Imported Foods is causing illness and outbreaks like salmonella or E. coli
Filed under: Dangerous Foods, e-coli, Is it Safe?, Listeria, Listeriosis, Salmonella, Tips on Food Safety
Outbreaks of illness linked to imported food have risen since the late 1990s, casting a spotlight on federal inspection standards for fish, produce and other foods brought in from abroad.
The 39 outbreaks from imported food reported between 2005 and 2010 represent a small fraction of total cases of food-borne illnesses such as salmonella or E. coli, according to the data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention presented Wednesday. But the rise in imported-food outbreaks—mostly from fish and spices—highlights gaps in the food-safety system that a sweeping new law is intended to address.
CDC researchers found 6.5 outbreaks from foreign foods a year, on average, between 2005 and 2010—more than double the average of 2.7 outbreaks annually between 1998 and 2004.
Of the 39 outbreaks between 2005 and 2010, nearly half—17—occurred in 2009 and 2010.
The foods, including fish, oysters, cheese, sprouts and seven other types of products, were shipped from 15 countries. Nearly 45% of those foods originated from Asia. Most people were sickened with salmonella or histamine fish poisoning, a bacterial disease contracted from eating spoiled dark-flesh fish that causes rashes, diarrhea, sweating, headaches and vomiting. The outbreaks led to 2,348 cases of illness, the CDC said.
Click here to read full article on WSJ
Ban on E. Coli in Ground Beef Is to Extend to 6 More Strains
Filed under: Banned Foods, Beef Recalls, Caution with these Foods, e-coli, Product Recalls, Recall, Recalled Foods
The federal government will ban the sale of ground beef tainted with six toxic strains of E. coli bacteria that are increasingly showing up as the cause of severe illness from food. Officials have been under pressure from food safety advocates and some elected officials to do more to keep the potentially deadly bacteria out of meat, but the beef industry said the move was not needed and could force the price of ground beef to rise.
To help the ground beef industry prepare, the rule will begin next March.
Bob Nichols/United States Department of Agriculture, via Associated Press
“We’re doing this to prevent illness and to save lives,” said Dr. Elisabeth Hagen.
The new rule, which officials said would be announced on Tuesday, means that six relatively rare forms of E. coli will be treated the same as their notorious and more common cousin, a strain called E. coli O157:H7. That strain has caused deaths and illnesses and prompted the recall of millions of pounds of ground beef and other products. It was banned from ground beef in 1994 after an outbreak killed four children and sickened hundreds of people.
“We’re doing this to prevent illness and to save lives,” said Dr. Elisabeth Hagen, the head of food safety for the Agriculture Department, which regulates meat. “This is one of the biggest steps forward in the protection of the beef supply in some time.”
It is not illegal to sell fresh meat or poultry containing most toxic bacteria, like salmonella; they are frequently found on groceries’ meat, and thorough cooking typically kills the pathogens. But since the 1994 outbreak, which involved hamburgers served at Jack in the Box restaurants, regulators have treated E. coli in ground beef differently.
Many people eat rare or undercooked ground beef, and if it is tainted, resulting illnesses can be deadly. Toxic E. coli, in its most common O157 form, is so virulent that just a few organisms can make people violently sick. The toxic E. coli live in the digestive tracts of cows and can get on meat during slaughter. It can cause bloody diarrhea, stomach cramps and, in severe cases, kidney failure.
In recent years, scientists found that several other strains of E. coli in food were also making people sick, and they identified the six most potent, called the Big Six non-O57s. Beginning at least four years ago, the U.S.D.A. began considering extending its ban to those additional toxic strains.
But the American Meat Institute, an industry group, has argued that safety measures already in place are sufficient. On Monday, the group was highly critical of the extended ban.
“Imposing this new regulatory program on ground beef will cost tens of millions of federal and industry dollars — costs that likely will be borne by taxpayers and consumers,” the group said in a statement. “It is neither likely to yield a significant public health benefit nor is it good public policy.”
