Yearly Archives: 2015

It’s there: Salmonella in irrigation water

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Here’s a video featuring farmer Jeff from 2003, before youtube existed.

And an abstract from a paper just published.

farmer.jeff.water.2003Same questions, not many solutions.

Irrigation water has been implicated as a likely source of produce contamination by Salmonella enterica. Therefore, the distribution of S. enterica was surveyed monthly in irrigation ponds (n=10) located within a prime agricultural region in Southern Georgia and Northern Florida.

All ponds and 28.2% of all samples (n=635) were positive for Salmonella with an overall geometric mean concentration (0.26 MPN/L) that was relatively low compared to prior reports for rivers in this region. Salmonella peaks were seasonal; levels correlated with increased temperature and rainfall (p<0.05). Numbers and occurrence were significantly higher in water (0.32 MPN/L and 37%) compared to sediment (0.22 MPN/L and 17%) but did not vary with depth. Representative isolates (n=185) from different ponds, sample types, and seasons were examined for resistance to 15 different antibiotics; most strains were resistant to streptomycin (98.9%), while 20% were multidrug resistant (MDR) for 2-6 antibiotics.

DiversiLab rep-PCR revealed genetic diversity and showed 43 genotypes among 191 isolates, as defined by >95% similarity. Genotypes did not partition by pond, season, or sample type. Genetic similarity to known serotypes indicated Hadar, Montevideo, and Newport as the most prevalent. All ponds achieved the current safety standards for generic Escherichia coli in agricultural water, and regression modeling showed E. coli levels were a significant predictor for the probability of Salmonella occurrence. However, persistent populations of Salmonella were widely distributed in irrigation ponds, and associated risks for produce contamination and subsequent human exposure are unknown, supporting continued surveillance of this pathogen in agricultural settings.

Distribution and Characterization of Salmonella enterica Isolates from Irrigation Ponds in the Southeastern U.S.A.

Applied and Environmnetal Microbiology

Zhiyao Luo, Ganyu Gu, Amber Ginn, Mihai C. Giurcanu, Paige Adams, George Vellidis, Ariena H. C. van Bruggen, Michelle D. Danyluk, and Anita C. Wright

http://aem.asm.org/content/early/2015/04/20/AEM.04086-14.abstract

How improved veterinary science led to discovery of Salmonella

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April 27 was Cornell University’s 150th anniversary. Its charter was signed in Albany in 1865. One of the school’s founders, Ezra Cornell, was a farmer and made veterinary science a priority. This is the story of the career of the first doctor of veterinary medicine to graduate from Cornell.

Salmon_DanielDaniel Salmon was 18 years old in 1868 when he traveled to Ithaca to go to college. Today the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell is a sprawling maze of labs, barns and hospitals. Back then it was much simpler.

“There was just one academic building in the very beginning,” says Donald Smith, former dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine. “Cascadilla Hall was there for students and faculty as a residence and there was very little else except a farm, a working farm.

Salmon’s doctorate from Cornell University was the first awarded in the U.S. The bacteria salmonella was named after him, though his assistant Theobald Smith actually discovered it. And Salmon helped found veterinary colleges in Washington, D.C., and Uruguay. He also developed the first federal meat inspection system in the U.S.

When Salmon’s career reached its peak 30 years after arriving at Cornell, it came right as the profession began to change, too. Smith says at first veterinarians were in the cities and made sure horses could get people where they needed to go.

“And the Civil War was a period when they lost probably a million horses and mules from trauma, but mostly from starvation and disease,” says Smith.

The theory that disease is caused by microscopic germs was developed in the 1870s. Then Louis Pasteur first tested his rabies vaccine in 1885. And as Salmon’s career developed, veterinarians began to move out of the cities to work with farmers, treating diseases.

Today, at a state lab run by Cornell, technicians work on samples from farm animals. They load slides with those samples to see what microbes are in there.

