Monthly Archives: March 2014

40 years of U.S. Salmonella data now available

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Forty years of data on a major cause of food poisoning now is available to the public, the food industry, and researchers in a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The data, collected by state and federal health officials, provides a wealth of information on Salmonella, the top foodborne cause of hospitalizations and deaths in the United States.

Available for hands-on web access for the first time, the Atlas of Salmonella in the United States, 1968-2011 summarizes surveillance data on 32 types of Salmonella isolates from p0326-salmonella-data-lgpeople, animals, and other sources. The information is organized by demographic, geographic and other categories.

“Salmonella causes a huge amount of illness and suffering each year in the United States. We hope these data allow researchers and others to assess what has happened and think more about how we can reduce Salmonella infections in the future,” said Robert Tauxe, M.D., deputy director of CDC’s Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases. “The more we understand Salmonella, the more we can make progress in fighting this threat all along the farm to table chain.”

CDC estimates that Salmonella bacteria cause more than 1.2 million illnesses each year in the United States, resulting in more than 23,000 hospitalizations and 450 deaths. Salmonella infections most often cause vomiting or diarrhea, sometimes severe. In rare cases, Salmonella illness can lead to severe and life-threatening bloodstream infections.

By providing data by age, sex, geography, and season of the year in a downloadable format, the Atlas allows users to view national trends in reported cases of human Salmonella infection over time, problems in specific geographic areas, sources of Salmonella, and the connection between animal and human health. In addition to reports of human infections, it includes reports of Salmonella in animals, the environment, and animal feeds, which can be sources of antibiotic resistant strains.  

Serotyping has been the core of public health monitoring of Salmonella infections for over 50 years. Now, scientists use DNA testing to further divide each serotype into more subtypes and to detect more outbreaks. With the next generation of sequencing technology, advancements continue as the laboratory can find information about the bacteria in just one test.

The data presented likely represent just the tip of the iceberg since many cases of human salmonellosis are not diagnosed and reported to the health department. This underreporting may occur because the ill person does not seek medical care, the health care provider does not obtain a stool culture for testing, or the culture results are not reported to public health officials.

The Salmonella group of bacteria has more than 2,500 different serotypes, but fewer than 100 cause the vast majority of infections in people. Older adults, people with weakened immune systems, and children under five years old have a higher risk for Salmonella infection. Infections in these groups can be more severe, resulting in long-term health consequences or death.

To access the Atlas, please visit http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/reportspubs/salmonella-atlas/index.html. For more information on Salmonella, please visit: http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/. 

1-in-8 new Canadian estimate of annual foodborne illness rate

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For years it was 1-in-4.

One out of every four people would get sick from the food and water they consumed every year in the U.S., culminating in the 76 million sick people per year.

burden.foodborne.reportingThe Canadians and Australians eventually did their own estimates and came up with 1-in-3.

Then the Americans revised their number to 1-in-6, or 48 million people barfing per year.

Now the Canadians have revised their number to 1-in-8.

This doesn’t mean food is safer or worse, just that better estimates make more accurate estimations – and these are still vast estimations.

The Public Health Agency of Canada estimates that each year roughly one-in-eight Canadians (or four million people) get sick due to domestically acquired food-borne diseases. This estimate provides the most accurate picture yet of which foodborne bacteria, viruses, and parasites are causing the most illnesses in Canada, as well as estimating the number of foodborne illnesses without a known cause.

In general, to be captured in a Canadian surveillance system, a sick individual must: seek care; have a sample (stool, urine or blood) requested; and submit a sample for testing. In addition, the sample must be tested with a test capable of identifying the causative agent; and finally the positive test result must be reported to the surveillance system. Surveillance systems only capture a small portion of total illnesses given all these necessary steps (i.e. there is under-diagnosis and under-reporting taking place). 

