Yearly Archives: 2015

Shock over Checkers chicken blunder in South Africa

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Cell phones and their cameras are everywhere.

Be accountable.

checkers.chiken.sa.apr.15A Checkers store in Cape Town, South Africa,  has left a bitter taste in the mouth of a consumer after he saw raw marinated chicken on the floor in the deli.

This stomach-turning experience took place at the Checkers outlet in Bayside Mall in Table View.

The consumer, who wants to remain anonymous, was so appalled by what he saw that he snapped an image to capture the shocking discovery.

He says nothing indicated to him that an accident may have occurred because no sign was put up and there was no rush to pick up the chicken from the floor.

“I stood in the queue waiting to be assisted … there were three customers in front of me and two behind me.  For this whole time the chicken was just laying on the floor.

“Then a woman came from the back and packed the chicken in a white container. It seemed very normal. She was so relaxed.”

He said what looked like the manager watched on as the employee packed over the chicken to the container without even assuring customers that there is no need to worry.

Health24 checked in with the Shoprite Checkers group and handed over the image.

Sarita van Wyk, spokesperson for the retailer, said Checkers views the perception created by the photograph in a serious light.

“The supermarket group regards food safety and hygiene in its stores of utmost importance and therefore our stores adhere to stringently monitored food safety hygiene and product handling requirements to ensure that food products prepared on the premises remain fresh and safe to eat at all times.”

E. coli in parsley: 141 sickened at Flicks in Ireland, shuttered and fined £110,000

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More than 140 people fell ill after dining at Flicks Restaurant in Belfast during a three-month period in 2012.

flicks.belfastAn investigation by the Public Health Agency (PHA) found chopped parsley, used to garnish dishes, had not been adequately washed or refrigerated to kill bacteria.

The disclosure comes as the owners of the restaurant, which is now closed, were fined £110,000 after admitting a series of hygiene breaches.

The PHA report said: “Staff assumed the parsley, which originated in the eastern and western Mediterranean, was supplied to the restaurant as a ready to eat product but this was not the case.

“Washing of the parsley to remove contamination was therefore not identified as a critical control point.

“There was evidence of failure to comply with the legal requirement to keep the prepared parsley refrigerated and this could have facilitated the growth of micro-organisms.”

Not sure what washing would do.

There were 141 clinically confirmed cases of E.coli during the outbreak; 19 people were admitted to hospital and a further 159 presented symptoms.

parsleyThe PHA said poor practices within the restaurant contributed to the spread of the bacteria and that some meals may have been garnished by a food handler who had contracted E.coli.

Staff toilet facilities were found to be inadequate with no soap or drying facilities.

The restaurant closed voluntarily on October 11, 2012, following advice from the Belfast City Council’s environmental health staff.

In a statement, Belfast City Council said the case highlighted the dangerous consequences of hygiene failures.

Flicks owner Michael McAdam told the BBC he was “devastated” that people had become sick.

He said: “I am personally devastated that any business of mine could have caused people to become ill.

“I would just like to take this opportunity, once again, to say how deeply sorry I am to anyone who fell ill as a result of eating at Flicks restaurant.”

The restaurant is not expected to re-open.

Secondary transmission a factor: Crypto in school kids visiting farm in Norway

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Two related outbreaks (in 2009 and 2012) of cryptosporidiosis in Norwegian schoolchildren during a stay at a remote holiday farm provided us with a natural experiment to investigate possible secondary transmission of Cryptosporidium parvum IIa A19G1R1.

faith.farmingAfter the children had returned home, clinical data and stool samples were obtained from their household contacts. Samples were investigated for the presence of Cryptosporidium oocysts by immunofluorescence antibody test. We found both asymptomatic and symptomatic infections, which are likely to have been secondary transmission. Laboratory-confirmed transmission rate was 17% [4/23, 95% confidence interval (CI) 7·0–37·1] in the 2009 outbreak, and 0% (95% CI 0–16·8) in the 2012 outbreak. Using a clinical definition, the probable secondary transmission rate in the 2012 outbreak was 8% (7/83, 95% CI 4·1–16·4).

These findings highlight the importance of hygienic and public health measures during outbreaks or individual cases of cryptosporidiosis. We discuss our findings in light of previous studies reporting varying secondary transmission rates of Cryptosporidium spp.

 Symptomatic and asymptomatic secondary transmission of Cryptosporidium parvum following two related outbreaks in schoolchildren

Epidemiology and Infection / Volume 143 / Issue 08 / June 2015, pp 1702-1709

  • . H. JOHANSEN, K. HANEVIK, F. THRANA, A. CARLSON, T. STACHURSKA-HAGENa5, D. SKAARE and L. J. ROBERTSON

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9677614&utm_source=Issue_Alert&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=HYG

I joined a board: STOP Foodborne Illness

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The burden of foodborne Illness is too high.