UK business owner fined £14,000 for filthy food factory

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An illegal food factory owner in Erith was fined £14,000 after admitting that his “ready to eat” food produced on site was not produced hygienically.

soy.erith‘SOY’ business owner Tony Chuoc Ha Lam pleaded guilty to 14 offences under food safety legislation at Bexley Magistrates’ Court last Monday (April 14).

Food safety officers from Bexley Council found the Hailey Road premises in a “filthy” condition with extensive mold growing, filthy equipment, leaking drains, no hand washing facilities, inadequate and dirty protective clothing, and an active rodent infestation when they first visited them.

The business was not registered with the council, despite this being a legal requirement, and had no systems in place to ensure foods produced on site were safe to eat.

Bexley Council claim the hygiene conditions at the food factory were so poor they presented an imminent risk to health.

Going public: Federal officials told of Listeria several days before Jeni’s recall

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Federal health officials were notified about Listeria contamination in a sample of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream more than a week before the company voluntarily recalled all of its products.

public.healthThe U.S. Food & Drug Administration learned about the contaminated ice cream on April 15, the same day a sample tested by the Nebraska Department of Agriculture came back as positive for Listeria monocytogenes Type 1.

Nebraska officials randomly tested several brands of ice cream on April 2nd that was bought at a Whole Foods in Lincoln.

On April 16th, the day after being notified by Nebraska officials about the tainted ice cream, federal health inspectors sent a second sample to an FDA lab in Denver for further testing and confirmation.

On April 21 that sample came back as positive for listeria, and two days later Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams announced a voluntary recall of all of its products and temporarily closed all of its scoop shops until officials said all of their products were 100% safe. They announced their decision despite no reports of anyone becoming ill from the recalled products.

The FDA notified Jeni’s corporate offices about the discovered listeria contamination, but the FDA and Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams have not provided the date of that notification.

The sampling by Nebraska officials was “non-routine.” Like Ohio, food safety inspectors in Nebraska do not normally sample ice cream.

“However, NDA staff had discussed increasing the number of ice cream and artisan cheese testing they conduct,” said Christin Kamm, NDA public information officer, “and this sampling was part of the outcome of that discussion.”

193 Bosnian preschool children suffer food poisoning

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Authorities in Bosnia’s capital have declared a food poisoning epidemic after nearly 200 preschool children became sick at public day care centers in Sarajevo.

Sarajevo SarajevoLocal health minister Emira Tanovic-Mikulec declared the epidemic on Monday.

Lab tests show that the food the children ate last week was infected with Salmonella enteridis.

About 2,900 kids eat food prepared in a central kitchen that supplies the 29 centers in Sarajevo.

The symptoms started last Wednesday when macaroni with cheese and eggs was on the menu.

Food safety should not be faith-based (but often is)

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As hundreds pray for the revival of Blue Bell ice cream in Texas, Cross Pointe, Ohio, Free Will Baptist Church Pastor Bill Pitts spoke of the mundane moments in life during his April 19 sermon.

prayer-image3Little did he know that life would soon become anything but mundane as a botulism outbreak was set to strike and kill one church member and sicken others after a potluck lunch.

“There’s always one defining moment in our lifetime,” Pitts said. “And that defining moment will determine the rest of our future and how we handle the rest of our future, if we’re going to trust God or we don’t during that time. So it seems like it was almost a preparation for what was going to happen 15 minutes later.”

The Ohio Department of Health said Monday that home-canned potatoes in a potato salad are the likely cause of the botulism outbreak that led to Kennetha “Kim” Shaw’s death. There are 20 other confirmed cases and 10 suspected cases.

Pitts said there are still church members who are in critical but stable condition, while others are improving and going home.

Pitts said he never imagined something like botulism breaking out in Lancaster or the church, and he said it was unprecedented.

 “We have to understand that, since things have happened, I personally believe, according to Scripture, that death came because of sin. So instead of me really questioning God, getting mad at God, I need to get mad at the sin that’s in the world and make the world better, rather than what sin has done to it.”

