Yearly Archives: 2015

Surprise inspections: Pakistan officials fine food outlets, seal hotel

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The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Administration in its ongoing drive against adulterated food items, conducted surprise inspection of food outlets in different markets and imposed fines amounting to Rs110,000 on owners for unhygienic conditions at their premises.

roasters.cafeAccording to details, Assistant Commissioner (Secretariat) Waqas Rashid conducted surprise inspection of food outlets in Sector F-7 and fined owners. The food outlets that were fined include Roasters Cafe (Rs30,000), Subway (Rs20,000), Gourmet Bakers (Rs20,000), RBS bakers (Rs25,000), Ghousia Restaurant (Rs5,000) and Sadiq Sweets (Rs10,000).

Rashid said cleanliness conditions at the outlets’ kitchens were found unsatisfactory and unhygienic while workers had not been vaccinated against viral diseases.

Meanwhile, Assistant Commissioner (Saddar) Rabi Aurangzeb, during surprise inspections of hotels and restaurants in Golra Sharif, sealed a hotel for unhygienic conditions and fined two food outlets for poor hygienic conditions. 

China arrests over 110 people for selling contaminated pork

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China has arrested more than 110 people, suspected of selling pork from pigs that died from disease, and confiscated more than 1,000 tonnes of contaminated pork in its latest crackdown on food safety violations.

pig.disease.chinaThe Ministry of Public Security said on Sunday the people were part of a network made up of 11 groups who, since 2008, had been buying pigs that had died of illnesses from livestock farms at low prices.

The meat was sold off to markets in 11 provinces, including Henan and Guangxi, or was processed into bacon or cooking oil for sale. The accused also bribed food supervisory authorities to obtain quarantine certificates, the ministry said.

Seventy-five of the suspects have been prosecuted. Several food quarantine staff have also been sent to prosecutors, said the ministry, which had been investigating the network since the end of 2013. 

False sense of security? Study finds NYC food vendors don’t change gloves enough

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The majority of New York City mobile food vendors don’t change their gloves after exchanging money and before serving the next customer, as required by law, found a new study.

California-Glove-LawResearchers from William Paterson University in New Jersey studied 10 food carts within 10 densely populated areas of Manhattan — 100 carts total. They found that 56.9% of 1,804 customer transactions they saw did not involve the vendor changing gloves in between handling money and the next person’s order.

The results were “eye-opening from a public health perspective” because of foodborne illness risk, said study author Corey Basch.

“Being observant to the glove-changing behaviors of the vendors as well as overall hygiene is prudent and can reveal a great deal in a short time,” she said.

The New York City Health Code 81.13 requires that food vendors change gloves “after handling raw foods, performing tasks that do not involve food preparation or processing, handling garbage, or any other work where the gloves may have become soiled or contaminated.”

Market food safety at retail: Consumer group says UK supermarkets ‘must act on food bug’

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Supermarkets should make a joint stand and show consumers they are serious about Campylobacter by taking a “more visible and co-ordinated industry wide approach” against the problem.

chickenWhich? has written to the UK’s seven major supermarkets to demand they take more action to tackle campylobacter, a bacteria which can be found in chickens and lead to serious illness.

The group has called on Asda, Co-op, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose to make publicly available plans for how they will tackle Campylobacter, along with clear timeframes for when this will happen.

In its letter to the supermarkets, sent today, Which? says that almost six weeks have passed since the Food Standards Agency (FSA) released data showing “scandalously high levels” of the bacteria in chicken, and that “consumers need reassurance that supermarkets are taking this seriously and doing all they can to address the problem”.

Some 30,000 people have signed a Which? campaign to make chicken safe, and the organization said 60% of consumers were concerned about high levels of campylobacter in supermarket chickens, with 75% saying they thought they were too high.

Half of consumers were unhappy about the amount of information about campylobacter levels in chicken.

“We have previously been in touch with your teams and are calling for every major supermarket to publish a plan of action by the end of January and to make this publicly available and published on your website, with a timeframe for taking action.”

The plan should include both immediate and planned interventions along the food chain, Which? said, such as incentivizing farmers to improve controls to the use of blast surface chilling, to reduce levels of campylobacter as quickly as is feasible.

Andrew Opie, director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, said food safety was retailers’ “top priority” and that initiatives such as leak-proof and oven ready packaging, safe handling information on labels, websites and in in-store magazines had been introduced to help people understand the risks and minimize contamination.

Set goals and publish the data.

