Fw: [BITES-L] bites Oct. 22/10

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From: Doug Powell <dpowell@KSU.EDU>

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Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2010 07:10:50 -0500

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Subject: [BITES-L] bites Oct. 22/10

bites Oct. 22/10

Lousy food safety auditors put public and brands at risk

Lamb on a shovel in a fire pit: finger test insufficient

How safe is chicken tartare; how not to ask a question

WISCONSIN: Official: Source of illnesses at restaurant might never be found

SINGAPORE: Import of eggs, broiler chickens and ducks from Malaysia remains stable

CALIFORNIA: Rabid bat discovered in south Orange County

Prevalence of Listeria spp. and antibiotic susceptibility of Listeria monocytogenes isolated from raw chicken and ready-to-eat chicken products in Jordan

Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis typing of human and retail foodstuff Campylobacters: an Irish perspective

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Lousy food safety auditors put public and brands at risk
22.oct.10
barfblog
Doug Powell
http://www.barfblog.com/blog/144714/10/10/22/lousy-food-safety-auditors-put-public-and-brands-risk
"The voluntary quality control system widely used in the nation's $1 trillion domestic food industry is rife with conflicts of interest, inexperienced auditors and cursory inspections that produce inflated ratings, according to food retail executives and other industry experts."
I've been saying that for a long time, but this is the Washington Post version, published this morning. I especially like the pictures of the Montgomery Burns Awards for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence, courtesy of AIB, the Manhattan, Kansas-based audiot that gave stellar rating to PCA and Wright Eggs just prior to terrible food safety outbreaks and revelations of awful prouction conditions (see below).
"The system has developed primarily because large chain stores and food producers, such as Kellogg's, want assurances about the products they place on their shelves and the ingredients they use in making food. To get that, they often require that their suppliers undergo regular inspections by independent auditors. This all takes place outside any government involvement and without any signals - stamps of approval, for instance - to consumers." (That's four-year-old Zoe Warren, right, of Bethesda, who was hospitalized in 2007 after contracting salmonella poisoning after eating a chicken pot pie. The photo is by Susan Biddle for the Washington Post.)
The third-party food safety audit scheme that processors and retailers insisted upon is, in many cases, no better than a financial Ponzi scheme. The vast number of facilities and suppliers means audits are required, but people have been replaced by paper.
"In fact, most foodmakers, even those with problems, sail through their inspections, said Mansour Samadpour, who owns a food-testing firm that does not perform audits. "I have not seen a single company that has had an outbreak or recall that didn't have a series of audits with really high scores."
Third-party food audits, like restaurant inspection, are a snapshot in time. Given the international sourcing of ingredients, audits are a requirement, but so is internal food safety intelligence to make sense of audits that are useful and audits that are chicken poop.
"Industry experts say some "third-party" inspections can be rigorous. Those that audit using internationally recognized private benchmarks "are much more thorough," said Robert Brackett, former senior vice president of the Grocery Manufacturers Association. "But they're less likely to be used because they are much more expensive."
Audits, inspections, training and systems are no substitute for developing a strong food safety culture, farm-to-fork, and marketing food safety directly to consumers rather than the local/natural/organic hucksterism is a way to further reinforce the food safety culture.
Will Daniels, who oversees food safety for Earthbound Farm, the folks who brought E. coli O157:H7 in bagged spinach in 2006 that sickened 199 and killed four, said, Earthbound regularly received top ratings in third-party audits, including one exactly a month before the tainted spinach was processed, adding,
"No one should rely on third-party audits to insure food safety."
"… if the incentive is to pass with flying colors, it creates a disincentive to air your dirty laundry and get dinged and lose a customer over it."
"After the E. coli outbreak, Earthbound put in place an aggressive testing and safety program that includes outside audits but also requires Earthbound's own inspectors to show up unannounced to check suppliers. The company tests its greens for pathogens when they arrive from farms and again when they are packaged."
Too bad Earthbound didn't figure all this out after the 28 other outbreaks involving leafy greens prior to the deadly 2006 outbreak.
Cost is another factor.
"Food companies often choose the cheapest auditors to minimize the added expense of inspections, which range from about $1,000 to more than $25,000.
The foodmakers can prepare for audits because they often know when inspectors will show up.
"And auditors have a range of experience and qualifications, from recent college graduates to retired food industry veterans. They sometimes walk through a plant, ticking off a checklist to produce a score, Samadpour said. Basic inspections do not typically include microbial sampling for bacteria.
"In a written response to questions, Brian Soddy, AIB's vice president of marketing and sales, said company audits are intended to give food manufacturers "guidance and education for improvement."
"Producers have the ultimate responsibility, he said, adding that the audits are voluntary and not intended to replace any FDA regulatory inspections.
AIB said last week that it is reevaluating its "superior" and "excellent" rating systems because they "have led to confusion in the wake of recent incidents," Soddy wrote.
"Some retailers include inspections as just one piece of their safety programs.
Costco, for example, has its own inspectors but also requires its estimated 4,000 food vendors to have their products inspected according to a detailed 10-page list of criteria. Private auditors must X-ray all products for "sticks and stones, bones in seafood - anything you can think of that might be in hot dogs, baked goods, outside of produce," said Craig Wilson, Costco's assistant vice president for food safety and quality assurance.
"Costco maintains an approved list of about nine audit firms. The list does not include AIB.
"Wal-Mart requires suppliers of private-label food products sold in its stores and Sam's Club to be audited using private internationally recognized standards.
In addition to conducting its own product testing, Giant Food requires its vendors to be audited from a list of about a dozen approved firms.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/21/AR2010102106900.html
http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/blog/141373/10/03/17/are-third-party-food-safety-auditors-effective-financial-ratings-agencies
http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/blog/144337/10/09/30/third-party-food-safety-audits-fall-under-intense-scrutiny
http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/blog/140111/09/04/09/third-party-audits-are-no-replacement-skilled-staff-food-safety-culture-bite-me
http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/blog/144252/10/09/23/food-safety-auditors-can-suck-salmonella-egg-producer-got-ok-same-auditor-oked-

