Operation Tarantelo: How the illegal bluefin tuna market made over eur 12 million a year selling fish in Spain

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Europol coordinated the international Operation Tarantelo, conducted by the Spanish Guardia Civil with support of French, Italian, Maltese and Portuguese authorities, in which 79 individuals were arrested.

More than 80 000 kg of illicit Bluefin tuna were seized and it is estimated the network trafficked a volume of over 2.5 million kg a year

Several poisoning cases were detected due to the unsanitary conditions in which the fish were stored

Operation Tarantelo was launched when the Spanish Guardia Civil became aware of irregularities relating to Bluefin tuna fishing in the Mediterranean Sea. Investigations revealed that the fish was being traded illegally in Spain, but imported into the country through French harbours, after being caught in Italian and Maltese waters. While the fish caught in Maltese waters were illegally imported using documents from legal fishing and authorised farms, the fish caught in Italian waters arrived in Spain without documents or inspections. Although most of the fish was caught in Malta and Italy, in Spanish waters there were also unauthorised catches, in this case, the illegally fished Bluefin tuna was transported in false bottoms under the deck of a vessel.

This illegal Bluefin tuna market was up to 2.5 million kg a year and it is estimated criminals earn at least EUR 5 profit per kg; total illegal profits amount to EUR 12.5 million. The volume of this illegal trade is double the annual volume of the legal trade, which is estimated to be 1.25 million kg.

The tuna business is often linked to other crimes such as food fraud or document fraud. The main risks for consumer health were due to the unsanitary conditions in which the fish was transported and stored. Sometimes the fish was hidden underwater after it was fished, awaiting transportation. The supply chain was interrupted several times, which made the tuna go off and the risk of food poising higher for eventual customers. Several cases of food poisoning were detected after eating the tuna, due to the degradation of proteins from the unhygienic conditions in which the tuna was stored.

Frank Yiannas headed to FDA

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Bob Brackett, who was the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s point man during the E. coli spinach outbreak of 2006 ( and did a great job), told me once it was always part of the plan to work in academia, government and industry, and he’s done it.

Much praise from this critic.

 

Frank Yiannas, the vice president of food safety for Walmart and an outspoken proponent of blockchain, is leaving retail to take a post at the Food and Drug Administration.We visited Frank when he was at Disney, Frank visited us when we were in Kansas, we went shopping together at Walmart, as food safety nerds do.

 

I have a lot of respect for Frank, and hope the bureaucratic screws don’t wear him down.

He always said, where can I get the most bang for my food safety buck (OK, those are my words) but I’m fairly sure Frank would go along with that encapsulation.

And the Susies in our lives.

Raw is risky: Outbreak of multidrug-resistant Salmonella infections linked to raw chicken products

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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and public health and regulatory officials in several states are investigating a multistate outbreak of multidrug-resistant Salmonella infections linked to raw chicken products. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) is monitoring the outbreak.

Always handle raw chicken carefully and cook it thoroughly to prevent food poisoning. This outbreak is a reminder that raw chicken can have germs that spread around food preparation areas and make you sick.

CDC is not advising that consumers avoid eating properly cooked chicken, or that retailers stop selling raw chicken products.

CDC advises consumers to follow these steps to help prevent Salmonella infection from raw chicken:

Wash your hands. Salmonella infections can spread from one person to another if hands have Salmonella germs on them. Wash hands before and after preparing or eating food, after contact with animals, and after using the restroom or changing diapers.

Cook raw chicken thoroughly to kill harmful germs. Chicken breasts, whole chickens, and ground poultry, including chicken burgers and chicken sausage, should always be cooked to an internal temperature of 165°F to kill harmful germs. Leftovers should be reheated to 165°F. Use a food thermometer to check, and place it in the thickest part of the food.

Don’t spread germs from raw chicken around food preparation areas. Washing raw poultry before cooking is not recommended. Germs in raw chicken can spread to other foods and kitchen surfaces. Thoroughly wash hands, counters, cutting boards, and utensils with warm, soapy water after they touch raw chicken. Use a separate cutting board for raw chicken and other raw meats if possible.

CDC does not recommend feeding raw diets to pets. Germs like Salmonella in raw pet food can make your pets sick. Your family also can get sick by handling the raw food or by taking care of your pet.

CDC will update the advice to consumers and retailers if more information comes available, such as a supplier or type of raw chicken product linked to illness.

Symptoms of Salmonella Infection

Most people infected with Salmonella develop diarrhea, fever, and stomach cramps 12 to 72 hours after being exposed to the bacteria.

The illness usually lasts 4 to 7 days, and most people recover without treatment.

