Going public: Epidemiology works, especially when so many are sick with E. coli O157

Posted on July 17, 2016 by Douglas Powell

With two dead and at least 151 sick with E. coli O157, believed to be from imported rocket (like bagged lettuce), Public Health England (PHE) says the products are still on supermarket shelves because the source of the outbreak had not been confirmed.

Instead, officials are reiterating advice to wash vegetables, including salad leaves, thoroughly before eating them.

Washing is not going to remove much E. coli O157.

Stephen Adams of the Daily Mail writes that children are among those ill.

PHE would not say if the more than 60 patients needing hospital treatment were children or among the fatalities.

Several food wholesalers have been told to ‘stop adding some imported rocket leaves to their mixed salad products while investigations are ongoing,’ said the Food Standards Agency.

109 sick from E. coli in leafy greens UK: Best advice bureautypes have is wash your hands

Posted on July 6, 2016 by Douglas Powell

This just gets continuinglyly hopeless. More sick people – that’s good to disclose, know it’s uncomfortable for Brits and most Europeans – but telling consumers to wash their hands is stupid.

Why wouldn’t Public Health England (PHE) or the farm groups involved say, this is what we do to reduce risk, and talk about on-farm food safety efforts?

Instead, they tell consumers to wash their hands.

To date, 109 cases (figure correct as at 4 July 2016) of this strain of E. coli have been identified (102 in England, 6 in Wales and 1 in Scotland) with the South West of England particularly affected.

PHE has been working to establish the cause of the outbreak and has now identified that several of the affected individuals ate mixed salad leaves including rocket leaves prior to becoming unwell. Currently, the source of the outbreak is not confirmed and remains under investigation. PHE is now reminding people to maintain good hygiene and food preparation practices in response to the current outbreak.

Dr Isabel Oliver, director of PHE’s field epidemiology service, said, We continue to stress the importance of good hand and food hygiene practices at all times. We urge people to remove any loose soil before storing vegetables and thoroughly wash all vegetables (including salads) that will be eaten raw unless they have been pre-prepared and are specifically labelled ‘ready to eat’. These measures may reduce the risk of infection from any E.coli contaminated vegetables, fruit and salad but will not eliminate any risk of infection completely.

No one checks if it’s followed: UK publishes Listeriosis guidance

Posted on July 1, 2016 by Douglas Powell

New guidance from the UK Food Standards Agency has been published, aimed at healthcare and social care organisations, to help reduce the risk of vulnerable groups in their care contracting listeriosis.

Like, don’t serve refrigerated ready-to-eat foods such as deli meats to old folks?

Or raw spouts to people in hospital?

But it doesn’t say that.

Instead it bureaucratically meanders and will be pulled out once an outbreak has happened.

This guidance is intended to help these organisations determine what steps can be put in place to reduce the risk of Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat foods and to complement good practice in the food industry.

The guidance was the result of collaborative working between stakeholders who contributed to its development, including the Hospital Caterers Association (HCA) and the National Association of Care Caterers (NACC), which will help to promote uptake in these sectors.

The main audiences for this guidance are all types of healthcare and social care organisations that provide food for vulnerable groups. The guidance is also intended for Environmental Health Practitioners and procurement partners.

The project to deliver this guidance formed part of the FSA Listeria Risk Management Programme for 2010 – 2015.

UK goes with Food Crime Confidential

Posted on June 26, 2016 by Douglas Powell

The UK Food Standards Agency’s National Food Crime Unit has launched Food Crime Confidential. This is a reporting facility where anyone with suspicions about food crime can report them safely and in confidence, over the phone or through email. The facility is particularly targeted at those working in or around the UK food industry.

The FSA’s National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) works with partners to protect people from serious criminal activity that impacts the safety or authenticity of food and drink they consume.

Food crime involves dishonesty at any stage in the production or supply of food. It is often complex and likely to be seriously detrimental to consumers, businesses or the general public interest.

