Yearly Archives: 2015

Food safety should apply everywhere: Community food, fundraisers and markets in NZ

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I’ve listened to about all I can stand from the parents at the kid’s tuck shop and their food porn views of safety.

hank.hill.bbqI’ve said, I will help with any food safety issues, but otherwise I’m out.

It’s like coaching hockey: data is never going to convince any parent of their evangelical role, so I choose to avoid it and focus on the kids.

New Zealand has a new food act, that is apparently ruffling feathers among well-meaning parents.

So the ministry decided it had to say something.

What they didn’t say is that food safety is our first and foremost priority.

Pandering.

The Act provides a clear exemption to allow Kiwi traditions like sausage sizzles, home baking at school fairs, raffles and charity fundraisers to take place. 

People selling food once a year, for example, at an annual cultural festival, are also exempt from operating under a Food Control Plan or a National Programme.

There is another exemption that applies to clubs, organisations and societies that would mean for example, members of a cricket club selling food for a match tea, would not have to operate under a Food Control Plan or a National Programme.

The Act allows a person who trades in food solely for fundraisers or to support a charity or cultural or community events to do so up to 20 times in a calendar year without the need to be registered or undergo checks, but people will need to ensure  that the food is safe and suitable to eat.

Worm found in food, 7 suffer food poisoning in India

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Seven people from Kuniamuthur, in Coimbatire, were admitted in the government hospital, Coimbatore, with complaints of food poisoning on Sunday. All seven of them say they had gone together to a chaat outlet where a worm was found in a plate of mushroom fry. The food safety department raided the chaat outlet on Monday afternoon.

chaat.mushroomThe seven of them, claimed that they had been suffering from severe diarrhea and bouts of vomiting since Sunday evening

The food safety department, suspect the food poisoning to have been triggered due to the use of spoilt mushroom or cauliflower, raided the canteen and the store. The stall in the canteen was reportedly shut down on Monday.

No inquest for Bali food poisoning deaths

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Many in Australia want to vacation in Bali.

bali.deathsMe, not so much.

Here’s another reason:

An inquest won’t be held into the death of a mother and daughter duo who died from food poisoning while on holiday in Indonesia.

Queensland Coroner Terry Ryan on Tuesday published his findings into the deaths of Noelene Bischoff, 54, and her 14-year-old daughter Yvana, who died within a few hours of each other in Bali on January 4 last year.

Mr Ryan said there was nothing to be gained from holding an inquest and determined the cause of their death to be a “severe reaction to food, likely to have been fish, consumed while on holiday in Indonesia”.

That severe reaction was probably scombroid syndrome, which occurs after eating certain types of fish that produce high levels of histamine, he said.

Food Safety 101: What is Campylobacter (and What Are We Doing About It)? Via The Abstract

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I’m collaborating with Matt Shipman, public information officer at NC State University and curator of The Abstract, on a set of food safety-related posts from other NCSU folks as we roll toward WHO’s World Health Day on April 7– which is focused this year on food safety. Here’s a post on Listeria’s history with produce by Hannah Bolinger, a graduate student in NC State’s Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences (and former barfblog news team member).

Campylobacters are spiral-shaped bacteria that often colonize the intestines of animals grown for food (as well as other animals) — and they can cause acute diarrheal disease (called campylobacteriosis) in humans.

Hannah Bolinger. Photo courtesy of Hannah Bolinger.

These bacteria, especially the species C. jejuni and C. coli, are a leading bacterial cause of foodborne disease, resulting in an estimated 800,000 cases of illness annually in the United States alone. Campylobacteriosis is most commonly attributed to the consumption of undercooked poultry, unpasteurized milk, and untreated water. These products generally become vehicles for Campylobacter via fecal contamination. For instance, Campylobacter in the intestines of poultry can contaminate poultry carcasses during the evisceration process at the slaughterhouse, and milk can become contaminated by animal feces as a result of unsanitary procedures during milking.

