Foodborne illness outbreaks from microbial contaminants in spices, 1973-2010

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Douglas Powell

Spices are something people, food service and even manufacturers may pooh-pooh when considering the risks of microbial contamination. Black pepper, white pepper, red pepper, rainbow pepper, curry, anise, fennel, turmeric, broccoli powder and mixtures. Don’t get me started on herbs. Van Doren et al. review spice related outbreaks in Food Microbiology; abstract below:

This review identified fourteen reported illness outbreaks attributed to consumption of pathogen-contaminated spice during the period 1973-2010. Countries reporting outbreaks included Canada, Denmark, England and Wales, France, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Serbia, and the United States. Together, these outbreaks resulted in 1,946 reported human illnesses, 128 hospitalizations and two deaths. Infants/children were the primary population segments impacted by 36% (5/14) of spice-attributed outbreaks. Four outbreaks were associated with multiple organisms. Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica was identified as the causative agent in 71% (10/14) of outbreaks, accounting for 87% of reported illnesses.Bacillus spp. was identified as the causative agent in 29% (4/10) of outbreaks, accounting for 13% of illnesses. 71% (10/14) of outbreaks were associated with spices classified as fruits or seeds of the source plant. Consumption of ready-to-eat foods prepared with spices applied after the final food manufacturing pathogen reduction step accounted for 70% of illnesses. Pathogen growth in spiced food is suspected to have played a role in some outbreaks, but it was not likely a contributing factor in three of the largerSalmonella outbreaks, which involved low-moisture foods. Root causes of spice contamination included contributions from both early and late stages of the farm-to-table continuum.

Food MicrobiologyJane M. Van Doren, Karen P. Neil, Mickey Parish, Laura
Gieraltowski, L. Gould hannah, Kathy L. Gombas.

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&u=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S074000201300083X

Salmonella in pepper triggers Australian Truly Gifted Spice Rack recall

Posted on December 10, 2012 by Douglas Powell

The NSW Food Authority advises:

Big W has recalled a batch of Truly Gifted Spice Rack sold in Big W stores in NSW, ACT, VIC and TAS.

The product is being recalled due to contamination with Salmonella bacteria in the peppercorns. Salmonella can cause food poisoning and symptoms can include headache, fever, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, vomiting and nausea.

The recalled product is:

Truly Gifted Spice Rack 12 bottle spice set 375 grams with a ‘best before’ date of 30/11/2013

The recall only applies to the above product.

Consumers should not consume this product. Any consumers concerned about their health should seek medical advice.

To obtain a refund, consumers should return the product to their nearest Big W store.

For more information telephone: Big W on 1300 244 999

Abuso de temperature fue uno de los factores causantes del brote de Salmonella del 2008

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Douglas Powell

Traducido por Gonzalo Erdozain

Resumen del folleto informativo mas reciente:

– El brote de Salmonella que enfermó a 1,500 personas en el 2008 fue causado por pimientos
– Platos con tomates y pimientos dejados a temperatura ambiente pueden haber empeorado el brote
– Refrigere platos con tomates a temperaturas iguales o menores a 41°F

Los folletos informativos son creados semanalmente y puestos en restaurantes, tiendas y granjas, y son usados para entrenar y educar a través del mundo.

Si usted quiere proponer un tema o mandar fotos para los folletos, contacte a Ben Chapman a benjamin_chapman@ncsu.edu.
Puede seguir las historias de los folletos informativos y barfblog en twitter
@benjaminchapman y @barfblog.

Final salmonella-in-pepper-on-salami report; loyalty cards helped with traceback

Posted on December 23, 2010 by Douglas Powell

From July 2009 until April 2010, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control identified 272 cases of Salmonella Montevideo in people from 44 states and the District of Columbia.

The outbreak strain was identified in salami products, one company A facility environmental sample, and sealed containers of black and red pepper used to produce company A salami products.

This outbreak highlights the importance of preventing post-processing contamination of ready-to-eat products from raw ingredients such as spices.

This nationwide outbreak of Salmonella Montevideo infections was associated with salami products containing contaminated imported black and red pepper. This outbreak highlights the importance of preventing product contamination between its production and its use and the potential for spices, such as pepper, to contaminate ready-to-eat products.

Eight spice-associated Salmonella outbreaks occurred during 1973–2009, accounting for 1,656 human illnesses. In September 2008, an outbreak of Salmonella Rissen infections was associated with ground white pepper. An increasing number of dried spice recalls have occurred over the past several years, with only two during the 1990s and 16 during 2000—2004.

Membership cards helped provide important brand-specific information in this investigation. During hypothesis generation, it was learned that many patients reported shopping at different locations of a national warehouse chain. This prompted WADOH to collect data on items purchased by patients based on membership card records. Information gathered from these cards, with patient permission, helped determine the brand name and purchase dates of implicated products. Based on this information, USDA-FSIS traced back lots of ingredients, which helped FDA identify lots of black and red pepper used to produce the contaminated salami products. As this investigation demonstrates, membership and shopper cards can provide critical information to quickly identify potentially contaminated foods and should be considered for use in future foodborne disease outbreak investigations.

