It’s not food safety, it has more current relevance to Covid-19, but this paper has some important insights for communicating during an outbreak. The Australian lesson from cornavirus seems to be, go fast, hard.
Expert-lay mass media communication (a phrase I always despised) in public health prevention campaigns has been at the forefront in knowledge dissemination before digital communication gained in momentum.
The advent of digital media has radically changed communicative scenarios and strategies used to actively involve population, for example promoting large-scale change in awareness, behaviour, and attitude. However, research still has not fully documented how digital environments orchestrate different multimodal resources, including, among others, language, still and moving images. Other research gaps deal with understanding how users can be actively engaged in websites and how the identity of participants is projected with reference to their distance from the voice of the expert.
The paper combines linguistic and visual analysis in a multimodal perspective to investigate the interplay of identity and distance in the website and integrated social media of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, https://npin.cdc.gov), an operating component of the Department of Health and Human Services (US).
Linguistic and visual analysis of the Vital Signs monthly reports on campaigns for HIV prevention will focus on the revision of the notion of deixis to see how this has been reconfigured in multimodal environments. Findings show that person, time, and place deixis have been reshaped in digital scenarios with the aim of engaging participants and disseminate knowledge to prompt change in behaviour.
In a new study published in the journal npj Microgravity, scientists and astronauts conducted experiments with human cells and pathogens to see how the two would change and interface differently in a low-gravity environment. The researchers used the microbial species salmonella typhimurium to infect human cells in controlled experiments on Earth and on the International Space Station.
Chia-Yi Hou of Changing America writes the researchers found that there were changes in RNA and protein expression in the human cells in a microgravity environment. They also found that salmonella was able to cause the human cells to upregulate — increase the rate or level of — expression of compounds that would help fight an infection in both cells that were inflight and on the ground.
Inflight cells upregulated genes that were associated with inflammation, one of the human body’s mechanisms for fighting pathogens. Other genes that are related to virulence or stress regulators were also upregulated in the cells in space compared to the cells on the ground.
I included this abstract because it was one of the two papers today that cited papers my lab and I produced, all those years ago. Google scholar alerts is wonderful, and tells me when one of the 70 or so peer-reviewed papers, book chapters and a book is cited by someone else. It averages out to about once a day, or 400 times a year. Certainly something we weren’t aiming for, but a pleasant reminder when I get one of those e-mails.
Millions of foodborne illness cases occur in China annually, causing significant social and economic burdens. Improper food handling has been observed not only among commercial food handlers but also among residential food handlers. It is critical to conduct a comprehensive scoping review of previous efforts to identify food safety knowledge gaps, explore the factors impacting knowledge levels, and synthesize the effectiveness of all types of food safety educational interventions for commercial and residential food handlers in China.
This review aims to analyze food safety education studies published over the past 20 years and provide foundations for developing more effective food safety educational interventions in China. A total of 35 studies were included in this review. Most studies reported that Chinese commercial and residential food handlers had insufficient food safety knowledge, especially in the areas of foodborne pathogens and safe food-handling practices. The factors impacting food handlers’ knowledge levels included education level, gender, income level, residency (rural vs. urban), the use of WeMedia, college students’ major, and food safety training experiences. Food handlers in the following demographic groups tend to have lower levels of food safety knowledge: lower education levels, the elderly, males, lower-income levels, rural residents, those who do not use WeMedia, those without food safety training experience, or college students in nonbiology-focused majors.
Many food handlers did not always follow recommended food safety practices, such as proper meat handling practices, handwashing practices, and cleaning and sanitation practices. Thirteen studies evaluated the effectiveness of educational interventions, and knowledge increases were reported after all interventions. The findings of this review provide guidance to researchers, educators, and government agencies in their future efforts to develop education programs emphasizing the importance of microbial food-safety content and behavior change regarding food safety and hygiene practices.
Moving forward to the future: A review of microbial food safety education in China
Outbreak News Today reports the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) is reporting a Salmonella outbreak which is geographically spread over large parts of country.
Twenty cases have been reported–12 confirmed and 8 suspected cases. The same genetic profile have been detected in all 12 confirmed cases. Preliminary analyzes of samples from the 8 suspected cases indicate that these also carry the outbreak strain.
Those affected are aged from 11 to 91 years, median age is 59 years. 60% are women.
“The infected live in many different counties. Therefore, we believe that they are infected through a food that is widely distributed”, says doctor Hilde Marie Lund at the department of infection control and emergency preparedness.
“Investigation work can be complicated and time consuming, and in many cases it will not be possible to find the source of the infection or to clarify whether it is a common source. It is too early to say whether this is a limited outbreak or whether it will increase in scope. We follow the situation closely”, says doctor Hilde Marie Lund.
Food World reports that several collective food poisoning infections possibly linked to the consumption of contaminated oysters have been reported since mid-February 2021 in several regions of France.
Since mid-February 2021, 46 mandatory declarations (DO) of collective food poisoning (TIAC) suspected of being linked to the consumption of oysters have been sent to Public Health France and/or to the General Directorate of food .
