Author Archives: Ben Chapman

Ben Chapman

About Ben Chapman

Dr. Ben Chapman is a professor and food safety extension specialist at North Carolina State University. As a teenager, a Saturday afternoon viewing of the classic cable movie, Outbreak, sparked his interest in pathogens and public health. With the goal of less foodborne illness, his group designs, implements, and evaluates food safety strategies, messages, and media from farm-to-fork. Through reality-based research, Chapman investigates behaviors and creates interventions aimed at amateur and professional food handlers, managers, and organizational decision-makers; the gate keepers of safe food. Ben co-hosts a biweekly podcast called Food Safety Talk and tries to further engage folks online through Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and, maybe not surprisingly, Pinterest. Follow on Twitter @benjaminchapman.

Chipotle seen and heard (there’s a lot going on)

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As norovirus was confirmed at a Boston-area Chipotle (marking the 5th confirmed outbreak in the past 6 months), Chipotle officials took the airwaves to talk about how they plan on responding.

Phil Wahba of Fortune writes that cases linked to a Cleveland Circle Chipotle have climbed to 120.Chipotle_Brandon.jpeg

Boston College said Wednesday the number of students suffering from symptoms consistent with the Norovirus is now 120, up from an estimate of 30 earlier this week. The school said, “Nearly all cases are related to students who ate at the Chipotle restaurant in Cleveland Circle” last weekend. Chipotle has temporarily closed that location.

According to Nation’s Restaurant News, Chipotle plans on doing some radical things (although they have yet to reveal the details of what their new standards are).

In a presentation to Wall Street analysts at the annual Bernstein Consumer Summit in New York, officials with the Denver-based chain laid out a plan for improving food safety that they contend will put Chipotle 10 to 20 years ahead of industry norms.

“We have this desire to be the safest place to eat,” said Steve Ells, Chipotle chairman, founder and co-CEO.

Meanwhile, Chipotle is investing heavily in food safety with new protocols that will include more testing of fresh produce.

Just as suppliers are asked to meet certain standards under the chain’s Food With Integrity mission, produce suppliers will be held to higher standards in terms of food safety, Ells said.

“There will be robust testing procedures that will need to be in place for all of our suppliers, whether large or small,” he said. “Some of the smaller suppliers might have a hard time implementing these robust testing procedures initially. We’ll help them. Not all will be on board, for sure, but we think most will.”

But, because “it’s impossible to test every tomato,” the chain is taking additional operational steps, Ells said.

For example, Chipotle has begun dicing tomatoes in a commissary, putting them through a “sanitary kill step” to eliminate pathogens, and hermetically sealing them for delivery to restaurants.

I’m interested in what this sanitary kill step is, and what data they have that validates it. Is it a 5- or 7-log reduction kill step? Or a 1- to 2-log reduction one?

The PR world is analyzing Chipotle’s communications reresponse and according to CNBC, they aren’t doing great.

“They’re not going far enough,” Gene Grabowski, who runs the crisis group at kglobal, told CNBC. “They’re not painting pictures with their words,” he said. “They’re still doing too much explaining.”

They aren’t really explaining enough what they actually plan – paint the picture of a company that has a good food safety culture, and implement it.

In related news, Chipotle stocks continue to fall, but have no fear, significant traffic driving initiatives (whatever those are) will bring the people back.

In a report published Wednesday, Sara Senatore of Bernstein maintained a bullish stance on Chipotle’s stock even though she acknowledged that Chipotle’s brand has been “diminished” following the recent E. coli outbreak. However, the analyst noted that once the CDC gives the “all clear,” the company should benefit from “significant traffic driving initiatives.

Senatore said Chipotle is likely to initiate a series of initiatives including an up-tick in “traditional marketing,” including social media outreach and direct mail – which may consist of buy-one-get-one free offers and other discounting that have “proven very effective” for the company in the past. Naturally, these initiatives will result in gross margin pressure in the near term, but margin recovery should “materialize over time” as management realizes efficiencies and benefits from improvements in technology and throughput.

Here’s a significant Traffic driving initiative for you.

Boston chipotle closed after 80 illnesses; employee worked while ill

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Things aren’t good for Chipotle. Here’s the list of recent outbreaks: E. coli in Seattle, Salmonella in Minnesota, Norovirus iportland-press-herald_3512878-300x235n California and E. coli O26 and in at least 9 states. All of that since July.

And now, according to NBC news, over 80 ill Boston College students (and probably others) have been linked to a eating at a Chipotle in Cleveland Circle. Environmental health folks shut the restaurant following an investigation revealed an employee worked while ill.

Not good.

City health officials ordered the outlet closed after an inspection showed the cooked chicken used to make burritos, tacos and other dishes was being kept at too low a temperature, an employee worked while showing signs of illness and because of the reports of possible foodborne illness.