I’m passionate about food safety because real people – folks who are just like my family, my neighbors or the guys on my hockey team – get sick every day.

Earlier this year I visited with STOP Foodborne Illness’ staff and board members and met a group of equally passionate individuals, many of whom have been directly touched by the effects of pathogens. The organization advocates for increased food safety – whether that be through industry interventions, communication activities or policy initiatives.I was recently appointed to STOP Foodborne Illness’ board (press release below).facesbanner4

I hope that the stuff I’m part of, created, whatever, leads to less sick people.

That’s it.

The classic movie “Outbreak” sparked a lifelong interest in pathogens and public health for Dr. Ben Chapman, who was just appointed as the newest board member of STOP Foodborne Illness (www.stopfoodborneillness.org), the leading national advocate for safe food. Today, as an associate professor and food safety extension specialist at North Carolina State University, Chapman focuses on helping organizations and corporations design, implement, and evaluate food safety strategies.

“Dr. Chapman is extremely well known in the food safety community for his research and advocacy for food safety, and we’re thrilled to have him on our board,” said Deirdre Schlunegger, chief executive officer of STOP Foodborne Illness. “His down-to-earth approach backed by solid science and research will help us continue to raise awareness of the danger that foodborne pathogens present to millions of people very year.”

Chapman will work with STOP Foodborne Illness to publicize his findings and successes to lessen the incidence of foodborne illness, which affects more than 48 million people per year, and hospitalizes approximately 128,000, according to the CDC. As part of his work, Chapman investigates behaviors and creates interventions aimed at amateur and professional food handlers, managers, and organizational decision-makers. He also hosts a biweekly podcast called Food Safety Talk, as well as contributes to the popular “barfblog,” (barfblog.com) which offers food safety news and science-backed opinions.

For more information on STOP Foodborne Illness, please visit www.stopfoodborneillness.org. If you think you have been sickened from food, please contact STOP Foodborne Illness’ helpline (1-800-350-STOP) which helps foodborne illness victims navigate the health system to figure out what they have, where it might have come from, and what to do next.

About STOP Foodborne Illness

STOP Foodborne Illness (STOP) is a national, nonprofit, public health organization dedicated to preventing illness and death from foodborne pathogens. STOP achieves its mission by advocating for sound public policies, building public awareness and assisting those impacted by foodborne illness.www.stopfoodborneillness.org.

# # #

Media Contact: Beth Strautz, bstrautz@vagusagency.com, 773-895-5387

Fancy food ain’t safe food, LA edition

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When the health inspector showed up at Wolfgang’s Steakhouse in Beverly Hills last fall, he found a cockroach in the hall and poor sanitation in the kitchen. He found enough critical violations, he threatened to suspend their permit and said he’d be back in two weeks to make sure they had cleaned up.

larry.david.rest.inspecBut seven months later, the inspector still has never been back to Wolfgang’s.

The county’s 10 million residents depend on the health department to inspect restaurants often, to make sure they’re clean and safe. But an NBC4 I-Team investigation has found LA County is failing to inspect many restaurants frequently, and food poisoning and filth at some eateries may be the result.

“We could be doing a better job in many areas,” says Angelo Bellomo, the head of the county’s restaurant inspection program, and director of LA County Environmental Health.

Restaurants like Nobu in Malibu, which serves sushi to celebrities like Halle Berry and Mel Gibson, are required to be inspected three times a year, according to LA County Health Department policy.

“I’d like to see three inspections a year in high-risk restaurants,” said LA County’s Bellomo.

Most restaurants are considered “high risk” because they handle raw meat, poultry, and fish.

But when I-Team examined the last two years of all restaurant inspections, it found thousands of high-risk restaurants aren’t getting anywhere near the required three inspections a year.

When 13 people who ate at Nobu contracted potentially deadly Norovirus in November 2014, the restaurant hadn’t had an inspection in over a year — October 2013. Nobu declined to comment to NBC4.

“You’re playing Russian roulette when you go out to dinner,” said Dr. Pete Snyder, a nationally known food safety expert who has trained health inspectors. “If you’re only inspecting once or twice a year, then the restaurants don’t fear you anymore.”

Diners are also finding that an “A” grade in the window doesn’t mean a restaurant has been inspected lately, or that it’s necessarily safe. Wolfgang’s, Coast Cafe at Shutter’s, Nobu, and Lunasia all had “A”s when people got sick there or when inspectors found critical violations.

