Yearly Archives: 2015

1-in-5 food samples in India found adulterated and misbranded

Posted on by
Reply

The Siasat Daily reports that one-out—of-every-five samples of food items tested by public food safety labs in the country has been found “adulterated and misbranded” with maximums in Uttar Pradesh followed by Punjab and Madhya Pradesh.

Customers shop inside a food superstore in AhmedabadOver Rs 10.93 crore penalty has been imposed in 2,795 cases, while culprits have been convicted in 1,402 cases so far this year, according to the testing report of public laboratories released by the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).

As per the report compiled by the state governments, food safety labs received 83,265 samples, of which 74,010 were tested till November 24 of 2015.

Out of the tested samples, the labs found 14,599 samples were “adulterated and misbranded” the data showed.

As many as 2,676 criminal cases and 7,860 civil suits were registered, of which convictions were reported in 1,402 cases, the report added.

Unsafe food costs Ghana US$69 million annually

Posted on by
Reply

Ghana Web reports that food safety expert, Mr John Oppong-Otoo, has chastised the government for its failure to carry out sustained exposure assessments on food to ascertain the level of risk for all contaminants in food they consume.

ghana.food.safeThough exposure assessment has been done elsewhere in Ghana it is said to be limited, largely due to the unavailability of funds to carry out the research.

According to Mr Oppong-Otoo, who is also the CODEX Alimentarius Manager at the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), the risks associated with consuming unsafe food should prompt government to commission such a research.

“When we do the exposure assessments, we find out the levels that Ghanaians are exposed to. Then we compare it with a certain health-based value. If the exposure is higher then there is risk. An exposure assessment will form the basis of a risk management programme,” he said at a workshop on food safety for selected journalists in Accra.

The total number of outpatients reported cases of foodborne diseases in Ghana is about 420,000 per year, with an annual death rate estimated at 65,000 and total cost to the economy at US$69 million.

Hit fraudsters where it hurts: Cash flow

Posted on by
Reply

Companies guilty of the biggest violations on the rules regarding food safety, will soon have to pay massive fines in The Netherlands. From June 1, 2016, the worst food fraud offenders will have to pay 10 percent of their annual turnover, instead of the current maximum fine of 20 thousand euros.

food.fraud.finesThis amendment to the Animal Act, which oversees the production of food, was proposed by State Secretary Martijn van Dam of Economic Affairs, AD reports. The Council of State is currently considering the amendment.

According to State Secretary, the current maximum fine of 20 thousand euros is largely ignored by wrong doers. “It is simply factored in by the fraudulent food producers”, he said to the newspaper. “We saw in the horse meat scandal that this amount does not frighten them. We are going to change that. If they have to pay 10 percent of their annual turnover – no maximum – they will really feel it.”

The maximum fines in the Commodities Act, which deals with products already in stores, were already increased from 4,500 euros to 810,000 euros in April.

Produce sanitation: Gas is better than liquid, man

Posted on by
Reply

Produce safety has received much recent attention, with the emphasis being largely on discovery of how microbes invade produce.

comparison-of-aqueous-ozone-and-chlorine-as-sanitizers-in-food-processing110_900_691_aHowever, the sanitization operation deserves more attention than it has received. The ability of a sanitizer to reach the site of pathogens is a fundamental prerequisite for efficacy. This work addresses the transport processes of ozone (gaseous and liquid) sanitizer for decontamination of leafy greens.

The liquid sanitizer was ineffective against Escherichia coli K-12 in situations where air bubbles may be trapped within cavities. A model was developed for diffusion of sanitizer into the interior of produce.

The reaction rate of ozone with the surface of a lettuce leaf was determined experimentally and was used in a numerical simulation to evaluate ozone concentrations within the produce and to determine the time required to reach different locations. For aqueous ozone, the penetration depth was limited to several millimeters by ozone self-decomposition due to the significant time required for diffusion. In contrast, gaseous sanitizer was able to reach a depth of 100 mm in several minutes without depletion in the absence of reaction with surfaces. However, when the ozone gas reacted with the produce surface, gas concentration was significantly affected.

