Monthly Archives: January 2014

3 dead, 13 hospitalized in China food poisoning

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A suspected food poisoning in northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province has killed three people and left 13 more hospitalized, local authorities said late Monday.

A total of 16 people sought medical treatment on Sunday and Monday after having a wedding banquet in a village in the city of Jixi china.weddingon Saturday, the city government said in a statement.

Three died after medical treatment failed and one was still not out of danger. The rest 12 are in critical condition.

Health authorities have sealed samples of food and drinks at the banquet for tests and the investigation results are to be released.

4 dead, 101 sick; Norovirus strikes hospital in Japan

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Norovirus continues to ravage Japan after four elderly patients died in an outbreak at a hospital in the western Japanese city of Kyoto.

Earlier, at least 77 contracted Norovirus after consuming bentos from a store, and over 1,000 schoolchildren were stricken after consuming norovirus.elderly womanbread that was probably contaminated by food workers.

The four victims at the hospital were in their 80s and 90s and were among 101 patients and staff members who have exhibited the virus-caused gastroenteritis symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea over the past five weeks at the hospital in Fushimi Ward of the city.

77 suffer food poisoning in Japan; 25 confirmed with Norovirus

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Aomori prefectural health officials said Monday that 77 people suffered food poisoning after eating bentos bought from a store in Hachinohe. Of the 77, 25 had contracted the norovirus, officials said.

Fuji TV quoted health officials as saying the bentos in question were sold on Jan 14. The store said it sold bentos to 284 customers. Seventy-sushi-bento-express2seven people complained of nausea, vomiting and diarrhea on Jan 16, officials said. The victims ranged in age from their 20s to 70s.

The store, named Wa, has been ordered to suspended operations for five days, until Friday. 

Jon Stewart: Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus threatens Super Bowl parties

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Bad news snacking Super Bowl lovers, a number of food shortages across the country could impact football fans with a case of the munchies, Jon Stewart told “The Daily Show” viewers on Monday’s jonstewart2-618x400program.

“This year, the match-up is between the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos, two teams hailing from states that have legalized marijuana,” Stewart said. “Which makes this year’s shortage all the more tragic.”

However, some reporters are getting to the bottom of claims by Velveeta that there may be not enough of the processed cheese on store shelves to meet consumer demand. One newscaster noted that a visit to area supermarkets revealed that there was plenty of the gooey stuff to go around.

 “Are you implying that the makers of Velveeta would attempt to pass off as real some sort of blatantly artificial, clearly unnatural, synthetic creation?” Stewart asked. “You sir, clearly don’t know Velveeta.”

Threats to Super Bowl cheese dips everywhere aren’t the only food-related danger to the big game. An outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus has been reported in several states, potentially making pigs in a blanket a dicey proposition.

“Porcine diarrhea virus, we’ve all been there,” Stewart said.

 

Mr. Heavyfoot goes to buy milk (M. Piedlourd va achete(r) du lait)

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Mr. Heavyfoot was a recurring character on the Canadian sketch rest.inspection.mr.heavy.foot.jan.14comedy, Kids in the Hall, 20 years ago, featuring Dave Foley.

His daughter, 10-year-old Alina, has employed her father for a new take that she wrote and directed.

But that’s not France, the A grade in the window makes me think Los Angeles.

 

New research shows 35 per cent of sampled street food in Yangon contaminated

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According to new research, a lot of the street food in Yangon, Myanmar (below, exactly as shown) contains Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus cereus. If not held at safe temperatures, the quick meals could be a particularly awesome place to create foodborne toxins.food-vendors1

The findings highlight the scale of the city’s food hygiene problem: More than one-third of the 150 samples collected were positive for either Staphylococcus aureas or Bacillus cereus, two common types of bacteria that can lead to food poisoning. Almost one-quarter contained dangerous levels of the bacteria, researchers found.
The results of the research were released at the 42nd Myanmar Health Research Congress, held at the Department of Medical Research (Lower Myanmar) from January 6 to 10.

Dr Thaung Hla, deputy director of the biological toxicology research division at the National Poison Control Centre, conducted the research with three colleagues. The aim was to pinpoint just how frequently dangerous organisms are found in roadside foods.
Thirty samples from each of the five downtown townships were collected and tested. Of the 150 samples, 52, or around 35 per cent, contained either Staphylococcus auras (sic -ben) or Bacillus cereus.

