Monthly Archives: January 2014

No jail time for Jensens in cantaloupe Listeria outbreak

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A federal judge in Denver sentenced Eric and Ryan Jensen each to six months of home detention and five years probation for selling Listeria contaminated cantaloupe in 2011 that killed 33 and sickened 147 people across 28 states.

The brothers, who owned and operated Jensen Farms, Granada, Colo., pleaded guilty last year to six federal misdemeanors of introducing an adulterated food into interstate cantaloupecommerce. They could have faced up to six years in prison and $1.5 million in fines.

Coral Beach of The Packer reports the judge also ordered the Jensens each to pay restitution of $150,000 and to do 100 hours of community service, according to U.S. Attorney’s office in Denver. Ryan Jensen agreed to attend a substance abuse program and take drug tests and Eric Jensen agreed to provide a DNA sample, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

The Jan. 28 ruling by Magistrate Judge Michael E. Hegarty came after the U.S. Attorney’s office and officials from the federal probation and parole office recommended probation in the case.

“These defendants were at worse negligent or reckless in their acts and omissions,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jaime Pena wrote in a court document recommending probation.

42 sickened; diarrhea outbreak caused by Salmonella in South Africa

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Salmonella was the likely cause of a diarrhea outbreak in Limpopo, South Africa, earlier this week where 42 people were hospitalised, a Sapa correspondent reported on Tuesday.

The outbreak was reported on Monday by the provincial diseases outbreak response team, which believed the initial cause was contaminated food or water at Mokopane Family guy barfLodge.

“We took water and food samples immediately after the outbreak and preliminary results on the food samples have identified salmonella food poisoning,” response team member Macks Lesufi said.

“We are still yet to get results on the water samples, but so far we have put the whole lodge under quarantine until further notice.”

Lesufi did not provide a copy of the preliminary results, as it was state property.

“We will only release the final results to the public maybe after Thursday,” he said.

Groundhog Day: UK cheese destroyed due to E. coli risk

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In 1996, 23 people died in an E. coli O157 outbreak when Scotland’s former butcher-of-the-year used the same knives on raw and cooked beef.

In 2005, a five-year-old child died and 160 were sickened after a butcher used the same vacuum packaging machine on raw and cooked beef.

Celebrity chef Marcus Wareing, who cooked for the Queen on her 80th birthday and is star of BBC’s Great British Menu series, failed his most recent restaurant inspection bill.murray.groundhog.daybecause he used the same vac-pak machine on raw and cooked product.

Now, according to the Cheddar Valley Gazette, cheese from  Bridgwater Butchers has been seized and destroyed as a result of a routine food hygiene inspection carried out by Sedgemoor District Council Environmental Health staff on January 15.

Environmental health staff discovered that cheese from A I Foster’s, in St Marys Street, Bridgwater was being vacuum-packed on the same equipment as raw meat before being displayed for sale.

Due to the risk of the cheese being contaminated with E. coli O157 the cheese was seized.

An application was made to Taunton Magistrates Court by Sedgemoor’s Legal team for a condemnation order.

In addition to the costs of destroying the cheese the Council were also awarded full costs claimed of over £600.

The Food Standards Agency stress that: “Under no circumstances should it be considered safe to use the same complex equipment, such as vacuum packing machines, slicers, mincers, etc, for both raw and ready-to-eat foods.”

Rules need enforcement.

Are you sure those frozen chicken nuggets are cooked? Are you? Are you? (they won’t answer)

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“Doug, I may have sickened Sorenne.”

That’s what Amy told me after serving the kid some chicken nuggets from Coles, one-half of the supermarket duopoly in Australia.

Normally I cook and temp a full chicken and we eat the leftover bits in various meals. But today’s kids, they go for the chicken nuggets so we have some on hand when we’re tired, coles.chicken.breast.nuggets.jan.14lazy or indifferent.

Whether frozen chicken thingies are pre-cooked or raw has been an on-going issue in the U.S and our household since 2007.That’s when we first came up with the experiment described in the abstract below.

Raw, frozen not-ready-to-eat entrees purchased in retail and prepared in the home have been identified as a significant risk factor for salmonellosis. From 1998 to 2008, eight separate outbreaks have implicated undercooked chicken nuggets, chicken strips, and stuffed chicken entrees. In each outbreak, affected individuals prepared entrées in a microwave oven, did not follow recommended cooking instructions, and failed to take the internal temperature of the cooked product. A survey of U.S. grocery stores in 2008 revealed manufacturers fail to provide consumers clear and concise preparation instructions.

Amy recooked the chicken thingies and ensured safety with a tip-sensitive digital thermometer.

I looked at the box (right, exactly as shown) and there was no indication whether the nuggets were cooked to a safe temp and then frozen, or frozen raw.

