We quantified and examined trends in reptile-associated salmonellosis in the Netherlands during a 30-year period, from 1985 to 2014. Using source attribution analysis, we estimated that 2% (95% confidence interval: 1.3–2.8) of all sporadic/domestic human salmonellosis cases reported in the Netherlands during the study period (n = 63,718) originated from reptiles.
The estimated annual fraction of reptile-associated salmonellosis cases ranged from a minimum of 0.3% (corresponding to 11 cases) in 1988 to a maximum of 9.3% (93 cases) in 2013. There was a significant increasing trend in reptile-associated salmonellosis cases (+ 19% annually) and a shift towards adulthood in the age groups at highest risk, while the proportion of reptile-associated salmonellosis cases among those up to four years-old decreased by 4% annually and the proportion of cases aged 45 to 74 years increased by 20% annually.
We hypothesise that these findings may be the effect of the increased number and variety of reptiles that are kept as pets, calling for further attention to the issue of safe reptile–human interaction and for reinforced hygiene recommendations for reptile owners.
Increase in reptile-associated human Salmonellosis and shift toward adulthood in the age groups at risk, The Netherlands, 1985 to 2014
Eurosurveillance, Volume 21, Issue 34, 25 August 2016, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2016.21.34.30324
While Unilever told just-food.com that Telma cereal products “production and marketing continue as usual” despite controls from Israel’s Ministry of Health (MOH), Adi Dovrat-Meseritz of Haaretz reports that Olga Raz, a well-known dietician who has told consumers not to be overly concerned about the salmonella bacteria in their food, has also served as a paid spokeswoman for Unilever Israel, whose breakfast cereals sparked the scare.
Raz, a dietitian at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov Hospital and a senior lecturer in Ariel University’s nutrition department who has had popular radio programs, made two public appearances as a paid spokeswoman for Unilever and its Telma cereals in the last two years.
In an interview this week to the ultra-Orthodox newspaper Yated Neeman, she said, “There’s no need to panic … bacteria have always been there and always will be. … It’s true mistakes happen but big food plants are reporting and inspecting all the time. The real problem is restaurants, delicatessens and cafes, which are unsupervised and don’t test.”
Ariel University sent out a backgrounder to the media a week ago, citing Raz as an authority and a member of the faculty, without mentioning her Unilever connection.
In the Ariel backgrounder Raz also discounted the salmonella problem
In an interview with TheMarker, Raz said her relationship with Unilever, which goes back several years, doesn’t disqualify her to speak on salmonella or other issues affecting the company.
“I didn’t think about it then and even now I still don’t think it’s a problem. I only say things that are accepted by professionals in the matter of salmonella.”
No.
Professionals in the matter of salmonella would say finding it in cereal is a big problem.
Raz, stick to dietary con-games and industry flackery.
Julia Medew of The Age reports that health officials are investigating an outbreak of a rare and potentially serious infectious disease among meat workers in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
People working in and around Vic Wide Meat Brokers and W J Drever in Laverton North are being tested for Q fever after six employees of the two meat businesses fell ill with it.
Other staff working at the site and at similar businesses nearby are now being contacted to ensure they are vaccinated against the disease which usually produces flu-like symptoms and can cause pneumonia and liver inflammation. While only half of all people infected with it get symptoms, it is fatal for one to two per cent of those people.
The Victorian department of health is now writing to contractors who may have visited the site since late last year to provide them with advice about signs and symptoms. The businesses are located at 9 Holcourt Road in Laverton North.
“Both the Department and WorkSafe officials have visited and inspected the premises to check on the vaccination status of other staff, and arrange testing and vaccinations, as required,” said Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Professor Charles Guest. “At this stage there is no broader public health issue as our investigation shows all exposures have been confined to the site and have occurred in the workplace.”
Those bureaucrats at UK’s Food Standards Agency are really yukking it up, focused on stupid jokes rather than evidence-based communications.
FSA has long been in its own undersirable class when talking about food safety risks, and class is so very important to the Brits.
FSA is great is talking at people rather than talking with people (a huge difference, like educating versus providing information).
