A total of 1,383 cattle, selected into cohorts at 0–24 months were sampled between March 2000 and February 2001. Mixed-effects logistic regression was employed to identify significant associations between VTEC O157 isolation from rectal faecal samples and explanatory factors (P < 0·001 unless shown).
The results revealed a positive association with feeding root crops and a negative association with animals fed silage, milk (P = 0·001) or grain (P = 0·027). Cattle in suckler herds (P = 0·001) and those changing group between sampling visits were identified as negatively associated with VTEC O157 presence. The recovery of VTEC O157 varied throughout the year. However, the winter period from December to February was a risk factor in themultivariable analysis.
Cattle in pens were 4·7 times more likely to shed VTEC O157 than those group-housed or at pasture. VTEC O157 detected in pooled environmental faecal pats and biofilm of the water supply within a group’s enclosure were positively associated with an animal’s VTEC O157 status in the multivariable logistic regression, as was detection of VTEC O157 in the pooled faecal pats at the previous visit.
A longitudinal study of risk factors for shedding of VTEC O157 by young cattle in herds with known E. coli O157 carriage
The Cochran–Armitage test was used to assess changes in the proportions of cases by case status (confirmed vs. non-confirmed), sex, race, and ethnicity over the study period. Negative binomial regression models were used to estimate rate ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for comparing rates across three time periods (1995–2004, 2005–2008, 2009–2012). The proportion of confirmed cases significantly decreased (P < 0·0001), and a crossover from male to female predominance in case-patients occurred (P < 0·0001). Overall, compared to 1995–2004, rates were higher in 2005–2008 (RR 2·92, 95% CI 2·08–4·09) and 2009–2012 (RR 2·66, 95% CI 1·90–3·73). However, rate changes from 2005–2008 to 2009–2012 varied by age group (Pinteraction < 0·0001): 0–14 years (RR 0·55, 95% CI 0·42–0·71), 15–44 years (RR 0·99, 95% CI 0·82–1·19), 45–64 years (RR 1·47, 95% CI 1·21–1·79) and ≥65 years (RR 2·18, 95% CI 1·46–3·25).
The evolving epidemiology of cryptosporidiosis necessitates further identification of risk factors in population subgroups. Adding systematic molecular typing of Cryptosporidium specimens to US national cryptosporidiosis surveillance would help further identify risk factors and markedly expand understanding of cryptosporidiosis epidemiology in the United States.
Evolving epidemiology of reported cryptosporidiosis cases in the United States, 1995–2012
Epidemiology and Infection, Volume 144, Issue 08, June 2016, Pages 1792–1802, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0950268815003131
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.”
“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.”
154 pounds of chicken intestines soaked in formalin, a prohibited food additive, seized in Indonesia;
Italian olives painted with copper sulfate solutions to make them look greener;
sugar that was cut with fertilizer in Sudan;
customs agents and police officers in Hungary, Italy, Lithuania and Romania have discovered counterfeit chocolates, sweets and non-alcoholic sparkling wine that were headed to West Africa;
South Korean police arrested a man who was smuggling dietary supplements that contained harmful ingredients but were advertised online as natural products;
in Australia, a shipment of peanuts was repackaged and relabeled as pine nuts, posing a potentially deadly threat to people with serious groundnut allergies;
police in Bolivia raided a warehouse and seized thousands of cans of sardines and the fake labels of a famous Peruvian brand that would have been affixed to them;
police in eastern China raided two workshops that were producing fake jellyfish, which contained high levels of aluminum and chemicals (jellyfish is popular in parts of China, where it is sliced and served as part of a salad); and,
illicit alcohol concocted in Greece, Britain or Burundi.
Criminals make millions of dollars a year peddling such products, and worse, to unwitting or reckless buyers, according to the international police agencies Interpol and Europol. Recent joint operations have netted about 11,000 tons of counterfeit and hazardous food and 264,000 gallons of bogus beverages, the agencies’ largest hauls to date.
“Fake and dangerous food and drink threaten the health and safety of people around the world, who are often unsuspectingly buying these potentially dangerous goods,” said Michael Ellis, who runs Interpol’s unit on trafficking in illicit goods and anti-counterfeiting measures.
I’ve long been an advocate of electronics and digital monitoring for improving food safety outcomes.
But only with clear objectives and limits.
In Oman, cameras have been installed on a trial basis at different restaurants located at tourist spots, butcher shops and slaughterhouses in a bid to maintain hygiene standards.
“The aim is to keep an online tab on food processing,” the ministry said.
Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Shehhi, Minister of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources, said the project enjoys full confidentiality guaranteed by the laws to all of the information including visual and non-visual data of food establishments.
MicrobeNet provides laboratorians with unprecedented access to CDC’s virtual microbe library of more than 2,400 rare and emerging infectious bacteria and fungi at no cost. The recent multi-state outbreak of Elizabethkingia in Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan underscores the need for a tool like MicrobeNet in diagnostic laboratories. Hospitals and health departments using MicrobeNet can identify rare bacteria like Elizabethkingia quicker, and know they’re comparing their results to the most comprehensive and accurate disease database available.
