Tag Archives: Egg

Warning on raw egg dishes; Australian food safety types pontificate

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Australia still has an egg problem.

A raw egg problem.

With the holidays and warm weather, Australian Food Safety Information Council chairman Michael Eyles, warns that trying out new recipes this time of year can be great fun but food poisoning bugs can survive and even grow quickly in foods containing raw egg, like eggnog, home made mayonnaise and desserts such as tiramisu and chocolate mousse, if they aren’t handled properly.

“OzFoodNet has shown that consumption of foods containing raw or minimally cooked eggs is currently the single largest cause of foodborne Salmonella outbreaks. In their most recent nine year survey period they have linked 68 food poisoning outbreaks to eggs with 1404 Australians becoming ill, 322 hospitalised and 2 deaths.”

But it’s not just handling. Yes, refrigerating raw egg dishes will contain risk, but does not eliminate risk. To adapt to the Australian egg climate, every time I’m at an Australian restaurant and offered aioli or mayo, I have to ask if the sauce is raw. Servers and chefs look at me like I’m some new world barbarian who wants eggs somewhat cooked.

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

34 sick from Salmonella in backyard eggs, Poland, 2011

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While Sorenne and I were up watching football at 3:30 a.m. local time (recovering from all the barfing yesterday), she was browsing through this week’s edition of Eurosurveillance and thought this abstract about backyard eggs and Salmonella would be of interest.

One of her teachers at school has chickens and ducks and provides me with eggs, and I provide her with cooked things.

But as I always explain to my 3-year-old sous chef, there are certain precautions to take with raw eggs, not just the undercooking but the cross-contamination, regardless of where they originate.

Abstract below:

Implementation of control measures in line with European Commission regulations has led to a decrease in salmonellosis in the European Union since 2004. However, control programmes do not address laying hens whose eggs are produced for personal consumption or local sale. This article reports an investigation of a salmonellosis outbreak linked to home-produced eggs following a family event held in a farm in September 2011 near Warsaw, Poland. In the outbreak, 34 people developed gastroenteritis symptoms. Results from a cohort study indicated a cake, prepared from raw home-produced eggs, as the vehicle of the outbreak.

Laboratory analysis identified Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis) in stool samples or rectal swabs from 18 of 24 people and in two egg samples. As no food items remained, we used phage typing to link the source of the outbreak with the isolated strains. Seven S. Enteritidis strains analysed (five from attendees and two from eggs) were phage type 21c. Our findings resulted in culling of the infected laying hens and symptomatic pigeons housed next to the hens. Salmonella poses as a public health problem in Poland: control measures should not forget home-produced eggs, as there is a risk of infection from their consumption.

Jack Nicholson, pancakes and kids

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Sorenne and I make pancakes once or twice a week.

It’s a recipe I adopted from the N.Y .Times’ Jane Brody about 25 years ago, when I started making them for my eldest daughter, Madelynn.

1 cup buttermilk (but I just use milk with Tahitian limes because buttermilk is ridiculously expensive in Australia)

1 egg

vanilla

honey

baking powder

baking soda

buckwheat flour

lots of frozen berries

Canadian (eh) maple syrup.

And no licking of the batter; Australia has an egg problem.

At 75, Jack Nicholson mentioned pancakes as one of his life lessons.

“What I wish I knew at 18? Everything — from wishing I learned a foreign language to becoming a good chef. I was a short order cook for a while in New Jersey in between acting jobs. One day, a woman came in to ask for pancakes and my pancake came out about 3 inches thick. She said: ‘What the hell is this?’ I lost my temper, hit the pancake and said, ‘Make your own damn pancakes!’

“So you can add wishing I knew how to control my temper to that list.”

Nicholson also added, “I no longer have the energy to both work and fool around. So the last few movies I’ve done, I have hardly left the hotel at nights.”

A food safe breakfast: me and Sorenne

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Sorenne and I often bake in the morning.

With the summer solstice approaching in Brisbane, and mornings alighting at 4:45 a.m., she gets up early, I get up early, and we hang out in the kitchen.

Today was whole meal muffins and French toast from some leftover baguette for the Frenchie.

I don’t let Sorenne lick the spoon and am careful not to cross-contaminate; Australia has an egg problem.

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

Yesterday was poached egg on asparagus on leftover salmon from the night before on whole wheat toast; with mango.

We like to improvise.

Salmonella controls for duck flocks working in Ireland; reptiles remain a source of infection

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The Food Safety Authority of Ireland says that procedures put in place to control Salmonella in ducks and duck eggs are working, according to the National Salmonella, Shigella and Listeria Reference Laboratory (NSSLRL). In its Annual Report for 2011, the laboratory reports a decrease in the number of cases of illness caused by a particular strain of Salmonella
which has been linked to duck eggs (S. Typhimurium DT8). Because duck eggs can occasionally contain Salmonella, they must not be eaten raw, but fully cooked until the yolk and white are solid. 