NFCU would like to receive any information relating to suspected dishonesty involving food, drink or animal feed. In addition to identifying and being able to tackle specific instances of food crime, such information will help us learn more about the circumstances that make offending possible.

The National Food Crime Unit would like to hear from anyone if they have suspicions including:

that food or drink contains things which it shouldn’t

that methods used in your workplace for producing, processing, storing, labelling or transporting food do not seem quite right

that an item of food or drink says it is of a certain quality or from a specific place or region, but it doesn’t appear to be.

Call 0207 276 8787 or email foodcrime@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk

Head of Food Crime at the FSA, Andy Morling said: ‘The National Food Crime Unit is committed to putting consumers first in everything we do. That is why we are launching Food Crime Confidential today to ensure that those with information about food crime can report it in confidence. The facility is open to anyone who has information about food which is being dishonestly produced, manufactured or sold.

‘We particularly want to hear from those who work in or around the UK food industry. We recognise that picking up the phone to pass on suspicions about an employer or an associate can be a big deal. That’s why we’ll ensure the information provided will be handled sensitively and professionally.’

Sneaky: Campy in UK chickens declines, but is an artifact

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Douglas Powell

The UK Food Standards Agency says the latest data show 9.3% of chickens tested positive for the highest level of contamination in this quarter, down from 21.8% for the three months from December 2014 to February 2015*.

Campylobacter was present on 50% of chicken samples, down from 71% in the equivalent quarter of the previous year. We tested 1,009 samples of fresh whole chilled UK-produced chickens and packaging this quarter.

Steve Wearne, Director of Policy at the FSA, said, “One of the reasons the survey results are lower this quarter is because of the decision taken by a number of retailers and their suppliers to remove neck skin from the bird before it goes on sale. This is good news for the consumer because the neck skin is the most contaminated part of the chicken. However it is also the part of the bird that we have been testing in our survey and this means that comparisons with previous results are not as reliable as we would like.

Therefore, this quarter, we are giving an overall figure for the amount of campylobacter on chicken and not breaking the figures down by retailer as we normally do. We have also stopped this survey and will begin a new one in the summer, with a different method of testing campylobacter levels on chicken. sFirst results from this survey, which will rank retailers, are due in January 2017.”

Alex Neil , director of policy and campaigns at Which?, said: “Despite the work by the regulator and the industry to reduce campylobacter in chickens, levels remain too high and it still poses a significant risk to the public.

“We want to see much greater transparency from the supermarkets on their own testing and the action they are taking to keep their customers safe from this bug.”

Mycotoxin risk: Half-a-million cans of chocolate spread ordered destroyed in Norway

Posted on April 6, 2016 by Douglas Powell

FSA has imposed Orkla Foods Norway destroying a party with chocolate spread corresponding orders to 13.7 million slices. Now they have appealed the decision.

The reason for the decision because the FSA considers importation of the Turkish hazelnut paste in the product illegally imported to Norway.

“The company has imported and put into production, a party with hazelnut paste originating in Turkey, without the shipment has been prepared for public border. It is not given permission to customs clearance, ” writes the FSA in the decision.

Moreover, writes the FSA that the consignment belongs to a group risk products that include special precautionary measures due to potential high mycotoxins.

“The company has for years imported hazelnut paste from Turkey and should be well acquainted with the regulations concerning special protection measures” it says further in the decision.

– The resolution is made on the basis that we do not properly have notified the party with nuts into the FSA before customs clearance. Nevertheless, the party with nuts released in customs, and thus put into production by us, says communications director Dag Olav workforce VG.

FSA writes in its decision that it considers the infraction as very serious.

Orkla Foods Norway has now appealed the decision to the Food Safety Authority’s headquarters. Meanwhile, the 500,000 Nugatti boxes category Nugatti Max, Nugatti Air, Nugatti Zero and chocolate spread (regular) kept locked up in a warehouse in Lillestrom, something at the factory on Tveita, while some are still at the wholesaler.

