Monthly Archives: August 2014

Shigella leaves 100 British tourists sick in Egypt resort

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Up to 100 British tourists have fallen ill after a sickness bug swept through an Egyptian holiday resort.

Several were still on intravenous drips in their hotel rooms last night at the four-star Coral Sea Waterworld complex.

coral-sea-waterworldAngry holidaymakers blamed the virulent bug on dirty buffet food containers, utensils and tables and poor hygiene.

It has spread so fast that resort bosses have had to draft in extra doctors to cope with the sickness outbreak.

Legal firm Simpson Millar, acting for holidaymakers staying at the hotel, say they have already had 50 cases of illness reported to them in the last 24 hours alone.

Lawyer Nick Harris said: “I have been inundated with people contacting me about ruined holidays. Some of the reports I have heard are horrific.

“Bedridden families with intravenous drips in their arms and taking it in turns to be sick and use the toilet. We strongly suspect it’s a bacterial poisoning. It looks like up to 100 Brits are affected.

“They have spent the majority of their stay confined to their bedrooms and many of them on IV drips”.

Staff have been kitted out with latex gloves and hand sanitisers to try and stem the spread of infection.

Victims have been diagnosed with Shigella – a bug commonly associated with food poisoning and poor hygiene.

It is closely related to salmonella, which doctors in the resort have also been testing for.

Angry tourists have posting about their ordeal on travel site TripAdvisor.

China farms push puts safety first

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A giant Chinese meat importer has put food safety and quality at the top of its shopping list as it invests tens of millions of dollars in the Western Australia livestock industry.

amy_s_lamb_aug_12(1)Grand Farm president Chen Xibin said there was huge potential to build on WA’s reputation for producing safe food using modern farming methods and high standards in processing.

Brad Thompson of The West Australian reports that Grand Farm has started eyeing farms in WA as part of its history-making deal with South West meat processor V&V Walsh to secure huge volumes of quality lamb and beef.

Mr Chen arrived in WA late last week for meetings as part of the deal that will see V&V Walsh process an extra 500,000 lambs and 30,000 cattle a year.

Grand Farm, China’s biggest importer of red meat from Australia and New Zealand, is investing $1 billion in boosting supply and processing capacity with the backing of authorities in Inner Mongolia. Mr Chen said the company was considering all options for increasing supply out of WA, including buying farms, developing feedlots and live exports.

For victims, tainted peanut butter trial a chance for justice

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Tainted peanut butter killed three Minnesotans six years ago. Now, the trial against food executives brings hope of justice.

Maya Rao of the Minnesota Star Tribune writes that six years after Shirley Mae Almer died from eating a slice of toast topped with tainted peanut butter, the Almer family is at last sensing justice could finally be at hand.

PCA.AIB.certificateThey are making plans to fly to Albany, Ga., to attend an extraordinary trial of three executives of a now-bankrupt peanut butter company that was the source of a salmonella outbreak that became one of the deadliest of its kind in the country in recent years. More than 700 people were sickened and nine were killed, including three in Minnesota.

“It was a long wait,” Ginger Lorentz said from her house in Brainerd, where what she described as her Finnish mother’s sisu — spiritedness — still lingers at the dining room table where she hosted lively meals with friends and in the goofy photo of her dressed up with her dog for July 4th.

On Friday, as the trial began, prosecutors framed the case as one of a company so driven by profit that its leaders were willing to ship peanuts they knew were tainted to customers around the country. Prosecutors presented an e-mail from the former president, saying, “ … just ship it. I cannot afford to lose another customer.” The defense said that the owner struggled to keep up with day-to-day operations but that his inability to do so “is not a crime.”

Stewart Parnell, former chief executive of the now-defunct Peanut Corp. of America, and two other executives face a 76-count indictment in connection with the salmonella outbreak.

Barbara Flatgard, who lost her mother in 2009, said she doubts the defendants will see any prison time, “but just what an accomplishment [it is] that we at least got them charged.”