Chipotle said it had voluntarily closed the restaurant in the Brighton section of the city.

“All 80 students have confirmed that they ate at the Chipotle Restaurant in Cleveland Circle during the weekend,” Boston College said in a statement.

“All have been tested for both E. coli and the norovirus. Test results will not be available for at least two days.”

 

New research focuses on bot neurotoxin structure and protection

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Earlier this year I ran into a barfblog reader who said, ‘You’re really scared of botulism, aren’t you?’

The question was was related to a few things I had posted about the 24 illnesses and a death linked to an Ohio church potluck dinner. Improperly home canned potatoes were implicated.

I dunno about scared, maybe just in awe. The toxin blocks motor nerve terminals at the myoneural junction, causing paralysis. It starts with the mouth, eyes, face and moves down through the body. It often results in paralysis of the chest muscles and diaphragm, making a ventilator necessary. Months of recovery follow an intoxication.

Maybe I am scared.Screen Shot 2015-12-07 at 9.55.42 PM

Today researchers from the Brookhaven National Laboratories published research in Nature Scientific Reports about how one of the neurotoxins produced by Clostridium botulinum is protected in certain environments – info that can provide insight into vaccination and post-exposure mitigation.

Molecular Assembly of Clostridium botulinum progenitor M complex of type E

Nature Scientific Reports | 5:17795 | DOI: 10.1038/srep17795

Subramaniam Eswaramoorthy, Jingchuan Sun, Huilin Li, Bal Ram Singh & Subramanyam Swaminathan

Clostridium botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) is released as a progenitor complex, in association with a non-toxic-non-hemagglutinin protein (NTNH) and other associated proteins. We have determined the crystal structure of M type Progenitor complex of botulinum neurotoxin E [PTC-E(M)], a heterodimer of BoNT and NTNH. The crystal structure reveals that the complex exists as a tight, interlocked heterodimer of BoNT and NTNH. The crystal structure explains the mechanism of molecular assembly of the complex and reveals several acidic clusters at the interface responsible for association at low acidic pH and disassociation at basic/neutral pH. The similarity of the general architecture between the PTC-E(M) and the previously determined PTC-A(M) strongly suggests that the progenitor M complexes of all botulinum serotypes may have similar molecular arrangement, although the neurotoxins apparently can take very different conformation when they are released from the M complex.

Food hubs are good; not automatically safer

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I value local foods systems. I shop regularly at a couple of local farmers markets, choose North Carolina foods at retail and at restaurants when I can and spend most of my days supporting food business in our state.

But I also I value food that won’t make me sick.

Local food isn’t safe food. Local food isn’t unsafe food.

It’s more complex than that.berries-chickens

Things can go wrong regardless of location. Food safety can be managed here as well as it can be elsewhere. What matters is not where it is from, but who is managing risks.

A couple of years ago I went to a local farm 5 miles from house to buy strawberries I saw chickens roaming the rows being harvested (weed control according to the producer). I told him I thought it was a food safety risk. He guffawed. I left.

I like the idea of food hubs; as CSAs respond to increasing demand more will pop up. But food hubs aren’t inherently safer than other sources because of less transit time. The systems could be safer if they have folks who know how pathogens live and move creating and implementing food safety strategies.

According to SC Now, there’s a new one in Florence County, South Carolina that should be ready to go in April 2016.

You’ve probably heard about farm to table.

Jody Martin wants to broaden that concept in a big way.

The 52-year-old Florence County native has set up shop next to a 25,000-square-foot warehouse on Bluff Road that he hopes will be brimming with food and activity by April 2016

In a nutshell, farmers would send what they grow to Marion. Martin and his team would market, package and deliver that food wherever they can and a big chunk of the revenue stream would flow back to farmers.

“And we’d have a little bio of each farmer and farm on our website,” Martin explained. “We want people to have a connection and know who is growing their food.”

Julie Norman sees the Food Hub as the first piece of the puzzle. As Marion County’s economic development director, she views the hub as a “tremendous opportunity” that piggybacks upon the area’s agricultural heritage.

“To showcase not only food products that are developed and produced in the incubator but also fresh fruits and vegetables grown in the Pee Dee as well as other products grown in South Carolina,” she said.

One of the main thrusts of what Martin is preaching is being able to enjoy freshly harvested items. Produce from California, for instance, will arrive with “a lot of bumps and bruises,” as Martin calls it.

“That product is road weary. It’s not at its peak ripeness. There’s shrinkage,” he said, and it was probably harvested far too soon.

Not for Food Hub folks. They’ll get produce harvested at peak times just after it’s plucked from the vine, ground or plant. There’s also the food safety aspect – knowing exactly what the source of a product is and knowing it hasn’t been in transit for a while.

“We want folks to have the freshest food available – either the same day it’s harvested or the day after,” Martin said. “This is why I love what I do.”

