United Kingdom - New research lights up chronic bacterial infection inside bone
22 Dec 2008
The Company of Biologists - Donna Perry [edited][iFSN]
It is reported that a new report demonstrates how a sensitive imaging technique gives scientists the upper hand in seeking out bacteria in chronic infections.
Listeria monocytogenes is a type of pathogenic bacteria that can cause severe illness and death. Listeria outbreaks recently claimed twenty lives in Canada. Additionally, Listeria infection is the third most common cause of bacterial meningitis in newborns, and can cause abortion and stillbirth. When the infection is caught in time, treatment can be difficult and take weeks to clear with intravenous administration of antibiotics.
Therefore, in order to understand how this pathogen can be so elusive and difficult to treat, a research team from Stanford University School of Medicine studied mice infected with Listeria. Their report published in the journal Disease Models & Mechanisms (DMM), (dmm.biologists.org) describes how they use a technique called in vivo bioluminescence to light up bacteria and allow them to see extremely tiny amounts of bacterial cells in living animals. Using this method, they found that small persistent patches of Listeria took up residence inside bone marrow in the mice. This is significant because it is thought that the bone marrow can act as a reservoir to the brain and spinal cord, potentially causing life-threatening infections, such as in bacterial meningitis in newborns.
Another interesting aspect of this study is due to the use of specially designed Listeria stains in treating cancer. Clinical trials are currently underway in which non-disease-causing strains of Listeria are administered to cancer patients to generate immune responses against tumors. The researchers thus also looked at these attenuated strains, and found that they too could be harbored in bone marrow. It is still unclear, however, if such bacterial persistence will increase or decrease therapeutic effects.

European Union - EFSA evaluates Salmonella contamination of pigs at slaughter
22 Dec 2008 [iFSN]
EFSA
EFSA’s Task Force on Zoonoses Data Collection has today published an analysis of the risk factors related to Salmonella in slaughter pigs within the European Union (EU). Whilst the results revealed that Salmonella infected pigs were more likely to lead to Salmonella contaminated carcasses, these could also come from uninfected pigs. Moreover, the Salmonella carcass contamination was more likely to happen in some slaughterhouses than in others. The report will serve as a scientific basis to assist Member States in defining the best control measures for reaching the Salmonella reduction targets to be defined by the European Commission.
EFSA’s Task Force recommended that Member States and the EU pig industry pay specific attention to preventing Salmonella spread within slaughterhouses, as they proved to have an important role in the contamination of pig meat.
The Task Force noted that control measures at the pig farm level would also be necessary for reducing Salmonella occurrence in pigs and pig meat and that consideration should be given to integrated control programmes covering both farms and slaughterhouses.
The analysis revealed some similarities between the Salmonella types most frequently reported in humans and those found in slaughter pigs, indicating that pigs and pig meat do contribute to Salmonella infections in humans, though other animal species and food can also be a source for infection in humans.
Some factors related to Salmonella infections were found to vary considerably between countries.
The Task Force report invited Member States to consider the factors highlighted in the report together with the ones identified in national studies when designing national Salmonella control programmes for slaughter pigs. Member States are also invited to carry out further studies at a national level in order to identify the specific factors that put pigs and pig carcasses at risk of Salmonella contamination.

Denmark and Norway – Botulism in baby food
18 Dec 2008
Eurosurveillance, Volume 13, Issue 51, 18 Dec 2008 [edited] [Promed]
A 4.5 months old, previously healthy Danish girl was admitted to a pediatric department after 6 days of passive behavior and weak suck. Over the next days she became increasingly weak, developed bilateral ptosis, the muscle stretch reflexes were lost, and mydriasis with slow pupillary responses was noted. Botulism was suspected and confirmed by testing of patient serum in a bioassay. The condition of the patient improved following administration of botulism antiserum. The clinical picture was suggestive of intestinal (infant) botulism. However, botulism acquired from consumption of food with preformed neurotoxin could not be excluded. The food history revealed consumption of a commercially produced banana/peach puree which was suspected as a possible source, and based on a precautionary principle this product was recalled. The case description illustrates a risk-management dilemma between suspected foodborne versus intestinal botulism. Taking the potentially very serious consequences of foodborne botulism into consideration, the measures taken were justified.