Lorentz saw Parnell years ago, at a Congressional hearing in which he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. She is determined to see him again at the trial this summer — to catch any sign of remorse, to hear some word of apology.

“I would like to see him in jail for the rest of his life,” she said.

Campers and staff ill at Ottawa day camp

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When I was a kid I used to do a couple of weeks of day camp during the summer – stuff like a week of sports or science. I always kind of wished that I had the overnight-out-of-the-city experience like in Indian Summer – but after camping later in life, I’m okay with missing out. The day camps I went too weren’t all fancy-pants catered (I just brought a packed lunch).

According to CBC, an Ottawa (that’s in Canada) day camp that uses a local caterer is dealing with what looks like an outbreak after almost 30 kids and staff fell ill this week.Indian_Summer_1993

Six children were transported to the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario for treatment, and later released.

Ottawa Public Health said it is investigating the reported illness of 19 children and 8 adults at Tian Tian Chinese Summer Camp. Paramedics said there were 89 children attending the camp.

Ottawa Public Health has collected food samples from St. Cecilia School on Cambrian Rd, where the camp was taking place. It also collected samples from a restaurant that provided food to the camp. The lab is expected to have results in about a week.

“When we’re investigating any kind of potential food borne illness, we really look at all the possible steps in the preparation of the food, as well as, in this situation, we’d be looking at how the food was transported, how it was served, were there any issues or illnesses in the food handlers,” said Dr. Carolyn Pim of Ottawa Public Health.

“It’s not only the actual preparation at the restaurant, but really from the time it’s prepared to the time it’s eaten.”

Rhode Island state beach concessions cited for multiple health violations

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Growing up in Southern Ontario (that’s in Canada) I wasn’t exposed to beach culture. What passed for a beach in the town where I spent my formative years was a rocky spit that couldn’t be walked barefoot (below, exactly as shown). Toronto has The Beach (formerly known as The Beaches) and a bit of sand and a decent boardwalk – but it’s not like the Outer Banks or the Eastern Shore.

There were a couple of concession stands along the Toronto boardwalk and I’d beg my parents for a red slushy – but I don’t remember any other food there. IMG00438-20110718-1337

According to the Woonsocket Call  three controversial concession stands at Rhode Island’s state beaches were cited for multiple food safety issues and infractions following a set of recent health inspections.

Fly strips hanging over food preparation areas; cans of clam chowder stored in restrooms; mold in ice machines; fish fillets thawing on the counter in stagnant water; and foul, noxious odors coming from grease traps are just some of the more than 70 health and food code violations the state Department of Health recently found at concession stands at Rhode Island’s three state beaches – Misquamicut, Scarborough and Roger Wheeler, The Call and The Times has learned.

According to inspection reports obtained by The Call and The Times, the Rhode Island Department of Heath’s Office of Food Protection conducted a total of five inspections at the concession stands, including three inspections at Misquamicut in Westerly on July 2, 17 and 29; once at Scarborough in Narragansett on July 29; and once at Roger Wheeler in Narragansett on July 30.

There were a total of 32 violations discovered at Misquamicut; 25 at Scarborough; and 16 violations at Roger Wheeler.

All totaled, inspectors found 73 food code violations among the three concession stands, which ranged from a lack of thermometers in refrigeration units to staff not wearing hair restraints.

Pee-cycling? Vermont effort to piss on farms

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A small group of environmentalists in Vermont are collecting urine with special toilets that separate no. 1 and no. 2.

no.pee.urinate.signEliza Barclay of NPR – The Salt writes, then they’re pooling the urine of the 170 volunteers in their pilot project (a quart or so, per person, daily) and eventually giving it to a farmer, who’s putting it on her hay fields in place of synthetic fertilizer. The goal is to collect 6,000 gallons this year.

