Know what suppliers do for food safety; poaching on the rise in UK

Posted on October 24, 2015 by Ben Chapman

Last Thursday I spent my morning with some really passionate folks who run emergency food agencies like church food pantries, soup kitchens and transitional homes. These agencies do really important work to help folks in need – especially those who can’t access food.

During the workshop we talked about the risks of receiving food donations from people who want to help but may not be great at food safety. Knowing your suppliers and what they do to address hazards (whether they are commercial producers, well-meaning amateurs, or poachers) is good food safety management.

According to the Western Gazette, meat from poachers in the UK is making it’s way to dinner tables.

Police have asked residents to be on the lookout for meat acquired through illegal poaching and have warned that eating such meat can result in diseases such as Tuberculosis and E.coli.

In an effort to curb illegal poaching, police have joined forces with a number of agencies including South Somerset District Council to combat poaching in the region head on.

The South West Anti-Poaching Group now has agencies working hard together to share information and identify those catch poaching.

The group’s Stop Poaching campaign encourages the public to report poaching and report where the meat is going, where it is being butchered and where it is being sold.

Portfolio holder for environmental health at the district council Carol Goodall said: “The last few years have shown that poaching is not about the lone rural rouge taking one for his larder, there are those who are taking deer, fish and livestock which inevitably end up in the food chain be it via restaurants, hotels or via a meat supplier.

Natural doesn’t equal safe

Posted on October 24, 2015 by Ben Chapman

A ‘natural’ food label doesn’t really mean much to me. Some equate it with healthier, or using traditional growing and processing methods (whatever that means). There’s research that demonstrates consumers, when surveyed, have a mix of understanding and perception about what natural represents.

USDA has a natural label definition for meat and poultry that involves a mix of no artificial ingredients, no added colors and is only minimally processed which means whatever has happened to it doesn’t fundamentally alter the product.

What I want to know as a buyer and consumer of lots of different foods from retailers and restaurants is how folks are reducing my risk of foodborne illness, whether unnatural or not.

According to The Guardian, a U.S. trade group, the Organic and Natural Health Association (OHNA) is creating a certification system for labeling in the absence of FDA definitions.

ONHA will roll out a certification program, beginning in early 2016, that will offer a “natural” seal that participating companies can put on the front of their product packaging.

The seal comes after years of criticisms and lawsuits against food manufacturers such as Welch’s for allegedly misleading consumers with ambiguous package labels that do not necessarily accurately reflect the food contained inside.

“It became clear to us that we just needed to define ‘natural’ as what it was,” ONHA CEO Karen Howard said. That’s because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates food labeling, “has not developed a definition for use of the term natural or its derivatives,” according to its own materials. The FDA also does not object to the use of the term on products with “added color, artificial flavors or synthetic substances.”

The seal would not be a government-approved package label, but rather a self-selecting way for manufacturers to help consumers better understand the contents and production of foods. The program would be voluntary and overseen by ONHA.

Companies will have to pay a small fee for the seal and must pay to go through the compliance process themselves.

A study conducted by the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale Univeristy found that nutrition-related claims mislead consumers in unexpected ways, with packaging claims promoting their ingredients are more nutritious than similar products without such claims. The study also found that package claims made consumers think they could gain health benefits even beyond those suggested by the manufacturer.

Jennifer Harris, the lead author of that study, said that consumers were often skeptical of direct claims from manufacturers, but through inference often persuade themselves into believing that an unhealthy product could have a positive health outcome.

How about some meaningful safety labels.

7 sick with E. coli: Unpasteurized apple cider recalled in California

Posted on October 24, 2015 by Douglas Powell

In October, 1996, a 16-month-old in Denver drank Smoothie juice manufactured by Odwalla Inc. of Half Moon Bay, Calif. She died several weeks later; 64 others became ill in several western U.S. states and British Columbia after drinking the same juices, which contained unpasteurized apple cider – and E. coli O157:H7. Investigators believe that some of the apples used to make the cider may have been insufficiently washed after falling to the ground and coming into contact with deer feces.

In the fall of 1998, I accompanied one of my then four daughters on a kindergarten trip to the farm. After petting the animals and touring the crops –I questioned the fresh manure on the strawberries – we were assured that all the food produced was natural. We then returned for unpasteurized apple cider. The host served the cider in a coffee urn, heated, so my concern about it being unpasteurized was abated. I asked: “Did you serve the cider heated because you heard about other outbreaks and were concerned about liability?” She responded, “No. The stuff starts to smell when it’s a few weeks old and heating removes the smell.”

But despite the continual outbreaks – type apple cider into the barfblog.com search box – people want their cider all natural (whatever that means).

