Tag Archives: Stec

No, nature did: FDA ruins raw cookie dough for everybody

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Rachel Rabkin Peachman writes in a New York Times blog that maybe you’ve swiped a bite of raw cookie dough while preparing a batch to bake. Or perhaps you’ve let your children lick the batter from the cake bowl, or use homemade “play dough” to make crafts. But even if the dough is free of raw raw.cookie.dough.e.colieggs, which you think might give you a pass, don’t eat it.

Yesterday, the Food and Drug Administration issued a message warning people not to eat raw dough because of a recent outbreak of E. coli linked to contaminated flour.

So far, a reported 38 people in 20 states have been infected by a strain of bacteria called Shiga toxin-producing E. coli O121 found in flour. The infections began last December, and 10 of those infected have been hospitalized.

Investigations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the F.D.A. traced the source of the outbreak to flour that was produced in November 2015 at the General Mills facility in Kansas City, Mo. General Mills has issued a voluntary recall of 10 million pounds of flour produced between Nov. 14 and Dec. 4, sold under three brand names: Gold Medal, Signature Kitchens and Gold Medal Wondra. Flour that is part of the recall should be thrown away.

Unlike other raw foods, like eggs or meat — which many people recognize as contamination risks — “flour is not the type of thing that we commonly associate with pathogens,” said Jenny Scott, a senior adviser in the F.D.A.’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

In this case, investigators believe that the grain became contaminated in the field, where it is exposed to manure, cattle, birds and other bacteria. “E. coli is a gut bug that can spread from a cow doing its business in the field, or it could live in the soil for a period of time; and if you think about it, flour comes from the ground, so it could be a risk,” said Adam Karcz, an infection preventionist at Indiana University Health in Indianapolis.

Normally, flour is cooked before it is consumed, destroying any pathogens. “For the most part, the risk from flour is pretty low, and most use of flour involves a ‘kill step’ — people bake with it,” Ms. Scott said. In commercial uses like “raw” cookie-dough ice cream, companies generally heat-treat it to eliminate bacteria, she said.

Consumers, then, need to be aware that they should follow food safety guidelines for flour. That means washing your hands thoroughly before and after handling raw flour. And Ms. Scott warned against letting children play with homemade play dough. “Kids are going to handle it and touch their faces, and they’re going to lick their fingers; it’s hard to supervise that,” she said.

‘It was a horrible, painful death’ UK mum raising funds for E. coli study

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The mother of a Birmingham girl who died after contracting E. coli while she was on holiday is funding a cutting-edge study which she hopes will find a cure.

Julie-Ryan-4Julie Ryan, 48, has spearheaded a campaign which will see £24,000 invested into research into the disease, following the death of eight-year-old Heather in 1999.

According to the Birmingham Mail the mum-of-two, of Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, has waited more than 16 years for the right project to come along.

“Heather didn’t just die,” she said. “She suffered. It was a horrible, painful death.

“The most important thing for me is that there is a cure, or treatment out there, so there will be no more deaths.

“It’s been hard keeping the money for this long but I wanted to make sure it was used for the right project, and that it would make a real difference.”

The family had been on holiday in Dawlish Warren, Devon, when Heather contracted the infection.

She went on to develop hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) which led to brain damage and kidney failure.

After her death, Julie set up the Heather Preen Trust, and raised funds tirelessly in the years that followed.

The money raised will be used to provide a better understanding of why some children develop the disease and how it can be treated.

The funding is being managed by the charity Kidney Research UK.

Julie-Ryan-3Renowned paediatric nephrologist Dr Mark Taylor at Birmingham Children’s Hospital was Julie’s expert adviser and last year alerted her to the work of Dr Aoife Waters and Dr Sally Johnson, researchers who were seeking funds to run a potential randomised clinical trial into HUS.

It was what Julie had been waiting for.

They are undertaking a controlled trial of the drug Eculizumab, to include a genetic screening programme looking at DNA samples from patients who have developed HUS caused by E. coli.

The study will attempt to identify changes in genes that make certain proteins involved in the development of HUS so that they can better understand why some people react to E. coli by developing the disease.

