Brad Crouch of The Advertiser writes that raw eggs are to blame for a salmonella outbreak that so far has left 51 people sick including 19 admitted to hospital.
SA Health’s Acting Director of Public Health Services, Dr Fay Jenkins, said a number of food and environmental samples collected from all stores last week returned positive results for Salmonella.
“Given the sample results and the strain of the Salmonella outbreak, it is most likely that the cause of contamination was related to handling raw egg products,” Dr Jenkins said.
“The owners of the Angkor Bakery stores continue to work closely with the local councils and SA Health to improve their practices, and all three bakeries closed voluntarily during the investigation.”
“Many food poisoning outbreaks have been associated with foods containing raw or partially cooked eggs such as aioli, mayonnaise, hollandaise or tartare sauce and mousse,” Dr Jenkins said.
“The external shell of eggs may contain harmful bacteria such as salmonella, and while eggs may not necessarily look or smell ‘off’ they may be contaminated.
“It’s important to check that eggs are clean and not cracked or dirty — and those that are should be thrown out.
Lakhina Eung, the shop owner of the bakery in Burton, told ABC News she was sorry to anyone impacted by the outbreak and hoped the community would still support the business.
“I couldn’t sleep for over three days now so it’s been stressful,” she said.
“I am really sorry to everyone that is affected and also I hope that the community will still be supportive to us and our customers [will] still support us.
“I hope that the public and the community still trusts us and we [will] try our best to do everything as the council and SA Health require.”
As soon as you learn some basic microbiology and don’t make customers barf.
We live near the publicly-funded Princess Alexandria hospital in Brisbane.
A helicopter flies over our house a couple of times a day bringing some victim from the outback or the coast.
The state of Queensland is really, really big.
It reminds me of my friend, Jim, and what he went through in the aftermath of the E.coli O157 outbreak in drinking water that killed seven and sickened 2,500 in the town of Walkerton, population 5,000.
Jim knew that every helicopter was someone dead or dying being flown to the medical center in London, Ontario (that’s in Canada, like Walkerton).
I think of Jim and the victims every time a chopper goes past.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports a center pivot irrigation system intended to pump livestock waste water onto adjacent farmland in Nebraska malfunctioned, allowing excessive run off to collect in a road ditch near two wells that fed a municipal water supply, sickening 39 persons who consumed untreated city water. The use of culture-independent diagnostic tests facilitated case identification allowing for rapid public health response.
Access to clean water sources continues to be an important public health issue, and public health professionals should consider exposure to untreated water sources as a potential cause for Campylobacter outbreaks.
In March 2017, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (NDHHS) and the Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department were notified of an apparent cluster of Campylobacter jejuni infections in city A and initiated an investigation. Overall, 39 cases were investigated, including six confirmed and 33 probable. Untreated, unboiled city A tap water (i.e., well water) was the only exposure significantly associated with illness (odds ratio [OR] = 7.84; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.69–36.36). City A is served by four untreated wells and an interconnected distribution system. Onsite investigations identified that a center pivot irrigation system intended to pump livestock wastewater from a nearby concentrated animal feeding operation onto adjacent farmland had malfunctioned, allowing excessive runoff to collect in a road ditch near two wells that supplied water to the city. These wells were promptly removed from service, after which no subsequent cases occurred. This coordinated response rapidly identified an important risk to city A’s municipal water supply and provided the evidence needed to decommission the affected wells, with plans to build a new well to safely serve this community.
On March 10, 2017, NDHHS was notified of five reports of campylobacteriosis in the Southwest Nebraska Public Health Department jurisdiction. Two positive culture reports and three positive culture-independent diagnostic tests, specifically a gastrointestinal polymerase chain reaction (PCR) panel, were received from persons not living together. Campylobacteriosis is a reportable condition in Nebraska, and this number of cases was higher than expected; during 2006–2016, an average of one Campylobacter case was reported in a city A resident every 3 years. Initial questioning of ill persons did not include an assessment of exposure to untreated drinking water and suggested ground beef consumption as a possible shared exposure. The Nebraska Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Consumer Protection obtained distribution records for poultry and ground beef for two local restaurants and one local grocery store. The distribution of poultry and ground beef was evaluated by reviewing the routing records of these products to their source, and no evidence of a shared poultry source was identified. The ground beef was not ground in-house at the grocery store, and the distributors that supplied ground beef to the grocery store and each of the two local restaurants were not shared. Through interviews of city A residents and business owners, investigators were made aware of a report of standing water that “smelled of cattle manure” in a roadside ditch near two municipal water wells.
