Federal prosecutors charge Iowa egg company, 2 executives in 2010 salmonella outbreak

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Douglas Powell

In 2010, eggs produced by farms owned by Jack DeCoster in Iowa sickened at least 2,000 people with Salmonella.

Federal prosecutors have now filed charges against disgraced egg industry titan Austin “Jack” DeCoster and his son Peter DeCoster with introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce, a misdemeanor.

Their company, Quality Egg LLC, is charged with introducing misbranded food into interstate commerce, a felony. The document says Quality Egg sold products for years with labeling that “made the eggs appear to be not as old as they actually were.”

The company is also charged with bribing a U.S. Department of Agriculture Inspector.

The charges were filed in a document called an information, which suggests they’ve reached plea agreements.

Dubai has an egg problem

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Douglas Powell

Dubai apparently has an egg problem too, as authorities are urging residents to take extra precautions when ordering high-risk food from restaurants, especially the many egg-based dishes that are not fully cooked.

Sultan Al Tahir, head of food inspection section, emphasized that eggs should be stored in refrigerators all along the food chain from the farm until they are cooked.

“In the kitchen, eggs should be broken carefully in a segregated area to prevent contamination of other ready to eat food. Egg products should be cooked well to a minimum temperature of 75 degrees Celsius as per our regulations. Eggs that are stored at ambient temperatures should not be consumed and our inspectors have been instructed to discard eggs that have not been stored or cooked properly,” he said.

Safer eggs: new technique uses radio waves to zap Salmonella

Posted on April 1, 2014 by Douglas Powell

According to the Department of Agriculture, about one out of every 20,000 chicken eggs produced in the U.S. has a high risk of being contaminated with Salmonella bacteria. Not all kinds of Salmonella are harmful, but some are, notably S. enteritidis, which has been associated with eating raw or undercooked eggs. This and other pathogenic Salmonella strains can cause diarrhea, stomach cramps, fever, and—in some instances—death.

Those most vulnerable to salmonellosis are infants, preschoolers, pregnant women, the elderly, and anyone who has a compromised immune system.

Properly cooking chicken eggs—such as by hard-boiling them—kills Salmonella.

So does pasteurizing them. Right now, a hot-water-immersion process is apparently the only technique used commercially in this country to pasteurize fresh “shell” eggs (eggs that are sold in-the-shell, instead of as a liquid product, for example). Many supermarkets offer these eggs as a specialty item in their dairy case.

But the hour-long immersion process may change qualities of these raw eggs, perhaps making them less satisfactory to discerning home cooks and restaurant chefs alike. Studies led by Agricultural Research Service chemical engineer Dave Geveke have resulted in a better, faster way to pasteurize raw shell eggs without ruining their taste, texture, color, or other important characteristics.

Geveke’s tests with some 4,000 fresh shell eggs indicate that heating them with the energy from radio waves, or what’s known as radiofrequency (RF) heating, followed by a comparatively brief hot-water bath, can kill harmful microbes without lessening the quality of the treated eggs.

Each raw egg is positioned between two electrodes that send radio waves back and forth through it. Meantime, the egg is slowly rotated, and its shell is cooled by spraying it with water—to offset some of the heat created by the radio waves.

Unlike conventional heating, RF heating warms the egg from the inside out. That’s critical to the success of the process. It means that the dense, heat-tolerant yolk, at the center of the egg, receives more heat than the delicate, heat-sensitive white (albumen).

The hot-water bath comes next. The warmth of the bath helps the yolk retain heat, to complete the pasteurization. The heat from the water also pasteurizes the white, without overprocessing it.

From start to finish, the treatment takes around 20 minutes, making it about three times faster than the hot-water-immersion technique. And in tests using a research strain of Salmonella, Geveke showed that the RF-based process killed 99.999 percent of the Salmonella cells.

