Yearly Archives: 2015

Stale bread lands over 180 children in hospital in Pakistan?

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The children sheltered by Pakistan Sweet Homes (PSH), a project of Pakistan Baitul Mal (PBM), were rushed to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) for medical treatment. Some of the kids were also taken to Holy Family Hospital in Rawalpindi for treatment.

pakistan.sweet.homesPIMS spokesperson Dr Ayesha Isani said around 185 kids suffering from diarrhea were brought to the hospital’s emergency department at around 10am in the morning. Sixty of them were admitted due to their serious condition while the rest were discharged after preliminary treatment. Ten children were still admitted to the hospital when this report was filed on Sunday evening.

The spokesperson confirmed that the children fell ill as a result of food poisoning. “About 60 per cent suffered from food poisoning but there condition is now stable,” she told the media on Sunday afternoon.

PSH Patron-in-Chief Zamurd Khan told said the children were served bread and milk for breakfast and said they were investigating the issue behind the mass sickness.

PBM Managing Director Barrister Abid Waheed Sheikh said there were around 400 children at the orphanage. “Children who had no symptoms of food poisoning were also taken to Pims and the Holy Family Hospital for a checkup,” he said.

Rotten meat paste linked to botulism cases in Algiers

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Botulism is no joke. Whether it’s from home-canned potatoes, pruno, fermented seal flipper, or meat paste.

There might be something lost in translation but according to Ennahar Online, at least two people have died and another eight are ill from bot toxin-containing meat paste.p7l7Nya

A second person died, Friday, July 3, following a cardiopulmonary problem in Batna. This is the second death of botulism after the death of a child Thursday in Khenchla.

This is a sexagenarian hospitalized on June 23 in the University Hospital of the province along with 8 other patients suspected of having contracted the disease, according to the APS agency quoting the director of the abovementioned health facility. 

The consumption of rotten meat paste (cachir) would be the cause of this serious disease, pending “the result of bacteriological analysis by the Pasteur Institute of Algiers.” Quantities of nearly a ton of cachir and 339 kg of chicken paste were withdrawn from sale in the provinces of Batna and Khenchela

113 now sick in Texas Cyclospora outbreak; no food IDed yet

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A recent surge in reports of illnesses due to the parasite Cyclospora  has prompted the Texas Department of State Health Services to investigate the infections in hopes of determining a common source.

cilantroDSHS has received reports of 113 Cyclosporiasis cases from around Texas this year, including 101 in the last two weeks.

DSHS recommends thoroughly washing fresh produce, but that may not entirely eliminate the risk because Cyclospora can be difficult to wash off. Cooking will kill the parasite.

Last year, Texas had 200 cases, some of which were associated with cilantro from the Puebla region in Mexico.

Jim’s Burgers in California shut down after repeated health threats

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Raw chicken and meat patties stored at unsafe temperatures, a clogged floor sink with standing water and dead cockroaches were discovered at Jim’s Burgers in Pico Rivera during an inspection that ultimately led to the restaurant’s permanent closure last month.

jim's.burgersLos Angeles County Public Health Department officials said the June 17 decision to revoke the burger restaurant’s health permit was the result of repeated food temperature violations — a major public health threat — but over the course of six prior routine inspections the restaurant at 4549 S. Rosemead Blvd. never had its permit suspended for those problems.

“The Department has worked in earnest with the owners to rectify repeat violations due to unsanitary conditions,” said county health officials in a statement issued less two weeks before revoking the restaurant’s permit.

Despite logging some of the highest health code violations in the county, the restaurant was only closed once for failing to comply with letter grade posting requirements under a system that allows too many facilities to operate with unsafe and unsanitary conditions and misleads the public about what’s actually going on behind kitchen doors, according to a Los Angeles News Group review of 21 months of food facility inspection data.

Don’t argue with the vet: FSA wins judicial review on safety of carcass

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The UK Food Standards Agency has won a Judicial Review brought against it by the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers (AIMS) and Cleveland Meat Company Limited, a slaughterhouse operator based in Stockton on Tees. The two organisations had gone to court in attempt to overturn a ruling by an FSA veterinary contractor that a beef carcase was unfit to enter the food chain.

septicaemiaThe FSA’s Meat Hygiene Inspector had noticed three abscesses in the offal of the carcase, and the Official Veterinarian agreed that the beef was unfit for human consumption due to the likelihood that the animal had been suffering from pyaemia (a form of septicaemia). The food business was then required to dispose of the carcase as animal by-product.

