Posts from the "Latest News" category
Take a deep breath and reflect on the hep A saga, suggests Richard Bennett
I’ve given a few presentations over recent years about crisis management, starting with the need to prevent a crisis as much as possible by having the right attitude towards food safety backed up with the necessary systems. I put attitude first for a reason.
The next stage is to be prepared. Despite the best prevention systems and intentions, glitches happen and you might find yourself in need of a plan to manage the unthinkable. Good prevention and preparation will make all the difference to response and recovery. There’s plenty of evidence to show that resilience – the ability to bounce back – is almost directly related to how you respond, which is directly related to what you have done to prevent and prepare.
Read Article →AU: Australian consumers’ food safety report card released
Food Safety Information Council: To celebrate World Health Day 2015, which has the theme of food safety, the Food Safety Information Council has released a report card assessing Australian consumers’ knowledge of food safety.
Council Chair, Professor Michael Eyles, said that, while it is good news that a recent Australian National University study found food poisoning cases in Australia have decreased from an estimated 4.3 million cases in 2000 to 4.1 million in 2010, this is still an alarmingly high number.
‘Food poisoning can be serious and results in 31,920 hospitalisations, 86 deaths and 1 million visits to doctors on average each year.
Click here to read the full story at the Food Safety Information Council
EU: Growers and industry hit by $1.3 bn in losses due to 2011 outbreak of E. Coli
Food Safety News: The World Health Organization (WHO) has totaled up some economic costs of the 2011 outbreak of the rare and deadly E. coli O104:H4 centered on Northern Europe. Farmers and industries lost $1.3 billion, and emergency aid provided to 22 European states cost another $236 million, according to WHO.
The novel E. coli strain was the cause of the May through June 2011 outbreak that saw 3,950 people infected, with 53 deaths blamed on the deadly pathogen. All but two of the deaths occurred in Germany.
Public health officials in Germany initially thought the source of the contamination was cucumbers imported from Spanish greenhouses, but that theory proved incorrect. It was a mistake that Spanish growers said cost them $200 million a week. Russia banned imports of all EU fresh produce in June 2011.
Click here to read the full story at Food Safety News
AU: Debunking the urban myth about GS1 Barcodes
Food Magazine: Although barcodes have been around on a global scale for over 40 years, there still appears to be some confusion about the humble symbol, what the numbers mean and that familiar beep that is heard approximately six billion times around the world every day.
Read Article →AU: Cases of Hepatitis A lower than last year
Food magazine: There have now been 65 cases of hepatitis A in Australia this year. This time last year there were 81 cases.
As at 11:00 on 17 Mar 15, according to the Department of Health there were 27 cases of Hepatitis A linked to frozen berries. All 27 cases have reported eating Nanna’s frozen mixed berries during their period of acquisition (15-50 days prior to the onset of symptoms). No other common exposure has been determined and this strong epidemiological association is further strengthened by genotyping.
The risk of contracting hepatitis A from eating frozen berries is estimated to be very low noting there have been only 27 cases to date despite berries being a commonly consumed food.
The product is packed in China, containing raspberries, strawberries and blackberries grown there, and blueberries. The blueberries in the product were initially thought to have come from Chile, however, the Department of Health is now advised by the company that they were sourced from Canada.
Click here to read the full article from Foodmagazine.
US: Researchers tap GIS to help predict on-farm foodborne pathogen risks
US Center for Produce Safety: Growers may soon be able to log onto a website, note their farm’s location and view the relative risks from foodborne pathogens as different color gradients on a map. They could then make more informed planting and management decisions that would help minimize potential contamination. That scenario isn’t too far off and is one of the next steps in research that melds geographic information system (GIS) mapping with mathematical equations to create foodborne pathogen risk-prediction models.
“People want guidelines in terms of high risk areas and how far to stay away in terms of planting,” Wiedmann said. “How many meters is that magic cutoff? Risk is never yes or no. It’s a gradient.”
Click here to read the full article from the US Center for Produce Safety.
AU: Frozen berries scare propels focus on traceability
Food Magazine: Food safety today is taking centre stage with the spotlight clearly beaming down on the need for an unequivocal, standard practice across the entire food sector.The recent 2015 frozen berries case is not the first food safety incident of its kind and it won’t be the last. According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Product Safety Recalls Australia website there were 75 recalls of food and grocery items in 2014 alone.
The latest incident was preceded by other high profile cases including the Hepatitis A outbreak allegedly linked to semi-dried tomatoes in Australia in 2009, and the contamination scare that triggered a recall of Fonterra products that may have contained whey protein in a number of countries around the world, including China and Australia, in 2013.
Click here to read the full article from Food Magazine.
WHO: World Health Day 2015: Food safety
World Health Organisation: Unsafe food is linked to the deaths of an estimated 2 million people annually – including many children. Food containing harmful bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances is responsible for more than 200 diseases, ranging from diarrhoea to cancers.
New threats to food safety are constantly emerging. Changes in food production, distribution and consumption; changes to the environment; new and emerging pathogens; antimicrobial resistance – all pose challenges to national food safety systems. Increases in travel and trade enhance the likelihood that contamination can spread internationally.
As our food supply becomes increasingly globalized, the need to strengthen food safety systems in and between all countries is becoming more and more evident. That is why the WHO is promoting efforts to improve food safety, from farm to plate (and everywhere in between) on World Health Day, 7 April 2015.
Click here to read the full article from the World Health Organisation.
AU: Illawarra Salmonella outbreak over
Illawarra Mercury: NSW Health has closed its investigation into the deadly salmonella outbreak that affected 32 people in aged-care facilities across the Illawarra, Shoalhaven and the ACT.
The rare strain salmonella bovismorbificans was found in 32 infected residents at 10 aged-care facilities operated or supplied by IRT. Two of the residents have since died.
The Food Authority shut down Betta Maid – an IRT supplier – on March 5 after traces of the rare strain of salmonella linked to the outbreak were found in food samples and on a contact surface. The Food Authority confirmed this week the Unanderra wholesale bakery remained closed.
[Ed: Note that earlier media coverage of this incident implicated leafy vegetables as a possible cause of this outbreak]
Click here to read the full article from the Illawarra Mercury.
US: CDC report links listeria cases to stone fruit
The Packer: A listeria outbreak in the summer of 2014 was definitely linked to fruit from Wawona Packing Co., marking the first time such an outbreak has been connected to stone fruit, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The company recalled everything it packed at its Cutler, Calif., facility from June 1 through July 17 in 2014, including organic and conventional whole white and yellow peaches, white and yellow nectarines, plums and pluots, according to a notice on the Food and Drug Administration’s website.
Initially it was thought that no illnesses were linked to the recall, which Wawona officials said was initiated after an Australian importer discovered minute levels of listeria on fruit received from Wawona. However, the CDC reported March 20 that traceback efforts using store receipts, loyalty card data and patient interviews showed some people who developed infections from listeria monocytogenes had eaten the stone fruit before becoming sick.
Click here to read the article from The Packer.
Click here to read the report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.