Prevalence of Human Enteric Viruses and a Potential Indicator of Contamination in Shellfish in China.
Influence of working conditions and practices on fresh-cut lettuce salads quality
Identifying the seasonal origins of human campylobacteriosis
Researchers plan to use data collected to develop vaccines to control Salmonella in animals and humans
Posted in Bacteria, Campylobacter, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Technology, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Hygiene, Illness, Methods, Microbiology, Norovirus, outbreak, Pathogen, Research, Salmonella, Virus
Tagged cambridge journals, climate, enteric viruses, lettuce salads, research, science
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Desco Services Alimentaires Inc. are warning the public not to consume the Le Champ du Coq brand Seasoned, Cooked Chicken Breast Strips because they may be undercooked and, therefore, contaminated with Salmonella.
There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of this product.
The distributor, Desco Services Alimentaires Inc., Boisbriand, Québec, is voluntarily recalling the affected product from the marketplace. The CFIA is monitoring the effectiveness of the recall.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Osmat Imports are warning the public not to consume the Osmat Imports brand Stuffed Eggplants product described below because it may be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum. Toxins produced by these bacteria may cause botulism, a life-threatening illness. The affected product, Osmat Imports brand Stuffed Eggplants, was sold in 2 kg jars (4.4 lbs) bearing UPC 8 37770 00009 7 and Best Before: Lot 6 EXP JA 14. There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of this product. The importer, Osmat Imports, North Vancouver, BC is voluntarily recalling the affected product from the marketplace. The CFIA is monitoring the effectiveness of the recall.
The public warning issued on April 4, 2013 has been updated to include an additional product because this product may be contaminated with Salmonella. Previously identified products included in this recall can be found on the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) website. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Trophy Foods Inc. are warning the public not to consume Trophy brand Nut Mix In Shell because they may be contaminated with Salmonella. This product has been distributed in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and may have been distributed to other provinces. There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of this product. The manufacturer, Trophy Foods Inc., Calgary, Alberta is voluntarily recalling the affected product from the marketplace. The CFIA is monitoring the effectiveness of the recall.
SIXTY people have fallen ill after eating contaminated oysters.
All oysters produced by Barilla Bay Seafoods have been recalled from the market after health authorities pinpointed the outbreak yesterday. People who ate the oysters were infected by norovirus, a common cause of gastroenteritis.
None was hospitalised over the Easter weekend but some saw doctors and went to the Royal Hobart emergency department. It is the second incidence of contaminated oysters in southern Tasmania in a week, but health authorities say the two cases are a coincidence. They say the contamination is not related to shellfish from Pitt Water, which was closed last week because of a sewage spill.
Oysters Tasmania spokesman Tom Lewis said the two recalls were a coincidence. “To our knowledge there is no connection,” Dr Lewis said. Barilla Bay Oysters general manager Justin Goc said the company was working closely with the Public Health Director Dr Roscoe Taylor.
“We apologise to the public for inconvenience caused and the public will be informed on developments,” Mr Goc said. The public is asked to dispose of any Barilla Bay Oysters bought from its retail outlet on or before last Sunday or Mures Lower Deck between last Thursday and Saturday. No products from the award-winning oyster company have been sold by Mures Lower Deck since Saturday. Dr Taylor said the Barilla Bay oysters were harvested at lease 113 in Dunalley on the Hobart side of the Denison Canal. He said a survey of the area would be done today in an attempt to find the source of the contamination.
“If people still have Barilla Bay produce in their fridge they should discard it,” he said. People should also not collect and eat wild shellfish.
Why shellfish can become deadly
An adult oyster filters and cleans up to 190 litres of water a day.
They swallow algae, and remove dirt and nitrogen pollution.
Sometimes during the filtering process, bacteria can trigger norovirus which remains in the oyster.
Eating shellfish infected with a norovirus can lead to food poisoning with vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal pain.
Noroviruses are the most common cause of viral gastroenteritis in humans.
The disease is usually self-limiting and severe illness is rare but it can lead to blood infections of people with compromised immune systems – especially those with chronic liver disease – and can cause severe and life-threatening reactions.