Not only oysters; clam-associated vibriosis, USA, 1988–2010

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Infections with Vibrio spp. have frequently been associated with consumption of bivalve molluscs, especially oysters, but illness associated with clams has also been well documented. We describe the 2312 domestically acquired foodborne Vibrio infections reported to the Cholera and Other Vibrio Illness Surveillance system from 1988 to 2010. clamsClams were associated with at least 4% (93 persons, ‘only clams’) and possibly as many as 24% (556 persons, ‘any clams’) of foodborne cases. Of those who consumed ‘only clams’, 77% of infections were caused by V. parahaemolyticus. Clam-associated illnesses were generally similar to those associated with other seafood consumption. Clams associated with these illnesses were most frequently harvested from the Atlantic coastal states and eaten raw. Our study describes the contribution of clams to the overall burden of foodborne vibriosis and indicates that a comprehensive programme to prevent foodborne vibriosis need to address the risks associated with clams.

Dutch safety council poised to slam ‘untransparent’ meat industry

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I’m not sure untransparent is a word, but that’s the Dutch.

According to a new report in the Telegraaf, the Dutch safety institute is poised to publish a damning report about food safety in the meat industry.

The report by the Onderzoeksraad voor de Veiligheid says there are serious shortcomings in food industry supervision which pose a risk to food safety, the paper says.

In particular, the report is criticial of the lack of transparency in the meat trade. For example, a supermarket hamburger or meatball could have been handled by three or four different meat processors and the origin of the meat is often untraceable.
The Telegraaf says the industry itself is waiting for the report on tenterhooks following a string of food safety scandals over the past year.

These involve beef contaminated with horse and feces and salmonella in salmon.

Last year some 60,000 people suffered salmonella poisioning in the Netherlands, the paper says.

Yet the number of NVWA food safety inspectors has been ‘eaten away’ over the past few years.

12 sick with Salmonella in Wales, laverbread suspected

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It may be the Welshman’s caviar, but laverbread – excessively boiled seaweed, the green goop on the breakfast plate – is suspected in a Salmonella outbreak that has so far sickened 12.

As a precaution, a local company, Penclawdd Shellfish Processing Ltd, has voluntarily withdrawn its laverbread from sale.

The product is available at a number of high street retailers and laverbreadPenclawdd is the only supplier of laverbread to Tesco.

PHW is recommending that anyone who has laverbread at home that may have been produced by Penclawdd throws it away and does not eat it.  Anyone who is unsure where their laverbread was produced should check with the retailer where it was purchased.

Dr Jörg Hoffmann, Consultant in Communicable Disease Control for Public Health Wales, said, “Laverbread is generally a safe product to eat, and it remains unclear whether it is indeed the source of this outbreak.  However, given that we cannot rule out laverbread at present, it is very important that, to avoid the risk of illness, anyone with this product at home does not eat it.”

Botulism from instant soup in Italy

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A 33-year old man hospitalized in Camposampiero remains in critical condition, but is showing signs of recovery following botulism poisoning after eating an instant soup.

Though the young man remains intubated in intensive care, he is slowly regaining mobility of his limbs, after the paralysis caused by the intoxication. Meanwhile, the medical director of Local Health Unit 15 Sandro Artosi stated that he had immediately alerted the Ministry of Health (which was sent a sample of the soup eaten by the 33 year-old).

The Ministry of Health has initiated the emergency food alert procedure and ordered the seizure of the minestrone from retailers. The young man had eaten a pre-cooked instant soup of the company Buonaterra during his lunch break. The Local Health Unit of Alessandria, where the soup manufacturer is located, was also immediately alerted and a Food Alert was started, with the publication on the website of the Ministry of Health.

Botulinum toxin type B has been analytically confirmed in soup by the laboratories of the Istituto Zooprofilattico delle Venezie, Legnaro (Padova). The young man, who had eaten the pre-cooked soup on March 19, is still hospitalized in the intensive care unit of the hospital in Camposampiero Friday. On Saturday March 22 he was treated with antibotulin serum.