In some people, the diarrhea may be so severe that the patient needs to be hospitalized. Salmonella infection may spread from the intestines to the bloodstream and then to other places in the body.

In rare cases, Salmonella infection can cause death unless the person is treated promptly with antibiotics.

Children younger than 5 years of age, adults older than 65 years of age, and people with weakened immune systems are more likely to have severe illness.
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Squirrel brains aren’t for everyone: New York state hunter, 61, dies from CJD

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Mary Kekatos of the Daily Mail reports a New York man died after he developed a rare and fatal brain disorder from eating squirrel brains.

In a case report, researchers said the 61-year-old was brought to Rochester Regional Health in 2015 saying he was having trouble thinking, he was losing touch with reality and he couldn’t walk.

(Sounds like me, but I don’t eat squirrel brains; I got a whole other basket of dementia in my future).

Doctors discovered he developed a degenerative disease caused by the same infectious proteins that also result in the more infamous ‘mad cow disease’.

However, it wasn’t contaminated beef that caused this man’s death. His family told doctors he enjoyed hunting and had recently eaten squirrel brains – although it’s unclear if he ate the whole brain or squirrel meat contaminated with parts of the brain. 

The findings of the report were presented on October 4 at IDWeek, an annual meeting of infectious diseases professionals, reported Live Science.

Lead author Dr Tara Chen, a medical resident at Rochester Regional Health, told the website she discovered the case while doing a report on cases of the disease seen at her hospital during a five-year period. 

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a rare, degenerative brain disorder that is caused by coming into contact with tissue that has been infected, such as eating contaminated meat.

Amy says squirrel tastes like chicken — if you add ketchup.

Fortunately, she wasn’t into the whole squirrel-brain culture thing.

Keith Warriner awarded for efforts

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Friend of the barfblog and fresh food safety advocate Keith Warriner of the University of Guelph has been recognized by the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) with an award.

U of G and Moyers Apple Products were awarded the 2018 Mind to Market Award for Outstanding Research Collaboration and Commercialization on Oct. 17. Awards are given to partnerships that exemplify “the success that is possible when the brightest minds in industry and research collaborate to address today’s most critical issues.”

Food science professor Keith Warriner led the research at U of G and found a way to combine UV light and ozone to kill pathogens on apples. Last year, Warriner’s work in this area received one of 11 Premier’s Awards for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence.

The research partnership began following a listeria outbreak in the caramel apple industry. Moyers Apple Products sought a solution to a worldwide problem to ensure safe apple products.

Warriner said the partnership was not only a great platform for commercialization of research but also great training for students on the project.

And to think, I worked at the University of Waterloo from 1990-93 at an Ontario Centre of Excellence.

EHEC in Germany: Cheese recalled

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(Something may be lost in translation, which is where Pink Floyd comes in)

This was informed by the Federal office for consumer protection and food safety in Braunschweig, Germany, on Thursday.

It is the in several States product, marketed with the name “Petite Fleur herbs” (“Keiems bloempje met kruiden”) the date of minimum durability 08.11.2018 and the additional indication of “Lot 3603”, as a manufacturer Dischhof/Belgium has been specified.

In the worst case, kidney failure threatening, According to the Schwabacher company in an investigation of the image Verotoxin found E. coli in the cheeses, which are regarded as potential Ehec.

The editor recommends:

“From a consumption of the affected product is strictly not recommended”, the company said.

The Ehec can cause bloody diarrhoea and in severe cases lead to kidney failure, but there are also inconspicuous progressions. The severe course of a disease ends in about two percent of the cases fatal.

In the spring of 2011 had cost the largest German Ehec epidemic 53. In Germany, the disease occurs again and again, every year, about 1000 cases of Ehec are reported cases.

In the PCP Luke (15) died because no one recognized the symptoms – now, his mother warns all.

And this was the album of my grade 12.

Food is the new Mob: There’s paperwork and there’s chicken shit; Brazil agriculture ministry investigates food processor

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Brazil’s agriculture ministry has opened its own corruption probe into police allegations that BRF SA, the world’s largest chicken exporter, evaded food safety standards, a ministry official said on Wednesday.

Ana Mano of Reuters reports the investigation, announced in the official gazette on Oct. 17, does not name any companies. It follows the release two days earlier of a report by federal police claiming senior managers at BRF allegedly adulterated documents and laboratory results to dodge food safety and quality checks.

The ministry official, who asked not to be identified, said the investigation concerns companies cited in a March 2018 federal police operation, codenamed Trapaça.

The operation alleged that BRF and laboratory Mérieux NutriSciences Brasil colluded to bypass official controls.