Sweden - A foodborne outbreak of cryptosporidiosis among guests and staff at a hotel restaurant in Stockholm county, September 2008
18 Dec 2008
Eurosurveillance, Volume 13, Issue 51, 18 December 2008
M Insulander1, B de Jong1, B Svenungsson
On 19 September 2008, the Department of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention in Stockholm was alerted about an outbreak of gastroenteritis among guests who had attended a wedding dinner on 5 September at a hotel restaurant.
Among the 23 guests attending the dinner, 15 developed gastrointestinal symptoms between 9 and 14 September. When contacting the hotel restaurant it emerged that six out of eight members of the restaurant staff, who had eaten leftovers from the dinner menu, also had developed symptoms during the same period, and two of them were hospitalized. However, none of the staff reported any gastrointestinal symptoms around 5 September, when the dinner was served.
In total, 21 cases with gastrointestinal symptoms were identified in the outbreak. The median age of the cases was 34.4 years (range 10-82 years), nine were women and 12 were men.
Stool specimens from 26 individuals, 20 guests and six staff members, were analyzed with standard techniques for bacterial pathogens as well as parasites. Sixteen cases were positive for Cryptosporidium species, twelve guests and four employees. None were positive for bacterial enteropathogens.
In order to identify the source of the outbreak, a retrospective cohort study was initiated.
On 22 September, a questionnaire was sent to all guests inquiring about symptoms, as well as foods and drinks consumed. The guests were given the opportunity to answer the questionnaire via an enclosed paper copy or via a web-link. The staff received a similar questionnaire without the web-link. The response rate among guests and staff was 100%. Guests and staff were asked to deliver fecal samples for bacteriological and parasitological analyses.
Of the cases, there were 16 confirmed and five probable. The dates of onset of symptoms were between 9 and 14 September and the median incubation period was 7.1 days (range 4-9 days). The most common symptoms reported by the cases were diarrhea (100%), abdominal pain (95%), nausea (86%), vomiting (38%), and fever >38°C (38%). Duration of symptoms lasted longer than one week for 18 people (86%). Three individuals were hospitalized due to dehydration.
There were two options for the main dish on the dinner menu. One was beef with béarnaise sauce, served with haricots verts rolled in bacon and baked potatoes, and the other option was salmon served with asparagus, white wine sauce and boiled potatoes. The children were served hamburgers with chips and none of them developed intestinal symptoms. They were also negative for Cryptosporidium in fecal samples. A cake, which was eaten by all the guests but not by the staff, was served as dessert. Food and drink histories, based on the menu items consumed, indicated that the béarnaise sauce was the most probable source of the outbreak with a relative risk of 4.00 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.14-14.09). The sauce had been prepared during the afternoon of the day it was served, and the ingredients were: eggs, butter, onion, vinegar and dried tarragon. The last item added to the sauce, after the heating, was chopped fresh parsley. No other food or drink item was associated with any significant risk. All tap water was obtained from the community network.
The 16 fecal specimens that were positive for Cryptosporidium oocysts were further analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). PCR products were obtained from 13 of those samples. The Cryptosporidium genotype was determined by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) as described previously [1] and showed that all 13 individuals were infected with Cryptosporidium parvum (Marianne Lebbad, personal communication).
A project on sub-genotyping of all isolates is ongoing and may provide some information of which subtype that was involved in this outbreak.
The local environmental health office was contacted and an environmental health officer inspected the restaurant kitchen. Only minor errors in food handling were identified. No food items were sampled because too much time had elapsed between the dinner and the time of inspection. The fresh parsley had been imported from Italy in plastic bags and was not rinsed.

Switzerland - Fowl findings surprise veterinary officials
Swissinfo.ch [edited][iFSN]
As many as nine out of ten chickens in Switzerland are infected with Campylobacter bacteria, which when transmitted to humans can cause cramping and diarrhea. According to a report in the Sunday newspaper, SonntagsZeitung, the Federal Veterinary Office has called a crisis meeting of food and health experts, as well as poultry producers, for December 18. A spokesman told the SonntagsZeitung that the veterinary office was surprised by the results of the unpublished study, expecting only half as many chickens to have been infected with the bacteria.

Spain - Surveillance of listeriosis in Navarre, 1995-2005 – epidemiological patterns and characterisation of clinical and food isolates
05 Dec 2008
Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, University of Navarre, Pamplona, Spain and Department of Microbiology, Virgen del Camino Hospital, Pamplona, Spain
V Garrido, L Torroba, I García-Jalón, A I Vitas [edited][iFSN]
We monitored the incidence of human listeriosis in Navarre, a region in north of Spain between 1995 and 2005, and carried out the characterization of Listeria monocytogenes isolates obtained from clinical samples and ready-to-eat products (sliced cooked meat, smoked salmon and liver pate). The active surveillance requesting hospitals to notify all listeriosis cases (n=40) yielded higher incidence rates (average annual rate 0.65/100,000 inhabitants, range 0.18-1.18/100,000 inhabitants) than expected. Pregnant women were the largest group affected (n=13, 32.5% of the cases), with a peak in incidence during the last three years of the study period. From the 40 human cases we obtained 33 Listeria isolates. Serological and molecular characterisation by PFGE identified 20 different pulsotypes, which on three occasions enabled us to link sporadic cases into clusters. Although we could not identify the incriminated food product we found two clinical pulsotypes among smoked salmon and cooked meat isolates. Surveillance of listeriosis in Spain should be improved and coordinated with other European Union Member States in order to better estimate the burden of disease and to prevent foodborne outbreaks.

