Author Archives: Douglas Powell

About Douglas Powell

A former professor of food safety and the publisher of barfblog.com, Powell is passionate about food, has five daughters, and is an OK goaltender in pickup hockey. Download Doug’s CV here. Dr. Douglas Powell editor, barfblog.com retired professor, food safety 3/289 Annerley Rd Annerley, Queensland 4103 dpowell29@gmail.com 61478222221 I am based in Brisbane, Australia, 15 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time

Shurley not: Food safety education of employees and the public

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Food safety training is like psychotherapy: Sure, I understand the theory, the neural pathways, the addictive brain, but will that change my behavior (shurley not).

But there’s always hope – in place of well-designed studies that measure success, failure, and actual experiments with novel approaches. Most studies get tossed on the rhetorical pile of we-need-more-education crap.

Here’s the abstracts for two recent papers:

Effectiveness of food handler training and education interventions: A systematic review and analysis

Journal of Food Protection vol. 82 no. 10

Ian Young, Judy Greig, Barbara J. Wilhelm, and Lisa A. Waddell

https://doi.org/10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-19-108

https://jfoodprotection.org/doi/abs/10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-19-108

Improper food handling among those working in retail and food service settings is a frequent contributor to foodborne illness outbreaks. Food safety training and education interventions are important strategies to improve the behaviors and behavioral precursors (e.g., knowledge and attitudes) of food handlers in these settings.

We conducted a comprehensive systematic review to identify, characterize, and synthesize global studies in this area to determine the overall effectiveness of these interventions. The review focused on experimental studies with an independent control group. Review methods included structured search strategy, relevance screening of identified abstracts, characterization of relevant articles, risk of bias assessment, data extraction, meta-analysis of intervention effectiveness for four outcome categories (attitudes, knowledge, behavior, and food premise inspection scores), and a quality of evidence assessment.

We identified 18 relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and 29 nonrandomized trials. Among RCTs, 25 (64%) unique outcomes were rated as high risk of bias, primarily owing to concerns about outcome measurement methods, while 45 (98%) nonrandomized trial outcomes were rated as serious risk of bias, primarily because of concerns about confounding bias. High confidence was identified for the effect of training and education interventions to improve food handler knowledge outcomes in eight RCT studies (standardized mean difference = 0.92; 95% confidence interval: 0.03, 1.81; I2 = 86%). For all other outcomes, no significant effect was identified. In contrast, nonrandomized trials identified a statistically significant positive intervention effect for all outcome types, but confidence in these findings was very low due to possible confounding and other biases.

Results indicate that food safety training and education interventions are effective to improve food handler knowledge, but more evidence is needed on strategies to improve behavior change.

Gaps and common misconceptions in public’s food safety knowledge

British Columbia Institute of Technology

Kathy Kim, Helen Heacock

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b78e/7eb080d0fe5a95f95e0b140ca183277c81cb.pdf

Background: Incidence rates of some foodborne illnesses (FBIs) in BC still remain on the rise despite numerous initiatives to prevent FBIs. This rise over the years has been attributed to gaps in the public’s food-safety knowledge and practices. In order to decrease incidence rates and prevent future FBIs, efforts should be made to identify common misconceptions in the public’s food safety knowledge. With a focus on the Metro Vancouver population, common misconceptions in food safety were found and their knowledge level towards the misconceptions was analyzed.

Methods: An in-person survey was conducted in three locations in Metro Vancouver. The survey asked for demographics information, perceived food safety knowledge and food safety misconceptions. ANOVA and Independent Sample T-test were administered to analyze results.

Results: No statistically significant difference in food safety knowledge was found between groups by gender, age, and geographic region. The majority of participants rated their food safety knowledge as moderate but they demonstrated a poor knowledge level in food safety.

Conclusion: The public’s knowledge level should be improved to prevent further rises of FBIs. Initiatives involving the provincial Foodsafe certification program, secondary school curriculums and health authority websites can be utilized to educate the public.

Most sushi producers in Ireland fail to meet food safety standards

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I don’t like sushi and don’t eat it, especially the real kind with raw fish.

Andrew Lowth of Spin 1038 reports that checks have found almost every sushi maker and seller in Ireland has failed to meet food safety standards.