The meal dates at the origin of these toxi-infections are between 02/11/2021 and 02/25/2021 with a majority of meals reported on 02/14 (21 TIAC, 46%). All these TIACs took place in the context of a family meal with between 2 and 8 patients. A total of 164 patients were recorded and two people were hospitalized.
Shellfish collected from individuals who were sick after consuming oysters as well as from suppliers were analyzed by reference laboratories and laboratories approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food: noroviruses were identified. Noroviruses have also been detected in several production areas of consumed oysters.
The recalled “Tahina” were distributed in Mediterranean food stores in Michigan and Chicago, IL. between April 2020 to October 2020.
Please do not consume the product and immediately dispose of the product or return to 32816 Manor Park Garden City MI 48135. Or to the place of purchase. And send us a note to the email: recalls@kareemmart.com with the return receipt and product purchase date for a full refund.
The product comes in 1lb, 2lb in plastic jars and the 10kg in metal can. There is only one lot distributed. With expiration date 07-01-2022.
No illnesses have been reported to date in connection with the problem.
The potential for contamination was noted after routine testing from samples in the stores by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD).
Production of the product has been suspended while the FDA and the company continue their investigation as to the source of the problem.
On March 1, ABC7 Detroit reported on what has, according to Red Pilled, been a well-hidden secret in Washington: that National Guard troops stationed in DC have been forced to eat chicken so undercooked and raw it is pink on the inside, with a side of sharp metal shavings hidden inside the rice. Color is a lousy indicator of safety, metal shavings are a good indicator of failure.
The meals have been so poorly cooked that dozens of Michigan’s National Guard troops had to be rushed to the hospital after falling severely ill from eating the clearly undercooked food. At least 74 meals had to be thrown out this Sunday alone after troops were dropping like flies at dinnertime.
To eat for breakfast, all they get to eat is a single ‘Fruit & Nut’ bar, an apple, and a bun.
According to a news report that aired last night on ABC7 Detroit, the source who provided the story to the network said: “Yesterday for instance, there were 74 different meals found with raw beef in them. Just yesterday, the lunches were, soldiers had found metal shavings in their food.”
Speaking on the unreasonably tiny and downright disrespectful breakfast provided to the troops, paid for by Michigan taxpayers, the source commented: “You were getting maybe a danish and some sort of juice. And then we had certain days where it was clearly a dinner roll and Sunny D.”
Melissa Burke of The Detriot News wrote on Mar. 4, the caterer contracted to feed thousands of National Guard troops providing security at the U.S. Capitol defended its food service Thursday, claiming that none of the cases of reported gastrointestinal illness among soldiers have been linked to the company.
“No cases of foodborne illness can be directly tied to this vendor,” said Maria Stagliano, a spokeswoman for Sardi’s Catering in College Park, Maryland.
The response follows a Wednesday announcement by the National Guard that at least 50 service members have been sickened with gastrointestinal issues after complaints that they were served bad food while on duty guarding the Capitol.
A guard spokesman said none of those sickened have been hospitalized due to illness from the food since the Capitol security mission began Jan. 6; however, some have been treated at hospitals.
The Michigan National Guard has nearly 1,000 troops serving in Washington as part of the security mission, the largest state contingent, lawmakers say. Michigan soldiers and airmen have complained since mid-February about bad food they were served, ranging from undercooked meat to poor food quality to a lack of vegetarian options.
“We are proud to serve our food to the National Guard troops who have deployed to Washington from around the U.S., and we stand by the quality and safety of the food we deliver to the National Guard troops,” Sardi’s said in a statement released Thursday.
“As a trusted provider of nutritious and safe meals for the National Guard, Sardi’s Catering adheres to our own rigorous standards for food safety and quality, and we are in full compliance with all standards and requirements in our National Guard Bureau contract as well as state and District requirements.”
Sardi’s in its statement suggested that the Michigan guard had sent up a lopsided number of complaints about the food, compared with other states’ guardsmen.
“It is not clear why or how one particular state unit has recorded so many complaints, while there have been comparatively few complaints from other state units, according to the National Guard,” Sardi’s statement said.
“We are committed to providing exceptional service to all our meal recipients, and we will continue to work closely with the National Guard to address these concerns.”
But Michigan troops aren’t the only ones complaining, with soldiers from New Jersey and Illinois also reporting bad food, according to news reports.
Republican Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey on Thursday asked Speaker Nancy Pelosi to investigate the reports of “tainted” food that sickened at least 30 guard members from his state.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is headed to Washington to visit the troops Friday. She raised concerns about the undercooked food starting in mid-February with the Acting Secretary of the Army John E. Whitley.
National Guard officials said this week they are working with the contractor to fix the issues but stressed the matter is limited to a small number of incidents and is not systemic.
The guard also said it had not pinpointed the problem to a particular food source, so it could not say whether the issues are the fault of one caterer or an outside food source.
Michigan lawmakers in Washington and Lansing have called on the National Guard to fire the contractor, which was awarded an $11.4 million contract on Jan. 25 to provide meals to troops activated to help with security following the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
Pelosi, who has registered her concerns three times with the National Guard about the issue, also agrees with ending the contract, spokesman Drew Hammill said.
