Tag Archives: food poisoning

Research – Studies E. coli on Leafy Vegetables

Posted on April 15, 2014 by | Leave a comment

Food Poisoning Bulletin Ecoli Istock

Research at Texas A&M is looking at E. coli contamination on leafy vegetables. The research looks at how the likelihood that a crop will be contaminated by E. coli before harvest is strongly influenced by both farm management and environmental factors. The study is published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

Contaminated produce is the most common source of food poisoning in this country. Between 1998 and 2008, of the 68,000 food poisoning illnesses that were assigned to one of the 17 food commodities, 13% were associated with leafy greens. And the number of illnesses caused by leafy greens is increasing, from 6% in 1999 to 11 percent in 2008

 

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USA – Raw Milk: 1 Percent of Consumers, 70 Percent of Milk Outbreaks

Posted on April 8, 2014 by | Leave a comment

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Although only about 1 percent of Americans drink it, raw milk accounted for 70 percent of milk-related food poisoning outbreaks between 2002 and 2011, according to a new report by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). The enormous risk of illness reflected by those numbers shows why raw milk is an urgent public health risk, according to the consumer group which compiled the report by examining the most recent 10 years of data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

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Australia – Food Poisoning on the Increase

Posted on March 4, 2014 by | Leave a comment

smh.com.au

The number of Australians struck down by food poisoning has leapt almost 80 per cent in a decade and the number of outbreaks linked to restaurants has more than doubled, according to the latest government statistics.

In the decade to 2011, the number of Australians affected by food-borne gastroenteritis increased 79 per cent, according to figures from OzFoodNet, the national food-borne disease monitoring network. In 2011, 150 outbreaks affected 2241 people compared  with 86  affecting 1768 people in 2001. The rate of hospitalisation has trebled since 2001.

The figures capture only a fraction of  infections since most   victims don’t go to a doctor, experts say. A 2002 estimate of people  affected by food poisoning put the number at 5.4 million cases of gastro and 120 deaths a year at a cost  of $1.25 billion.

Changing eating habits are  believed to be a leading cause. People  cook less and eat out more, say public health experts, which may partly explain why the food service industry was responsible for more than three-quarters of food poisoning outbreaks in 2011.

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USA – Hummus Wraps – Recall – Listeria monocytogenes

Posted on February 21, 2014 by | Leave a comment

Food Poisoning Bulletin

Falafal King of Boulder, Colorado is recalling Hatch Green Chile Hummus and Hatch Green Chile Wraps because they may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, a bacterium that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections. No illnesses have been reported to date in connection with the consumption of these products.

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Malaysia – School Salmonella Outbreak

Posted on February 20, 2014 by | Leave a comment

Barf Blog

Two out of the seven pupils from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Dato Syed Ahmad, Kuala Nerang, who were treated at Hospital Kuala Nerang (HKN) for food poisoning yesterday were discharged Tuesday.

Kedah Health director Dr Ismail Abu Taat said the five other pupils were undergoing treatment and were reported to be in stable condition.

He said the food poisoning was caused by ‘ayam masak merah’ believed to be infected by a type of salmonella bacteria, because the chicken were not preserved properly.

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USA – Rare Salmonella Strain – Salmonella Overschie

Posted on February 3, 2014 by | Leave a comment

Food Poisoning Bulletin

A rare strain of Salmonella, Salmonella Overschie, caused a December 2013 outbreak in Oregon. Two people have been sickened by the strain which has never before been seen in Oregon and is typically seen less than four times a year nationwide.

The two cases are in Lane and Coos counties, which do not border one another. Both case patients are female one is a child between the ages of 0 to 9 years old and the other is a women between the ages of 20 to 29.  Their exposures seem to have been within 24 hours of each other, but onset of symptoms was eight days apart.

Pulsed field gel electrophoresis tests show the isolates from the two patients are a 99 percent match. No other matches have been identified anywhere in the U.S. This indicates the two patients were sickened by the same source.

