Monthly Archives: March 2012

Hepatitis A alert for customers who recently ate at Quadra Fairway Market in BC

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It’s much better to get vaccinated before exposure.

Customers who recently ate at the Fairway Market deli on Quadra Street in Victoria, British Columbia (that’s in Canada) are urged to get vaccinated for hepatitis A after an employee tested positive for the virus this week.

The Vancouver Island Health Authority is urging anyone who ate deli food prepared in-store on March 18, 19, 20, 22, 25 or 26 to receive a hepatitis A vaccine as a precaution.

Drop-in immunization clinics for Fairway Market employees and eligible members of the public will take place Saturday and Sunday at the Victoria Health Unit, located at 1947 Cook St., from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Customers at the deli between March 7 and 15 may also have been exposed to the virus but vaccines will no longer be effective because too much time has passed, said Charmaine Enns, a VIHA medical health officer.

"It becomes of interest to the public and to us when that [infected] person is a food handler, because then it’s not just that person’s circle of close contacts who is at risk, it’s the general public now at risk," Enns said.

Ozzie and Heston not welcome in my kitchen

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Dr. Oz did a show a couple of years ago, would your home pass a restaurant inspection?, that was broadcast the other day in Australia (Days of Our Lives is at least two years behind; it’s all background).

Forget the flaws in the methodology, the risk amplification inherent in feeding a family and feeding 1,000 people a day, the television nonsense: Dr. Oz willingly lets his cat on the kitchen food prep counter.

And Heston-norovirus-Blumenthal has great food prep tips, but still don’t know food safety. For his latest show (which may also be two years behind) he “takes off his chef whites and steps into a domestic kitchen to show viewers how to inject some Heston-style magic into homemade cooking.”

What I briefly saw was a Mitt Romney-styled I’m one of the boys segments, as a local rugby team arrived by boat at his country home and they all took a turn grinding beef for burgers on the barbie; outside on a table. Cross-contamination everywhere.

E. coli O157 found in raw beef liver; Japan contemplates ban

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As New York City and food pornographers elsewhere embrace raw meats, one country with a strong culture of raw beef is moving to ban some dishes.

In 2011, E. coli O111 in raw beef killed four and sickened at least 70 in Japan. On Friday, a health ministry panel proposed banning all raw beef liver served at restaurants, after it was discovered that it contains E. coli O157.

Japan Times reports the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will swiftly refer the matter to the Food Safety Commission under the Cabinet Office. Once the commission compiles a report, the new ban could be incorporated in the Food Sanitation Law and come into effect as early as June.

Violations regarding raw liver, considered a delicacy, would be punishable by up to two years in prison or a maximum fine of ¥2 million.

 

Raw oyster risk: norovirus infections associated with frozen raw oysters

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Oysters from Australian waters are a delight on the grill, although I’ve graduated to scallops on the half-shell, also grilled.

But whenever I go see Paul the fish monger, he’s offering me a sample of his wares – raw – and I politely decline.

Or, as Dr. Ken Buckle, professor emeritus at the University of New South Wales commented when our hosts took us to a seafood buffet in Abu Dhabi, I spent too much time researching pathogens in raw fish.

He chose the cooked kind.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control recently described a norovirus outbreak in frozen raw oysters in Seattle imported from South Korea.

On October 19, 2011, Public Health – Seattle & King County was contacted regarding a woman who had experienced acute gastroenteritis after dining at a local restaurant with friends. Staff members interviewed the diners and confirmed that three of the seven in the party had consumed a raw oyster dish.

Within 18–36 hours after consumption, the three had onsets of aches, nausea, and nonbloody diarrhea lasting 24–48 hours. One ill diner also reported vomiting. The four diners who had not eaten the raw oysters did not become ill.

An inspection of a walk-in freezer at the restaurant revealed eight 3-pound bags of frozen raw oysters, which the restaurant indicated had been an ingredient of the dish consumed by the ill diners. The oysters had been imported from South Korea by company A and shipped to a local vendor, which sold them to the restaurant. All eight bags were sent to the Food and Drug Administration’s Gulf Coast Seafood Laboratory for norovirus testing and characterization by real-time reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR).