“Wolfgang’s Steakhouse in Beverly Hills maintains the highest standards,” general manager Michael Connly told the I-Team in a statement.

“Shutter’s on the Beach operates under stringent health and safety standards in food preparation and cleanliness in the industry,” said Shutter’s GM Gregory Day, in an emailed statement to NBC4.

As for their cooks who we caught on camera eating on the job, a major violation, he added “any misconduct that may have taken place will be properly addressed.”

After getting sick at Lunasia, Holstein’s family said they have little faith in LA County’s inspection system or its letter grades.

2 dead, 3 sickened from Listeria in Denmark

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Five people were infected with listeria within a one-week span earlier this month, the Danish State Serum Institute (SSI) said on Tuesday. Two of them died within 30 days of the bacteria’s discovery.

 rullepølserThe institute said that two of the new cases resemble the same type of listeria that was present in batches of the popular deli meat rullepølse produced by the company Jørn A. Rullepølser last year. That outbreak began in August and infected a total of 41 individuals, 17 of whom died. 

Two of the other new cases resemble previous minor outbreaks while the fifth is infected with a type of listeria that has not yet been seen.

“It’s unusual to have five cases in one week. Normally we see one case of listeria per week. But it is also unusual that we were able to so quickly determine the type of listeria. That is a sign that our monitoring of listeria has gotten better,” SSI spokesman Kåre Mølbak said. 

The Jørn A. Rullepølser listeria outbreak led to a total of 30 products – including variations of rullepølse, salami and hot dogs – being recalled from stores nationwide. The company was shut down as a result. 

The source of the new cases was not immediately known, Mølbak said.

3 first-graders sick: Washington health investigating E. coli cases in children at farm event in Lynden

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Sorenne is in grade 1. Her school fete is this Sunday.

They plan to have a petting zoo, and I’ve said, this is a bad idea and let the principal know.

courtlynn.petting.zooWe’ll be at hockey.

At least three Whatcom County first-graders in Washington state, and possibly a fourth, have been sickened by shiga-toxin producing E. coli after attending the Milk Makers Fest in Lynden last week.

About 1,325 first-graders and their chaperones went to the event April 21-23 at the fairgrounds in Lynden. It was put on by the Whatcom County Dairy Women.

The event introduced young students to farming. It also gave the students a chance to pet farm animals, including small horses, sheep, rabbits, chickens and a calf, the dairy women wrote on their Facebook page.

Pasteurized chocolate milk was given to the children but isn’t considered a source of contamination because pasteurization destroys E. coli, according to the Facebook post.

“Nothing’s been ruled out,” said Greg Stern, Whatcom County health officer, on Tuesday, April 28.

 A table of petting zoo outbreaks is available at https://barfblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Petting-Zoo-Outbreaks-Table-4-8-14.xlsx.

Best practices for planning events encouraging human-animal interactions

Zoonoses and Public Health

G. Erdozain, K. KuKanich , B. Chapman  and D. Powell

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/zph.12117/abstract?deniedAccess

Educational events encouraging human–animal interaction include the risk of zoonotic disease transmission. It is estimated that 14% of all disease in the US caused by Campylobacter spp., Cryptosporidium spp., Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157, non-O157 STECs, Listeria monocytogenes, nontyphoidal Salmonella enterica and Yersinia enterocolitica were attributable to animal contact. This article reviews best practices for organizing events where human–animal interactions are encouraged, with the objective of lowering the risk of zoonotic disease transmission.petting1-791x1024petting2-791x1024

 

Feces, mold and salmonella found by CFIA before 2014 Country Ribbon licence suspension

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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency identified serious concerns about sanitation and the safety of chicken produced by a Newfoundland processing operation before temporarily suspending the company’s licence last fall.

country.ribbon.chickenCBC News used access to information to obtain documents that shed light on problems found by federal inspectors at the Country Ribbon facility in St. John’s.

The 600 pages of records show that, before the suspension, inspectors with the CFIA — the federal agency that regulates food safety — found feces on chicken parts, and mold and dried blood on equipment.

Country Ribbon operates a large-scale processing operation near Quidi Vidi Lake in St. John’s. The facility employs more than 300 people and processes more than 10 million chickens annually.

The operation ground to a halt over the October Thanksgiving weekend in 2014. 

At the time, top Country Ribbon officials said the company’s licence was suspended because it wasn’t making improvements required by CFIA quickly enough.

As trouble mounted, a CFIA inspector stopped the plant’s slaughter operations.

