Category Archives: E. coli

Food Safety Talk 155: Diamond Dave

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The episode starts with a discussion on old TV shows that the guys should have watched. Ben and Don then talk about food pantries and frozen chicken items that look cooked but are raw. The guys then chat cookie food safety, insurance policies, traceability and blockchain in Romaine. The conversation goes to a Twitter exchange started by FDA commissioner Scott Gotlieb that Don joined that got to J. Kenji Alt-Lopez (and back to Don) that ended with the grind-your-own-beef-is safer question. The episode ends with a discussion on kimchi fermentation and parameters need to safely make it in restaurant kitchens.

Download episode 155 here and on iTunes


Show notes so you can follow along at home:

1 child dead, 14 sick from E. coli O26 in French ‘Our regions have talent’ raw milk cheese

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Outbreak News Today reports on a statement from the French about the Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) O26 outbreak linked to the consumption of raw milk reblochons produced at the Cruseilles (Haute-Savoie) site of Chabert. French health officials are now reporting 14 children aged one to five years included in the investigation.

As of May 31, 6 children with HUS were infected with the same strain of E. coli O26, for which the consumption or reblochon incriminated is documented. These six children are domiciled in several regions of metropolitan France (Center-Val de Loire, PACA, Ile-de-France, Auverhne-Rhone-Aples, Pays-de-la-Loire); and for 8 other children, investigations are in progress. Of these, two had signs of gastroenteritis and six had HUS. One of the children with HUS died; the investigation around this case is in progress. To date, it cannot be dismissed or affirmed that these cases of HUS are linked to the consumption of reblochon: non-isolated and characterized strain, or consumption of reblochon incriminated not yet documented.

1 dead, 42 sick: E. coli outbreak linked to pork products in Alberta declared over

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On Friday, Alberta Health Services said the E. coli outbreak linked to certain pork products in the province was officially over.

AHS started investigating a number of confirmed cases on March 29.

The outbreak was connected to some pork products sold and distributed by The Meat Shop at Pine Haven. Several other businesses were impacted since they used the affected pork products and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) issued a food recall.

In total, there were 42 lab-confirmed cases of E. coli linked to this outbreak.

Thirteen patients needed medical treatment at the hospital and one person “died likely due to infection with E. coli,” AHS said.

“Our thoughts remain with the family of the patient who died and all of those affected by this,” said Dr. Jasmine Hasselback, medical officer of health for the Edmonton zone. “We would like to thank our federal and provincial partners for their collaboration on this investigation.”

Bugs be passed around on leafy greens

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Several outbreaks of foodborne illness traced to leafy greens and culinary herbs have been hypothesized to involve cross-contamination during washing and processing. This study aimed to assess the redistribution of Salmonella Typhimurium LT2 during pilot-scale production of baby spinach and cilantro and redistribution of Escherichia coli O157:H7 during pilot-scale production of romaine lettuce.

Four inoculated surrogate: uninoculated product weight ratios (10:100, 5:100, 1:100, and 0.5:100) and three inoculation levels (103, 101, and 10−1 CFU/g) were used for the three commodities. For each of three trials per condition, 5-kg batches containing uninoculated product and spot-inoculated surrogate products at each ratio and inoculation level were washed for 90 s in a 3.6-m-long flume tank through which 890 L of sanitizer-free, filtered tap water was circulated. After washing and removing the inoculated surrogate products, washed product (∼23, 225-g samples per trial) was analyzed for presence or absence of Salmonella Typhimurium or E. coli O157:H7 by using the GeneQuence Assay.

For baby spinach, cilantro, and romaine lettuce, no significant differences (P > 0.05) in the percentage of positive samples were observed at the same inoculation level and inoculated: uninoculated weight ratio. For each pathogen product evaluated (triplicate trials), inoculation level had a significant impact on the percentage of positive samples after processing, with the percentage of positive samples decreasing, as the initial surrogate inoculation level decreased.

The weight ratio of contaminated: noncontaminated product plays an important role: positive samples ranged from 0% to 11.6% ± 2.05% and from 68.1% ± 33.6% to 100% among the four ratios at inoculation of 10−1 and 101 CFU/g, respectively.

To our knowledge, this study is the first to assess the redistribution of low levels of pathogens from incoming product to leafy greens during processing and should provide important data for microbial risk assessments and other types of food safety analyses related to fresh-cut leafy greens.

Transfer and redistribution of Salmonella typhimurium LT2 and Escherichia coli O157:H7 during pilot-scale processing of baby spinach, cilantro, and romaine lettuce

Journal of food Protection vol.81 no. 6 June 2018

HALEY S. SMOLINSKI,1 SIYI WANG,1 LIN REN,1 YUHUAN CHEN,2 BARBARA KOWALCYK,3 ELLEN THOMAS,3 JANE VAN DOREN,2 and ELLIOT T. RYSER1*

https://doi.org/10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-17-420

http://jfoodprotection.org/doi/abs/10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-17-420

5 dead, 197 sick from E. coli O157 linked to romaine lettuce

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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports there are now five people dead and 197 sick from E. coli O157:H7 linked to romaine lettuce.

