Authorities in New Zealand have tightened the import rules around tahini and halva from Syria following a recall and outbreak.
An outbreak of Salmonella Kintambo earlier this year involved three patients who had consumed sesame-based products from Syria. Two people were hospitalized. Sequencing of clinical isolates showed cases were closely genetically related and had the same sequence type as in an ongoing European outbreak linked to the same type of products.
In July, Middle East recalled specific batches of Algota brand Sesame Tahini because of the possible presence of Salmonella.
New Zealand Food Safety testing of tahini and halva products found Salmonella Kintambo, Salmonella Amsterdam and Salmonella Orion.
The agency has amended the sampling plan for such high risk products. Changes mean all consignments of crushed sesame seed products, such as tahini and halva, must be sampled and tested for Salmonella, when exported from Syria or if they originate from the country.
The Risk Assessment of Norovirus Transmission in Food Establishments: Evaluating the Impact of Intervention Strategies and Food Employee Behavior (Duret et al. 2017) evaluates the dynamics of norovirus transmission from ill or infected food employees in food establishments (restaurant setting) to ready-to-eat food and consumers during food preparation and also evaluates the impact of prevention strategies. A discrete event model was developed to study norovirus transmission from the soiled hands of ill or infected food employees and the impact of prevention strategies and their compliance on the prevalence of contaminated servings and the number of resulting infected customers.
The Evaluation of the Impact of Compliance with Mitigation Strategies and Frequency of Restaurant Surface Cleaning and Sanitizing on Control of Norovirus Transmission from Ill Food Employees Using an Existing Quantitative Risk Assessment Model (Fanaselle et al. 2022) uses the previously published FDA quantitative risk assessment model in Duret et al. 2017, to evaluate more than 60 scenarios examining the impact of implementation and compliance with recommendations in the FDA Food Code for: restaurant surface cleaning and sanitizing, hand hygiene and employee health.
A total of 27 children were reportedly hospitalised due to food poisoning in Adilabad, said the officials on Tuesday. These children were taken to the hospital after they complained of nausea and vomiting. District Magistrate, Adilabad Prabhakar Reddy said, “yesterday night, 27 children from Kaga Nagar Minority Boys hostel Gurukul were admitted to a local hospital complaining of vomiting and nausea. A detailed inquiry has been ordered and we are investigating the matter,” according to ANI report.
The tragic incident took place after the cooks avoided washing grains and rice before cooking due to a shortage of staff,
CONLEY, GA – 9/20/22 – GHGA is recalling various products (see chart below) due to the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. No other GHGA products are affected by this recall. Listeria monocytogenes is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short- term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, a Listeria monocytogenes infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.
To date, we are not aware of any illnesses linked to this recall. Please see attached photos for further identification.
On 9/16/22 the firm was notified by their laboratory that a single sample of a product tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes.
The products were sold to Kroger and distributed to retail stores on 9/11/22. The Sell-by Date has expired, and products were previously removed from store shelves and are no longer for sale. However, products could still be in possession of consumers. The Sell By Dates and Lot numbers are located on the top primary label of each product. These products were packaged in clear plastic containers and sold primarily in Kroger stores in the produce or deli sections in the states of: Alabama, South Carolina, and Georgia
Consumers who have purchased these products are urged to return them to the place of purchase for a full refund or they may discard the product. Consumers with questions can call Customer Service at (888) 449-9386 M-F 8am – 4pm PST.
GHGA has notified Kroger and they have directed their stores to remove the products from the shelves.
This recall is being made with the knowledge of the Food and Drug Administration.
The extremely hot weather this summer has meant many maize forage crops have grown under drought stressed conditions, which has increased the likelihood of in-field mycotoxins developing, according to UK agricultural supply company Wynnstay.
Wynnstay dairy specialist Beth Parry urges dairy farmers to be aware of this heightened mycotoxin risk when feeding maize forage this autumn and winter.
“With potentially limited forage stocks following a difficult growing season, farmers are going to need to maximise feed utilisation and digestion to ensure performance isn’t impacted too greatly this winter,” she said.
“In-field mycotoxins are more likely to be present in silages if the crop experienced any kind of stress, such as growing in drought conditions, because moulds and fungi will have had more opportunity to take hold and produce mycotoxins,” she added.