Food producers/processors/handlers/sellers, regardless of size and location, are the primary partners in food safety. They make choices to keep pathogens out of kitchens, regardless of location.

Pattie’s foods gets out of the frozen berries business following hep A outbreak

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Here’s a predictable progression: products linked to 34 illnesses, shares tank, can’t sell your berries, get out of the berries biz.

According to Business Insider Australia Patties Foods has sold its frozen berries business to Entyce Food Ingredients for an undisclosed sum.FROZEN BERRIES RECALL

The company says the funds from the sale would generate $1.8 million, a sum which is unlikely to affect its fiscal 2016 results.

Its net profit after tax was down from $16.7 million to just $2.1 million.

At the time of the outbreak, the company’s shares tanked 6.5% to $1.28.

Before the recall, the berries business generated 13% of Patties’ sales.

Checking into your suppliers matters when you sell an uncooked product.

‘When I pay an average of over $10 a meal I expect quality food and not poisonous meals’

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A dining hall at Chapman University (no relation) was closed over the past couple of days after students came down with nausea, vomit and diarrhea. According to The Panther, health authorities believe that the illnesses are linked to a norovirus outbreak.

According to an email sent by Jerry Price, dean of students and vice chancellor for student affairs, the cafeteria will reopen for breakfast on Dec. 7 and throughout the weekend food will be available in the Student Union for students with meal plans.photo

“It doesn’t make me scared necessarily, however it’s a bit concerning since I’m on a 19 meal plan and I get a majority of my meals from the cafeteria,” wrote Michael Anderson, a sophomore television writing and production major. “When I pay an average of over $10 a meal I expect quality food and not poisonous meals.”

Kyler Asato, a freshman creative writing major, had lunch at the cafeteria last Wednesday and then lost his appetite. On Thursday he did not eat until 5:20 p.m. after nearly fainting during his dance class.

Asato said that he ate a sandwich and muffin from the Digital Media Arts Center. He then had a pizza from Doy’s Place which caused him to vomit.

“I went back to my room after around 45 minutes of not being able to move due to lack of energy,” Asato wrote. “Then, I had my friend give me Sprite, and went to sleep around 10. I woke up three times and barfed each time. I also had diarrhea at least four times throughout the day, starting from 11 a.m.”

Sounds nasty.

Brae Surgeoner, Doug and I had a paper published in the September 2009 Journal of Environmental Health about some research we conducted in the Winter of 2006. The study came about because a whole bunch of kids in the University of Guelph’s residence system started puking from an apparent norovirus outbreak. There were lots of handwashing signs up and we wanted to know whether they changed hygiene behavior (especially if kids were using the tools available when entering the cafeteria). Turns out that students weren’t doing as good of a job at hand hygiene as they reported to us.

Environmental health specialists: the salt of the earth

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There are some really good people in state and local health departments throughout the world.

Environmental heath specialists, public health inspectors, hygiene officers – whatever they might be called – are some of the most fun food safety nerds to hang out with; there’s not another group of folks I interact with who are consistently as passionate about public health as they are.Unknown

As Keith and Mick sing, they are the salt of the earth.

They impact food safety everyday.

Tragic events in San Bernardino earlier this week affected many individuals and families; including the public health family.

 

WHO estimates 420,000 deaths due to foodborne illness annually

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1 in 10 people worldwide annually and 420,000 deaths (125,000 of whom are kids). That’s a lot.

WHO released these numbers it in a report published in PLOS Medicine today.who-logo1

Almost one third (30%) of all deaths from foodborne diseases are in children under the age of 5 years, despite the fact that they make up only 9% of the global population. This is among the findings of WHO’s Estimates of the global burden of foodborne diseases – the most comprehensive report to date on the impact of contaminated food on health and wellbeing.

The report, which estimates the burden of foodborne diseases caused by 31 agents – bacteria, viruses, parasites, toxins and chemicals – states that each year as many as 600 million, or almost 1 in 10 people in the world, fall ill after consuming contaminated food. Of these, 420 000 people die, including 125 000 children under the age of 5 years.

“Until now, estimates of foodborne diseases were vague and imprecise. This concealed the true human costs of contaminated food. This report sets the record straight,” says Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO. “Knowing which foodborne pathogens are causing the biggest problems in which parts of the world can generate targeted action by the public, governments, and the food industry.”

While the burden of foodborne diseases is a public health concern globally, the WHO African and South-East Asia Regions have the highest incidence and highest death rates, including among children under the age of 5 years.

“These estimates are the result of a decade of work, including input from more than 100 experts from around the world. They are conservative, and more needs to be done to improve the availability of data on the burden of foodborne diseases. But based on what we know now, it is apparent that the global burden of foodborne diseases is considerable, affecting people all over the world – particularly children under 5 years of age and people in low-income areas,” says Dr Kazuaki Miyagishima, Director of WHO’s Department of Food Safety and Zoonoses.