Ireland - FSAI publishes bottled water report
04 Dec 2008
FSAI [edited][iFSN]
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) today published its report on the safety and quality of bottled water on the Irish market. The report involved analysing 962 water samples taken from a range of retail premises throughout the country by Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) between September and December 2007 inclusive. A number of non-compliances were found and at the time were corrected immediately, with a number of bottled waters withdrawn from the market and corrective actions taken by the industry.
The aim of this study was to investigate compliance of bottled waters on retail sale in the Republic of Ireland against the microbiological criteria laid down in appropriate EU regulations. It is a summary report of official activity on the ground over a specific period of time bringing together all the data and sampling from EHOs around the country. It reviews actions taken in the past and provides an overview of the findings identified. The three types of bottled waters defined in the legislation were sampled - natural mineral water, spring water and other waters.
Dr John O’Brien, CEO, FSAI states that whilst the findings did not signify a risk to public health, any breach of the hygiene criteria is unacceptable.
The main findings of the report are:
1.0% (10/960) of samples contained Escherichia coli, the primary indicator of fecal contamination in water and 0.2% (2/955) of samples contained Enterococci, also an indicator of fecal contamination. The numbers of these indicator organisms in samples were low and did not signify a risk to public health. Nevertheless, these samples were considered to be unfit for human consumption and appropriate action was taken in each case. This included product withdrawal, re-sampling and re-testing, where appropriate, and voluntary plant closure for sanitation and hygiene improvements.
0.8% (8/955) of samples contained Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The organism is commonly found in water, soil and feces and is capable of growth in low nutrient aquatic environments. It is an opportunistic pathogen that rarely causes illness in healthy individuals but may be associated with hospital acquired infections.
6.3% (60/960) of samples contained coliforms whose presence is an indication of possible fecal contamination and warrants further investigation. The presence of coliforms raises concerns regarding the standards of hygiene of the source or in the bottling process.
7.2% (69/952) of samples analysed for the four parameters (i.e. coliforms, E. coli, Enterococci and P. aeruginosa) were found to not meet legal standards or were unsatisfactory compared to guideline criteria.
While the numbers of E. coli and coliform positive samples appeared to be higher in domestically bottled products and the levels of Enterococci and Pseudomonas aeruginosa positive samples appeared to be higher in imported products, there was no evidence of a difference in quality or safety between domestically produced and imported products.

United Kingdom – E. coli kite mark shows manure pollution risk
02 Dec 2008
Natural Environment Research Council [edited][iFSN]
Manure helps maintain the fertility of farmland. But when washed off the land and into rivers and streams by rainfall, it can carry bacteria such as E. coli and threaten human health by contaminating irrigated crops or polluting bathing waters.
As well as these bacteria, it also contains high levels of nutrients and organic matter that can harm river ecosystems by over-fertilising plants and algae - a process known as eutrophication - and also by starving fish of oxygen.
The problem of fecal contamination of watercourses has been seen in the West Country, which has a large grassland-based livestock industry and many tourists. Several public beaches in the southwest have recently failed to meet the requirements of the Bathing Water Directive, potentially harming the area's tourist industry.
A recent EU Directive, the Water Framework Directive, is coming into force soon, and will compel EU nations to account for the state of all their inland bodies of water, and eventually put them in good ecological order.
The upshot will be that farmers who don't keep the contaminated runoff from their land within strict limits will risk a fine. Other legislation, such as the Nitrates Directive, will also increase the pressure to stem the flow of polluted water.
An interdisciplinary team of researchers from Lancaster and Exeter Universities and North Wyke Research, an institute sponsored by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, has developed a tool to help farmers visualize and understand the risks of contamination. It uses a kite-shaped diagram to represent these risks.
“How can an individual farmer reduce the risk of polluting watercourses?” asks Dr. Dave Chadwick from North Wyke Research, who led the project. “The kite risk-assessment tool is designed to help. It illustrates whether the farm is high risk, and how the farmer can apply his efforts most effectively and at least cost.”
“We have also developed a cost-assessment tool that offers farmers a list of the methods they could use to reduce the risk of microbial pollution together with what each method would cost,” Chadwick explains.
Making this link would allow farmers to determine the most cost-effective way to reduce risk of pollution by a given percentage, or target where best they can spend a fixed amount of money on pollution control.
The researchers based the kite risk assessment tool on visits to 77 farms in the Taw river catchment in North Devon, with long-term monitoring of around 10 of them. They looked at variables like the shape of the landscape and the number of grazing animals, and surveyed farmers' knowledge of the risk of pollution and attitudes to managing manure. They also tested water quality at fixed locations over several seasons.
Using the data, the researchers came up with a kite-shaped model framework to represent the problem visually. Each point of the kite shape stands for one of the four variables that the researchers showed to be the crucial factors determining the risk of E. coli pollution.
The first is the accumulated microbial burden on the land - this includes how densely the land is stocked with animals and how manure, whether in solid or slurry form, is managed. The second is the potential for run-off, including the presence of drains and landscape features like slopes and streams.
The third variable is farm infrastructure - for example, how much manure storage is there, are there livestock collection yards, and if so, how effective are measures to divert contaminated runoff from them into storage facilities rather than ditches and streams? The final factor is the degree to which there are social and economic obstacles to change - for instance, have farmers had training in the risk of pollution, and can they afford to invest in better infrastructure to deal with manure?
These four factors, rated from 0 to 10, determine the shape of the kite by forming its four axes. So if a farmer's land is sloping and well-drained, with good potential for run-off, and has accumulated a large burden of E. coli, but also has good infrastructure for manure storage, and there is plenty of money and training to enable change, the kite representing their situation will be elongated towards the bottom and left but shortened at the right and top.
The overall degree of risk of E. coli contaminated runoff ending up in watercourses is represented by the colour of the whole shape, with red being the riskiest and green the safest.
Once a farmer's situation has been assessed, they can then take practical and targeted measures to reduce the transfer of polluted runoff if need be.
These measures could include ensuring clean water that falls on the roofs of farm buildings does not mix with water that's been contaminated by contact with manure, preventing soil compaction around water troughs or gates, establishing buffer zones between grazing animals or manure spreading and drainage ditches and other watercourses.
The researchers discovered, among other things, that untreated sewage from the farmhouse was a significant factor in the total amount of pollution in several cases. This was a surprise, and may highlight an area needing more research - human waste is potentially more dangerous to health than manure from animals.
Another insight from the study is that injecting manure slurry into the soil may have disadvantages. This is a common practice in several European countries to reduce ammonia emissions and unpleasant odors.
Ammonia emission followed by deposition of nitrogen-rich rainfall can harm vulnerable ecosystems and cause loss of biodiversity. Until recently, Britain's anti-ammonia emissions regime has been relatively relaxed in most areas, but this could change and slurry injection is one method being considered to help meet potentially more stringent targets.
While slurry injection does indeed limit ammonia pollution by reducing the amount of slurry that is exposed to the air, other benefits include reduced risk of livestock being contaminated with potential pathogens whilst grazing, meaning that grazing stock could be let onto areas of pasture more quickly after slurry injection than after surface spreading of slurry.
But research from this latest project also showed that slurry injection causes more fecal bacteria to survive compared to surface spreading, as the bacteria are protected from UV light and desiccation.
The picture is complex. Although slurry injection causes greater persistence of bacteria in the slots, they are not necessarily at greater risk of being transported to watercourses. So, whilst ammonia pollution is a major problem, if injecting slurry into the soil can be done in a way that does not increase risk of polluted runoff, its ability to prolong the lives of harmful bacteria could be a price worth paying. Chadwick points out that more attention should be paid to such secondary effects of anti-pollution measures.

