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ynetnews

The Israeli branch of the international company is to fined NIS 594,000 for having misled the public via the media and customer service representatives by claiming its products were uncontaminated whilst having information to the contrary.

The Sun

A GRANDMOTHER died from food poisoning after eating a roast dinner at an ‘unhygienic pub’, a court heard.

Christine Morgan, 71, was struck down with vomiting and diarrhoea shortly after tucking into her meal at the Clock & Key in Tripsen, near Truro, Cornwall.

EFSA 

EFSA has proposed a simplified approach to food safety management in small retail businesses such as grocery shops, butchers, and bakeries. The approach includes guidelines on how to identify the most relevant biological, chemical and physical hazards at each stage of the food production process, the activities or practices that make hazards more likely to occur and appropriate control measures.

A combination of managerial, organisational and technical hurdles means that many small food retailers have difficulty complying with the requirements of existing food safety management systems (FSMS). In particular, applying often complex hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) plans can be beyond the capacity of establishments that may employ only a handful of staff.

To help overcome this problem, EFSA has developed simple FSMS for five types of small food business – a butcher’s shop, a grocery, a bakery, a fishmonger and an ice cream shop – that are easy to understand and implement.

The new approach uses flow diagrams to summarise the stages of production, an accompanying questionnaire, and simple tables to take retailers through the food safety management process from hazard identification to control measures.

Marta Hugas, head of EFSA’s Biological Hazards and Contaminants unit, said: “Some aspects of current food hygiene regulations can be challenging for small businesses, particularly where resources are tight or expertise is lacking.

“This simpler approach, which the European Commission asked us to develop, would make it easier for such operators to identify hazards and take action to counter them. It’s a practical response to a known problem that could benefit consumers and food businesses alike.”

The streamlined system means, for example, that retailers are not required to have detailed knowledge of specific hazards. They need only to be aware that biological, chemical and physical hazards or allergens may be present and that a failure to undertake key control activities – such as correct chilled storage or separation of raw from cooked products – could increase exposure of consumers to a hazard.

The classical approach of ranking and prioritising hazards, which is usually required before decisions on control measures can be taken, has been removed.

Experts from EFSA’s Panel on Biological Hazards, who developed the Scientific Opinion, recommend that butcher, grocery, bakery, fish and ice cream shops apply the simplified approach. They add that it would also overcome many of the issues encountered by other small food businesses when attempting to implement effective food safety management systems and should therefore be considered for wider application within the food industry.

• Hazard analysis approaches for certain small retail establishments in view of the application of their food safety management systems

Figshare

Pathogenic Escherichia coli (E. coli) are a common cause of diarrhoea and a broad range of extra-intestinal diseases in humans. Among these pathogenic strains, Shiga toxin producing E. coli (STEC), has emerged as one of the most virulent virotypes associated with cases of food borne disease in humans. Ruminants are considered an important reservoir of these pathogens. In Malaysia, data on the prevalence and characterisation of E. coli O157 and the non-O157 serogroups in ruminants is limited. Thus, E. coli including STEC O157 and serogroups of non-O157 STEC were isolated and characterised based on their virulence, antibiotic resistance and survival under sub-lethal heat, cold and acid stress conditions. A total of 136 ruminant feces samples were collected from six different farms in Peninsular Malaysia for the isolation and characterisation of E. coli O157 and the non-O157 serogroups O26, O103, O111, O121, O45 and O145. STEC O157:H7 was isolated from six (4.4 %) samples, from which 32 O157:H7 strains were obtained. All 32 STEC O157:H7 strains from this study were motile, carried stx2c, eaeA-γ1 and ehxA, belonged to the less virulent lineage II, contained an occupied sbcB locus, and were negative for Stx production. Non-O157 STEC was isolated from 2 (1.5 %) samples, from which 2 non-O157 strains of unknown serotype were obtained.

The Herald Scotland

SEVEN tonnes of cheese made by an artisan producer at the centre of a food poisoning outbreak in which a three-year-old girl died have been seized after a batch tested positive for E.Coli.

South Lanarkshire Council planned to remove the cheese from Errington Cheese, however, the producer gained a court order to keep the cheese at its Carnwath base until a sheriff decides whether it will be destroyed.

It means the cheese will remain under lock and key except for the regular “brushing” it requires to stop it from deteriorating after the firm argued the council did not have adequate storage.

E.coli Blog

The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is warning consumers not to eat “I.M. Healthy” brand soy nut butter and soy nut butter-containing products from “The SoyNut Butter Company” until further notice because of possible contamination with E. coli O157 bacteria.  This strain of E. coli can cause disease by making a toxin called Shiga toxin. These bacteria are referred to as Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, or STEC.

Food Poisoning Bulletin

A study conducted at Harvard and MIT and published in the journal eLife has discovered one way that bacteria become resistant to drugs. Individual mutations that increase pathogenic bacteria’s resistance to multiple antibiotics has not been fully explored.

RASFF – norovirus (genogroup I and II) in dried tomatoes in sunflower oil from Italy in the Czech Republic

RASFF – foodborne outbreak caused by and histamine (up to 4080 mg/kg – ppm) in frozen yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) loins from Spain in Italy

RASFF-histamine (up to 232.62 mg/kg – ppm) in frozen mackerel fillets (Scomber scombrus) from the Netherlands in Italy

RASFF – shigatoxin-producing Escherichia coli (stx2+ O-nt:H46 /25g) in chilled boneless striploin chain off beef from Uruguay in Germany