Diarrhoeal diseases are responsible for more than half of the global burden of foodborne diseases, causing 550 million people to fall ill and 230 000 deaths every year. Children are at particular risk of foodborne diarrhoeal diseases, with 220 million falling ill and 96 000 dying every year.

 

 

 

All bets are off with sick kids: Hep A in berries edition

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I’m an emotional dude and I’ve become more sensitive as a parent. I know my emotions aren’t unique, but sappy movies, especially those focused on parent/kid relationships, make me cry. I’m a nervous flyer (I wasn’t before) irrationally thinking the plane is going down with every bump (leaving my kids fatherless).

I’m empathetic of folks who have kids affected by foodborne illness; when they are young, all their risk protection comes from caregivers.Unknown-7

As NZ health authorities finger Fruzio Mixed Berries as a likely source of four hepatitis A illnesses in the country, the New Zealand Herald highlights how trust in food is impacted during outbreaks.

Some Kiwis who bought the berries quickly contacted the Herald this evening to share their concerns.

Stevie Sanders from Hamilton said she was very worried after giving her 7-month-old daughter the berries. “Oh my God. I’ve just been freaking out. She’s seven months … and I feel so guilty.” Mrs Sanders said she used to mash the berries in with her daughter’s organic yoghurt. She said it was important the Government told people which products were linked to the health scare.

Chloe Rarity from Blenheim said her family was “really shocked” about the berries and found out she’d been eating the Fruzio berries over the past week. She’d made “a huge batch” of berry sorbet for her new neighbours and four families ate it at a barbecue.

Justin Robbins said as a father, he was worried for his family after hearing of the Hepatitis A cases. “When you realise that you are totally and utterly in control of someone else’s life, the feeling that you could’ve given them something that would make them sick – that’s not a nice place to be. “To say it’s unnerving is probably a massive understatement,” he said this evening.

Yep.

Food Safety Talk 83: Many peoples’ thermometers

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Food Safety Talk, a bi-weekly podcast for food safety nerds, by food safety nerds. The podcast is hosted by Ben Chapman and barfblog contributor Don Schaffner, Extension Specialist in Food Science and Professor at Rutgers University. Every two weeks or so, Ben and Don get together virtually and talk for about an hour.  They talk about what’s on their minds or in the news regarding food safety, and popular culture. They strive to be relevant, funny and informative — sometimes they succeed. You can download the audio recordings right from the website, or subscribe using iTunes.

turkey.thanksgiving.oct_.12After establishing that Joni Mitchell is not dead and Nova Scotia is New Scotland the guys jump into food safety of microgreens.  There is a wide range of microgreens available. One microgreen company Fresh Origins describes over 400 different types of greens products and has a cursory mention food safety on their website. The guys attempt to clarify the confusing world of sprouts, microgreens, and hydroponic techniques.  There is a difference between sprouts and microgreens; Sprouts are sprouted seeds whereas microgreens are often sprouted once and then harvested repeatedly. There are also many different hydroponic designs where plants are rooted in a non-soil substrate and fed by circulated nutrient containing water.  Hydroponic production can be done safely but does not guarantee safe food.  A lot of circulating nutrient rich water allows bacteria to grow and move around.  As with sprouts, the seeds used for microgreens combined with the growing conditions, does create risk of pathogen growth as described in this paper (STEC survival in microgreens).

The guys talk Listeria in produce and the challenges of risk assessments. Don is going to a Produce Safety policy conference where he will give a talk on assessing public health risk for product associated Listeria monocytogenes exposure. A 2003 risk assessment ranked Listeria in produce as low risk however produce recently affected by listeria are caramel apples, cantaloupe, and stone fruit and this shows that risk assessments can become outdated.  New information is always becoming available, for example, Listeria growth on the outside of cantaloupe at room temperature. The data is also getting more applicable as researchers now appreciate the importance of using relevant strains.

Ben and Don discuss consumer recommendations lagging behind food safety science.  For example the California Cantaloupe Advisory Board a ‘sliced melon should be stored in the refrigerator until it is ready to be eaten’ while data support a recommendation more similar to deli meats. Something like: if you don’t know your refrigerator’s temperature, eat deli meats and sliced cantaloupe within 2 days; if you know it holds food below 41F, you have 4 days.

Ben and Don talked about visiting Austin and the 5by5 studios. And if you are in Texas try to eat at Torchy’s tacos.

The guys talk about food retail and Ben gets on a rant about how when people talk about food safety culture they don’t quite get it. Ben describes a frustrating situation he encountered at a food safety meeting: food safety nerds reporting that decision makers respond to perceived risks more strongly than public health risks. Like one retailer spending more resources on hairnets than norovirus control because hair is what their CEO perceives as an issue.