 

FDA says raw dough’s a raw deal and could make you sick

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Do you find it hard to resist gobbling up a piece of raw dough when making cookies, or letting your children scrape the bowl? Do your kids use raw dough to make ornaments or homemade “play” clay? Do you eat at family restaurants that give kids raw dough to play with while you’re waiting for the food?cookie.dough

If your answer to any of those questions is yes, that could be a problem. Eating raw dough or batter—whether it’s for bread, cookies, pizza or tortillas—could make you, and your kids, sick, says Jenny Scott, a senior advisor in FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.

According to Scott, the bottom line for you and your kids is don’t eat raw dough. And even though there are websites devoted to “flour crafts,” don’t give your kids raw dough or baking mixes that contain flour to play with.

Why? Flour, regardless of the brand, can contain bacteria that cause disease. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state and local officials, is investigating an outbreak of infections that illustrates the dangers of eating raw dough. Dozens of people across the country have been sickened by a strain of bacteria called Shiga toxin-producingE. coli O121.

The investigation found that raw dough eaten or handled by some of the patients was made with General Mills flour produced in a Kansas City, Missouri, facility. Subsequent tests by the FDA linked bacteria in a flour sample to bacteria from people who had become ill.

General Mills conducted a voluntary recall of 10 million pounds of flour sold under three brand names: Gold Medal, Signature Kitchen’s, and Gold Medal Wondra. The varieties include unbleached, all-purpose, and self-rising flours. Flour has a long shelf life, and many people store bags of flour for a long time. If you have any of these recalled items in your home, you should throw them away.

Some of the recalled flours had been sold to restaurants that allow children to play with dough made from the raw flour while waiting for their meals. CDC is advising restaurants not to give customers raw dough.

People often understand the dangers of not eating raw dough due to the presence of raw eggs and the associated risk with Salmonella. However, consumers should be aware that there are additional risks associated with the consumption of raw dough, such as particularly harmful strains of E. coli in a product like flour.

“Flour is derived from a grain that comes directly from the field and typically is not treated to kill bacteria,” says Leslie Smoot, Ph.D., a senior advisor in FDA’s Office of Food Safety and a specialist in the microbiological safety of processed foods. So if an animal heeds the call of nature in the field, bacteria from the animal waste could contaminate the grain, which is then harvested and milled into flour.

Common “kill steps” applied during food preparation and/or processing (so-called because they kill bacteria that cause infections) include boiling, baking, roasting, microwaving, and frying. But with raw dough, no kill step has been used.

And don’t make homemade cookie dough ice cream either. If that’s your favorite flavor, buy commercially made products. Manufacturers should use ingredients that include treated flour and pasteurized eggs.

Common symptoms for Shiga toxin-producing E. coli are diarrhea (often bloody) and abdominal cramps, although most people recover within a week. But some illnesses last longer and can be more severe, resulting in a type of kidney failure called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). HUS can occur in people of any age, but is most common in young children under 5 years, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems.

Parents of young children should be particularly aware. For instance, if your child is in day care or kindergarten, a common pastime may be art using “play” clay that is homemade from raw dough. Even if they’re not munching on the dough, they’re putting their hands in their mouth after handling the dough. Childcare facilities and preschools should discourage the practice of playing with raw dough.

FDA offers these tips for safe food handling to keep you and your family healthy:

-Do not eat any raw cookie dough, cake mix, batter, or any other raw dough or batter product that is supposed to be cooked or baked.

-Follow package directions for cooking products containing flour at proper temperatures and for specified times.

-Wash hands, work surfaces, and utensils thoroughly after contact with flour and raw dough products.

-Keep raw foods separate from other foods while preparing them to prevent any contamination that may be present from spreading. Be aware that flour may spread easily due to its powdery nature.

-Follow label directions to chill products containing raw dough promptly after purchase until baked.

Tell us more of your microbiological knowledge: UK pub pissed after lousy rating for medium-rare burgers

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What does medium-rare even mean?

Chapman will have more to say on that, but it means nothing, like almost every other word used to describe food.

burger.rare.jun.13Natural, organic, sustainable, audited, local, dolphin-free. If a farmer can make a living at it, great for them.