A collaborative on-site investigation revealed that during the pumping of a large volume of livestock wastewater from a concentrated animal feeding operation through a center pivot irrigation system, the system malfunctioned at an undetermined time. The wastewater was intended to be placed on adjacent farmland. This malfunction allowed excessive runoff to flood a road ditch approximately 15 feet (4.6 m) from two municipal water well houses (3 and 4) that had been operating 6 days before the onset of illness in the first patient. The presence of this standing water was confirmed by city A water operators, who reported seeing water in the ditch for 4 days (February 22–25) (Figure). Pump records indicated that during February 22–27, well 3 was in use, and during February 28–March 7, well 4 was in use (Table 1). During both periods, another well (well 2) was also operating. Wells are rotated in and out of service by city operators as part of regular operations. Water is distributed through the well system without any disinfection or filtration. Routine total coliform and Escherichia coli testing of water from the distribution system was performed on March 8; however, only wells 2 and 5 were operating on that date. As part of the investigation, additional coliform and E. coli testing was performed again on March 16 on direct samples from wells 2, 3, 4, and 5; bacterial culture specifically for Campylobacter was performed on March 20 (wells 4 and 5) and 27 (wells 2 and 3). All samples were negative for coliforms and Campylobacter. No additional pump or testing records were reviewed.
On March 16, Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Agriculture conducted an additional investigation of two concentrated animal feeding operation–certified waste lagoons (a manufactured basin that collects livestock waste and water in an oxygen-deprived setting to promote anaerobic conditions as a way to manage refuse)* and associated use of three pivot irrigation systems. The investigation team observed that water from the waste lagoons had been pumped through a pivot onto an adjacent field, which is a common farming practice for fertilizing farm ground or watering crops. City operators confirmed that on February 24 they had observed flow of livestock wastewater into the road ditch near well 4. They followed the wastewater up the road ditch and reported that it came out of the farmland upstream from the wells. Investigators also obtained details of total well depths, static water levels, and pumping water levels (measured during active pumping). Wells 4 and 3 were relatively shallow, with static water levels of 21 and 22 feet, pumping levels of 25 and 26 feet, and total well depths of 43 and 46 feet, respectively; both began service in the 1930s, similar to the other wells in the system, which were also older.
While details around this event were being clarified and environmental testing was pending, an Internet-based questionnaire was designed to aid case-finding and assess potential exposures. A probable case was defined as a diarrheal illness of ≥2 days’ duration with one or more additional signs or symptoms (nausea, vomiting, fever, chills, or headache) in a city A resident, with onset during February 28–March 23, 2017. A confirmed case was defined as a person meeting the probable case definition with either stool culture or PCR-positive results for Campylobacter, or a laboratory-confirmed probable illness in a nonresident who worked, dined, or shopped for groceries in city A. Among approximately 600 city A residents, 94 (16%) completed a questionnaire to report food consumption history, drinking water source, animal exposures, and symptoms. Among questionnaire respondents, 39 (41%) campylobacteriosis cases (six confirmed and 33 probable) were identified, with illness onset from February 28–March 21 (Figure); 25 (64%) cases occurred in females and 14 (36%) in males. The median age was 34.5 years (range = 1.5–85 years). Twelve (31%) patients sought medical care, and three (8%) were hospitalized; no deaths were reported.
Data analysis indicated a significant association between ill persons and consumption of untreated, unboiled municipal tap water (OR = 7.84; 95% CI = 1.69–36.36) (Table 2). Other exposures were assessed, including unpasteurized milk, animal contact, raw poultry, and ground beef, but none demonstrated a significant association with illness. Notably, no cases were reported among the approximately 28 residents of city A’s only nursing home, which used city water but treated it with a reverse osmosis system.
Public Health Response
Wells 3 and 4 were both permanently removed from service on March 16, and no additional illnesses were reported with onset after March 21. On April 25, NDHHS reclassified these wells to Emergency Status, meaning the well can only be pumped during a case of emergency (e.g., fire, drought, etc.) for nonpotable purposes. Furthermore, meetings were held with area stakeholders to present these findings as evidence to support the award of a planning grant to city A to explore options for a new, higher-volume well to be dug to an acceptable depth in a different location.
This investigation implicates Campylobacter jejuni as the cause of this outbreak, most likely from a municipal water system contaminated by wastewater runoff from an adjacent concentrated animal feeding operation (1). In addition to environmental and statistical findings, this conclusion is consistent with prior investigations that demonstrate Campylobacter outbreaks of similar size are historically associated with contaminated water (2–7). Although laboratory testing of the water in this investigation did not yield any positive results, samples were not taken until long after the contamination event, and test results might have been affected by switches among wells supplying the system over time. These findings also suggest that routine coliform testing might not be a good indicator of the presence of Campylobacter species (8). Further, it is possible that Campylobacter in particular might be viable but not necessarily detectable by culture in water systems (9,10). The use of both culture and culture-independent diagnostic tests (PCR) were needed to detect the initial cluster of cases and early recognition of this outbreak. If culture alone had been used, only two cases would have been reported, one of which did not occur in a city A resident. Of those two culture-confirmed cases, one patient refused the interview and the other had typical Campylobacter exposures, such as live poultry, which might not have prompted such a rapid response. This investigation demonstrates the importance of considering exposure to untreated water sources as a potential cause for Campylobacter outbreaks. Including this risk factor in initial questioning could help to expedite outbreak investigations. Ultimately, early recognition and a coordinated response by several state and local agencies greatly facilitated this successful public health intervention.
