Yearly Archives: 2015

Sounds a bit militaristic: Seek and destroy Listeria process controls in the ready-to-eat meat and poultry industry

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The majority of human listeriosis cases appear to be caused by consumption of ready-to-eat (RTE) foods contaminated at the time of consumption with high levels of Listeria monocytogenes.

listeria4Although strategies to prevent growth of L. monocytogenes in RTE products are critical for reducing the incidence of human listeriosis, control of postprocessing environmental contamination of RTE meat and poultry products is an essential component of a comprehensive L. monocytogenes intervention and control program.

Complete elimination of postprocessing L. monocytogenes contamination is challenging because this pathogen is common in various environments outside processing plants and can persist in food processing environments for years. Persistent L. monocytogenes strains in processing plants have been identified as the most common postprocessing contaminants of RTE foods and the cause of multiple listeriosis outbreaks.

Identification and elimination of L. monocytogenes strains persisting in processing plants is thus critical for (i) compliance with zero-tolerance regulations for L. monocytogenes in U.S. RTE meat and poultry products and (ii) reduction of the incidence of human listeriosis.

The seek-and-destroy process is a systematic approach to finding sites of persistent strains (niches) in food processing plants, with the goal of either eradicating or mitigating effects of these strains. This process has been used effectively to address persistent L. monocytogenes contamination in food processing plants, as supported by peer-reviewed evidence detailed here. Thus, a regulatory environment that encourages aggressive environmental Listeria testing is required to facilitate continued use of this science-based strategy for controlling L. monocytogenes in RTE foods.

Journal of Food Protection®, Number 2, February 2015, pp. 240-476, pp. 436-445(10)

Malley, Thomas J. V.; Butts, John; Wiedmann, Martin

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iafp/jfp/2015/00000078/00000002/art00028

Survival of Salmonella on basil plants and in pesto

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Yesterday at the school tuck shop, we made 280 sushi rolls (I cooked the chicken but felt naked without my misplaced thermometer, Chapman is mailing me more) 70 sausage rolls and 10 orders of pesto pasta.

basil.salmonellaThe pesto is part of the garden-to-kitchen initiative. I have my food safety concerns about such things but am trying to not alienate all the parent volunteers at once.

They got messages about handwashing and rice storage this week.

And I was also in charge of prepping the pesto pasta, so I made sure it was heated.

But, as reported by Eckner et. al, leafy greens, including fresh herbs, have repeatedly been involved in outbreaks of foodborne disease. Although much effort has been put into studying leafy greens and products such as head lettuce and baby leaves, less is known about fresh leafy herbs, such as basil.

The goal of this study was to investigate the survival of Salmonella on basil plants and in pesto. A mix of three Salmonella strains (Reading, Newport, and Typhimurium) was inoculated onto basil leaves and pesto and survived during the experimental period.

Whereas the mix of Salmonella survived in pesto stored at 4°C for 4 days, Salmonella was recovered from inoculated leaves for up to 18 days at 20 to 22°C. Although the steady decline of Salmonella on leaves and in pesto suggests a lack of growth, it appears that pesto is a hostile environment for Salmonella because the rate of decline in pesto was faster (0.29 log CFU/g/day) than on leaves (0.11 log CFU/g/day).

pesto.basil.cyclosporaThese findings suggest that the dilution of contaminated ingredients and the bactericidal effect of the pesto environment helped to further reduce the level of enteric organisms during storage, which may have applications for food safety.

Survival of Salmonella on basil plants and in pesto

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Journal of Food Protection®, Number 2, February 2015, pp. 240-476, pp. 402-406(5)

Eckner, Karl F.; Høgåsen, Helga R.; Begum, Mumtaz; økland, Marianne; Cudjoe, Kofitsyo S., Johannessen, Gro S.

