As reported on November 6, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control search of the PulseNet database identified one person in Minnesota infected with STEC O26 that has the same DNA fingerprint. This ill person did not eat at a Chipotle Mexican Grill in the week before illness onset. Minnesota’s investigation is ongoing. The illness does not appear to be linked to Chipotle Mexican Grill locations in Washington and Oregon.
CDC and state and local public health partners are continuing laboratory surveillance through PulseNet to identify additional ill persons and to interview them. Updates will be provided when more information is available. Investigators are using whole genome sequencing, an advanced laboratory technique, to get more information about the DNA fingerprint of the germ causing illnesses in Washington, Oregon, and Minnesota.
As reported by The Traveler, for many University of Arkansas students, Chipotle Mexican Grill is life. When students get hungry, they can take a short walk down Dickson Street to get a burrito that pushes the boundaries of how much food can fit in a tortilla wrap.
“We have always strived to have the highest standards in the restaurant industry as far as safety goes for our customers and our crew, and we are just going to have continue doing what we do,” said Chris Garrett, store manager at the Dickson Street location. “I cannot predict the future, but all I can say is we have different distributors than the stores in Washington and Oregon did.”
Garrett also stressed the fact that many of the items used at the Dickson Street are locally grown products.
“The majority of our rice, bell peppers, onions, lettuce comes from local resources,” Garrett said.
“Of course avocados – those come from Mexico. There are not a lot of avocado farms around here,” Garrett said.
The legalize raw milk debate comes down to access, informed choice, risk perception, black markets and oversight. Folks who want to drink raw milk find a way to get it. Maybe they know about the risks, maybe not.
A law maker in Wisconsin is, according to Channel 3000, looking to legalize direct farm sales of raw milk in the state (again).
Rep. Dave Murphy of Greenville introduced a bill Wednesday that would allow dairy farmers to sell raw milk and raw milk products such as butter and cheese directly to consumers on the farm where they’re produced. The farmers wouldn’t need state milk producer licenses or permits. State milk quality rules wouldn’t apply to raw milk products sold on the farms.
Murphy wrote in a memo to his fellow lawmakers seeking co-sponsors that more people want their food directly from farms and consumers would be aware the milk hasn’t been processed.
Being aware the the milk hasn’t been processed isn’t the same as raw milk drinkers making choices based on their personal risk decisions. This list helps me make my raw milk risk decisions.
Here’s a video from some creative food science students discussing the risks and perceived benefits of raw milk consumption (via Don’t Eat the Pseudoscience)
I like tamales so I’m curious about what made the ones confiscated at LAX today so special that they were smuggled into the U.S.. And what food safety parameters they were being transported under.
According to USA Today, a traveler from Mexico was detained after authorities found 450 pork tamales in a suitcase.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Wednesday that the traveler’s customs form acknowledged the person was carrying food, but the traveler lied when asked if there was any meat.
A search turned up the individually wrapped pork tamales. The CBP enforces federal regulations on importing meat, which carry disease risks.
The traveler was assessed a $1,000 civil penalty for commercial activity with the intent to distribute.
My parents come from Ontario (that’s in Canada) every year to visit for Thanksgiving (or American Thanksgiving as it’s known to them). My mom likes to participate in the Black Friday shopping craziness; my dad likes to watch football. It’s just fun to have them around.
A couple of years ago my friend Matt Shipman and I put together some Thanksgiving meal videos – sorta our goofy take on food safety for the holidays. The content (unlike my hairline) is timeless.
And here are some food safety infosheets for the holidays.
No one’s Facebook, Twitter or Instagram account is an even remotely accurate representation of their lives, because the overall point of social media is to craft likability; you post things you’ve determined other people might want to see. (Whether or not you are old enough to instinctively understand this surely influenced your level of surprise around this recent, viral “story” about a teenage Instagram model telling it like it is.)
There’s a veritable traffic jam of interesting case studies at this intersection of intimacy and bullsh*t. But today I’d like to pay homage to one in particular: The undercelebrated world of government social media accounts.
