If a child poops in the forest, will anyone catch E. coli?

Posted on by
Reply

An open-air nursery, or forest kindergarten, sounds sorta cool (in German, Waldkindergarten), where the kids spend their days in the woods instead of a building with walls.

But poop could be a problem.

The Secret Garden Outdoor Nursery in Fife, Scotland, which operates in a woodland setting, had been ordered to use soap and water instead of wipes if staff and children visited a farm or walked across a field containing livestock.

The Scotsman reports the nursery argued that carrying up to ten litres of water into Letham Woods where the children play and learn was impractical and that the threat of catching E coli was being exaggerated.

Last night Cathy Bache, the nursery’s founder, welcomed the victory over what she described as Health Protection Scotland’s (HPS) "very unworkable" hand-washing policy, adding,

"It’s fantastic. We can now continue to operate as a nomadic nursery on our woodland site. If we’d had hand-washing imposed on us it would have made things a lot more difficult."

The potential hygiene issue came to light in July last year after concerns about handwashing were raised at an inspection by the Care Commission which regulates Scotland’s nurseries. The nursery complied with a request to use soap and water before reverting to wipes and gels last December.

A spokesman for the Care Commission, said: "The Secret Garden will now follow a ten-step programme of measures with regard to hand hygiene. The practice and procedures should also be approved by the individual parents of all children attending.

"However, we remain clear that children at the Secret Garden should wash their hands with soap and water whenever possible to maintain good infection prevention."

That’s because sanitizers do not work in the presence of organic material – dirt in a forest – and are ineffective against a number of viruses.

Barfing Oktoberfest drunks face taxi cleanup fees

Posted on by
Reply

If someone’s going to barf, why does it always seem to be at the beginning of a road trip?

Less than an hour into our final 13-hour leg to return to Manhattan (Kansas), Sorenne hurled up waffles and curdled milk from the Sleep Inn breakfast earlier that morning (but do like the Sleep Inn, friendly and good value) all over herself and car seat. It had been a barf-free five weeks on the road, so perhaps it was inevitable.

The Lysol spray we got at a truck stop seemed to mask the odors, but with 90 minutes remaining, it was strawberry barf.

Today was spent cleaning.

It’s probably too much to expect of an almost-2-year-old, but revelers who drunkenly vomit in taxis must cough up the cleanup costs, according to an Oktoberfest-related court decision published by a Munich district court on Monday.

The case involved a lawsuit brought by a taxi driver in the Bavarian capital following a nasty 2009 incident in his vehicle, a court statement said.

After picking up a Munich couple on their way home from the city’s annual beer festival, the driver said the man threw up in his vehicle, which cost a combined €241 for cleanup and missed work.

The taxi driver attempted to charge the passenger, but he alleged that the driver had not obliged his request to pull over, and had berated him instead.

The ruling, made on September 2, is effective immediately, meaning drunken revelers at this year’s ongoing 200th Anniversary Oktoberfest celebration should think twice before they stumble into a cab.

Doctors sickened by sandwiches at India hospital causes gynecologist shortage

Posted on by
Reply

Around 50 doctors from the Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad fell sick from food poisoning after consuming tainted sandwiches, leaving a critical shortage in the gynecology wing.

That’s what MedIndia reported.

The doctors, who had assembled for a continuing education program in gynecology, apparently ate snacks from a bakery. The eatables were purchased from Mac Allen Bakery at Padmarao Nagar.

The doctors ate the snacks on Friday, but fell sick on Sunday and only then realized that it was in fact the food, which was an issue.
 

Infant formula tampered with; 1 sick in Ottawa

Posted on by
Reply

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Nestlé Canada Inc. are advising the public that some cans of powdered infant formula found in the Nepean, Ontario area have been tampered with.

Three cans of Nestlé Good Start Iron Fortified Infant Formula, 900g size,
UPC: 0 65000 36614 3, have been found to contain a powder which appears to be flour. These cans were found at the following retail locations: Your Independent Grocer on Strandherd Drive and Sobeys on Greenbank Drive in Nepean, Ontario.

There has been one reported illness associated with the consumption of this product.

Consumers using powdered infant formula products should look under the plastic lid of the cans and ensure the metal/foil top is sealed properly. The CFIA is conducting an investigation and the case has been referred to the police.
 

Targeted microarray analysis of stationary phase Escherichia coli O157:H7 subjected to disparate nutrient conditions

Posted on by
Reply

Getting graduate students to publish their research in peer-reviewed journals is often painful. As a supervisor, I sucked at it for years, but am now more draconian.

