FSnet Aug. 5/08

IRELAND AND UK: Takeaway sandwiches focus of salmonella probe

MASSACHUSETTS: Mass. scrutinizes 6 cases of E. coli

US: Tomato growers seeing red

LETTER: Fight for safer livestock laws

NEW YORK: Farm suspends raw-milk sales

ONTARIO: The raw deal

UTAHNS in poll rank food safety as a top issue

Crunch time for peanut allergies

ABSTRACT: Safety improvement and preservation of typical sensory qualities of traditional dry fermented sausages using autochthonous starter cultures

ABSTRACT: Methods for recovery of hepatitis A virus (HAV) and other viruses from processed foods and detection of HAV by nested RT-PCR and TaqMan RT-PCR

ABSTRACT: Effect of microbial biocontrol agents on alleviating oxidative damage of peach fruit subjected to fungal pathogen

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IRELAND AND UK: Takeaway sandwiches focus of salmonella probe
05.aug.08
Independent.ie
Breda Heffernan
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/takeaway-sandwiches-focus-of-salmonella-probe-1446637.html
Health chiefs are investigating an outbreak of the dangerous stomach bug salmonella with takeaway sandwiches a potential culprit.
Eight people have already fallen ill in Ireland and there have been another 114 confirmed cases in Britain.
It is feared that this could only be the tip of the iceberg as many people will not attend their GP for treatment.
The outbreak is thought to have started in late June with the last recorded case on July 7. There have been no clusters of cases nor any connection between cases leading investigators to believe that it is not one premises or one product that is at fault.
However the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) said yesterday that, as a precautionary measure, a company that supplies implicated ingredients to the catering industry has withdrawn these products from sale.
Jeff Moon, chief specialist in environmental health at the FSAI, advised food outlets providing ready-to-eat sandwiches to be particularly strict in adhering to best hygiene practices and to ensure that hot sandwiches are thoroughly cooked before serving them to a customer.



 
MASSACHUSETTS: Mass. scrutinizes 6 cases of E. coli
05.aug.08
Associated Press
Rodrique Ngowi
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/08/05/mass_scrutinizes_6_cases_of_e_coli/
Federal and state health officials are investigating the cases of six people in Massachusetts who were sickened by a virulent strain of E. coli that appears linked to those found in several other states, officials said yesterday.
At least five of the Massachusetts victims were hospitalized. Their ages range between 3 and 60, and they include residents of Middlesex, Suffolk, and Essex counties, according to the state Department of Public Health.
The six Massachusetts victims reportedly were ill between July 10 and July 16. All were sickened by a virulent bacteria strain, E. coli O157:H7, that is harbored mainly in the intestines of cattle, said Dr. Bela Matyas, medical director of the epidemiology program for the state health department.
"Massachusetts cases were linked by DNA testing and by comparing those results to results from others around the country through a federal food-borne illness surveillance program called PulseNet," according to the statement.
Nebraska Beef Ltd. of Omaha has recalled 5.3 million pounds of ground beef linked to E. coli illnesses across the nation.



 
US: Tomato growers seeing red
05.aug.08
Washington Post
Cindy Skrzycki
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/04/AR2008080402119.html
While throwing a few rotten tomatoes at U.S. regulators might help ease growers' pain, those involved in the latest salmonella epidemic would prefer cash for their trouble.
After weeks of implicating domestic tomatoes in an outbreak of Salmonella saintpaul, federal food-safety sleuths shifted the spotlight to jalapeño and serrano peppers grown in Mexico.
But before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration lifted the tomato advisory July 17, U.S. tomato growers were left holding the shopping bag.
Growers said they lost $100 million in sales during the investigation, which they charge was conducted poorly and without enough consultation with them.
The growers knew the agency hadn't gotten to the source of the problem after the FDA told people to stop eating tomatoes and the illnesses increased, said Robert Guenther, senior vice president for public policy for United Fresh Produce Association, an industry group in Washington.
Things got even more problematic for investigators when tests didn't turn up a single domestic tomato with the bacteria.
The late reprieve for the industry shows how difficult it is to conduct international investigations of food-borne illnesses with limited resources and imperfect ways to trace a product back to its source.
At the same time, pressure has intensified to solve cases quickly and to pay for "mistakes" made.
Bill Marler, a food-safety plaintiff attorney with Marler Clark in Seattle, said the push to exonerate tomatoes may be premature, stating, "Everyone empathizes," but cautioned that imperfect information may have implicated tomatoes, but "we would ask for their heads on a platter if it was tomatoes.''
There are other policy questions about penalizing agencies for their conclusions in the course of an investigation.
"You can't have public health people fearing liability," said Michael Taylor, a research professor at George Washington University's School of Public Health.
Taylor, who was a top food-safety official in the Clinton administration, suggested preventative measures and more efficient investigations.
''The government should mandate a set time period to provide answers to questions of where the produce came from," he said.
Tomato growers think they have a case for compensation from Congress since they don't qualify for other aid programs.