The slaughterhouse owner did not accept this decision and this led to the action by the owner and AIMS to pursue a Judicial Review on the question of whether there is a right of appeal against an Official Veterinarian’s assessment of the fitness of the meat.

The Judge rejected the arguments of AIMS and Cleveland Meats and concluded that the FSA had acted lawfully. He agreed with the stance of the FSA that there was no legal right of appeal on decisions taken about whether meat is fit to enter the food chain after slaughter, which must be taken by Official Veterinarians under European law. In his summary, the Judge pointed out that safety measures like these are in the public interest, and are appropriate for public safety and instilling confidence in meat production.

Rod Ainsworth, Director of Regulatory and Legal Strategy at the FSA, said: ‘It’s very disappointing that AIMS and Cleveland Meats chose to pursue this unnecessary legal action. Our vets make judgements every day about whether meat is suitable to enter the food chain, and they do this based on their professional expertise for the sole purpose of protecting the public. Food businesses may not always like the decisions that are made, but as the failure of this Judicial Review demonstrates, those decisions are not open for debate. The Judge agreed that our staff must be able to take action to ensure food is safe.’

A’s pitcher Sonny Gray had Salmonella

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I don’t like baseball. It’s like watching soccer.

sonny-grayBut pitcher Sonny Gray was back with the A’s Thursday after suffering a case of salmonella that hospitalized him for two nights.

Gray said before Thursday’s game with Seattle that he was back to feeling mostly well for the first time since Sunday, one day after symptoms of dehydration and fever that first cropped up Saturday became serious.

We pay tax dollars for this? Safe Food Queensland sucks

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Safe Food Queensland: What do you get when you cross a Smurf with cheese?  Blue Cheese.  #cheesejoke #jokes #food #cheese

you.suckSafe Food Queensland should maybe focus on providing reports on the E. coli O157 outbreak that sickened 50 at the Ekka in 2013. Follow-up? Nothing.

 

In November 2013, at least 220 people were felled by salmonella and one was killed at Melbourne Cup functions, all linked to raw egg-based dishes served by Piccalilli Catering. Follow-up? Nothing.

In January 2015 at least 130 diners were stricken with salmonella after dining at Brisbane’s Chin Chin Chinese Restaurant. Dozens were hospitalised. Follow-up? Nothing.

In March 2015, 250 teachers contracted salmonella at a conference and an additional 20 people were sickened on the Gold Coast from the same egg supplier. Follow-up? Nothing.

But way to make bad, taxpayer-funded jokes, Safe Food Queensland.

7 sick in Minn. Raw frozen chicken thingies again

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State health and agriculture officials said today that seven recent cases of salmonellosis in Minnesota have been linked to raw, frozen, breaded and pre-browned, stuffed chicken entrees.

chicken.thingies.raw.cookThe illnesses prompted health officials to remind consumers that the products may look cooked, but are in fact raw and should be handled carefully to avoid cross-contamination in the kitchen and then always cooked thoroughly.

Investigators from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) determined that the illnesses occurred in two separate outbreaks, involving two different strains of Salmonella bacteria in products from two distinct, unrelated producers.

In the first outbreak, four illnesses occurring from April 5 through June 8 were linked to Barber Foods Chicken Kiev. This product has a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) stamped code of P-276. This product is sold at many different retailers, including grocery store chains. The four cases in this outbreak ranged in age from 19 to 82 years, all from the metro area, and two were hospitalized.

In the second outbreak, three people got sick from May 9 to June 8 after eating Antioch Farms brand Cordon Bleu raw stuffed chicken breast with a U.S. Department of Agriculture stamped code of P-1358. This product is sold at many different grocery store chains. The three cases were all adults in their 30s and 40s from the metro area, and two were hospitalized.

raw.chicken.thingies.outbreakWith these two outbreaks, there have now been nine outbreaks of salmonellosis in Minnesota linked to these types of products since 1998. “These chicken products are raw, breaded and pre-browned and  often found near pre-cooked products at the grocery store, so even though the current labels state that the product is raw, consumers could mistakenly think the product is pre-cooked,” said Carlota Medus, epidemiologist for the Foodborne Illness Unit at MDH. Improvements were made to the labeling of such products in 2008, but three outbreaks have occurred from eating the raw, stuffed chicken products since 2014.

