Food Safety Talk 78: Brogues are low risk

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Ben Chapman

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.

The show opens with the guys reminiscing about their visit to Southern California and the Hopscotch Tavern where they witnessed a Fark worthy car chase on TV.

Ben shared his love of Top 40 music , and his worries about exposing his kids to inappropriate music like Beyoncé or Sublime.

From there the discussion moves to the value of real world experiences like those detailed in Kitchen Confidential, Heat, or by Gord Surgeoner during his retirement dinner.

The food safety talk begins in earnest with a discussion of Hepatitis A illnesses linked to frozen berries in Australia, and Don shared his back of the envelope quantitative microbial risk assessment for frozen berries based on this article. This was followed by a discussion on why viruses might be such a problem in frozen berries, and frozen food safety risk management in general.

Next up is an exploration of Listeria in public lavatories based on this peer reviewed publication. The conversation then devolves into Shoe Safety Talk, and the risks posed by brogues, not broughs, but the brogue shoe.

The After Dark includes a mention of Roderick’s Rendezvous, The Dan Benjamin Hour, and Don finally remembers the name of Battle Creek.

Pay attention when staff barf: 96 sickened from Cowfish in NC

Posted on July 1, 2015 by Douglas Powell

At least 96 people were sickened during the Norovirus outbreak at The Cowfish restaurant in early June, according to county health department records obtained by the Observer.

The records, obtained through a public records request, provide the fullest account yet of the extent of the illnesses at the popular SouthPark sushi and burger bar.

Records show one Norovirus case was confirmed by a state Department of Health and Human Services laboratory. Ninety-five others were deemed “probable” by health officials. Just one person reported visiting a hospital.

The outbreak prompted the restaurant to close twice, once on June 5 and again on June 10. It reopened June 16.

Cowfish owner Alan Springate, responding by email to questions from the Observer, said his staff began to suspect a problem late in the day on Friday, June 5, when a customer reported some members of his party had become ill in the preceding two days.

Wednesday and Thursday of that week, two other guests had reported illnesses, but the restaurant had suspected a problem with a food item, calamari, which both guests had consumed. Cowfish removed the item from its menu and contacted its suppliers.

The person reporting on June 5 had not consumed calamari, though. At that point, “we began to consider the possibility that we were dealing with something other than a food issue,” Springate wrote.

After the Cowfish posted news of its closing on Facebook June 6, others began coming forward to report they’d been sickened. The restaurant contacted each of them and shared details with the health department, Springate said.

By the time the restaurant knew something was amiss on June 5, at least nine of the restaurant’s roughly 140 employees had been sickened, according to a report by state health inspector Nicole Lee. The first fell ill May 31, she wrote.

Springate’s email said that while some employees had called in sick, “nothing raised a red flag.”

“It’s critical to understand that although we now know we were experiencing an uptick in illness, many employees had not yet notified us because they were not scheduled to work,” he said.

Food Safety Talk 77: Sous vide is French for under vacuum

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Ben Chapman

Ben and Don start by catching up about technology. Ben is quite excited about Google fiber coming to Raleigh, NC, Don, already subscribed to Verizon fios says that the fiber is great. Ben then leads a discussion about his new obsession, the Wake Forest Community discussion board on Facebook. The page is a forum for pretty much anything from tooth abscesses, to snakes, to local business ratings. The guys delve into the community forum concept and explore the intersection with food safety (sale of goods, transportation from out of state). Don mentions that he has been volunteering with the innovation committee in Freehold borough who also is looking at a community forum. Ben introduces the concept of lip dubbing and Don provides his favorite, a NFL video about reading of lips incorrectly.

The real food safety portion of the podcast starts by Don talking about Better Process Control School. Don talked about some feedback he was giving to a couple of small companies about aseptic processing, challenge studies and jacketed kettles, and expressed some frustration with FDA because sometimes their interpretation of science isn’t clear.

The discussion goes into regulatory hurdles, retail food safety, variances and HACCP plans. Ben talked about an individual that is interested in food sustainability who is looking to divert food waste from restaurants to pantries, using reduced oxygen packaging for storage and transport. The guys talk about regulating food even that is given away (but not it all states) and the variance process.