There’s (food) crime in the city

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Douglas Powell

The Food Crime Annual Strategic Assessment (FCASA), carried out by the The Food Standards Agency (FSA) National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) on behalf of the FSA and Food Standards Scotland, examines the scale and nature of the food crime threat to the UK’s £200 billion food and drink industry. The assessment will inform the NFCU’s priorities over the next year.

The assessment identifies a wide range of vulnerabilities and risks across the food industry but found little to suggest that organized crime groups have so far made substantial in-roads into UK food supply chains. However, with the UK food and drink sector representing 11% of the UK economy and chances of detection relatively low, the report suggests there remains a significant risk to consumers and legitimate businesses from serious fraud.

Andy Morling, Head of the NFCU, said, ‘The NFCU was established in the wake of the horsemeat incident. That incident came at a huge cost to the UK food industry, not just financially but also in terms of reputation. It illustrated why it is vital for the food industry, law enforcement agencies and regulators to work together to combat the threat of food crime.

From the executive summary:

Food and drink is a £200 billion industry in the UK and like any major industry, it’s vulnerable to a wide range of criminal activity. Unlike many industries, the crimes are often undetected or unreported. Consumers may not be aware they are victims of food crime, while businesses can worry that reporting a crime will damage their reputation or profits. Nonetheless, reported or otherwise, the impact of food crime can be extremely harmful to individuals, the economy and the UK’s reputation.

For the purposes of this report we define food crime as dishonesty in food production or supply, which is either complex or results in serious harm to consumers, businesses or the public interest. We’ve worked hard to gain insight into this diverse, complex and nuanced area of criminal activity.

As well as exploring what current intelligence and reporting can tell us about food crime, our initial assessment also highlights what we don’t know, and why this might be the case. Estimating the scale and impact of food crime can be challenging. Fraud is by definition a hidden activity and the parties involved may be skilled at cloaking their criminality. This challenge has been magnified by a lack of available intelligence and crime reporting relating to this area.

Thermometers an afterthought: UK wants views on rare burgers advice

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Douglas Powell

The UK Food Standards Agency has made a begrudgingly acknowledgement to thermometers, but still insists on color to tell if burgers are done.

The growing popularity of burgers served pink has led the FSA to develop the advice on rare burgers. It is aimed at helping businesses meet consumer demand for rare burgers while keeping customers protected. Burgers that aren’t thoroughly cooked can contain bacteria that cause food poisoning if the right controls aren’t in place.

In September 2015, the FSA Board agreed a number of controls that food businesses serving burgers pink will need to have in place to demonstrate that they are maintaining customer safety. The new advice sets the options out and they include:

sourcing the meat only from establishments which have specific controls in place to minimise the risk of contamination of meat intended to be eaten raw or lightly cooked;
ensuring that the supplier carries out appropriate testing of raw meat to check that their procedures for minimising contamination are working;
sStrict temperature control to prevent growth of any bugs and appropriate preparation and cooking procedures;
notifying their local authority that burgers that aren’t thoroughly cooked are being served by the business; and,
providing advice to consumers, for example on menus, regarding the additional risk.

The draft advice is for caterers and local authorities only and the FSA’s long-standing advice to consumers is unchanged: burgers prepared at home should be cooked thoroughly until they are steaming hot throughout, the juices run clear and there is no pink meat left inside. If using a temperature probe or cooking thermometer, make sure the middle of the burgers reaches a temperature of 70⁰C for 2 minutes.

Brits still don’t know to use thermometers: Why you shouldn’t order a medium rare burger when eating out

Posted on January 10, 2016 by Douglas Powell

I like my burgers at 165 F.

I don’t know what a medium-rare burger means, and neither do most of the people ordering and preparing hamburgers.

There’s no definition, other than BS visual cues or B finger touching, or BS guesswork because, “we’ve always done it this way and never made anyone sick.”

More BS.

Worse is when the BS is coming from a publicly funded so-called science-based food safety agency – like the one in the UK.

