It only takes a few hundred times for things to sink in with the bureaucracy protecting public health in Australia.
Not the front-line workers, but the plutocracy in suits, fretting about their pensions, golden handshakes, and whether their kids will go to the best schools to meet the right people.
Food Standards Australia and New Zealand says Gallo Farms Pty Ltd has recalled Gallo Marinated Fetta from Atherton Supa IGA, Piccones Supa IGA Cairns and Jonssons Farmers Market in QLD due to microbial (E. coli) contamination.
Is that a dangerous Shiga-toxin producing E. coli or an E. coli that indicates poop got in the feta? How was the E. coli detected and by whom? Is anyone sick?
These are basics that are usually covered in U.S. and Canadian press notices written by highly paid press thingies.
Not so in Australia, diving for the lowest common denominator of public disclosure.
It’s bad enough that Australian hospitals serve raw sprouts to the ill and infirmed, a leading aged care provider in Australia has dictated to kitchen staff to “reuse” and “reheat” leftover food.
Kitchen staff at Blue Care’s Wynnum facility have been told in a memorandum obtained by The Courier-Mail that “all left over food items should be getting sent back to the Main Kitchen, so the Cooks can determine if we can reuse.”
After inquiries from The Courier-Mail, Blue Care’s executive director Robyn Batten said the memo had been investigated and it is “poorly worded” and not indicative of the organisation’s policy or practices in any kitchen.
The memo, written by the facility’s hospitality team leader, includes a handwritten extra note that specifies to “reheat food.”
“The memo refers to returning food to the kitchen. However, the purpose of this is not for re-use, but to determine the amount of wastage, identify popular dishes and spot over production in the kitchen,” Ms Batten said. “It is also a good way of monitoring if residents are eating an adequate diet to support their nutritional requirements.”
The memo also tells kitchen staff: “Please be advised under no circumstance that any food item that has been prepared and cooked in the Main kitchen should be getting taken home.”
The memo is dated July 17 2015 and was sent to all kitchen staff by Ryan Moore, the facility’s hospitality team leader.
Ms Batten said she was “not aware” of issues with staff taking home food prepared for residents.
Bluecare is Australia’s largest not for profit provider of aged, disability and community services.
The site at Wynnum generates 158 meals three times a day.
Ms Batten said the Wynnum kitchen passed food safety audits.
That should provide absolutely no assurance of anything: Guess they haven’t heard about the problems with audits.
Queensland Aged and Disability Advocacy chief executive officer Geoff Rowe said there would be significant concerns if food was being reheated with elderly people particularly vulnerable to bacterial illness.
“Of concern if we’re talking about reheated foods … the bacteria and stuff, they’re the sorts of risks,” he said.
Chief Executive of Council of the Aging Mark Tucker-Evans said food quality and safety needed to be of upmost importance at aged care facility.
Jeanette Severs of Stock and Land reports that Victoria’s health department could have prevented an outbreak of Salmonella poisoning from eating lettuce, as the number of suspected cases, nationally, rose to 144.
While 108 Victorian people were identified suffering from Salmonella Anatum, the same bacteria identified in lettuce last week, only nine cases were confirmed linked to consumption of the lettuce product. They were joined by one confirmed case in NSW.
But there were also serious doubts about how many people identified suffering from the bacteria, could blame the lettuce from Tripod Farmers.
Victoria’s health department spokesperson, Bram Alexander, told Stock & Land the health department also ignored a batch of Tripod Farmers lettuce identified with the bacteria on January 21.
Tripod Farmers confirmed they were notified on January 22 that a sample from a batch of product tested positive to Salmonella Anatum.
“There was one earlier positive test of the product detected on January 21, but the product was out of date,” Mr Alexander said.
Uh-huh.
He said action was not taken because no one would have consumed the product past its use-by date and there had been no noticeable spike in Salmonella diagnoses as far as the health department was concerned.
“Lettuce has a relatively short shelf life, so that in itself did not raise the temperature,” he said.
“The temperature was raised last Wednesday, when there was a spike in cases reported.
“From food histories taken from some people and testing, there were some definite genotyping links to Salmonella Anatum in those people and the bacterium identified at Tripod Farmers’ processing plant.”
Tripod Farmers’ managing director Frank Ruffo snr said the company detected the Salmonella Anatum bacteria through its normal testing procedures; where each batch of product was tested.
The entire processing plant underwent sterile cleaning, additional to its daily cleaning regime.