In partnership with Bruker Corp., CDC has recently added a new module to MicrobeNet that allows labs to search the protein signatures of the bacteria and compare them to the rare pathogens in CDC’s MicrobeNet library by using Bruker’s MALDI Biotyper systems. Using MALDI to test is extremely fast and cheaper to run than many other types of testing, making the technology increasingly popular among labs. The new MicrobeNet module will be immediately available to laboratorians and clinicians using the Bruker system in labs nationwide. Until the addition of the MALDI library, MicrobeNet offered two ways to search pathogens: by DNA sequence or biochemical tests (chemical reactions caused by the bacteria).
MicrobeNet can dramatically improve the health of people in the United States and around the world by cutting the time for testing from about a week to a few hours.
“MicrobeNet has the potential to revolutionize public health,” said John R. McQuiston, PhD, team lead for CDC’s Special Bacteriology Reference Laboratory and CDC’s lead for MicrobeNet. “This system helps public health labs and hospitals quickly identify some of the most difficult pathogens to grow and detect. In turn, MicrobeNet will help treat patients faster and allow health departments to respond to public health emergencies more effectively.”
Traditionally, clinicians or laboratorians who needed to identify a rare bacteria or fungi or to confirm an infectious disease diagnosis with one of these organisms needed to send a sample to CDC and await test results. With MicrobeNet, they can access the information they need immediately.
One of MicrobeNet’s greatest advantages lies in allowing two-way communications between users and CDC staff who are experts in the diseases that users are searching. MicrobeNet allows state public health experts to monitor disease trends in their state in real time and recognize when those trends might indicate an outbreak. It also provides public health agencies with a valuable snapshot of nationwide disease trends and will help CDC identify multistate outbreaks and provide information to public health partners in the affected states.
In addition to being faster, using the MALDI module in MicrobeNet offers dramatic cost savings for clinical and public health laboratories because they no longer will need to develop their own pathogen libraries. These laboratories will also have the assurance that their information has been confirmed by CDC experts. In addition, for many germs, MicrobeNet provides doctors with information about which antibiotics the bacteria are resistant to. By quickly identifying the species of bacteria, lab staff can pass this critical information to the doctors who can use it to help make a diagnosis and select the right treatment, thus reducing the risk of their patients developing drug-resistant infections.
MicrobeNet was launched in 2013 by the Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology’s Special Bacteriology Reference Laboratory as a way to help state public health laboratories and other diagnostic labs rapidly identify rare and emerging infections, with the goal of saving time, money, and lives. MicrobeNet initially had a DNA sequence search module. Since then, MicrobeNet has added a phenotypic and biochemical search tool and, through a partnership with ThermoFisher, a DNA sequence editing tool, MicrobeBridge. CDC has also entered pages of information, including contact information for the subject matter expert for every species.
Funded in part by CDC’s Advanced Molecular Detection initiative, MicrobeNet currently includes information about more than 2,400 bacteria and fungi, including images and information about growing these organisms. Every month, CDC adds information on as many as 100 new species to MicrobeNet to aid in detection, diagnosis, and planning treatment for sick patients.
For more information on MicrobeNet, please visit: http://www.cdc.gov/microbenet/. Labs wishing to join MicrobeNet can request an account by visiting https://microbenet.cdc.gov or emailing MicrobeNet@cdc.gov.
The authorities are required to show ‘soul deep’ concern to ameliorate the sufferings of people caused by food adulteration in the state, the J&K high court said on Saturday, even as the government submitted that it will soon set up technologically advanced laboratories in Srinagar and Jammu.
The authorities tasked with implementing the Food Safety and Standard Act of 2006 have “exhibited only skin-deep concern” towards the sufferings of the people and they need to show “soul-deep concern”, a bench of justices Muzaffar Hussain Attar and Ali Mohammad Magrey said while hearing suo-moto Public Interest Litigation.
“This is not the question of a small water body and encroachments on it which we can demolish. It concerns the health of all of us, rich and poor, ruler and the ruled. Everybody’s health is involved in this issue but there is sad state of affairs,” the bench said.
Last month, the court said the people of the state have been ‘left at the mercy of God’ as there are no laboratories and other paraphernalia available to check food adulteration in the state.
All were resident in or had visited either of two English regions and were infected with the same strain of Listeria monocytogenes.
In interviews with 12 patients, 9 reported eating pork pies, and individuals that consumed pork pies were significantly more likely to be infected with an outbreak strain than were individuals with sporadic cases of listeriosis infections in England from 2010 to 2012.
Pork pies were purchased from seven retailers in South Yorkshire or the East Midlands, and the outbreak strain was recovered from pork pies supplied by only the producer in South Yorkshire. The outbreak strain was also recovered from samples of finished product and from environmental samples collected from the manufacturer. The likely source of contamination was environmental sites within the manufacturing environment, and the contamination was associated with the process of adding gelatin to the pies after cooking.