 
LETTER: Fight for safer livestock laws
04.aug.08
Seattle Times
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2008091635_weblets5.html
Art James of Port Orchard writes regarding, "Lawmakers rip agencies' salmonella investigation" [Times, News, Aug. 1] to say it gives up the consumer for the interests of industry. Food warnings originally directed at tomatoes (now jalapeños) resulted in lost sales. The Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are scolded for trying to save lives at the expense of the food/agriculture combine.
A better tracking system would supposedly reduce the warnings and resulting effects on sales to the minimum. A better solution would go after the source of these dangerous contaminations (listeria, E. coli, salmonella): livestock manure carried by the water table to nearby crops.
Today it is salmonella-tainted peppers from Mexico, yesterday it was E. coli-tainted spinach from California. In the real world, the variables of contamination are limitless.
Routine use of antibiotics in livestock feed is the fountain from which these food-born hazards originate. Their virulent character is defined by exposure to these drugs. Legislation that would limit the use of antibiotics in animal feed is routinely offered to Congress and routinely defeated by the lobbying efforts of agribusiness and the drugmakers.
If vegetable growers really wanted to limit their liability in food-born incidents, they would throw their collective weight behind safer livestock regulations.



 
NEW YORK: Farm suspends raw-milk sales
05.aug.08
The Daily Star
Mark Boshnack
http://www.thedailystar.com/local/local_story_218040032.html
A Worcester farm has voluntarily suspended sales of all raw milk sold directly to consumers until subsequent sampling indicates the product is free of pathogens, according to a state media release.
Listeria monocytogenes was found at Autumn Valley Farm during routine testing from a sample taken by an inspector from the state Department of Agriculture and Markets on July 22, the release from the state Department of Agriculture and Markets said. The testing was done in the agency's food laboratory.
No illnesses have been traced to milk from the farm, officials said.
Sales can resume when testing shows the milk, which is unpasteurized, to be free from bacteria, said Ag and Markets spokeswoman Jessica Chittenden. Testing is scheduled to be done this week, she said, and it can take 7-10 days for results.
Listeria, a bacteria commonly found in the environment, is one of six pathogens tested for in raw milk, Chittenden said. Products contaminated with it can cause listeriosis, a disease that can cause flu-like symptoms in healthy individuals and more serious conditions in immune-compromised individuals, according to the agency.
Autumn Valley owner Darren McGrath said this is the second time in two years that sales have been halted for listeria. The previous halt last summer took about a month to be lifted. He said he was "skeptical" of the test results because he had part of the same sample tested by an Ithaca laboratory and the results were negative.
"The last thing I want to do is get anyone sick," he said.
But he contended that by running a clean operation, his cows produce healthy milk.



 
ONTARIO: The raw deal
05.aug.08
Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080805.LETTERS05-6/TPStory/Comment
Mel Wilson of Goderich, Ont., writes that Ingrid Peritz grossly misrepresents raw-milk cheeses in calling them stinky and oozy (Quebec Allows Raw-Milk Cheese Sales - Aug. 1). Quebec raw-milk cheeses, once tasted, are never forgotten. They're delightfully aromatic and buttery, and have been sorely missed.
Of course, it's like feeding strawberries to a jackass when dealing with a consumer base weaned on cheese slices, squeeze cheese and whizzy stuff out of jars.



 
UTAHNS in poll rank food safety as a top issue
05.aug.08
Deseret News
Laura Hancock
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700248336,00.html
A new survey for the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food has found that food supply safety is one of the most important among six major issues.
When asked to describe the issues on a scale from "not at all important" to "very important," 80 percent of polled Wasatch Front residents ranked education as very important. But 70 percent ranked a safe food supply in the "very important" category, outpacing 67 percent for crime, 65 percent for the economy, 61 percent for health care and 47 percent for the environment.
The department commissioned Dan Jones & Associates to survey 210 residents of Weber, Davis, Salt Lake and Utah counties in June and July. The margin of error is plus or minus 7 percent.
The Dan Jones poll was the first ever for the department. "It was conducted primarily to help us in the updating of our strategic plan," department spokesman Larry Lewis said.



