Tag Archives: science

US Shigella Outbreak Source Unknown

Posted on June 23, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Shigella Blog

Public health officials are investigating an unusually large outbreak of shigellosis, a bacterial gastrointestinal illness that has sickened 25 people in Onondaga County.

The county Health Department announced there have been 15 laboratory confirmed cases and another 10 probable cases of shigellosis. More than half the cases involve children. Two of the people infected have been hospitalised and some others have been treated in emergency rooms and urgent care centers, said Dr. Cynthia Morrow, Onondaga County’s health commissioner.

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Posted in Bacteria, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Microbiology, outbreak, Pathogen, Shigella

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Research – Campy/Salmonella/E.coli Heat Resistance

Posted on June 21, 2012 by | 1 comment

Hidawi

The aim of this research was to determine the decimal reduction times of bacteria present on chicken fillet in boiling water. The experiments were conducted with Campylobacter jejuni, Salmonella, and Escherichia coli. Whole chicken breast fillets were inoculated with the pathogens, stored overnight (4∘C), and subsequently cooked. The surface temperature reached 70∘C within 30 sec and 85∘C within one minute. Extremely high decimal reduction times of 1.90, 1.97, and 2.20 min were obtained for C. jejuni, E. coli, and S. typhimurium, respectively. Chicken meat and refrigerated storage before cooking enlarged the heat resistance of the food borne pathogens. Additionally, a high challenge temperature or fast heating rate contributed to the level of heat resistance. The data were used to assess the probability of illness (campylobacteriosis) due to consumption of chicken fillet as a function of cooking time. The data revealed that cooking time may be far more critical than previously assumed.

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Posted in Bacteria, Campylobacter, E.coli, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Technology, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Microbiology, Pathogen, Salmonella

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India – Hepatitis Outbreak – Kills 12 – Contaminated Water

Posted on June 21, 2012 by | Leave a comment

BBC

An outbreak of Hepatitis E has killed at least 12 people and left 4,089 others unwell, officials in the western Indian state of Maharashtra said.

The outbreak happened in Ichalkaranji, a city of 300,000 people.

“The cause of the outbreak is contaminated water from the Panchganga river,” Dr LS Patil, a senior government doctor in the region, said.

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Posted in Eurofins Laboratories, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Testing, Food Virus, Foodborne Illness, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis E, Microbiology, outbreak, Pathogen, Virus

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Research – British Food Journal – Deliberate Food Safety Violations in the Food Chain

Posted on June 19, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Emerald

Abstract :

Purpose – Business malpractice in supply chains raises food safety risks for downstream buyers including consumers. This paper analyses the multiplicity of behavioural factors influencing producers’ motivation to intentionally violate food safety norms.

Design/methodology/approach – We review existing disciplinary approaches for the analysis of behavioural risks. Based on this review, an analytical framework is developed which provides a base for an interdisciplinary institutional analysis of behavioural risks in food chains.

Findings – The reviewed approaches on behavioural risk share the view that deviance is the result of multi-goal and (potentially) opportunistic decision-making of bounded rational individuals. The analytical framework presented in this paper integrates these approaches.

Research limitations/implications – The analytical framework provides a rough categorization of behavioural drivers. It neither details the context-dependent subcomponents which determine the utility outcome within each category nor the methods that should be used to analyse them.

Originality/value – A behavioural economic analysis based on the framework means opening up the black box of the regulatees’ action situation by incorporating the subjectively perceived material incentives in addition to immaterial motivations such as reputation effects, social norms and community pressure into the analysis. Based on an understanding of producers’ motivation, proper institutional solutions can be implemented to enhance producers’ compliance with food safety norms.

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Posted in Eurofins Laboratories, Food Safety, Microbiology, Research, Technology

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Free webcast with 3M and Professor Stephen Forsythe on the rapid detection of foodborne pathogens

Posted on June 19, 2012 by | Leave a comment

3M’s Food Safety business has launched a fast, accurate and easy-to-use pathogen detection system.

The new 3M™ Molecular Detection System, based on an innovative combination of two technologies – isothermal DNA amplification and ATP bioluminescence detection – delivers highly sensitive results in real-time with positive results in as early as 15 minutes and negative results in 75 minutes.

With ready-made reagents and only one test protocol for all target pathogens, the system is easy to use, allows for multiple pathogen detection during each run and reduces the chance for human error or contamination. Individual assays for Salmonella, E. coli O157 (including H7) and Listeria spp are currently available.

For more details join a free webcast on Wednesday 27 June 2012 (3pm) presented by 3M and Professor Stephen Forsythe of Nottingham Trent University, follow this link to register.