The complete report is available at:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5950a3.htm?s_cid=mm5950a3_x

Daniele salami was supposed to be recalled but Evan found some at retail in Minnesota

Posted on February 18, 2010 by Douglas Powell

Evan Henke, a MS student at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health writes the recent expanded recall of over 1.25 million pounds of salami products produced by Rhode Island-based Daniele Inc. was long overdue.

Five days after Daniele’s initial recall of all black-pepper coated salami products on January 23/10, tests by the Rhode Island Department of Health found the outbreak strain of Salmonella Montevideo in an open container of black pepper used to coat salami products. On Jan. 29/10, I found a 3oz. package of the shredded product on store shelves in Minneapolis. Daniele had not listed this product on their initial recall list. For some reason, Daniele Inc. had decided that this product was still safe to sell to adults and children even after every other black-pepper coated product was recalled and a test of the company’s black pepper returned positive for Salmonella.

As a student of food safety, I purchased the product on Jan. 29th and called Daniele headquarters on Feb 2nd to ask why the product was still on the shelves. A spokeswoman assured me the product was not part of the recall, was not a concern of the company, and was safe to eat, all the while completely understanding my confusion.

Like any good citizen, I proceeded to hand the products over to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture the next day for microbial testing. I was told by an enthusiastic employee that the information on the product would be sent to the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) for further investigation.

Two days after contacting Daniele Inc. directly and less than 24 hours after handing the product over to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and FSIS, Daniele Inc. announced that all 3oz. packages of the product were to be added to the recall on Feb. 4th, 12 days after their they decided the product was safe enough to continue to sell and 7 days after a container of black pepper in the factory where the product was produced tested positive for the outbreak strain of Salmonella.

I would like to give the benefit of the doubt to food producers who initiate voluntary recalls after their products have been associated with outbreaks of food borne disease. Unfortunately, neither Daniele Inc. nor FSIS was interested in a thorough investigation of the completeness of the recall. Daniele Inc. either willingly chose to leave 3oz packages of a product reasonably suspected to be contaminated in commerce or was utterly incapable of completely reviewing their production systems and identifying all products that may cause harm to their consumers I hope it is only anecdotal that these small 3oz. packages not only contained very little salami (and thus a minute amount of black pepper that could have caused disease), but also has an extremely high profit margin.

Maybe this lackluster corporate response is an exception to standard practice. Under existing food safety infrastructure, a complete and honest industry recall to protect public health is the only way of determining exactly which products a careless food producer distributes and those that are not reasonably safe to eat.

Henke (left, exactly as shown) is an avid fan of foodborne disease epidemiology and food safety, and spends most of his free time angering his friends with his interest in food production and careful scrutiny of food safety practices.

Salmonella blamed as hundreds fall ill after eating Italian sausages

Posted on February 14, 2010 by Douglas Powell

The Washington Post reports in tomorrow’s edition that federal officials say 225 people in 44 states and the District of Columbia are thought to have been sickened by Salmonella in imported black pepper used in the preparation of salami and other types of Italian sausage made by a Rhode Island company.

Daniele International recalled 1.2 million pounds of ready-to-eat salami on Jan. 22, after state health officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention linked the outbreak to the company’s products. Daniele expanded the recall on Feb. 4 to include 23,754 additional pounds of salami products. Of those who fell ill, an estimated 26 percent have been hospitalized, officials said. No deaths have been reported. Victims of the outbreak range in age up to 93 years old, with a median age of 39. More than half, or 53 percent, have been male.

This is the second time in less than a year that an outbreak of Salmonella illness has been linked to pepper. Last March, 42 people fell ill after eating tainted white and black pepper sold by Union International Food of California.

The salami, sopressata and other products were packaged under Daniele as well as the Boar’s Head and Black Bear of the Black Woods brands and were sold by several national chains, including Costco, Walmart and online through Amazon.com.

The outbreak began in July and is ongoing. Because the product has a shelf life of one year, federal health officials are concerned that the products remains tucked away in home freezers and pantry shelves.

Last month, officials at the Rhode Island Department of Health said they thought the contamination was caused by tainted black pepper that was used to coat the salami. Tests showed that the same strain of Salmonella involved in the outbreak was present in two open containers of black pepper at Daniele’s plant in Burrillville, R.I.

State officials said Daniele used two suppliers, Mincing Oversees Spice and Wholesome Spices, which both bought imported black pepper. Samples of pepper from both distributors tested positive for Salmonella, according to state health officials.

"This outbreak only underscores the importance of closely monitoring food that is imported from other countries as they may not have the same food safety standards as we do," David R. Gifford, the state’s director of health, said in a statement.

While the Department of Agriculture regulates salami, the Food and Drug Administration oversees black pepper and other food additives. An FDA spokesman said the agency does not know where the pepper originated and that its joint investigation with USDA continues.

Daniele, which has suspended salami production, said in a statement it has changed its spice suppliers and will now use only irradiated pepper, which undergoes a process designed to kill bacteria.

A list of the recalled products can be found at www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/Recall_006_2010_Release/index.asp

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