But it’s all marketing bullshit and has nothing to do with safety.

This does.

A Kingswood landlord is “fuming” after a food hygiene inspector gave his pub a rating of 1 for serving medium-rare burgers.

The Kingswood Arms in Waterhouse Lane was downgraded from a 5 to a 1 following a visit in February, a decision that has left landlord Tony Slayford furious.

He told the Mirror: “That is the only reason why we went to number 1, which I am absolutely disgusted about. They were happy with all the cleanliness. Everything is spot on.”

The pub has been offering burgers cooked medium-to-rare for more than five years, but has always asked customers to sign a disclaimer beforehand.

Mr Slayford said previous inspectors from Reigate and Banstead Borough Council had never raised it as an issue, but he has now amended menus to say all burgers must be well done.

Mr Slayford added: “It’s because they [the council] don’t like it. It’s not illegal at all. Other burger chains do it, but Reigate and Banstead council do not like it. Different councils do different things. In London, you can do it.

“We didn’t know. We were not told previously. I’m fuming about it, absolutely fuming. I have been here 30 years and I have never, ever had a problem.

“For 15 years we have been a 5, we haven’t dropped at all. I think what has happened with us is completely unjust. We are thinking of taking the council to court.

ron.swanson.turkey.burger“If someone asks for medium to rare burgers, we are talking 1 in about 2,000 people. I was devastated. We have had a solicitor involved. To me, keeping the five stars is very important.”

Mr Slayford said inspectors were going to revisit before August 1.

Katie Jackson, Environmental Health Manager said, “The lowering of the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme score from 5 to 1 at the Kingswood Arms was not solely based on the issue of serving rare burgers.

“Our rating was based on a number of food hygiene deficiencies, of which the landlord is aware. Mr Slayford appealed against the rating but was unsuccessful and we have provided him with detailed advice about why his score was lowered, the issues he needs to tackle and the changes he should make to achieve an improved rating.

“When assessing the safety and hygiene of serving burgers cooked medium and rare, we follow the advice of the national Food Standards Agency.”

Why can you have a safe rare steak and not a rare burger?

The British Hospitality Asssociation says: “Bacteria, for example E. coli, tend to be found on the outside surfaces of meat, rather than the inside, of a steak or joint of meat. If you mince meat, the outside surfaces are then mixed up with bacteria inside and this means that any E. coli from the outside will be mixed all the way through the burger.

“But if you sear the outside of a steak, you will have killed off the bacteria on the outside surfaces and the inside surfaces will be safe even if served rare.”

How many steaks in the UK are needle or blade tenderized?

It’s about 11 per cent in the U.S. and Canada, and both countries now require labels.

Guess the Brits have other matters to deal with.

But let John Oliver explain (really NSFV).

Dad says ‘I don’t want to drag this out’ Raw milk probable cause of Australian 3-year-old’s death

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In late 2014, three children in the Australian state of Victoria developed hemolytic uremic syndrome linked to Shiga-toxin toxin producing E. coli in unpasteurized bath milk produced by Mountain View farm. One child died, and two others developed cryptosporidiosis.

mountain.view.dairyThe Victorian government quickly banned the sale of so-called bath milk, which although labeled as not fit for human consumption, was a widely recognized way for Australian consumers to access raw milk.

What followed was a despicable whisper campaign that the child who died had an underlying medical condition, it wasn’t Shiga-toxin producing E. coli (STEC), farmers were losing access to lucrative markets – anything but the basic and sometimes deadly biology of STECs and everything involving fantasy and fairytales.

Today, a coroner heard unpasteurised milk was the probable cause of death of a three-year-old Victorian child who had no previous medical issues.

The toddler’s father told police he had given his son small amounts of Mountain View Organic Bath Milk on rare occasions in the months leading up to his October 2014 death.

The Coroner’s Court yesterday heard a Department of Health investigation, a forensic pathologist’s report and a subsequent outbreak of illnesses among four other children who drank the raw milk had all established its consumption as being the likely cause of the tragedy.

The child’s death prompted a health warning and led the State Government to introduce tough laws making unpasteurised milk sold in Victoria undrinkable.

