Monthly Archives: April 2012

Snappy title alert: ‘C-Enter Net 2010 short report’ (pooping causes in Canada)

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The latest report from Canada’s National Integrated Enteric Pathogen Surveillance System has hit the Intertubes. Think of it as FoodNet, 15 years late.

Only bureaucrats could have written this.

In 2010, campylobacteriosis, salmonellosis and giardiasis (beaver fever? Oh, it’s Canada) were the most common enteric diseases in C-EnterNet’s sentinel sites, with rates of 29.5/100,000, 26.0/100,000 and 14.2/100,000, respectively. Overall, the number of endemic, travel- and outbreak-related cases reported in SS1 in 2010 were higher than that reported in 2009. In SS1, the incidence rate of campylobacteriosis, especially travel-associated infections, was higher in 2010 than 2009. The incidence rate of endemic salmonellosis has increased in both sentinel sites over the last couple of years, with SS2 steadily increasing since 2006.

Travel continues to be an important factor in the burden of enteric disease. In 2010, 30% and 23% of all cases of enteric disease were associated with travel outside of Canada, in SS1 and SS2 respectively. In both sentinel sites, the travel-related proportion of cases, compared with endemic cases, was highest for cyclosporiasis (100% in both SS1 and SS2), shigellosis (83% (SS1) and 33% (SS2)) and cryptosporidosis (43% (SS1) and 60% (SS2)).

C-EnterNet is an integrated enteric pathogen surveillance system based on a sentinel site surveillance model collecting information on both cases of infectious gastrointestinal illness and sources of exposure within defined communities. C-EnterNet’s primary objectives are to detect changes in trends in human enteric disease and levels of pathogen exposure from food, animal and water sources in a defined population; and to strengthen source attribution efforts in Canada by determining statistically significant risk factors for enteric illness.

In 2010, C-EnterNet implemented a second sentinel site in part of the Fraser Valley in the lower mainland of British Columbia, in partnership with the Fraser Health Authority (FHA). The communities of Burnaby, Abbotsford and Chilliwack comprise the sentinel site within the Fraser Health Region. In this region, active surveillance of enteric pathogens is performed in the retail sampling of bagged leafy greens, and enhanced human disease surveillance is performed in collaboration with FHA and the BCCDC Public Health Microbiology and Reference Laboratory. In the first sentinel site, C-EnterNet continues its strong partnership with the Region of Waterloo Public Health within the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario and the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion’s Toronto Public Health Laboratory where enhanced surveillance of human cases of enteric disease in the community is performed. In parallel, active surveillance of enteric pathogens is performed in water, food and on farms.

The purpose of this report is to present the preliminary findings from the 2010 surveillance year in both sentinel sites. Note that C-EnterNet data need to be considered in the context of two sentinel sites, thus major conclusions cannot yet be extrapolated nationally.1 This report will be followed by the Long Report, which will include more extensive analyses of temporal trends and subtyping information for an integrated perspective on enteric disease from exposure to illness for 2010.

For further information about the C-EnterNet program or sampling methodologies, please refer to our website (http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/c-enternet/index-eng.php).

Sydney family’s daughter stricken with Salmonella wins court case against KFC

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A Sydney father who claimed his daughter was left severely brain damaged from salmonella poisoning after eating a KFC ‘Twister’ has won a court battle against the fast-food chain.

The family of Monika Samaan brought a multimillion-dollar compensation bid against KFC in the NSW Supreme Court, claiming the then seven-year-old became ill after eating the chicken wrap in Sydney’s west in 2005.

KFC denied the claim but on Friday afternoon Justice Stephen Rothman found in favor of the family in the NSW Supreme Court.

KFC has vowed to appeal the ruling.

In a statement, the restaurant said the case was clearly tragic but they were "deeply disappointed and surprised" by Judge Rothman’s decision.

"We believe the evidence showed KFC did not cause this tragedy and, after reviewing the judgment and seeking further advice from our lawyers, we have decided to appeal Justice Rothman’s decision," KFC Australia’s chief corporate affairs officer Sally Glover said.

"We feel deeply for Monika and the Samaan family, however, we also have a responsibility to defend KFC’s reputation as a provider of safe, high-quality food."

During a four-week trial in 2010, Monika’s father Amanwial Samaan told the court he and his wife Hanna, son Abanou and Monika all fell ill with vomiting and diarrhea after sharing the Twister.