I’m pretty sure Kevin Allen (right, exactly as shown) got some award for this research at the International Association for Food Protection meeting in Baltimore in 2005, so good to see the hockey goon finally got it published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology. (And if these details are wrong, write in and correct them; it’s a blog.)

K.J. Allen, D. Lepp, R.C. McKellar, M.W. Griffiths
Abstract
Aims:  To determine how stress response and virulence gene expression of stationary phase (SP) Escherichia coli O157:H7 are affected by nutrient levels.

Methods and Results:  A targeted microarray (n = 125 genes) was used to determine the impact of nutrient deprivation [15 min in 3-(N-Morpholino)propanesulfonic acid buffer] on SP E. coli O157:H7. In total, 24 genes were significantly affected (>1·5-fold; P < 0·05) with 17 induced and seven attenuated. Additionally, 11 genes belonging to significantly affected stress response regulons were significantly induced (P < 0·05), though <1·5-fold. Induced genes included global and specific stress response regulators, the mar operon, iron acquisition and virulence genes. In contrast, transcript for major porins and replicative genes were repressed. Comparison of the nutrient deprived transcriptome to that derived from nutrient replenished cells revealed a disparate transcriptome, with 44 genes expressed at significantly elevated levels in nutrient replenished cells, including all queried global and specific stress response regulators and key virulence genes. Genes expressed at elevated levels in nutrient deprived cells were related to σS. The microarray data were validated by qRT-PCR.

Conclusions:  SP E. coli O157:H7 were affected by nutrient deprivation, with both starvation-related and unrelated networks induced, thereby demonstrating how the E. coli O157:H7 stress response transcriptome is fine-tuned to environmental conditions. Further, by comparison of starved cells to cells provided with fresh nutrients, it is clear starved E. coli O157:H7 undergo massive physiological reprogramming dominated initially by stress response induction to adapt to a nutrient rich environment.

Significance and Impact of the Study: This study demonstrated how σS-induced SP E. coli O157:H7 remain highly sensitive and adaptable to environmental conditions. Further, by examining how starved cells respond to nutrient-rich conditions, we show preliminary adaptation to a nutrient rich environment is dominated by the induction of diverse stress response networks. Combined, this provides E. coli O157:H7 stress physiology-based knowledge that can be used to design more effective food safety interventions.
 

Clean up dog poop or this woman will throw it through your screen

Posted on by
4

NBC Chicago reports a woman finally had enough after she stepped in her neighbor’s dog’s poop. Again.

Susan Miller first took the offending poop off her shoe, and wiped it on her neighbor’s porch.

Police report that Miller next "threw dog feces at the [dog owner’s] sliding patio screen."

On the grounds was a sign informing dog walkers to pick up after their pets.

Miller reportedly "uprooted it and placed it on the dog owner’s patio."

As if that weren’t enough, the angry woman topped it all off by allegedly placing several small, green plastic bags of dog poo "on various places on the patio," reports the Naperville Sun.
 

Salmonella not just for humans; 2 tigers in India critically ill

Posted on by
Reply

DH News Service: reports that an 11-year-old white tiger Arya and four-year-old Minchu have shown no improvement after suffering from severe bout of diarrhea following salmonella infection after eating meat.

This has forced veterinary doctors to change the course of antibiotics on Friday. Since the time they fell ill, both the tigers have not eaten anything.

M N Jayakumar, IFS officer and Member-Secretary of Zoo Authority of Karnataka, said eight tigers were unwell. But 41 tigers, which are in the safari area have no health problems. There are 22 lions and none have health complications although they were fed with chicken supplied by a particular contractor for Shivajinagar.

On the affected tigers, he said, E. coli and Salmonella bacteria present in chicken were the culprits.

The blood samples of nine tigers sent by BBP to the Institute of Animal Health and Veterinarian Biologicals (IVHVB) on Thursday reported salmonella bacteria for few samples, few samples had E. coli and in the rest had both bacteria in them.

Restaurant inspection grades in NY; C becomes A, B is Best

Posted on by
Reply

Grub Street New York reports that Le Bernardin has scored an A after reinspection, but can’t figure out what the original C was for because, “the Health Department’s fancy new inspection-results site is constantly, constantly down. Every other time we’ve tried to access it in the past month, we’ve gotten a “taking too long to respond” page.

Meanwhile, “midtown sandwich joint Cer Te is rolling with the B it got from the Health Department — they’re the ‘BEST’" (photo from Metropolis/WSJ).

