107 dead, 852 sick from Listeria in South Africa: Suspects unknown

Posted on February 12, 2018 by Douglas Powell

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), in Johannesburg, South Africa, reported 107 case patients have died from Listeria monocytogenes.

The agency, which is a division of the National Health Dept., said 852 listeriosis cases were confirmed between Jan. 1, 2017 and Feb. 5,2018, but so far, the source of the outbreak is not known. “Presently no food sources that are contaminated with the outbreak strain have been found, including amongst poultry and poultry products,” the agency said in a statement.

1 sick from Listeria linked to raw sheep milk cheeses from Spain

Posted on February 12, 2018 by Douglas Powell

On February 5 the Spanish Agency for Consumer Affairs, Food Safety and Nutrition has learned through the Coordinated System of Rapid Information Exchange (SCIRI) of the existence of an affected by meningitis in the Community of Madrid, as a result of intoxication food by Listeria monocytogenes presumably associated with the consumption of soft milk sheep cheese made by the company Ohian Txiki Koop located in the Basque Country. The affected one evolves favorably.

The cheeses allegedly involved are the following:

Gutizia, raw sheep milk cheese.

Txuria , soft cheese from raw sheep’s milk.

Beltza, lactic cheese-curl of raw sheep’s milk.

These products have been distributed from the manufacturer to the Autonomous Communities of Madrid, Catalonia and the Basque Country. On February 7 there is evidence that from Madrid, there has been a small redistribution to Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Extremadura, Galicia, Valencia and Portugal, few units.

The removal of all batches of raw soft-ewe sheep milk cheese is being carried out.

This information has been communicated through the system of the national alert network to the competent Authorities of the Autonomous Communities that are carrying out the appropriate actions, as well as to the competent Portuguese Authorities through the Rapid Alert Network System for Food and Feed. European.

As a precautionary measure, people who have some packaging of these products at home are advised, refrain from consuming them and if they have consumed them and if they present any unusual symptoms, it is recommended to go to a health center.

Europe models: Listeria monocytogenes contamination of ready-to-eat foods and the risk for human health in the EU

Posted on January 25, 2018 by Douglas Powell

Here’s an idea: don’t serve cold cuts and raw sprouts to old people.

Duh.

The European Food Safety Authority reports that food safety criteria for Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat (RTE) foods have been applied from 2006 onwards (Commission Regulation (EC) 2073/2005). Still, human invasive listeriosis was reported to increase over the period 2009–2013 in the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA). Time series analysis for the 2008–2015 period in the EU/EEA indicated an increasing trend of the monthly notified incidence rate of confirmed human invasive listeriosis of the over 75 age groups and female age group between 25 and 44 years old (probably related to pregnancies).

A conceptual model was used to identify factors in the food chain as potential drivers for L. monocytogenes contamination of RTE foods and listeriosis. Factors were related to the host (i. population size of the elderly and/or susceptible people; ii. underlying condition rate), the food (iii. L. monocytogenes prevalence in RTE food at retail; iv. L. monocytogenes concentration in RTE food at retail; v. storage conditions after retail; vi. consumption), the national surveillance systems (vii. improved surveillance), and/or the bacterium (viii. virulence).

Factors considered likely to be responsible for the increasing trend in cases are the increased population size of the elderly and susceptible population except for the 25–44 female age group. For the increased incidence rates and cases, the likely factor is the increased proportion of susceptible persons in the age groups over 45 years old for both genders. Quantitative modelling suggests that more than 90% of invasive listeriosis is caused by ingestion of RTE food containing > 2,000 colony forming units (CFU)/g, and that one-third of cases are due to growth in the consumer phase. Awareness should be increased among stakeholders, especially in relation to susceptible risk groups. Innovative methodologies including whole genome sequencing (WGS) for strain identification and monitoring of trends are recommended.

Food Safety Talk 143: I Don’t Want Dead Water

Posted on January 10, 2018 by Ben Chapman

Don and Ben chat about Skype and the weather (as always) but do get eventually to food safety stuff including disco dust, diamond lattes, home chicken slaughter, E. coli O157:H7 in Romaine lettuce (or not, or maybe, yes), raw water and frozen biscuits.

Episode 143 can be found here and on iTunes.

Show notes so you can follow along at home:

61 dead from listeriosis in South Africa as fatalities double in a month

Posted on January 8, 2018 by Douglas Powell

Wendy Knowler of Business Day reports the death toll from the listeriosis outbreak plaguing SA has nearly doubled in the past month, to 61 from 36, as SA grapples with an outbreak that experts say is the worst on record, worldwide.