Australia and United Kingdom - New test helps drinking water safety
02 Dec 2008
Science Alert - Environmental Biotechnology CRC [edited][iFSN]
A novel rapid screening assay has the potential to reduce harmful waterborne disease outbreaks. The test can identify the major species of Cryptosporidium that are present in human feces in less than three hours. Cryptosporidium is the most common non-viral cause of diarrhea worldwide. The Environmental Biotechnology CRC (EBCRC) research team has collaborated with the Cryptosporidium Reference Laboratory in the United Kingdom to validate their real-time screening tool for Cryptosporidium detection using FISH (fluorescent in situ hybridisation). Current technologies take up to 15 hours to do the equivalent test.
"The technology is on the detection of human infectious Cryptosporidium species using fluorescent probes that target specific sequences of nucleic acid. The probes can distinguish C. parvum and C. hominis which are responsible for most of the outbreaks that are harmful to

European Union - An international outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157 infection due to lettuce, September – October 2007
01 Dec 2008
Eurosurveillance, Volume 13, Issue 50 [edited] [iFSN]
I Friesema ()1, G Sigmundsdottir2,3, K van der Zwaluw1, A Heuvelink4, B Schimmer1, C de Jager1, B Rump5, H Briem2, H Hardardottir3, A Atladottir2, E Gudmundsdottir6, W van Pelt1
Between 14 September and 20 October 2007, an outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157 simultaneously occurred in the Netherlands and Iceland. A total of 50 laboratory-confirmed cases were reported with a STEC O157 infection caused by the same clone. The strain was of type O157:H-, PT8, positive for stx1, stx2, eae and e-hly, and sorbitol negative. The most probable cause of this international outbreak was contaminated lettuce, shredded and pre-packed in a Dutch food processing plant. Samples of the environment, raw produce and end products, taken at several vegetable growers and processing plants all tested negative for STEC O157. However, the only epidemiological link between the cases in the Netherlands and in Iceland was the implicated Dutch processing plant. In Europe, food products are often widely distributed posing the risk of potential spread of foodborne pathogens simultaneously to several countries. This international outbreak emphasizes the importance of common alert and surveillance systems in earlier detection of international outbreaks and better assessment of their spread.

