Posts from the "Topics" category
Containers Used to Ship Produce Fall Short of Safety Standards for Two Consecutive Years
Smithcom: “A new study demonstrates that Reusable Plastic Containers (RPCs) used to ship fruits and vegetables in Canada are not properly sanitized and show traces of E coli.
The report, developed by a University of Guelph professor and researcher, Keith Warriner, indicates that sanitation standards of RPCs are inadequate for a second consecutive year. ”We saw alarming levels of sanitization and significant risk for food contamination,” said Warriner.
In fact, using UK food safety standards for food surfaces as a pass/fail baseline, 43% of RPCs failed sanitary standards due to high ATP (adenosine triphosphate) readings (equivalent standards do not exist in North America). Specifically, the fecal indicators were more prevalent in the current sampling trials compared to the study performed in 2013. Rates in the province of Quebec are especially alarming. RPCs sampled in Quebec recorded the highest indicator counts and ATP readings.”
Read the full article at newswire.ca, via barfblog.com
Microbial Testing of Fresh Produce: Where is the Value?
Devon Zagory writes: “Product testing is an inefficient tool for enhancing the safety of fresh fruits and vegetables. The probability of finding a contaminant is very low at the bacterial population densities likely to be found. Product testing is wasteful of resources because of the time and expense of the testing itself, but also because all tested products must be put on hold to await the test results in order to avoid a costly recall should a test return a positive result.”
Read the full article at the Food Safety News website.
Back up the food safety training with a good book, writes Richard Bennett
There’s a lot of people responsible for grower, packer or processor quality assurance and food safety who are not technically trained in QA and food safety. That’s just a fact of life that reflects the size, structure and necessities of many fresh produce businesses – small, family and tight. It’s also the reason why some QA standards and customers insist on a minimum level of training for the person(s) responsible for managing food safety in the business, with some now also providing the required training.
Read Article →It’s a shame to let a China food scandal go to waste
Jeffrey Towson and Jonathan Woetzel write: Every month there’s another food scandal in China. Sewer oil. Lamb seasoned with rat. Exploding melons. And now tainted Western hamburgers and fast food is the latest. In our view, this is all to be expected. If you are in the food or restaurant business in China, you are almost certainly going to have a scandal. It’s practically inevitable. And it’s an opportunity you shouldn’t miss.
Read the full article at The South China Morning Post website.
An A-Z of common types of food poisoning
Dr Jocelyn Lowinger writes: Do you know which foods are more likely to cause campylobacter? Or how many hours it takes to develop symptoms of salmonella after eating a contaminated egg? Get the low-down on some of our most common causes of food poisoning.
Read the full article at the ABC Health & Wellbeing website
Growers blame cuts for food poisoning fiasco
John Weekes writes: Angry growers are doubtful authorities will be able to prove the origins of the painful food poisoning outbreak as a consumer backlash against carrots and lettuce hits home.
Horticulture New Zealand and the Labour Party yesterday blamed cutbacks to the Ministry for Primary Industries’ (MPI) food safety service for exacerbating the outbreak.
MPI yesterday released reports showing a high proportion of people suffering from yersinia pseudotuberculosis were exposed to lettuce and carrots.
A growers’ representative, John Seymour of Horticulture NZ, said the information provided to the public and to growers was inconclusive.
Read the full article at the NZ herald website.
Salmonella food poisoning cases increasing despite education campaigns: ANU study
Craig Allen writes: The number of Salmonella food contamination cases in Australia is increasing despite more education campaigns on food safety.
While foodborne illnesses dropped overall by 17 per cent in the decade to 2010, the two leading causes of hospitalisation, Salmonella and Campylobacter, increased by 24 per cent and 13 per cent respectively.
Read the full article at ABC news.
Yersinia pseudotuberculosis Outbreak: Summary of ESR case control studies
NZ MPI: Key points from the Institute for Environmental Science and Research (ESR) Second Interim Report of the outbreak, dated 8th October 2014, are:
The ESR studies identify foods eaten more often by people who became ill than by people who didn’t become ill.
The ESR studies do not identify any affected or contaminated food nor its source.
The ESR studies say the information is not definitive, but provides direction for further investigation.
MPI investigations to identify an affected or contaminated food are ongoing.
Read the full article at mpi.gov.nz, including links to the first and second interim reports.
This information is contained within the media update for 16th October, available here.
NZ Food poisoning suspects to be named
Rebecca Quilliam writes: A list of foods suspected of causing a painful food poisoning epidemic will be released to the public tomorrow [16th October], following continued questions from the public, the Government says.
The ministry had refused to release the list to the public, but on Monday Foodstuffs confirmed two of its products — Pams Fresh Mesclun Salad Lettuce and Pams Fresh Express Lettuce — were named in one of the ESR reports. Neither of those products were still on the shelves.
Food Safety Minister Jo Goodhew said the list was not initially released because it showed no definitive cause for the illness.
Read the full article at NZ Herald.
NZ Yersinia pseudotuberculosis update – 13 October 2014
NZ MPI: Ministry for Primary Industries Deputy Director General Regulation and Assurance Scott Gallacher said today food safety and the health of consumers is MPI’s highest priority.
“It is not a simple situation where we can recall a single product. It is not definitively linked to any one supermarket chain. The ESR working documents have provided useful pointers for continuing investigation.
“Comments in the media have indicated that specific products are implicated in the incident. People were surveyed to ask about their recollection of certain brands, but were not asked about all brands. A specific product was recalled by 8 from the 96 people. In other cases, people recalled a brand that included several individual products.
Read the full article at mpi.gov.nz