The origin of the outbreak remains a mystery, though researchers have confirmed it probably has a single source.

Nonetheless, a Sovereign Foods abattoir has been closed, after listeria bacteria were found there.

Sovereign Foods, which is based in the Eastern Cape‚ is one of the major poultry producers in Africa. The company delisted from the JSE on November 22, concluding a management buyout funded by private equity firm Capitalworks.

But Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said the strain found at the abattoir was not the ST6 strain responsible for the deadly outbreak.

He told a briefing in Pretoria on Monday that a chicken sample collected from the fridge at a patient’s home tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes.

This chicken was traced back to the store and then traced back to the abattoir. It was sourced from Sovereign Foods‚ he said.

However‚ all samples collected from the abattoir have so far failed to pick up the ST6 strain of the outbreak that the country is experiencing.

As a consequence‚ authorities cannot yet link clinical isolates obtained from patients to particular foodstuffs or a food production site.

Motsoaledi said that the number of cases of listeriosis confirmed via lab testing had increased from 557 in early December to 727 at the latest count.

Food scientists are now calling it the worst documented listeriosis outbreak in global history.

The minister said 91% of the isolates were ST6 type isolates, a finding that supported the hypothesis that a single source of food contamination may have caused the outbreak from one or more food products at a single facility.

Dr Lucia Anelich‚ a prominent South African food microbiologist and food safety expert, said “I concur with my colleagues from business‚ academia and governments‚ in Europe‚ Australia‚ Canada and the US‚ that this is the worst documented listeriosis outbreak in global history.”

1 dead, 5 sick from Listeria in cold-smoked salmon, 2017, Denmark

Posted on January 7, 2018 by Douglas Powell

In Denmark, on 23 August 2017, Statens Serum Institut (SSI) identified a genetic cluster of four human Listeria monocytogenes sequence type (ST) 8 isolates by core genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST) [1]. The allele calling was performed in BioNumerics (v7.6.2, Applied Maths, Belgium). We initiated an epidemiological investigation and notified the Danish Central Outbreak Management Group (collaboration between the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration (DVFA), the National Food Institute at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and SSI). On 25 August, two additional human isolates were found to belong to the same genetic cluster.

Lox 014

A confirmed case was defined as a person clinically diagnosed with listeriosis after 1 January 2017 with laboratory-confirmed L. monocytogenes ST8 clustering using cgMLST (≤ 5 allelic distance, single linkage). Cases diagnosed before 1 January 2017 with an isolate belonging to this cluster were defined as probable cases.

As of 25 August 2017, the genetic cluster comprised six cases; five confirmed and one probable. Laboratory sample dates ranged from 25 October 2015 to 21 August 2017. The age of the cases ranged from 59 to 96 years (median 80 years) and four were women. All patients had underlying illness and no travel history. One patient died within 30 days of diagnosis. Epidemiological investigations including a standard questionnaire on exposures showed that all five confirmed cases had consumed cold-smoked and/or cured salmon in the 30 days before disease onset. Four cases had bought the salmon in retail chain X. No other food-item was reported as consumed in high frequencies among cases. Epidemiological follow-up for the probable case did not include information on fish consumption.

Cross-border outbreak of listeriosis cause by cold-smoked salmon, revealed by integrated surveillance and whole genome sequencing (WGS), Denmark and France, 2015 to 2017

Eurosurveillance, 2017, Susanne Schjørring, Sofie Gillesberg Lassen, Tenna Jensen, Alexandra Moura, Jette S Kjeldgaard, Luise Müller, Stine Thielke, Alexandre Leclercq, Mylene M Maury, Mathieu Tourdjman ,Marie-Pierre Donguy, Marc Lecuit, Steen Ethelberg, Eva M Nielsen, https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2017.22.50.17-00762

http://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2017.22.50.17-00762

Your frozen ready-to-bake biscuits might have Listeria in/on them

Posted on January 2, 2018 by Ben Chapman

We don’t have a lot of rules on barfblog. In the about us section we’ve got our mantra:

opinions must be evidence-based – with references – reliable and relevant. The barfblog authors edit each other, often viciously.

We also have adopted the Wikipedia test of is it new and notable.

Listeria leading to a recall of frozen, ready-to-bake biscuits is new. And notable.

According to a company announcement, T. Marzetti is recalling a whole bunch of partially cooked. For the folks outside of the nerd world, this means they are raw, intended to be cooked before consumption. But as we’ve told industry and regulator folks repeatedly, people don’t do what you want them to do all the time, Including cooking/heating.