So I called Coles customer service Friday afternoon; that is why there is a customer service number on the box.

The woman was courteous, left me on hold for a few minutes, and had no clue about my question and couldn’t find the information

She said with the long weekend and all, they’d probably back to me Tuesday.

It’s Tuesday afternoon here – nothing.

Maybe Coles’ general manager, Jackie Healing, who will represent Australia at the Global Food Safety Conference in the U.S. next month can answer. Maybe someone there can ask her why the labels on frozen chicken thingies in Australia suck.

Self-reported and observed behavior of primary meal preparers and adolescents during preparation of frozen, uncooked, breaded chicken products

01.nov.09

British Food Journal, Vol 111, Issue 9, p 915-929

Sarah DeDonder, Casey J. Jacob, Brae V. Surgeoner, Benjamin Chapman, Randall Phebus, Douglas A. Powell

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do;jsessionid=6146E6AFABCC349C376B7E55A3866D4A?contentType=Article&contentId=1811820

Abstract:

Purpose – The purpose of the present study was to observe the preparation practices of both adult and young consumers using frozen, uncooked, breaded chicken products, which were previously involved in outbreaks linked to consumer mishandling. The study also sought to observe behaviors of adolescents as home food preparers. Finally, the study aimed to compare food handler behaviors with those prescribed on product labels.


Design/methodology/approach – The study sought, through video observation and self-report surveys, to determine if differences exist between consumers’ intent and actual behavior.


Findings – A survey study of consumer reactions to safe food-handling labels on raw meat and poultry products suggested that instructions for safe handling found on labels had only chicken.nugget.jan.14limited influence on consumer practices. The labels studied by these researchers were found on the packaging of chicken products examined in the current study alongside step-by-step cooking instructions. Observational techniques, as mentioned above, provide a different perception of consumer behaviors.


Originality/value – This paper finds areas that have not been studied in previous observational research and is an excellent addition to existing literature.

What have the Romans ever done for us? Sanctimonious Super Bowl adverts

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Chobani yogurt suffered some serious quality issues in Aug. 2013, and persistent consumer complaints has led the company to respond to declining sales with a full public accounting of quality control measures with a Super Bowl ad.

On Feb. 2, when Fox broadcasts Super Bowl XLVIII, two brands of Greek-style yogurt, Chobani and Dannon Oikos, have bought bullshitcommercial time in the game.

A 60-second Chobani commercial — in the first Super Bowl appearance for the No. 1 brand of Greek yogurt — is scheduled for the third quarter. The spot, featuring a new theme, “How matters,” is the start of a multimedia campaign that includes ads in digital and social media, events and a public relations effort. The “How matters” campaign is to continue after the Super Bowl with elements like commercials during the Winter Olympics and the Academy Awards.

What Chobani believes it offers is summarized by an announcer’s declaration: “A cup of yogurt won’t change the world. But how we make it might.”

Especially if it has mold that makes people barf.

Post-Super Bowl, Chipotle Mexican Grill will release “Farmed and Dangerous,” a four-part comedy series on the TV-streaming service Hulu that takes a satirical look at industrial-scale farming.

“Farmed and Dangerous,” billed as a “Chipotle original series,” hopes to promote the company’s concerns about sustainable agriculture and the humane treatment of animals used for meat. This stealth marketing strategy, Chipotle executives say, is not about “product integration,” but “values integration.”

Food safety would be an important value.

Safe school lunches

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Sorenne started school today, the equivalent of North American kindergarten and what is called prep here, every day, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Because of the heat (Brisbane is the Tampa of Australia) and lack of lunch.box.jan.14refrigerators, cool packing is a must.

And it has to be pink for the princess (but ice hockey starts Sunday).

The humble lunchbox has taken on a life of its own with varieties now ranging from a basic $3 plastic container to an $85 stainless steel contraption.

And just as the choice of lunchbox shapes, colors and sizes is endless, so is the range of accessories.

Insulated carry cases, removable compartments, drink bottles and ice pack inserts are among the more practical extras.

We spent 10 minutes going over the various containers – frozen ice pack half-filled with juice, two compartments for morning fruit (grapes and apple slices) and a larger compartment below for lunch (salami and cheese sandwich on whole grain bread, with a peeled orange).

She’ll eat when she gets home. This was the fifth time I’ve sent a daughter off to school. No tears.

sorenne.school.jan.14

32 sickened in Mich. Salmonella outbreak; no exact cause though raw eggs likely; restaurant owners ‘deeply disappointed’ in report

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The final report on the salmonella outbreak that affected at least 32 residents in Muskegon and Ottawa counties last year, according to Michigan Live, lists no precise reason for the incident.

