Fw: [BITES-L] bites Oct. 29/10
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Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2010 07:19:12 -0500
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Subject: [BITES-L] bites Oct. 29/10
bites Oct. 29/10
A 20-year battle sparked by E. coli; after fighting for life, she died on own terms
Going public: People have a right to know about outbreaks
New egg safety plans unveiled by industry and government
Keeping Food Safe from Farm to Table: A report from the American Academy of Microbiology
Dirty dining in Vegas: Hot N Juicy Crawfish
Notes from the field: Vibrio mimicus infection from consuming crayfish --- Spokane, Washington, June 2010
FLORIDA citrus growers develop food safety standards
MINNESOTA: More illnesses tied to raw milk from Sibley County farm
CALIFORNIA: Research helps ensure safety of leafy greens
CANADIAN response to foreign animal disease scare sends positive message to trading partners
INDIA: Tiger park Salmonella outbreak response....weird
The microbiological quality of commercial herb and spice preparations used in the formulation of a chicken supreme ready meal and microbial survival following a simulated industrial heating process
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A 20-year battle sparked by E. coli; after fighting for life, she died on own terms
29.oct.10
barfblog
Doug Powell
http://www.barfblog.com/blog/144832/10/10/29/20-year-battle-sparked-e-coli-after-fighting-life-she-died-own-terms
Alisha Lewis died in June 2010.
The 22-year-old spent her final week on Earth paying a matter-of-fact visit to a funeral home to pick out a casket, choosing the white lilies that would rest atop it, and setting aside the hoodie and sweatpants she'd wear as mourners said their last goodbyes.
It was abject fear that coursed through her mother's veins in early June 1990 when she raced to the Alberta Children's Hospital, her sick twin toddlers crying in their baby seats. The week before, she had stopped at a fast-food drive-thru and picked up fries and a cheeseburger, which she split in two and handed to her daughters in response to their pleading.
Valerie Fortney of the Calgary Herald (that's in Canada) writes this morning that after being diagnosed with what was then called "hamburger disease" -- referred to today as E. coli infection-- Alisha and Aimee Lewis became little celebrities in the city.
The Herald ran stories and photos of their plight, and they were featured on several TV news broadcasts, mainly because the girls were said to have possibly contracted the disease from the fast-food establishment, although the Calgary medical examiner at that time expressed concern that the contamination might have occurred outside of the disease's normal incubation period.
Quickly, though, they slipped from the public eye. But the struggle had only just begun.
While Aimee quickly recovered, Alisha continued to suffer, and later went into complete renal, or kidney, failure.
When she was finally released from hospital six agonizing weeks later, her mother, Amanda Lewis, was told she'd suffered permanent kidney damage and might need a kidney transplant. "They first told me both of them might not make it," recalls Lewis, who not long after the crisis married her partner, Roger McLaren, who with their mom raised her two girls and boys, along with his two boys from a previous relationship.
Alisha later developed diabetic and autonomic neuropathy -- a nerve disorder that can cause intense pain -- and also had to have a feeding tube installed to keep nutrients in her body after being diagnosed with gastroparesis, a condition that affects the ability of the stomach to empty its contents.
Knowing all of her young life that she wasn't likely to live to see age 25, Alisha made the difficult decision at the end of 2009 to end treatment. "She was sick of hospitals," says Lewis, "and she was sick and tired of always being sick and tired." Alisha gave up the painful tube feed, and began eating food again, although she often wasn't strong enough to keep it in.
On June 8, 2010 -- almost 20 years to the exact day of her contracting E. coli-- Alisha died surrounded by her family, and cradled in the arms of her younger, by 12 minutes, twin sister. Thanks to accelerated osteoporosis and other life-threatening ailments, she was, says her mother, a young woman with the body of an 80-year-old.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/year+battle+sparked+coli/3745016/story.html
Going public: People have a right to know about outbreaks
29.oct.10
barfblog
Doug Powell
http://www.barfblog.com/blog/144831/10/10/29/going-public-people-have-right-know-about-outbreaks
Some public health types have long argued there is no point in making outbreaks of foodborne illness public – through media disclosure, for example – when the outbreak has passed or the food is gone and there is no on-going threat to public health.
I disagree.
Even if the threat has passed, public discussion of foodborne outbreaks enhances awareness, holds operators accountable, and builds trust and credibility for the investigating outfit (usually the local health department).