No, I’m not talking about President Obama getting a personal Facebook account. Of course Obama got Facebook. No one cares. I’m talking here about what the conversation must have sounded like in the office the day the USDA Food Safety program decided it needed a social media presence through which to share tips for proper poultry preparation.
A brief spin through this Twitter feed shows you the USDA Food Safety Social Media Person making very earnest work of what Social Media People are supposed to do: He or she jumps on trending topics, name-checks celebrities and the pop culture events du jour, and gets in line with holiday-themed and otherwise seasonally appropriate content.
Underlying the patently insane tone of most of these tweets is this blanket assumption that every business, every organization that wants to be successful absolutely must have social media accounts. That’s where the kids are, after all — might as well meet ’em where they live and teach ’em a thing or two about proper meat temperatures while you’re at it!
The question of whether anyone has actually been saved from foodborne illness via tweet is, on the other hand, surely up for debate. Is a guy who doesn’t know to wash his hands after handling raw chicken really a guy who’s following USDA Food Safety on Twitter? Is an irony-appreciating millennial who might not otherwise be open to messaging about listeria going to sit up and pay attention because of the hashtag #Sharknado3?
The official Instagram account of the TSA, meanwhile, takes a more detached stance. This account delivers to its 374,000 loyal followers a mostly objective window into the assorted grab-bag of concealed knives, guns and narcotics the governmental body confiscates daily from travelers at airports all over the country.
Also, portraits of cute drug-sniffing TSA dogs.
Sometimes the photos are accompanied by tips and information about which items, exactly, are kosher to carry onto an aircraft (hint: no knives, guns, or narcotics), but mostly this account seems to operate from a place of gleeful voyeurism: Someone thought they were gonna get that onto a plane?
Connecting with customers is a key aim of social media, and these posts do that, to be sure — but the wrench in these interactions is that federal agencies don’t have customers. We’re not choosing the USDA Food Safety regulations over some other available option; we don’t compare prices and decide to get searched by the TSA, specifically, when we fly. So why do they care if we like them?
Okay, so likability might be the wrong noun here — we could say their primary motive is to simply humanize an otherwise sterile, standardized and thoroughly regimented chunk of government, and to show that they are in fact performing a useful function; in the case of the TSA, especially, you’re talking about an organization with whom most of the American populace positively dreads interaction. Yes, they’re helping to keep us safe. They’re also basically the dentists of the government world — ones that can get you thrown in jail. (Related: The U.S. Border Patrol’s Twitter feed is similar, but methier.)
So: Is it working? Unlike brand loyalty, which can be measured by what products we actually purchase following a social media interaction, there’s pretty much no way to track whether John Doe is feeling more warmly toward his TSA agent during a full-body search at SFO than he did prior to following the agency on Instagram. And, again, it’s not exactly going to affect the TSA’s bottom line.
What we’re left with, then, is a snapshot of a specific moment in our collective understanding of social media’s purpose as it evolves. Side by side with landmark social movements like Black Lives Matter — which arguably coalesced and gained steam predominantly in the online world, with an aim of affecting real change in the tangible one — we have brick-and-mortar agencies that perform self-evident functions feeling obvious pressure to contribute something, anything, to the jumble of self-promotion and online noise that is social media, regardless of the value. No matter if a Twitter feed makes sense for your organization: Does your organization even exist, if it doesn’t tweet? It’s a vignette that I think will become more telling with time, as the first generation that has never known a world without Twitter or Instagram comes of age, and as businesses (hopefully) learn to wield social media as a tool without embarrassing themselves(or us) anymore than they already have.
In the meantime, if they’re going to post it, we’re going to enjoy it. And hey: once we surgically remove our palms from our faces, we might even learn something.
And now, the U.S. government’s definition of social media (check your brain at the door):
Social media are web or mobile based third-party platforms that facilitate interaction and engagement among individuals in a network or virtual community. Social media offers a participatory environment and includes user-generated content such as videos, photos, videos, microblogs, blogs, and wikis.