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Lamb on a shovel in a fire pit: finger test insufficient
22.oct.10
barfblog
Doug Powell
http://www.barfblog.com/blog/144716/10/10/22/lamb-shovel-fire-pit-finger-test-insufficient
Once the kid goes to sleep, Amy and I usually adjourn to the bedroom, no matter how early, and chill.
I go through my ritual of flipping through bad TV while Amy does fascinating farm animal things on Facebook.
Last night, my flipping took me to the Primal Grill With Steven Raichlen, where the dude was cooking lamb chops on a shovel in a fire pit.
Apparently, by holding the shovel over the open wood fire, the smoke curls up over the shovel to add a robust flavor to the chops.
This guy's got way too much time on his hands.
To check if the lamb was properly cooked, he pushed his finger into a chop, proclaimed it "spongy" and therefore done.
However you want to cook meat – with a shovel, a pick-axe, a V-8 engine -- use a tip-sensitive digital thermometer to ensure a safe food temperature.
http://www.opb.org/television/programs/primal-grill-with-steven-raichlen/

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How safe is chicken tartare; how not to ask a question
22.oct.10
barfblog
Doug Powell
http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/blog/144717/10/10/22/how-safe-chicken-tartare-how-not-ask-question
If you like steak tartare, you'll love chicken tartare, a salmonella-laden crap-fest of raw chicken and egg.
Jonathan Kauffman of San Francisco Weekly writes readers were disgusted after his review of (raw) chicken tartare served at Ippuku, a Japanese restaurant in Berkeley.
Proving once again that most chefs know shit about food safety, chef Christian Geideman said that "since salmonella only lives in the digestive tracts of chickens, and since Geideman dipped strips of raw chicken breast meat in boiling water for 30 seconds before cutting it up and seasoning it, he'd eliminated the threat of salmonella contamination."
Good thing Kauffman finally got in touch with friend of the barfblog, Harshavardhan Thippareddi, an associate professor of food science at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln (left, sorta as shown).
Dr. Thippareddi – also known as Reddi – told Kaufmann that, no, a 30-second plunge in boiling water would do little to kill pathogens.
When asked how chicken tartare would compare to steak tartare, Reddi said,
"Actually, the risk is lower in beef. The normal percentage of beef carcasses contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 is 0.1 to 0.3 percent. In poultry, the prevalence of salmonella is higher — the legal limit for poultry processors is that less than 20 percent of the birds may be contaminated. In some processors, they may have lower rates — like 5 or 7 percent."
Kauffman said,
"But those rates are probably for confined chickens. These chickens are pasture raised, and probably organic. Does that make a difference?"
Reddi said,
"We'd like to think it does, but sadly, it doesn't."
Science in a San Fran blog. Awesome.
Reddi added in a subsequent e-mail to the author,
"We all take risks in life. I suppose this is one of those 'acceptable' risks for some of us. However, I don't think you will ever find me eating steak tartare or sushi (knowing the risks)."
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/foodie/2010/10/how_safe_is_chicken_tartare_a.php

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WISCONSIN: Official: Source of illnesses at restaurant might never be found
22.oct.10
Baraboo News Republic
Jeremiah Tucker
http://www.wiscnews.com/baraboonewsrepublic/news/local/article_719199c6-dd83-11df-9ca3-001cc4c03286.html
MERRIMAC -- A probe into the source of what investigators believe was an outbreak of norovirus at the Hillcrest on Lake Wisconsin restaurant earlier this month is ongoing, but one official said it's possible the source of the virus may never be discovered.
Jim Kaplanek, chief of food safety for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, said norovirus spreads so quickly that it often is difficult to determine a source. It's possible that a member of the restaurant staff spread the illness, but it also could have originated with a patron that brought it into the establishment.
"Many times all we have is a best guess, there's no conclusive evidence," Kaplanek said, adding it's difficult to determine where food-borne illnesses start. "In most cases, with food-borne illness, very rarely do you find a link between the people and the food."
Kaplanek said no food is being tested as part of the investigation, but the state is testing stool samples.
"Between 20 and 25 people were affected (by the illness) that we're aware of, and we have five people tested," said Cynthia Bodendein, a Sauk County health officer.