If you’ve got Listeria in your product, and you’re not sure how people really prepare it, get it out of their hands.

Don and I have talked on Food Safety Talk a bunch about the limitations of Listeria testing, including enumeration vs. presence/absence. Looking for it and finding it tells you where you are regulatory. Because the relatively hight mean infectious dose of Lm in many described outbreaks (see this excellent paper from Régis Pouillot and colleagues discussing the Blue Bell-linked Lm outbreak and dose levels for more) just finding one Lm cell in a bag has a different public health risk from 10^8 cells per biscuit. Presence/absence doesn’t help with that.

As a precautionary measure, T. Marzetti Company is voluntarily recalling all “Best By” dates of the following products that were distributed in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, because they may have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

No illnesses have been reported in connection with the recalled items.

This announcement applies only to the specific frozen biscuit dough products listed [here] and does not include any other items produced by T. Marzetti Company or other items under the brands listed below.

Wait for the blame-the-consumer wording. Wait for it…

Although these products are not ready-to-eat items and have baking instructions which, if followed, will reduce consumer risk, there remains some risk that the mishandling of this product prior to or without adequate baking may cause illness

And there it is.

Sure, baking will help. What about cross-contamination and growth? A recall notice isn’t a great place to get all negative with terms like ‘if followed’ and ‘mishandling.’

647 sick, 60 dead from Listeria in South Africa

Posted on December 22, 2017 by Douglas Powell

As of 19 December 2017, a total of 647 laboratory-confirmed listeriosis cases have been reported to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) since 01 January 2017.

Diagnosis was based most commonly on the isolation of Listeria monocytogenes in blood culture (71%, 459/647), followed by CSF (24%, 156/647). Where age was reported (n=620), ages range from birth to 93 years (median 26 years) and 39% (241/620) are neonates aged ≤28 days . Of neonatal cases, 96% (232/241) had early-onset disease (birth to ≤6 days). Females account for 55% (341/623) of cases where gender is reported.

As of 19 December 2017, case investigation forms (CIFs) of variable completeness have been received for 229 (35%) cases. Apart from neonates (≤28 days) and the elderly (>65 years), additional risk factors for listeriosis reported include pregnancy (11/47 females aged 15-49 years) and HIV infection status. In non-neonatal cases where HIV status was known (n=117), 37% (43/117) were HIV positive. Maternal HIV status is known for 57 neonatal cases, of which 22/57 (38%) were HIV positive. Final outcome data is available for 20% (131/640) of cases, of which 46% (60/131) died.

To date, whole genome sequencing has been performed on 206 clinical L. monocytogenes isolates. Fifteen sequence types (STs) have been identified; however, 74% (153/206) belong to a single ST (ST6). Isolates in this ST6 cluster are very closely related, showing <20 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) differences. This suggests that most cases in this outbreak have had exposure to a widely available, common food type/source

Clinical listeriosis management guidelines are available on the website (www.nicd.ac.za). Where clinicians suspect listeriosis but specimens (including CSF and blood) are culture negative, a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based test can be performed at the NICD.

Whole genome sequencing is being performed on all clinical isolates and food/environmental isolates received from the NHLS Infection Control Laboratory in Johannesburg.

36 dead, 557 sick in Listeria outbreak in South Africa

Posted on December 7, 2017 by Douglas Powell

At a media briefing in Pretoria on Tuesday, South African Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi announced that since January 1, 2017 up until November 29, 557 laboratory confirmed cases have been reported.

Of the 557 cases, the department of health has found the final outcome of 70 confirmed cases of listeriosis.

“Of these 70 cases, 36 persons have perished,” said Motsoaledi.

The source of the outbreak is currently being investigated, but Motsoaledi said it’s believe that this particular outbreak is from a food source that is being consumed by both the rich and the poor, and the contamination points may well be farms and food processing plants.

Listeria triggers major recall of veggies across US and Canada

Posted on October 26, 2017 by Douglas Powell

A leading vegetable supplier in California, Mann Packing, voluntarily recalled products that might have been contaminated with Listeria.

The recall affects packaged produce at multiple supermarkets across the United States and Canada including Walmart, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Meijer, Albertson’s and Safeway.

“Mann Packing is issuing this recall out of an abundance of caution,” the company said in a statement, adding that it is cooperating with U.S. and Canadian health officials to recall the products.

No illnesses have been linked to the products, the company said. The contamination risk was picked up by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency through random sampling.

The affected items were listed as “best if used by” October 11 to October 20.

About 1,600 people become infected with listeria each year, and about 260 die, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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