Tag: E.coli
US: America’s enduring failure to prevent food-borne illness
Emily Atkin / The New Republic: The CDC’s green light to eat romaine again may have marked the end of the lettuce crisis in consumers’ minds, but the situation is far from over. The agency and the FDA are still investigating why and how a dangerous strand of E. coli wound up contaminating lettuce in Yuma. No single grower, harvester, processor, or distributor has been blamed, and investigators are still unsure whether contamination happened during the growing, washing, chopping, or bagging process.
Read the full article at The New Republic
Tag: E.coli
US: Canal water likely source of E. coli in romaine-related outbreak
Coral Beach / Food Safety News:Â Federal officials say contaminated canal water near romaine lettuce growing fields is the likely source…
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CA: Everything you need to know about fresh produce and E. coli
Dr. Jeffrey M. Farber, University of Guleph / The Conversation: While the recent outbreak of E. coli infections linked to romaine lettuce has been declared over, Canadian public health officials are still working to determine the cause of the contamination.
Several people in the U.S. and eastern Canada were sickened after eating romaine, with two reported deaths.
I am a food safety expert. Here’s what consumers need to know about E. coli and produce
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US: Deadly outbreak tied to romaine ongoing; no recall, few details
Food Safety News: Little information is available to the public in the U.S. or Canada more than six weeks into a deadly E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to romaine lettuce. Almost 60 people are confirmed to have fallen ill, including one in Canada who died, since mid-November. Whole genome sequencing shows E. coli O157:H7 samples from sick people in both countries are the same strain, which is evidence that a single source is likely, the CDC reports.
Read the full article at the Food Safety News website
Tag: E.coli
CA: E. coli outbreak from lettuce shows problems with produce traceability: expert
Photo: Chimpr / Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
The Canadian Press: A Canadian expert in food distribution says he is surprised by how long it is taking for a recall to be issued after one death and dozens of illnesses in recent weeks have been linked to romaine lettuce contaminated with E. coli.
Read the full article at richmond-news.com
Tag: E.coli
CA: Canadians warned to avoid romaine lettuce until further notice
Food Safety News: Canadian officials are advising the public to avoid eating romaine lettuce until further notice because of an expanding E. coli outbreak, but they have not revealed the supplier or brands involved. At least one person has died and 40 have been confirmed infected with E. coli O157:H7.
Read the full article at the foodsafetynews.com
Tag: E.coli
CN: Canada E. coli outbreak linked to lettuce
Health Canada: The Public Health Agency of Canada is collaborating with provincial public health partners, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Health Canada to investigate an outbreak…
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UK: E.coli deaths – Mixed salad leaves linked to outbreak after two die
The Independent: Shoppers are being warned to thoroughly wash bags of mixed salad leaves amid fears they could contain E. coli after two people died of the bacterial infection.
Health watchdogs have said more than 150 people in the UK have been found to have been infected with the E. coli O157 bug—many of whom had eaten pre-packed salad containing rocket leaves.
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US: Metrics proposed to prevent the harvest of leafy green crops exposed to floodwater contaminated with Escherichia coli
Allied and Environmental Microbiology: In this study, the suitability of the LGMA metrics for farms in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States was evaluated. The upper end of a spinach bed (in Beltsville, MD) established on a −5% grade was flooded with water containing 6 log CFU/ml Escherichia coli to model a worst-case scenario of bacterial movement through soil. While E. coli was quickly detected at the 9-m distance within 1 day in the spring trial and within 3 days in the fall trial, no E. coli was detected on plants outside the flood zone after 14 days.
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AU: How salad vegetable surfaces harbour pathogens — and it’s not how you expect
foodprocessing.com.au: Researchers at the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) decided to look at how viruses could stick to the surface of 24 common salad vegetables. They expected to establish that the small virus particles could ‘hide’ in the rough structures of the cuticle, the waxy layer that protects the plant against diseases and reduces water loss.
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