The lack of enforcement means it is generally a case of buyer beware. Ma Su Su from Bahan township said she tries to avoid eating street food because of the frequency with which it makes her fall ill. It is easy to see how bacteria could be transmitted through street food, she said, because vendors do not wear gloves and wash plates and utensils in dirty water. 

The sub heading of the article is fun – especially considering the etiology of the pathogens:

New research has confirmed what many of us have already learned the hard way – that consuming Yangon’s street food can end in food poisoning, particularly for those who have not built up immunity to the many types of bacteria on offer. 

Sounds like there’s a perception that the street food is nasty. Building up immunity to Bacillus cereus only works for some types of illnesses, the ones linked to a cyclic peptide toxin that causes vomit – it is preformed in temperature abused food. And acquired immunity is pretty unlikely for staph enterotoxin (also preformed in food).

Employees fingered in Norovirus outbreak linked to bread

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A massive norovirus outbreak amongst school children in Japan has been, according to health authorities, linked to three factory staff who handled bread as part of their jobs. Japan News reports that norovirus was detected in stool samples of the three staff members – signs of the virus were not founds in an additional 16 food handlers who also submitted samples.hlebozavod-0024

The bakery is suspected to have been the cause of a mass food poisoning that affected many primary schools in the city, according to the Hamamatsu city government.
The city government announced Sunday that workers at Hofuku, a company that produced bread deemed to be the cause of the norovirus outbreak, were found to be infected with the virus.

Yoshinao Terada, chief of the city government’s living and health section, said at a press conference, “It is highly likely that persons with the virus took part in the production process leading to contamination of the bread.”

The company ordered the three workers to stay home from work and specialists began sterilizing the plant. 

Asymptomatic norovirus carriers have been linked to lots of outbreaks in the past.  It’s also possible that the individuals were ill, recovered, and still shedding viruses in their stool. My NoroCORE colleague Robert Atmar and colleagues reported in 2008 that noro could be recovered from folks infected with the virus for up to 56 days (with a median of 28 days) – long after symptoms subsided.

Regardless, there are some hygiene issues going on at Hofuku.

Illegal cheese source of Listeria for newborn in Oregon

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Oregon public health officials issued a warning for illegally imported cheese from Mexico that is believed responsible for giving an unborn baby Listeria.

The infection was traced to unlabeled soft cheese called queso fresco sold in a Latino grocery store in Woodburn, officials said in a release. The listeriainvestigation by the Public Health Division and the Oregon Department of Agriculture found the cheese was brought into the country illegally from Mexico and sold in plastic bags.

A newborn baby became ill in late December, officials said, and believe the baby was infected before being born. 

1000 kids sick with norovirus linked to bread in Japan

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Bread maker Hofuku, which has admitted one of its products is probably responsible for causing more than 1,000 children in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, to suffer food poisoning, has started recalling its products from retailers, including supermarkets in Yamanashi, Shizuoka, Aichi and Okayama prefectures.

According to the Hamamatsu Municipal Government, the bread the local company produced Monday and delivered to schools Tuesday morning is likely to have been tainted sliced_breadwith the norovirus.

The municipal authorities’ inspection Thursday night detected the virus from a rest room slipper at the company’s plant, according to city and board of education officials.

The city ordered Hofuku to suspend operations.

Twenty-three workers were involved in the bread slicing and packaging process at the factory Monday when the norovirus-tainted bread was made.

6 sick with Norovirus; consumers warned not to eat oysters from Copano Bay in Texas

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to eat raw or partially cooked oysters harvested from Copano Bay, in Aransas County, Texas, harvested between Dec. 26, 2013 and Jan. 9, 2014. 

Oysters harvested from Copano Bay, Texas, on Dec. 26, 2013, and then shipped by Alby’s Seafood of Fulton, Texas, have been linked to six norovirus illnesses in Louisiana. The SUN0705N-Oyster7Texas Department of State Health Services closed Copano Bay to shellfish harvesting on Jan. 9, 2014. 

The FDA is warning consumers not to eat raw or partially cooked shellfish from Copano Bay, in Aransas County, Texas, harvested between Dec. 26, 2013 and Jan. 9, 2014. Alby’s Seafood has issued a recall of the oysters harvested on Dec. 26; however, other shellfish harvested from Copano Bay before it was closed may still be in the marketplace. All shellfish dealers, restaurants, retail food establishments and consumers are advised to check the identity tags on all containers of shellfish in their inventories. If the tag indicates the shellfish were harvested from Copano Bay between Dec. 26, 2013 and Jan. 9, 2014 the product should be disposed of and should not be sold, served or eaten.