While several outbreaks caused by the Big Six strains have been linked to produce, the group pointed to the fact that only one has been related to ground beef. In that outbreak, last year, three people fell ill.
“It’s just not supported by the science,” James H. Hodges, the institute’s executive vice president, said in an interview.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that E. coli strains other than O157:H7 cause nearly 113,000 illnesses each year, one-third of which can be attributed to tainted beef, according to U.S.D.A. officials. Until recently, few cases were reported, however, because most medical labs were not equipped to test for the less common forms.
The Agriculture Department will begin enforcing the rule in March, to give the meat industry time to prepare. The rule will apply to hamburger meat and trim or beef scraps that go into it, as well as some other products, like steaks that have been tenderized with machines that use needles to poke minute holes in the surface. Some meat processors have begun to test for the six strains in recent months in anticipation of federal action, and many others will most likely begin testing once the government begins its own testing.
Under the rule, raw meat containing the Big Six E. coli cannot be sold to the public. Currently, most packing plants divert meat containing E. coli O157:H7 for use in cooked products, and will most likely do the same with meat containing the new strains, as well. The bacteria is killed by heating the meat to 160 degrees.
While the new rule significantly expands the Agriculture Department’s beef ban, it does not include all forms of toxic E. coli. A highly virulent strain of the bacteria that caused dozens of deaths among people who ate contaminated sprouts in Europe this summer is not one of the Big Six because it has not been detected as a cause of illness in the United States.
Dr. Hagen said the list of banned pathogens might grow. “This is where we started and it doesn’t rule out the possibility that we would consider other pathogens in the future,” she said.
The new rule highlighted the patchwork and often confusing nature of food safety regulation, where most meat is under the jurisdiction of the U.S.D.A. while most other foods, including produce, are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. The F.D.A. already considers it illegal to sell food containing any bacteria, including toxic forms of E. coli or other substances that could make people sick.
Dr. Hagen also said the rule did not conflict with the Obama administration’s push to cut back on regulation that could increase costs for business at a time of economic hardship.
“There’s really no inconsistency between having a strong economy and having a safe food supply,” Dr. Hagen said. The U.S.D.A. estimated that the rule would cost the industry up to $10 million a year for testing and holding meat back from the fresh ground beef market.
“The amount this is going to cost is insignificant compared to the lives that will be saved,” said Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, Democrat of New York, who pushed for the expanded rule.
After the U.S.D.A. banned the O157 form of E. coli from ground beef in 1994, the meat industry sued to block the move, but the agency prevailed in court.
Mr. Hodges, of the meat institute, said the group had yet to see a full version of the rule and would consult with its members before deciding how to respond.
Deadly cucumbers with E.coli can kill you! 5 dead and hundreds sick
Killer Cucumber’ Bug From Spain Hits Britain
A person in Britain has been diagnosed with a lethal strain of E.coli, believed to originate in organic cucumbers.
The bacteria has killed nine people in Germany, with almost 300 people being admitted to hospital. Cases have also been reported in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands.
The outbreak is believed to have originated in organic cucumbers grown in Spain, although there are suggestions that the bacteria has been found in cucumbers grown in the Netherlands.
The advice now to people travelling to Germany is not to eat cucumbers, raw tomatoes or lettuce.
The British Health Protection Authority has confirmed that three German nationals currently in Britain have fallen ill. One of those cases has been confirmed as having the infection which is causing this outbreak.
A spokeswoman for the HPA said the outbreak in Germany was “very, very serious” and although the bug was infectious, there had been no reports of secondary infection yet in the UK.
E.coli bacteria like these are responsible for the outbreak across Europe
Dr Dilys Morgan, head of the gastrointestinal, emerging and zoonotic infections department at the HPA, said: “The HPA is actively monitoring the situation very carefully and liaising with the authorities in Germany, the European Centre for Disease Control and the World Health Organisation as to the cause of the outbreak. E.coli bacteria like these are responsible for the outbreak across Europe.