Before the treatment, Geveke’s team artificially infected the eggs by poking a small hole in the top of each, injecting the Salmonella into the egg via a glass syringe, then sealing the hole with a droplet of quick-setting epoxy glue. In nature, a hen’s eggs can become contaminated with Salmonella if her ovaries are infected with it.

The idea of using RF heating to kill pathogens in foods isn’t new. But using RF heating to kill pathogens in eggs is novel. And Geveke and his colleagues are evidently the first to pair RF heating with a hot-water bath to pasteurize raw shell eggs.

A provision of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Food Code may contribute to growth of the raw-pasteurized-egg market. Already adopted by some states, the code specifies use of raw pasteurized eggs, or other pasteurized egg product, in place of unpasteurized eggs when foods such as Caesar salad are served to at-risk populations or to people who receive meals through “custodial care-giving environments” such as nursing homes, hospitals, or eldercare centers.

Though the specialty market is an obvious application of the RF-heating process, it could of course be used to pasteurize all of the more than 221 million fresh shell eggs produced in the United States every day. This would undoubtedly add to processors’ costs, but might be a convenience for shoppers and would add an extra margin of safety to all fresh shell eggs—not just the specialty product, Geveke points out.

Commercial use of the RF-based method is at least a year or so away. Geveke expects to begin pilot-scale tests this year. After that, regulatory approval would be needed.

Culture of indifference; 220 sick from Salmonella in latest Australian egg outbreak; microbial food safety problems on rise

Posted on March 3, 2014 by Douglas Powell

Australia has more than an egg problem – it has a microbial food safety problem.

And the public availability of food safety information is embarrassingly sparse, creating a culture of indifference.

As the number sickened by Salmonella linked to raw-egg based dishes at Torquay’s Bottle of Milk restaurant climbed to 220, OzFoodNet, the national foodborne disease monitoring network, reports the number of Australians struck down by food poisoning has leapt almost 80 per cent in a decade and the number of outbreaks linked to restaurants has more than doubled.

In the decade to 2011, the number of Australians affected by foodborne gastroenteritis increased 79 per cent. In 2011, 150 outbreaks affected 2,241 people compared with 86 affecting 1,768 people in 2001. The rate of hospitalization has trebled since 2001.

The figures capture only a fraction of infections since most victims don’t go to a doctor, experts say. A 2002 estimate of people affected by food poisoning put the number at 5.4 million cases of gastro and 120 deaths a year at a cost of $1.25 billion.

Martyn Kirk, a senior lecturer in epidemiology at the Australian National University and former OzFoodNet senior epidemiologist, warns that any foods prepared without the bacterial ”kill step” of cooking increase the risk of bacteria spreading, and that Salmonella is linked to multiple food sources.

”It’s definitely not always the chicken … We’ve had outbreaks of salmonella linked to rockmelon, papaya, cucumbers – and we know that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” he says.

Raw or minimally cooked eggs are the single largest cause of foodborne illness in Australia. But fresh produce has been increasingly implicated in outbreaks as health-conscious consumers favour salads, raw vegetables and minimally processed foods with lower salt and fat contents.

In the Bottle of Milk outbreak, suspect eggs were traced back to the Green Eggs farm in Great Western. Sales have been restricted until food safety is improved.

In recent days a handful of salmonella cases have also emerged among diners at St Kilda’s Newmarket Hotel, which had also sourced eggs from the Green Eggs farm.

Victorian chief health officer Rosemary Lester said other salmonella cases not linked to the two restaurants had also emerged and were being investigated.

Late last year, Piccalilli Catering was identified as the Brisbane catering company at the centre of another salmonella outbreak, which contributed to the death of one elderly lady and 220 others falling ill.

“We are deeply upset and distressed by this outcome. We always pride ourselves on sourcing the freshest Australian ingredients for our kitchens. We feel very disappointed and let down that the normally reliable fresh food supply chain has failed us – and our clients – on this occasion,” Piccalilli Catering co-owner, Helen Grace, said at the time.