Simulation data were validated experimentally by measuring ozone concentrations at the bottom of a cylinder made of lettuce leaf. The microbiological test confirmed the relationship between ozone transport, its self-decomposition, reaction with surrounding materials, and the degree of inactivation of E. coli K-12.

Our study shows that decontamination of fresh produce, through direct contact with the sanitizer, is more feasible with gaseous than with aqueous sanitizers. Therefore, sanitization during a high-speed washing process is effective only for decontaminating the wash water.

Physics of fresh produce safety: Role of diffusion and tissue reaction in sanitization of leafy green vegetables with liquid and gaseous ozone-based sanitizers

Journal of Food Protection, Number 12, December 2015

Mykola V. Shynkaryk, Taras Pyatkovskyy, Hussein M. Mohamed, Ahmed E. Yousef, and Sudhir K. Sastry

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iafp/jfp/2015/00000078/00000012/art00001

From bad to worse: 30 sick linked to Boston Chipotle

Posted on by
Reply

Ten players from the Boston College men’s basketball team have possibly been stricken with E. coli, along with 20 other students, all possibly linked to the Cleveland Circle Chipotle Mexican Grill (turns out it was Norovirus).

chipotle.ad.2Chipotle said it had temporarily closed the restaurant.

Shares in the company fell another 6 per cent.

“We do not have any evidence to suggest that this incident is related to the previous E. coli incident,” Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold said in an email. “There are no confirmed cases of E. coli connected to Chipotle in Massachusetts.”

Boston College officials sent alerts on Monday to students, informing them of the suspected food poisoning.

The time between ingesting E. coli bacteria and feeling sick is usually three to four days, but may be as short as one day or as long as 10 days, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Symptoms often begin slowly with mild belly pain or non-bloody diarrhea that worsens over several days.

New research focuses on bot neurotoxin structure and protection

Posted on by
Reply

Earlier this year I ran into a barfblog reader who said, ‘You’re really scared of botulism, aren’t you?’

The question was was related to a few things I had posted about the 24 illnesses and a death linked to an Ohio church potluck dinner. Improperly home canned potatoes were implicated.

I dunno about scared, maybe just in awe. The toxin blocks motor nerve terminals at the myoneural junction, causing paralysis. It starts with the mouth, eyes, face and moves down through the body. It often results in paralysis of the chest muscles and diaphragm, making a ventilator necessary. Months of recovery follow an intoxication.

Maybe I am scared.Screen Shot 2015-12-07 at 9.55.42 PM

Today researchers from the Brookhaven National Laboratories published research in Nature Scientific Reports about how one of the neurotoxins produced by Clostridium botulinum is protected in certain environments – info that can provide insight into vaccination and post-exposure mitigation.

Molecular Assembly of Clostridium botulinum progenitor M complex of type E

Nature Scientific Reports | 5:17795 | DOI: 10.1038/srep17795

Subramaniam Eswaramoorthy, Jingchuan Sun, Huilin Li, Bal Ram Singh & Subramanyam Swaminathan

Clostridium botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) is released as a progenitor complex, in association with a non-toxic-non-hemagglutinin protein (NTNH) and other associated proteins. We have determined the crystal structure of M type Progenitor complex of botulinum neurotoxin E [PTC-E(M)], a heterodimer of BoNT and NTNH. The crystal structure reveals that the complex exists as a tight, interlocked heterodimer of BoNT and NTNH. The crystal structure explains the mechanism of molecular assembly of the complex and reveals several acidic clusters at the interface responsible for association at low acidic pH and disassociation at basic/neutral pH. The similarity of the general architecture between the PTC-E(M) and the previously determined PTC-A(M) strongly suggests that the progenitor M complexes of all botulinum serotypes may have similar molecular arrangement, although the neurotoxins apparently can take very different conformation when they are released from the M complex.

