Fw: [BITES-L] bites July 19/10 -- II

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From: Doug Powell <dpowell@KSU.EDU>

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Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2010 22:44:34 -0500

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Subject: [BITES-L] bites July 19/10 -- II

bites July 19/10 -- II

Salmonella sickens 26 on boat docked in CLEVELAND

Cargill launches beef line with leakproof packaging

Horse tranquillizer ketamine found in aloe vera drink

New IFT report reviews the role of food science and technology in providing, uh, food

ILLINOIS: Germs eyed to make foods safer

Avoiding 'C' food in NEW YORK CITY

WISCONSIN: Baker Street cleared for opening

CANADA: Health Unit turns off tap for raw milk sales

EU: Animal protein feed restrictions to be eased

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Salmonella sickens 26 on boat docked in CLEVELAND
19.jul.10
barfblog
Doug Powell
http://www.barfblog.com/blog/143173/10/07/19/salmonella-sickens-26-boat-docked-cleveland
GoErie.com reports that salmonella has been confirmed as the cause of the gastrointestinal illness that sickened 26 of 42 crew members of the U.S. Flagship Niagara while in Cleveland (right, not exactly as shown).
Most of the crew members are feeling well enough for a Great Lakes tour to Duluth, Minn.; Green Bay, Wis.; and Chicago, said Bill Sutton, executive director of the Flagship Niagara League, the ship's fundraising arm.
http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100719/NEWS02/307199919/-1/news

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Cargill launches beef line with leakproof packaging
19.jul.10
barfblog
Doug Powell
http://www.barfblog.com/blog/143174/10/07/19/cargill-launches-beef-line-leakproof-packaging
Consumers ain't no dummies.
Cargill asked consumers what they wanted in beef packaging and they said stuff that doesn't leak.
David Bisek, associate brand manager for Cargill said in a statement.
"Shoppers have spoken and Cargill has listened. They told us their No. 1 frustration with current fresh beef packaging is the fact that it leaked. These leaks plague consumers throughout the shopping process: they leave a mess in grocery carts, they stain car upholstery and they necessitate refrigerator clean-up during storage."
And the cross-contamination potential is enormous.
So Cargill introduced a new Grantwood Meats line where beef is vacuum-sealed into a leakproof package with a peel-to-open tab. It is freezer-ready and has a 30-day shelf life from the packing date.
The Grantwood Meats line includes muscle cuts and roasts.
http://www.meatingplace.com/MembersOnly/webNews/details.aspx?item=17355

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Horse tranquillizer ketamine found in aloe vera drink
19.jul.10
barfblog
Doug Powell
http://www.barfblog.com/blog/143184/10/07/19/horse-tranquillizer-ketamine-found-aloe-vera-drink
Hanging out with veterinarians and vet students over the past 30 years, I've heard enough stories about the horse tranquillizer, ketamine, and human recreational use.
Not the best thing to get addicted too, as far as addictions go, but is apparently popular at raves.
Two women in Leicester, U.K. required hospital treatment after drinking an aloe vera-based health drink that was apparently spiked with ketamine.
Forensic tests are still being conducted and the final analysis will not be known for some time.
Leicestershire Health Protection Agency said there was only one outlet in Leicester which had bottles of the product and that stock had been seized.
Health Protection Agency spokesman Philip Monk said,
"We have bottles with that label [Gayatri] on which we know contain ketamine and the police will be working out how the ketamine got into them and indeed whether they came from the manufacturer - they may be completely fake products."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketamine
http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/abuse/8-hallu.htm#Ketamine
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-10687488

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New IFT report reviews the role of food science and technology in providing, uh, food
19.jul.10
barfblog
Doug Powell
http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/blog/143185/10/07/19/new-ift-report-reviews-role-food-science-and-technology-providing-uh-food
The world's food system provides food for nearly seven billion people each day. But according to a new report from the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), more advances are critical for an adequate food supply, which must nearly double during the next several decades, for the future world population.
The first-of-its-kind scientific review, to be published in the September 2010 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, takes a historical look at the food system, the many challenges ahead, and the crucial role of food science and technology in meeting the needs of the growing population.
The report summarizes the historical developments of agriculture and food technology, details various food manufacturing methods, and explains why food is processed. The report also describes and stresses why further advancements in food science and technology are needed -- to more equitably meet growing world population food needs with enhanced food security in developing countries and solutions to complex diet-and-health challenges in industrialized countries.
Impact of Modern Food Manufacturing Methods
John Floros, PhD, of the Pennsylvania State University Department of Food Science said,
"Thanks to food science and technology and modern food manufacturing methods, nutritional deficiencies and inconsistent food availability can be addressed, harvests can be protected, and various commodities can be transformed into new products having specific nutrients for better health and wellness. However, this success has distanced consumers from the agricultural origins of today's food products and understanding of why processing is important. As a result, there are concerns and misconceptions regarding food safety, and the food system's effect on health and the environment."
Uh-oh. That sounds condescending.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-institute-of-food-technologists-report-reviews-the-role-of-food-science-and-technology-in-meeting-the-needs-of-a-growing-world-population-98768384.html