The Agriculture Ministry’s press office had no immediate comment. BRF said it has not been notified of the ministry’s investigation and could not comment. Mérieux denied the fraud and corruption allegations.

Federal police alleged that BRF tried to control dissemination of news that China found traces of the highly toxic dioxin in chicken imports from Brazil in 2015, and acted to prevent the government from investigating the case thoroughly.

The police also accused BRF of using the forbidden antibiotic Nitrofurazone and misreporting the levels of other antibiotics in its industrial processes. BRF has said it is cooperating with the investigation and suspended all employees named in the police report.

Authorities found evidence that BRF ordered the slaughter in 2016 of about 26,000 birds infected with Salmonella Typhimurium, a pathogen harmful to humans, as well as faked information provided to authorities to hide that decision.

The police said chicken from this batch was sold in at least 10 Brazilian states and exported to Europe.

440 sickened: Tui faces legal action from 400 people over Mexico sickness

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TTG reports a  judge sitting at Manchester county court has ordered the disclosure of all documentary evidence relating to investigations carried out by Public Health England (PHE) surrounding cyclospora — a parasite spread by food contaminated with infected human faeces.

According to The Times, many customers claimed Tui did not tell them the Riviera Maya region of Mexico was subject to a public health warning due to cyclosporiasis before they booked.

This is in spite of 359 of the 440 British cases reported between June and October 2016 “involving travel to Mexico”, it is claimed.

Others customers allege they were handed a warning letter “only after their plane landed”.

Raw pet food and human illness

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My buddy Scott Weese, whom I haven’t played hockey with for about 15 years (but we won the faculty tournament in 2005, so I figured that was a good time to retire and move to Kansas; I’m the goalie, he’s third from left, back row) writes on his WormsAndGermsBlog that human health risks from raw pet food (either from exposure to pathogens in the food or in the feces of pets eating the food) are known to exist but they’re not well characterized. We know that dogs fed raw meat-based diets clearly have increased risk of shedding various pathogens, particularly Salmonella and multidrug resistant E. coli. We know this results in some degree of disease risk in animals and in humans, but the scope of the problem is poorly understood. A recent report from Public Health England provides some more information about the risks associated with feeding raw pet food.

The report is about four people who were infected with E coli O157, a particularly nasty strain of E. coli that can cause serious disease in people.

One person developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a particularly severe consequence of infection, and died.

The four cases involved the same strain of E. coli O157. Three individuals had been exposed to dogs fed a raw meat diet. Tripe was the specific ingredient that was implicated.

Samples of raw pet food were collected for testing. All samples from one raw pet food producer were positive for STEC (shiga toxigenic E. coli, the group to which E. coli O157 belongs). A positive test was also obtained from the freezer of one of the affected individuals, and from one sample of raw tripe. It strain isolated from the tripe was a different from the outbreak strain but supported the notion that tripe might have been the cause. It’s not surprising that they couldn’t isolate the outbreak strain from the food, given the lag from the time of exposure of people to the time of sampling of pet food. Contamination is probably sporadic, with different strains contaminating different batches.

Feeding raw meat-based diets is popular, but associated with risks to pets and people (have we said that enough times yet?). My preference is for it not to be done, but I’m realistic enough to know that people are going to do it anyway. So, I focus on two things:

Who should definitely NOT feed raw meat to their pets?

Households where pets or people are at increased risk of severe disease, including those where young, old, pregnant or immunocompromised individuals (human or animal) are present.

If raw meat is to be fed, how can the risk be reduced?

We have a fact sheet on the Worms & Germs Resources – Pets page about how to reduce the risk. In response to this outbreak, Public Health England produced some similar recommendations on handling raw pet food and preventing infections.

Good on ya Scott.

Now, work on driving to the net.

If you ate at this Tampa burger joint recently, officials recommend hepatitis A vaccination

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Tampa, or more accurately Sarasota, is equidistant from the equator as is Brisbane.

I have a strong, childhood-based link to that area of Florida and probably why I’ve settled into Brisbane.

Or it’s the familiarity in targeted advertising for funeral homes and life insurance.

A food service worker employed at Hamburger Mary’s Bar and Grille in Ybor City has tested positive for hepatitis A, according to the Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough County.

The individual worked at the restaurant between Oct. 4 and Oct. 20, an investigation found.

Anyone who frequented the restaurant within the time period and has not previously received a hepatitis A vaccination is advised to do so as soon as possible. Those who have previously had a hepatitis A vaccination do not need to take any additional action.

A 24-hour hotline has also been set up for people who have questions about hepatitis A. It can be reached at 813-307-8004.

Doctor’s offices, pharmacies and state and local health departments offer hepatitis A vaccinations. Find out more at vaccines.gov.