Tag Archives: food safety news

Research – Salmonella Antibiotic Resistance

Posted on September 16, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety NewsSalm

The number of antimicrobial-resistant Salmonella serotypes hasn’t increased drastically in recent years, but drug-resistant Salmonella continues to pose a public health threat in the United States, particularly as resistance spreads across classes of drugs, necessitates the use of more expensive drugs, makes treatment less effective, and, in worse-case scenarios, leaves infections untreatable.

A recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study identified increasing resistance to a class of drugs called Cephalosporins, which are commonly used to treat severe Salmonella infections in adults and are the main drug of choice when treating children, for whom the fluoroquinolone class of drugs is not recommended. Currently, about five percent of Salmonella strains are resistant to Cephalosporins, mostly in cases of Salmonella Heidelberg and Salmonella Newport.

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Posted in Antibiotic Resistance, Bacteria, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Laboratory, Microbiology, Pathogen, Research, Salmonella

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USA – Norovirus Restaurant Outbreak ?

Posted on August 7, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

Grant County Health Department officials are waiting on state lab test results to determine whether norovirus was behind the outbreak of more than two dozen people who were sickened in John Day, OR, this past week.

According to an Aug. 5 story in the Blue Mountain Eagle, health officials suspected that the illness could have been transmitted between July 27 and Aug. 3 at the Snaffle Bit Restaurant. The owner of the restaurant was reportedly cooperating with the county and taking steps to prevent any other illness outbreaks.

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

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USA – Shigella Outbreak Traced to Lake Water

Posted on July 10, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News220px-Shigella_stool

The 750 feet of developed beachfront at Rhode Island’s Spring Lake is scattered with volleyball courts, paddle boats, canoes, food concessions and an entertainment arcade.  That beach, located in Burrillville, did not host the crowd of 2,000 that usually attend its Fourth of July festivities. Instead, days earlier, 92 people who entered the water at Spring Lake left sickened by Shigella bacteria.

The Shigella outbreak sent 16 people to area hospitals and by Sunday forced state officials to close the lake to swimmers.  Shigella causes gastrointestinal symptoms, but the illnesses are usually not severe.

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Posted in Bacteria, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Hand Washing, Hygiene, Laboratory, Microbiology, Pathogen, Shigella, Water

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World Update – Hepatitis A in Frozen Berries

Posted on July 9, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

Almost 600 Sick from Hepatitis A in Frozen Berries in 3 outbreaks in the USA, Northern Italy and Northern Europe

As the case count for Hepatitis A linked to Townsend Farms Organic Antioxidant Blend reaches 140, outbreaks in Northern Italy and Northern Europe have sickened 352 and 103 respectively. All linked to frozen mixed berries.

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Posted in Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Virus, Foodborne Illness, Hepatitis A, Laboratory, Microbiology, outbreak, Pathogen

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Africa and EU – Rise in Antibiotic Resistance in Salmonella

Posted on June 20, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety News

Strains of one increasingly antibiotic-resistant Salmonella serotype have seen a “rapid worldwide spread,” according to a study published by researchers at the Institut Pasteur in Paris and Morocco.

Antibiotic-resistant Salmonella Kentucky, first isolated in 2002 in a French tourist who had visited Egypt, has now “spread at an astonishing rate throughout Africa and the Middle East in the space of only a few years,” the study’s authors claim.

The bacterium has also already been found in farmed-raised turkeys in Europe, though it is not clear based on available information if those turkeys were imported or grown domestically. In a summary of the study, the lead author said he worries that the resistant strain may soon spread to European poultry farms.

This study comes on the heels of a report out of Canada calling antibiotic-resistant Salmonella Kentucky a rare but “growing concern” in Canadian health. That study found that between 2003 and 2009, 30 percent of Salmonella Kentucky isolates from Canadian patients were resistant to the antibiotic ciprofloxacin.

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Posted in Antibiotic Resistance, Bacteria, Food Hygiene, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Hygiene, Laboratory, Microbiology, outbreak, Pathogen, Research, Salmonella

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China – Outbrake 386 Children – Salmonella the Cause

Posted on June 18, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety NewsSalmonella

At least 386 children in a Chinese province were hospitalized last week with suspected Salmonella infections, health officials announced Sunday.

The students, who reside in the Meishan City area of Sichuan province, fell ill at the end of last week with symptoms of nausea, vomiting, fatigue and dizziness. Chinese health authorities eventually determined that their illnesses were caused by Salmonella.

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

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USA – Hepatitis A Outbreak Grows

Posted on June 18, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety NewsNorovirus

The Hepatitis A outbreak continues in eight western states with the case count as of June 14 rising to 106. The illnesses are blamed on an organic blend of frozen berries and pomegranate seeds from multiple countries.  Produced by Oregon-based Townsend Farms and sold at Costco and Harris Teeter stores, the frozen berry blend has caused Hepatitis A cases in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Washington.

In an update today on its investigation, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta profiled the cases based on available epidemiologic data from 94 of the 106 cases under investigation:

76 of 94 (81 percent) ill people interviewed reported eating “Townsend Farms Organic Anti-Oxidant Blend” frozen berry and pomegranate mix

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Posted in Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Food Virus, Foodborne Illness, Hepatitis A, Hygiene, Illness, Laboratory, Microbiology, outbreak, Pathogen

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USA – Frozen Berries Outbreak – 79 Cases – Hepatitis A Virus

Posted on June 10, 2013 by | 1 comment

Food Safety News

The hepatitis A outbreak linked to a frozen berry mix sold at Costco and Harris Teeter stores has now sickened 79 people, 30 of whom were hospitalized, federal health officials reported Friday.

Cases have been reported in eight western states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Washington, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The illnesses have been linked to an organic mix of frozen berries and pomegranate seeds distributed by Oregon’s Townsend Farms. The berry blend was sold at Costco under the Townsend Farms brand and at Harris Teeter under the Harris Teeter brand.

To date, no cases have been reported on the East Coast, where Harris Teeter stores are located. CDC confirms that no cases have been linked to berries bought at Harris Teeter.

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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, Hepatitis A, Hygiene, Illness, Laboratory, Microbiology, outbreak, Pathogen

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USA – E.coli O157:H7 Outbreak

Posted on May 17, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Food Safety NewsEcoli Istock

At least seven people in Stephens County, Ga., have fallen ill with E. coli in the last several weeks, leading health officials in the area to begin investigating the source of the outbreak, local radio station WNEG reports.

Two of the patients were hospitalized and are now recovering. Most of the seven sickened have been confirmed to have E. coli O157:H7.

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Posted in Bacteria, E.coli, E.coli O157, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Micro Blog, Food Microbiology, Food Poisoning, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Microbiology, outbreak, Pathogen, Recall

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USA – Live Chick Salmonella Outbreak Continues

Posted on May 13, 2013 by | Leave a comment

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Two separate outbreaks linked to live baby poultry are sickening people across the country, according to two announcements from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Friday.

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Posted in Bacteria, Food Microbiology, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, outbreak, Pet Food, Research

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