Posted in Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Technology, Food Testing, Food Virus, Foodborne Illness, Hygiene, Microbiology, Norovirus, outbreak, Pathogen, Virus, Water
Tagged barilla bay oysters, bay seafoods, climate, environment, public health director, science
Natura Pet Products is voluntarily expanding its recall of dry pet food because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. No Salmonella-related illnesses have been confirmed to date.
Salmonella can affect animals eating the products and there is risk to humans from handling contaminated pet products, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the products or any surfaces exposed to these products.
Healthy people infected with Salmonella should monitor themselves for some or all of the following symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramping and fever. Rarely, Salmonella can result in more serious ailments, including arterial infections, endocarditis, arthritis, muscle pain, eye irritation, and urinary tract symptoms. Consumers exhibiting these signs after having contact with this product should contact their healthcare providers.
Pets with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Infected but otherwise healthy pets can be carriers and infect other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed the recalled product and has these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian.
Sampling conducted by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and the Georgia Department of Agriculture confirmed the presence of Salmonella in additional dry cat food and a cat pet treat. In an abundance of caution, Natura is also recalling product made in the surrounding timeframe. This affects dry foods only; no canned wet food is affected by this announcement.
The affected products are sold through veterinary clinics and select pet specialty retailers nationwide and in Canada, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Malaysia and Costa Rica, as well as online. The dry cat food expiration dates for this expanded recall range from 1/1/2014 to 3/24/2014. The dry cat treats have expiration dates from 7/1/13 to 9/27/13.
Consumers who have purchased these pet foods should discard them. For additional information, consumers may visit www.naturapet.com2. For further information or a product replacement or refund call Natura toll-free at 800-224-6123. (Monday – Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:30 PM CST).
The included lot codes are: Expiration Date: 12/14/13 thru 3/24/14
Posted in Bacteria, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Microbiology, Pathogen, Pet Food, Recall, Salmonella
Tagged climate, environment, health, nature, science
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Central-Epicure Food Products Ltd. are warning the public not to consume the Central-Epicure brand Gefilte Fish, Ready to Serve, Sweet and Savoury, described below because they may be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum.Toxins produced by these bacteria may cause botulism, a life-threatening illness.
There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of this product.
The manufacturer, Central-Epicure Food Products Ltd., Toronto, Ontario, is voluntarily recalling the affected product from the marketplace. The CFIA is monitoring the effectiveness of the recall.
Posted in Bacteria, Clostridium botulinum, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Microbiology, Pathogen, Poisoning, Recall, Toxin, Uncategorized
Tagged canadian food inspection, canadian food inspection agency cfia, climate, clostridium botulinum, science
Investigation of foodborne diseases requires the capture and analysis of time-sensitive information on microbial pathogens that is derived from multiple analytical methods and sources. The web-based Pathogen-annotated Tracking Resource Network (PATRN) system (www.patrn.net) was developed to address the data aggregation, analysis, and communication needs important to the global food safety community for the investigation of foodborne disease. PATRN incorporates a standard vocabulary for describing isolate metadata and provides a representational schema for a prototypic data exchange standard using a novel data loading wizard for aggregation of assay and attribution information. PATRN currently houses expert-curated, high-quality “foundational datasets” consisting of published experimental results from conventional assays and next generation analysis platforms for isolates of Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, and Salmonella, Shigella, Vibrio and Cronobacter species. A suite of computational tools for data mining, clustering, and graphical representation is available. Within PATRN, the public curated data repository is complemented by a secure private workspace for user-driven analyses, and for sharing data among collaborators. To demonstrate the data curation, loading wizard features, and analytical capabilities of PATRN, three use-case scenarios are presented. Use-case scenario one is a comparison of the distribution and prevalence of plasmid-encoded virulence factor genes among 249 Cronobacter strains with similar attributes to that of nine Cronobacter isolates from recent cases obtained between March and October, 2010–2011. To highlight PATRN’s data management and trend finding tools, analysis of datasets, stored in PATRN as part of an ongoing surveillance project to identify the predominant molecular serogroups among Cronobacter sakazakii isolates observed in the USA is shown. Use-case scenario two demonstrates the secure workspace available for private users to upload and analyze sensitive data, and for collating cross-platform datasets to identify and validate congruent datapoints. SNP datasets from WGS assemblies and pan-genome microarrays are analyzed in a combinatorial fashion to determine relatedness of 33 Salmonella enterica strains to six strains collected as part of an outbreak investigation. Use-case scenario three utilizes published surveillance results that describe the incidence and sources of O157:H7 E. coli isolates associated with a produce pre-harvest surveillance study that occurred during 2002–2006. In summary, PATRN is a web-based integrated platform containing tools for the management, analysis and visualization of data about foodborne pathogens.