 
Crunch time for peanut allergies
05.aug.08
The Independent
Jeremy Laurance
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/features/crunch-time-for-peanut-allergies-885074.html
Why the peanut? That is the mystery. What is it about this humble legume that causes humans to react so powerfully? The distressing answer is that no one knows.
Sensitivity to peanuts is one of the fastest-growing food allergies worldwide and has become a major health concern. In England, cases more than doubled between 2001 and 2005. Today, an estimated 440,000 children and adults under 45 suffer anything from a mild stomach upset or rash to a life-threatening collapse when they eat a peanut.
In those worst affected, exposure to even a tiny amount of nut can trigger an anaphylactic reaction involving sudden swelling, breathlessness and low blood pressure requiring emergency medical treatment. About 30,000 people a year suffer potentially life-threatening anaphylactic attacks from all causes, the most common triggers of which are insect stings and peanuts.
There is no cure for peanut allergy and doctors remain baffled by the rise. The most severely affected sufferers have to carry syringes of adrenaline with them for injection in the event of an anaphylactic attack. But specialists say there is hope of a treatment that would prevent people suffering life-threatening reactions.
The best prospect is preventive immunotherapy, a technique already used in other allergies, aimed at curbing the immune response or inducing tolerance to the allergic trigger. The technique is based on challenging the patient with gradually increasing doses of peanut to train the immune system to cope with them. For hay fever and similar allergies, this has traditionally been done by injection, but it is not possible for peanuts because of the risk of a life-threatening reaction.
Instead, researchers have attempted oral tolerance tests in which increasing doses of peanut are given over a period of weeks. Others have used novel drugs to suppress the immune system or engineered peanut proteins to produce an immune response without triggering dangerous side effects.
Professor Wesley Burks of Duke University Medical Centre in North Carolina is confident that one of these approaches will be made to work. "It is likely that in the next five years there will be some type of immunotherapy available for peanut allergenic individuals," he wrote in The Lancet.



 
ABSTRACT: Safety improvement and preservation of typical sensory qualities of traditional dry fermented sausages using autochthonous starter cultures
15.aug.08
International Journal of Food Microbiology, Volume 126, Issues 1-2, 15 August 2008, Pages 227-234
Régine Talon a, Sabine Leroy a, Isabelle Lebert a, Philippe Giammarinaro a, Jean-Paul Chacornac a, Mariluz Latorre-Moratalla b,Carmen Vidal-Carou b, Emanuela Zanardi c, Mauro Conter c and Annick Lebecque d
aINRA, UR 454 Microbiologie, F-63122 Saint-Genès Champanelle, France bDepartament de Nutrició i Bromatologia, Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona, Avinguda Joan XXIII s/n, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain cDipartimento di Produzioni Animali, Biotecnologie Veterinarie, Qualità e Sicurezza degli Alimenti, Università degli Studi di Parma, 43100 Parma, Italy dENITA, UR Typicité des Produits Alimentaires, Site de Marmilhat, F-63370, Lempdes, France
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T7K-4SMNXN6-3&_user=10&_coverDate=08%2F15%2F2008&_rdoc=34&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_srch=doc-info(%23toc%235061%232008%23998739998%23695025%23FLA%23display%23Volume)&_cdi=5061&_sort=d&_docanchor=&_c
Traditional dry fermented sausages are manufactured without addition of starter cultures in small-scale processing units, their fermentation relying on indigenous microflora. Characterisation and control of these specific bacteria are essential for the sensory quality and the safety of the sausages. The aim of this study was to develop an autochthonous starter culture that improves safety while preserving the typical sensory characteristics of traditional sausages.
An autochthonous starter composed of Lactobacillus sakei, Staphylococcus equorum and Staphylococcus succinus isolated from a traditional fermented sausage was developed. These strains were tested for their susceptibility to antibiotics and their production of biogenic amines. This starter was evaluated in situ at the French traditional processing unit where the strains had been isolated. Effects of the autochthonous starter were assessed by analysing the microbial, physico-chemical, biochemical and sensory characteristics of the sausages. Inoculation with the chosen species was confirmed using known species-specific PCR assays for L. sakei and S. equorum and a species-specific PCR assay developed in this study for S. succinus. Strains were monitored by pulse-field gel electrophoresis typing. Addition of autochthonous microbial starter cultures improved safety compared with the traditional natural fermentation of sausages, by inhibiting the pathogen Listeria monocytogenes, decreasing the level of biogenic amines and by limiting fatty acid and cholesterol oxidation. Moreover, autochthonous starter did not affect the typical sensory quality of the traditional sausages.
This is the first time to our knowledge that selection, development and validation in situ of autochthonous starter cultures have been carried out, and also the first time that S. equorum together with S. succinus have been used as starter cultures for meat fermentation. Use of autochthonous starter cultures is an effective tool for limiting the formation of unsafe compounds in traditional sausage while preserving their original and specific sensory quality.



