13 sick; Cryptosporidium in Irish water supply again

Posted on May 18, 2013 by Doug Powell

Contaminated water has left 13 people with stomach illnesses after two outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis.

The Sun says up to 6,000 people in Roscommon town and its surrounds have been affected by the bug in the local water supply.

A “boil water notice” has been in place since April 25.

People living and working in the area have been advised by Roscommon County Council and the HSE to boil all water for drinking, preparation of salads and for use in brushing teeth.

Both bodies have set up an Incident Response Team to minimize the risk to the public.

Sales of bottled water have shot up in the area amid concerns that the boil water restriction could remain in place until the system gets the all-clear, which could take several weeks.

Roscommon County Council confirmed three dead calves were removed from a stream which is a tributary of one of the sources for the Roscommon town central water scheme where cryptosporidiosis has been detected.

The townlands affected are Killaraght, Rockingham, Knockvicar, Cootehall, Tarmon Road, Kiltycreighton, Crossna, Derrycashel, Moigh, Carigeenroe, Battlebridge and Ardcarne.

34 sick, 2009-11; Salmonella and duck eggs in Ireland, outbreak summary

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Doug Powell

McKeown et al. report in Eurosurveillance today that Salmonella Typhimurium DT8 was a very rare cause of human illness in Ireland between 2000 and 2008, with only four human isolates from three patients being identified.

Over a 19-month period between August 2009 and February 2011, 34 confirmed cases and one probable case of Salmonella Typhimurium DT8 were detected, all of which had an MLVA pattern 2-10-NA-12-212 or a closely related pattern.

The epidemiological investigations strongly supported a link between illness and exposure to duck eggs. Moreover, S. Typhimurium with an MLVA pattern indistinguishable (or closely related) to the isolates from human cases, was identified in 22 commercial and backyard duck flocks, twelve of which were linked with known human cases.

A range of control measures were taken at farm level, and advice was provided to consumers on the hygienic handling and cooking of duck eggs. Although no definitive link was established with a concurrent duck egg-related outbreak of S. Typhimurium DT8 in the United Kingdom, it seems likely that the two events were related. It may be appropriate for other countries with a tradition of consuming duck eggs to consider the need for measures to reduce the risk of similar outbreaks.

The complete report is available at http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=20454.

Ireland monthly restaurant closures; doing the same thing and expecting a different result is crazy

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Doug Powell

Every month about this time, Alan Reilly gets to roll out the same quote, saying he is disappointed in the high number of food business closures that month, adding something like,

“We continue to find unacceptable levels of non-compliance with food safety legislation. Time and time again, we encounter cases of food business operators who are potentially putting their customers’ health at risk by not complying with their legal obligations for food safety and hygiene.

The chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland will then add something like, “There is absolutely no excuse for negligent practices. Food businesses must recognize that the legal onus is on them to make sure that the food they serve is safe to eat. This requires ongoing compliance with food safety and hygiene standards to ensure the food they are producing is safe to consume.”

It must be frustrating.

The March list of 11 closures and one prohibition order are available at:

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/closure-orders-over-food-breaches-served-on-businesses-1.1354022

Know thy supplier: horse, pig meat found in Irish beef burgers

Posted on January 26, 2013 by Doug Powell

My mother informed those gathered last month that, as a child, I would barf in the car going to get groceries.

It’s true, I can’t tolerate the motion.

We went out on a boat in Florida, and I yakked.

So does Chapman.

But I did manage to drive about half of the 48 hour trek from Kansas to Florida and back and would sometimes stop at a burger joint. Then that craving goes away, for longer and longer periods of time.

So what’s a little horse mixed in?

It has to do with faith-based food safety, reputation, and that purveyors say one thing but may be doing another.

And that makes lots of people want to barf.

The Independent reported last week the horsemeat-in-beef-burgers scandal is now a fully fledged economic crisis for Ireland’s multi-billion agribusiness – a beacon of light during the recession – and the country’s reputation as an international food producer may be damaged beyond repair.

It is now a runaway train that could yet derail the lucrative export market for Irish processed meat products and cost the economy millions of euro. The damage included immense reputational harm to not just Irish meat processors found to have produced burgers with equine DNA but the overall food industry here. In all, 27 beef burger products were analyzed, with 10 of the 27 products (37 per cent) testing positive for horse DNA and 23 (85 per cent) testing positive for pig DNA.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) had last week revealed that up to 29 per cent of the meat content of some beefburgers was in fact horse, while they also found pig DNA.