El Dorado County public health officials announced Friday that High Hill Ranch in Camino has initiated a voluntary recall of its unpasteurized apple juice because of suspected contamination, likely with the E. coli bacteria.

Health officials are warning consumers to not drink and to dispose of any unpasteurized apple juice purchased from High Hill Ranch on or after Oct. 6.

The Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services notified the El Dorado County Environmental Management and Public Health divisions this week of at least seven cases of E. coli illnesses among Sacramento County residents who consumed unpasteurized apple juice from High Hill Ranch in mid-October. The apple juice was consumed at home or at High Hill Ranch. One person has been hospitalized and is expected to recover, according to an El Dorado County news release.

The El Dorado County Environmental Management and Public Health divisions and the California Department of Public Health are working with the High Hill Ranch management to determine the source of the potential contamination. High Hill Ranch has pulled the product from the shelves.

The recall comes at the height of tourist season for El Dorado County’s Apple Hill area.

Jerry and Michelle Visman of High Hill Ranch issued a written statement saying that, due to health concerns, the free samples they have offered potential juice buyers at their ranch have been discontinued.

“We are also having the juice tested as a precaution to make absolutely sure all is well, because after making juice for 50 years and not having any complaints, we want to be sure that the good track record continues,” they said.

Here’s the abstract from a paper Amber Luedtke and I published back in 2002:

A review of North American apple cider outbreaks caused by E. coli O157:H7 demonstrated that in the U.S., government officials, cider producers, interest groups and the public were actively involved in reforming and reducing the risk associated with unpasteurized apple cider. In Canada, media coverage was limited and government agencies inadequately managed and communicated relevant updates or new documents to the industry and the public.

Therefore, a survey was conducted with fifteen apple cider producers in Ontario, Canada, to gain a better understanding of production practices and information sources. Small, seasonal operations in Ontario produce approximately 20,000 litres of cider per year. Improper processing procedures were employed by some operators, including the use of unwashed apples and not using sanitizers or labeling products accurately.

Most did not pasteurize or have additional safety measures. Larger cider producers ran year-long, with some producing in excess of 500,000 litres of cider. Most sold to large retail stores and have implemented safety measures such as HACCP plans, cider testing and pasteurization. All producers surveyed received government information on an irregular basis, and the motivation to ensure safe, high-quality apple cider was influenced by financial stability along with consumer and market demand, rather than by government enforcement.

Genetic testing: Sure that’s a hot dog

Posted on October 24, 2015 by Douglas Powell

In 2013, European governments launched a massive investigation after food-safety agencies discovered that an alarming number of products advertised as beef were actually horsemeat.

In China last year, Wal-Mart recalled its “Five Spice” donkey-meat snacks after they were found to be adulterated with fox meat. In the U.S., Americans spend around $5.57 billion a year on sausages—but up to 14 percent of the time, the type of meat may not match what’s advertised on the package.

That last statistic comes from Clear Labs, a startup that aims to quite literally see how the sausage gets made. The company, which uses DNA sequencing to analyze the contents of food, claims its molecular database of around 10,000 items is the largest in the world—a tool it plans to use to fight food fraud, which currently affects an estimated 10 percent of the world’s commercial food supply. Earlier this month, it launched a Kickstarter campaign for its new consumer initiative Clear Food, a project to analyze and publish a report on a particular food category each month (backers will get to vote on the category they’d like Clear Labs to tackle next). Each product included in the report will receive a score based on how closely the label matches the content.

According to Martin Wiedmann, a professor of food safety at Cornell University, the FDA primarily focuses its efforts on keeping food uncontaminated, rather than the accuracy of labeling.

“The FDA does not have unlimited resources, but to be honest, I’d rather the FDA do more work on food safety than making sure that red snapper doesn’t happen to be tilapia,” he said. “I think private industry will play a very, very important role in this issue.”

So does Clear Labs. The company was founded in 2013 by Sasan Amini and Ghorashi in 2013, both of whom left their jobs at genomics companies to apply DNA-testing technologies to the food industry. The process is similar to the genomic analysis used in clinical trials to personalize cancer treatments—when a hot-dog package proclaims the contents to be “all beef,” Clear Labs’ analysis can compare the molecular makeup of that hot dog against the molecular signature of beef, stored in the database, to see if it’s true. The company says it can also determine whether the label’s nutritional claims are valid.

“Once we started to test the U.S. food supply in a rigorous fashion, we started to see a 10-15 percent discrepancy rate between product claims and actual molecular content of the food,” Ghorashi said.

In the Clear Foods initiative’s report on hot dogs and sausages, the company analyzed 345 samples across 75 brands and 10 retailers, and found that 14.4 percent of the products tested were “problematic in some way.”

