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IFST

The International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST) today released its latest Scientific Information Bulletin (SIB), which provides a summary of the most recent information on Aflatoxins for the global food science and technology community. SIBs are prepared for the more than 300,000 members of IUFoST Adhering Bodies worldwide and may be of interest to those serving in academia, industry, government, and development organizations. The purpose of this IUFoST SIB is to highlight reports from two expert sources on health impact and management of aflatoxin. The first document relates to the World Health Organisation (WHO) report on the Global Burden of Foodborne Disease released late last year that quantitatively linked aflatoxin to primary liver cancer expressed in terms of DALYs – Disability-Adjusted Life Years. Released in early 2016, the second report of importance was issued by WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) with the support by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that is entitled Mycotoxin Control in Low and Middle Income Countries.

Mombasa County News

Mombasa residents are living in fear after the county’s health department confirmed that cases of Hepatitis A infections have risen from 21 to 114 as at Tuesday this week.

County officials on Wednesday held a crisis meeting to discuss how the menace will be tackled.

Speaking at the Coast General Hospital on Wednesday, the Mombasa County government Secretary Francis Thoya said that the outbreak has sent county health officials into panic mode.

Thoya said the rate at which the cases are increasing is disturbing, adding that the county is working round the clock to stabilise the situation.

“We have set aside eleven million shillings to tackle the problem before it gets out of hand,” said Thoya.

The county secretary said the county government is pursuing private water companies believed to have contributed to the increased infections in Mombasa.

Gloucester Citizen

Guests at two separate weddings had a night they would never forget in Stonehouse – but for all the wrong reasons.

Unlucky visitors to Stone House Court Hotel were struck down by an outbreak of the Norovirus, known as the winter vomiting bug, over two days last week.

Hundreds of guests visited the restored country house for weddings on Friday and Saturday to celebrate their loved ones tying the knot and send them on their honeymoon.

But shortly after the festivities dozens of people became very ill.

CTV News

MADRID (AP) — The health authority of the northeastern Spanish region of Catalonia says more than 670 people have been affected by an outbreak of gastroenteritis linked to bottled water.

The authority said on its official Twitter account that, as of Saturday, 678 people had been treated for symptoms including nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea and high fever.

Catalonia’s regional health agency said in a statement that bottles of water have been withdrawn from retail outlets and scientific samples are being taken from bottling plants and distributors to determine the source of the outbreak. It did not name the company.

The bottled water company Grupo Eden Springs, however, said in a statement it had withdrawn pallets of bottled water that came from its source in Font d’Arinsal, near Barcelona

Wiley Online Library

In this article, the performance objectives (POs) for Bacillus cereus group (BC) in celery, cheese, and spelt added as ingredients in a ready-to-eat mixed spelt salad, packaged under modified atmosphere, were calculated using a Bayesian approach. In order to derive the POs, BC detection and enumeration were performed in nine lots of naturally contaminated ingredients and final product. Moreover, the impact of specific production steps on the BC contamination was quantified. Finally, a sampling plan to verify the ingredient lots’ compliance with each PO value at a 95% confidence level (CL) was defined. To calculate the POs, detection results as well as results above the limit of detection but below the limit of quantification (i.e., censored data) were analyzed. The most probable distribution of the censored data was determined and two-dimensional (2D) Monte Carlo simulations were performed. The PO values were calculated to meet a food safety objective of 4 log₁₀ cfu of BC for g of spelt salad at the time of consumption. When BC grows during storage between 0.90 and 1.90 log₁₀ cfu/g, the POs for BC in celery, cheese, and spelt ranged between 1.21 log₁₀ cfu/g for celery and 2.45 log₁₀ cfu/g for spelt. This article represents the first attempt to manage the concept of PO and 2D Monte Carlo simulation in the flow chart of a complex food matrix, including raw and cooked ingredients.

FSAI

Message:

The Little Milk Company is recalling batch 160209 of Brewers Gold semi-soft cheese, due to the presence of Listeria monocytogenes. The implicated batch was sold by Tesco Ireland between 6^th and 8^th April 2016. Point of sale recall notices are being displayed in Tesco Ireland stores.

CIFA

Recall details

Ottawa, April 15, 2016 – Nature’s Touch is recalling Nature’s Touch brand Organic Berry Cherry Blend from the marketplace due to possible Hepatitis A contamination. Consumers should not consume the recalled product described below.

The following product has been sold exclusively at Costco warehouse locations in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Mirror

People are putting themselves at risk of the deadly E.Coli bug which is lurking in 44% of washing machines, research has found.

Experts say the harmful bacteria, which can cause serious health complications including kidney failure, is building up in the machines due to people consistently washing at 30 or 40 degrees.

RASFF-Salmonella (presence /25g) in hulled sesame seeds from India in Slovenia

RASFF-Salmonella (presence /25g) in salami from Italy in Austria

RASFF-Salmonella (presence /25g) in salami from Germany in Sweden

RASFF-Salmonella enteritidis (presence /25g) in frozen chicken drumsticks in Italy

RASFF-Salmonella (presence /25g) in frozen turkey meat preparation from Brazil in the Netherlands

RASFF-Salmonella (present /25g) in turkey meat preparation from Brazil in Italy

RASFF-aflatoxins (B1 = 56; Tot. = 63 µg/kg – ppb) in roasted and salted pistachios from the United States in Belgium

RASFF-aflatoxins (B1 = 24; Tot. = 67 µg/kg – ppb) and ochratoxin A (73.9 µg/kg – ppb) in fasika spice from Ethiopia in the UK

RASFF-aflatoxins (B1 = 41; Tot. = 44 µg/kg – ppb) in pistachio nuts from the United States in the Netherlands