Scope and Applicability
Federal agencies utilize social media platforms to engage with the public and to extend the reach of messages beyond traditional email notifications and websites. It is vital that a policy be created and implemented to ensure the Agency is appropriately represented in this space. The FDA encourages the use of social media technologies to enhance communication, collaboration, and information exchange in support of FDA’s mission to protect and promote public health. This policy applies to FDA employees, contractors, and other personnel acting in an official capacity when using social media to communicate with the public regarding FDA-related matters:
Using accounts that the FDA maintains on third-party platforms (e.g., Facebook, Twitter) or,
In forums or blogs where FDA does not have an official presence (e.g. replying to comments in a blog post where FDA was a guest blogger)
(For discussion on the personal use of social media, please see “Personal Use of Social Media by FDA Employees and Contractors” on page 4). FDA-related matters are topics or issues that relate to (1) data or information only available to the social-media user through his or her employment at FDA, (2) products within FDA’s jurisdiction, (3) analyses of FDA programs, policies, regulations, actions or initiatives, or (4) positions or opinions that could reasonably be perceived to reflect FDA’s view on issues within its jurisdiction. This policy does not supersede or replace existing legal obligations in effect. Roles and Responsibilities The Office of External Affairs (OEA) Web and Digital Media Staff and Office of Information Management and Technology (OIMT) are jointly responsible for ensuring that the FDA’s use of social media complies with Federal laws, policies, and best practices. Office of External Affairs:
Develops the overall communications strategy and priorities for the Agency.
OEA Web & Digital Media Staff (OEA Web):
Develops policy and procedures for social media use in consultation with OIMT.
Develops the social media strategy for OEA.
Provides oversight for all social media activities in the Agency.
Reviews/authorizes all social media channel/account requests for the Agency. Authorization is based on the request meeting Federal/FDA requirements and providing a social media strategy and social media plan.
Reviews all Agency procurements and contracts, including Terms of Service (TOS) agreements, related to social media tools and services to ensure necessity and reduce duplication.
Coordinates and manages the Agency’s primary social media channels (currently Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter account @US_FDA, and Pinterest).
Leads the monthly meeting of the FDA Social Media Working Group.
Serves as the Agency liaison for social media to the Health and Human Services (HHS) Digital Communications Division and GSA Social Media Community of Practice.
Office of Information Management and Technology:
Applies the requirements of this policy in its functions of providing appropriate Agency-wide web technology services and security, including technical assistance, to program offices.
Centers/Offices:
Prior to initiating social media accounts or procurement actions and contracts, Centers/Offices meet with OEA Web.
Develops the social media strategy for the Center/Office and ensures that it aligns with Agency priorities, their office or center communications strategy, and is coordinated with OEA Web. The strategy should include why social media is being used to meet the stated goals. The social media strategy must be submitted to OEA Web for review.
Develops social media plan in order to most effectively implement and manage the Center/Office’s social media presence including best practices, guidelines for consistency, how these mechanisms will support the goals outlined in the social media strategy.
The social media plan must be submitted to OEA Web for review.
Completes a privacy impact assessment and operates in compliance with HHS and the FDA’s social media policies.
Coordinates with and contributes content to OEA Web for posting on the FDA’s Agency-wide social media channels (Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, @US_FDA, Pinterest).
Assists with the dissemination of information on the FDA’s social media policies, guidelines, and best practices within the Center/Office.
Follows approved procedures for collecting and managing records associated with any social media accounts owned by the Center/Office.
Office of the Chief Counsel (OCC):
Provides legal advice relating to the web and social media.
Office of Operations, Division of Ethics and Integrity:
Oversees ethics requirements for FDA employees, including requirements pertaining to the use of social media.
Office of Information Management (OIM), Records Management Staff:
Oversees records management requirements for the FDA, including requirements pertaining to web records.
Personal Use of Social Media by FDA Employees and Contractors
FDA recognizes the right of employees to express their personal views via social media and encourages employees to use social media to share information that may benefit the public health, consistent with the following.