Around 3 percent of the samples found pork where it shouldn’t have been, most often in meats labeled as chicken or turkey, and around 10 percent of the vegetarian products contained meat. Vegetarian products seemed to have the most problems across the board: Four of the 21 vegetarian samples had hygienic issues (accounting for two-thirds of the hygienic issues found in the report), and many vegetarian labels exaggerated the protein content by up to 2.5 times the actual amount.

“We expected to find some deviations because it is a complex supply chain,” Ghorashi said, “but this is also about intentional adulteration for economic gain, which is basically fraud.”

Weidmann said that while molecular sequencing of food can inject more transparency into the food system, there are also significant challenges to consider. For example, DNA testing often yields false positives. And as tests have become more sensitive, cross-contamination poses a great risk to the results.

Stop poaching: Illegal meat trade in UK

Posted on October 24, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Police have asked residents to be on the lookout for meat acquired through illegal poaching and have warned that eating such meat can result in diseases such as Tuberculosis and E.coli.

In an effort to curb illegal poaching, police have joined forces with a number of agencies including South Somerset District Council to combat poaching in the region head on.

The South West Anti-Poaching Group now has agencies working hard together to share information and identify those catch poaching.

The group’s Stop Poaching campaign encourages the public to report poaching and report where the meat is going, where it is being butchered and where it is being sold.

Any business, including an individual hunter supplying good, has a responsibility to ensure it is fit for consumption, police have warned.

Iowa school dismissed early because of suspected food poisoning outbreak among staff

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Another catered meal, another staff (staph) outbreak.

Reminds me of those catered lunches Kansas State would get from Jimmy Johns, even though sprout outbreaks were rampant.

Classes at Roosevelt High School were dismissed early Thursday because a large number of the school’s staff was struck down with suspected food poisoning.

In an e-mail to students’ parents Principal Kevin Biggs said they don’t have enough staff to continue with normal activities, so the decision was made to dismiss school early and cancel all indoor school activities after school. Outdoor activities are still going forward.

Parent-teacher conferences are being postponed.

The Polk County Health Department believes the staff is suffering from food poisoning.

Biggs said the food served to the staff was from a catered luncheon Wednesday, with food prepared by two outside businesses, and was not served to students.

If you grill, don’t chill on meat thermometer use

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Ben Chapman

The STEC beef safety #Grill160toKill tailgate project hits Virginia Tech:

Grilling burgers in your backyard or at a late afternoon tailgate doesn’t seem like a scenario set for danger, but your burger can bite back if bacteria is allowed to remain in the meat, Virginia Tech researchers say.

Daniel Gallagher, an associate professor in the Via Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is the principal investigator on a collaborative project to track thermometer use in cooking hamburger meat. Renee Boyer, associate professor of food science and technology, and Virginia Cooperative Extension specialist in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is collaborating on the project, a joint effort with North Carolina State University, Kansas State University, University of Nebraska, and Texas A&M.

Boyer and her lab have been distributing kits at Virginia Tech football tailgates that contain a digital read out thermometer, an apron, and a beverage koozy with temperature guidelines. The goal is to prompt people to monitor the temperature of their ground beef.

The team will be handing out supplies around campus parking lots again at a future football game. They will also be checking in with people who have already received kits to see if they are using proper cooking techniques.

The group has launched a social media campaign on Instagram and Twitter. Users who post photos with the thermometer reading 160 degrees with meat using the hashtag #Grill160toKill will be entered to win an iPad.

“We are trying to create an awareness of the importance of grilling meats to 160 degrees to avoid E.coli illnesses by using a thermometer and seeing if we can shift the public’s attitude about monitoring cooking temperatures,” said Boyer.

The bacteria — Shiga-toxin producing Escherichia coli, or STEC — are associated with at least 265,000 illnesses per year.

Cooking meat to 160 degrees kills E. coli bacteria.

“You go to the doctor to monitor your sodium and cholesterol; using a thermometer to cook meat is the same principle,” said Lily Yang, a doctoral student from San Francisco. “It’s a preventative measure.”

Hamburger, as opposed to steak which has only the surface area exposed, can potentially have contaminants distributed throughout the patty because the meat is ground and mixed.

“As a consumer you are the last line of defense against getting sick from consuming E. coli bacteria,” said John di Stefano, a master’s student from Midlothian, Virginia. “Using a thermometer to monitor your cooking temperature is the best way to do that.”

The outreach effort is funded by a $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Keeping animal event goers safe takes vigilance

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Ben Chapman

Two weeks ago 20-month old Colton James-Brian Guay tragically died from an E. coli O111 illness he picked up from a Maine fair petting zoo. Another child who visited the same event, Myles Herschaft, is still recovering from HUS.