Belgium - Processing practices contributing to Campylobacter contamination in Belgian chicken meat preparations
10 Dec 2008
International Journal of Food Microbiology, Volume 128, Issue 2, 10 December 2008, Pages 297-303
Imca Sampers, Ihab Habib, Dirk Berkvens, Ann Dumoulin, Lieven De Zutter, Mieke Uyttendaele [edited][iFSN]
sciencedirect.com
Abstract
The aim of this study was to obtain insight into processing practices in the poultry sector contributing to the variability in Campylobacter contamination in Belgian chicken meat preparations. This was achieved by company profiling of eleven food business operators, in order to evaluate variation of processing management, in addition to statistical modelling of microbiological testing results for Campylobacter spp. contamination in 656 end product samples. Almost half (48%) of chicken meat preparation samples were positive for Campylobacter spp. Results revealed a statistically significant variation in Campylobacter contamination between 11 chicken meat producers across Belgium at both quantitative and qualitative detection levels. All producers provided Campylobacter -positive samples, but prevalence ranged from 9% up to 85% at single producer level. The presence or addition of skin during production of chicken meat preparations resulted in almost 2.2-fold increase in the probability of a sample being positive for Campylobacter , while chicken meat preparations made from frozen meat, or partly containing pre-frozen meat, had a significant (Odds Ratio = 0.41; CI 95% 0.18:0.98) lower probability of being positive for Campylobacter. However, the quantitative results indicated that the positive freezing effect on Campylobacter count was compromised by the presence and/or adding of skin.

France - Quantitative risk assessment for Escherichia coli O157:H7 in frozen ground beef patties consumed by young children in French households
30 Nov 2008
International Journal of Food Microbiology (Volume 128, Issue 1, Pages 158-164 ) [iFSN] M.L. Delignette-Muller, M. Cornu and the AFSSA STEC study group
Abstract
A quantitative risk assessment for Escherichia coli O157:H7 in frozen ground beef patties consumed by children under 10 years of age in French households was conducted by a national study group describing an outbreak which occurred in France in 2005. Our exposure assessment model incorporates results from French surveys on consumption frequency of ground beef patties, serving size and consumption preference, microbial destruction experiments and microbial counts on patties sampled from the industrial batch which were responsible for the outbreak. Two different exposure models were proposed, respectively for children under the age of 5 and for children between 5 and 10 years. For each of these two age groups, a single-hit dose-response model was proposed to describe the probability of hemolytic and uremic syndrome (HUS) as a function of the ingested dose. Results show that children under 5 years of age are roughly 5 times more susceptible to the pathogen than children over 5 years. Exposure and dose-response models were used in a scenario analysis in order to validate the use of the model and to propose appropriate guidelines in order to prevent new outbreaks. The impact of the cooking preference was evaluated, showing that only a well-done cooking notably reduces the HUS risk, without annulling it. For each age group, a relation between the mean individual HUS risk per serving and the contamination level in a ground beef batch was proposed, as a tool to help French risk managers.

United Kingdom - New superbug version of E. coli found on British dairy farm
18 Nov 2008
Mail Online - Sean Poulter [edited][iFSN]
According to this story, a new superbug version of E. coli , which could trigger life-threatening infections, has been found on a British dairy farm. The mutant strain of E. coli O26 is believed to have emerged as a direct result of the heavy use of antibiotics on farmyard animals.It is reported that E. coli O26 is a vera-toxin producing bug, similar to the infamous E. coli O157, which has been implicated in a number of fatal food poisoning outbreaks. This is the first time that this particular bug, with an enhanced antibiotic resistance known as extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL), has been found in this country.

United Kingdom - Listeria warning over chilled foods
02 Nov 2008
Press Association [edited] [iFSN]
The Observer - Jamie Doward
According to this story, a doubling in the cases of Listeria has prompted a warning about chilled, ready to eat food. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said the latest figures show 400 cases a year, double the number seen in 2001 and a rise of a fifth in the past 12 months. Most of those have been in people aged 60 plus, one of the vulnerable groups for whom the bacteria can be life-threatening. It is reported that the FSA fears fridges which are too warm and people's reluctance to throw away food which looks safe to the naked eye could be contributing to the rise in cases of listeriosis.