2nd Link
http://view6.workcast.net/register?pak=4909146311582106&referrer=KW

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Posted in ATP, Bacteria, DNA, E.coli O157, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Technology, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Listeria, Listeria monocytogenes, Microbiology, Pathogen, Research

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FSA – Research Financial Pressure- Increased Food Safety Risks

Posted on June 11, 2012 by | Leave a comment

FSA

New research published today by the Food Standards Agency shows that some people are taking more risks with food safety as they try to save money and make their meals go further.

The research showed that most of those questioned (97%) believed the cost of their typical shopping basket has gone up significantly in the last three years, with half of these (47%) trying to make better use of leftover food. However, some people are ignoring ‘use by’ dates more than they used to, while others are keeping leftovers for longer than the recommended limit of two days in the fridge.

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Posted in Bacteria, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Standards Agency, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, Microbiology, Pathogen, Research

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Research – Food Contaminants International Trade Causing Fast Spread

Posted on June 8, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Science Daily

University of Notre Dame network physicists Mária Ercsey-Ravasz and Zoltán Toroczkai of the Interdisciplinary Center for Network Science and Applications, in collaboration with food science experts, have recently published a rigorous analysis of the international food-trade network that shows the network’s vulnerability to the fast spread of contaminants as well as the correlation between known food poisoning outbreaks and the centrality of countries on the network.

As the world’s population climbs past 7 billion, the sustainable production and distribution of food is balanced against the need to ensure its chemical and microbiological safety. The new paper maps the international agro-food trade network (IFTN) — a highly complex and heterogeneous system formed around a core group of seven countries, each trading with more than 77 percent of the world’s nations. Since any two countries in the IFTN have only two degrees of separation on the network, the IFTN is capable of spreading a foodborne contaminant very efficiently. It also tends to mask the contaminant’s origins once the system is compromised, since so many network paths run through the central nodes.

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Posted in Bacteria, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Safety, Food Technology, Food Testing, Microbiology, Research

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Toxoplasma Research Required

Posted on June 6, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Food Manufacture

More research is needed to determine how big a role food plays in the transfer of the parasitic disease toxoplasmosis to humans in the UK, according to scientists.

Toxoplasmosis has been implicated in the USA and UK as a  foodborne illness in about 50% of reported cases.

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Posted in Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Illness, Food Inspections, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Safety Alert, Food Testing, Microbiology, Pathogen, Protozoan, Toxoplasmosis

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US – Six Year Old Dies – E.coli Infection with HUS

Posted on June 2, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Food Poisoning Bulletin

On May 26, 2012, a six year old boy in Massachusetts died from an E. coli infection, according to the Massachusetts Department of Health and the Worcester Department of Public Health. A press release by the City of Worcester, obtained by Food Poisoning Bulletin, confirms that he died from complications of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).

The source of exposure has not yet been determined at this time. Officials are treating this as an isolated case, consistent with a food borne illness.”

It only takes 100 E. coli 0157 bacteria to make a healthy person sick. One bacterium is about 0.002 centimeters long, so a small amount of food can be easily contaminated with that amount. Children are more susceptible to complications from this type of infection because their immune systems are still developing.

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Posted in Bacteria, E.coli, EHEC, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Illness, Food Poisoning, Food Testing, Foodborne Illness, HUS, Microbiology, Pathogen

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Illicit Shellfish Trade Risking Health of Thousands?

Posted on May 30, 2012 by | Leave a comment

The Independant

The illicit and highly-lucrative trade in shellfish is putting the health of many thousands of people at risk with tonnes of potentially contaminated seafood feared to be entering the food chain.

Health officials and food watchdogs are concerned that a boom in the illegal harvesting of cockles, clams and oysters for sale to restaurants and wholesalers threatens outbreaks of serious food poisoning.

The thriving seafood rustling industry, which sees unlicensed gangs of pickers target beaches and mudflats across the country to steal molluscs worth thousands of pounds at a time, has prompted a crackdown by the authorities. But with some pickers operating in organised gangs, fisheries protection bodies say they lack the resources to effectively tackle the problem.

With an annual value of at least £250m, the legitimate shellfish industry is a major part of Britain’s food economy. Properly gathered molluscs are subject to strict purification treatments, including ultra-violet light and filtering, to ensure they are fit for human consumption.

Full Story through the link above.

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Posted in Bacteria, Eurofins Laboratories, Food Hygiene, Food Poisoning, Food Safety, Food Testing, Food Virus, Foodborne Illness, Hepatitis A, Microbiology, Norovirus, Pathogen, Research

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