Reading about these illnesses and thinking about my kids creates a pit in my stomach. The seriousness of the tragedy and how something like this might happen shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who works with food – farmers, processors, food handlers (commercial or domestic) – or the folks who run petting zoos and animal events.

These tragedies happen often, but it’s not enough to just understand why; the science of pathogen transfer in animal contact events is out there. We’ve published on behaviors and best practices. Petting zoo operators should be watching this case closely and evaluating whether their current strategies would have avoided the outbreak. Changes might mean adjusting a process, increased training, testing and better communication of risks to patrons.

According to Time Warner Cable News, the NC State Fair organizers are focused on controlling zoonotic diseases at animal events.

“For many people, the fair is the only opportunity they may have to come see a cow or a pig or a mule, and so we want to make sure they get that experience. But we want everybody to understand that things like washing your hands and keeping your distance are great little steps that you can take and keep everybody healthy,” said N.C. State Fair spokesman Brian Long.

An E. coli outbreak at the 2011 State Fair caused 25 people to get sick and a year later, officials added barriers between livestock and fairgoers.

“Just to create more separation between humans and animals, you know animals are capable of transmitting bacteria to humans, and vice-versa. We want to keep the animals healthy. We want to keep the people healthy,” said Long.

Keeping folks and food separate from animals is a good strategy. Handwashing matters, but so does cleaning/sanitation of rails, floors and hand-contact surfaces.

At the root of a good food safety culture is recognition by everyone that it’s really important that things go right all the time. The stakes are too high if they don’t: kids end up in hospital or worse.

Vaccines work: Viral gastro reduced in Israel

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Both rotavirus vaccines RotaTeq and Rotarix were efficacious against severe rotavirus gastroenteritis in clinical trials; yet real-world data on the effect of rotavirus vaccines on mild to moderate disease are limited.

We used a large computerised database of Maccabi Health Services Health Maintenance Organisation (HMO), the second largest HMO in Israel covering 25% of the Israeli population, to compare the incidence of acute gastroenteritis (AGE) clinic visits in community settings (n = 302,445) before (2005–10) and after (2011–13) the introduction of universal rotavirus immunisation in Israel.

We retrieved laboratory results of rotavirus antigen tests (n = 18,133) and using a weighted analysis, we estimated the impact of rotavirus immunisation on the disease burden of rotavirus AGE clinic visits. Following the introduction of universal rotavirus immunisation, the typical winter peaks of rotavirus AGE were substantially lower and significant reductions of 14.8% (95% confidence interval (CI): 13.5–16.1) in all-cause AGE clinic visits and of 59.7% (95% CI: 59.8–62.6) in rotavirus AGE clinic visits were observed. The decrease was observed in all age groups, but it was greater in children aged 0 to 23 months than those aged 24 to 59 months. Continued rotavirus laboratory surveillance is warranted to monitor the sustainability of these changes.

Change in incidence of clinic visits for all-cause and rotavirus gastroenteritis in young children following the introduction of universal rotavirus vaccination in Israel

Eurosurveillance, Volume 20, Issue 42, 22 October 2015

K Muhsen, G Chodick, S Goren, E Anis, T Ziv-Baran, V Shalev, D Cohen

http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=21281

Food 8 years out of date at UK Chinese restaurant

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Douglas Powell

A Chinese restaurant had food contaminated with insects and rat droppings and produce eight years out of date, a court heard .

The Hoi Kee in Pinner, Middlesex, was temporarily shut and owner Shuai Zhang told to pay £800 costs.

It was closed along with the TSK Cash and Carry in nearby Rayners Lane after Harrow’s environmental health officers discovered rat infestations.

The restaurant in Pinner had packets that went out of date in 2007 and food contaminated by insects and rat droppings.

At the cash and carry, food had been shredded by rats and mice on the shop floor while a heavy infestation was found in the back stockroom.

The food safety lapses were discovered during routine inspections.

Despite the two premises being immediately shut down and the owners fined, both establishments have now reopened.

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safe food from farm to fork

Yearly Archives: 2015

Know what suppliers do for food safety; poaching on the rise in UK

Natural doesn’t equal safe

7 sick with E. coli: Unpasteurized apple cider recalled in California

Genetic testing: Sure that’s a hot dog

Stop poaching: Illegal meat trade in UK

Iowa school dismissed early because of suspected food poisoning outbreak among staff

If you grill, don’t chill on meat thermometer use

Keeping animal event goers safe takes vigilance

Vaccines work: Viral gastro reduced in Israel

Food 8 years out of date at UK Chinese restaurant