Food hubs are good; not automatically safer

Posted on by
1

I value local foods systems. I shop regularly at a couple of local farmers markets, choose North Carolina foods at retail and at restaurants when I can and spend most of my days supporting food business in our state.

But I also I value food that won’t make me sick.

Local food isn’t safe food. Local food isn’t unsafe food.

It’s more complex than that.berries-chickens

Things can go wrong regardless of location. Food safety can be managed here as well as it can be elsewhere. What matters is not where it is from, but who is managing risks.

A couple of years ago I went to a local farm 5 miles from house to buy strawberries I saw chickens roaming the rows being harvested (weed control according to the producer). I told him I thought it was a food safety risk. He guffawed. I left.

I like the idea of food hubs; as CSAs respond to increasing demand more will pop up. But food hubs aren’t inherently safer than other sources because of less transit time. The systems could be safer if they have folks who know how pathogens live and move creating and implementing food safety strategies.

According to SC Now, there’s a new one in Florence County, South Carolina that should be ready to go in April 2016.

You’ve probably heard about farm to table.

Jody Martin wants to broaden that concept in a big way.

The 52-year-old Florence County native has set up shop next to a 25,000-square-foot warehouse on Bluff Road that he hopes will be brimming with food and activity by April 2016

In a nutshell, farmers would send what they grow to Marion. Martin and his team would market, package and deliver that food wherever they can and a big chunk of the revenue stream would flow back to farmers.

“And we’d have a little bio of each farmer and farm on our website,” Martin explained. “We want people to have a connection and know who is growing their food.”

Julie Norman sees the Food Hub as the first piece of the puzzle. As Marion County’s economic development director, she views the hub as a “tremendous opportunity” that piggybacks upon the area’s agricultural heritage.

“To showcase not only food products that are developed and produced in the incubator but also fresh fruits and vegetables grown in the Pee Dee as well as other products grown in South Carolina,” she said.

One of the main thrusts of what Martin is preaching is being able to enjoy freshly harvested items. Produce from California, for instance, will arrive with “a lot of bumps and bruises,” as Martin calls it.

“That product is road weary. It’s not at its peak ripeness. There’s shrinkage,” he said, and it was probably harvested far too soon.

Not for Food Hub folks. They’ll get produce harvested at peak times just after it’s plucked from the vine, ground or plant. There’s also the food safety aspect – knowing exactly what the source of a product is and knowing it hasn’t been in transit for a while.

“We want folks to have the freshest food available – either the same day it’s harvested or the day after,” Martin said. “This is why I love what I do.”

Food producers/processors/handlers/sellers, regardless of size and location, are the primary partners in food safety. They make choices to keep pathogens out of kitchens, regardless of location.

200 stricken with Norovirus at Seattle office building

Posted on by
Reply

At least 150 people who responded to a survey put out to guests who attended a catered event at the Russell Investments Center Building in downtown Seattle last Tuesday, report feeling ill afterwards.

An additional 50 cases were reported directly to Public Health — Seattle & King County.

Health department investigators have sent surveys to 600 people who attended the event. As of Monday norovirus-2morning, only 200 have responded.

All food service operations in the building at 1301 2nd Avenue have been shut down during the investigation and cleaning process. 

Health officials believe a private cafeteria inside the building may have been where the virus started.

Norovirus is highly contagious and quickly causes sickness.  It’s believed that people who may have been sickened by food then spread the virus.