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iafp/jfp/2015/00000078/00000002/art00022

UK guests stricken with vomiting bug at Weymouth hotel

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Guests at a pair of interconnecting Weymouth seafront hotels were forced to stay in their rooms following an outbreak of the winter vomiting bug norovirus.

norovirus-2A guest at one of the Russell and Prince Regent Hotels on the Esplanade, which are next door to each other and both owned by the holiday chain Daish’s, contracted norovirus and the bug then went on to affect several guests.

The affected guests were isolated to prevent further spread of the illness and were allowed to stay on at the hotels free of charge until they were healthy again, Daish’s said.

It said it informed the local environmental health department to combat the outbreak and the hotels did not have to be closed.

A guest began displaying symptoms on February 7. The last guest affected left the hotel yesterday morning with everyone affected having now returned to health.

The hotel received a deep clean and was disinfected in line with government guidelines to make sure the virus did not spread further.

Less talking, more doing: Horrible hygiene humbles Australian MKR duo Gina and Anna

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My Kitchen Rules is Australian food porn.

According to Rebekah Carter of the Australian Institute of Food Safety, social media was just one of the locations to receive an outpouring of disgusted comments recently after mother-daughter duo Anna and Gina demonstrated a number of food safety faux pas on “My Kitchen Rules.”

mkr.ann.ginaThe first couple to be eliminated, Anna and Gina from Canberra made a dramatic exit from the popular television show. However, the response that followed their departure was even more striking.

Fans of the reality TV cooking contest flocked to the radio and grabbed their keyboards to express comments suggesting that the show’s contestants were in desperate need of some “lessons in kitchen hygiene”.

Alongside rejecting gloves for her Band-Aid covered fingers, viewers reeled at the image of contestant Gina double-dipping her spoon in the soup. One fan called into the Kyle and Jackie O breakfast show with the phrase “would you like some saliva with that?”

Meanwhile, the official Facebook page for My Kitchen Rules was over-run with queasy comments. Kelly Cockshell wrote “I’m sorry, but you don’t put the spoon back in after you taste test that is gross!!”

Kayla Dean commented “All teams before they start need to go through a health and hygiene course.”

And Robyn Champion agreed, saying “OMG no wonder the ragout tastes bad… did you see all that double dipping going on! Send them home!!!”

23 sick: Salmonella death at aged care facility in Australia, nine others hospitalized

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In the timely public reporting that characterizes Australia, a person has died from Salmonella at an aged care facility in the Illawarra.

r0_260_4992_3068_w1200_h678_fmaxNSW Health says cases of Salmonella first appeared in aged care homes on January 21.

An investigation has uncovered 23 cases in 10 facilities across South Eastern Sydney, the Illawarra and ACT.

Nine cases resulted in hospitalization and one death occurred after hospitalization.

The Illawarra Retirement Trust says 20 of the cases occurred in it’s care centres.

The IRT also runs a food distribution network for retirement homes.

Director of the Communicable Diseases Branch of NSW Health, Vicky Sheppeard said, “Facilities are no longer serving foods considered as likely risks, for example food that is not reheated prior to serving.”

No mention of temperatures that would be considered safe.

Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District public health director Curtis Gregory said the elderly residents were mainly suffering from vomiting and diarrhea, but there were also problems from lack of hydration and some residents had high fevers.

Salmonellosis is one of the most common notifiable conditions in NSW, with more than 3000 people diagnosed each year and many going undiagnosed.

The bacteria is mainly spread to people when they eat undercooked food made from infected animals – including meat, poultry, eggs and their by-products – or salad items fertilised by manure.

“It’s a fairly uncommon type of salmonella called bovismorbificans and we think it is linked to salad products,” Mr Gregory said.

“Specifically we believe it may be due to the fertiliser or cow manure used to grow those salad products.”

How about possums? Raccoon meat for sale at L.A. supermarket, store under investigation

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An Asian supermarket in Temple City has come under fire for selling dead raccoons after a video circulated on social media showed bodies of the animals in the frozen meat section.

racoonChristina Dow posted the video she filmed Monday at Metro Supermarket in the 4800 block of Temple City Boulevard, showing the frozen raccoons in plastic bags along with packages of meat and fish. Dow pleaded with her Facebook followers to share the video.