Oh, and as I told Jonathon Sher of the London Free Press (that's in Canada) people have a right to know about events where people got sick.
Sher reports this morning that Londoners were kept in the dark about a viral outbreak at the London Hunt and Country Club after at least 25 people were stricken with suspected norovirus after a Thanksgiving buffet Oct. 11 and at least four more became ill after attending an event for medical residents on the 13th.
Cathie Walker of the Middlesex-London Health Unit said,
"We were notified Oct. 14 by an attendee who was ill."
Public health officials didn't reported the outbreaks to the general public and instead relied on the Hunt Club, which had e-mailed a newsletter to its members about the incident, and the organizer of the event for medical residents.
Walker defends the lack of public notification, saying people who didn't attend the events weren't at risk and that the private club had taken over the task of notifying those who attended.
"Health Units are loathe to report it because it creates more work but there's value to reporting and the public has a right to know," said Doug Powell, an associate professor of food safety at Kansas State University.
In outbreaks such as these the cause is most often a food handler who is already sick, Powell said.
Barbara Kowalcyk, director of food safety for the U.S.-based Center for Foodborne Illness Research & Prevention said, "(A worker) would be the logical place to look"
While kitchen staff worked at both events and some later reported be stricken with illness, it's not clear if any of the diners attending both events — health investigators never asked to compare the lists, the Hunt Club says.
The health unit instead interviewed 29 ill people, some who responded to the Hunt Club email and others mentioned by the initial people interviewed. But health investigators didn't speak to the roughly 370 other people who attended, Walker said.
That's a significant oversight, said Kowalcyk, who is a statistician completing a doctorate in Environmental Health with a focus in Epidemiology.
"If they don't even talk to people who weren't sick, I don't know how they can say they did an investigation," she said.
If a sick worker was the source it's possible he or she doesn't know it and may be still infecting people, she said.
"(The public) may want to know that," Kowalcyk said. "I'd think public health official would want that worker not to handle food."
http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/blog/142465/10/06/04/lost-translation-time-end-don%E2%80%99t-ask-don%E2%80%99t-tell-food-safety-outbreak-reporting
http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2010/10/28/15869801.html
New egg safety plans unveiled by industry and government
29.oct.10
barfblog
Doug Powell
http://www.barfblog.com/blog/144833/10/10/29/new-egg-safety-plans-unveiled-industry-and-government
Philip Brasher of the Des Moines Register reports exclusively this morning that egg producers and government regulators are separately taking steps to improve egg safety in the wake of a nationwide salmonella outbreak that was tied to farms in Iowa.
Producers "want nothing else to happen like what happened in Iowa," said Howard Magwire, vice president of government relations for the United Egg Producers. The trade group is developing safety standards for the industry that would go beyond federal regulations.
Good. Because government sets minimal standards that repeatedly cannot even catch the food safety outliers. Consumers, the ones who buy eggs, and producers, the ones who sell eggs and all suffer during an outbreak, deserve better, and the best way to do that is take charge and stop waiting for Godot or government.
The United Egg Producers is developing industry standards that will mirror the agency's production rules and go a step further by requiring participating producers to vaccinate all hens against salmonella. Because of contamination that the food agency found in feed at one of the Iowa operations, the producers' group also is considering writing sanitation standards for feed mills, Magwire said.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced plans to inspect every major farm in the nation, starting with operations that have had past trouble with government officials, and it is working on coordinating oversight with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Sixteen inspections had been carried out by midmonth. The agency expects to conduct about 600 inspections in the next 14 months.
Meanwhile, the USDA and FDA have given themselves until Nov. 30 to come up with a plan for training employees to spot food-safety problems, according to a Sept. 15 letter. "It is imperative that field employees are properly educated as to these responsibilities," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack wrote in the letter.
Vilsack told The Des Moines Register that the food agency will train USDA egg inspectors to spot problems on egg farms.
About time.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20101029/BUSINESS01/10290350/Register-Exclusive-New-egg-safety-plans-unveiled
Keeping Food Safe from Farm to Table: A report from the American Academy of Microbiology
29.oct.10
barfblog
Doug Powell
http://www.barfblog.com/blog/144834/10/10/29/keeping-food-safe-farm-table-report-american-academy-microbiology
A new report from the American Academy of Microbiology provides a thorough overview of food safety from farm-to-fork, highlighting the many opportunities for disease-causing organisms and other food safety hazards to enter the food supply.