Europe - Legal and illegal colours
01 Nov 2008
Trends in Food Science & Technology (Volume 19, Supplement 1, Pages S60-S65)
John Chr. Larsen [edited][iFSN]
sciencedirect.com
Food additives are evaluated by the European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) Scientific Panel on Food Additives, Flavourings, Processing Aids and Materials in Contact with Food (the AFC Panel). The AFC Panel is supported by its standing working group on food additives (WG ADD), which prepares draft opinions on food additives, including colours, and on the bioavailability and safety of nutrient sources. The WG ADD consists of several members from the AFC Panel together with selected external experts. The draft opinions go forward to the AFC Panel for discussion and final adoption. The adopted opinions are published on the EFSA web site. During its first 5 years of existence the AFC Panel has experienced the highest workload of all EFSA Panels, of which evaluations of food additives have been a substantial part. Although the AFC Panel has issued many opinions on food additives, some of which have been widely debated, such as opinions on aspartame [EFSA. (2006). Opinion of the Scientific Panel on Food Additives, Flavourings, Processing Aids and Materials in Contact with Food (AFC) related to a new long-term carcinogenicity study on aspartame. Opinion expressed on 03/05/2006. [Available at http://www.efsa.europa.eu/EFSA/efsa_locale-1178620753812_1178620765743.htm . Accessed 12.05.08.] and parabens [EFSA. (2004). Opinion of the Scientific Panel on Food Additives, Flavourings, Processing Aids and Materials in Contact with Food (AFC) related to para hydroxybenzoates (214e219). Opinion expressed on 13/07/2004. [ Available at http://www.efsa.europa.eu/EFSA/efsa_locale-1178620753812_1178620761956.htm. Accessed 12.05.08.] this paper only deals with some of the major issues that the Panel has faced in relation to the use of food colours. The three topics to be dealt with are (1) evaluation of illegal colours in food in the EU (EFSA, 2005), (2) re-evaluation of the authorised food colours in the EU (ongoing, but one opinion on Red 2G has been published; EFSA, 2007), and (3) evaluation of “the Southampton study” on hyperactivity in children after intake of food colours (and sodium benzoate) (ongoing at the time of this presentation, but an opinion has now been published; EFSA, 2008).

European-wide baseline studies: achievements and difficulties faced
01 Nov 2008
Trends in Food Science & Technology (Volume 19, Supplement 1, Pages S36-S44)
Tine Hald [edited][iFSN]
Sciencedirect.com
With the purpose of providing the scientific basis for setting targets for Salmonella in food-producing animals, several EU-wide baseline studies to determine the prevalence of Salmonella have been organised at the European Community level. The studies in laying hens and broilers are completed and reported. The achievements and difficulties faced are the main focus of this paper. The results support that poultry products, and table eggs in particular, are important sources of human salmonellosis in EU. However, they also illustrate that with effective surveillance and control efforts, as implemented in several Member States, the prevalence, and thus the associated human infections, can be reduced significantly.

United Kingdom - Mapping the future dynamics of disease transmission: risk analysis in the United Kingdom Foresight Programme on the detection and identification of infectious diseases
30 Oct 2008
Eurosurveillance, Volume 13, Issue 44, 30 October 2008 [edited][iFSN]
J E Suk1,2, C Lyall1, J Tait1
This paper reflects on the qualitative risk analysis framework developed for a Foresight study on the Detection and Identification of Infectious Diseases, which was coordinated in 2005 by the United Kingdom (UK) under what is now the Government Office for Science, Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills. The risk assessment covered human, plant and animal diseases in the UK and Africa in the years 2015 and 2030. Through engaging a diverse pool of experts, we developed a model conceptualising disease spread as the outcome of interactions among sources, pathways and drivers. We then used this model to conduct a Delphi survey of experts. The factors perceived most likely to contribute to infectious disease spread in 2015 and 2030 included geographic extension of existing pathogens (partially due to climate change), over-use of antibiotics/antivirals/pesticides leading to drug resistance, and zoonoses. Our methodology provides a framework for those who need to integrate a wide range of perspectives and factors into their planning and analyses.

United Kingdom - Northerners' hands up to 3 times dirtier than those living in the South
14 Oct 2008
London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine - Gemma Howe [edited][iFSN]
The further north you go, the more likely you are to have faecal bacteria on your hands, especially if you are a man, according to a preliminary study conducted by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. But women living in the South and Wales have little to feel smug about. In London, they are three times as likely as their men folk to have dirty hands, and in Cardiff, twice as likely. The men of London registered the most impressive score among all those surveyed, with a mere 6% found to have faecal bugs on their hands. Overall more than one on four commuters have bacteria which come from faeces on their hands. The Dirty Hands Study was conducted in order to provide a snapshot of the nation's hand hygiene habits, as part of the world's first Global Handwashing Day today. Commuters' hands were swabbed at bus stops outside five train stations around the UK (Newcastle, Liverpool, Birmingham, Euston and Cardiff). The results indicated that commuters in Newcastle were up to three times more likely than those in London to have faecal bacteria on their hands (44% compared to 13%) while those in Birmingham and Cardiff were roughly equal in the hand hygiene stakes (23% and 24% respectively). Commuters in Liverpool also registered a high score for faecal bacteria, with a contamination rate of 34%. In Newcastle and Liverpool, men were more likely than women to show contamination (53% of men compared to 30% of women in Newcastle, and 36% of men compared to 31% of women in Liverpool), although in the other three centres, the women's hands were dirtier. Almost twice as many women than men in Cardiff were found to have contamination (29% compared to 15 %) while in Euston, they were more than three times likelier than the men to have faecal bacteria on their hands (the men here registered an impressive 6%, compared to a rate of 21% in the women). In Birmingham, the rate for women was slightly higher than the men (26% compared to 21%). The bacteria that were found are all from the gut, and do not necessarily always cause disease, although they do indicate that hands have not been washed properly. Dr Val Curtis, Director of the Hygiene Centre at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, comments: 'We were flabbergasted by the finding that so many people had faecal bugs on their hands. The figures were far higher than we had anticipated, and suggest that there is a real problem with people washing their hands in the UK. If any of these people had been suffering from a diarrhoeal disease, the potential for it to be passed around would be greatly increased by their failure to wash their hands after going to the toilet'. Global Handwashing Day was initiated by the Public-Private Partnership for Handwashing (www.globalhandwashing.org), which is dedicated to promoting handwashing with soap to reduce diarrhoea in developing countries and implement large-scale handwashing interventions by combining the expertise and resources of the soap industry with the facilities and resources of governments. Global Handwashing Day activities are being implemented in more than forty countries and focus on raising awareness among policymakers and the public about the role handwashing plays in public health