Campylobacteriosis outbreak associated with contaminated municipal water supply-Nebraska, 2017
Ismael Baeza Soto, 9, died Feb. 11 at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, apparently of kidney failure brought about by E. coli.
The Benton-Franklin Health District is investigating the source of what sickened the boy. So far, it appears to be an isolated case that hasn’t been linked to other investigations, though future testing could change that.
“We have not identified any ongoing public health threats,” said Dr. Amy Person, the public health officer for the Mid-Columbia.
Employing advanced genetic-tracing techniques and sharing the data produced in real time could limit the spread of bacteria – Bacillus cereus – which causes foodborne illness, according to researchers. As part of a recent study, researchers at Penn State University implemented whole-genome sequencing of a pathogen-outbreak investigation, following an outbreak of foodborne illnesses in New York in 2016.
“Here, in our study, we use this approach for the first time on Bacillus cereus,” says Jasna Kovac, assistant professor of Food Science at Penn State. “We hope that whole-genome sequencing of Bacillus will be done more often as a result of our research, as it allows us to differentiate between the various species of Bacillus cereus group and project the food-safety risk associated with them.”
The project marks the first time researchers have conducted whole-genome sequencing to investigate a Bacillus cereus outbreak to link isolates from human clinical cases to food. The New York outbreak in 2016 lasted less than a month and stemmed from contaminated refried beans served by a small Mexican restaurant chain.
Although the toxin-producing bacteria are estimated to cause 63,400 foodborne disease cases per year in the US, Bacillus cereus does not receive the attention given to more deadly foodborne pathogens such as Listeria and Salmonella.
Because illness caused by Bacillus cereus typically resolves within days and outbreaks are self-limiting in nature, foodborne illness caused by members of this pathogen group are often under-reported. Although there have been reports of severe infections resulting in sudden patient death, Bacillus cereus group isolates linked to human clinical cases of foodborne disease typically do not undergo whole-genome sequencing, as is becoming the norm for other foodborne pathogens.
In this case, the New York State Department of Health coordinated the epidemiological investigations. The methods included a cohort study, food-preparation review, a food-product traceback, testing of the environment, food and water and an inquiry at a production plant in Pennsylvania that produced the contaminated refried beans. The researchers sequenced the majority of Bacillus cereus isolates, from both food and humans, at the Penn State Genomic Core Facility, which is part of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.
I’ve always done the open stuff, where I put myself out there for criticism or praise or something else, 5 new chapters added, when people reminded me of things.
Anyone else wanna chip in?
Food safety is simple Powell
Just cook it Powell
BSE Bert
Cyclospora Ron (??)
Food safety programs ensure food safety Chapman
Training ensures safe food Mancini
Five-second rule Schaffner
Sprouts are a health food Powell
Cold-cuts should be served in aged care Powell
Cantaloupe is a health food Powell/Chapman
Labels are a meaningful way of communicating Celia/Powell
I blame celebrity cooking shows like MasterChef for the stupid things people do in their kitchens.
Raw egg aioli and mayo is bad enough, and leads to monthly outbreaks of Salmonella across Australia, but to decide that color is a reliable indicator of safety in chicken is stupid beyond belief.
Forget piping hot, forget color, get a thermometer.
I know food safety is 1% of the food discussion, while food porn is the other 99%, but this is just bad advice.
Our job is to provide people with evidence-based info and let them decide.
These people are preaching like a Baptist church.
According to Jamie Downham of The Sun, celebrity chef John, 55, revealed the pink uncooked flesh – which can deliver a devastating dose of salmonella – gagging: “Oh. Can’t eat that.”
Gregg and John were not impressed by Ottilie’s uncooked chicken
Undercooked chicken is often rife with foodborne illnesses that can leave people throwing up and confined to their beds for up to a week.
Viewers quickly dubbed the dish “chicken a la salmonella”, with John telling marketing manager Ottilie: “I think you’ve got to know when to stop. It’s all over the place.”
No where did the story mention using a fucking thermometer to ensure safety.
And these people are making meals for your kids, and they have no clue.
Microganisms are only visible when they are numerous.
I would throw away the entire jam to get rid of the unseen bugs, which number in the trillions.