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ILLINOIS: Germs eyed to make foods safer
19.jul.10
Science News
Janet Raloff
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/61270/title/Germs_eyed_to_make_foods_safer
CHICAGO -- Adding viruses to foods doesn't sound appetizing, much less healthy. But it's a stratagem being explored to knock some of the more virulent food poisoning bacteria out of the U.S. food supply. Scientists described data supporting the tactic July 18 at the Institute of Food Technologists' annual meeting in Chicago.
Every year, some 76 million food poisoning cases occur throughout the United States. Most people suffer major distress but recover fine. Roughly 375,000 Americans do become hospitalized, however, and roughly 5,000 die. Since bacteria play a major role in provoking these gut wrenching illnesses – remember the E.coli O157:H7 outbreak affecting spinach four years ago – the food industry is looking for new ammo to protect its products and reputation.
A whole session of the IFT meeting was devoted to mushrooming interest in bacteriophages – viruses that quash bacteria. Phages are very discriminating. Each seeks out a particular bacterial species and largely ignores the rest. 

These viruses also eschew larger beings, like plants, fish, birds and mammals. Indeed, it's this exquisite selectivity that makes them so appealing to food scientists. Find the right phage, and it will knock out the food poisoner of concern. And nothing else.
Some phages have already been granted federal approval for use on foods; approval for others is still pending, noted Lawrence Goodridge of Colorado State University in Fort Collins. 

He described experiments that showed spraying cattle a few hours prior to slaughter could reduce by roughly 90 percent the pathogens present on the hide of those animals over the next 90 minutes. (In these tests, the bacteria had been added in known amounts prior to treatment.) University of Florida experiments on tomatoes suffering from a blight in the field due to a test inoculation with Xanthomonas not only slowed the spread of lesions to other plants, Goodridge said, but also improved crop yields by preventing vigor-robbing low-level disease.
Encouraging but no panacea
The Food and Drug Administration has approved phages for use in foods – but only against Listeria monocytogenes, notes food microbiologist Ipek Goktepe of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro. And these products find use primarily on meat and deli products, she added. But that's not bad, since Listeria is one of the most common food-poisoning agents. And a particularly recalcitrant one since it happily grows at refrigerated temperatures.
Goktepe reported new data showing that Listeria phages aren't uniformly effective in protecting every contaminated food to which they're applied. Food producers would like to see at least a "4 log" reduction in bacteria – that is, a reduction to one ten-thousandth of the starting population of bugs. In some of Goktepe's tests, she may see a three log reduction or less.
One recent success: An E. coli phage that targets O157:H7 strains killed a huge share of these bacterial cells that had been growing on loose lettuce and spinach leaves. When the phages were applied in a moist mist, Goktepe says, "We achieved a 3 to 7 log reduction – and that's a lot. We were not expecting that," she says. "Usually a 4 log reduction is considered very significant."
She cautions that the big bacterial drop occurred under fairly ideal conditions, such as at 3 °C, a good refrigerator's temperature. Raise the leafy greens' temperature to 10 °C (about 50 °F) and the phage delivered only a 2 to 5 log drop in E. coli numbers.
Some phages prey on Salmonella. But to date, Goktepe says, most phage studies haven't yielded much success in quashing populations of these bacteria. So viral protection from this major pathogen remains a challenge. This, as in many instances, may reflect trouble matching the right virus to the bacterium. Select the wrong phage and the virus will die of hunger as the food-poisoning agent prospers.
Such observations suggest, Goktepe says, that because farmers or food manufacturers are unlikely to be able to predict which strain of bacterium stands poised to afflict their crops or product, effective treatment may require the development of viral cocktails containing many phages. Indeed, her lab is actually interested in developing a supercocktail mixed from phages specific to a medley of pathogens – from E. coli to Salmonella.