The 68-page document released by Public Health-Muskegon County this month formed nine hypotheses and suggested raw eggs, cross contamination or poor food handling were likely the cause of the outbreak mayonnaise.raw.eggthat affected patrons and employees at Pints & Quarts Pub and Grill and C.F. Prime Chophouse and Wine Bar between Oct. 30 and Nov. 2.

Investigators said the restaurants’ salads — including those with grilled chicken — and Pints & Quarts’ Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps appetizer were strongly associated with the illness.

The epidemiological investigation began on Nov. 8 and included a case-control study to determine the extent of the outbreak, the associated risk-factors and the necessary steps to control and prevent further infection.

The department interviewed 121 people. Nearly 60 people represented either confirmed cases or probable, unconfirmed cases and about 60 more represented the study’s “controls,” — those who dined out but did not get sick during the four-day exposure period.

The owners of the Roosevelt Park-based, Harris Hospitality-owned eateries said in a statement on Friday, Jan. 24 that they were “deeply disappointed” by the report’s findings.

Restaurant manager and owner Andy Harris said the company reviewed the document “in great detail” and characterized it as “repeatedly critical” of its policies and procedures leaving the reader with the impression that it did something wrong to make people sick.

Harris said management was frustrated the agency could not pinpoint a precise origin of the outbreak and said it should have concluded that raw eggs were to blame.

“We deeply regret that anyone was made ill eating at one of our restaurants,” Harris said. “However, the fault lies with the use of already-contaminated eggs and not with any of our food-handling practices or procedures.”

Restaurant spokeswoman Mary Ann Sabo said she did not know the name of the supplier.

The final report noted that raw eggs were used in the restaurants’ original Caesar and Citrus salad dressings and its béarnaise sauce, a classic French condiment made with butter and spices. Harris said the company has since modified the salad dressing recipes to exclude eggs.

The restaurants are allowed to use the raw eggs in condiments under the Michigan Modified Food Code of 2009 and its menus had noted the risks associated with consumption, he said. 

Regardless of regulation, actually employing best practices matters

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A lot of folks in the food system are concerned about the potential for FDA’s Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), and associated rules, to negatively impact businesses. There’s been a bunch of rhetoric and uncertainty around the final rules and what will be needed to comply. The majority of the content of the proposed Produce and Preventive Controls Rules summarizes the industry’s best practices and lists the references behind decisions.tomato_dump_tank

Not much in there that’s a surprise for folks who have been paying attention.

The focus of FSMA is on identifying hazards, putting steps in place to manage them and actually doing it. The best businesses are already doing this.

There are some specifics like manure incorporation and what a qualified individual is (who is supposed to be responsible for written plans) that need to be worked out. But employing practices and putting systems in place based on the best available science goes a long way in the absence of a regulation.

Back in the day when we were working with produce farmers and packers in Ontario (that’s in Canada) that’s what we tried to do – to stay ahead of the market requirements and regulation.

It’s not a unique approach – the almond industry took a similar path, so did Florida tomato growers and leafy greens producers in California and Arizona to some extent.

According to Lancaster Online, Pennsylvania farmers, through ag educators might be focusing on the uncertainty.

Ag educator Jeff Stoltzfus said he has learned a lot about food safety in the past five years.

But when it comes to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s efforts to overhaul food safety regulations, he’s still trying to figure out the impact it will have on the growers he works with.

“What we don’t know is more than what we do know,” he told a group of growers gathered recently at Yoder’s Restaurant for New Holland Vegetable Day.

Keeping good records, he said, could be the most important thing for growers to protect themselves in case a problem arises.

“Records are going to be very important and policies will be even more important, especially if you’re taking stuff from other growers.”

I disagree – actually employing the correct risk-reduction practices based would top my list. The documentation is nice and shows a regulator or a buyer that you know what you’re talking about – but doing it is more important.

Over 2800 sickened; Japan food safety badly shaken by in-company poisoning of food

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With over 2,800 sick from deliberate poisoning with a pesticide at a Japanese frozen food manufacturers, the presidents of the firm did the only honorable thing: fall on their swords.

A 49-year-old contract worker at the plant where frozen food was laced with the agricultural chemical malathion has been arrested by the Gunma saturday-night-live-rye-by-the-sword1prefectural police on suspicion of obstructing business. The suspect worked at the Gunma plant of Aqli Foods Corp., a subsidiary of leading food maker Maruha Nichiro Holdings Inc.

The man is suspected of lacing frozen food produced at the plant with malathion on four occasions in October. About 2,800 people across the country have complained of feeling ill after eating pizza and other frozen food produced at the plant.

The presidents of Maruha Nichiro Holdings and Aqli Foods have announced they will resign at the end of March to take responsibility for the latest incident.

The companies failed to respond promptly, taking 1½ months to launch a self-imposed recall of products after receiving a complaint in November of an odd odor from pizza manufactured at the plant.