Sometimes, subtyping can actually detect outbreaks.  In 2009, the NSSLRL noticed an increase in cases of illness caused by a particular strain of S. Typhimurium (phage type DT8) and alerted public health colleagues to the possibility of an outbreak.  Over 30 cases were detected and investigations by the Outbreak Control Team pointed to the consumption of duck eggs as the source. 

In order to control the outbreak, consumers were advised not to eat raw or undercooked duck eggs and to handle them hygienically.  Also, new legislation setting down a legal basis for the control of Salmonella in ducks and duck eggs was introduced (S.I. No 565 of 2010).  This legislation requires anyone keeping ducks (even a small ‘backyard’ flock) to register with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).  Also, anyone selling even small quantities of duck eggs must put in place a biosecurity plan to prevent Salmonella entering their flock and spreading.  Guidelines are available on DAFM’s website at: www.agriculture.gov.ie/farmingsectors/poultry.

According to the NSSLRL, these control measures have worked.  The number of cases of human illness caused by S. Typhimurium DT8 has dropped from 28 in 2010 to nine in 2011.

Salmonella infection is a notifiable disease in Ireland.  All cases diagnosed by doctors or clinical laboratories must be notified to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), which manages the surveillance of infectious diseases in Ireland.  The HPSC provisionally reported 314 cases of Salmonella infection in 2011, which follows a decline in numbers of cases since a peak in 1998.

According to the NSSLRL, Salmonella Typhimurium and S. Enteritidis were the strains which caused most Salmonella illness in humans in 2011, as in previous years.   Of the 320 Salmonella isolates from patients referred to the NSSLRL in 2011, 27% were identified as S. Typhimurium and 18% as S. Enteritidis. 

Reptiles as a Source of Infection

Reptiles often carry Salmonella and can be a source of infection, especially for children.  The HPSC advises that households with children under five years of age should not keep reptiles as pets; and neither should reptiles be kept in childcare facilities such as crèches.  However, the NSSLRL is concerned that this public health message is not being heeded because reptile-associated cases in children continued to be reported in 2011.  Subtyping of isolates from a number of these cases revealed that the strain which caused illness in the child or children was the same as that carried by the household’s pet reptile.  

NSSLRL annual reports are available at:  www.nuigalway.ie/salmonella_lab/

But it’s a safe product: ex Iowa egg manager pleads guilty to bribery conspiracy

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A manager at the Iowa egg farms linked to the 2010 salmonella outbreak has pleaded guilty to his role in a conspiracy to bribe an inspector to allow the sale of unapproved eggs.

AP reports former DeCoster Farms manager Tony Wasmund acknowledged in a hearing in Sioux City that he conspired to bribe a U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector in order to sell restricted eggs and misbranded food.

Wasmund was a manager in the companies owned by Jack DeCoster, whose egg production operations were blamed for the outbreak that caused the recall of 550 million eggs and sickened hundreds.

Wasmund admitted he authorized giving $300 in cash to be used by another employee to influence the inspector to approve the sale of eggs that’d been withheld for failing to meet USDA standards.

Apparently not another raw egg outbreak in Australia

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This is why I put question marks on some headlines: because something doesn’t seem quite right.

A story dated June 7, 2012 and published by ThePoultrySite – my favorite read while exfoliating in the bath – had this lede:

AUSTRALIA – Currently the NSW Food Authority is investigating 49 cases of Salmonella poisoning, suspected to be from consuming foods containing raw egg.

I dutifully blogged the news, not so much the research, but that there was yet another outbreakof salmonella in eggs which, given the track-record in Australia, would be far from surprising.

An answer arrived a week later in the form of an e-mail from the New South Wales Food Authority: “The information the Poultry CRC used was actually from a media alert posted on our website in 2007 – http://foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/news/alerts-recalls/alert-eggs-and-food-poisoning/.

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

Love letters from FDA: fishy fish, bad buns

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It’s like a game show: This Week in Warning Letters from FDA.

Take your chances, make mistakes, let the U.S. Food and Drug Administration lay out your food failings in public view.

Seafood was a repeat offender, and some others:

• General Tuna Corporation, based in the Philippines, cited for having a HACCP plan that really sucked;

• Chung’s and Son Company of Temple Hills, Maryland, cited for having a HACCP plan that really sucked, your vegetable and shrimp egg roll is adulterated, in that they have been prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby they may have been rendered injurious to health;

• Custom Seafood Services Inc. of Seattle, Washington, cited for having a HACCP plan that really sucked, your Dungeness crab sections and King crab legs and claws are adulterated;

• Concept Asia Food Service, another Seattle fish processor with a lousy HACCP plan,
your sushi roll products, including the salmon roll, eel roll, tai roll, imitation crab roll, and tuna roll, are adulterated

• Sugar Bakers, Inc. of Catonsville, Maryland, you have lousy handwashing trash all over the place, and poor storage choices;

• Panaderia El Angel of Arlington, Washington, a Hispanic bakery, you have serious violations of Good Manufacturing Practices, your products are all adulterated;

• K-Brand Farms of Woodridge, New York, you have serious violations of the Prevention of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) in Shell Eggs During Production, Storage, and Transportation regulation (the shell egg regulation), your shell eggs are adulterated; and,

• Societe Fromagere de Bouvron of Bouvron, France, you produce cheese with substandard equipment.