Monika, who was in a coma for six months and in hospital for seven, is effectively now a quadriplegic and severely brain damaged.

She took the NSW Supreme Court action through her father.

KFC’s lawyer, Ian Barker QC, argued there "never was a shared Twister" because there was no sales data to prove the family purchased it.

"You did not tell anyone at the hospital, when you were there between October 27 and 29, that you had shared a KFC Twister that Monday," Mr Barker said in the NSW Supreme Court in July 2010.

"Because there was no direct question at me," Mr Samaan replied.

He also accused Mr Samaan of thinking KFC "might be an easy target."

But the family’s barrister, Anthony Bartley SC, presented evidence about KFC food practices that were "disturbing and unsettling."

"If the store was particularly busy, then even if chicken dropped on the floor… it was on some occasions simply put back into the burger station from where it had fallen," he said.

He told the court Monika, who had been a bright girl, could now feed herself to a limited extent but wears a nappy and goes to a special school.

KFC said it would not comment further on the matter as it is now on appeal.

South Carolina McDonald’s worker arrested for adding phlegm to sweet tea

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It’s disgusting, but a reminder anyone in the food biz is only as good as their worst front-line employee.

The New York Daily News reports a South Carolina McDonald’s worker served customers some Sweet Tea with a side of phlegm.

The incident happened on Saturday when a mother and daughter noticed their tea wasn’t sweetened and returned their drinks in exchange for the correct order, police told WYFF-TV.

When their teas were returned, the duo saw their order wasn’t correct again and were heading home to add their own sweetener. But when they looked in the drink, they noticed both had an stomach-turning side of phlegm floating on top.

Instead of going back to McDonald’s, they went straight to the police station.

"It’s a health issue," Greenville County Sheriff Deputy Laura Campbell told the TV station. "When it becomes bodily fluids you know people have all kinds of contagious viruses and diseases."

Cops nabbed 19-year-old Marvin D. Washington Jr. and charged him with unlawful and malicious tampering of the food, according to the report.

In a statement to the TV station, the franchise owner of that McDonald’s location said his restaurant "has the most stringent food safety and quality standards" and urged customers not to jump to conclusions.

"Nothing is more important to me than the safety and well being of my customers," he added.

3 sick with botulism from fine foods whole fesikh mullet in Toronto

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Fesikh, an Egyptian dish that made buzzfeed’s 10 Foods That Make You Sick list, is apparently grey mullet that are caught, left out to putrefy, then salted and left to pickle for several months. The fish is a delicacy served during the annual celebration of Sham Al-Nessim, and causes a few people to die every year of botulism poisoning.

Lotus Catering and Fine Foods of Toronto has been fingered as the supplier of whole fesikh mullet (salted and cured fish) that has led to three cases of botulism.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) says the whole fesikh mullet was sold in clear vacuum-packaged bags of varying count and weight, bearing no code or date information.

This product was sold from Lotus Catering and Fine Food, 1960 Lawrence Ave. E, Toronto, ON, on or before April 17, 2012.

Market food safety efforts at retail – not in newspapers (do they still exist?)

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The California Leafy Greens types got $250,000 to inform (they said educate) Canadian consumers about its food safety mandates.

“We want to gauge the impact of a program like the LGMA on consumer confidence,” said Scott Horsfall, chief executive officer of the Sacramento-based organization.

Mike Hornick of The Packer reports LGMA has already surveyed Canadian consumers, and plans to do so again at the program’s end.

Just 10% of those surveyed said they were aware of the LGMA’s food safety processes, and 56% said they’re concerned about the safety of leafy greens.

“It’s a number that gives us pause, consistent with numbers you see in the U.S.” Horsfall said. “At the end we’ll see if we’ve moved anyone.”

Asian culture, food regs collide in Virginia?

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The New York Times reports that in the rear of the Great Wall supermarket in Falls Church, Virginia, customers linger over razor clams, frozen conch and baby smelt arrayed at the fish counter. Crabs clamber over the ice. Below, sea bass circle in glass tanks. A girl in a stroller, eye level with a school of tilapia, giggles in delight.

But other tanks are empty. The bullfrogs, turtles and eels that Northern Virginia’s booming Asian population used to buy at the counter and take home to cook are nowhere to be found, seized last year by state agents who leveled criminal charges against two managers of the store accusing them of illegally selling wildlife.

