Connie, someone I’ve never met but she’s a food safety professional from Guelph (that’s in Ontario, Canada, and it’s a small community) writes:
I’ve been a food safety professional for going on 20 years, I still thaw meat in the sink (sometimes in hot water if I’m really rushed) and in my house, we wash hands after we eat.
I’m a firm advocate of not killing our immune systems by trying to sterilize our homes; according to my research, the illness and deaths that occur now are more frequent, widespread and worse in the effects than ever in the past (Peanut Corporation of America excluded for obvious reasons).
I don’t take any chances at work, I never would, but at home, sigh, we’re all still alive.
If you’re ever looking for inspiration for a blog post look no further than the website IFSQN. It’s a great forum for discussion and assistance from experienced FSP but wow, there are some things posted that are positively frightening.
I am currently advocating with the Canadian government to: • change our national job description so people realize we are gd professionals and not place holders; and,
• institute a national standard for both auditors and CB (CFIA has accreditation standards, but I don’t think anyone is checking in on auditors).
I personally believe that GFSI is the downfall of safe food, with people focused on being audit-ready and not on producing safe food.
(I particularly like the graphic, right, of the pregnant woman, with five bottles of wine in the fridge and a couple of beers).
On October 30th, lots of dry sausages contaminated with this salmonella were removed from supermarket shelves. Withdrawals and recalls have already taken place in the spring, on sausages that had sickened a dozen young children in the south of France.Dry sausages were also concerned.
Dr. François-Xavier Weill, director of the national center of reference for Salmonella, at the Institut Pasteur, at the origin of this discovery with his teams .It is here, in Paris, that the bacteria are identified, after analysis of the samples sent by the analysis laboratories.This is how the rise in food infections has been spotted.
“While it was detected that about 50 in 2007, we are at 2500 per year now,” says François-Xavier Weill.As a result, this bacterium, which causes gastroenteritis and fever, which can reach sepsis in the most fragile, has risen to the third position of salmonella, which gives the most poisoning.“We sounded the alarm, we said we’re paying attention, something is happening”.
“Manufacturers must continue their work to limit the risks of the farm to the fork, explains Nathalie Jourdan-da Silva, doctor epidemiologist at Public Health France, agency that gave the alert in 2012 in one of its publications. But there is no risk zero, especially since this salmonella, identified in the swine industry, has since expanded to the beef sector.“
And the father of Amy’s French family was in Paris the other day, and he looked up and saw Charlie Watts, the drummer for the Rolling Stones, so this song is in honor of the time the Stones moved to southern France as tax exiles from the UK and recorded Exile on Main Street.
A scenario-based survey was distributed via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk to collect data from 1,034 respondents; the tally of valid responses was 1,025. Partial least squares-based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) showed perceived vulnerability and perceived severity to be statistically significant; both also negatively affected customer intentions to patronize restaurants cited for serving foods that caused foodborne illness outbreaks.
Results suggest that type of restaurant is a significant moderator between perceived severity and customer intentions. The type of diner, however, based on frequency, does not moderate the relationships between perceived severity and perceived vulnerability and customer intentions to patronize restaurants that served food causing a foodborne illness outbreak (FBI).
Using protection motivation theory (PMT) (Rogers, 1975), this study’s findings contribute to understanding determinants and moderators of customer intentions to revisit restaurants after a foodborne illness outbreak.
Consumers’ return intentions towards a restaurant with foodborne illness outbreaks: Differences across restaurant type and consumers’ dining frequency
Amy Schumer‘s ongoing pregnancy with severe nausea is following the comedian into the second trimester of her pregnancy — and she shared it with fans in her second graphic vomiting video on Saturday.
Back in November, Schumer, 37, was hospitalized for hyperemesis gravidarum — a condition marked by persistent sickness and can lead to dehydration and weight loss.
According to People the health crisis caused the I Feel Pretty star to postpone dates on her comedy tour. And though she’s since returned to the stage and powered through, her vomiting hasn’t stopped.
On Saturday, Schumer posted an Instagram video of her getting sick over a toilet. “Hi I thought it might be fun to see me throwing up in a public bathroom,” she said.