Symptoms of campylobacteriosis generally last from two to 10 days and include severe abdominal cramping, diarrhea (sometimes bloody) and vomiting. Symptoms usually subside without medical treatment. But there can be severe autoimmune complications, such as reactive arthritis and Guillain-Barré syndrome (a form of paralysis) may follow as many as 1 in every 1,000 C. jejuni infections.

Immunocompromised patients or those in which the bacteria have entered the bloodstream can benefit from treatment with antibiotics including macrolides (e.g. erythromycin or azithromycin) or fluoroquinolones (e.g. ciprofloxacin). However, we are observing increased resistance in Campylobacter to a number of antibiotics.

The best ways to prevent campylobacteriosis are to: practice safe food handling techniques in the kitchen (especially in regard to preventing cross-contamination of ready-to-eat foods with raw poultry); thoroughly cook (to 165°F — use  a meat thermometer!) poultry and other meat products; and avoid unpasteurized dairy products and untreated water. [Editor’s note: the “raw milk” point is particularly timely, as unpasteurized milk was recently linked to an outbreak of campylbacteriosis in California.]

For more tips on safe food handling techniques, you can visit http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/basics/separate/

NC State is actively involved in research on this issue and has partnered with the food industry to better understand and control Campylobacter.   Food safety researcher Sophia Kathariou’s lab has partnered with poultry science researcher Donna Carver to conduct research on how growers can produce turkeys that are free of Campylobacter or only carry the bacterium in small amounts.

Between 60-80 percent of poultry flocks worldwide are positive for Campylobacter, so simply reducing this number could have a major effect on public health. Additionally, these NC State researchers are investigating antibiotic resistance trends in Campylobacter from commercial turkey flocks.

The research being done at NC State will add to our base of knowledge about the genes responsible for resistance, how prevalent resistance is in Campylobacter found in our food supply, and how to eliminate or reduce Campylobacter from poultry flocks. Such knowledge is critically needed for development of science-based strategies to enhance the safety of food and reduce the public health threat posed by antimicrobial resistance in foodborne pathogens such as Campylobacter.

Note: This year’s World Health Day focuses on food safety. Previous posts in this series address the health and economic importance of food safety and listeriosis.

Charlotte restaurant owner says cost of vaccinating food handlers against hepatitis A worth it

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Risk-based decision making is the mantra in food safety. Picking out an intervention is a starts with a numbers game: calculating the prevalence of an action (like handwashing) and matching that with the likelihood of a pathogen in the system. This is the stuff that gets the math nerds like Schaffner excited (me too).

Businesses are faced with cost/risk/benefit decisions daily.ART_vaccine_032711-copy_1

One that’s been debated in food service for over twenty years is whether or not employers or public health folks should require food handlers to be vaccinated for hepatitis A. Authors of a 2000 Journal of Food Protection arrived at the conclusion that the public health benefit of vaccinating for hep A doesn’t equal the costs – but doesn’t factor in all the bad publicity, hassle and incident management costs.

A Charlotte restaurant owner who dealt with a hep A exposure event says the cost to his business was more than the shots, and is suggesting that all food handlers should be vaccinated.

Charlotte restaurant owner is going on the offensive battling perception and health concern over Hepatitis A.

“The restaurant industry is thriving,” said Jon Dressler, owner of three Charlotte-area restaurants.

Last month, however, he received a call no one wants to get.

“We were contacted by the Mecklenburg Health Department that one of our employees had contacted Hep A while on vacation,” said Dressler. “It’s not a cleanliness issue, it’s not an internal issue. The health department didn’t have to shut us down.”

Rather than being upset, Dressler has another idea.

“It would be wonderful if all of Mecklenburg County restaurant workers were required to have the Hep vaccination,” said Dressler.

The National Restaurant Association reports there are 426,000 restaurant workers in North Carolina. The two-set vaccination is about $150 a person.  Meaning, it would cost close to $64 million to vaccinate all restaurant workers in the state.  No one from the state or Mecklenburg County health departments wanted to comment on camera about the need for the vaccine.  However, the CDC did put out a report.