Salmonella in sprouts sickens 73, separate salmonella in duck eggs sicken 63; UK bureaucrats blame consumers

Posted on by
1

The U.K. Food Standards Agency had a busy day reminding consumers they are the critical control point when it comes to food safety and everything would be fine as long as they cooked things.

Just cook it don’t cut it.

“The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has today reminded people of the importance of good hygiene practice when handling and cooking raw bean sprouts.”

“The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has today reminded consumers and caterers of the importance of good hygiene practice when cooking with and consuming duck eggs.”

There’s some innovation going on in crafting those food safety messages.

The real news is later.

An investigation into an outbreak of salmonella by the Health Protection Agency and Health Protection Scotland has identified possible links to raw bean sprouts. There have been 58 cases reported in England since the start of August and 15 cases in Scotland.

An investigation by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) into an outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium DT8 indicates that from 1 January 2010 to date, 63 cases of Salmonella Typhimurium DT8 infection have been reported in the UK. Two cases are known to have resulted in people being hospitalised and one death has been reported (although at present it is uncertain whether the death is directly related to the Salmonella infection). Evidence from investigations carried out by the HPA and FSA supports a link between the consumption of duck eggs and this outbreak.

How do British taxpayers feel funding a government agency that seems to spend most of its communications efforts telling taxpayers to do more in a piping-hot-sorta manner?

Consumers have a role; so do the producers, processors and distributors not mentioned in these taxpayer-funded reminders.
 

Food stored under sewage line; Sweat Pea closed in Colorado

Posted on by
1

It’s difficult to imagine a place called Sweet Pea Market and Café in corn-fed Colorado needing to fight the man. Serving up local produce, fighting health inspectors, it’s a powerful narrative, until folks discover food was stored beneath an unshielded sewer line in a basement walk-in cooler — installed without a permit.

Steamboat Today reports the decision by county officials Tuesday to close Sweet Pea Market and Cafe, the first license revocation of its kind in Routt County in at least 30 years, involved issues that go beyond the popular downtown eatery’s seating capacity and restrooms.

Tuesday’s Board of Health hearing was required by state law after the Routt County Department of Environmental Health assessed three fines of $1,000 each — July 28, Aug. 6 and Aug. 20 — to Sweet Pea owners Jonathon Hieb and Katherine Zambrana. The owners paid all three fines.

The violation that led to the inspections, fines and hearing involved Sweet Pea’s operation during the summer with far more seating capacity than its one restroom allowed, according to state health regulations.

The violations involve food stored in the walk-in cooler and Sweet Pea’s basement walk-in freezer, which also was installed without a permit and walled with noncompliant, absorbent materials including plywood and foam core.

County senior environmental health specialist Heather Savalox said she discovered the cooler and freezer in an inspection Sept. 2 after an anonymous complaint.

“I’ve never seen anybody else store food under a sewer line,” Savalox said about Sweet Pea’s basement. “In 15 years, I’ve never seen that.”

Mike Zopf, director of the county’s environmental health department has directed Routt County’s environmental health department for 31 years. He told commissioners Tuesday that “we have never before recommended that a retail food license be suspended or revoked until" Tuesday.

Rex Brice is vice president of the Steamboat Springs chapter of the Colorado Restaurant Association. He owns four local restaurants: Rex’s American Grill & Bar, Mazzola’s Majestic Italian Diner, Big House Burgers & Bottle Cap Bar, and Lil’ House Country Biscuits & Coffee.

“I feel bad for Sweet Pea, but I’ve always been given the information I’ve needed to make those decisions and I’ve always been held accountable for the regulations,” Brice said. “I guess if you’re going to hold one person accountable, you’ve got to hold everybody accountable.”

In explaining her support for the Sweet Pea license revocation, Commissioner Diane Mitsch Bush said the potential impacts of public health risks can be disastrous.

She recalled a local incident of salmonella in 2002 at the former Seasons at the Pond restaurant.

The outbreak occurred Dec. 16, 2002, likely from fruit salad. Fifty-one cases of salmonella were reported in the weeks that followed. Those contaminated ranged from 4 to 72 years old, and 96 percent were Routt County residents.

Hieb said Sweet Pea had about 15 people on staff at the time of the revocation.

He said the community showed “unbelievable” support for Sweet Pea on Tuesday night when the market had a sale on inventory up to its closure at midnight Wednesday.

“Thank God for our community,” Hieb continued. “We’re going to do everything in our power to open up in two months.”