According to the Mirror, experts say ordering a medium rare burger could contain dangerous bacteria that may lead to food poisoning or worse, be potentially fatal.

This is because bacteria, such as salmonella, listeria, campylobacter and E. coli, live on the outside of meat so searing steaks and cuts of beef and lamb would kill anything harmful, even when it’s still pink inside (unless it had been needle tenderized).

But as burgers are minced up those bugs that were on the outside are then on the inside and therefore should be cooked thoroughly, experts say.

The revelations were made as part of new four-part Channel 4 documentary Tricks of the Restaurant Trade, which explores the secrets of eating out.

Hugh Pennington, professor of bacteriology and leading expert of food poisoning, spoke to the programme and said he wants undercooked burgers banned.

“The problem with rare burgers is that you might fall ill from eating a bug that’s contained in the rare burger.

“You only have to eat about one bacterium to get a potentially lethal infection.”

In the episode aired tonight, the programme tested meat from some of the country’s top burger chains, with some shocking results.

A burger from Byron, a trendy gourmet burger restaurant, was found to contain Listeria innocua, the least dangerous strain of the bug but on rare occasions it can kill.

The chain said it was something they would be investigating.

A spokesman for Byron said ‘We have a comprehensive food management system to assure the safety of the food we serve.

‘We are proud of the quality of our beef and the rigour of these systems.”

You can say that with a straight face? Then show the burger-consuming public what the rigourous system actually is, instead of talking like a PR flunky.

It came after the Food Standards Agency released guidelines advising chains to warn about harmful bacteria.

The advice, released in September 2015, said restaurants should provide warnings on menus to vulnerable groups, like children, the elderly and pregnant women.

It also said only well done burgers should be served to children, especially the very young.

The programme sent in two young people, 11-year-old Abbie and 15-year-old Jamie, to three top burger chain restaurants to test the policy with some shocking results.

The first restaurant they tried was Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK) where they were given no warnings on the menu and served a medium rare burger.

Next they went to Byron where the menu did contain a warning but staff still served the youngsters undercooked meat.

Finally they went to Honest Burgers where there was also no caution on the menu and the kids managed to get their hands on what appeared to be the rarest serving of the three.

GBK said that as of January 2016 the new FSA advice would be put on our menus, while Honest Burgers said it would add it on its next print run.

More BS.

From the duh files, Birmingham UK edition: Restaurant inspection grade should be mandatory

Posted on January 5, 2016 by Douglas Powell

Neil Elkes of The Birmingham Mail writes that all restaurants, take aways, pubs and cafes should be forced by law to display their food hygiene ratings according to Birmingham’s licensing chief.

And if you don’t like it, the ghost of my great-great-great grandfather, William Perry, also known as the Tipton Slasher, will come and fight for mandatory display, just like he fought on the canals outside Birmingham for passage.

Currently food outlets can choose whether or not to display their ratings to customer and generally only those with four or five stars do.

But Barbara Dring, chairman of the council’s licensing and public protection committee, is urging the Government to make it compulsory for food sellers to display their rating.

She believes that by forcing venue to highlight their ratings will encourage the minority who are unsafe to raise their game.

The ratings of every outlet serving prepared food can be found on the Food Standards Agency website and last autumn they revealed that 127 places had been rated zero – the lowest score available meaning they are often filthy, have pest infestations or unsafe food.

Those venues are often closed and can only re-open once cleared by council inspectors. Repeat offenders are prosecuted .

Coun Dring (Lab, Oscott) said: “There are more than 7,500 food businesses in Birmingham and we want to them not only to be compliant with food law, but we want to encourage them to be better.

“One way to do this would be if it were a legal requirement to display their food business rating on their front door as they do in Wales.

“Currently the Food Standards Agency’s scores on the doors system is voluntary – there’s no incentive or compulsion for premises rated 0 or 1 to display their latest rating, so I want to see the Government make this a legal requirement for all food businesses.”

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