Principles, guidelines, and standards of conduct that apply to FDA employees in their official duties may apply to employee participation in social media, even in their personal capacity. For example, employees are bound by the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch, the conflict of interest statutes, the Hatch Act, 5 U.S.C. §§7321-7326,1 and the FDA Policy on Use of Government Electronic Equipment and Systems, FDA SMG 3140.1.2 Moreover, employees must understand that non-public information (e.g., personal privacy information, trade secrets, confidential commercial information, or information subject to government privilege) may not be conveyed via social media unless its release to the public is lawful and has been authorized by FDA management in accordance with the law.
To use social media in his or her personal capacity, an employee does not need to obtain permission or approval from supervisors or agency management and does not need to obtain outside activity ethics clearance pursuant to the HHS Supplemental Standards of Ethical Conduct at 5 CFR § 5501.106(d).
However, the ethical restrictions on receipt of compensation, disclosure of nonpublic information, and improper use of government title or official authority still apply to this activity.
The majority of antibiotics produced by pharmaceutical companies are used in animals rather than humans and there have been outbreaks of antibiotic resistant bacteria in hospitals that have been traced back to bacteria from animals. Although antibiotic use in animals in Europe is tightly regulated, it is less controlled in other parts of the world.
One common means by which antibiotic resistant bugs pass from animal to humans is through eating meat, explained Dr Luke Moore, co-author of the study, from the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London: “If you eat a chicken that contains an antibiotic resistant bacteria, such as E.coli – and the chicken is not cooked properly – the bacteria can lodge in your gut. There is then a risk of it escaping from your intestines, and perhaps travelling to your gallbladder or urinary tract, where it may potentially trigger an infection that doesn’t respond to antibiotics.
“Meat tissue may contain molecules of the antibiotic drug itself. These molecules can travel to your intestines and increase antibiotic resistance in the bacteria that naturally reside in your gut,” he added.
It is not just meat that can carry antibiotic resistance – crops and vegetables can harbour them too, from animal manure used as fertiliser. The researchers suggest that a number of strategies are needed to tackle the issue.
“Farmers have an ever-growing population to feed, and a shrinking area of land to generate food, so they need to meet these demands. We need to not only encourage the use of vaccination, as this would prevent antibiotic use, but also think about how to make immunisation more cost effective for farmers.
We also need to investigate developing alternative methods of killing bacteria – in both humans and animals,” said Dr Moore.
The new paper also reveals that antibiotic resistant bugs will continue to thrive for many years across the globe, even if we immediately stop all use of antibiotics.
The publication is one of a series examining how antimicrobial resistance is being tackled worldwide, and outlining future priorities for researchers and policymakers.
The series is launched today at Imperial, at an event hosted by Imperial’s NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare Associated Infection and Antimicrobial Resistance, which is led by Professor Alison Holmes from the Department of Medicine.
Professor Holmes, who is also lead author on the Imperial paper, said: “Our understanding of the mechanisms by which bacteria and other pathogens acquire resistance to drugs suggests that there will be no single solution to the global threat of antimicrobial resistance. We need to tackle this problem synergistically, on multiple fronts, which will require an unprecedented level of international cooperation.”
Crucially, adds Professor Holmes, researchers and policymakers need to focus their efforts across humans, animals and agriculture, in order to fight the rising tide of resistance.
“We must adopt a ‘One Health’ approach globally, recognising that the health of humans, animals and ecosystems are interconnected, and ensuring that any policies to tackle resistance address each of these areas.”
Abstract
To combat the threat to human health and biosecurity from antimicrobial resistance, an understanding of its mechanisms and drivers is needed. Emergence of antimicrobial resistance in microorganisms is a natural phenomenon, yet antimicrobial resistance selection has been driven by antimicrobial exposure in health care, agriculture, and the environment. Onward transmission is affected by standards of infection control, sanitation, access to clean water, access to assured quality antimicrobials and diagnostics, travel, and migration. Strategies to reduce antimicrobial resistance by removing antimicrobial selective pressure alone rely upon resistance imparting a fitness cost, an effect not always apparent. Minimising resistance should therefore be considered comprehensively, by resistance mechanism, microorganism, antimicrobial drug, host, and context; parallel to new drug discovery, broad ranging, multidisciplinary research is needed across these five levels, interlinked across the health-care, agriculture, and environment sectors. Intelligent, integrated approaches, mindful of potential unintended results, are needed to ensure sustained, worldwide access to effective antimicrobials.