Theresa May, chief Brexit strategist, PM and armchair microbiologist, shocked the UK by telling a Cabinet meeting Tuesday that she “will not throw away a jar of jam if it has gone mouldy on top” according to the Daily Mail,
Instead, the newspaper reported, “she scrapes off the mould and eats the good preserve left underneath”.
May considered the rest of the jam to be “perfectly edible”, a Whitehall source told the Mail, and instead of binning food past its best-before date shoppers should “use common sense” to check if it’s edible.
The tip came during a Cabinet discussion on how to reduce food waste.
Social media immediately set about debating on whether this was good food advice, but more importantly, whether it was a metaphor for Brexit.
As the country lurches towards a potential no-deal Brexit, featuring potential food and medicine shortages, there has been a new focus on making the most of indigenous food supplies.
The UK is Europe’s biggest producer of citrus jams and marmalades, however France is by far the biggest producer of other types of jams and purees, followed by Germany.
If there are significant customs delays then breakfasts across the UK could be disrupted.
It may also be significant that the British government has been simulating the immense traffic jams expected to materialise around its southern ports if there is a no-deal Brexit.
Interestingly, the British government revealed in 2016 that its post-Brexit ‘Food and Drink International Action Plan’ would include a major campaign to sell British jam to Australia.
Asked on Wednesday if May thought people should follow her example, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said it was a “matter for the individual”.
Time magazine reported in 2015 that “when visible mould is present, its tentacles – called ‘threads’ – have likely penetrated deep into your food [unless it’s a hard cheese], contaminating even those parts that appear to be mould-free”.
They added that mould exposure can produce mycotoxins leading to respiratory problems, allergic reactions and even cancer.
However, in 2014, a “mould expert” told the BBC that “the moulds you find on jam are fine – just scrape them off”.
A “polite warning” and some “men’s bathroom humor” at a Home Depot led to a 911 call about a potential bomb threat, according to a report from the Wichita Police Department.
Officers were called to the home improvement store at about 12:15 p.m. Monday for a reported bomb threat, the report states. When police got there, an employee said he was “standing at the urinal” when a man came out of a bathroom stall and said, “Somebody told me there’s a bomb in the building, you need to leave the building,” the report states.
The employee told police that he asked the man to repeat what he said, and that man gave the same statement two more times.
The Wichita Home Depot employee left the restroom and told store security about the warning, and the security guard called 911, police wrote in the report.
A store clerk recognized the man who gave the warning as a “regular customer,” and gave the customer’s name to police.
The officer got a hold of the man on the phone, and he told police “that he had no intention of causing such alarm, and that the comment he said … was meant to be funny,” the report says.
The man reported to police that he was in the bathroom stall when he heard another man announce something along the lines of, “You all need to get out of here because I’m fixin to blow it up.” It is not known who said that, according to the report.
The man said that he and another person laughed because they understood the warning. He said they understood the man “was in a serious need to defecate, and that he was attempting to provide a polite warning to the other patrons of the bathroom,” an officer wrote.
There’s going to be an exhibition that is set to display shit of all shapes and sizes. But most importantly, that shit is going to be cute. Or kawaii as they say in Japanese.
There’s going to be some fun and interactive shit for people of all ages.
Dubbed the Unko Museum (Unko translates to shit in Japanese), the exhibition will run between March 15 to July 15.
Shit Museum. Yeah…
Visitors would be able to find cute cartoonified shit all over the exhibition. There’s even going to be an “Insta-poop area” where coils of poop adorn the four walls – perfect for those of you who’re into such shit.
Pui Fun of World of Buzz writes that cherries are an amazing fruit that has lots of nutrients but eating too much of it isn’t a good idea either, as proven by this 32-year-old lady in Chongqing, China.
According to Sina, the lady surnamed Wang was preparing to go to Wuhan for the Chinese New Year celebrations when she received two boxes of fresh cherries from her relatives and friends. Since there would be no one home during the holidays, she decided to wash the cherries and put them in two big bags so that she could eat them during her journey to Wuhan. Source: Health A few days later, Wang experienced severe stomach discomfort after she got off the plane and rushed to the bathroom in the hotel. She was shocked when she discovered that her poop looked “bloody” and red in colour. Her diarrhoea continued and she had to go to the toilet for more than 20 times in one night. At one point, it got so bad that she even fainted in the bathroom. Her family was worried about her and sent her to the hospital the next morning where the doctor quickly ran some tests on her stools. However, when the results came back, the doctor was surprised to see that there were no big issues with her stools.
The doctor suspected that the “bloody stools” that raised the alarm could actually be caused by red pigments in the food that Wang had eaten and began to question her. It was then that Wang recalled she had eaten 3kg of fresh cherries for five days straight and before she got off the plane to Wuhan, she had eaten about 50 cherries in one go.
A SA Health investigation into the outbreak linked to three Angkor Bakery stores has found the likely source of contamination related to handling of raw egg products.