NC Senator Thom Tillis garnered headlines for suggesting that restaurants be allowed to opt out of handwashing regulations as long as they post a disclosure or advisory – or replacing one regulation with another. The podcast ends with a discussion of a possible norovirus outbreak at NC State.

NC State researchers show copper affects norovirus capsid

Posted on June 17, 2015 by Ben Chapman

Matt Shipman, public information officer at NC State University and curator of The Abstract writes, norovirus affects an estimated 20 million Americans every year, and the hardy virus can linger on exposed surfaces for weeks – making it difficult to stop the spread of the disease. But a new finding from NC State researchers shows that an age-old commodity may be a new tool in combating norovirus: copper.

The researchers found that viral shells (being used as a stand-in for norovirus) that were in contact with copper alloys for at least ten minutes became effectively neutralized. In other words, the finding means that virus particles that land on a copper doorknob or counter-top would no longer be capable of causing a norovirus infection.

The work holds promise for helping to limit the spread of norovirus infection via “environmental contamination” in places like hospitals or doctor’s offices.

A paper on the finding, “Destruction of the Capsid and Genome of GII.4 Human Norovirus Occurs During Exposure to Metal Alloys Containing Copper,” is published online in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. The paper was authored by NC State researchers Chip Manuel, Matt Moore, and Lee-Ann Jaykus, who are part of the NoroCORE research collaborative. NoroCORE stands for the Norovirus Collaborative for Outreach, Research, and Education, and involves more than 30 research teams from 18 institutions. It is funded through a $25 million grant awarded by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

More information on the work is also available on the site of the American Society for Microbiology.

A different kind of mile-high club: 12 ill on a flight to LAX

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Ben Chapman

Illnesses happen on planes, and it’s miserable.

The Los Angeles Times reports that 12 passengers on a flight from Fiji to LAX fell ill with vomiting and nausea. Each of the affected flyers reported staying in the same hotel prior to the flight.

Maybe the best plane-related outbreak was one reported in Clinical Infectious Diseases a couple of years ago. I’d describe my poop and barf-related imagination as pretty good but I couldn’t have dreamt up the scenario that unfolded on a plane leaving Boston bound for Los Angeles in October 2008.

Members of [the] tour group experienced diarrhea and vomiting throughout an airplane flight from Boston, Massachusetts, to Los Angeles, California, resulting in an emergency diversion 3 h after takeoff.

The problematic flight departed Boston on Oct 8, 2008, heading for Los Angeles and carrying among its passengers 35 members of a leaf-peeping tour group. (Four more members of the group had planned other routes home, while two had been hospitalized in the previous 2 days.)

The outbreak included a passenger with “multiple episodes of diarrhea, with at least 1 occurring in the aisle of the first-class section. The soiled aisle was not cleaned until after completion of the flight.”

Norovirus sucks; The Cowfish reopens after 50 illnesses and a deep clean

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Ben Chapman

Last week I talked to a bunch of retail food safety folks at FMI Foundation’s Retail Food Safety Forum about norovirus (and other stuff). Part of my message was that once the perfect human pathogen is in a restaurant, grocery store, or cruise ship, it’s tough to get it out without some illnesses.

Part of the problem with noro (beyond the low mean infectious dose; environmental stability; and, 10^9 virus particles per gram of vomit/poop) is a vomit event can lead to particles floating through the air. And maybe moving 30 feet from the barf splatter. Check out Grace Thompson’s vomit modeling apparatus (below, exactly as shown) for more.

According to WCNC, The Cowfish, a popular sushi and burger joint in Charlotte, is about to reopen following a noro outbreak affecting over 50 staff and patrons. Mecklenburg County Medical Director Dr. Stephen Keener says the working theory, according to is that a patron or food handler had the virus, brought it into the system, and spread it.

The Cowfish voluntarily closed its doors after norovirus is believed to have made about 50 people sick last week.

They original closed the doors to the restaurant as a precaution. The second time they closed, they brought in professionals to clean. Something they didn’t do the first time.

NBC Charlotte pulled up the most recent health inspection report. The restaurant was cited for hands not being clean and properly washed.

The health department still hasn’t found the cause of the illness and released this statement: ‘Cowfish management has been proactive and in constant contact with the Health Department.”