 
ABSTRACT: Methods for recovery of hepatitis A virus (HAV) and other viruses from processed foods and detection of HAV by nested RT-PCR and TaqMan RT-PCR
15.aug.08
International Journal of Food Microbiology
David C. Love, 1, a, Michael J. Casteel 2, a, John S. Meschke 3, a and Mark D. Sobsey a
aDepartment of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T7K-4SMNXN6-4&_user=10&_coverDate=08%2F15%2F2008&_rdoc=33&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_srch=doc-info(%23toc%235061%232008%23998739998%23695025%23FLA%23display%23Volume)&_cdi=5061&_sort=d&_docanchor=&_c
Enteric viruses are important agents of foodborne disease. Unfortunately, robust, quantitative methods for sampling and analysis of enteric and other viruses in processed or complex foods are not well-established. As a result, epidemiologically determined etiologies or pathogen sources in foodborne outbreaks are rarely confirmed by virological analysis. In this study, an acid-adsorption elution concentration (AEC) method previously used to monitor virus occurrence and investigate enteric virus outbreaks in shellfish was adapted for examination of processed food items, namely tomato sauce and blended strawberries. Hepatitis A virus (HAV), poliovirus, and coliphage MS2 (MS2) were seeded in 10 or 30 g samples of tomato sauce or blended strawberries, recovered by AEC, and quantified by cell culture infectivity assay. In addition, nested reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and TaqMan RT-PCR assays were used to detect HAV RNA. Viruses were efficiently adsorbed to foods as an initial concentration step, with infectious HAV and MS2 adsorption of 67% and 93%, respectively, to tomato sauce, and 89% and 99%, respectively, to blended strawberries. Forty-three to 65% of HAV and poliovirus were subsequently eluted and recovered from tomato sauce using 0.5 M threonine, pH 7.2. The lower limits of HAV detection were at initial seeding levels of 14 PFU/g of tomato sauce and 33 PFU/g of blended strawberries. Unlike TaqMan RT-PCR, nested RT-PCR was not inhibited by undiluted final RNA extracts of tomato sauce or blended strawberries. The successful adaptation of the AEC method for enteric and other virus recovery, quantitation and detection in processed foods demonstrates its potential for use in the investigation of foodborne outbreaks of viral etiology and for validation of virus disinfection and sanitary processing procedures used by the food industry.



 
ABSTRACT: Effect of microbial biocontrol agents on alleviating oxidative damage of peach fruit subjected to fungal pathogen
15.aug.08
International Journal of Food Microbiology, Volume 126, Issues 1-2, 15 August 2008, Pages 153-158
Xiangbin Xua, b, Guozheng Qin a and Shiping Tian a
aKey Laboratory of Photosynthesis and Environmental Molecular Physiology, Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Beijing 100093, China bGraduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T7K-4SK62R9-1&_user=10&_coverDate=08%2F15%2F2008&_rdoc=23&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_srch=doc-info(%23toc%235061%232008%23998739998%23695025%23FLA%23display%23Volume)&_cdi=5061&_sort=d&_docanchor=&_c
Levels of protein carbonylation in peach fruits inoculated with four antagonistic yeasts (Pichia membranaefaciens, Cryptococcus laurentii, Candida guilliermondii and Rhodotorula glutinis) were significantly reduced in response to reactive oxygen species (ROS) caused by Monilinia fructicola. In control fruit without yeast treatments, proteins carbonylation obviously increased after inoculation with M. fructicola, ranging from molecular mass 20 to 120 kDa. However, in yeast-treated fruits, no proteins carbonylation was detected at 1 d, only a small quantity of carbonylation ranging from 28.5 to 45 kDa was found at 2 d. Antagonistic yeasts significantly stimulated the activities of chitinase, É¿-1,3-glucanase, catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD) and the expressions of relevant genes during all storage periods. These results suggest that yeast treatments may be related to alleviating proteins carbonylation and mitigating pathogen-induced oxidative damage, which result in decrease of fruit decay and imply that antioxidant defense response may be involved in the mechanisms of microbial biocontrol agents against fungal pathogen.
 


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