Health department says Bonicki’s outbreak could have resulted from improper food storage

Posted on April 12, 2014 by Douglas Powell

The Michigan Department of Community Health reports that an outbreak of foodborne illness at Bonicki’s Sports Bistro, could have resulted from improper food storage.

In a news release Friday morning, April 11, the health department officials said the investigation at Bonicki’s at 1891 East Apple Ave. turned up the presence of Clostridium perfringens, a common bacteria that can cause foodborne illness.

The bacteria is found throughout nature but “typically causes illness when foods are served after improper storage or held at inadequate storage temperatures,” according to the health department.

Bonicki’s General Manager Karen Mead responded to the news with a prepared statement.

“We, the Bonicki’s family, apologize for the recent event,” she said. “We would like to thank the community, our loyal customers and the Muskegon County health department.”

On Friday, Ken Kraus, health officer at Public Health-Muskegon County, called the incident a teachable moment for others in the food service industry.

“We are relieved to know the cause and are working with the restaurant to improve their food storage practices,” he said in a news release. “While it may take a bit more effort, following proper food cooling and storage procedures is an important part in preventing foodborne illness.”

Foodborne toxin could trigger MS, studies suggest

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Douglas Powell

Researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York have, according to JoNel Aleccia of NBC News, discovered that a toxin made by the bacterium Clostridium perfringens — responsible for a million cases of food poisoning in the U.S. each year — appears to attack the cells associated with MS.

“What we’ve shown is the toxins target the cells that are targeted in MS,” said Jennifer Linden, a Weill Cornell researcher who’s presenting findings Tuesday at a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.

Her research also showed that about 13 percent of a small sample of food products harbored C. perfringens bacteria, and nearly 3 percent were positive for the toxin linked to MS.

It’s too early to suggest that MS is caused by food poisoning, but it does raise the possibility that the C. perfringens bacteria could be involved in activating the disease, said Bruce F. Bebo, associate vice president of discovery research for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

New food safety infosheet: Nearly 60 ill with Clostridium perfringens at outdoor school in Oregon

Posted on October 28, 2013 by Ben Chapman

Food Safety Infosheet Highlights:

– Multnomah County, Oregon, health officials, 60 students developed stomach pains, vomiting, and diarrhea after eating beef stroganoff.
– C. perfringens spores often survive cooking but are not a problem until the food is held at an improper temperature.
– These spores can germinate into cells which then can multiply to food poisoning levels if food is held between 41°F and 135°F for more than four hours.Foodsafetyinfosheet-10-28-15
– Use a tip sensitive digital thermometer to measure temperature and monitor throughout service and cooling.

Click here to download.

30 sick; Christmas Day diner dies from C perfringens in UK

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Douglas Powell

A woman has died and 30 people have fallen ill following a Christmas Day lunch at an east London pub.

BBC News reports Della Callagher died two days after eating at the Railway Hotel in Hornchurch.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) began an inquiry after the Clostridium perfringens bacterium was found in samples from the affected diners.

Mrs Callagher’s husband John said he took her to hospital on Boxing Day but is angry doctors told her to go home.

He said she got worse the next day and was taken to hospital where she died.

“If she was rolling around on the floor they would have admitted her – but because she was dignified she wasn’t,” he said.

The couple, who live in Hornchurch, have a 14-year-old daughter and Mrs Callagher’s funeral takes place on Saturday.

Dr Mike Gill, medical director for Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, said the patient was given appropriate treatment and advice.

“The trust followed accepted medical practice,” he said. “We will be fully reviewing the case.

A spokeswoman for The Railway Hotel, which remains open, offered condolences to the family.

She added: “We are fully co-operating with the environmental health and Health Protection Agency teams while they conduct a thorough investigation.

“However until this investigation is complete we can’t speculate about the possible cause or source.”

A Havering Council spokesman said: “Our initial findings indicate that this seems to be a serious but isolated incident.