Sorta like this food safety asshole (upper right).
Sheila is a former MSc student with me at Kansas State University and a tough military chick. We hardly ever saw each other, because phones and the Internet sometimes work (despite administratium claims to the contrary), but she has kept up the food safety conversation. I was privileged to work with her and a whole bunch of other military food safety folks over the years.
Sheila writes:
I am a horrible food safety professional.
Not at work. At work I’m a straight-laced, all business, don’t-you-dare-break-the-rules-or-I’ll-kick-you-in-the-nuts kinda girl. My problem is outside of work. When I’m off the clock I turn into Andrew Zimmern’s sister by another mister. I like to eat weird stuff.
I spent 15 years with the U.S. Army as a Food Safety Specialist and got to travel all over the world. While others in the group were sticking to main stream chow hall fare and MREs, which has its own dangers, I was happy to find some random vendor selling mystery meat on a stick by the side of the road. It might have been dog, or monkey, or bat, or rat. I really have no idea, but it sure tasted good. Boiled chicken heads? Roasted sparrows? Camel on a spit? Beaver tater tot hotdish? A whole sheep buried in the desert sand for 2 days? Hell yeah, bring it on! From Africa, Australia, Central America, the South Pacific, the Arctic, the Middle East and the Far East, it didn’t matter where I was I had to try the odd local fare. Still do when I travel. Real haggis is amazing.
Back at home, cooking for myself or eating out, I am also bad. When cooking for others all safety precautions are followed, thermometers, separate cutting boards and utensils for different food types, obsessive hand washing, but I make all kinds of exceptions when food is just for me. E. coli and Salmonella be damned. My eggs need to be over medium. Scrambled eggs are gross. I eat raw, homemade cookie dough. I love homemade eggnog. Don’t give me that store bought boxed crap that tastes like nutmeg infused cardboard. Now if I could find pasteurized eggs in the shell, I’d use them, but out in the Minnesota tundra they just aren’t available. I like my steak on the rare side of medium rare, even if it is needle tenderized. Hamburgers done medium. Sushi is a favorite food and I go for raw and roe. Raw oysters are a heavenly treat.
But here’s the deal. I know the potential consequences of eating all of these risky foods. I am generally healthy, aside from the arthritis and anger issues the Army so generously gave me. I realize healthy people still get food poisoning, but I am willing to occasionally take that risk to enjoy certain foods. I would never force anyone else to do what I do and I often tell people not to do it and why.
Do as I say, not as I do.
And even I have limits. Chicken must be cooked to 165F. I don’t drink raw milk. I rant about the raw pet food trend. And I avoid potlucks like the plague. I’m sure it all tastes great, but I just can’t do it. I don’t trust what most people do in their kitchens unless I’m there to see it. If invited to a party that’s potluck and I can’t get out of it, I bring potato chips and eat before I get there. Weird right?
Oh, and I have 12 beautiful pet snakes of varying sizes and species, but that’s another story.
Turtles were inexpensive, popular, and low maintenance, with an array of groovy pre-molded plastic housing designs to choose from. Invariably they would escape, only to be found days later behind the couch along with the skeleton of the class bunny my younger sister brought home from kindergarten one weekend.
But eventually, replacement turtles became harder to come by. Reports started surfacing that people with pet turtles were getting sick. In 1975, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned commercial distribution of turtles less than 4 inches in length, and it has been estimated that the FDA ban prevents some 100,000 cases of salmonellosis among children each year.
Maybe I picked up my turtle, rolled around on the carpet with it, pet it a bit, and then stuck my finger in my mouth. Maybe in my emotionally vacant adolescence I kissed my turtle. Who can remember?