“We are keeping a close watch for potential cases reported in England and are working with colleagues in the devolved administrations to recommend they do the same.
“In addition we are in the process of alerting health professionals to the situation and advising them to urgently investigate potential cases with a travel history to Germany.”
In Germany concern is growing. The country’s National Disease Control Centre has confirmed 60 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours.
A spokesman for the German consumer affairs minister Ilse Aigner said: “The European Union internal market has very strong safety rules and we expect all EU states to observe them.”
He added that, for the moment, “one can only speculate about the causes” of the outbreak.
It [HUS] contains some very nasty toxins which can go straight to your kidneys and cause kidney failure, and it’s very difficult to treat.
British microbiologist Ron Cutler
In Spain, a spokesman for the AESA food safety agency said investigations were also under way.
“The Andalusian authorities are investigating to find out where the contamination comes from and when it took place,” he said.
“This type of bacteria can contaminate at the origin or during handling of the product.”
There has been no report of contamination within Spain, AESA said.
Those worse hit by the infection contract HUS, a condition which can have severe effects.
British microbiologist Ron Cutler told Sky News: “It contains some very nasty toxins which can go straight to your kidneys and cause kidney failure, and it’s very difficult to treat.
“For those who are treated, around 90% of treatments can be successful, but one in 10 of those people could have damaged kidneys in later life.”
The Food Standards Agency has confirmed that the offending cucumbers have not been on sale at any outlets in the UK.
Cucumbers recalled in nine states
Filed under: e-coli, Product Recalls, Recall, Recalled Foods, Salmonella
A North Carolina vegetable and fruit distributor has recalled cucumbers distributed to nine states, including Illinois and Indiana, after some of the vegetables distributed to Florida were found contaminated with salmonella, according to the company. Only one lot of about 1,600 cartons of cucumbers distributed to wholesalers is affected, with 139 of the cartons distributed in Illinois and 30 distributed in Indiana, according to a news release from L&M Companies, Inc., of Raleigh, N.C., on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Web site. Because the cucumbers were picked on March 29 and FDA guidelines indicate cucumbers are fresh for 10 to 14 days after being harvested, they are already largely past their shelf life, the company said in the relase. Of the 169 cartons of cucumbers distributed in Illinois and Indiana, 50 contained about 50 pounds of cucumbers each and 119 contained 24 cucumbers each, company spokeswoman Lee Anne Oxford said in an email. Of those, 50 of the 50-pound cartons and 89 of the 24-count cartons were distributed in Illinois, and all the cartons distributed in Indiana were 24-count cartons, she said. That works out to a total of about 5,000 pounds of cucumbers. L&M was not disclosing the wholesale distributors of the cucumbers, because they may have sold the produce to various retailers or restaurants. However, “The company has accounted for the entire lot of recalled product and requested that customers who may still have the recalled product in inventory remove it from commerce and destroy it immediately,” L&M said in the news release. FDA inspectors found salmonella on cucumbers in a cooler at Four Seasons Produce of Central Florida, Inc. on April 13, and informed L&M. The company recalled the entire lot of cucumbers harvested in south Florida on March 29; the largest number of cucumbers were distributed in Florida and Mississippi, but other than Illinois and Indiana, the bulk cucumbers also were sold to wholesalers in New York, Tennessee, Nebraska, Wyoming and Texas. Because the cucumbers were distributed to wholesalers, they may have been distributed to other states as well, according to the company. There are no reports of people becoming ill after having eaten the cucumbers, according to the company. Salmonella is a bacteria that can cause serious or even fatal infections in young children, and others with weakened immune systems. Salmonella symptoms include fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. The bulk cartons are marked Nature’s Delight and have lot number PL-RID-002990. Anyone with questions about the recall can call L&M at 919-981-8003, although the hotline is only staffed Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Central Time. Messages left over the weekend will be returned, according to the company.