After hearing details of the investigations Coroner Audrey Jamieson yesterday said she was satisfied issues that would have warranted a full hearing into the death had already been dealt with and she could make a determination on the balance of probabilities.

But after lawyer Rose Raniolo representing Mountain View Farm said she wanted to review a hospital form in which the boy’s parents listed everything he had consumed, Coroner Jamieson granted her seven days to put forward any additional information before making a final decision on whether a public hearing was required.

colbert.raw_.milk_3-300x212-300x212Coroner’s solicitor Rebecca Cohen told the court the three-year-old had been a healthy child until suffering gasto symptoms on September 30, 2014, and being admitted to Frankston Hospital four days later.

He was transferred to Monash Medical Centre on October 6, where it was found his entire large bowel was infected. The boy passed away shortly after.

Ms Cohen told the court a Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine autopsy was consistent with tests taken during the toddler’s medical treatment, finding the same genetic traces in his bowel that lead to hemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), a rare and dangerous infection stemming from E. coli bacteria which can be present in raw milk.

In the weeks following the death the Department ordered tests on samples from 39 bottles of Mountain View Dairy milk and found that shiga toxin which produces E. coli bacteria was cultured in one sample.

The department’s investigation stated that although HUS infections were usually an “exceptionally rare occurrence” it was dealing with two non-fatal cases at the same time as the death — and the only link was that all three children had consumed the same unpasteurised milk.

Two cases of cryptosporidium also reported among young raw milk drinkers in the same area within a 10 days of two HUS cases reinforced the pathology evidence, Ms Cohen said.

Ms Cohen emphasised that at no time was there any suggestion Mountain View Farm breached regulations, and no prosecution had even been considered against the producer.

She said that during a police investigation the toddler’s father told officers he purchased Mountain View Organic Bath Milk in the months before his son became ill.

“(The father) understood the milk was labelled not to be drunk, but he noted it looked like every other milk container,” Ms Cohen said.

“Due to his intolerance to dairy, (the child) would only drink very small amounts of the unpasteurised milk, and only on odd occasions. “(The father) said it only amounted one-eigth of a sippy cup, and only twice per month at a maximum.”

Ms Raniolo said she disagreed with a recommendation for the coroner to rule unpasteurised milk as the probable cause of the death, stating the child drank it too rarely for it to be considered as the cause.

After a separate review cleared the hospitals’ of any concerns over the treatment of the child, the toddler’s emotional father told the coroner he now wanted the probes to be finished.

“To me it was a big deal watching everything that unfolded, and I do still struggle with the idea that it was treated as seriously as possible. But, I understand it was not likely to have changed the outcome. I don’t want to get involved in this any further, I don’t want to drag this out.”

 

Weird because their old steak also sucked: No one likes Chipotle’s new steak

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After all of their food safety issues, Chipotle had to change the way they make a lot of their menu items, including steak. Now, steak is cooked on low heat at an offsite facility, and when it gets to stores it’s marinated and grilled.

steak.maubbisson.jun.16Gross.

Chipotle spokesperson Chris Arnold told Business Insider, “If there is any difference, it’s that the steak may be more tender than it was before,” to which we say, LOL. There’s no way that’s true.

Lots of customers feel the same way. There’s a Reddit post dedicated to solving the mystery called, “What happened to the taste?” So far, there are 27 comments, but this one seems to sum it up: “The new steak sucks, plain and simple.”

Other Redditors agree. “It’s dry, overcooked, and therefore chewy. I actually just had ‘fresh’ steak last night (they had just pulled it off the grill and sliced it) and it was still dry and overcooked.”

“Used to be a three time a week regular, same with a bunch of friends,” said another. “Anyone who was a steak lover including my girlfriend has stopped going really.”

Others argued it was harder to cook tasty steak with the new method, especially when preparing steak until it reached the required temperature for food safety.

steak.therm.jun.16“To me, this new steak never has a chance to be medium rare,”writes one Chipotle employee. “It goes from cold to medium well in two minutes on the grill.”