“Slowly, but surely, all of my employees are being vaccinated,” said Dressler.

The restaurant owner isn’t taking chances, making all of his employees get the vaccine.  He admits it’s expensive, but it’s a cost he’s willing to take.

“You weigh the expense of the vaccination versus the expense of any lost business you might incur,” said Dressler.

Listeriosis and Produce: What’s the Connection? (via The Abstract)

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I’m collaborating with Matt Shipman, public information officer at NC State University and curator of The Abstract, on a set of food safety-related posts from other NCSU folks as we roll toward WHO’s World Health Day on April 7– which is focused this year on food safety. Here’s a post on Listeria’s history with produce by Danisha Garner, a graduate student in NC State’s Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences.

In the United States and other industrialized nations, consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables is considered a key component of a healthy diet.

There are many benefits to eating fresh produce such as receiving adequate vitamins and minerals, reducing the risk of heart disease, lowering blood pressure, and preventing some types of cancer. Even healthy foods, however, can be vehicles for foodborne pathogens. Indeed, fresh produce is now considered a major contributor to human foodborne disease, and an increasing number of produce-associated foodborne disease outbreaks have occurred in recent years.

An especially worrisome trend is the increase in outbreaks of listeriosis, involving the pathogen Listeria monocytogenes.

Danisha Garner. Photo courtesy of Danisha Garner.

What Is Listeriosis?

Although it is relatively uncommon, human listeriosis remains a major public health concern due to high hospitalization and death rates. In fact, it has the highest hospitalization rate of all foodborne pathogens in the U.S. and is the third largest contributor to deaths from foodborne illness. Symptoms of infection can be severe and include septicemia, meningitis, stillbirths and abortions. At high risk are the elderly, pregnant women and their fetuses, and patients with cancer and other immunocompromising conditions.

L. monocytogenes can be found in decaying plant material, soil and water, and has been detected on many types of fresh produce. Its reservoirs in nature remain poorly characterized but likely include soil and vegetation. Major contributors to the ability of L. monocytogenes to contaminate foods include its capacity to persistently colonize the environment and equipment of both food processing plants and produce packing sheds, and to grow even at refrigeration temperatures. Hence, foods typically implicated in human listeriosis are those that are processed, cold-stored and ready-to-eat – i.e. consumed without further treatment.

History of Listeriosis Outbreaks

The first outbreak of human listeriosis to be epidemiologically investigated (and to confirm foodborne transmission of the pathogen) involved produce (coleslaw) and took place in the Maritime Provinces of Canada in 1981. However, most subsequent outbreaks involved dairy products (especially soft cheeses) and ready-to-eat meats. Fresh produce was generally considered at low risk for listeriosis.

This situation changed dramatically in 2011, when one of the largest listeriosis outbreaks on record was traced to contaminated whole cantaloupe and resulted in a total of 147 cases of illness and 33 deaths across 28 states. This was also the first time that whole cantaloupe was found to serve as food vehicle for listeriosis. Contamination of the cantaloupes occurred in the packing facility, likely due to inadequate cleaning and sanitation of equipment. The pathogen was not recovered from the field where the melons were grown or from fruit prior to packing.

Even though additional melon-associated outbreaks of listeriosis have not been noted since the 2011 outbreak, several other produce-associated outbreaks have been documented in the U.S. since 2010. Implicated produce included diced celery (2010), sprouts (2014) and commercially produced, prepackaged caramel apples (2014). In all investigated cases, the source of contamination was the packing/processing environment or equipment. These outbreaks highlight the importance of having good sanitation practices in the packing/processing facility to prevent or reduce contamination with Listeria and other pathogens.

Research and Prevention

At NC State, several efforts are being focused on characterizing Listeria-produce associations with the ultimate goal of identifying new tools and strategies to reduce the risk of contamination.