“Another problem is that consumers could accidentally contaminate their hands and kitchen surfaces prior to cooking,” Medus said. “Since these products are pre-browned and often cooked from the frozen state, they may appear safer when handling than other raw meats that may be noticeably dripping juices.”

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) the products the illnesses may be associated with appear to be ready-to-eat, but are in fact raw and need to be fully cooked before consumption. Frozen, raw, breaded and pre-browned stuffed chicken products covered by this alert and similar products, may be stuffed or filled, breaded or browned.

The only way to confirm that raw poultry products are cooked to a temperature high enough to kill harmful bacteria is to use a food thermometer that measures internal temperature, http://1.usa.gov/1cDxcDQ. Additionally, keep raw poultry away from other food that will not be cooked. Use one cutting board for raw poultry and a separate one for fresh produce and cooked foods.

Ciguatera intoxication happens; not cigar-related

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When I teach food service folks a certified food protection manager class I often stumble over the pronunciation of ciguatera poisoning (the New York Times says it’s sig-WAH-terra – I’ll go with that). The toxin is produced by a dinoflagellates (usually Gambierdiscus toxicus which lives on algae or dead coral) and is eaten up by sporting fish like barracuda, amber jack and some types of grouper and snapper.

The fish eat the small organisms and overtime bioaccumulate the toxin in their tissue.images

Then folks who like fish, eat it and get sick. Even if it’s cooked.

The toxin is pretty heat stable (FAO says that even 20 min of cooking at 158°F/70°C for 20 min was insufficient to fully denature the toxin protein). Ciguatera was responsible for an outbreak aboard a cargo ship earlier this year, leading to a code orange at a Saint John, New Brunswick (that’s in Canada) hospital. Thirteen crew members fell ill within hours of eating toxin-ridden fish.

Elizabeth Radke and colleagues at Florida’s Emerging Pathogens Institute published research earlier this week estimating that ciguatera is a much larger issue than the reported illness disease trackers believe. Public health data show that barracuda, grouper and amberjack caught from subtropical waters in the Bahamas and the Florida Keys are key risk factors.

From the paper:

Our finding that only 7% of diagnosed cases were reported to the FDOH may at first glance be surprising. However, for many notifiable diseases, physicians rely on laboratory reporting of cases, which is not available for ciguatera because of the lack of a diagnostic laboratory test. In addition, because ciguatera is not a communicable disease, physicians may be unaware that it is a notifiable condition in the State of Florida. One survey in Miami-Dade County found that only 47% of physicians knew that ciguatera was notifiable and this is likely to be lower in less endemic parts of the state.

We also found that Hispanics experience the highest rate of ciguatera illness in Florida, possibly due to more frequent consumption of barracuda than non-Hispanics. This may represent an opportunity for targeted, culturally relevant educational messaging after more narrowly identifying high-risk cultural groups.

Know your target audiences, their practices and communicate to them directly.

France goes QR code in Paris and Avignon

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For every food hygiene official control, an inspection report is issued and indicates if the restaurant is compliant with food hygiene regulations. These official controls are here to ensure that food placed on the market is safe to eat. In case of non-compliances, corrective actions must be taken by the person who owns or manages the business.

qr.code.rest.inspection.gradeArticle 45 of the newly enacted French Law on the future of agriculture, food and forestry specifies that the results of official controls shall be made public in accordance with modalities which will be laid down by specific regulations, this is the transparency initiative.

This means food businesses’ compliance with the legal requirements will be visible to anyone, for the benefit of consumers but also of food business operators. That initiative will be a strong incentive for the food industry to continuously improve the sanitary conditions prevailing in their establishments, and will consequently allow them to be rewarded with positive outcomes of official controls.

Now the operators can download a QR-Code to display voluntarily on their storefront vitrine about this scheme. This QR-Code will be also given by the inspection services.