Global Food Safety: Keeping Food Safe from Farm to Table is based on a colloquium convened by the Academy in 2009, reviews the current state of affairs in microbiological food safety around the world.
An essential take-home message is that most foodborne illness is not recognized or reported. Unless the illness is severe enough to require a visit to the doctor or hospital, it is unlikely that the source and identity of the pathogen will be determined. Only if many people are severely sickened by a single product are breaches in food safety likely to be detected. It is virtually impossible to know how many people are made sick by food, which foods are at fault, which pathogens are most widespread or dangerous, and where those pathogens entered the food production system. In such a situation, where should research, prevention and education efforts be directed?
In this report, each step in our complicated food production and supply system is described, making it clear that providing safe food is a shared responsibility.
Food safety is complex, and a perfectly safe food supply is an unrealistic goal. However, as this report explains, there are opportunities for improving food safety at each step of the production and consumption process and many areas where further research could help identify and quantify risks and generate solutions. The report also identifies food safety vulnerabilities that might be addressed through investments in new technologies or more effective education.
Here's a suggestion: drop the education bit and strive for food safety information that is compelling, based on stories, and is rapid, reliable, repeated and relevant.
The full report is available at
http://academy.asm.org/images/stories/documents/Global_Food_Safety.pdf.
Dirty dining in Vegas: Hot N Juicy Crawfish
28.oct.10
barfblog
Doug Powell
http://www.barfblog.com/blog/144830/10/10/28/dirty-dining-vegas-hot-n-juicy-crawfish
I'm not sure I understand the difference between crayfish and crawfish (wiki gives it a shot) but after posting about vibrio from crayfish, a devoted barfblogger sent this story from Las Vegas about the Hot and Juicy Crawfish.
KTNV reports the Southern Nevada Health District recently paid a visit to the restaurant and slapped it with 49 demerits, prompting its closure.
Inspectors found cooked crawfish being stored at the wrong temperature, live crawfish in a sink next to dirty dishes, dirty floors – including dead crawfish on the floor of a walk-in freezer - and dried food debris caked to shelves and "clean" kitchen knives.
Inspectors also say three employees were working without valid health cards, a requirement for anyone working with or around food, and a kitchen worker was cited for not properly washing his hands after handling the trash.
Open once again with an "A" grade after re-inspection, Channel 13 Action News stopped by Hot and Juicy Crawfish to speak with the manager about the restaurant's high number of demerits.
An employee interviewed by KTNV -- Channel 13 Action News -- said the owner was not available but subsequently added, "We're not the dirtiest restaurant in Las Vegas. It was a lot of little technicalities. "
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crayfish
http://barfblog.foodsafety.ksu.edu/blog/144827/10/10/28/crayfish-cross-contamination-sickens-four-vibrio-spokane
http://www.ktnv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13360581
Notes from the field: Vibrio mimicus infection from consuming crayfish --- Spokane, Washington, June 2010
29.oct.10
CDC
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5942a5.htm?s_cid=mm5942a5_x
On June 24, 2010, the Spokane (Washington) Regional Health District (SRHD) was notified of two hospitalized patients under intensive care with severe dehydration whose stool specimens yielded Vibrio mimicus. CDC was asked to assist with the environmental and epidemiologic investigation. Investigators learned that both persons had consumed crayfish on June 20, 2010. The previous day, live crayfish obtained from an online seafood company had been boiled and served warm at a party. The chef reported that the boiled crayfish were served out of a cooler that had contained live crayfish, and the cooler had not been cleaned before being used to serve the cooked crayfish. After the party, the remaining crayfish were refrigerated overnight in different containers and served cold as leftovers the following evening on June 20.
Questionnaires were administered to 21 (95%) of 22 persons who had attended either the party on June 19 or the meal of leftovers on June 20. A case was defined as an illness in any person who had attended the party or the meal and experienced acute, watery diarrhea during June 19--25. Four cases were identified. Consuming leftover crayfish was associated with illness. Of eight persons who consumed leftover crayfish, four (50%) became ill compared with zero of the 13 persons who did not consume leftover crayfish (relative risk = 14; Fisher's exact test p value = 0.007). No other food items or environmental exposures were associated with illness. V. mimicus was isolated from cultures of stool specimens, and genes encoding cholera toxin were identified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in all three ill persons who submitted specimens. Two persons were hospitalized in an intensive-care unit with severe dehydration, metabolic acidosis, and acute renal failure. The two patients received intravenous fluid rehydration, bicarbonate infusions, and antibiotics; they recovered fully. The other two persons had mild, self-limited diarrheal illness. Frozen leftover crayfish samples submitted to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on July 21 for testing did not yield V. mimicus by culture, nor were cholera toxin genes detected using PCR.