‘Disgusting’ Quinn’s of Dublin fined for breaking food safety laws

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Landmark Dublin pub Quinn’s in Drumcondra has been fined €1,750 after health inspectors found a dead rat, raw sewage and soiled toilet paper in their main stockrooms.

Quinn’s in DrumcondraThe pub – one of the most popular spots for GAA fans because it of its proximity to Croke Park – is regularly packed on big match days. However, following a damning hygiene inspection the day after the 2014 All Ireland hurling final, it was ordered to close for 48 hours by Health Service Executive (HSE).

Its owners, Quinn Hospitality Ireland Operations 2 Ltd, with an address at Church View, Cavan, Co Cavan, pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court to breaking hygiene and foodstuff laws.

Senior environmental health inspector Chris Counihan told Judge John O’Neill that in his 17 years of professional experience he had not seen anything as bad.

Mr Counihan told prosecution solicitor Adrian Lennon that on September 8th last he went to the popular pub in Dublin 9. He said he found “evidence of rat infestation” in two cellars where drinks were stored.

In one cellar he found a dead rat on the floor and he said no effort had been made to clean it up. There were also rat droppings on the floor as well as fragments of dried sewage and pieces of soiled tissue on the walls and on a manhole cover. Mr Counihan said the dried fragments of toilet paper was a result of over-flowed sewage which contained human waste.

In the poorly lit, cellar there was evidence of “uncovered drainage” and pipes had no “pest protection”. Mr Counihan said, “raw sewage over-flowed from a manhole.”

The manhole had also allowed rats to enter, the court was told. The floor was in a state of disrepair with gaps that could have also let in pests.

The pub owners have also agreed to pay the HSE’s costs of €2,000 plus VAT.

69 dead in Mozambique after drinking deadly beer

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At least 69 people including a toddler in the north-west of Mozambique have died from apparent poisoning after consuming traditional beer known as “phombe”, local authorities said on Sunday.

phombeCarla Mosse, director of health for the province of Tete, told Radio Mocambique that 39 people remained hospitalized Sunday after suffering the same type of beer poisoning that caused the first deaths Saturday morning.

All the victims – who included a two-year-old child – participated in a funeral Friday during which they apparently drank the traditional beer made from millet bran, the Mozambique paper A Verdade reported. 

India: Adulterated sugar samples seized

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Tilkut and other sweet products are high in demand before Makar Sankranti. However, one must be careful while buying these products as they may be adulterated. This came to light during raids conducted by the food safety wing of the health department on a few shops at Kadamkuan.

tilkutThe team collected samples of sugar and jaggery from about 20 shops. Sugar was found mixed with fine plastic crystals that naked eye can’t see. However, if sugar with crystals is added to cold water, it will not dissolve and settle at the surface of the container. However, if this test is done with milk or tea, the result may not be conclusive as even adulterated sugar gets dissolved.

The jaggery was suspected to be mixed with non-edible colours. However, it can be confirmed only after we get test results from a laboratory, said food inspector Sudama Chaudhary. 

UK: Toilet waste from older trains risks workers health, union claims

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Rail workers’ health is being risked by sewage flushed from older coaches a union has said, with one-in-10 coaches in the UK still released toilet waste on to the tracks

THE-SHIT-TRAIN-300x168Ken Usher, from the Rail Maritime and Transport Union (RMT),

said train workers were at risk of contracting infections and illnesses such as hepatitis and E. coli from being in contact with sewage.

“Working trackside is a dirty job at the best of times – if you are sprayed with effluent it makes it even worse.

“If you can imagine a toilet being flushed at between 40 and 70 mph alongside you, you can get sprayed with just about any liquid and solids… not very nice at all,” he said.

Susan Lea, from Shotton in Flintshire, has a railway line at the bottom of her property, and has had toilet waste from a train blown into her garden.

“[It was] all over my washing, all over the garden, all over the fence, all over the chairs, all over the floor, it was everywhere.

“They wrote to me and told me that they’re allowed to drop this sewerage – it’s not fair on people older, like me, who have to clear it up if it does come in their garden.”

Seb Gordon, from RDG, told the BBC’s Inside Out West Midlands: “The rail safety board, the rail safety organization, has looked into [waste from trains] and has found that it’s a relatively low risk.”

I’m missing something here: NJ school closed due to staff with C. difficile?

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According to NBC 10, Perth Amboy’s William McGinnis Middle School is closed for cleaning and sanitizing as a staff member was found to have C. difficile.

Perth Amboy’s William McGinnis Middle School remains closed while it undergoes an extensive cleaning after an adult who works there was diagnosed with a germ that causes infectious diarrhea.LP_img_ClosedSchool

The school was closed as a precaution on Friday after the woman was sent home on Thursday. The district says she has an intestinal bacillus known as clostridium difficile.