Of eleven manufacturers, restaurants and takeaways inspected, just one hadn’t broken food hygiene laws.

The Food Safety Authority found 76 breaches of food law, including poor parasite control and incorrect defrosting of raw fish.

The audit findings also include:

90% of food businesses audited did not have adequate controls in place relating to sushi production and processing activities

75% of food businesses did not meet the requirements of the legislation for  freezing fish for parasite control

Over 90% of the food businesses did not have adequate operational controls for sushi rice production

“Our audit sought to establish if food safety controls were being followed and the findings are very concerning,” says FSAI CEO Pamela Byrne.

“It showed that over three quarters of the food businesses did not have adequate food safety controls in place for this.”

Everybody has a camera: Colorado restaurant with rat edition

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Evan Kruegel of Fox 31 reports a Denver restaurant with previous food safety violations is once again being inspected after a video surfaced showing a rat inside the restaurant.

Dominic Trujillo says he took the video on Sept.16, while waiting for Mt. Fuji Sushi & Hibachi to open. The video appears to show a rat eating food scraps between the glass and a window shade at the restaurant off of East Sixth Avenue in Capitol Hill.

He posted the video on social media and says a manager sent him a private message, offering a gift card in exchange for taking the video down.

The Denver Department of Public Health and Environment visited the restaurant Wednesday after seeing the video and found no violations.

“Yesterday we had the health department come and they checked everything, inspected everything, and everything looks fine,” said Osa Enebish, with the restaurant. “Our back door — it was left open and we fixed that door, so it might have came through that door, we don’t know.”

In February, the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment found 12 critical health code issues at Mt. Fuji, including rodent droppings found in storage cabinets.

Cherry tomatoes may be lined to Salmonella outbreaks in Sweden

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SVT reports people have been sick with diarrhea between August 29 and September 14 with Salmonella Typhimurium. Anders Enocksson, infection prevention consultant at Region Halland.

In all, 11 counties are affected. Most cases are in Halland together with Dalarna, Jönköping and Västra Götaland, which P4 Halland was the first to tell . The infected are in all age groups, but just over half are 60 years or older. There are slightly more women than men.

The source of infection is not yet known, but there is suspicion of tomatoes, and cherry tomatoes. It is unclear where they come from. The investigation is allowed to show if it is correct, says Anders Enocksson.

North Carolina man dies from Vibrio lined to undercooked seafood

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 The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has confirmed man from Cary died from Vibrio vulnificus, apparently linked to raw oysters.

The Center for Disease Control says it is impossible to tell that an oyster is bad by looking at it.

“An oyster that contains harmful bacteria doesn’t look, smell, or even taste different from any other oyster,” the CDC’s website says.

Most Vibrio infections can be prevented by ensuring your seafood is thoroughly cooked, especially oysters.

6 dead 20 sick: Listeria traced to Estonia fish factory

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Several countries’ studies have suggested that a mutated and very aggressive form of the listeria bacteria is raging in an M.V.Wool fish plant located near Harku, just outside of Tallinn. According to the latest info, 26 people across Europe have already contracted the bacteria, six of whom have died — among them nine people in Estonia, two of whom have died, according to a longer story to air on ETV investigative program Pealtnägija on Wednesday night.

Genetic analysis ordered by the Veterinary and Food Board (VTA) revealed that the aggressive and contagiousST1247 strain of listeria can be traced back to the factory owned by M.V.Wool, Estonia’s largest fish producer. Bacteria from this specific strain have been found both in the plant’s production building as well as from people that have fallen ill.

VTA deputy director general Olev Kalda said that the fish plant is under the watchful eye of inspectors, and each product batch to leave the plant is currently being thoroughly inspected.

“Clearly some fairly innocuous listeria monocytogenes ended up at that business, possibly three or four years ago, but it’s possible that as a result of insufficient [cleaning] measures, this mutation occurred there and it developed into a persister strain, i.e. a strain unique only to that specific place,” Kalda explained.

M.V.Wool factory owner and board chairman Mati Vetevool has categorically denied that the dangerous bacteria came from their factory, pointing the finger instead at Norwegian and Finnish farms from which he claims the bacteria ended up in their plant.

