Category Archives: Uncategorized

Edmonton Journal

Since 2012 there have been four pet-food recalls in Canada because one of the ingredients has become contaminated — most likely chicken — or there has been cross contamination between ingredients at production levels.

Three of those were dry pet food and the most recent, in 2012, was related to raw pet food.

“I think it’s a public-health issue that warrants more attention in the interest of people’s well-being as well as that of their pets,” she said.

“The thing is, when you see that pet food could be a source of salmonella infection, why would you take that risk? Why not eliminate that risk and make people aware of it so that people can be more vigilant about it.”

In the United States, 1.4 million people are infected with salmonella every year and 15,000 of those cases are hospitalized.

Outbreak News Today

CDC photo

In a follow-up report on the outbreak at the Humber College North Campus in Toronto, Toronto Public Health (TPH) reports receiving laboratory results that confirm norovirus was the cause of student illness at Humber College’s North Campus.

Additional laboratory testing is underway from other ill students that will help provide further evidence of norovirus being the cause of this outbreak.

Humber College continues to work with TPH and rigorously clean and disinfect the campus with special focus on common areas and high touch surfaces/areas including bathrooms and food establishments.

Food Safety News

Citing increasing demand for local food, a group of state legislators in Hawaii is supporting a bill to allow the sale of raw milk in retail stores, but only if it has “a label that warns about the risks of consuming unpasteurized milk, especially to children and the elderly.”

“The legislature finds that consumers’ food preferences have shifted toward locally-produced food in recent years,” the bill states.

Food Safety News

Whole Foods Market is closing down all three of its regional kitchens that prepared ready-to-eat food — including the one in Everett, MA, that netted the grocery chain an FDA warning letter citing Listeria problems — and will be using outside suppliers instead.

The move comes almost a year after inspectors from the Food and Drug Administration discovered a long list of “serious violations” at the Massachusetts facility during a February 2016 visit.

BBC

A food supplier has been fined more than £275,000 after bacteria was found in its meat.

Carlisle-based Pioneer, which owns three butchers’ shops, admitted 11 health and safety breaches after listeria was found in cooked meats.

Carlisle Magistrates’ Court heard the Rosehill estate firm supplied food to schools and hospitals.

The company said its shops had five-star hygiene ratings and the lapse in standards could “never” happen again.

A spokesman also said that no-one became ill as a result of the contaminated meat, adding: “Full product withdrawal was undertaken as a precautionary measure.”

Pioneer, which operates under the name of PFD Limited, was also ordered to pay costs of £28,907 and a victim surcharge of £120.

Packaging Gateway

NanoPack consortium, led by Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, has received funding from the European Union (EU) to develop a new nanotechnology-based antimicrobial packaging solution that helps extend food shelf life.

The €7.7m EU fund will be used to demonstrate, validate and test food-packaging products with antimicrobial surfaces based on natural materials for a three-year period.

As part of the new project, NanoPack will use nanotechnology to develop polymer composites based on natural halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) as reliable and safe carriers, which can tailor-release bioactive payloads.

HNTs are unable to migrate from packaging into food due, but NanoPack’s solution will enable the slow release of potent, volatile, natural and EU-approved essential oils into packaging.

The oils have both antimicrobial and anti-fungal properties and can be tailored to inhibit the growth of most food-borne microbes, therefore prolonging shelf life.