East London pub holiday dinner linked to deadly Clostridium perfringens outbreak

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Ben Chapman

The holiday season seems to bring out the worst food safety outcomes in food businesses and in homes. Sometimes the illnesses are linked to big family or community dinners prepared by folks who aren’t used to cooking for crowds. Other times, outbreaks are linked to restaurant staff that take time-saving shortcuts by cooking lots of food ahead and not handling it well before service.

Looks like the latter has happened in the UK and tragically has resulted in a death. According to BBC News, a mother of a 14-year-girl and at least 30 people became ill from a Christmas Day meal served at the Railway Hotel. Investigators subsequently recovered Clostridium perfringens from stool samples.

[Della] Callagher’s husband John said he took her to hospital on Boxing Day but is angry doctors told her to go home.
“We went to hospital and she had an injection then they told her to go home and lay down,” he told BBC London.

“There was no blood test.”
He said she got worse the next day and was taken to hospital where she died.

“If she was rolling around on the floor they would have admitted her – but because she was dignified she wasn’t,” he said. “We have been working with environmental health officers at Havering Council to identify the cause of illness and any links to food eaten at the venue.

A spokeswoman for The Railway Hotel, which remains open, offered condolences to the family. She added: “We are fully co-operating with the environmental health and Health Protection Agency teams while they conduct a thorough investigation.

“However until this investigation is complete we can’t speculate about the possible cause or source.”

Clostridium perfringens spores often survive cooking but are not a problem until the food is held at an improper temperature. Precooked not reheated to 165°F and hot-held above 135°F ~~increases~~ decreases the chance that any vegetative cells still present will survive and wont allow any remaining spores to germinate and outgrow to form more cells.

3 dead, 51 sick; Clostridium perfringens illness at a state psychiatric hospital — Louisiana, 2010

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Douglas Powell

On May 7, 2010, 42 residents and 12 staff members at a Louisiana state psychiatric hospital experienced vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea. Within 24 hours, three patients had died. The three fatalities occurred among patients aged 41–61 years who were receiving medications that had anti–intestinal motility side effects. For two of three decedents, the cause of death found on postmortem examination was necrotizing colitis. Investigation by the Louisiana Office of Public Health (OPH) and CDC found that eating chicken served at dinner on May 6 was associated with illness. The chicken was cooked approximately 24 hours before serving and not cooled in accordance with hospital guidelines. C. perfringens enterotoxin (CPE) was detected in 20 of 23 stool specimens from ill residents and staff members. Genetic testing of C. perfringens toxins isolated from chicken and stool specimens was carried out to determine which of the two strains responsible for C. perfringens foodborne illness was present. The specimens tested negative for the beta-toxin gene, excluding C. perfringens type C as the etiologic agent and implicating C. perfringens type A. This outbreak underscores the need for strict food preparation guidelines at psychiatric inpatient facilities and the potential risk for adverse outcomes among any patients with impaired intestinal motility caused by medications, disease, and extremes of age when exposed to C. perfringens enterotoxin.

Clostridium perfringens, the third most common cause of foodborne illness in the U.S., most often causes a self-limited, diarrheal disease lasting 12–24 hours. Fatalities are very rare, occurring in <0.03% of cases. Death usually is caused by dehydration and occurs among the very young, the very old, and persons debilitated by illness.

The full report is available from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6132a1.htm?s_cid=mm6132a1_x.

209 sick from church dinner; C. perfringens in roast beef and gravy; improper holding temps to blame

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Douglas Powell

There’s been a rash of Clostridium perfringens foodborne outbreaks in the past few months. A catered function in Las Vegas, catered tacos at a high school basketball game in South Dakota, even health officials were sickened by a catered meal in Colorado.

A recent study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that foodborne illness outbreaks resulting from Clostridium perfringens were often large and caused substantial morbidity from 1998 to 2008.

According to the researchers, C perfringens is estimated to be the third most common cause of foodborne illness in the United States, causing 1 million illnesses each year.