The logic driving this avant-garde project of the Rich Earth Institute, based in Brattleboro, Vt., is that it’s foolish and wasteful to part with the precious nitrogen and phosphorus that moves from the food we eat right through us — especially when farmers have to buy fertilizer at great expense to put those very same nutrients back into the soil.

What’s more, founders Abraham Noe-Hays and Kim Nace tell The Salt, once our urine enters the wastewater system, drinking water carries it to a treatment facility, where the nutrients become pollutants that can contaminate waterways and cause algal blooms, among other issues.

The idea of “pee-cycling” has much in common with the “night soil” tradition, as well as the newer practice of using biosolids, or sewage sludge that’s been transformed into soil amendment for farmers. Several wastewater treatment plants in the U.S. have been making and donating biosolids, which are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency, to farmers for years. But the practice is controversial because some activists claim that even certified biosolids could contain harmful chemicals.d

Multistate US outbreak of hepatitis A infection linked to pomegranate seeds from Turkey

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In 2013, an outbreak of hepatitis A made 162 people in 10 states sick after they ate a berry blend product purchased at a national chain store.

dsc-3622CDC detected the outbreak on May 15. Scientists promptly applied whole genome sequencing and other advanced analytic methods to establish that not only were the infecting strains identical, but also belonged to an unusual hepatitis A virus genotype that is rare in the United States.

CDC completed its analysis within a week of receiving samples from the first 20 cases. This automated technology proved to be quicker, simpler and more sensitive than if the samples had been processed by previous methods. As the outbreak spread, other cases also were found to be infected by the same viral strain.

Advanced molecular detection helped CDC and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) link this specific strain of the virus with the outbreak investigation data to identify quickly a shipment of pomegranate seeds from Turkey as the source of the outbreak. With this information FDA was able to identify the company selling the seeds and take action to ensure shipments were stopped until checked. FDA worked with pomegranate seed distributors to make sure all recipients were notified.

A public announcement about the risk related to the product was made on May 31. Local public health departments and the retail chain that sold the product vaccinated more than 10,000 people as a precaution in case someone had been exposed.

Advanced molecular detection methods helped stop this outbreak in its tracks in record time, better protecting the health of the public.

Is it really that strong? There are reptile cafes in Japan and handwashing is strongly encouraged

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Most people lose their appetites when they hear that a snake or salamander is crawling around near them. Not Japan, though. While it seems taboo in most places around the world, the country is the home to more than one Reptile Cafe. One in particular is the Yokohama Subtropic Teahouse.

Yokohama Subtropic TeahouseFor those unfamiliar with a reptile cafe, because who is, the locations serve a variety of things ranging from alcohol to food. Customers can order drinks, non-alcoholic or otherwise, and interact with the reptiles, Kotaku reports. Though, they strongly mention that if you’re to pick up a reptile from its cage, you’ll also run the risk of salmonella. In other words, eat first or just order reptile food to feed the critters.

24 sick with E. coli in Edmonton; sprouts link suspected

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Thanks to the reporting of Coral Beach of The Packer, that E. coli outbreak in Edmonton, Alberta (that’s in Canada), is possibly linked to fresh bean sprouts from a local grower, according to a public health official.

Bean_sproutsThe Alberta Health Services issued a public warning Aug. 1 about E. coli, but did not name a grower and no recall has been issued.

As of Aug. 1, officials had confirmed 24 E. coli cases in the Edmonton area in the previous two weeks, according to multiple media reports. Calls to the Alberta Health Services were not immediately returned.

Dr. Christopher Sikora, lead medical officer for the Edmonton zone of the Alberta Health Services, is quoted by newspaper and radio reports as saying 21 of the sick people reported eating fresh bean sprouts before becoming ill. Five of the people had to be hospitalized.

“There is likely no ongoing risk to the public,” Sikora told the Edmonton Journal newspaper. “There is a single Edmonton-based producer for sprouts and we’re still investigating at this point in time. We may or may not find out the reason for the contamination.”