  • 197 people infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 have been reported from 35 states.
  • 89 people (48%) have been hospitalized, including 26 people who have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome.
  • 5 deaths have been reported from Arkansas (1), California (1), Minnesota (2), and New York (1).
  • Illnesses started on dates ranging from March 13, 2018 to May 12, 2018.
  • Ill people range in age from 1 to 88 years, with a median age of 29.
  • Sixty-eight percent of ill people are female.

The Public Health Agency of Canada has identified people in several Canadian provinces infected with the same DNA fingerprint of E. coli O157:H7.

It takes two to three weeks between when a person becomes ill with E. coli and when the illness is reported to CDC. Most of the people who recently became ill ate romaine lettuce when lettuce from the Yuma, Arizona, growing region was likely still available in stores, restaurants, or in peoples’ homes. Some people who became sick did not report eating romaine lettuce, but had close contact with someone else who got sick from eating romaine lettuce.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the last shipments of romaine lettuce from the Yuma growing region were harvested on April 16, 2018, and the harvest season is over. It is unlikely that any romaine lettuce from the Yuma growing region is still available in people’s homes, stores, or restaurants due to its 21-day shelf life.

The traceback investigation indicates that the illnesses associated with this outbreak cannot be explained by a single grower, harvester, processor, or distributor. While traceback continues, the FDA will focus on trying to identify factors that contributed to contamination of romaine across multiple supply chains.  The agency is examining all possibilities, including that contamination may have occurred at any point along the growing, harvesting, packaging, and distribution chain before reaching consumers. 

The FDA has identified Harrison Farms of Yuma, Arizona, as the grower and sole source of the whole-head romaine lettuce that sickened several people in an Alaskan correctional facility, but has not determined where in the supply chain the contamination occurred.

On May 31, 2018 the FDA released a blog with updated information on the traceback investigation (for additional information, visit FDA Update on Traceback Related to the E. coli O157:H7 Outbreak Linked to Romaine Lettuce).

A listing of 78 outbreaks linked to leafy greens since 1995 is posted here.

Thousands of Oregon food safety inspections still past due

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Our own Rob Mancini – most handsome man in food safety – was quoted in the Oregon Statesman Journal last week as saying, “In other jurisdictions high-risk facilities are typically inspected four times per year and low-risk facilities once per year.”

Yet according to Tracy Loew of the Statesman Journal, Oregon’s Food Safety Program remains in disarray, a year and a half after a state audit found it was so far behind on inspections of grocery stores, food processors and other licensees that public health could be at risk.

Although program officials touted an improvement in the inspection backlog just a few months ago, a newly discovered error in their tracking database has nearly wiped out the gain.

And officials can’t say whether the remaining improvement is due to completing more inspections or to adjustments they’ve made to inspection deadlines.

That means the state hasn’t checked whether hundreds of establishments are following rules to keep consumers safe — rules such as keeping deli food at correct temperatures, protecting products from pests like rats and cockroaches, keeping expired food off shelves and making sure employees wash their hands.

The Statesman Journal learned of the program’s failure after requesting a copy of the inspection database.

Stephanie Page, who oversaw the program, discovered the mistake in early March. She informed the Secretary of State’s Audits Division in early April.

“Unfortunately, the database coding error makes it very difficult for us to know for sure whether the improving trends that we were seeing were actually happening,” Page, who has since moved to another state agriculture program, wrote to auditors.

Food safety officials also discussed the mistake with the program’s Food Safety Advisory Committee, which is supposed to be open to the public.

But the committee has met in secret since the food safety audit was released in November 2016, leaving consumers out of the loop.

In a follow-up editorial, the Statesman Journal writes there are numerous explanations for the failures, but they all sound like excuses.

The takeaway remains the same for Oregonians: The state Department of Agriculture, which oversees the food safety program, cannot be both regulator and champion of those it manages.

That’s not quite true.

Safe food is a cornerstone of trade and policy.

What is true is the need for public accountability, so consumers can choose.

Ireland daycare closes over E. coli outbreak

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A community creche in Co Monaghan has been closed over an outbreak of shiga-toxin producing E.coli infection among children and staff.

Ballybay Community Creche was forced to close following the outbreak, to limit the spread of the infection. All children and staff members are due to be screened to see if they have picked up the infection.

My leafy green conundrum

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Caesar salad isn’t even the best salad.

It’s the kind of salad you expect at a sports team banquet or during lunch at an all-day meeting.

It’s a safe menu choice.

Except for the past month when foodborne illness outbreak investigators have focused on Romaine lettuce as the culprit of an outbreak of E. coli O157 linked to over 170 illnesses in 32 states.