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SINGAPORE: Import of eggs, broiler chickens and ducks from Malaysia remains stable
22.oct.10
Channel NewsAsia
Mustafa Shafawi
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1088720/1/.html
SINGAPORE -- The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) on Friday said that Newcastle Disease, which is reportedly affecting a few poultry farms in Malaysia exporting eggs to Singapore, does not pose a risk to food safety.
In a statement, the authority said it only affects animal health and farm production.
The disease is a contagious viral disease of birds and is endemic in the Southeast Asia region.
Affected birds may show respiratory and nervous symptoms and in severe cases, sudden death.
AVA said it has worked closely with the Department of Veterinary Services Malaysia (DVS) to assess the disease situation, including making visits to affected farms.
The AVA inspection teams have completed visits to affected farms.

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CALIFORNIA: Rabid bat discovered in south Orange County
21.oct.10
Los Angeles Times
Dan Weikel
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/10/rabid-bat-orange-county-.html
Orange County health officials issued a warning to the public Thursday after a rabid bat was discovered in a residential area of San Juan Capistrano.
Anyone who might have had contact with a bat in the vicinity of Village and Marina roads is encouraged to call the Orange County Health Care Agency at (714) 834-8180 so that a nurse can evaluate the person's risk of contracting rabies.

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Prevalence of Listeria spp. and antibiotic susceptibility of Listeria monocytogenes isolated from raw chicken and ready-to-eat chicken products in Jordan
21.oct.10
Food Control
Tareq M. Osaili1, Akram R. Alaboudi and Ehab A. Nesiar
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T6S-5192136-1&_user=10&_coverDate=10%2F21%2F2010&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=cfb347612e1b1964efccb5b7daca8031&searchtype=a
Abstract
Listeria monocytogenes is the causal agent of listeriosis, a disease that can be serious and is often fatal in susceptible individuals. The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of Listeria spp. in raw chicken and ready-to-eat (RTE) chicken products in Amman, Jordan and the antimicrobial resistance of L. monocytogenes isolates. A total of 280 raw chicken and RTE chicken products (chicken-shawirma, chicken-burger, chicken-sausage and mortadella) were collected from Amman abattoir and local retail markets in Amman city. Listeria spp. were isolated by the conventional International Organization for Standardization (ISO) method and L. monocytogenes identified by biochemical and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Results of conventional method showed that out of total 280 samples, 141 (50%) were found to be contaminated with Listeria spp. [L. monocytogenes (18.2%), L. ivanovi (26.1%), L. grayi (3.5%), L. seeligeri (1.8), L. welshimeri (0.7%)]. The PCR confirmed all L. monocytogenes isolates (51 isolates: 15 from raw dressed broiler chicken, 23 from chicken-burger, 9 from chicken-sausage, and 4 from chicken-shawirma). Five of the tested L. monocytogenes isolates were resistance to two antibiotics (tilimicosin and tetracycline) among the ten tested antibiotics as determined by microbroth dilution method. The results presented in this study indicate the potential risk of contamination of RTE chicken products with L. monocytogenes.

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Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis typing of human and retail foodstuff Campylobacters: an Irish perspective
21.oct.10
Food Control
Aoife M. O'Leary, Paul Whyte, Robert H. Madden, Martin Cormican, John E. Moore, Eleanor Mc Namara, Kevina Mc Gill, Lorraine Kelly, Damien Cowley, Lynn Moran, Pam Scates, J. Dan Collins and Cyril V. Carroll
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WFP-519214J-1&_user=10&_coverDate=10%2F21%2F2010&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=013ddefeeba9407cd77597725ee5f78f&searchtype=a
Abstract
Campylobacter enteritis is a zoonosis, an infectious disease transmissible under normal conditions from vertebrate animals to man, presenting a major global public health burden. In this study, Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) was employed to identify common genotypes in a collection of 600 Campylobacter isolates in order to investigate if profiles obtained from retail samples of foodstuffs matched genotypes causing illness in the community in Ireland. The campylobacters were isolated from retail foodstuffs, and cases of gastroenteritis, over the same 20-month period in three population centres in Ireland. The major observation made was of a high level of PFGE-genotype heterogeneity; 236 SmaI discrete genotypes were found in 507 strains successfully analysed. Analysis of the PFGE profiles revealed 22 common profiles amongst food isolates and those causing enteritis in humans. These cojoint PFGE genotypes indicate that 56 (38 %) of the human clinical isolates are genetically related to 129 (36 %) of the food isolates. The identification of these recurrent PFGE types, in the sampled Campylobacter coli and Campylobacter jejuni populations, indicates that a high proportion of Campylobacter isolates found in foods of animal origin also occur in patients with symptoms of enteritis. This data adds weight to the epidemiological hypothesis that a high proportion of human Campylobacter cases are contracted via the handling and consumption of contaminated foodstuffs, in particular poultry.

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