlesnake meat ground into a powder and put into pill form.

Reptiles and their meat can carry Salmonella and make people sick. Past outbreak investigations have identified rattlesnake pills as a source of human Salmonella infections.

FOODWISE

NSW Food Authority – partnering with the NSW food industry to ensure food is safe in NSW – from paddock to plate

Featured this issue:

GENERAL

Exercise Border Bridge 2

PROJECT – Listeria in delicatessens 4

PROJECT – Hot Bread Shops and Raw Eggs 7

FRP Workshop 2107 – the evolving partnership 8

MEAT

Manufacturing uncooked comminuted fermented meat products 13

SEAFOOD

Phytoplankton and biotoxin risk assessment 16

DAIRY

NSW Dairy Industry Consultative Committee, September 2017 18

EGGS

Egg stamps – are you a small egg farmer? 19

PLANT PRODUCTS

Inspections and Audits 20

VULNERABLE PERSONS

Vulnerable Persons Industry Forum, November 2017 21

MANUFACTURING

PROJECT – Allergen management for importers 22

Care2

Unless the puppies they sell are from a local animal shelter or rescue organization, it’s generally a terrible idea to buy them from pet stores. For one thing, they were probably obtained from puppy mills — large, overcrowded breeding facilities where dogs are often kept in miserable conditions without enough food, water or veterinary care.

For another thing, it’s not only the puppies that are sick. Nearly 100 people that bought them have become ill with infections that are resistant to common antibiotics.

Two months later, the number of confirmed cases has risen to 97, and they’ve now spread to 17 U.S. states, according to a Dec. 13 outbreak advisory from the CDC. Twenty-two people have been hospitalized.

Petland was determined to be the probable ground zero for the outbreak when stool samples from store puppies tested by the CDC contained Campylobacter that was closely related to that in samples from the sickened people.

The CDC along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (USDA-APHIS) and several states are currently investigating the outbreak.