V. mimicus has been recognized as a cause of gastroenteritis transmitted by raw oysters, fish, turtle eggs, prawns, squid, and crayfish (1). V. mimicus, when carrying genes that encode cholera toxin, can cause severe watery diarrhea. Consumers and physicians should be aware that improperly handled marine and aquatic animal products can be a source of V. mimicus infections. Consumers should avoid cross-contamination of cooked seafood and other foods with raw seafood and juices from raw seafood and should follow FDA recommendations for selecting seafood and preparing it safely (3).
Reported by
D MacEachern, MS, J McCullough, MD, Spokane Regional Health District; J Duchin, MD, Public Health --- Seattle & King County; M Tran, K MacDonald, PhD, A Marfin, MD, Washington State Dept of Health. J Jones PhD, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Food and Drug Admin. A Newton, MPH, C Tarr, PhD, D Talkington, PhD, E Mintz, MD, EJ Barzilay, MD, Div of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases; M Kay, DVM, E Cartwright, MD, EIS officers, CDC.
References
Oliver JD, Kaper JB. Vibrio species. In: Food microbiology: fundamentals and frontiers. 2nd ed. MP Doyle, LR Beuchat, TJ Montville, eds. Washington, DC: ASM Press; 2001:228--64.
Shandera WX, Johnston JM, Davis BR, Blake PA. Disease from infection with Vibrio mimicus, a newly recognized Vibrio species. Ann Intern Med 1983;99:169--71.
Food and Drug Administration. Fresh and frozen seafood: selecting and serving it safely. Silver Spring, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration; 2009. Available at http://www.fda.gov/food/resourcesforyou/consumers/ucm077331.htm. Accessed October 19, 2010.
FLORIDA citrus growers develop food safety standards
28.oct.10
The Packer
Doug Ohlemeier
http://thepacker.com/Florida-citrus-growers-develop-food-safety-standards/Article.aspx?oid=1277729&tid=&fid=PACKER-TOP-STORIES
VERO BEACH, Fla. -- Florida citrus growers are preparing to hand Food and Drug Administration officials a good agricultural practices document showing how the industry is working to assure the fruit they pack is free of contamination.
Spearheaded by members of the Indian River Citrus League and Florida Citrus Packers Inc., the Lakeland-based fresh packers trade association, a group of growers and packers plan to submit the working document to the FDA within a month.
The document covers all the state's growers and packinghouses and includes citrus grown for fresh and processed markets, said Doug Bournique, the league's executive vice president.
Bournique said the project assembles all the safety practices growers follow, from planting citrus trees to shipping the fruit to domestic and overseas receivers.
"Knowing that this train is on the track and that FDA will be looking at our industry very hard, we thought we would engage the FDA in this process and show them that we want to work with them on development of GAPs for Florida citrus," he said. "Up to 90% of this is already being done but it hasn't been put together in one all-encompassing document."
Bournique said the group plans to have one more meeting and complete the document, patterned after a similar practices league members developed in the late 1990s for water and production best management practices.
MINNESOTA: More illnesses tied to raw milk from Sibley County farm
28.oct.10
Star Tribune
Paul Walsh
http://www.startribune.com/local/106089223.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUnciaec8O7EyUsl
The number of illnesses in Minnesota is growing from raw milk produced by a farm in Sibley County under orders to halt sales, state health officials said Thursday.
Seven new cases of people falling ill from unpasteurized milk were reported to the Minnesota Health Department by health-care providers, the department said.
The cases are believed to involve milk produced by the Hartmann farm and consumed from late July to late August, said Kirk Smith, foodborne diseases unit supervisor at the Minnesota Department of Health. Four of those who got ill specifically named the Hartmann farm as the source of their raw milk, and there is genetic evidence of three other cases also linked to the farm, Smith said.
In June, the state Agriculture Department impounded at the Hartmann farm several hundred tubs of milk, ice cream and other foods after an E. coli outbreak sickened eight people and sent some to the hospital.
"We're concerned that people are continuing to get sick after consuming products from this farm," Smith said. "We're also concerned that some people who became ill were given the Hartmann dairy product by friends or neighbors who did not tell them the source."