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports today that in June 2017, PulseNet, the national molecular subtyping network for foodborne disease surveillance, identified 17 Salmonella Agbeni clinical isolates with indistinguishable XbaI enzyme pattern (outbreak strain) by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. The same Salmonella Agbeni XbaI pattern was isolated from a turtle in 2015; in a 2016 investigation involving the same outbreak strain, 63% of patients reported contact with turtles (CDC, unpublished data, 2016). Despite prohibition of sale of small turtles (shell length less <4 inches) in the United States since 1975 (1), illness outbreaks associated with turtle contact continue to occur. Ill persons in previous Salmonella Poona and Salmonella Pomona outbreaks linked to turtles were geographically concentrated in the Southwest region of the United States (2,3). Turtle production is known to be higher in the Southeast region of the country (2). An outbreak investigation by CDC and health departments was initiated to identify the source of the 2017 illness outbreak.
A case was defined as isolation of Salmonella Agbeni with the outbreak strain from an ill patient during April–December 2017. State and local health officials interviewed patients to ascertain turtle exposure information, including details about the species of turtle and purchasing information. Purchase locations reported by patients were contacted for traceback information. Whole genome sequencing (WGS), using high quality single nucleotide polymorphism (hqSNP) analysis, was performed by CDC on clinical isolates from the 2017 outbreak, the 2016 illness cluster, and the turtle isolate from 2015 to characterize genetic relatedness.
Seventy-six cases were identified in 19 states in 2017; two thirds (67%) of patients resided in East Coast states (Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia).* Patient ages ranged from <1–100 years (median = 21 years). Among 63 (83%) patients with information on hospitalization, 30 (48%) were hospitalized; no deaths were reported. Fifty-nine (78%) patients provided exposure information, including 23 (39%) who reported contact with turtles; among these, 14 (61%) specified small turtles. Among 12 patients who reported how the turtles were obtained, six purchased them from a street or roadside vendor, three purchased them from a retail store, two purchased them at festivals, and one reported receiving them as a gift. The traceback investigation did not identify a common turtle farm that supplied purchase locations. WGS hqSNP analysis indicated that the 2017 and 2016 clinical isolates and the 2015 turtle isolate were closely related, differing by 0–18 SNPs.
This salmonellosis outbreak was linked to contact with small turtles and was associated with a higher frequency of hospitalization (48%) than multistate foodborne pathogen outbreaks (27%) as well as recent Salmonella outbreaks linked to turtles (28%–33%) (2–4). The geographic distribution of patients differed from that of previous outbreaks, suggesting the need to better understand the breeding of turtles and distribution of turtle sales in the United States. WGS hqSNP analysis was used to link historic illnesses and turtle isolates to isolates from 2017 patients, supporting the hypothesis that turtles were the likely source of this outbreak. This outbreak indicates further need to educate consumers and retail store staff members regarding the ban on sale of small turtles and to educate consumers to prevent transmission of Salmonella from pets to humans.
Notes from the Field: An Outbreak of Salmonella Agbeni Infections Linked to Turtle Exposure — United States, 2017
MMWR 67(48);1350
Lia Koski, MPH1,2; Lauren Stevenson, MHS1,3; Jasmine Huffman1; Amy Robbins, MPH4; Julia Latash, MPH5,6; Enoma Omoregie, PhD5; Kelly Kline, MPH7; Megin Nichols, DVM1 (View author affiliations)
Gambino-Shirley K, Stevenson L, Concepción-Acevedo J, et al. Flea market finds and global exports: four multistate outbreaks of human Salmonellainfections linked to small turtles, United States—2015. Zoonoses Public Health 2018;65:560–8. CrossRefPubMed
Basler C, Bottichio L, Higa J, Prado B, Wong M, Bosch S. Multistate outbreak of human SalmonellaPoona infections associated with pet turtle exposure—United States, 2014. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2015;64:804. CrossRefPubMed
It marked the beginning of Rolling Stones greatness for the next three albums, from 1968-72.
Me and my best friend from high-school are both dying, one way or another, but we listened to Beggar’s Banquet, Let it Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main Street for hours in my basement, about 1977, long after they were released.
I used to have Mick Taylor hair.
I also was lunchtime DJ for a couple of years in high school and would play a lots of Stones, Zeppelin, and others, while the kids all wanted disco.