“Customer reactions so far? Not good,” another Redditor claiming to be a Chipotle employee wrote in March. “Many are saying the steak isn’t rare enough and that is tastes different… poor quality. I use to have a lot of pride in my steak, now that pride has faded.”

Twitter users are also complaining.

Chipotle’s food safety nightmare just keeps getting worse. For now, maybe stick to sofritos. Or, just eat somewhere else.

Like at our guest house in Maubuisson, France, where I went into town the other day and got these two from the butcher – shown against Hubbell tiny hands that are much larger than Trump tiny hands, for comparative purposes – and prepared on charcoal until close to 140F and then sat for 10 minutes.

It was really f*ucking good.

Are STECs more prevalent because of growth promoter use in cattle?

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Antibiotics are routinely used in food-producing animals to promote growth and prevent infectious diseases.

cow.says.whatWe investigated the effects of bovine antibiotic growth promoters (bAGPs) on the propagation and spread of Shiga toxin (Stx)–encoding phages in Escherichia coli. Co-culture of E. coli O157:H7 and other E. coli isolated from cattle in the presence of sublethal concentrations of bAGPs significantly increased the emergence of non-O157, Stx-producing E. coli by triggering the SOS response system in E. coli O157:H7. The most substantial mediation of Stx phage transmission was induced by oxytetracyline and chlortetracycline, which are commonly used in agriculture.

bAGPs may therefore contribute to the expansion of pathogenic Stx-producing E. coli.

Expansion of Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli by use of bovine antibiotic growth promoters

Volume 22, Number 5 – May 2016

Emerging Infectious Diseases

Jong-Chul Kim, Linda Chui, Yang Wang, Jianzhong Shen, and Byeonghwa Jeon

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/22/5/15-1584_article

 

E. coli O157 victim sues over outbreak at Vietnamese restaurant in Colorado

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The Denver Post reports the family of a 14-year-old Denver boy hospitalized weeks ago after ingesting E.coli-tainted food filed suit Thursday in Arapahoe County against the Vietnamese restaurant where he ate, alleging a pattern of recklessness in how food is prepared and handled.

noah.thompson.pho_.75-1The restaurant, Pho 75 on South Havana Street in Aurora, was allowed to re-open Wednesday, five days after it was shuttered by Tri-County Health Department officials who determined four people — all of them under 18 — were infected with the same strain of E. coli-O157:H7 after eating there sometime between May 24 and June 10.

Officials said the restaurant Tuesday passed an inspection for cleanliness and that employees were trained in proper food handling practices.

The illnesses occurred just three months after health officials cited the restaurant for a number of foodborne safety risks during a routine inspection, then gave Pho 75 employees extensive training on safe-food handling, officials confirmed Thursday.

“Rather than just check the box, we really spent some time in there to teach them,” said Brian Hlavacek, director of environmental health at Tri-County. “We really did quite a bit of teaching and education on the trends we were seeing and we spent the extra time with them.”

But because Colorado is like Canberra, mere mortals who spent their money on a meal at Pho 75 wouldn’t know the restaurant had a history of sucking at safety, because the governor got rid of restaurant inspection disclosure at the door.

Noah Thompson ate there on May 24 with his parents, who also were sickened though not to the extent Thompson suffered, the lawsuit alleges.

Thompson remains hospitalized with complications from hemolytic uremic syndrome, a sometimes-lethal affliction that comes from ingesting E. coli-tainted food. Children and the elderly are the most vulnerable to HUS, for which there is no cure.

Thompson’s father, Marc Thompson, told The Denver Post his son nearly needed a blood transfusion and is finally improving. He said the experience “really scared us and made us think twice about what we’re eating.”

Attorneys for the family said vegetables were the common ingredient in the foods they ate at Pho 75, and that each ordered a different item. Thompson had eaten a noodle bowl, attorneys said.

“From what I see from the (inspection) reports, it’s no surprise there was an outbreak,” said Seattle attorney Bill Marler, who is representing Thompson. “Perhaps the question is why were they still open?”