The case, which is scheduled to go to trial in June, has put culinary traditions of Asian immigrants into conflict with state laws, illustrating what some see as a cultural fault line in the changing population of Northern Virginia. Asians make up 13.6 percent of the population of four Northern Virginia counties.

Lawyers for the store managers say that the law governing sales of live fish and other animals has not been updated to reflect advances in aquaculture, and that it is tilted against immigrants with unfamiliar cuisines and customs. In a court filing, they argue that the case “seems to be about the tyranny of the majority.”

It is clear that Kai Wei Jin, one of the managers charged, is unhappy about being in the middle of a criminal case. Mr. Jin, 25, fiddled uncomfortably with his phone during an interview, saying he just wanted to satisfy his customers.

“We’re not trying to break the law,” he said. “We just want to do business, and just support the culture.”

Lee Walker, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, said that the laws were necessary to protect wildlife, and that charges were leveled only after a warning went unheeded.

“We really try to educate folks about the regulations before we ever try to bring charges,” he said. “In this case, every attempt was made to educate about what’s legal. And, unfortunately, action was not taken.”

The case arose early last year after what prosecutors called a “concerned citizen” made a report of illegal sales. Officials went to the store several times and bought red-eared slider turtles and largemouth bass, which they said was labeled “mainland rockfish.” They returned last April, seizing turtles, eels, bullfrogs and crayfish, and delivered a warning, prosecutors said.

When officials returned and found largemouth bass still for sale, they said, they sought charges against the managers. Both were indicted on four felony counts, but the prosecutor later agreed to reduce the charges to misdemeanors, which carry potential penalties of jail time and fines of up to $2,500.

Some of the species fall under a broad category of wildlife that cannot be bought or sold, while sales of largemouth bass are forbidden because it is a native game fish. Crayfish can be sold, but the store lacked permits, according to prosecutors’ court filings.

Lawyers for the store managers say that categorizing the fish and other creatures as wildlife does not make sense, because they were farm-raised for eating.

Receipts filed with court motions show, for example, that some of the turtles were raised in Oklahoma. The bullfrogs were shipped from the Dominican Republic. The bass and some eels came from a Pennsylvania fish farm.

A Great Wall store in neighboring Maryland makes for a study in contrast. The fish counter there has many of the creatures that have vanished from the Virginia store. Turtles labeled “farm-raised” paddle in one tank, selling for $9.99 per pound. At the counter, mesh bags bulge with live bullfrogs for $5.99 a pound.

133 sick; Minnesota confirms parasite outbreak at water parks

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Ninety-seven people have reported cases of cryptosporidiosis since last month’s outbreak at Edgewater Resort and Water Park in Duluth, according to the Minnesota Department of Health. Twenty-two of those cases have been confirmed in laboratories.

Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) epidemiologist Trisha Robinson said the confirmed cases probably only represent a fraction of people who were actually sickened by the parasite. The investigation of the outbreak is still in progress.

"One different thing with cryptosporidiosis is the time from when a person is exposed to the time when they become sick can be as long as two weeks," Robinsons said. "Pools were closed on March 26, so we could still have

Another unrelated cryptosporidiosis outbreak in Brainerd last month resulted in 36 reported cases, with one case being confirmed in a laboratory.

Robinson said that people who have been sick with diarrhea in the previous two weeks should avoid swimming in recreational waters.

Love letters from FDA: fishy fish, bad buns

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It’s like a game show: This Week in Warning Letters from FDA.

Take your chances, make mistakes, let the U.S. Food and Drug Administration lay out your food failings in public view.

Seafood was a repeat offender, and some others:

• General Tuna Corporation, based in the Philippines, cited for having a HACCP plan that really sucked;

• Chung’s and Son Company of Temple Hills, Maryland, cited for having a HACCP plan that really sucked, your vegetable and shrimp egg roll is adulterated, in that they have been prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby they may have been rendered injurious to health;

• Custom Seafood Services Inc. of Seattle, Washington, cited for having a HACCP plan that really sucked, your Dungeness crab sections and King crab legs and claws are adulterated;

• Concept Asia Food Service, another Seattle fish processor with a lousy HACCP plan,
your sushi roll products, including the salmon roll, eel roll, tai roll, imitation crab roll, and tuna roll, are adulterated

• Sugar Bakers, Inc. of Catonsville, Maryland, you have lousy handwashing trash all over the place, and poor storage choices;

• Panaderia El Angel of Arlington, Washington, a Hispanic bakery, you have serious violations of Good Manufacturing Practices, your products are all adulterated;

• K-Brand Farms of Woodridge, New York, you have serious violations of the Prevention of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) in Shell Eggs During Production, Storage, and Transportation regulation (the shell egg regulation), your shell eggs are adulterated; and,

• Societe Fromagere de Bouvron of Bouvron, France, you produce cheese with substandard equipment.