Join us again next week.

Your moment of homage, from Second City TV in 1981,

and, something else.

Dirty conditions at another egg producer

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In conditions similar to the Iowa egg farms involved in the 2010 salmonella-in-eggs outbreak – without the salmonella outbreak – the Humane Society of the U.S. plans to release on Thursday the results of an undercover investigation into Kreider Farms, which produces 4.5 million eggs each day for supermarkets like ShopRite.

Nicholas Kristof writes in today’s N.Y. Times that he’s reviewed footage and photos taken by the investigator, who says he worked for Kreider between January and March of this year. In an interview, he portrayed an operation that has little concern for cleanliness or the welfare of hens.

“It’s physically hard to breathe because of the ammonia” rising from manure pits below older barns, said the investigator, who would not allow his name to be used because that would prevent him from taking another undercover job in agriculture. He said that when workers needed to enter an older barn, they would first open doors and rev up exhaust fans, and then rush in to do their chores before the fumes became overwhelming.

Mice sometimes ran down egg conveyer belts, barns were thick with flies and manure in three barns tested positive for salmonella, he said. (Actually, salmonella isn’t as rare as you might think, turning up in 3 percent of egg factory farms tested by the Food and Drug Administration last year.)

In some cases, 11 hens were jammed into a cage about 2 feet by 2 feet. The Humane Society says that that is even more cramped than the egg industry’s own voluntary standards — which have been widely criticized as inadequate.

“These allegations by the Humane Society are a gross distortion of Kreider Farms, our employees and the way we care for birds,” Ron Kreider, the president of Kreider Farms, told me in a statement. He acknowledged that three barns had tested positive for salmonella but said that consumers were never endangered.

“The reality of food processing can be off-putting to those not familiar with animal agriculture,” added Kreider, the third-generation family leader of the company. “When dealing with millions of birds, there is always a small percentage of dead birds. Older-style chicken houses will inherently contain a level of fly and rodent activity.” Kreider added that his company was leading the industry in replacing old barns with state-of-the-art.

Easter chick or egg or Salmonella?

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Health officials are again bracing for yet another wave of illness linked to Easter gifts of baby chicks and ducklings.

Last year 68 people got salmonella in 20 states from handling baby chicks and ducklings, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Almost a third were under age 6.

CDC’s Casey Barton Bahravesh told USA Today’s Elizabeth Weise there have been more than 35 U.S. outbreaks of salmonella caused by exposure to chicks, ducklings and other live poultry since 1990, and most of those who got sick were young children.

If you’re buying chicks, ask if the seller tests them for salmonella, says Douglas Powell, a professor of food safety at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan. "If they look at you like you’re crazy, you shouldn’t buy from them."

Stores say customers don’t always think through what they’ll do with a chick when it becomes a chicken. The surge in interest in backyard laying flocks has helped, because there are more friends and family willing to take in a cute chick that’s now a not-so-cute pullet, says Les Phillips of MyPetChicken.com, an online poultry supplier. But some chick buyers still "end up taking them to the local pet store to try to re-home them."

Half of all chicks are boys, and boy chicks grow up to be crowing roosters that can live for up to five years.

If that chick goes on to produce eggs, Professor Ben Chapman of North Carolina State University says hard boiled eggs used in egg hunts shouldn’t be eaten afterwards because the shells can crack, allowing bacteria to enter.

Officials at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration estimated 142,000 illnesses are caused each year by consumption of eggs contaminated with Salmonella, and that even eggs with clean, un-cracked shells may occasionally contain the bacteria Salmonella.

The FDA recommends to:
— Buy eggs only if sold from a refrigerator or refrigerated case.
— Open the carton and make sure that the eggs are clean and the shells are not cracked.
— Refrigerate promptly.
— Store eggs in their original carton and use them within three weeks for best quality.
— Wash hands, utensils, equipment, and work surfaces with hot, soapy water before and after they come in contact with eggs and egg-containing foods.
— Cook eggs until both the yolk and the white are firm. Scrambled eggs should not be runny.
— Casseroles and other dishes containing eggs should be cooked to 160 degrees F.
— For recipes that call for eggs that are raw or undercooked when the dish is served — Caesar salad dressing and homemade ice cream — use either shell eggs that have been treated to destroy Salmonella, by pasteurization or another approved method, or pasteurized egg products.