“I absolutely do not agree that this bacteria is our bacteria,” Vetevool said. “It comes in from the fish farm; it hasn’t developed here. We can also end up stuck with a strain originating from a fish farm. Every night, our fish plant is thoroughly washed, and we destroy absolutely all bacteria in the cleaning process. It’s not possible that we are poisoning anyone. Nothing of the sort is possible — this is simply sheer libel.”

According to Kalda, however, Vetevool’s story doesn’t add up.

“The studies show that this specific strain has been found only in products to be produced by this company, it has been found in this company’s environment — i.e. in its production facilities, on its production equipment — but it, as I mentioned, did not enter this company in this form, with this current strain of DNA,” the VTA official said.

9 sick from Salmonella: Not sure about source but throw out hummus

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The Maryland Department of Health (MDH) is investigating a cluster of salmonella infections in individuals who all reported eating at Moby Dick House of Kabob restaurant, which has multiple locations in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Since September 10, nine confirmed cases have been reported in Maryland. The exact cause of the infections has not been determined and the investigation is ongoing, but eight of nine cases reported consuming Moby Dick House of Kabob hummus.

At this time, Moby Dick House of Kabob has voluntarily suspended sale of hummus and MDH recommends that consumers discard hummus purchased from any Moby Dick House of Kabob. Individuals who have recently eaten food from Moby Dick House of Kabob and are experiencing any adverse medical symptoms should seek medical attention.

How about Sweden: 36 stricken by Salmonella

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Outbreak News Today reports that Swedish Public Health officials (Folkhalsomyndigheten) are reporting (computer translated) an outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium since the beginning of the month.

To date, 36 cases from 10 counties have been linked with whole-genome sequencing. Most cases have been reported from Västra Götaland, Jönköping, Halland and Dalarna. Ill persons are found in all age groups, both among children and the elderly, and slightly more women (22) than men (14) have become sick.

The Swedish National Food Agency and the Public Health Authority together are investigating the outbreak to identify the source of the infection that is suspected to be a food that has been widely distributed in Sweden.

Next up: 200 sickened from Salmonella in tartar sauce causes outbreak in Belgian hotel school

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Fresh tartar sauce is the source of the salmonella outbreak in the Bruges hotel school Spermalie in early September.

EN 24 News reports on Friday Sept. 6 and the following days, 200 pupils and teachers fell ill at the Spermalie hotel and tourism school in Bruges. Laboratory testing of stool languages ​​soon showed that Spermalie was affected by an outbreak of salmonella. The samples of the meals that were served in the school restaurant were then analyzed. An online survey of students and teachers was also launched to find out who had eaten what in which restaurant.

“All these elements together make us decide that the tartar sauce and perhaps more specifically the eggs used are at the source of this outbreak. Further research and typing of the salmonella strains will bring even more clarity on this, “says Liesbeth Van de Voorde, spokesperson for the FASFC food agency.

15 sick: Salmonella in raw egg hollandaise shutters Dubai restaurant

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Sajila Saseendran of Gulf News writes Dubai Municipality has shut down an American restaurant after 15 people fell ill following a food poisoning outbreak recently.

The Food Safety Department of the civic body ordered the outlet to close and held its chef and Person-In-Charge (PIC) of food safety responsible for the salmonella infection that caused the outbreak, the municipality stated.

The department has downgraded the food safety rating of the outlet and revoked its PIC certificate.

The outlet in a Jumeirah mall will be under strict monitoring for the next six months once it will be allowed to reopen after the closure period to corrective measures.

The team collected samples and conducted internationally accepted tests following which they traced the infection to raw eggs used in hollandaise sauce, officials said.

It was found that the chef had used raw eggs in violation of the food safety rules.

Following this, the department issued a fresh alert to eateries preparing food with eggs reminding them about its ban on using raw eggs in ready-to-eat products.

In 2012, the municipality barred Dubai eateries from using raw eggs in ready-to-eat products after authorities found them as a cause of many salmonella infections reported here.

New regulations that restrict the use of raw and under-cooked eggs were introduced and it was also made mandatory to declare their use in food labels or menus.