In the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Science, researchers in the lab of Sophia Kathariou are collaborating with Lisa Gorski and William G. Miller at USDA-ARS to investigate genes of L. monocytogenes that mediate the pathogen’s adherence and growth on both fresh produce and on surfaces likely to be encountered in packing sheds and processing plants.

In collaboration with Christian Melander (in NC State’s Department of Chemistry) the Kathariou lab is also investigating the potential of novel compounds to prevent or disperse biofilms formed by L. monocytogenes on environmental surfaces and equipment. Such research will be critically needed for development of novel tools and strategies to ensure the safety of fresh produce and reduce the risk for human listeriosis.

More information about Listeria monocytogenes and listeriosis outbreaks can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/listeria/

Safety don’t have much to do with it: Food safety audits are just what retailers wanted

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I’m not Dr. Doug.

doug.coach.happy.feb.15Kids call me coach, others call me asshole, all fine by me.

Dr. Bob and Dr. Dan exist, and probably many others in the misguided belief they are enhancing the public understanding of science, when it’s just demeaning and arrogant.

Dr. Bob says during grower food safety events, “we often talk about why having a food safety program is important and how it is critical to have a program to protect your own business, protect your customers and, ultimately, public health. We talk about emerging science, the importance of foundational food safety programs such as sanitation practices and worker hygiene and how to identify and manage potential cross-contamination hazards on the farm and in the packinghouse.

“After going through this information and basically laying out the why, how, and what of food safety, often some brave soul in the audience will raise their hand and ask, So what score do I need to get in order to pass the audit? And that’s when the frustration sets in. How did passing an audit become a substitute for actually building a risk-based food safety program?”

Oh, Oh, Dr. Bob, I can answer that.

Because back in the late 1990s, as fresh fruit and vegetable outbreaks took on national prominence, retailers decided, we want third-party audits, rather than food safety programs promoted by grower groups.

I chaired a national committee in Canada about 2002 to look at the issue, came up with a solution that would be advantageous to growers and consumers, and was then overruled behind the scenes so the grower groups could keep their Canadian Food Inspection Agency funding (and the bureaucracy).

I walked away.

Thirteen years later and Dr. Bob is wondering how this happened?

Want to keep supermarket customers? Don’t sell moldy food

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As traditional grocery stores continue to lose market share and wonks advise adding bars and a fishmonger, the New South Wales Food Authority (that’s in Australia) has a better tip: don’t sell out-of-date and moldy food.

ColesNewLogo9pinSeveral Coles, Woolworths and IGA stores make up the 1293 listings on the government’s online penalty register, which publishes the names of businesses that have breached food safety laws.

In the past year inspectors fined IGA supermarkets almost $10,000 for breaches spanning from Western Sydney to the Murray region.

The chain’s Nabiac store, in the Great Lakes area, was caught out selling potato salad, herb bread, yoghurt and pickled fish up to two weeks past their use by date, while an IGA store in Blacktown had “expired food exhibiting mould.’’

Inspectors found old smoked salmon at an IGA Liquor store in Wangi, in Lake Macquarie, while two outlets in Minchinbury were found to be selling expired products, including dips.

A company spokesman said responsibility for breaches was on the individual store owner. “However repeated breaches of food safety regulations will see the owner’s business de-bannered as an IGA store,’’ he said.

Woolworths was fined for trying to sell expired milk at its Caltex service stations in Blacktown and Kellyville Ridge, while its Bowral supermarket in Bowral was found to be selling food that was well past its use-by-date.

Coles.perth.raw.goats milkInspectors fined Woolworths’ Camden store for failing to maintain a “required standard of cleanliness.’’

Coles stores in Winmalee and Katoomba — in the Blue Mountains — copped penalties for failing to display “potentially hazardous food’’ under the correct temperature, control while the chain’s Gladesville store was listed for failing to take all necessary steps to prevent the likelihood of food being contaminated.

Despite the breaches, a Coles spokesman said staff: “work actively with regulators to ensure correct food handling and hygiene procedures are held to strict standards.”

Especially that raw goat’s milk.

