Category Archives: Uncategorized

RASFF – high bacterial count (> 4000000 CFU/g) in chilled warm water prawns in brine from Denmark in Denmark

RASFF – Listeria monocytogenes (420; <400 CFU/g) in goat cheese with raw milk from France in France

RASFF-Listeria monocytogenes (presence /25g) in chilled cooked duck products from Belgium in Belgium

RASFF-Listeria monocytogenes (<10 CFU/g) in chilled vacuum-packed smoked salmon from Spain in Italy

RASFF – too high count of live yeasts in and suspicion of adulteration (unlabelled urea: 1.03; 0.168 %) of feed yeast from Brazil in Austria

RASFF – Salmonella enterica ser. Montevideo (presence /25g) in flax seed pellets from Argentina in Italy

RASFF-Salmonella enterica ser. Mbandaka (present /25g) in rapeseed expellers from Estonia in Finland

RASFF-Salmonella enterica ser. Tennessee (presence /25g) in rapeseed meal from Germany in Finland

RASFF-Salmonella (present /25g) in poultry meal from the Netherlands in Belgium

Food Safety .Gov 

Image CDC

You may have heard the words “norovirus outbreak” but do you really know what that means? Each year on average in the United States, norovirus contributes to about 56,000–71,000 hospitalizations and 570-800 deaths, mostly among young children and older adults. Whether you are going on a cruise for vacation this summer, visiting a health care facility, or just eating at a restaurant, make sure you understand some of the basics of norovirus to protect you and your family from getting sick.

Food Safety .gov

Shiga Toxin-Producing E.coli & Food Safety

What are Shiga toxin-producing E. coli?

Some kinds of E. coli bacteria cause disease when they make a toxin called Shiga toxin. The bacteria that make these toxins are called “Shiga toxin-producing E. coli,” or STEC for short.

• The most common type of STEC in the United States is E.coli O157:H7 (often shortened to E. coli O157 or even just O157).
• Other STEC are called non-O157.

When you hear news reports about outbreaks of E. coli infections, they are usually talking about E. coli O157.

CDC estimates that each year STEC causes 265,000 illness, 3,600 hospitalizations and 30 deaths in the United States.

Food Poisoning Bulletin

Salmonella Outbreak Associated with AR Chuck Wagon Restaurant

A Salmonella outbreak that may have sickened 30 people is associated with the Chuck Wagon Restaurant in Stuttgart, Arkansas, according to the Arkansas Department of Health. There are four confirmed cases of Salmonella in this outbreak so far.

Food Poisoning Bulletin

Great Value Frozen Dark Sweet Pitted Cherries Recalled for Listeria

Great Value Organic Dark Sweet Pitted Cherry products, possibly sold at Walmart stores in Louisiana and Mississippi, are being recalled for possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination. The cherries were distributed by SunOpta’s subsidiary, Sunrise Growers, Inc. No illnesses have been reported to date in connection with this product.

Raw Monterey Jack Cheeses by Ripley Dairy Recalled for Listeria

Food Poisoning Bulletin 

Image CDC

Raw milk Monterey Jack cheeses made by Ripley Dairy at 66 West Cayuga Street in Moravia, New York have been recalled for possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination. To date, no illnesses associated with these products have been reported to public health officials.

Food Safety News

With multinational retailer Tesco neither willing to confirm nor deny that it is the “Supermarket X” linked to Hepatitis E infections in an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 British sausage lovers annually, some people are beginning to suspect imported pork products were responsible.

According to the World Health Organization:

• Hepatitis E is a liver disease caused by infection with a virus known as Hepatitis E virus (HEV).
• Every year, there are an estimated 20 million HEV infections worldwide, leading to an estimated 3.3 million symptomatic cases of Hepatitis E.
• WHO estimates that Hepatitis E caused approximately 44,000 deaths in 2015, accounting for 3.3 percent of the mortality due to viral hepatitis.
• The virus is transmitted via the fecal-oral route, principally via contaminated water.
• Hepatitis E is found worldwide, but the prevalence is highest in East and South Asia.

Britons are upset that Public Health England (PHE) has named “Supermarket X” as a common denominator in the spread of the virus to United Kingdom consumers, instead of releasing the actual name of the retailer.