Academic Journals 

The interest in production of buffalo milk is increasing in Brazil due to its physico-chemical and nutritional characteristics. However, just as sheep, goats and cows are susceptible to mastitis, so are buffaloes, which is mainly caused by Staphylococcus aureus. In this regard, biofilm formation, the ability to escape host immune defense and virulence factor, is presumably a key factor for acute and chronic intra-mammary infection in buffaloes. In this study, biofilm forming capabilities and virulence genes were evaluated in S. aureus isolated from buffalo milk and milking environments, using phenotypic and genotypic assays. Thirty two S. aureus strains isolated from buffalo milk, milking machines and milkers’ hands were obtained from a farm in Analândia, São Paulo State, Brazil. Samples were collected in April, June, October and November 2013. These strains were tested for the presence of sa442, icaA, icaD, clfA, clfB, sarA and hla genes, slime production using Congo Red Agar (CRA), and biofilm formation using microtiter assay. All samples of S. aureus were positive for CRA and microtiter assay. Although, icaA and icaD genes were simultaneously detected in nine of the 32 samples, none of the samples were positive for icaA; only seven were positive for icaD gene. This suggests that other factors may be involved in biofilm formation. Seventeen strains of S. aureus were positive for sarA gene, nine for clfA gene, 16 for clfB and 16 for hla. A great variability in SmaI restriction profiles of S. aureus strains was observed. Thirty isolates were typified and two strains were not by SmaI restriction. In addition, 18 pulse types were detected. It is hypothesized that biofilm can be produced by the expression of icaD gene only. Our findings suggest that S. aureus strains from buffalo milk and milking environment are similar, which contradict the findings obtained from bovine strains. This behavior may contribute to the persistence of mastitis in buffalo caused by S. aureus, which results in a potential zoonotic problem. Our results may bring new insights into the development of novel strategies for the prevention and treatment of bubaline mastitis.

Outbreak News Today

A botulism outbreak that has struck two villages in Armenia has sickened two people, according to Armenian press. The source of the infections has been linked to homemade canned marinade.

Less than a day after consuming the marinade, the victims presented with symptoms of botulism. They were taken to the hospital where they are being treated. One is in serious condition, according to the report.

Food borne botulism is a severe intoxication caused by eating the preformed toxin present in contaminated food.

Food Safety News

A grocery chain in the Twin Cities area is recalling fresh-cut, cored pineapple that an unnamed supplier has recalled because of potential contamination with Listeria.

It is not known what other retailers, restaurants or institutions may have received the pineapple recalled by the unnamed supplier. Lunds & Byerlys officials did not respond to requests for comment.

“Out of an abundance of caution, we have removed Lunds & Byerlys ‘Our Produce Fresh-Cut Cored Pineapple’ from our shelves following a voluntary recall from our supplier because of a potential Listeria risk, according to a Jan. 20 notice on the Minnesota retailer’s website.

CDC

CDC Photo

On June 9, 2016, the Mississippi Poison Control Center and the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) notified CDC of five suspected cases of botulism, a potentially fatal neuroparalytic illness (1), in inmates at a medium-security federal correctional institution (prison A). By June 10, a total of 13 inmates were hospitalized, including 12 in Mississippi and one in Oklahoma (the inmate in Oklahoma had been transferred there after his exposure for reasons unrelated to his illness). MSDH, Oklahoma State Department of Health, Bureau of Prisons, and CDC conducted an investigation to identify the source and scope of the outbreak, and to develop recommendations.

Prison A staff members suspected that an alcoholic beverage, illicitly made by inmates and known as “hooch” or “pruno,” was the source of the outbreak. Among 33 inmates who reported consuming hooch during June 1–19, 2016, a total of 31 (94%) had signs or symptoms suggesting botulism. The median interval from first exposure to symptom onset was 3 days (range = 0–11 days) (Figure). Cases were categorized using modified Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists definitions. A confirmed case was defined as an illness in an inmate consistent with botulism that began on or after June 1, with botulinum toxin type A detected in a serum or stool specimen or Clostridium botulinum cultured from a stool specimen; a probable case was defined as an illness in an inmate with signs or symptoms of any cranial nerve palsy and extremity weakness that began on or after June 1; and a suspected case was an illness in an inmate with signs or symptoms of any cranial nerve palsy without extremity weakness that began on or after June 1.

Thirty-one cases were identified, all in men, including 19 confirmed cases (18 in Mississippi and one in Oklahoma), 10 probable cases (nine in Mississippi and one in Texas), and two suspected cases in Mississippi. Patients from Texas and Oklahoma were transferred from prison A to other prisons before their illness began as part of routine inmate transfers.