Campylobacter testing in NZ

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The New Zealand Ministry of Primary Industries said since performance targets for Campylobacter were introduced in 2008, setting contamination limits for poultry processors, the number of notified cases of people infected with campylobacter had halved.

chicken.campy.vaccineThere had also been a significant reduction in birds testing positive for the bacteria.

Two years ago, the Ministry introduced a campylobacter detection limit and it was now reviewing the effectiveness of that and seeking feed-back on options, which included tightening up limits.

Poultry Industry Association executive director Michael Brooks said it had worked with the Ministry for years on this and the review was part of ongoing efforts to lower the infection rate.

Salmonella in snakes

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For humans, Salmonella is always bad news. The bacterial pathogen causes paratyphoid fever, gastroenteritis and typhoid. But for snakes, the bacteria aren’t always bad news. Certain species of Salmonella are a natural part of the snake microbial collective. However, the occasional species can cause a disease. Reptile handlers would love to know when they have a potentially problematic pathogen lurking in the midst of their snakes.

UnknownTo better understand the variety of Salmonella species harbored by captive reptiles, Staten Island Zoo has teamed up with the microbiology department at Wagner College. Eden Stark, a graduate student on the project, her advisor, Christopher Corbo, and the zoo’s curator and head veterinarian Marc Valitutto want to know how many Salmonella species live among the Staten Island Zoo rattlesnakes. The zoo has a long history of exhibiting one of the most comprehensive rattlesnake collections in the world, currently with 21 of 38 species on display.

So far, Stark has surveyed 26 species of snakes. “Few other institutions have undertaken such broad scale analysis of Salmonella in snakes,” notes Valitutto. The research will be presented at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Annual Meeting during Experimental Biology 2015.

In particular, the investigators are on the lookout for pathogenic species of Salmonella, such as Salmonella arizonae. This species of Salmonella has been known to cause infections in snakes called osteomyelitis. It has a predilection for the bones, such as the vertebra. The bone may deform, and as the infection spreads, the deformed vertebrae may stop the snake from slithering.

The infection may be surgically removed or treated with antibiotics if it’s localized and caught early enough. But if left untreated, the infection may eventually cause the snake to die.

“If we do get a snake that is positive for arizonae, we’re concerned,” says Valitutto. “We would not want add something like that to our collection because there’s a possibility it will infect our other reptiles.”

Another reason to account for the different Salmonella species is for the safety for the zookeepers. Salmonella “is strictly a pathogen for humans. It’s something that anyone who handles reptiles, even people who keep them at home as pets, has to be very cautious about in handling them or anything that is part of their enclosure,” says Corbo.

To categorize the Salmonella species, Stark isolated the bacteria from snake fecal samples. The feces were collected by seasoned zookeepers at Staten Island Zoo who know how to handle venomous snakes.

snakes.on.a.planeAs expected, because snakes are natural hosts for Salmonella, Stark found a large number of Salmonella species in the fecal samples. She did find several species of Salmonella that are well-known as human pathogens, such as Salmonella typhimurium which can cause diarrhea, abdominal cramps, vomiting and nausea for about a week.

In the few cases where Stark possibly detected the snake pathogen S. arizoniae, the news was interesting to the zoo because the snakes weren’t showing any symptoms evidence of disease. “It’s important for keepers to know that a particular species of snake is carrying a potential pathogen so they can keep an eye on it,” says Corbo.

Corbo adds that the handlers will now know that the tools they use to handle the snakes harboring S. arizonae need to be cleaned with extra care so that they don’t accidentally infect other reptiles, especially snakes.

Stark is now delving further into the analysis with the polymerase chain reaction. She is testing each Salmonella species she isolates with the technique to see if the bacteria are expressing proteins known as virulence factors. This detail is important because not every potential pathogen will express virulence factors. The bacteria only become a problem if and when they turn on the expression of virulence factors and become infectious agents (for this reason, Salmonella arizonaie within snakes can even be further subdivided into more pathogenic serotypes).