Hartmann's attorney, Zenas Baer, said that state health officials have so far released only "very skimpy evidence" tying the latest illnesses to his client's farm.
"The farm has been regularly testing its product," Baer said, "and until we see any more data from the Minnesota Department of Health, we do not believe there is any evidence of illnesses connected to products produced at the Hartmann farm."
Despite the state crackdown earlier this year, Baer said, Hartmann has "been in continuous operation" and selling its raw dairy products "to customers who want to buy raw milk."
In addition to the illnesses linked to Michael Hartmann's farm, state health officials have identified 47 other people this year who became ill after drinking raw milk from other sources around the state, Smith said.
None of 47 were part of a specific outbreak, meaning no two cases were traced to the same source. Most of the individual cases have been in children or young adults.
Public health officials recommend avoiding raw milk, but its advocates are passionate in its defense, saying it has health attributes that pasteurized milk doesn't. Many of Hartmann's customers have stood by him.
"This isn't just about one farm selling raw milk and making people sick," Smith said. "This also is about the inherent risk of any raw milk. People need to think carefully about those risks before consuming raw dairy products from any source, and people need to know that the risks are especially high for young children."
CALIFORNIA: Research helps ensure safety of leafy greens
27.oct.10
University of California
Jeannette E. Warnert
http://ucanr.org/Food_-_nutrition/?blogpost=3674&blogasset=10743
Four years ago, a multi-state outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 in fresh baby spinach gripped the nation. Nearly 200 people in 26 states came down with the disease. Two elderly women and a 2-year-old boy died.
The outbreak was also devastating for the industry. The contaminated spinach was traced back to Central California, where growers produce 80 percent of the nation's leafy greens. Scientists, farmers and regulators worked together to restore public confidence in products that are widely considered part of a healthy diet. Regulators and farmers created the California Leafy Green Marketing Agreement to establish a culture of food safety on leafy greens farms and researchers worked to close gaps in the body of scientific knowledge about the sources of E. coli O157:H7 in the region.
In 2006, UC and USDA researchers were already designing a four-year study of the possible sources of E. coli O157:H7 near Central California fresh produce fields when the high-profile spinach outbreak occurred. This month, data collection from rangeland and farmland, steams and irrigation canals comes to a close. The team of scientists is now analyzing the data to reach conclusions that will help prevent future food contamination.
Preliminary results reflect a diversity of E. coli O157:H7 carriers near Central Coast farms, according to Edward (Rob) Atwill, a UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine specialist in waterborne infectious diseases and co-principal investigator of the study. Early on, free-ranging feral swine were implicated as carriers of the deadly bacteria, but it wasn't known whether there were other sources in the environment. The researchers collected 1,233 samples of wild and feral animal scat from 38 Central Coast cattle ranches and leafy greens farms that were adjacent to riparian, annual grassland and oak woodland habitat. Eighteen of the samples were found to contain E. coli O157:H7.
The scientists found the bacteria in
* 3 of 60 brown-headed cowbirds
* 5 of 93 American crows
* 2 of 95 coyotes
* 1 of 72 deer mice
* 10 of 200 feral swine
E. coli O157:H7 was not found in scat samples from deer, opossums, raccoons, skunks, ground squirrels, or other bird and mouse species.
"Our goal over the next nine months is to finish analyzing this very large and comprehensive dataset and to identify various good agricultural practices that reduce the risk of foodborne pathogens for the produce industry," Atwill said.
CANADIAN response to foreign animal disease scare sends positive message to trading partners
28.oct.10
Farmscape (Episode 3445)
A veterinary advisor to the Canadian Swine Health Board says Canada's response to a foreign animal disease scare in June sends a positive message to Canada's trading partners.
In the early morning hours of June 21st a suspect case of foot and mouth disease was identified at the Olymel primary processing plant in Red Deer immediately halting processing and the movement of hogs to the facility.
The incident, which generated international media attention, lasted approximately two days before it was confirmed not to be foot and mouth and the movement of hogs and operations at the plant resumed.
Dr. Charles Rhodes, who reviewed the response on behalf of the Canadian Swine Health Board, told Swine Health Forum 2010 in Quebec City this was a real time event that offered an opportunity to test our system.
Clip-Dr. Charles Rhodes-Canadian Swine Health Board:
I think that most of our simulations that we think of and work through deal with identifying disease on a farm and then quarantining that farm and dealing with the communications and all of that.