“We immediately recalled the entire production batches. Unfortunately, because the supermarkets are no longer taking the product, we’ve had to suspend part of the farming and processing operations,” he said.
Ausveg wanted to assure consumers their safety was paramount.
“The number one priority of the industry is the safety of the consumer. Salad leaf products on the supermarket shelf are safe,” said spokesperson Shaun Lindhe.
I prefer a cut-up variety of fibre-rich vegetables. A few years ago I toured my local supermarket with the two heads of food safety – both now gone.
We spent about two hours going through the store and I pointed out labelling problems, lack of hygiene and asked how were consumers supposed to know what food was safe?
Now there is a problem with bagged lettuce packaged up and served at some supermarkets interstate, with 28 (144) people sick. This is nothing new.
But it is tragic that people continue to get sick from the food that should nourish them. Fresh fruits and vegetables are the cornerstone of a healthy diet. Because they are fresh, anything that comes in contact has the potential to contaminate.That means food safety starts on the farm.
Washing produce may make you feel better and government agencies advocate washing, but with fresh produce washing does little.
It may remove some of the stuff that a three-year-old sneezed on it but, microbiologically, not much else.
The key is to have programs in place to reduce contamination.
Twenty years ago, my lab started working with Canadian farmers to limit contamination on fresh produce farms.
Of particular importance was quality of irrigation water, manure and employee handwashing.
You see a bird, I see a salmonella factory. We can’t kill all the birds but we can take appropriate steps to reduce risk.
Fresh produce has been the leading cause of foodborne illness in North America for two decades.
Right now there is an outbreak of listeria on Dole-packaged salads in Canada and the US that has killed two and made 20 ill. Are packaged salads the villain?
Yes and no.
There has been much debate in the food safety community over whether pre-packaged salads are a good thing or a bad thing
I agree with a scientific advisory committee in the US that pre-packaged salads are safer because your sink is a pool of germs.
But only if the companies producing the stuff – and making the profit – can prove it.
During one of my many supermarket trips, I asked the store manager if he washed pre-packaged greens. He replied, “Of course, why wouldn’t I, my wife does it.”
Oh, Australia.
There are no labels with recommendations on pre-packaged salads in Australia. There are no guidelines. There is no public disclosure.
If 28 people got sick, there’s a lot more for it to bubble up to Australian media.Retailers should be clear about practices and sourcing. And they should market food safety.
One means of doing this is to make sure the packaging of the produce they’re selling contains information about not only where the product was sourced but how it was produced – the farming practices. This could be as simple as including a URL address consumers can visit for information about the product or a QR code they can scan with their smartphone.
Dr Douglas Powell is a former professor of food safety in Canada and the US who shops, cooks and ferments from his home in Brisbane.
I prefer a cut-up variety of fibre-rich vegetables.
A few years ago I toured my local Coles supermarket with the two heads of food safety – both now gone.
We spent about 2 hours going through the store and I pointed out labeling problems, lack of hygiene, and asked, how were consumers supposed to know what food was safe?
Now there is a problem with bagged lettuce packaged up and served at Coles, Woolies, and elsewhere, with 28 people sick.
This is nothing new.
But it’s tragic that people continue to get sick from the food that should nourish them.
Fresh fruits and vegetables are the cornerstone of a healthy diet.
Because they are fresh, anything that comes in contact has the potential to contaminate.
That means food safety starts on the farm.
Washing produce may make you feel better, and government agencies advocate washing, but with fresh produce, washing does little.
It may remove some of the snot that a 3-year-old sneezed on it, but microbiologically, not much else.
The key is to have programs in place to reduce contamination.
Twenty years ago, my lab started working with Canadian farmers to limit contamination on fresh produce farms.
Of particular importance: quality of irrigation water, manure, and employee handwashing.
You see a bird, I see a Salmonella factory. We can’t kill all the birds, but we can take appropriate steps to reduce risk.
Fresh produce has been the leading cause of foodborne illness in North America for two decades.
Right now there is an outbreak of Listeria on Dole packaged salads in Canada and the U.S. that has killed two and sickened 20.
Are packaged salads the villain?
Yes and no.
There has been much debate in the food safety community over whether pre-packaged salads are a good thing or a bad thing.
I agree with a scientific advisory committee in the U.S. that said pre-packaged salads are safer because your sink is a pool of germs.
But only if the companies producing the stuff – and making the profit – can prove it.