The contamination of enterotoxigenic Clostridium perfringens spores on food contact surfaces posses a serious concern to food industry due to their high resistance to various preservation methods typically applied to control foodborne pathogens. In this study, we aimed to develop an strategy to inactivate C. perfringens spores on stainless steel (SS) surfaces by inducing spore germination and killing of germinated spores with commonly used disinfectants. The mixture of l-Asparagine and KCl (AK) induced maximum spore germination for all tested C. perfringens food poisoning (FP) and non-foodborne (NFB) isolates. Incubation temperature had a major impact on C. perfringens spore germination, with 40 °C induced higher germination than room temperature (RT) (20 ± 2 °C). In spore suspension, the implementation of AK-induced germination step prior to treatment with disinfectants significantly (p < 0.05) enhanced the inactivation of spores of FP strain SM101. However, under similar conditions, no significant spore inactivation was observed with NFB strain NB16. Interestingly, while the spores of FP isolates were able to germinate with AK upon their adhesion to SS chips, no significant germination was observed with spores of NFB isolates. Consequently, the incorporation of AK-induced germination step prior to decontamination of SS chips with disinfectants significantly (p < 0.05) inactivated the spores of FP isolates. Collectively, our current results showed that triggering spore germination considerably increased sporicidal activity of the commonly used disinfectants against C. perfringens FP spores attached to SS chips. These findings should help in developing an effective strategy to inactivate C. perfringens spores adhered to food contact surfaces.
Natura Pet is recalling several brands of pet food for possible contamination with Salmonella, the company announced today. The recall includes both dog and cat food sold under the brand names Innova, EVO, Healthwise and California Natural. To see a complete list of the recalled products, click here.
The company posted the recall on its webpage, saying “it pains us to inform you of the first recall in our company’s 21-year history.” During recent testing by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Salmonella was discovered in one of the products. The company believes that the problem is not widespread and at this time, no human or pet illnesses had been reported in conjunction with the recalled products.
Posted in Bacteria, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Safety, Microbiology, Pathogen, Pet Food, Recall, Salmonella
Tagged climate, environment, science
Research from the Health Protection Agency (HPA) has revealed that food, water, chopping boards, cleaning cloths and security wristbands sampled from mobile and outdoor food vendors were contaminated with a range of bacteria including E.coli.
The bacteria, which originates from human or animal faeces is usually an indicator of either poor hygiene, undercooking or cross-contamination in the kitchen.
The events where samples were taken included 50 concerts or music festivals, 20 sports events, 39 carnivals, fetes and fairs and 44 ‘other’ events.
8% of food samples were of an unsatisfactory quality with a further 1% containing potentially hazardous levels of bacteria.
Water samples tested revealed that 27% contained unacceptable levels of coliform bacteria which can be found in the environment in soil, water and on plants and may also be a sign of faecal contamination.
E.coli and/or enterococci bacteria (of faecal origin) were found in 8%.
Posted in Bacteria, E.coli, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Hand Washing, HPA, Hygiene, Microbiology, Pathogen, Research
Tagged aviation, climate, environment, science, water
BULGARIA – A heightened content of Aflatoxin M1 in a sample of raw milk has been found during regular control carried out by the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency in farming centers for collecting raw milk, announced the Agency.
In a farming center in the northwestern town of Vidin the Agency found Aflatoxin M1 content that is a little bit higher than the maximum level allowed in Europe per a kilogram of raw milk. Heightened contents of the aflatoxin were established also in farming centers in the districts of Gabrovo and Sofia. It is banned to sell the whole amount of milk and it will be destroyed. The farming centers are prohibited from trading in milk until there are negative aflatoxin lab tests.
Posted in Aflatoxin, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Safety, Food Testing, Microbiology, Mycotoxin, Pathogen, Research
Tagged aflatoxin m1, bulgarian food, climate, food, restaurants, science
FoodWorld 