FSA’s idea of risk communication is to commission a meaningless survey – people lie, especially about food and drink – which found that despite 71% of people stating that they are concerned about food poisoning, over a third (36%) of Brits would eat a burger that isn’t fully cooked through. More than one in 10 said that they actually prefer burgers cooked this way. When cooking them at home 81% of those admit to undercooking them. So we at the FSA are encouraging all those who are getting their barbecues out this weekend to ensure they cook their burgers all the way through – until steaming hot throughout, there’s no pink meat in the middle and the juices run clear.
Those scientifically meanginless terms – steaming hot, no pink – have featured prominently in FSA foodsafetytalk for years, with steaming hot replacing piping hot.
Lead FSA policy thingy said something that is not worth repeating because it ignores the risks associated with needle-tenderized steaks.
Frozen berries from Egypt, frozen scallops from the Philippines, raw sewage in Detroit, one never really knows when they are going to injest human shit.
The City of Detroit is offering preventative vaccinations after two people were diagnosed with Hepatitis A.
One of my daughters got married on the weekend. I have two grandsons. The Tragically Hip may never play live again (it’s a Canadian thing, but 1-in-3 Canadians watched the concert Saturday night from Kingston).
We had a top-10 list of conclusions to be applied in whatever risky business might come along:
a risk information vacuum is a primary factor in the social amplification of risk;
regulators are responsible for effective risk communication;
industry is responsible for effective risk communication;
if you are responsible for communicating about risks, do it early and often;
there is always more to a risk issue than what science says;
always put the science in a policy context;
educating the public about science is no substitute for good risk communication practice;
banish no risk messages;
risk messages should address directly the contest of opinion in society; and,
communicating well has spinoff benefits for good risk management.
I watch these microbial food safety risk shitfests, document them in barfblog.com, and sigh-a-sigh worthy of someone who didn’t just fall off the turnip truck.
At the time, I applauded Jeni’s CEO John Lowe for the proactive steps they announced after finding Listeria in their ice cream, but also wondered why they weren’t looking before?
Lowe also said, “Finally, let me reiterate: we will not make or serve ice cream again until we can ensure it is 100% safe. Until we know more about reopening, we are going to continue to keep our heads down and to work hard to get this issue resolved. But know this: you’ll be hearing from us soon.”
Sounds like some cookie-cutter MBA approach to crisis.
“Two of 75 samples were found to have listeria by the FDA’s lab. Those two samples came from:
* The floor adjacent to the prep room, nine feet from a prep table where the base for Intelligentsia Black Cat Espresso was being processed and packaged.
* The floor of the wash room by a drain, two feet from a sink used to wash, rinse and sanitize equipment parts, utensils and containers used in production.”
Jeni’s said it took immediate corrective actions and prevented any spread to food contact surfaces or areas around food contact surfaces. It also noted that it has taken more than 2,000 environmental swabs in the past year and listeria has never been detected on food contact surfaces or around food contact surfaces and that its “test-and-hold” procedures, which have been in place for a year, have not turned up a single positive test for listeria.
Dan Eaton of Columbus Business First quotes founder Jeni Britton Bauer, CEO John Lowe and Quality Leader Mary Kamm as jointly writing in a Wednesday blog post, “As a result of our sanitation and other food safety procedures, our environmental testing program and our test-and-hold procedures, we can assure everyone that the food we produce is absolutely 100 percent safe.”
Berries are a staple of my diet; I go through about 2 lbs a week of raspberries, blackberries and strawberries. When the fresh berries are too expensive (or don’t look good) I substitute with frozen ones.
Frozen food is sometimes ready-to-eat. Sometimes not. Frozen berries likely haven’t been heat treated before the get to me and were almost certainly harvested by hand.
So I cook them before eating after the multiple noro and hep A outbreaks in the past few years. Even ones that go into smoothies.
According CBS6, hepatitis A cases linked to Egyptian strawberries served at Tropical Smoothie Cafes in Virginia have climbed to over 20.
There have been 23 confirmed cases of hepatitis A linked to frozen strawberries used at Tropical Smoothie Cafes across Virginia.