During one of my many trips to Coles, I asked the store manager if he washes pre-packaged greens.
He replied, “Of course, why wouldn’t I, my wife does it.”
Oh, Australia.
There are no labels with recommendations on pre-packaged salads in Australia.
There are no guidelines.
There is no public disclosure.
If 28 people got sick, there’s a lot more for it to bubble up to Australian media.
Retailers should be clear about practices and sourcing.
And they should market food safety.
Dr. Douglas Powell is a former professor of food safety in Canada and the U.S. who shops, cooks and ferments from his home in Brisbane, Australia. And coaches ice hockey.
Australians have been assured prepacked lettuce on retail shelves is safe to eat as the number of salmonella cases linked to some products grows.
Fresh Produce Safety Centre technology manager Richard Bennett said consumers shouldn’t worry about potentially tainted lettuce unless it had been sitting in their refrigerators (disclaimer — I gave a talk for this group a couple of years ago; weren’t interested in hard questions).
“Any product on the retail shelf now is fresh, safe and healthy,” Mr Bennett told AAP.
Mr Bennett said Australia was a leader in food safety and systems were usually able to prevent outbreaks of disease.
No, most of it doesn’t get reported.
The Australian Fresh Produce Safety Centre, a bastard child of the leafy greens marketing thingy or whatever they’re called in California, is following the same playbook of saying everything is OK, why are you looking at us?
This is how bad public reporting of foodborne illness is in Australia.
Retailers, even with crappy Internet, we have cameras, and you’ll be found out.
An increasing number of Queenslanders claim they’ve been made ill from supermarket-bought salads in the wake of salmonella outbreak, but Woolworths and Coles insist there’s no problem with Queensland supply.
“The supplier in question does not supply into Queensland so there is no need to worry,” a Woolworths spokesman told The Courier-Mail.
While a Cole statement confirmed: “None of the recalled products are sold in Queensland, there is no cause for concern.”
Chelsea Bienke is just one of Queensland consumers who believe a bout of extreme vomiting and diarrhea was sparked after eating Woolworths lettuce.
The Brisbane woman and her sister were extremely ill for days after eating a meal with mixed salad.
“We had diarrhea for days and I was vomiting” Ms Bienke said.
“I felt like complete crap. I couldn’t go to work this week.”
She said she doubted claims that the product wouldn’t affect any customers.
“Well it’s strange how we bought the product last week and by Tuesday we were vomiting and had diarrhea,” Ms Bienke said.
“My niece who doesn’t eat the product is perfectly fine.”
Another Queenslander wrote on Coles’ Facebook page: “Are you sure Qld products are not affected. I bought spinach and rocket mix. My child has been unwell for three days.”
Another Brisbane mum posted on the same page: “You say Qld isn’t affected but my kids have been sick with headache and nausea. We eat your salads all the time and five of my six kids have been sick.
I prefer a cut-up variety of fibre-rich vegetables.
A few years ago I toured my local Coles supermarket with the two heads of food safety – both now gone.
We spent about 2 hours going through the store and I pointed out labeling problems, lack of hygiene, and asked, how were consumers supposed to know what food was safe?
Now there is a problem with bagged lettuce packaged up and served at Coles, Woolies, and elsewhere, with 28 people sick.
This is nothing new.
But it’s tragic that people continue to get sick from the food that should nourish them.
Fresh fruits and vegetables are the cornerstone of a healthy diet.
Because they are fresh, anything that comes in contact has the potential to contaminate.
That means food safety starts on the farm.
Washing produce may make you feel better, and government agencies advocate washing, but with fresh produce, washing does little.
It may remove some of the snot that a 3-year-old sneezed on it, but microbiologically, not much else.
The key is to have programs in place to reduce contamination.
Twenty years ago, my lab started working with Canadian farmers to limit contamination on fresh produce farms.
Of particular importance: quality of irrigation water, manure, and employee handwashing.
You see a bird, I see a Salmonella factory. We can’t kill all the birds, but we can take appropriate steps to reduce risk.
Fresh produce has been the leading cause of foodborne illness in North America for two decades.
Right now there is an outbreak of Listeria on Dole packaged salads in Canada and the U.S. that has killed two and sickened 20.
Are packaged salads the villain?
Yes and no.
There has been much debate in the food safety community over whether pre-packaged salads are a good thing or a bad thing.
I agree with a scientific advisory committee in the U.S. that said pre-packaged salads are safer because your sink is a pool of germs.