So it’s not surprising that C. perfringens was found in the roast beef and gravy that was served at a church dinner in Prince Edward Island two weeks ago, sickening at least 209.

The Chief Public Health Office continues to investigate the outbreak of food-borne illness related to the roast beef dinner prepared by volunteers of the Princetown United Church on Saturday, April 28.

Those preparing meals for church suppers or sale of food at any public event are reminded of the importance of reviewing and adhering to proper food preparation, handling and temperature control requirements.

C. perfringens outbreaks are often the result of improperly cooled food or food held at room temperature for extended periods. That was certainly on my mind as I took the remnants of Sunday’s pork leg roast and turned it into pulled pork with beans and bread, all made from scratch, for dinner Tuesday night. I ensured the temperature didn’t drop below 140F by monitoring hourly with a tip-sensitive digital thermometer, and refrigerated leftovers as soon as dinner was dine.

I also avoid potlucks.

Even health types get the blues (and barf); 30 sickened with C. perfringens, caterer closed

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Douglas Powell

When catering a meal for health professionals, it may be important to get food safety basics right.

The Pueblo City-County Health Department in Colorado has temporarily closed All Seasons Catering, citing a variety of violations found after more than 30 people were sickened by food the company served at a luncheon last week.

The health department found evidence of Clostridium perfringens toxin in a beef-and-gravy dish, butter, tomatoes and lettuce the caterer served during last Tuesday’s Pueblo Community Health Center annual meeting and luncheon.

An inspection following the barfing found:

• Critical Lack of demonstration of knowledge by PIC. Kitchen manager admitted to not taking final cook temperatures, and holding temperatures of all food, did not know cooking temperature of poultry should be 165 degrees.

• Critical Employees not handwashing when required. Observed employees changing tasks, changing gloves, handling ready to eat foods without washing hands

• Critical Observed employee "trying" to check temperature of pasta with bare hands, not using a thermometer.

• Critical Improper cooling time/temperature specified time parameters not met. three pans of cooked vegetables made 4/25/12, holding in walk-in refrigerator at 67-72 degrees, did not meet proper cooling parameters.

Clostridium perfringens in tacos fingered as source that sickened 50 at South Dakota basketball game

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Douglas Powell

Laboratory testing by the South Dakota Department of Health has identified Clostridium perfringens as the cause of the outbreak associated with the Pierre-Mitchell high school boys’ basketball game held in Pierre, Jan. 31.

KSFY ABC reports the investigation, which included voluntary questionnaires, implicated tacos as the source food of the outbreak; of those completing questionnaires, 75 per cent who ate the tacos reported becoming ill.

The outbreak follows a similar C. perfringens outbreak in Las Vegas before Christmas in which ham was held at improper temperatures and inadequately reheated, sickening at least 21 people. As noted in the Las Vegas outbreak, the majority of C. perfringens outbreaks are often the results of improperly cooled food or food held at room temperature for extended periods.

Clostridium in holiday meal sickens 34 in Thunder Bay

Posted on January 5, 2011 by Douglas Powell

The Slovak Legion in Thunder Bay, Ontario (that’s in Canada, and it’s cold) hosted a Christmas meal on Dec. 14, 2010; at least 34 diners ended up barfing.

Clostridium prefringens (that’s perfringens – dp) has been identified as the bacteria that caused the illnesses. It was found in the cooked turkey sample and stool samples that were submitted for testing.

The Thunder Bay District Health Unit notes almost all food-related outbreaks of C. perfringens are associated with inadequately cooled or reheated meals such as turkey dinners. Outbreaks are usually traced to large-scale food premises.

To prevent food-related illness:
• Educate food handlers on correct food safety practices
• Serve meat dishes hot, or as soon as they are cooked
• Do not partially cook meat and poultry one day and reheat the next
• Divide large amounts of food into smaller containers to allow rapid cooling

Try out our holiday meal food safety infosheet at foodsafetyinfosheet.com.

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