Inadequate temperature control and poor hygienic practices at one of the retailers were also identified as possible contributory factors allowing growth of the pathogen.
Following improvements in manufacturing practices and implementation of additional control measures at the retailers’ premises, L. monocytogenes was not recovered from subsequent food and environmental samples, and the outbreak strain was not detected in further individuals with listeriosis in England.
An outbreak of human listeriosis in England between 2010 and 2012 associated with the consumption of pork pies
Journal of Food Protection®, Number 5, May 2016, pp. 696-889, pp. 732-740(9)
Awofisayo-Okuyelu, A.; Arunachalam, N.; Dallman, T.; Grant, K. A.; Aird, H.; McLauchlin, J.; Painset, A.; Amar, C.
A related paper assessed the microbiological quality of meat pies from retail sale in England, 2013, included a literature review that revealed a range of microbiological hazards responsible for food poisoning and meat pie consumption, and surveillance data from 1992 to 2012 from England indicated that C. perfringens was the most commonly reported cause of outbreaks of foodborne illness.
Journal of Food Protection®, Number 5, May 2016, pp. 696-889, pp. 781-788(8)
Cyclospora and Cryptosporidium were ranked 13th and 5th, respectively, out of 24 parasites in overall global ranking for their public health importance by a Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations/World Health Organization (FAO/WHO) expert committee (September 3 to 7, 2012). Produce such as fresh herbs and berries have been identified in the past as sources of Cyclospora and Cryptosporidium contamination in Canada. This survey focused on fresh herbs, berries, green onions and mushrooms.
The objective of this survey was to determine the occurrence and distribution of Cyclospora and Cryptosporidium contamination in fresh produce such as herbs, berries, mushrooms and green onions. A total of 1,590 samples were analyzed for the presence of Cyclospora and 1,788 samples were analyzed for Cryptosporidium. Samples were collected at retail from various regions across Canada between May 2011 and March 2013.
Of the samples analyzed for Cyclospora, none were positive for the parasite. Of the samples analyzed for Cryptosporidium, six samples of green onions, one sample of parsley, and one sample of mushroom were positive, however, the analytical method used to detect the parasites in the samples cannot determine if the parasite is viable and potentially infectious. It is important to note that there were no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of the products found to be positive for Cryptosporidium. Positive results are followed up by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). In this case, because of the perishable nature of the products and the time elapsed between sample pick up and the completion of analysis, the fresh product was no longer available on the market when the parasite was detected. As such, no direct follow up was possible. This information was used to inform CFIA’s programs and inspection activities.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency regulates and provides oversight to the industry, works with provinces and territories, and promotes safe handling of foods throughout the food production chain. However, it is important to note that the food industry and retail sectors in Canada are ultimately responsible for the food they produce and sell, while individual consumers are responsible for the safe handling of the food they have in their possession. Moreover, general advice for the consumer on the safe handling of foods is widely available. The CFIA will continue its surveillance activities and inform stakeholders of its findings.
But don’t expect industry to adopt any of the suggestions.
In 2008, Maple Leaf Foods cold cuts laden with Listeria killed 24 Canadians and sickened another 50.
At the time, CEO Michael McCann was praised for his communication and management efforts to reign in Listeria.
I, and several others, were underwhelmed.
So it’s time to dust off that 2008 checklist and see how Dole, CRF Frozen Foods in Pasco, Wash. and SunOpta of Crookston, Minn. go.
There are arguments to be made about the U.S. zero-tolerance for Listeria policy (other countries have set limits) but that could take years to be resolved. Meanwhile, product is/was going out the door, disease trackers are getting really good at picking up previously undetectable outbreaks using whole-genome sequencing, and consumers need a confidence builder.
So:
A full accounting of who knew what when, from both the companies involved and regulators. But more important from the companies, because they do thousands of Listeria tests annually. In 2014, Maple Leaf performed more than 180,000 tests across its operations to detect any bacteria or pathogens as part of the company’s food safety program. Great.
Make those test results publicly available.
Warning labels. Someone will say, like Mr. McCann in 2008, that listeria is everywhere, and that, “All food plants and supermarkets have some amount of listeria.” Maybe a label should say, “Listeria is everywhere, don’t feed deli meats or other refrigerated ready-to-eat foods to pregnant women and old people. They may die.” Or do what Publix supermarkets, based in Florida, does. Cheese and cold-cuts sliced in the deli are put in a bag with a label that says, “The Publix Deli is committed to the highest quality fresh cold cuts & cheeses. Therefore we recommend all cold cuts are best if used within three days of purchase. And all cheese items are best if used within four days of purchase.”
Don’t tell us the plant passed an audit or is inspected. That is a minimal standard, and why do outbreaks keep happening from food that was audited or inspected or both?