United Kingdom - Tenth annual report on zoonoses
10 Oct 2008
Health Protection Agency - Health Protection Report, Volume 2, No 41 [edited][iFSN]
The tenth UK annual report on zoonoses has been published by Defra [1], bringing together information on trends in incidence of the key zoonoses in recent years and reports on outbreaks.
The report covers the principal food and water-borne zoonoses – Campylobacter , Salmonella , Vero cytotoxin-producing E. coli O157 (VTEC O157) and Cryptosporidium – as well as the main notifiable zoonotic diseases of animals: bovine tuberculosis, brucellosis, anthrax, rabies, West Nile Virus, BSE and avian influenza.
Main sections of the report cover:
Campylobacter : This was the most commonly-reported cause of bacterial food poisoning in humans in 2007. There was an increase in human cases of 10% over the year, with more than 55,000 being reported. However, the long-term trend has been a fall from the peak of over 65,000 cases reported in 2000.
Salmonella : In 2007, 13,213 laboratory reports of Salmonella in humans were recorded in the UK, a decrease of 6.2% compared to the 14,060 confirmed cases in 2006. The report discusses a number of incidents affecting egg, meat and other agricultural product sectors but notes that, of the Salmonella serotypes covered by EU legislation, the estimated prevalence in the UK of 0.06% was well below the target 1% prevalence.
E. coli VTEC O157: Human cases of VTEC O157 infection fell in the UK by 9.8% in 2007 compared with 2006.
Bovine tuberculosis: There was an increase in both new incidents of bovine tuberculosis in cattle during 2007 and in the number of herds tested.
Lyme borreliosis: Throughout 2007, there was an increase in reports, with seasonal trends similar to those seen in previous years.
Avian influenza: The finding of H5N1 in a wild swan in Scotland and of low pathogenic avian influenza H7N3 in poultry in Norfolk is discussed.
Q Fever : A cluster of Q fever cases was identified in 2007 in the Cheltenham area. Despite extensive investigations by the HPA and VLA, no source was identified.
Reference
1. Zoonoses Report: United Kingdom 2007 . London: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 2008. Available at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/animalh/diseases/zoonoses/zoonoses_reports/zoonoses2007.pdf.

European Union - Researchers discover the 'how' of Salmonella contamination
09 Oct 2008
European Research [edited][iFSN]
A new study headed by Professor Gadi Frankel from Imperial College London in the UK has revealed how the Salmonella bacteria use their stringy appendages to attach themselves to salad leaves and other vegetables. The results were presented at the 21st International ICFMH Symposium ‘Food Micro 2008’ conference held in Aberdeen from 1- 4 September.
Last October, a Salmonella outbreak affected 144 people across Ireland and the UK. This outbreak, according to the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, was linked to a similar outbreak in France, Finland and Sweden. Food poisoning as a result of Salmonella is usually associated with contaminated meat products, primarily from cattle and chicken. The pathogens live in the guts of cows and the guts and egg-ducts of chickens and contamination of meat is most likely to occur during the slaughtering process.
What may be shocking to some is the fact that Salmonella can also occur from eating salads. According to UK statistics, between 1996 and 2000, 23% of the UK's infectious intestinal disease outbreaks like Salmonella and E. coli were caused by contaminated food, and of these, 4% were linked to prepared salad. With so much attention being focused on meats, Salmonella contamination of salads is often overlooked.
What the study was able to discover was precisely how the Salmonella bacterium attack and attach themselves to vegetables; it found that this was done through the use of their stringy appendages, or flagella as they are known .This ability to attach itself to vegetables is used by one particular strain of Salmonella called Salmonella enterica serovar Senftenberg. Increased understanding of the mechanism that pathogens such as Salmonella use to bind themselves to vegetables is important if scientists are to develop new methods of preventing this kind of contamination and the sickness it causes.
The flagella are primarily used by the bacterium to move around. They flatten themselves out beneath the bacteria and then attach themselves onto vegetables, giving themselves the appearance of long thin fingers holding onto the vegetable. Further proof was needed to confirm that Salmonella did indeed require these appendages to attach themselves to vegetables. The scientists then genetically engineered Salmonella without flagella in the lab and found that they could not attach themselves to the leaves, and the salad remained uncontaminated.