E. coli O157 historically was once only associated with ground beef making it’s first appearance as what was thought to be a rare strain in 1982 after an outbreak was traced to McDonald’s. In 1993 over 500 illnesses and 4 deaths were linked to Jack-in-the-Box restaurants , an event that brought foodborne illness to the national stage. Fast forward 35+ years and the devastating pathogen has caused illnesses after being consumed in cookie dough, hazelnuts, alfalfa sprouts, soy nut butter, chicken salad – and a whole bunch of fresh produce including leafy greens.

The very type of food we should eat more of betrays us at a higher rate compared to other foods: Fresh produce is believed to be the source of almost half of all foodborne illnesses in the U.S.

Because it is consumed raw, anything that fresh fruit and vegetables come in contact with from the field to the home can really only increase risk. Washing and rinsing can remove at most 99% of what’s there. Microbiologically speaking, because there may be tens of thousands of cells on a leaf of Romaine, that’s not a whole lot. Often produce-related outbreaks are linked to poop getting into the food somewhere — wildlife on the farm; water used for irrigation or rinsing; soil and/or manure; or, the people who harvest, pack, handle and prepare it.

The problem with this outbreak is that the world of food safety sleuths have yet to figure it out. This one is particularly hard because the supply chain is a mess and  investigators are trying to piece together what the farms and packing facilities looked like, food safety-wise, retroactively. Partners in figuring out outbreaks, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have only been able to trace the problem to a specific geographic location – Romaine that was grown in the Yuma, AZ region.

Having a good sense of the supply chain for food, so outbreaks and incidents can be solved, is something that the industry has struggled with for decades. Even with the increased use of electronic records and the promise of blockchain, the data that gets recorded and shared relate to location and how food safety is managed from production to distribution to the grocery store still relies on people to input it.

Better traceability is often held up as a magic bullet but can’t really stop outbreaks from happening alone. Being able to trace a product is wholly reactive. While it is part of a good food safety culture even a good traceability program doesn’t wipe raw poop off of foods.

What keeps food safe is vigilance by the food industry, learning from past outbreaks and focusing on carrying out best practices daily. Lots of food companies talk about food safety. Implementing it daily is much harder. It takes a system throughout the entire company from the front-line staff all the way to the CEO that values food safety. Everyone needs to understand why food safety matters, what their role is and care about the folks who eat their products.

Where I grew up, there was a small tailgate farmers market Saturday mornings in the parking lot adjacent to the grocery store. I never really wondered whether the food sold there was safe. I didn’t think a whole lot about food safety and regulation until years later. I figured that if someone could sell it, they must know what they are doing, and I didn’t have to worry about it.

Food safety is all about trust, and I had lots of it.

I still do.

But over 75 outbreaks linked to leafy greens since 1995 is eroding that trust.

 

Food Safety Talk 154: Poop Finger Quote

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Today’s show opens with some quick beverage talk and then moves to a discussion of podcasting (and teleconferencing) gear.  A brief segue into pop-culture is followed by a deep dive into how to develop science-based advise to consumers.  The safety of bed-side water, the ongoing romaine outbreak, and Listeria in mashed potatoes round out the food safety news.  Listener feedback and a promo for the upcoming live podcast at MSU end the show.

It’s not the water I’m worried about

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The situation that Life Hacker’s Nick Douglas presented to me was (I’m paraphrasing here slightly): hey, I’m gonna leave a glass of water out over night and I know it’s not going to be a problem after a couple of hours, but I can’t leave that water there for a few weeks can I, because it will go bad, right?

My answer (paraphrased as well) I guess it depends what you mean by bad. The water will probably taste different the longer it sits there. Yeast, mold and algae might float into it, but as far as pathogens go, my take is that it’s really low risk.

I told him that the water wasn’t the issue, it’s what gets introduced to the water like food debris or some other nutrient source. And then a pathogen. Or poop. Poop has both.

My quote was, ‘What would matter is if, like, someone had poop on their finger and stuck it in there.’

It’s not like I thought water rots, OK? I just thought that there’s enough bacteria floating around a home, or in tap water, or on your lips when you take a sip, that given a month alone in a glass, it might grow and then make you sick. But, as food safety specialist Dr. Benjamin Chapman tells me in a mildly embarrassing phone call, it won’t.

But there must be some way it could, right? Yes, Dr. Chapman says, if you didn’t wash the glass properly, and left a nutrient like juice or other sugary remnants. 

But even if you’ve drunk out of the glass, getting your mouth on it, leaving a lip print, and then leaving out the glass — even then, he says, you’re not going to poison yourself with your own mouth bacteria.

Obviously, if the water supply is contaminated, all bets are off. If it was toxic when it left the tap, it’s still toxic after sitting out. But apparently, as long as it started out fine, even super-gross-tasting old water is healthy to drink, and I’m an ignorant hydrophobe. Fine. But I’m not alone. I only got curious because cooking blog The Kitchn asked the same question — or maybe they were stating the obvious for rubes like me.