(Thanks to Luca Bucchini for the story and translation.)

67 sick with Salmonella from Kaliningrad kebabs

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The Moscow Times reports that 67 people are suffering from suspected Salmonella poisoning after purchasing questionable kebabs from a food vendor in Kaliningrad, Russia’s consumer rights watchdog has said.

Of this number, 64 people are in moderately severe condition, while three people have been placed in intensive care, watchdog salm.kebab.moscow.mar.14Rospotrebnadzor said in a statement, Itar-Tass reported Tuesday.

The mass poisoning can traced back to the same point of sale in Kaliningrad, where examinations of the outlet have revealed sanitary violations, high microbial contamination and the presence of E-coli in its food products.

A laboratory study has confirmed the presence of Salmonella in 36 of the known cases, which were first reported March 22.

E. coli O157 death of Minnesota 4-year-old seen as isolated case

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The death of a 4-year-old Pelican Rapids girl, who fell ill after becoming infected with a dangerous strain of E. coli bacteria, was an isolated case, a health official said Monday.

Sophia Amy Odens started having flu-like symptoms Feb. 5, and she was hospitalized the next day in Detroit Lakes, according to her obituary, which ran Sunday in The Forum.

Odens was soon transferred to Sanford Medical Center in Fargo, and tests revealed she was infected with the O157:H7 strain of E. coli. The strain brought on hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which caused her kidneys to shut down, the obituary said.

On Feb. 7, she was flown to Sanford Children’s Hospital in Sioux Falls, S.D., and she underwent multiple surgeries and dialysis. She died Feb. 11, a day after her fourth birthday, her obituary said.

Doug Schultz, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Health, said his agency was aware of Odens’ death and that no other related cases had been reported. Schultz did not know how the girl became infected. E. coli can be spread through contaminated food or water, or contact with people or animals.

£18000 fine and costs; food firm which supplied UK primary schools had ‘filthy conditions’

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Boston Magistrates heard on March 24 that Food for Thought GB Ltd admitted 12 different food hygiene charges involving raw meat being stored next to cooked ready-to-eat ham, dirty cups being supplied to a school, dirty plastic bowls and colanders, dirty and mould-stained Unknowncutting boards, dirty floors, flaking paint and dirty walls, dirty cleaning cloths and inadequate labelling of food.

They were fined £13,800 and ordered to pay £4,300 costs.

Magistrates reduced the potential fine by 30 per cent in recognition of the guilty pleas. A victim surcharge of £130 was also made.

Environmental Health Officers from Boston Borough Council visited the premises at Unit B8, Boston Trade Park, Norfolk Street, following an alert from colleagues at South Holland District Council.

There were concerns about the cleanliness of equipment supplied to a school in the South Holland area by Food 4 Thought GB Ltd.

A visit to the unit on October 4 found poor standards of hygiene, controls and management.

Caroline Clark and Moira Clark, both company directors who were on site at that time, agreed that the standards were not acceptable for premises producing food for vulnerable school children and agreed to deep clean the premises over the weekend.

On October 8 a re-inspection was undertaken and the environmental health officer noted that although a deep clean had been carried out there were still outstanding detailed cleaning issues to be addressed before the premises could be considered to be of an acceptable standard.

Magistrates expressed surprise that someone with even a basic knowledge of food hygiene had not identified issues before the visit.

$25K fine; Australian Woolworths supermarket fined for food safety breach

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Woolworths Noranda in Western Australia was issued with a fine of $25,672.40 on 28 February 2014 for offences dating back to 23 September 2013 involving the in-house bakery.

WA Today reports that further investigation of the site found that metal from equipment was discovered in baked goods that were intended for woolworthssale.

A spokesperson for the supermarket giant told WA Today that it has since rectified the issue.

“We have replaced the equipment in the store to ensure there can be no further incidents of this type.”