In addition, 31 beef meal products – shopping-trolley staples such as cottage pie, beef curry pie and lasagne – were also analysed. Of these other beef products, 21 were positive for pig DNA but all were negative for horse DNA.

All 19 salami products analysed tested negative for horse DNA.

But traces of horse DNA were detected also in batches of raw ingredients, including some imported from the Netherlands and Spain which are used in the production of burgers.

Reputational damage to major international companies will also cost Ireland dear in lost business – even though it now appears likely that the source of the contamination was a bought-in additive from either the Netherlands or Spain, though the Spanish have denied involvement.

Tesco – where one of its Irish produced “Value Range” burgers had 29 per cent horsemeat – lost €300m of its market value in one day. Burger King was revealed as using one of the Irish suppliers at the centre of the storm. It has now ditched all Silvercrest beef products in Britain and Ireland.

Cooking tools, pans, sinks and dishcloths used in kitchens where the meat was handled must also be sanitised or disposed of.

According to a January 20 memo, employees at restaurants in the UK were told to continue serving the suspected meat until they received replacement product from a different supplier – and make no mention of the withdrawal to customers.

“If our guests inquire regarding our beef products, the team member should immediately inform the restaurant manager,” wrote Tracy Gehlan, the vice president of brand standards and excellence for stores in northwestern Europe, wrote in the memo.

“The manager should inform the guest that Burger King ‘has taken all necessary precautions to ensure that our guests are receiving the quality products that Burger King is known for’.”

Excellence.

The frozen burgers were on sale in high-street supermarket chains Tesco and Iceland in both Britain and Ireland, and in Irish branches of Lidl, Aldi and Dunnes Stores. Tesco is Britain’s biggest retailer.

Earlier, shadow environment secretary Mary Creagh said “several” UK-slaughtered horses with phenylbutazone, or bute, may have been sold for food.

The FSA said it identified eight cases of bute-positive horsemeat in 2012, none of which was for the UK market.

The drug is banned from being consumed by humans within the EU.

‘Not in our culture to eat horse meat’; horse, pig DNA found in Irish supermarket burgers

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Doug Powell

Traces of horse meat have been found in burgers on sale in some of the country’s busiest supermarkets, food safety chiefs have revealed.

Scientific tests on beef products sold in Tesco, Dunnes Stores, Lidl, Aldi and Iceland uncovered low levels of the animal’s DNA.

Professor Alan Reilly, chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), said there was no health risk but also no reasonable explanation for horse meat to be found.

“The products we have identified as containing horse DNA and/or pig DNA do not pose any food safety risk and consumers should not be worried,” he said.

According to the research by the FSAI, one sample of burger goods, Tesco Everyday Value Beef Burgers, showed about 29% horse meat relative to beef content.

“Whilst there is a plausible explanation for the presence of pig DNA in these products due to the fact that meat from different animals is processed in the same meat plants, there is no clear explanation at this time for the presence of horse DNA in products emanating from meat plants that do not use horse meat in their production process,” Prof Reilly said.

“In Ireland, it is not in our culture to eat horse meat and therefore, we do not expect to find it in a burger.”

Recession squeezing food safety in some Irish restaurants

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Doug Powell

Not washing her hands led to the previously anonymous Irish cook Mary Mallon being transformed into New York’s notorious Typhoid Mary. She was blamed for infecting more than 50 people with the disease in the early 1900s and reportedly said she rarely washed her hands when cooking as she didn’t see the need for it.

Food safety has come a long way since those heady days when fridges, food gloves and best-before dates were unheard of. Now,
people starting up food businesses frequently complain about the overwhelming number of regulations facing them.

So does this improvement in food hygiene standards mean the number of food safety enforcement orders has collapsed in recent years? Actually, no.

According to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), 46 food businesses were served with enforcement orders in 2008. Last year, up to December 19th, 108 businesses had been served with the orders. This was 24 more than the total for 2011, or an annual increase of nearly 30 per cent. The types of orders vary but are all served because of a risk to public health posed by the restaurant, take-away, shop or food stall.