Until someone develops Salmonella-spotting goggles, Australian food service needs to use pasteurized eggs in homemade mayonnaise and aioli, or commercial sources. Having this conversation with an Australian restaurant chef is like walking into 1978.

Don’t leave eggs in direct sunlight; UK butchers warned over egg displays

Posted on February 8, 2014 by Douglas Powell

The British Egg Industry Council has written to leading butchers organisations to warn them of the dangers of displaying eggs in shop windows.

Fluctuating temperatures are likely to lead to degradation of the quality of eggs kept in direct sunlight, potentially resulting in customer complaints and creating unnecessary problems for butchers.

Eggs should also be stored correctly (dry and out of direct sunlight) to minimise the risk from salmonella, should this be present. The problems will increase over the summer months, but even in the winter months there can be issues, particularly when there is direct sunlight on the shop window.

If eggs containing salmonella are stored incorrectly, this will lead to the salmonella present multiplying rapidly, which increases the health threat to consumers. Although British Lion eggs have been extensively tested for salmonella – in the most recent Food Standards Agency tests salmonella was not recovered from inside any British Lion eggs – there is still a risk from non-Lion imported eggs.

In addition, although British Lion eggs carry a best before date on the shell, there is no legal requirement to date-stamp eggs and, unless stock is rotated carefully, both the quality and safety of eggs may be impaired.

MPs’ fury at fresh egg ban because they are ‘too dangerous’ to use in House of Commons’ kitchens

Posted on August 19, 2013 by Douglas Powell

It’s dangerous politics to talk about eggs and risk in the UK.

In 1988, then junior UK health minister Edwina Currie warned the British public that most of the egg production in the UK was affected by Salmonella. Egg sales collapsed, Currie was eventually turfed from cabinet and millions worth of compensation was paid to egg producers.

Yesterday, Members of Parliament scrambled to blast a ban on chefs using fresh eggs in the House of Commons’ kitchens.

Caterers have been told they are “too dangerous” and could be contaminated with salmonella.

Instead they must use liquid egg for dishes like omelette.

But Labour MP Thomas Docherty, vice chairman of the Commons Administration Committee, ordered an inquiry into the daft move.

He said: “I have asked managers to find out who took this ridiculous decision.”

Another shell-shocked MP warned: “If MPs cannot or will not eat scrambled eggs because they are a health risk, members of the public may say, ‘if it is too dangerous for MPs then it must be too dangerous for us’.”

A Commons spokeswoman insisted the ban was in line with Food Standards Agency advice.

She added: “Dishes such as scrambled eggs, mousses or omelettes which do not reach a core temperature of 75C are now made using pasteurised liquid egg rather than fresh eggs.”

But the Food Standards Agency said there was nothing to stop caterers cooking with fresh eggs.

A spokesman pointed out the guidance on using the liquid version was meant for vulnerable people like the elderly and seriously ill.

It also applied only if the dish was not to be fully cooked.

The spokesman added: “This is simply guidance and not a legal requirement.”

Guidance needs to be clear and food safety is never simple. Keep those eggs piping hot.

Should food execs face criminal terms? Lawyers will figure that out but retailers should provide consumers choice

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Douglas Powell

I like eggs, they’re a baking essential and a useful protein source; Sorenne likes them boiled, but only the white parts.

When I buy eggs, I can get free-range, cage-free, omega-3 and probably many others.

What I can’t get is information on the microbiological safety of eggs at retail; and these huckster labels are poor surrogates for safety.

In 2010, at least 2,000 people were sickened with Salmonella from eggs produced by DeCoster farms in Iowa.

Three years later, federal prosecutors are still seeking criminal charges.

Attorneys in Iowa’s Northern District are waiting to sentence a former manager of an Iowa egg company involved in the 2010 outbreak that sickened about 2,000 people, possibly to see what testimony he provides to a grand jury that continues to investigate the case.