According to Dow’s Facebook page, she found seven to eight “freshly slaughtered raccoons” inside the supermarket freezer. She noted the dead raccoons were fully intact and the fur bloody.

“Is this right or what?” she says on the video.

The raccoons were apparently sold for $9.99 per pound. One particular raccoon was sold for roughly $54.

An employee at the supermarket told the Los Angeles Times that health inspectors had hauled out their supply of dead raccoons on Tuesday.

The Los Angeles County Public Health Department would not confirm whether it removed the dead raccoons.

But it said the department was investigating.

According to the department, a raccoon would be considered a “game animal” under the California Health and Safety Code and could be sold.

But it could be sold only if it’s from an approved source and is not considered an endangered or threatened animal by the Department of Fish & Game.

The supermarket employee, who declined to give his name, said the owner of the supermarket is avoiding media calls.

Along with selling exotic meats, the 12,000-square-foot Chinese supermarket has its own farm, delivering vegetables and fruit daily, according to its website.

I hate tofu: Unsanitary San Francisco tofu company shut down because of pigeons, insects, other bad things

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Hate’s a strong word, and I reserve it for the things I truly dislike: tofu fits.

San Francisco’s Fong Kee Tofu makes a rainbow of soy products, ranging from soy drinks and soft tofu all the way to fried tofu balls and firm tofu. But according to the Department of Justice and Food and Drug Administration, there were some extra, rather unsanitary colors in Fong Kee’s said rainbow.

tofuGiven repeated FDA violations in 2014, 2013, 2011 and 2010 (2012 was a great year!), Fong Kee has agreed to shut down their Bayview factory operations indefinitely, or until the facility is deemed acceptable by the FDA, according to Food Quality News.

The full complaint is below, but here are some highlights:

“Defendants failed to take effective measures to exclude pests from the processing areas and protect the food on the premises from being contaminated by pests … There were also approximately 20 insects flying around the firm’s tofu processing area, approximately 25 insects flying outside the cooler door, and pigeons sitting outside on top of plastic-wrapped raw soybean pallets.” (18a)

“…condensation from the ceiling dripped onto the ready-to-eat bulk tofu and the stainless steel packing table, and there was apparent mold near this condensation.” (18d)

“Defendants’ bulk fried tofu balls, which are packaged in unlabeled plastic bags, fail to declare any ingredients” (19d)

Killer cantaloupe and the fraud of third party audits: Feel safe, now that lawsuits from Listeria outbreak that killed 33 are settled?

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The legal fallout from one of the most deadly outbreaks of foodborne illness in decades has settled, according to an attorney involved in the litigation.

jensen.cantaloupe.2The Washington Post reports lawsuits involving more than 20 defendants in the outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe that killed 33 people and sickened 147 in 2011 wrapped up last week with a settlement among some of the main participants, said William Marler, a Seattle attorney whose firm represented 50 of the victims.

Terms of the latest settlement — which included the Kroger grocery chain, a large broker and an auditor — are confidential, he said. Wal-Mart, which sold melons to some of the people who fell ill, had previously settled.

The Food and Drug Administration traced the outbreak to unsanitary conditions at a Colorado farm packing facility where the cantaloupes were washed, boxed and shipped out. The owners of Jensen Farms went bankrupt and pleaded guilty to six  misdemeanors in the case.

Attorney Jeff Whittington, representing third-party auditor Primus, confirmed to the Packer the litigation against the company was dismissed.

Will Steele, president of Frontera, Edinberg, Texas, said the company is “focused on strengthening the industry’s traceability efforts.”

“The matter is in the process of being resolved,” Steele said. “Settlement documents have been exchanged with the plaintiffs, and the parties anticipate that those documents will be signed by all the required parties. However, the settlement isn’t officially concluded until that occurs. We believe a final settlement of all claims will be reached soon.”