Counting STECs in poop: Medium matters

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The isolation and quantification of non-O157 Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli (STEC) from cattle feces are challenging. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of selected agar media in an attempt to identify an optimal medium for the detection and quantification of non-O157 STEC in cattle feces.

medium.messageComparison studies were performed using CHROMagar STEC, Possé differential agar (Possé), Possé modified by the reduction or addition of antimicrobials, STEC heart infusion washed blood agar with mitomycin C (SHIBAM), and SHIBAM modified by the addition of antimicrobials. Fourteen STEC strains, two each belonging to serogroups O26, O45, O103, O111, O121, O145, and O157, were used to test detection in inoculated fecal suspensions at concentrations of 102 or 103 CFU/g. One STEC strain from each of these seven serogroups was used to estimate the concentration of recovered STEC in feces inoculated at 103, 104, or 105 CFU/g. Significantly more suspensions (P < 0.05) were positive for STEC when plated on Possé containing reduced concentrations of novobiocin and potassium tellurite compared with SHIBAM, but not SHIBAM modified by containing these same antimicrobials at the same concentrations. Numerically, more suspensions were positive for STEC by using this same form of modified Possé compared with Possé, but this difference was not statistically significant. More suspensions were positive for STEC cultured on CHROMagar STEC compared with those on Possé (P < 0.05) and on modified Possé (P = 0.05). Most inoculated fecal suspensions below 104 CFU/g of feces were underestimated or not quantifiable for the concentration of STEC by using CHROMagar STEC or modified Possé.

These results suggest that CHROMagar STEC performs better than Possé or SHIBAM for detection of STEC in bovine feces, but adjustments in the concentrations of novobiocin and potassium tellurite in the latter two media result in significant improvements in their performance.

Comparison of agar media for detection and quantification of Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli in cattle feces

Journal of Food Protection®, Number 6, June 2016, pp. 896-1055, pp. 939-949(11)

Stromberg, Zachary R.; Lewis, Gentry L.; Moxley, Rodney A.

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/iafp/jfp/2016/00000079/00000006/art00006

Warm water followed by acid spray reduces STECs on veal carcasses

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Effective antimicrobial intervention strategies to reduce Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli (STEC) risks associated with veal are needed.

bob.veal.carcassThis study evaluated the efficacy of lactic acid (4.5%, pH 2.0), Citrilow (pH 1.2), and Beefxide (2.25%, pH 2.3) for reducing STEC surrogates on prerigor and chilled bob veal carcasses and monitored the effects of these interventions on chilled carcass color.

Dehided bob veal carcasses were inoculated with a five-strain cocktail of rifampin-resistant, surrogate E. coli bacteria. E. coli surrogates were enumerated after inoculation, after water wash, after prechill carcass antimicrobial spray application, after chilling for 24 h, and after postchill carcass antimicrobial spray application; carcass color was measured throughout the process. A standard carcass water wash (∼50°C) reduced the STEC surrogate population by 0.9 log CFU/cm2 (P ≤ 0.05). All three antimicrobial sprays applied to prerigor carcasses delivered an additional ∼0.5-log reduction (P ≤ 0.05) of the surrogates. Chilling of carcasses for 24 h reduced (P ≤ 0.05) the surrogate population by an additional ∼0.4 log cycles. The postchill application of the antimicrobial sprays provided no further reductions. Carcass L*, a*, and b* color values were not different (P > 0.05) among carcass treatments. Generally, the types and concentrations of the antimicrobial sprays evaluated herein did not negatively impact visual or instrumental color of chilled veal carcasses.

This study demonstrates that warm water washing, followed by a prechill spray treatment with a low-pH chemical intervention, can effectively reduce STEC risks associated with veal carcasses; this provides processors a validated control point in slaughter operations.

Evaluating the efficacy of three U.S. Department of Agriculture–approved antimicrobial sprays for reducing Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli surrogate populations on bob veal carcasses

Journal of Food Protection®, Number 6, June 2016, pp. 896-1055, pp. 956-962(7)

J. Sevart; N. Baumann; H.Thippareddi; T. A. Houser; J. B. Luchansky; A. C. S. Porto-Fett; D. B. Marx; G. R. Acuff; R. K. Phebus

http://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/iafp/jfp/2016/00000079/00000006/art00008