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Avoiding 'C' food in NEW YORK CITY
19.jul.10
barfblog
Doug Powell
http://www.barfblog.com/blog/143186/10/07/19/avoiding-c-food-new-york-city
According to the New York Post, some of the city's best-known eateries are lucky the Health Department is starting to hand out letter grades next week -- instead of last month -- because thousands would have ended up with a bottom-rung "C" plastered in their front windows.
Officials estimate that about 6,000 of the city's 24,000 eateries had enough violation points in June to have earned the lowest mark on a three-letter rating scale devised by the city.
The "C" restaurants would have ranged from the Lion, a sizzling new spot in Greenwich Village, to the venerable Gallagher's steakhouse in Midtown, to the century-old Katz's deli emporium on the Lower East Side.
Even Radio City Music Hall's snack bar made the "C" list.
The Health Department plans to award "A" grades to restaurants that accumulate no more than 13 violation points; "B" to those with 14 to 27 points; and "C" for 28 or more points.
Restaurant owners and managers contacted by The Post who would have faced a "C" last month were surprisingly supportive of the grading system.
"It's for the sake of public health -- I'm perfectly OK with that," said Jake Dell, son of the owner of Katz's deli, which accumulated 47 points on its record for such infractions as evidence of roaches and mice, as well as bad plumbing.
Like every restaurateur contacted, he said the conditions cited by inspectors have since been corrected. A reinspection July 6 brought Katz's score down to 23 -- in the "B" range.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/avoiding_food_zoNKs5rSbymlo3lsan0NIO?CMP=OTC-rss&FEEDNAME=

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WISCONSIN: Baker Street cleared for opening
19.jul.10
Kenosha News
Jon Olson
http://www.kenoshanews.com/news/baker_street_cleared_for_opening_13348111.html
Baker Street restaurant, which closed a week ago after a salmonella outbreak, will reopen Tuesday, said owner Lou Tricoli.
"We've been working steadily with the health department since this thing started," Tricoli said. The County Health Department said he could reopen, he said.
He said there has no determination on the cause of the outbreak at Baker Street, 6208 Green Bay Road.. "There was nothing with any food," he said.
Tricoli said his employees were all checked and none was found to have salmonella poisoning, and the restaurant has been thoroughly cleaned.
"I've been 30 years in this business, and I've never had a problem," Tricoli said.
He expressed the hope that people will return to eat at Baker Street, trusting that he has been thorough in his response.

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CANADA: Health Unit turns off tap for raw milk sales
19.jul.10
The Sault Star
Brian Kelly
http://www.saultstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2674866
Algoma Public Health quickly soured on a Bar River farmer's plans to sell raw milk for cats and dogs.
The offer of unpasteurized milk, from Diamond J Farms owner Vic Fremlin, appeared in The Sault Star about three weeks ago.
That ad, said Fremlin, wasn't supposed to run until he knew he could sell the milk for animal consumption.
There was some interest from local residents, but the health unit told Fremlin he couldn't sell the raw milk.
"I thought maybe there was a market for other peoples' animals out there, but they don't want me selling it off the farm to anybody else," he said.
:Ad ran before permission was given to sell
"It's not like it was in the olden days."
Fremlin said he did not sell any unpasteurized milk to the public.
The Grade B milk he wanted to sell was not fit for human consumption. His farm also supplies Grade AAA milk which is used for Lock City Dairies, which Fremlin also owns.
He regularly feeds his calves and his cats and dogs raw milk.
"(They're) healthier than any dog or cat you'll know," said Fremlin.
"That's good stuff for them."
Algoma Public Health released an alert about unpasteurized milk Friday afternoon.

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EU: Animal protein feed restrictions to be eased
20.jul.10
FIS
Analia Murias
http://www.fis.com/fis/worldnews/worldnews.asp?l=e&country=0&special=&monthyear=&day=&id=37330&ndb=1&df=0
The European Commission (EC) proposed allowing the use of animal meal to feed fish, chickens and pigs.
Today, this practice is prohibited to prevent the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), known "mad cow disease".
The commission approved a proposal to ease the restrictions in force because it believes that, thanks to the efforts to combat diseases of the group of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), there was a significant decrease in the number of animals affected.
"We're finally on the verge of eradicating the disease in the European Union (EU)," said EU Health Commissioner, John Dalli.
Any change in the measures do not affect the aim of protecting citizens," he added.
From 2011, a certain "tolerance" level of processed animal proteins will be accepted in the feed used for animals other than ruminants.
But the EU authorities want to maintain the ban on the use of animal protein for ruminating mammals.
Furthermore, the EC seeks to prevent 'cannibalism', that is, cattle that eats the remains of its kind. So far, only the use of fish protein is allowed, and only in some cases.
Moreover, the EC proposed to increase the age at which animals should be subjected to mandatory screening tests, as experts say that sick specimens are increasing.
It is expected that the Community initiative will be in force over the next five years until 2015.

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