At least 147 people became sick and at least 33 died because of listeria infections after eating cantaloupe from Jensens Farms, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC estimates at least 10 other people who had the outbreak strains of listeria had eaten the Jensen cantaloupe, but health officials had not confirmed the link when filing out death certificates.

The victims, their families, Frontera Produce, the Kroger Co. and its subsidiaries, and cantaloupe growers Eric and Ryan Jensen all contended in various court cases that Primus Group Inc., doing business as PrimusLabs, should have been held partly responsible.

cantaloupe.salmonellaThey contended the Jensens would not have been able to sell their cantaloupe if their operation had not received high marks for food safety during an audit just before harvest began in 2011.

The settlement with Kroger and Frontera will also result in dismissal of cases those two companies and the Jensen brothers had filed against Primus and Bio Food Safety, which is the third-party auditing company hired by Primus to conduct the 2011 audit of the Jensens’ operation.

Bio Food Safety auditor James DiIorio gave the operation a “superior” rating of 96%. Primus contended in various court documents that it was not hired to do any microbial testing and that the Jensens’ cantaloupe would have been sold and eaten regardless of the audit score.

Why I avoid buffets: Failed Georgia restaurant score due to temps

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Laura Berrios of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes that during a recent routine health inspection at an Indian restaurant in Duluth, several cold food items on a buffet, and meats and gravy inside a cooler, were thrown away because of unsafe temperatures.

Moksha Kitchen, 3294 Peachtree Industrial Blvd., DuluthGoat, lamb and onion gravy were in the top section of a prep cooler and were not being maintained within the appropriate temperature range, according to the Gwinnett County health inspector.

Also, yogurt, pudding, cut melons and tamarind sauce on a self-serve buffet were all thrown away because the ice that was supposed to keep the items cold had melted. The temperatures were also too high, the inspector said.

Moksha Kitchen, 3294 Peachtree Industrial Blvd., Duluth, scored 64/U on the routine inspection. The fast-casual restaurant had previous scores of 80/B and 77/C.

Irealand? Really?Nearly two decades after ban, Irish beef is back in America

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Irish beef was served in New York City for the first time in 17 years on Monday night, after a ban in 1998 saw all European beef restricted from entry into America.

ireland.beef.us.feb.15At a swanky event in Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Ireland’s agriculture minister, Simon Coveney, presented a sample of his nation’s beef to a crowd of chefs and food writers, and presented the case for Irish beef filling the huge American demand for red meat.

“The average American eats twice the volume of beef per head to the average European. So you take your beef very seriously,” Coveney said.

“If we are to be serious players in this market, we need to prove to you that we take our beef seriously,” he continued. “And we do.”

Monday’s event was held at Daniel, French chef Daniel Boulud’s two-Michelin-starred restaurant, which prepared a series of dishes with Coveney’s beef as a demonstration of its flavour.

“It does taste a little bit different to US beef,” Coveney told the crowd. Irish cattle are grass-fed, the minister said, and happily for Ireland “the fastest growing segment in the beef market in the US is actually the green beef, or grass-fed”.

The Irish beef last served in the US would be old enough to drive by now, had it the necessary appendages and wherewithal. The US imposed a Europe-wide ban on all beef on 1 January 1998, at the height of the BSE, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (aka “mad cow disease”) crisis.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Economy Minister John Deng (鄧振中) said Wednesday that Taiwan may ease restrictions on imports of American beef amid reports that it will allow in six kinds of beef parts to make it easier to join the U.S.-led Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade bloc.

Deng, who is in Washington, D.C., for a visit, told a CNA reporter in Taipei by phone that the six types of beef under consideration — bone marrow, blood vessels, head meat, cheek meat, weasand and tallow — are not internal organs and therefore not banned by law.

But businessmen have not been willing to import these beef parts for fear of violating the law because the cuts have not been defined and classified clearly enough under the law, he said.

Deng stressed that the government will not open Taiwan to beef internal organs from the U.S. at the expense of public health or in contravention of laws passed by the Legislature.