Tony Wasmund, 62, of Willmar, Minn., pleaded guilty in September to conspiring to bribe a federal egg inspector at Wright County Egg, one of the Iowa egg farms operated by Austin “Jack” DeCoster and Peter DeCoster, a father and son from Clarion.

Wasmund’s sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 16, nearly a year after he took a plea deal from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The delay feeds speculation that prosecutors are using Wasmund’s testimony to a Cedar Rapids grand jury to implicate others in the DeCoster egg operations.

I understand the law takes a long time; divorce court goes on forever. But there is nothing stopping the better egg producers from bragging about safety, today. And not in scripted media tours targeted at specialized journalists, I want to know, shopping, with my kids.

And I don’t want a cartoon on Sesame Street, I want microbiological data. The best should be loud and proud and brag at retail.

Dropping like flies; at least 20 sick, 5 hospitalized in Canberra food poisoning outbreak

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Douglas Powell

Australia still has an egg problem.

Or at least a Salmonella problem.

According to the Canberra Times, five people have been hospitalized and more than 20 are sick as investigations continue into one of the largest spates of food poisoning recorded in the Australian capital in recent years.

But it’s nothing new; and is an embarrassment to the Australian capital which routinely preaches food safety adherence.

In Dec. 2011, Silo Bakery in Canberra was forced to shut for three days after ACT Health detected salmonella in mayonnaise used in a chicken roll.

It is believed raw egg in the mayonnaise was to blame for the salmonella outbreak which allegedly affected more than a dozen people.

At least 22 people were sickened with salmonella in Dec. at the Canberra bakery. In the aftermath of the outbreak, Silo co-owner Leanne Gray said officials have advised buying commercial mayonnaise or using pasteurized eggs. Her response: “That’s the foulest thing you’ve ever seen, so I said no, I won’t.”

Bye bye.

Seventeen months later and The Canberra Times has received reports from numerous readers who have fallen ill as part of a Salmonella outbreak in recent days, after eating at the newly opened The Copa Brazilian Churrasco in Dickson.

A spokesman from The Copa – open for less than a week – confirmed it was working with a team from ACT Health, having voluntarily closed its doors this week citing ventilation exhaust issues.

Chief Health Officer Paul Kelly said he was first notified by Calvary Hospital staff about 10am on Monday regarding the influx of patients, who have now been confirmed as having contracted salmonella.

”It’s usually from food and the most likely thing is it’s probably egg-based,” he said. ”But it can be chicken, it can be salads.”

Dr Kelly said there were 22 reported cases and five had been hospitalised as of Tuesday, but he said ”there certainly will be more.”

He said it appeared those affected by food poisoning symptoms had eaten at the same restaurant, where a buffet-style meal had been served.

He confirmed inspections were being carried out on site and investigators had taken swabs of surfaces and samples of available food from the weekend.

Dr Kelly said it was ”one of the biggest” cases in recent years in Canberra, which has now recorded five widespread cases of food poisoning since late 2010. ”We’ve seen four of a similar size,” he said. ”Each of them have been associated with egg.”

Marcela Valenzuela described the emergency department of Calvary Hospital as ”like a war zone” with around 20 people separated from the other emergency patients in a makeshift ward on drips, antibiotics and some even morphine.

Her mother was first admitted with food poisoning on Monday morning, but like many others was treated, sent home, then admitted again.

Ms Valenzuela and her mother were part of a group of 10 dining at the Copa Brazilian Churrasco on Saturday night, with only Ms Valenzuela and friend Carlos Obando escaping illness – as both happened to be on antibiotics. The first Ms Valenzuela knew something was wrong was when a friend messaged her on Monday to ask if she was feeling OK.

”She said, ‘they’re falling like flies, there are a few people already in hospital’ … I rang my mum and she goes, ‘I’ve been up all night with diarrhea and vomiting’, so we brought her in [to hospital],” she said. ”I can’t blame [the restaurant] because we don’t know yet where it comes from – maybe it was something that they bought that was already contaminated.”