Hurriyet Daily News writes the senate of Van Yüzüncü Yıl University in the eastern province of Van has decided that one academic will dine with students every day after dozens of students living in a dormitory suffered from foodpoisoning last week.
On Nov. 29, a total of 337 students were hospitalized following complaints such as nausea and high fever. A special commission was established to investigate the suspected poisoning and officials from the local health and provincial directorate of agriculture collected samples from the food and the water students consumed.
While the investigation is still ongoing the university’s governing body decided that each day one academic staff should eat together with the students.
“Academics and students will share the same meal and the table to ease concerns and possible provocations. We have to stand by our students when they have concerns,” Peyami Battal, the rector, said. Battal was the first academic to dine with the students following the senate’s decision.
Jeffrey Sivalingam, 61, the father of the bride, told The New Paper yesterday an eight-course meal had been catered for more than 400 guests.
After contacting them yesterday, the retiree said many of them had told him about falling ill after the banquet.
“About four people from each table fell ill as well as some entire tables,” he said.
“I didn’t expect this and now I don’t know how to face my friends and relatives.”
Mr Sivalingam said he was warded at Tan Tock Seng Hospital with his son after they developed fever, and that at least three youngsters, including his 16-year-old niece, were also warded.
A wedding guest, Mr Matthew Tjow, 40, said he and his three children started vomiting and having diarrhoea on Monday.
The counsellor added: “My daughter, who is in Primary 1, vomited from the hall to the toilet. She has kept vomiting and is looking as frail as a rag doll.”
He said the other two, aged 12 and 10, also vomited and had diarrhoea and fever. His wife also started showing symptoms last night.
The spokesman said staff who handled food during the banquet events have been “temporarily relieved of duties” until they complete all necessary medical tests and are cleared by the relevant authorities.
The hotel will also cease serving raw food from its banquet kitchens during the investigation.
Mr Sivalingam hopes to warn the public about such incidents.
“I am not interested in compensation from the hotel. I am interested in the well-being of our guests,” he said.
In nature and man-made environments, microorganisms reside in mixed-species biofilms, in which the growth and metabolism of an organism are different from these behaviors in single-species biofilms. Pathogenic microorganisms may be protected against adverse treatments in mixed-species biofilms, leading to health risk for humans. Here, we developed two mixed five-species biofilms that included one or the other of the foodborne pathogens Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus.
The five species, including the pathogen, were isolated from a single food-processing environmental sample, thus mimicking the environmental community. In mature mixed five-species biofilms on stainless steel, the two pathogens remained at a constant level of ∼105 CFU/cm2. The mixed five-species biofilms as well as the pathogens in monospecies biofilms were exposed to biocides to determine any pathogen-protective effect of the mixed biofilm. Both pathogens and their associate microbial communities were reduced by peracetic acid treatments. S. aureus decreased by 4.6 log cycles in monospecies biofilms, but the pathogen was protected in the five-species biofilm and decreased by only 1.1 log cycles. Sessile cells of L. monocytogenes were affected to the same extent when in a monobiofilm or as a member of the mixed-species biofilm, decreasing by 3 log cycles when exposed to 0.0375% peracetic acid. When the pathogen was exchanged in each associated microbial community, S. aureus was eradicated, while there was no significant effect of the biocide on L. monocytogenes or the mixed community. This indicates that particular members or associations in the community offered the protective effect. Further studies are needed to clarify the mechanisms of biocide protection and to identify the species playing the protective role in microbial communities of biofilms.
IMPORTANCE This study demonstrates that foodborne pathogens can be established in mixed-species biofilms and that this can protect them from biocide action. The protection is not due to specific characteristics of the pathogen, here S. aureus and L. monocytogenes, but likely caused by specific members or associations in the mixed-species biofilm. Biocide treatment and resistance are a challenge for many industries, and biocide efficacy should be tested on microorganisms growing in biofilms, preferably mixed systems, mimicking the application environment.
Behavior of foodborne pathogens listeria monocytogenes and staphylococcus aureus in mixed-species biofilms exposed to biocides
Applied and Environmental Microbiology; DOI: 10.1128/AEM.02038-18