But only if the companies producing the stuff – and making the profit – can prove it.
During one of my many trips to Coles, I asked the store manager if he washes pre-packaged greens.
He replied, “Of course, why wouldn’t I, my wife does it.”
Oh, Australia.
There are no labels with recommendations on pre-packaged salads in Australia.
There are no guidelines.
There is no public disclosure.
If 28 people got sick, there’s a lot more for it to bubble up to Australian media.
Retailers should be clear about practices and sourcing.
And they should market food safety.
Dr. Douglas Powell is a former professor of food safety in Canada and the U.S. who shops, cooks and ferments from his home in Brisbane, Australia. And coaches ice hockey.
An urgent national recall has been issued for pre-packaged lettuce and salad linked to a salmonella outbreak that has hospitalized two people.
The Victorian Department of Health and Human Services said it had identified a number of cases of the infection linked to lettuce grown and packaged by Victorian company Tripod Farmers.
It is sold at Coles, Woolworths, Bi-Lo and other grocers as Coles 4 Leaf Mix, Woolworths salad mix, SupaSalad Supamix and Wash N Toss salad mix.
The affected products have best before dates leading up to and including February 14 and are in all states and territories except for Tasmania and Western Australia.
The health department identified the lettuce after recording an unusually high level of Salmonella Anatum strain infections and traced a number of those back to the products.
“Normally we only see a handful of cases of this strain each year, but so far this year there have been 28 adult cases of salmonella anatum – mostly adults – notified to the department,” the department’s senior medical advisor Dr Finn Romanes said.
“As a result of following up the food histories of a number of people we have discovered a common source – the Tripod Farmers lettuce.
“Tests of three products from two batches have also tested positive for Salmonella Anatum bacterium.”
“We do expect to see more cases,” he said.
“We are working with the company to understand what may have occurred… They have instituted a comprehensive clean-up to make sure any risk is minimized.”
Carl’s Jr has set up shop in Bateau Bay near The Entrance, next to McDonald’s, and is offering a year’s worth of free burgers to the first 50 people through the door on Tuesday.
It’s a publicity stunt set to rival that of fellow US burger chain In-N-Out, which opened a four-hour pop-up restaurant in Surry Hills last month and sold out of product half an hour before the store opened.
A woman from Kiama Downs was forced to undergo an emergency caesarean after she says she became violently ill after eating a hot chicken roll from a Sydney bakery suspected of being at the centre of a food-poisoning outbreak.
First-time mother Ashley Buchanan remains in Wollongong Hospital after giving birth to her daughter, Ava, on Tuesday, five weeks before her due date.
Mrs Buchanan said she and her husband, Caine, had travelled to Sylvania, in Sydney’s south, for a birthing class at the weekend when they stopped at Box Village Bakery and Cafe for lunch about 1pm. Both she and her husband ate hot chicken rolls with gravy, she told the Illawarra Mercury from her hospital bed on Friday.
By 8pm, Mrs Buchanan was violently ill with intense cramping, vomiting and diarrhoea. Mr Buchanan drove her to Shellharbour Hospital about 1am on Monday. By then, he too was experiencing some of the same symptoms.
Mrs Buchanan was transferred to Wollongong Hospital, where doctors kept watch on her falling blood pressure and worsening loss of fluids. Doctors decided to operate when unborn Ava’s movements slowed.
Mrs Buchanan told radio station 2UE earlier that she was admitted to the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) after the surgery.
“It was all quite frightening, because my blood pressure went right down; they had to rush me to ICU straight after the delivery,” she said.
“My husband was actually in hospital at the time, but because he was sick he wasn’t allowed to come into the theatre with me to see the birth, so it was all very stressful and frightening.”
“It wasn’t until the next day they told me they were so lucky that they made that call, because once they started the caesarean they found I had internal bleeding so it could have ended up much worse if they waited,” Mrs Buchanan told the Mercury.
Baby Ava ultimately arrived at 35 weeks and six days, weighing a healthy 2.9 kilograms.
Doctors told the family a younger baby of a lesser weight might not have withstood the stresses of food poisoning.
The South Eastern Sydney Local Health District said 151 people had now presented themselves at Sutherland and St George hospitals with food poisoning, and 27 had been admitted to those hospitals.
Not the front-line workers, but the plutocracy in suits, fretting about their pensions, golden handshakes, and whether their kids will go to the best schools to meet the right people.