“Obviously, this vendor should be discontinued. This is unacceptable,” Hammill said. “There is no room for this sort of behavior from a vendor of any federally contracted agency.”
Hammill noted that the Capitol police have offered their assistance to the National Guard by using their vendors for providing hot meals to the troops, but the guard declined that offer.
Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Township, called the situation “indefensible.” “There is no excuse for treating these brave people who are putting their lives aside and their lives at risk to protect us, treating them like this is completely inexcusable,” Kildee told Fox News.
Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Holland, and 38 other lawmakers wrote to military leaders Thursday asking the guard to provide the service members with per diem for meals for the rest of their mission and retroactively.
“Although these conditions have been widely reported and acknowledged by leadership at the National Guard, the situation does not appear to have been rectified and immediate action must be taken,” the lawmakers wrote.
Once the troops are home, Huizenga said he hopes the National Guard’s inspector general will investigate the matter.
Recall announcements by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Food Safety Inspection and Service (FSIS) are important communication tools. Nonetheless, previous studies found that effects of recalls on consumer demand are small.
Social media analytics can provide insights into public awareness about food safety related incidents. Using the social listening data this study analyzes how the public, in social and online media space, responds to, interacts with, and references food safety recalls and/or initial announcements of foodborne illness outbreaks as reported by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Analysis suggests that mentions quantified in the social and online media searches conducted moved closer in-step with the CDC’s initial reports of foodborne illness outbreaks than FDA and FSIS recall announcements. Issuance of recalls may not necessarily be a popular source of food risk information in social media space when compared with reactions to the CDC’s initial illness reports. This relative popularity reflects people more often sharing/posting about illness risk regardless of whether a recall occurs. This suggests that recall announcements by FDA and FSIS may not induce wanted changes in consumers’ behavior, while initial illness reports by CDC may. Although recalls by FDA and FSIS may not generate social media posts, their primary role is to take potentially unsafe food items off grocery shelves.
Online media analytics provides policy makers with implications for effective food risk communication planning; initial CDC reports drive immediate attention more than FDA and FSIS recalls.
Initial reports of foodborne illness drive more public attention than food recall announcements
Journal of Food Protection
Jinho Jung ; Courtney Bir ; Nicole Olynk Widmar ; Peter Sayal
Battered poultry products may be wrongly regarded and treated by consumers as ready-to-eat and, as such, be implicated in foodborne disease outbreaks. This study aimed at the quantitative description of the growth behavior of Listeria monocytogenes in fresh, partially cooked (non-ready-to-eat) battered chicken nuggets as function of temperature.
Commercially prepared chicken breast nuggets were inoculated with L. monocytogenes and stored at different isothermal conditions (4, 8, 12, and 16 ◦C). The pathogen’s growth behavior was characterized via a two-step predictive modelling approach: estimation of growth kinetic parameters using a primary model, and description of the effect of temperature on the estimated maximum specific growth rate (µmax) using a secondary model. Model evaluation was undertaken using independent growth data under both constant and dynamic temperature conditions.
According to the findings of this study, L. monocytogenes may proliferate in battered chicken nuggets in the course of their shelf life to levels potentially hazardous for susceptible population groups, even under well-controlled refrigerated storage conditions. Model evaluation demonstrated a satisfactory performance, where the estimated bias factor (Bf ) was 0.92 and 1.08 under constant and dynamic temperature conditions, respectively, while the accuracy factor (Af ) value was 1.08, in both cases. The collected data should be useful in model development and quantitative microbiological risk assessment in battered poultry products.
Growth of listeria monocytogenes in partially cooked battered chicken nuggets as a function of storage temperature
Foods
Alexandra Lianou 1,2,* , Ourania Raftopoulou 1,3, Evgenia Spyrelli 1 and George-John E. Nychas
Some time about 2009, I was walking the dogs on a Sunday morning on the Kansas State University campus with a Canadian graduate student who was getting her MS degree at K-State, and we ran into University president, Jon Wefald.
We exchanged pleasantries, he was enamored by the dogs, and soon the conversation turned a pet food recall that had sickened dozens of humans with some bad bug.
Jon asked me, how are people getting sick from pet food and I explained the sometimes lack of process validation in pet food, the wonderful world of cross-contamination, of and that sometimes people ate pet food directly.
Jon was aghast.
I was, meh.
So that’ why these pet food recalls s are important, because the product can all to easily sicken humans along with their pets.
No illnesses have been reported, but pets who eat the food and people who handle it can become sick with Salmonella and/or Listeria infections.
The recall involves Performance Dog and Ground Beef Raw Pet Food, which are both sold frozen in 2-pound and 5-pound plastic sleeves.
Bravo Packing issued the recall voluntarily after product samples of Performance Dog and a sample of Ground Beef tested positive for Salmonella and Listeria after an FDA inspection.
The FDA warns that pets with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, vomiting, decreased appetite, abdominal pain, or show no symptoms at all.
Expert-lay mass media communication (a phrase I always despised) in public health prevention campaigns has been at the forefront in knowledge dissemination before digital communication gained in momentum.