Understanding the mechanisms and drivers of antimicrobial resistance
The Lancet
Alison H Holmes, Luke S P Moore, Arnfinn Sundsfjord, Martin Steinbakk, Sadie Regmi, Abhilasha Karkey, Philippe J Guerin, Laura J V Piddock
“I got three tacos coming in with rice and beans. I got a whole meal coming in for the whole family,” Ismael said.
But Ismael had no idea the state found insects, crawling and flying near his family’s food.
“Yeah, I didn’t know that about them,” he admitted.
Our ABC Action News I-Team has discovered inspectors saw live and dead roaches in the reach-in cooler, on top of the freezer, and on floors, walls and boxes in October.
And ‘too many flies to count’ near produce along with over 50 more flies in other parts of the kitchen, according to the inspection report.
“That’s a little upsetting to hear that, since you figure that’s where you eating,” Ismael said.
And it’s not just bugs.
We’re just uncovering the state finding pork and eggs at dangerous temperatures that could make you sick.
Pork was sitting on the cook’s line at 84 degrees and raw shell eggs were left out at room temperature at 85 degrees.
Cold food should be 41 degrees or below and hot food should be 135 degrees or above.
So what’s management doing to fix the food safety issues?
ABC Action News anchor Wendy Ryan went to Taco Rey to find out.
“I wanted to talk to someone about your recent inspections from the state,” Ryan asked the employee at the front counter.
But that female employee said the manager and owner were not there and wouldn’t be back until the next day.
No one could answer to the 52 violations documented in the last 5 months, including employees thawing beef at room temperature, employees failing to wash their hands, plastic containers of lard on the floor along with to-go boxes, no proof of required employee training and black/green mold in the ice machine.
Two years ago, they were worried the proposed water quality provisions in FDA’s originally proposed produced rule could put them out of business. But industry officials said the FDA heard their concerns and re-wrote the rule in a way that onion growers are OK with.
To go from a rule that would have seriously impacted the economics of the onion industry “to a rule that’s livable for us and allows us to stay in business is a huge victory,” said Kay Riley, chairman of the Idaho-Eastern Oregon Onion Committee.
When FDA first proposed its produce safety rule in 2013, it included water quality standards limiting how much generic E. coli bacteria could be present in agricultural water.
If the water didn’t meet those standards, farmers had to immediately stop using it. Virtually none of the surface water used by onion growers in Eastern Oregon and Southwestern Idaho meets those standards.
The water quality standards still exist in the final rule.
But FDA altered them to allow growers to meet the standards, even if their water exceeds the minimum bacteria levels, if they can show through scientific evidence that bacteria dies off at a certain rate from the last day of irrigation until harvest.
The bulb onions grown in this region are left in the field to dry for a few weeks following harvest. Field trials by Oregon State University researchers have shown these onions will meet the so-called die-off provisions.
“The thing that’s great about it is they actually listened to us,” Riley said. “I would deem it a tremendous victory compared to what it could have been.”
But the final rule still requires farmers to test their water annually, even if they meet the die-off provisions. Onion growers say the testing will be costly and time-consuming and they hope to be able to skip them.
“They are still going to require testing and that’s going to be the hardest thing to deal with,” said Stuart Reitz, an OSU cropping systems extension agent in Ontario. “The final rule is not ideal but it’s not that bad. It’s one onion growers can live with.”
No one knows why.
“We have always strived to have the highest standards in the restaurant industry as far as safety goes for our customers and our crew, and we are just going to have continue doing what we do,” said Chris Garrett, store manager at the Dickson Street location. “I cannot predict the future, but all I can say is we have different distributors than the stores in Washington and Oregon did.”