This occurred at a busy packing plant in a significant size city with lots of people around, lots of people to observe what was happening, with a number of different producers, with trucks waiting and so it was a much different scenario than maybe we usually think about.
Overall at the end of the day our response was quite good but we certainly did identify gaps where there can be improvement.
I think hopefully we will learn from that and a year from now be well prepared.
I think that what happens is that the people that were intimately involved certainly will make improvements.
It's important that the industry across Canada also try to look at their own situation and make similar improvements.
Dr. Rhodes suggests the open and transparent response sends a positive message to Canada's trading partners that we are watchful and looking for foreign animal diseases that might be of concern to them as purchasers of our pork products or our breeding stock.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.
*Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council
INDIA: Tiger park Salmonella outbreak response....weird
29.oct.10
Worms & Germs Blog
Scott Weese
http://www.wormsandgermsblog.com/2010/10/articles/animals/other-animals/tiger-park-salmonella-outbreak-responseweird/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+WormsAndGermsBlog+%28Worms+and+Germs+Blog%29
A somewhat strange report from MSN News India describes measures that are being considered following an outbreak of salmonellosis that killed 3 tigers at Bannerghatta Biological Park. The Zoo authority is investigating whether tests used by the Indian army to detect Salmonella in milk and milk products could be used to detect Salmonella in meat.
Testing of meat for Salmonella is a reasonable consideration, but it really depends on how often meat samples are contaminated.
* If most meat samples have Salmonella, what will be done with the results and the meat? The cats have to eat, and unless they have a plan to throw out all positive food or do something to it eliminate Salmonella (like cooking it), testing might be of limited use.
* Also, if Salmonella is usually there at low levels and problems only occur with sporadic high level contamination or contamination with particularly virulent strains, then using a test that just says 'Salmonella yes' or 'Salmonella no' may not help much.
It is also reported that "the authority is also in talks with some firms to come up with a microwave which has the capacity to kill microbes in 300-400 kg of meat at a time."
* This is questionable since it's probably a lot of expense to develop a large microwave, particularly since microwaving is not a reliable method of killing Salmonella. If there is a need to be able to treat meat to kill Salmonella, there are more reliable measures, such as cooking in a conventional oven, irradiation or high pressure pasteurization.
In another bizarre aspect, someone from the zoo authority stated "In Canada, when 7,000 pet dogs died on being fed infected beef last year, some firms there came up with a microwave with the capacity to kill microbes in 500 kg of beef in three to four minutes. We are exploring the possibility of similar technological innovation being implemented here, for which we are in talks with some technicians".
* I have no idea what this guy is talking about. I am not aware of any outbreak killing 7000 dogs in Canada (and if it really happened, I'm pretty sure I'd be well aware, if not in the middle of it).
On the good side, all of the tigers that survived have now completely recovered and no new cases have been identified.
The microbiological quality of commercial herb and spice preparations used in the formulation of a chicken supreme ready meal and microbial survival following a simulated industrial heating process
28.oct.10
Food Control
Anna M. Witkowska, Dara K. Hickey, Mercedes Alonso-Gomez and Martin G. Wilkinson
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T6S-51BHH40-2&_user=10&_coverDate=10%2F28%2F2010&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=e62bd3efb63e612493576766c180a3c6&searchtype=a
Abstract
The microbiological status of thirty herb and spice preparations used in the manufacture of ready meals was determined. The effect of a simulated manufacturing process with subsequent cold storage was evaluated on spices having highest microbial loads either suspended in water, or added to a ready meal. Total aerobic mesophilic bacteria count indicated that 20% of the spices had >6 log CFU/g. Spore-forming bacteria and thermophiles (2-6 log CFU/g) were detected in 80% of samples. Pseudomonas spp. and Enterobacteriaceae (2-6 log CFU/g) were detected in 33% or 23% of spices, respectively. Molds were detected in 50% of samples (1-3 log CFU/g), while yeasts were detected in two samples only. B. cereus was detected only in samples of marjoram. The simulated manufacturing treatment with subsequent cold storage indicated a degree of bacterial survival with a possible protective effect of the food matrix. Overall, the heat processing steps applied during manufacture of chilled ready meals may not always be sufficient to eliminate the indigenous microflora especially in spices of poor microbiological quality.
bites is produced by Dr. Douglas Powell and food safety friends at Kansas State University. For further information, please contact dpowell@ksu.edu or check out bites.ksu.edu.
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