Fecal Matter on 72% of all grocery cart handles, (and E. coli too!) Yuck
Filed under: e-coli, Germs and Cleaniness Tips, Is it Safe?, Tips on Food Safety
Professor Charles Gerba, the lead researcher, swabbed the handles of 85 carts in four states for bacterial contamination.
Gerba says 72% of the carts had a positive marker for fecal bacteria. When they examined some of the samples, they found Escherichia coli, also known as E. coli, on half of them.
Researchers say they actually found more fecal bacteria on grocery cart handles than you would typically find in a bathroom, mainly because bathrooms are disinfected more often than shopping carts.
390 Tons of Ground Beef Recalled- Huntington Meat Packing Inc
Filed under: Banned Foods, Beef Recalls, e-coli, Product Recalls, Recall, Recalled Foods
Some 390 tons of U.S. ground beef recalled
Mon Jan 18, 4:46 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Some 390 tons of ground beef produced by a California meat packer, some of it nearly two years ago, is being recalled for fear of potentially deadly E. coli bacterium tainting, U.S. officials said on Monday.
The beef was produced by Huntington Meat Packing Inc of Montebello, California, and shipped mainly to California outlets, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food safety arm said.
An initial problem, in ground beef shipped by the plant from January 5 to January 15, was discovered during a regular safety check, the Food Safety and Inspection Service said.
It said it had received no reports of illnesses associated with consumption of the recalled products.
During a follow-up review of the company’s records, government inspectors determined additional products produced and shipped in 2008 to be of concern because they may have been contaminated with E.coli, the service said in a notice on its web site.
This batch was produced from February 19, 2008, to May 15, 2008. It also had been shipped to distribution centers, restaurants and hotels within California, the notice said.
“While these products are normally used fresh, the establishment is taking this action out of concern that some product may still be frozen and in commerce,” it said.
E. coli is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause kidney failure in the most serious cases.
The service said it routinely conducts checks to verify that recalling firms notify customers, including restaurants, of the recall and that steps are taken to make sure the product is no longer available to consumers.
Two deaths linked to ecoli outbreak in beef, northwest area, usa
WASHINGTON, Nov 2 (Reuters) – An outbreak of food-borne illness, linked to dangerous bacteria in ground beef, sickened 28 people and caused at least one death, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Monday.
The CDC said a New York adult with underlying medical conditions had died and another possibly related death in New Hampshire was under investigation. State officials attribute the New Hampshire death to the O157:H7 E. coli bacteria.
All but three of the 28 cases listed by the CDC were in the U.S. Northeast and 18 were in the New England states. Sixteen hospitalizations were reported, said a CDC spokeswoman. The bacteria involved were from a common strain, so tests were under way to see if all of the reported cases were related.
Over the weekend, Fairbank Farms of Ashville, New York, recalled 545,699 lbs (248,450 kg) of ground beef products.
The Agriculture Department, which oversees meat safety, said an investigation led it to conclude “there is an association between the fresh ground beef products and illnesses in Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts.” USDA worked with state and federal officials in examining a cluster of E. coli O157:H7 illnesses.
A potentially deadly bacteria, E. coli can cause bloody diarrhea, dehydration and, in severe cases, kidney failure. The very young, the elderly and people with weak immune systems are the most susceptible to foodborne illness.
A string of food-borne safety scares led the U.S. House of Representatives to pass legislation this summer to require more inspections and oversight of food manufacturers and would give the government new authority to order recalls.
Fairbank Farms announced the recall on Saturday. The beef was produced in mid-September and probably was labeled for sale before the end of the month, said USDA.
It went to retailers including Trader Joe’s, Price Chopper, Lancaster and Wild Harvest, Shaw’s, a unit of Supervalu (SVU.N), BJ’s (BJ.N), Ford Brothers and Giant, a unit of Ahold (AHLN.AS), in eight states — Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
A complete list of products is available at:
link.reuters.com/vyx27f
The beef was produced Sept. 14 to 16, and the company urged consumers to check their freezers for products listed in the recall. Labels of the recalled packages will say EST 492 inside the USDA
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