October saw the highest number of enforcement orders in 10 years and at that time the authority’s chief executive, Prof Alan Reilly, said food safety inspectors were regularly encountering cases where the health of consumers was being put at risk because the businesses were not meeting their legal obligations.

Common reasons for orders include pest infestation, lack of hygiene and storing food at the wrong temperature.

The FSAI’s director of service contracts, Dr Bernard Hegarty, told the Irish Times there is a suggestion that businesses are cutting back on food safety practices to save money. If they have fewer staff and those people are working harder it may mean corners are cut when it comes to hygiene practices.

Big jump in E. coli cases on Irish farms

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Doug Powell

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of cases of a type of E. coli infection that is most commonly found on farms, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has warned.

According to the FSAI, so far this year, almost 550 cases of farm-related verotoxigenic E.coli have been recorded, compared to 251 cases during the same period last year.

It is calling on all farmers to ensure that they have ‘robust hygiene practices in place’.

According to FSAI chief executive, Prof Alan Reilly, there are a number of well-recognized ways E. coli is spread on farms, such as via contaminated private water supplies and farm animals and their environments.

“Because their immune systems are still developing, babies and young children are most at risk of becoming seriously ill from this infection. It can be easily spread to others such as their siblings or other children in their crèche or at their childminder,” Prof Reilly explained.

He described it as ‘vitally important’ that special attention is paid to protect children on farms. This includes ensuring children wash their hands properly after being on the farm and not allowing them to drink unpasteurised milk.

“Children suffering from diarrhea or vomiting must also be kept away from their crèche or childminder until they are clear of symptoms for 48 hours,” Prof Reilly added.

Try a new approach? Businesses closed over food safety in Ireland

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Doug Powell

Traditional food safety messages don’t work: that’s why some 18 enforcement orders were served on businesses for breaches of food safety legislation last month in Ireland, the highest number served in any month in a decade.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland said 12 closure orders and six prohibition orders were served on food businesses by environmental health officers or veterinary inspectors in October.

Four businesses were also successfully prosecuted by the Health Service Executive.

FSAI chief executive Prof Alan Reilly expressed his concern at the “high level” of non compliance with food safety regulations by some food businesses in October.

“The inspectors found illegal, unhygienic or unsafe foods, with significant breaches of food safety legislation that put people’s health at serious risk,” he said.

“There’s absolutely no justification for negligence in this area. The legal onus is on food businesses to act responsibly and ensure that the food they serve and sell is safe for consumption.

“This requires putting appropriate food safety management procedures in place and making sure they are adhered to at all times.”

231 sick; 2 different E. coli outbreaks at Belfast restaurant

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Doug Powell

BBC News reports the type of E. coli linked to a restaurant in north Belfast this month is a different strain than four cases reported there in August.

The Public Health Agency (PHA) said there are now 29 confirmed cases and 202 probable cases.

Fifteen people have been hospitalised since the start of this month’s food poisoning outbreak at Flicks restaurant in the Cityside complex.

The PHA confirmed that the type of E. coli O157 in cases in October is different from the type found in August cases associated with the same restaurant.

It said the four cases in August which were linked to this restaurant were investigated thoroughly at the time and all tests on the restaurant were negative.

Further environmental health inspections were conducted, it added, all of which were satisfactory, and enhanced surveillance to monitor for cases was also put in place.

It said the current cases came to light through that enhanced monitoring.

If that’s the case, how many cases of foodborne illness, everywhere, would be detected with enhanced surveillance?

69 sick in E. coli outbreak linked to Belfast restaurant

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Doug Powell

Twelve confirmed and 57 probable cases of E. coli have been linked to a restaurant in north Belfast, health authorities say.

The diners were struck down after eating at Flicks in Cityside Mall, York Street, in the last three weeks.

Management at the restaurant have voluntarily closed the premises and are co-operating with an investigation by the Public Health Agency (PHA) and environmental health officers from Belfast City Council.

The PHA has advised that anyone who ate at Flicks since September 24 and has symptoms of diarrhoea and/or abdominal pain should contact their GP urgently for medical advice.

The agency has revealed that four cases of the same E.coli O157 strain were linked to the restaurant in August. But it said subsequent tests in the restaurant at that time were negative.

Further environmental health inspections were conducted after those incidents, all of which were satisfactory.

The agency said it was examining whether the current outbreak was linked to the August instances but it was too early to confirm either way.

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