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USA – Another Cruise Ship Norovirus Outbreak

Posted on January 28, 2014 by | Leave a comment

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Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.’s ship Explorer of the Seas is returning two days early to its New Jersey port after a stomach illness struck more than 600 people out of about 4,200 onboard, NBC News reported late Sunday. The 564 passengers and 47 crew members on the 10-day cruise to the U.S. Virgin Islands reported symptoms suggesting a possible norovirus outbreak, the report said, citing an official with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The incident follows the outbreak of a gastrointestinal illness aboard another ship earlier this month.

Food Poisoning Journal

NBC News reports that U.S. health officials are expected to board a Royal Caribbean cruise ship in the Virgin Islands on Sunday to investigate a possible outbreak of highly contagious norovirus that has sickened more than 300 passengers and crew members.

The Explorer of the Seas ship stopped part way through a 10-day cruise from Cape Liberty, N.J., to the Caribbean island of St. Maarten after reports of vomiting and diarrhea, according to the cruise line and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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Posted in Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Poisoning, Food Testing, Food Virus, Methods, Norovirus, outbreak, Pathogen, Virus

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Japan – Another Norovirus Outbreak

Posted on January 26, 2014 by | 1 comment

Barf BlogEurofins

More than 400 school children called in sick to schools on Friday in a suspected case of mass food poisoning in the western Japanese city of Hiroshima, where the municipal education board launched an investigation into the virulence factors to determine the cause of illness, local press reported.

The Hiroshima City Board of Education reported that a total of 415 students from 10 junior high schools in the city exhibited gastroenteritis symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea, and were unable to attend to their classes on Friday. All afternoon classes at the schools were cancelled.

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USA – Listeria – Raw Milk – Smoked Salmon

Posted on January 23, 2014 by | Leave a comment

Food Poisoning Bulletin

Listeria has been found in a sampling of  raw milk from Jerseydale Farms near Brookings, S.D., according to the South Dakota Department of Agriculture (SDDA).  The agency is warning consumers  to discard raw milk recently purchased from this farm as it could contain Listeria, a bacteria that causes serious, sometimes life-threatening illness.

Food Poisoning Bulletin

Lochiel Enterprises is recalling smoked salmon stix because they may be contamianted with Listeria monocytogenes. No illnesses have been reported to date.

The recalled items are St Mary’s River Smokehouses Oven Smoked Atlantic Salmon Stix, Chili Mango Flavor. The product was distributed in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New York through retail stores. The product comes in a 4 ounce, black Styrofoam tray with an outer sleeve bearing the UPC code 6 2642510092 9. The recall is specific to product marked with the production code 347 31## on a stick on the end of the tray.

The recall is a result of routine sampling by the FDA that found Listeria in the product.

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Posted in Bacteria, FDA, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Microbiology, Miscarriage, Pathogen, Raw Milk, Recall

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Japan- Norovirus Outbreak in Bread – 1000 Cases

Posted on January 21, 2014 by | Leave a comment

Japanese TimesEurofins

Bread maker Hofuku, which has admitted one of its products is probably responsible for causing more than 1,000 children in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, to suffer food poisoning, has started recalling its products from retailers, including supermarkets in Yamanashi, Shizuoka, Aichi and Okayama prefectures.

According to the Hamamatsu Municipal Government, the bread the local company produced Monday and delivered to schools Tuesday morning is likely to have been tainted with the norovirus.

Japanese News

Three female workers at a Higashi Ward, Hamamatsu, bakery were identified as carriers of norovirus.

The bakery is suspected to have been the cause of a mass food poisoning that affected many primary schools in the city, according to the Hamamatsu city government.

The city government announced Sunday that workers at Hofuku, a company that produced bread deemed to be the cause of the norovirus outbreak, were found to be infected with the virus.

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Posted in Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Food Virus, Foodborne Illness, Microbiology, Norovirus, outbreak, Pathogen, Virus

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