A stool specimen from one of two ill diners collected 17 days after symptom onset tested positive for norovirus; sequence analysis identified GI.1 and GII.17 strains. Sequence analysis of the oysters identified a GII.3 strain. Because oysters can harbor multiple norovirus strains that are unequally amplified by rRT-PCR, discordance between stool specimens and food samples in shellfish-associated norovirus outbreaks is common and does not rule out an association. On November 4, 2011, company A recalled its frozen raw oysters.

The frozen oysters implicated in this outbreak were distributed internationally and had a 2-year shelf-life. Contamination of similar products has been implicated previously in international norovirus transmissions. Such contamination has potential for exposing persons widely dispersed in space and time, making cases difficult to identify or link through traditional complaint-based surveillance.

Pathogen internalization by root uptake into food crops

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Can pathogens like E. coli or Salmonella be internalized by growing fresh produce like lettuce, spinach and tomatoes?

Depends.

Researchers from the University of Delaware and the U.S. Department of Agriculture report in Foodborne Pathogens and Disease that enteric pathogens localized at subsurface sites on leafy green plant tissue prevent their removal during washing and inactivation by sanitizers. Root uptake of enteric pathogens and subsequent internalization has been a large area of research with results varying due to differences in experimental design, systems tested, and pathogens and crops used.

The potential for uptake of foodborne pathogen, both bacterial and viral, through roots into food crops is reviewed. Various factors shown to affect the ability of human pathogens to internalize include growth substrate (soil vs. hydroponic solution), plant developmental stage, pathogen genus and/or strain, inoculum level, and plant species and cultivar. Several mechanisms of internalization (“active” vs. “passive”) of bacteria to plant roots have also been hypothesized.

The authors do conclude:

• uptake through internalization is a plant–pathogen specific interaction;
• the plant growth substrate used plays a large role in the uptake of both
bacterial and viral pathogens in plants;
• intact, healthy, non-injured roots seem to discourage the uptake of bacteria cells and viruses into plants; and,
• generally, the presence of internalized pathogens in roots of plants does not directly correlate with internalized pathogens in the edible or foliar tissues of crops.

The authors also note that contaminated soil, for the most part, resulted in little to no observed internalization as compared to contaminated hydroponic solution.

Pathogen internalization by root uptake into food crops

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Can pathogens like E. coli or Salmonella be internalized by growing fresh produce like lettuce, spinach and tomatoes?

Depends.

Researchers from the University of Delaware and the U.S. Department of Agriculture report in Foodborne Pathogens and Disease that enteric pathogens localized at subsurface sites on leafy green plant tissue prevent their removal during washing and inactivation by sanitizers. Root uptake of enteric pathogens and subsequent internalization has been a large area of research with results varying due to differences in experimental design, systems tested, and pathogens and crops used.

The potential for uptake of foodborne pathogen, both bacterial and viral, through roots into food crops is reviewed. Various factors shown to affect the ability of human pathogens to internalize include growth substrate (soil vs. hydroponic solution), plant developmental stage, pathogen genus and/or strain, inoculum level, and plant species and cultivar. Several mechanisms of internalization (“active” vs. “passive”) of bacteria to plant roots have also been hypothesized.

The authors do conclude:

• uptake through internalization is a plant–pathogen specific interaction;
• the plant growth substrate used plays a large role in the uptake of both
bacterial and viral pathogens in plants;
• intact, healthy, non-injured roots seem to discourage the uptake of bacteria cells and viruses into plants; and,
• generally, the presence of internalized pathogens in roots of plants does not directly correlate with internalized pathogens in the edible or foliar tissues of crops.

The authors also note that contaminated soil, for the most part, resulted in little to no observed internalization as compared to contaminated hydroponic solution.

Creepy crawly Salmonella in jalapeño peppers recall baffles distributor; complains of delay

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The Packer reports a series of recalls related to salmonella contamination of jalapeño peppers has left officials with the grower, South Florida Produce LLC, wondering about the federal government’s notification process.