Death and illness came because of botulism, because someone didn’t know what they were doing, and had nothing to do with sin.

Believe fairytales if you like.

Canned potatoes used in potato salad likely culprit in botulism outbreak

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Home canning is not something to mess around with. Low acid foods need to be processed using a pressure canner to inactivate Clostridium botulinum spores – boiling water baths (like what is used for pickles and jams) won’t do it.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, home-canned potatoes used in potato salad are the likely vehicle that caused over 20 illnesses and a death last week in Ohio.

State health officials say this afternoon that potato salad made with home-canned potatoes is the likely source of a deadly botulism outbreak at a Lancaster church potluck.cannedpotatoes2009

Last week, the Ohio Department of Health said tests showed that six food samples taken from the April 19th potluck had tested positive for botulism.

Sietske de Fijter, chief of the Bureau of Infectious Diseases for the state, said health officials were able to narrow the likely food culprits by interviewing nearly everyone who became ill – as well as those who didn’t – at the potluck.

Case-control study is the next step to confirm.

Tea towel police? Britain’s kitchens so filthy they present health risk

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Home cooking may, according to The Independent, be as popular as ever following the success of celebrity chefs on television. But amateur cooks appear to be less keen on kitchen hygiene.

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photography-red-white-tea-towel-image11583462New research presented at the Institute of Food Science and Technology Conference in London from a questionnaire completed by 1,551 people found that not only are Britain’s kitchens so filthy that they present a health risk, but household chefs are woefully ignorant about food preparation hygiene.

Caveats: it’s a self-reported survey, which usually suck; and, the research needs to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.

However, since it’s out there, what Professor Tony Hines and Nicole Patterson-Lett of Leatherhead Food Research found that people commonly forget to wash their hands, use dirty tea towels and drip germ-laden meat juices in places they should never be.

“I’m sure we’ve all got friends where you go round for dinner and you look at their tea towel and think: ‘My God, that’s disgusting, why don’t you get a new one?’ We don’t have a tea towel police, but we’re raising the issue,” said Hines.

In other cases, many people are unaware of the danger that their lack of basic hygiene poses to their health. Handling raw meat is always a no-no, for example, because it helps to spread germs around – which can cause food poisoning.

Patterson-Lett added: “If you then wipe your hands over the tea towel, having touched the chicken, and then a bit later you’re doing the washing-up with the same tea towel, then again you’re spreading the bacteria to the plates further. It just spreads. You’re not aware of it, you can’t see it.”

Two-thirds of consumers remove raw meat from the packet by hand – you’re meant to plunge a fork or other utensil into it or else tip it onto a chopping board – while three-quarters hold the meat while cutting it into pieces, rather than holding it in place with cutlery. Half of consumers are unaware that washing meat is bad because it splashes germs around the kitchen.

Punjab Food Authority giving unsanitary restaurants an easy time of it

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A food safety officer requesting anonymity said the Punjab Food Authority in Pakistan had received a complaint that an assistant food safety officer had received Rs50,000 bribe from the restaurant owner so he could keep his restaurant open. At the time, the PFA director general had constituted a three-member committee to probe the complaint which was later shelved, he said.

The food safety officer said this wasn’t the only restaurant that had reopened before the stipulated period. The SOPs regarding duration of closure and required permission from the PFA DG are being flouted openly, he said.

In the first week of 2015, Food Safety Officer Nadeem fined a restaurant in GOR-I for unhygienic conditions anPunjab Food Authorityd lack of soaps in the workers’ washrooms. According to the SOP, the restaurant should have been sealed but it was fined Rs25,000 instead.

PFA spokesperson Fareeha Anwer said the SOP had been amended a little but it was being observed to the letter. She said a written permission from the DG used to be mandatory in order to de-seal restaurants, but now an operations deputy director can also issue permission for it.