The district did not release her name or say what her job is.

The district says it has hired a company to completely disinfect the school and classes are scheduled to resume on Thursday.

Closing a school for C. difficile is a new one to me.

Maybe they mean norovirus, I dunno.

In a 2009 review of C. difficile infections, Rupnik, Wilcox and Gerding suggest that the pathogen is out there (environmentally and in food) but risk factors for acquiring the pathogen include the use of antibiotics and hospital stays. Not going to a school where someone has the bug.

Hospitalization is a risk because it brings together multiple major [C. difficile infection]  CDI risks, including exposure to antibiotics, a spore-contaminated environment, inadequate hand hygiene by health care workers and a highly susceptible elderly population of patients

Possible community sources for CDI include soil, water, pets, animals used for food, meats and vegetables. There is no conclusive evidence that C. difficile contamination of food has led to clinical CDI in humans.

I wonder if they will be using hydrogen peroxide to disinfect (it’s not too common outside of healthcare).

Rare amino acid influences E. coli O157 infection

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Scientists have discovered how a rare amino-acid in humans influences the behavior of the E.coli bacterium.

e.coliO157H7Most of the thousands of strains of E. coli are harmless, with many being a normal part of the gut flora in healthy people, however some strains can cause illness in humans.

Among the most well-known is E. coli O157, typically acquired via contaminated food, which causes severe diarrhea and can lead to kidney damage.

The O157 strain only infects the gut so scientists at the University of Glasgow wanted to know what stopped it from spreading to other parts of the body.

The team led by Dr Andrew Roe, and PhD student James Connolly of the Institute of Infection, Immunity & Inflammation, analyzed the genome sequence of 1,500 strains of E. coli.

They wanted to see how the genes of the bug, which enable it to attach to and infect a host, responded to varying concentrations of D-Serine, an amino-acid produced in the brain where it plays a role in nerve signaling.

They found that E. coli O157 is unable to attach itself to host tissue in high concentrations of D-Serine. Other strains, such as those that cause meningitis, thrive in the presence of the amino-acid.

The discovery, published in the ISME Journal, opens up the possibility of altering the diet to increase levels of D-Serine to prevent E. coli O157 infection or perhaps treat it.

Dr Andrew Roe, senior lecturer, said: “This work provides new insights into the infection process with the aim of developing compounds that block such bugs from attaching to the host.

“With many strains of E. coli developing resistance to traditional antibiotics, such approaches are urgently needed.

“If we can disarm such bacteria rather than killing them it puts less pressure on the bacteria to evolve into something that is resistant to treatment.”

e.coli.magnifiedE. coli O157 doesn’t normally live in humans, instead residing in the gut of cattle. Eating contaminated food is the most common cause of infection but it can also be picked up in the environment, through contact with the bacteria in fields, for example.

The genetic variety between strains of E. coli is huge, with around 2,000 ‘core’ genes and 18,000 genes that vary between strains. Different strains are able to attach themselves to different tissues, causing a range of different infections.

The bacterium can cause a wide range of infections including those of the gut, bladder, bloodstream and brain. These can be very common, for example, over half of all women suffer from E. coli associated bladder infections at some point in their lives.

 

The host metabolite D-serine contributes to bacterial niche specificity through gene selection

ISME Journal [ahead of print]

James PR Connolly, Robert J Goldstone, Karl Burgess, Richard J Cogdell, Scott A Beatson, Waldemar Vollmer, David GE Smith, and Andrew J Roe

http://www.nature.com/ismej/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ismej2014242a.html

Abstract

Escherichia coli comprise a diverse array of both commensals and niche-specific pathotypes. The ability to cause disease results from both carriage of specific virulence factors and regulatory control of these via environmental stimuli. Moreover, host metabolites further refine the response of bacteria to their environment and can dramatically affect the outcome of the host–pathogen interaction. Here, we demonstrate that the host metabolite, D-serine, selectively affects gene expression in E. coli O157:H7. Transcriptomic profiling showed exposure to D-serine results in activation of the SOS response and suppresses expression of the Type 3 Secretion System (T3SS) used to attach to host cells. We also show that concurrent carriage of both the D-serine tolerance locus (dsdCXA) and the locus of enterocyte effacement pathogenicity island encoding a T3SS is extremely rare, a genotype that we attribute to an ‘evolutionary incompatibility’ between the two loci. This study demonstrates the importance of co-operation between both core and pathogenic genetic elements in defining niche specificity.