Join us again next week.

Your moment of homage, from Second City TV in 1981,

and, something else.

Should pre-washed, bagged leafy greens be washed again at home? NPR says yes, many food safety types say no

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Should bagged, pre-washed salad greens be washed again in the home kitchen?

Many food safety types say no.

During the idle but oh-so-smoothing brand of chat-chit practiced by National Public Radio that preceded a story about E. coli and Salmonella in leafy greens from Salinas, Calif., one reporter said, “I wash it every time but I don’t know if it actually helps.”

Reporter Dan Charles responded, “It says prewashed but washing might help.”

So might a lot of others things not fit for this family publication.

A review paper published in Food Protection Trends in 2007 contained guidelines developed by a panel of food safety types and concluded:

"… leafy green salad in sealed bags labeled ‘washed’ or ‘ready-to-eat’ that are produced in a facility inspected by a regulatory authority and operated under cGMPs, does not need additional washing at the time of use unless specifically directed on the label.”

The panel also advised that additional washing of ready-to-eat green salads is not likely to enhance safety.

“The risk of cross contamination from food handlers and food contact surfaces used during washing may outweigh any safety benefit that further washing may confer."

When washing at home, "there’s a risk that is the sink where you just washed your chicken," said Donald Schaffner, Rutgers University professor of food science, in a 2011 interview.

Today’s NPR soothfest revisited what growers in California are doing to enhanced food safety and the 2006 E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in spinach that killed 3 and sickened at least 200.

Will Daniels, senior vice president for operations and organic integrity at Earthbound Farm, based in San Juan Bautista, told NPR, "I was at the center of the investigation and really took it very hard. It was just a real tough time to go through, and something that I don’t ever want to go through again."

Investigators found E. coli bacteria that matched the microbes that were making people sick on a ranch that was one of Earthbound’s suppliers. But those bacteria were in animal feces a mile from the spinach field, Daniels says, "with no clear indication of what caused the contamination from a mile away to get into the spinach field itself."

"Unfortunately, it looks like every animal is suspect," says Bob Martin, general manager of Rio Farms, in King City, Calif.

Even birds. "Birds are a big issue! They carry human pathogens, and we can’t put diapers on them. We can’t dome our fields; there’s nothing we can do, short of trying to scare them away.”

Lettuce fields now have to be separated from cattle pastures, and throughout the valley, next to lettuce fields, you see white plastic pipes. Inside those pipes are mouse traps.

And the birds? Vegetable buyers won’t take anything from the area directly under power lines.

"When it comes to food safety, if it’s grown outdoors, forget it, there’s no such thing as zero tolerance," says Bob Martin. "And everybody knows that, except for some food safety personnel of the big food buyers."

Daniels of Earthbound Farms was further quoted as saying, "It is a true test-and-hold program, so we have to wait to get the negative results before we put it on a truck. Any positives go to the landfill.”

There still are positives. Not very often, but every five weeks or so, one of these tests catches a sample that’s contaminated with disease-causing E. coli or Salmonella.

A table of leafy green related outbreak is available at http://bites.ksu.edu/leafy-greens-related-outbreaks.

FDA targets two California seafood producers over Listeria, Clostridium

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Discoveries of Clostridium botulinum and Listeria monocytogenes at two separate California fish processors has prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to step in.

Grub Street Los Angeles reports FDA is looking to close down Blue Ocean Smokehouse in Half Moon Bay and Yamaya in Torrance.

While Yamaya is offering to temporarily halt production and destroy all its existing products after the discovery of Listeria monocytogenes, the FDA is apparently trying to completely shut down Blue Ocean Smokehouse, citing refusal to comply with government demands after an inspection in October uncovered the presence of Clostridium botulinum in the company’s vacuum-packed hot and cold smoked products.

Inspectors claim the Half Moon Bay plant practices poor sanitation, while one regulator notes, "The company has ignored warnings by the FDA and the California Department of Public Health by continuing to sell seafood that puts consumers’ health at risk."