Category Archives: Uncategorized

SMH

An aggressive species of marine bacteria responsible for many more deaths than sharks worldwide each year has been found in Sydney Harbour, with experts predicting outbreaks in spots along the city’s waterfront as water temperatures rise with global warming.

Vibrio bacteria, which includes the species that causes cholera, can cause serious illness in humans and animals, including gastrointestinal sickness through consumption of contaminated seafood and flesh-eating infections in swimmers.

CFIA

Recall details

Ottawa, April 13, 2016 – HardyWares Preserves is recalling HardyWares brand Mustard Relish from the marketplace because it may permit the growth of Clostridium botulinum. Consumers should not consume the recalled product described below.

FSA

Campsie Glen Smokehouse Ltd is recalling batches of its Smoked Halibut, Smoked Trout and Smoked Salmon products because of concerns over the company’s procedures in place to control Clostridium botulinum. RiskManufacturing controls aimed at preventing the growth and toxin production of Clostridium botulinum could not be demonstrated satisfactorily by the company.

The issue relates to controlling factors to prevent the growth and toxin production of Clostridium botulinum. The botulinum toxin may cause a serious form of food poisoning called botulism. Although no trace of the toxin has been found in products tested, a recall from customers is being carried out as a precautionary measure.

Product details

Products: Campsie Glen Smokehouse Smoked Halibut Campsie Glen Smokehouse Trout Campsie Glen Smokehouse Smoked Salmon Pack size: 100g‘Use by’ dates: 6 April 2016, 11 April 2016, 13 April 2016, 27 April 2016Batch codes: 2063, 2064, 2065, 2066, 2067, 2069, 2070, 2071 (some of these codes may have the letter ‘I’, ‘H’ or ‘L’ at the end) No other Campsie Glen Smokehouse Ltd products are known to be affected.

Action taken by the company

The Campsie Glen Smokehouse Ltd is recalling the affected batches and point-of-sale notices will be displayed in stores where the product is sold. These notices explain to customers why the product is being recalled and tells them what actions to take if they have bought the product. A copy of the point-of-sale recall notice can be found at the link above

Shigella Blog

The Dubuque County Health Department, the Dubuque County Board of Health, and the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) are investigating an outbreak of Shigellosis cases. Shigellosis is a disease caused by the bacterium, Shigella, which causes watery and sometimes bloody diarrhea. Symptoms of Shigellosis usually begin one to three days after infection and include diarrhea, fever, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal cramps. Shigella is spread: Person-to-Person. Any infected person can infect others by failing to properly wash their hands before handling food or coming into close contact with another person. Infections in households, pre-schools, child care facilities, and elderly and developmentally disabled living facilities are commonly spread in this manner.

Shigellosis is an extremely contagious disease.

Food Poisoning Bulletin

A statement that two more people in the Flint area have been added to the death toll of the Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak has been released by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). That outbreak may be linked to the city’s contaminated water supply. Public health officials reviewed hospital data and discovered three more cases; two of those people died. Now 12 people are dead from Legionnaires’ Disease in that city in this particular outbreak.

Food Poisoning Bulletin

WD Import and Export of Brooklyn, New York is recalling bulk unlabeled cardboard boxes of Dried Yellow Fish because it may be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum bacteria. This bacteria can cause life-threatening illness or death. No illnesses have been reported to date in connection with the consumption of this product.

MSN Mind and Body

Hands up who else thought that washing your hands simply involved three simple steps? All you need to do is lather a bit of soap on your palms, rub them for twenty seconds or so and then rinse, right?

Wrong, according to experts at Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland. They say that a six step hand-hygiene technique (see below), recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), is actually the best way to kill off bacteria.

How to wash your hands using the World Health Organisation’s 6 step method

1. Wet hands and apply soap or hand sanitiser. Rub palms together until soap is bubbly.

2. Rub each palm over the back of the other hand.

3. Then rub palm to palm with your fingers interlaced.

4. Rub the backs of your fingers against the opposite palm while interlocking your fingers.

5. Clasp your left thumb in your right palm and rub in a rotational motion, then switch hands and carry out the same step.

6. Finally, carry out rotational rubbing backwards and forwards while clasping the fingers of your right hand in the palm of your left and vice versa.

CFIA

Ottawa, April 12, 2016 – Reser’s Fine Foods, Inc. is recalling Classic SYSCO brand Elbow Macaroni Salad and Reser’s brand Deviled Egg Potato Salad from the marketplace due to possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination. Hotels, restaurants and institutions should not sell or use the recalled products described below.

Food Safety News

At least two frozen vegetable blends produced by the Pictsweet Co. are under recall because chopped onions in the products may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

Officials from Pictsweet in Bells, TN, were not immediately available for comment today. A recall notice from a regional grocery chain in St. Louis states the implicated onions came from Oregon Potato Co., doing business as Freeze Pack.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism

Resistance to a key antibiotic used in the treatment of serious food poisoning cases has reached its highest level for a decade, new figures obtained by the Bureau suggest.

Previously unpublished data collated by Public Health England shows that almost one in two of all human campylobacter cases tested in England for resistance to ciprofloxacin – one of several drugs doctors turn to when victims of the food poisoning bug develop complications – returned positive results.

The data reveals that resistance rates have risen from 30% in 2005 to 48% in 2015.

Dr Ron Dixon, microbiologist at the University of Lincoln, said that any rise in resistance to ciprofloxacin in human campylobacter cases was “extremely worrying”.