The owner of the restaurant calls this a regrettable situation and says, ‘We also will continue to work with health officials to be sure we are doing everything possible to protect the health and safety of our guests and employees.’

Bringing in some professionals who have compounds that are effective against noro (CDC advises 1000-5000ppm of chlorine for contaminated surfaces).

Don’t be creepy: Singer gave Lionel Richie Norovirus after lips smooch at Glastonbury

Posted on June 11, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Alex Jones gave the Norovirus to Lionel Richie after he planted a kiss on her lips.

The One Show host joked the singer, who had to cancel two of his gigs after contracting the infection by pecking her at Glastonbury, should have just gone for her cheek to avoid having to cancel two of his gigs as a result.

She told The Sun: “After Lionel and I had just finished our chat on the show, I went to give him a kiss on the cheek and he went in for the lips.

“He caught the Norovirus off me and had to cancel two of his tour dates.”

55 sick: Norovirus linked to NC Cowfish Sushi Bar illness55 sick: Norovirus linked to NC Cowfish Sushi Bar illness

Posted on June 9, 2015 by Douglas Powell

The Mecklenburg County Health Department believes norovirus is what caused customers and employees at Cowfish Sushi Bar and Grill to become sick.

Twenty-one employees and 34 customers reported flu-like symptoms, prompting the restaurant to close Saturday.

They have since sanitized and are back open.

The Health Department says it could have been passed on any number of ways.

“It could have been some contaminated object or presumably a contaminated food, but somebody had to have it to contaminate it in the first place,” said Dr. Stephen Keener, the medical director for Mecklenburg County.

The virus can live anywhere from days to weeks.

Finland marketing: Please don’t go to the toilet in the water

Posted on June 8, 2015 by Douglas Powell

And you thought Canadians were polite (we’re not, we swear a lot, fornicate and play hockey, what else to do in cold weather; sorta like Finland).

Finland’s health authorities have been issuing advice in an attempt to prevent the spread of Norovirus among swimmers this summer, following last year’s outbreak when hundreds of beachgoers caught the contagious vomiting bug.

Authorities are now keen to avoid a repeat of last year’s numerous beach closures.

Senior inspector Jaana Kilponen, from the health and safety executive Valvira, said that changing rooms and toilet facilities at bathing spots were also responsible for the spread.

“When you’ve got ideal swimming conditions, such as warm water and lots of people, then it’s important that authorities make sure the facilities are cleaned more frequently, and kept well stocked with soap and hand towels,” she told Yle.

Kilponen also implored swimmers to avoid being sick or going to the toilet in the water – and not to drink it. Anyone with Norovirus should wait two weeks before going swimming. Kilponen admits that in theory it’s possible that a single infected swimmer could contaminate the water.

‘Food safety is our number one’ 18 sickened as California Norovirus outbreak leads to voluntary four-day restaurant closure

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Douglas Powell

The well-known Sky Room restaurant and bar voluntarily closed for four days last week to implement a full-scale sanitation process in response to a norovirus outbreak, officials at The Sky Room and the Long Beach Environmental Health Bureau confirmed Monday.

Environmental Health Bureau Manager Nelson Kerr and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) call the virus one of the “most common” outbreaks in the U.S., infecting 19 to 21 million people in the U.S. each year. The CDC states that anyone can be infected, often by touching an “infected person, contaminated food or water or by touching contaminated surfaces.”

“It’s been contained—at this point, it’s over,” Kerr said. “The Sky Room took the opportunity to go above and beyond in its response, according to CDC guidelines.”

Kerr said the restaurant closed from May 22 to May 26 and used the CDC guidelines required of cruise ships in response to a norovirus outbreak, which involve cleaning everything with a specific concentration of bleach and water.

According to Kerr, a total of 18 cases of the virus were reported among employees and patrons, with 15 probable cases and three confirmed. The three confirmed instances of the virus were reported among three employees of The Sky Room.

The Sky Room owner Jonathan Rosenson said, “Food safety is our number one,” Rosenson said, noting that the owners’ grandchildren have visited the restaurant since the outbreak. “We want people to come to our restaurant and have the best time ever.”

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