She said the scenario could have been worse had the fully booked restaurant not been forced to close around 7pm on Saturday due to faulty exhaust fans, with patrons not charged for their meals.

But the free dinner was not enough to make up for the immediate medical costs. ”Who’s going to pay the bill here?” Mr Obando asked.

A table of raw-egg related outbreaks in Australia is available at http://bites.ksu.edu/raw-egg-related-outbreaks-australia.

Fail: jelly beans in egg cartons, chicks in classrooms

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Douglas Powell

Easter is a big deal in some places, what with the chicks, the bunnies, the chocolate and other religious artifacts to commemorate the resurrection of spring – in the North.

In the South – Australia, not Alabama – Easter marks the beginning of fall, and the kids get two weeks off school.

In the lead-up to Easter, there are some questionable activities that may be going on at day cares and schools (have I mentioned the other parents hate me?) or in your own kitchen.

A reader sent in this bit from Flower Factor:

“Easter is early this year, falling on Sunday, March 31. I’ve been saving eggshells since January. Quick tip on eggshells: Rather than break the egg in half, carefully tap the top and pour out the egg for use in cooking. Then, carefully, rinse the shell and let it dry. This is ‘re-use and recycle’ at its finest. If you want to make your florist love you, take them cleaned eggs for designing — there are only so many eggs we can eat! And we florists will take your egg trays, too.”

And fill them with jelly beans.

Cardboard egg cartons are impossible to clean; eggs have a tendency to transmit Salmonella; putting ready-to-eat jelly beans in such a container is food porn not food safety.

Chicks in day cares? Great educational opportunity – and they’re cute. But as one teacher was telling me, she has to keep the kids outside or be watching all the time, because 4-year-olds do the most unexpected things: like lick the cage, or stick their hands in chicken poop, or open the crate and smash a chick against a wall (that kid needs help).

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reiterated today that 195 people – mainly kids – in 27 states were sickened with Salmonella from March 1–September 24, 2012, after exposure to chicks from a single mail-order hatchery.

This outbreak investigation identified the largest number of human illnesses ever linked to contact with live poultry during a single outbreak, and it underscores the ongoing risk for human salmonellosis linked to backyard flocks. Preventing live poultry–associated salmonellosis requires an integrated approach involving mail-order hatcheries, agricultural feed stores, and consumers. Mail-order hatcheries should comply with management and sanitation practices outlined by USDA-NPIP and avoid the shipment of day-old chicks through their hatchery from another hatchery (e.g., trans-shipping). Feed stores should use physical barriers (e.g., a wall or fence) between customers and poultry displays to prevent direct contact with poultry. Educational materials warning customers and advising them on how to reduce the risk for Salmonella infection from live poultry should be distributed with all live poultry purchases.

You see something cute, I see a Salmonella factory.

Failure to communicate: 20-year-old Tunisian dies after eating 28 raw eggs as a dare

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Douglas Powell

Paul Newman was so cool, that stuff he did in a movie 50 years is being reenacted long after his death, and killing people.

According to Huffington Post, a 20-year-old Tunisian man Dhaou Fatnassi died after completing a dare to eat 28 raw eggs, French-language radio station Shems FM reported. According to News.com.au, Fatnassi’s friends had promised to give him “an undisclosed sum of money” if he swallowed all 28 of the raw eggs whole. (One assumes that did not include the shells, but you can never be sure.)

After doing so, Fatnassi reportedly started to feel pains in his stomach. He headed toward the Hopital les Aghlabides in Kairouan, Tunisia, to receive medical attention, but died in transit.

Over the years, many have surely wondered whether the famous egg-eating scene in “Cool Hand Luke” was replicable in real life, and whether it was really possible to eat 50 eggs and live to tell the tale, as Paul Newman’s character did (his were hard-boiled eggs, not raw).

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