Country Ribbon began processing chickens again after the company promised to fix the problems. But in the days and weeks that followed, inspectors continued to find other issues, such as mold on fixtures and equipment, and unacceptably high levels of salmonella.

One day, a random inspection found fecal contamination on a chicken thigh.

“The inspector had all parts condemned from the contaminated pan,” the inspection report noted.

Weeks later another inspection said fecal matter was found on a chicken wing.

Good reg, lousy enforcement: Why USDA inspection means little

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Consumer Federation of America (CFA) today released an in-depth analysis of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) primary meat and poultry food safety regulatory program. The report found that while the program has resulted in benefits to public health, further progress has been hindered by gaps in the program and by a legal challenge which has constrained robust action.

restaurant.inspectionThe program, known as the Pathogen Reduction/Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (PR/HACCP) regulation, was implemented following the 1993 outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 illnesses and deaths linked to undercooked hamburgers sold at Jack in the Box restaurants in the northwestern United States. The PR/HACCP regulation, which went into effect in 1998, requires meat and poultry plants to develop food safety systems in which plants take steps to identify and prevent contamination of meat and poultry products.

CFA’s report, titled “The Promise and Problems of HACCP: A Review of USDA’s Approach to Meat and Poultry Safety” traces the history of USDA’s implementation of the PR/HACCP regulation and identifies gaps which have hindered the ability of the regulation to fully protect consumers.

Specifically, the report cites two examples of ongoing problems which have not been adequately addressed in the 17 years since the regulation first took effect:

Too often plants have failed to develop effective food safety plans while USDA has failed to adequately identify problems with those plans.

Plants are repeatedly cited for reoccurring food safety violations with little consequence.

These gaps have continued to occur and have often been identified in the wake of large, nationwide foodborne illness outbreaks, yet the problems have not been adequately addressed.  CFA recommends that USDA develop better approaches to reviewing plant food safety plans, including requiring that plants be required to prevent specific pathogens; and that USDA establish clear procedures to address reoccurring violations and when to take increased enforcement action.

The report also identifies how a court case brought against USDA by meat processor Supreme Beef in 1999 has hindered how USDA enforces its food safety regulations. In particular, the court case (Supreme Beef v USDA) limited the ability of USDA to enforce its regulations, effectively barring the government from shutting down a plant which fails to meet safety standards for Salmonella. Consumer groups have argued since that Congress should provide USDA with explicit authority to set and enforce food safety performance standards.

“USDA needs to provide better assurance that plants are reducing contamination of meat and poultry products and that the agency is effectively enforcing its regulations,” said Chris Waldrop, Director of the Food Policy Institute at Consumer Federation of America. “Enforceable standards would allow the agency to take decisive action when a problem is first identified rather than after an outbreak has already occurred.”

Summary

In a new report, the Consumer Federation of America traces the history of USDA’s approach to meat and poultry safety regulations. The analysis of this food safety program, known as Pathogen Reduction/Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (PR/HACCP), identifies gaps which have hindered the ability of the regulation to fully protect consumers. 

Findings

The analysis cites two examples of ongoing problems which have not been adequately addressed in the 17 years since the regulation first took effect:

Too often plants have failed to develop effective food safety plans while USDA has failed to adequately identify problems with those plans. 

Plants are repeatedly cited for reoccurring food safety violations with little consequence.

Conclusion and recommendations for FSIS

Develop a better way to evaluate plants’ HACCP plans.

Require plants to identify pathogens most commonly associated with particular meat and poultry products as hazards likely to occur and address them in their HACCP plans

Establish clear procedures and repercussions for reoccurring violations

Frequently and routinely update performance standards that are based on improving public health outcomes

Seek authority from Congress to set and enforce performance standards for pathogen reduction

Improve FSIS sampling programs to target riskiest facilities and products

‘Assume food is not safe’ Lesson from Blue Bell Listeria recall

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I always say, never assume food is safe.

dp-goalie.maskAnd that’s why other parents hate me.

Mansour Samadpour, president and CEO of IEH Laboratories and Consulting Group, said the same thing to The Guardian when talking about the Blue Bell Listeria outbreak.

“Many of these outbreaks are detected by chance events. … By the time people are sick, it’s too late.” Companies should be diligent in their sampling and testing. “If you are producing food, let’s not assume that the food is safe until proven otherwise. Let’s just assume that the food is not safe until proven otherwise.”

That is what Blue Bell said it will do going forward. Prior to the news of the outbreak, Blue Bell regularly tested its product. Now, it will test every single batch before it ships.

Go further: Make the results public and throw them on a website. And market food safety at retail.