Going public: Lettuce, chicken and now berries, it’s time for NZ food authorities to be honest with the public

Posted on by
Reply

Pip Keane of New Zealand’s Sunday Star Times writes in this opinion piece that over the past year, we’ve had three major food safety scares in New Zealand: First it was Yersinia that made dozens of people very very ill. There was a lot of fuss about lettuces.  But was it lettuces or was it carrots? Or something else?  Why did MPI wait weeks to tell us about the initial outbreak and why haven’t they told us what caused it? If I’d contracted Yersinia I’d want to know. What precautions have been taken to ensure it doesn’t happen again?

communicationEven worse, in the past  few weeks the Sunday Star-Times has revealed a strain of antibiotic-resistant campylobacter spreading through our poultry flocks – but again, which poultry flocks? Three out of four of our chicken producers have tested positive. So why won’t MPI tell us which chickens to steer clear of? Why aren’t chickens being recalled until we know? As a mother and a consumer I have a right to know and a right to choose which products to spend my money on.

And now we have a hepatitis A berry scare. At least Mike Glover from Fruzio is front-footing it. That’s refreshing.  Our poultry companies could take a leaf from his book and do the same. I want to know what I’m eating. Nobody deserves to get sick through no fault of their own. We all have a right to know what’s in our food.

Since the Ministry of Primary Industries took charge of food safety, it’s become apparent they have an enormous conflict of interest. The ministry’s first priority is not protecting consumers – it’s protecting our food producers.

This endangers the very primary producers that MPI is trying to help. Sweeping problems under the carpet helps no one.

The government should wrest responsibility for food safety investigations away from MPI and return it to the health authorities, whose sole focus is public health.

Greater openness and accountability about bugs in our food will help strengthen the integrity of the New Zealand food brand in global markets – and keep us all safe.

‘Bath milk’ claims will not wash: Raw milk stripped from NWS shelves

Posted on by
Reply

In Dec. 2014, four children in the Australian state of Victoria developed hemolytic uremic syndrome linked to Shiga-toxin toxin producing E. coli in unpasteurized bath milk produced by Mountain View farm. One child died, and another developed cryptosporidiosis.

868179-068aae70-8035-11e4-9659-e3748623bf5f-300x168The Victorian government quickly banned the sale of so-called bath milk, which although labeled as not fit for human consumption, was a widely recognized way for Australian consumers to access raw milk.

Now, the neighboring state of New South Wales has stripped raw milk marketed as ‘cosmetic’ or ‘bath’ milk from the shelves of a number of Sydney health food shops following recent inspections.

As part of ongoing actions to address the sale of raw milk, the NSW Food Authority has enacted a range of proactive monitoring and compliance activities, which included the seizure of approximately 68 litres of unpasteurised dairy products in the Sydney area.

Minister for Primary Industries, Niall Blair, said retailers are on notice that claims the product is used for bathing will not wash.

“While there are no food businesses in NSW licensed by the NSW Food Authority to produce raw milk for cosmetic purposes, we know that some retailing businesses are sourcing this product from elsewhere to sell it,” Mr. Blair said.

“Raw milk is a high food safety risk – the sale of raw milk for human consumption is illegal in Australia and this kind of farcical deception won’t be tolerated. It was apparent to the NSW Food Authority that the sale of raw milk products at these premises was not for cosmetic reasons.

“The NSW Food Authority will continue to address retail businesses selling raw milk as bath milk and the NSW Government is committed to working with other states in an effort to find a national solution to the broader issue of the sale of raw milk.”

colbert.raw_.milk_3-300x212Results from samples taken from the recent product seizures showed elevated levels of E. coli. Unpasteurised milk contains harmful bacteria such as E. coli, Salmonella and Listeria that can result in illness or even death.

The NSW Government will continue removing raw milk from NSW shelves. Random checks of retailers will continue, in line with the Food Authority’s policy of escalated enforcement.

Another area of focus is the practice of ‘herd sharing’, where a person enters into contract and purchase shares in a herd or individual cow to receive raw milk produced by that herd.

Claims that this does not constitute the sale of food are false: the operation of a herd share arrangement can constitute food for sale under the Food Act 2003. Milk for sale in NSW needs to be licensed with the NSW Food Authority to ensure it is subject to the stringent safety requirements of the Dairy Food Safety Scheme.