Leslie DiStefano, director of sales and food safety for South Florida Produce, Boynton Beach, Fla., said March 30 that the experience has been frustrating because of delays in notification about the possible contamination.

No illnesses have been reported in connection to the jalapeños and DiStefano said that the peppers should no longer be in the supply chain.

“We distributed a total of 500 boxes March 6 to six of our customers, who then distributed the peppers to their customers,” DiStefano said, confirming that Castellini Co. LLC, Wilder, Ky., was one of the six customers to receive the jalapeños from South Florida Produce.

“Six days later there was a random test at a grocery store in Ohio that showed possible contamination, but we were not notified until March 20. It was our customer who notified us, not FDA. We still haven’t heard whether the contamination was confirmed.”

The Castellini Co. issued a recall March 26 of several lots of jalapeños, expanding the recall March 29 to include more lots.

South Florida Produce issued its own recall March 27, but the FDA did not send out notification of the grower’s recall to subscribers until March 30.

Erica Pitchford, director of communications for the Ohio Agriculture Department said the Ohio department got tentative positive results on all three swab samples that were taken in the grocery store’s back room. She did not know if the actual jalapeños were swabbed, or if the samples were taken from boxes or other surfaces.

On March 16, Ohio officials got laboratory confirmation that the samples were positive for salmonella.

“We sent the information to the USDA that day,” Pitchford said. “The USDA told FDA and FDA contacted us on March 23 and told us to go back to the store to find the supplier information.”

FDA officials did not immediately respond to inquiries about the situation.

Certain Mumm’s Sprouting Seeds – Sunflower may contain Salmonella

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At least the seeds were recalled before someone got sick – unless there are sick people and regulators aren’t saying. They also aren’t saying if the testing was done by government or the company or who knows else. Or saying where the seed originated.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Mumm’s Sprouting Seeds Ltd. are warning the public not to consume the Mumm’s brand Sprouting Seeds described below because the product may be contaminated withSalmonella.

The affected product, Mumm’s brand Sprouting Seeds – Sunflower, are sold in 75g packages bearing UPC 7 73295 07582 3 and lot # SF2020.

This product is known to have been distributed in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario and may have been distributed nationally.

There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of this product.

The importer, Mumm’s Sprouting Seeds Ltd., Parkside, SK, is voluntarily recalling the affected product from the marketplace. The CFIA is monitoring the effectiveness of the recall.

Fresh tofu linked to botulism in Queens

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The New York City Health Department is investigating one confirmed and one suspect case of botulism amongst Chinese-speaking Queens residents who had recently purchased unrefrigerated fresh bulk tofu from the same store in Flushing.

This kind of tofu, commonly sold in an open, water-filled bin, is highly suspected to be the source of these cases; however it has not yet been confirmed.

WABC reports the tofu was not made at this store, and its source is still under investigation.

As the investigation continues, the Health Department is advising all individuals to discard all fresh bulk tofu purchased from any New York City store that has been kept at room temperature at the time of purchase.

The Health Department is also warning consumers to throw away tofu that has not been stored in a refrigerator at home.

Cooking this type of tofu is not a definite safeguard against botulism; the organism’s spores can still remain in the tofu and, if the tofu is improperly handled, the spores can produce a toxin that causes illness.

New York City has seen only one other case of foodborne botulism in the past 15 years.

20 sick; possible norovirus outbreak at Indiana Cebolla’s Mexican Grill

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About 20 people who ate at Cebolla’s Mexican Grill in Fort Wayne, Indiana on Sun. March 25 have reported symptoms of illness consistent with a norovirus outbreak.

The Fort Wayne-Allen County Department of Health is investigating and said management of Cebolla’s is fully cooperating with health officials. The restaurant voluntarily closed on Thursday to thoroughly clean and disinfect. Any employees who have been sick recently will be tested for infection and excluded from work.

For more information, visit www.allencountyhealth.comor call 449-7561.