This includes four cases in Central Virginia.
There are seven is Northern Virginia, four in Northwest Virginia, and eight in the eastern region on the state.
The CEO of Tropical Smoothie Café said the strawberries in question were voluntarily removed from all stores when they learned of a possible link.
The VDH said they want anyone who consumed a smoothie with frozen strawberries at a restaurant within the last 50 days to watch out for symptoms of hepatitis A.
If I ran a kitchen, hepatitis A would scare me the most. I could have hired a superstar employee, the world’s best handwasher, and still end up with lines outside my operation as folks get post-exposure shots.
I’d try to figure out a way to get everyone who worked for me vaccinated. And according to Murphy et al at CDC, vaccines really matter. Following an increase in vaccination recommendations and offerings in the U.S. rates of the illness declined ‘96.6% from 1996 to 2011 (from 11.7 to 0.4 cases per 100,000 population), and the number of reported cases decreased from 31,032 to 1,398, respectively.’
In the ongoing saga of hep A in Hawaii, where over 206 are ill following the consumption of contaminated raw scallops, the potential for secondary cases is emerging as food handlers in different settings are part of the case group. According to KRON4, a food handler in a school cafeteria has the virus.
The Hawaii Department of Health is investigating a case of hepatitis A involving a school cafeteria worker.
The patient worked at Kipapa Elementary School in Mililani and was in the cafeteria kitchen between Aug. 3-16.
The Department of Education says it’s complying with the investigation and the school will be preparing its meals off-site for the time being.
The principal sent home a letter to notify parents.
DOH officials say all students should have received a hepatitis A vaccine as part of routinely recommended childhood vaccinations.
Children who have not been previously vaccinated — a few dozen students — should be seen by their pediatrician.
Also on the list of secondary infection sources is a Hawaiian Airlines flight attendant who, according to the Hawaii Tribune Herald, is also part of the outbreak cluster.
The state Department of Health on Tuesday afternoon issued a precaution to passengers who were on the following Hawaiian Airlines flights:
• July 31 — Flight HA22 from Honolulu to Seattle.
• Aug. 1 — Flight HA21 from Seattle to Honolulu.
• Aug. 10 — Flight HA18 from Honolulu to Las Vegas.
• Aug. 12 — Flight HA17 from Las Vegas to Honolulu.
The flight attendant served in-flight food and beverages during each of the flights.
The DOH noted in a press release that risk of transmission from the Hawaiian Airlines flights is “extremely low.”
In the never-ending quest for excellent television, earlier this year I found Letterkenny, a six-episode show about a fictional Southern Ontario town with hockey players, hicks and skids.
The half-day workshop will feature experts from food safety, allergy and food hygiene and will provide practical advice on good food safety practices to help food businesses avoid a product recall.
Dr Gary Kearney, Director of Food Science, safefood, commented “Promoting food safety requires a multi-disciplinary approach backed by consumer research, professional partnerships, knowledge networks and information exchange. This half-day workshop is all about sharing experience and knowledge to help food businesses meet new challenges as they arise and maintain consumers’ confidence in the food they eat. I would encourage all interested food business owners to attend as we’ll have plenty of practical advice for them on topics ranging from the economic implications of a product recall to controlling bacterial contamination and how to manage food allergens.”
Food Safety Talk, a bi-weekly podcast for food safety nerds, by food safety nerds. The podcast is hosted by Ben Chapman and barfblog contributor Don Schaffner, Extension Specialist in Food Science and Professor at Rutgers University. Every two weeks or so, Ben and Don get together virtually and talk for about an hour.
They talk about what’s on their minds or in the news regarding food safety, and popular culture. They strive to be relevant, funny and informative — sometimes they succeed. You can download the audio recordings right from the website, or subscribe using iTunes.
We quantified and examined trends in reptile-associated salmonellosis in the Netherlands during a 30-year period, from 1985 to 2014. Using source attribution analysis, we estimated that 2% (95% confidence interval: 1.3–2.8) of all sporadic/domestic human salmonellosis cases reported in the Netherlands during the study period (n = 63,718) originated from reptiles.