Melamine contamination of dairy products in China – public health impact on citizens of the European Union
03 Oct 2008
Eurosurveillance [edited][iFSN]
D Coulombier, C Heppner, S Fabiansson, A Tarantola, A Cochet, Peter Kreidl, R Reintjes
On 10 September 2008, ProMED issued a request for information concerning 14 cases of kidney stones in infants hospitalised in Gansu province, China, in the previous two months. On 21 September, Chinese authorities reported 39,965 cases of kidney stones in infants, including three deaths related to the consumption of melamine-contaminated powdered infant formula. On that day, 12,892 of them were hospitalised, 104 with severe illness. Most of these cases (82%) affected children under two years of age.
A large melamine contamination of milk-containing products, including infant formula, was reported from China. The level of contamination is variable but reaches high levels among certain producers. Contaminated food items include infant formula, liquid milk, frozen yoghurt dessert, coffee creamer, ice-cream, chocolate cookies and candies.
Food safety agencies in Hong Kong and Taiwan as well as in several other countries and locations have identified locally sold contaminated products originating from China, including: Singapore, New Zealand, Indonesia, South Korea, Vietnam and Canada. Contaminated products were also exported to Bangladesh, Burundi, Myanmar, Gabon and Yemen. Media in the European Union (EU) have reported that milk products originating from China had been found in Spain and Portugal. Ireland has withdrawn confectionary from sales outlets that had been identified by New Zealand health authorities as contaminated. On 17 September, China recalled tons of milk powder produced by Sanlu Group Co since March 2008. The importation in the EU of milk products from China has been prohibited under EU legislation since 2002. However, certain amounts of composite products (i.e. products which contain a processed product of animal origin and a product of non-animal origin) containing processed milk components may have reached the EU in the past, including confectionary, biscuits, chocolate, toffee or cakes.
On 26 September 2008, the European Commission extended this ban to all Chinese composite products containing milk or milk products, primarily intended for infants and young children, which could contain traces of milk powder. As a result, systematic tests (threshold 2.5 mg/kg) will be performed on Chinese products containing more than 15% of milk products, and on all consignments of such composite products whose amount of milk product content cannot be established. The tolerable daily intake (TDI) of melamine is 0.5 mg/kg body weight in the EU. Repeated exposures above the TDI require a more detailed assessment of all the data to determine the possibility of adverse effects on health.
Melamine, when associated with cyanuric acid, can cause renal failure by the formation of insoluble melamine cyanurate crystals in renal tubules and/or the formation of calculi in kidneys, ureter, urethra or the urinary bladder. These calculi are a mixture of melamine, protein, uric acid and phosphate and as such are distinct from other kidney stones. They are radiolucent and give a negative image on urinary tract X-ray. Usually both kidneys and ureters are affected. In severe cases, ultrasound investigation reveals bilateral renal enlargement (due to renal tract obstruction) with increased echogenicity. Furthermore, the urine sediment crystals may contain material with a characteristic double refraction in microscopy. Further details on differential diagnosis and ultrasound and x-ray findings can be found on the WHO webpage (http://www.who.int/csr/don/2008_09_29a/en/index.html)
Although there is evidence for the carcinogenicity of melamine under conditions that produce bladder calculi in animals, this evidence is still lacking in humans.
The following symptoms have been observed in infants affected by the melamine-contaminated infant formula in the current outbreak in China:
Unexplained fever arising from urinary tract infections/bacteraemia secondary to urine stasis resulting from urinary tract obstruction;
Unexplained crying in infants, especially when urinating, possible vomiting;
Macroscopic or microscopic haematuria;
Acute obstructive renal failure: oliguria or anuria;
Dysuria (pain on urinating) and passage of stones while urinating (for example, a baby boy with urethral obstruction with stones normally has dysuria);
High blood pressure, oedema, pain over the kidneys.
Urolithiasis (kidney stones) in infants is a very uncommon disease. However, the information available in the EU indicates that although several hundred cases of urinary stones possibly occur every year in the EU in children under the age of five years, these are almost certainly unrelated to melamine exposure.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published a statement on 24 September indicating that the estimated exposure does not raise concerns for the health of adults in Europe should they consume chocolates and biscuits containing contaminated milk powder. Children with an average consumption of biscuits, milk-toffee and chocolate made with such milk powder would generally not exceed the tolerable daily intake (TDI), either. However, in a worst case scenario, with the highest level of contamination, children with high daily consumption of milk-toffee, chocolate or biscuits containing high levels of milk powder would exceed the TDI. Children who consume both such biscuits and chocolate could potentially exceed the TDI by more than three-fold. However, EFSA noted that it is presently unknown whether such high level exposure scenarios may occur in Europe.
In the view of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the risk would be higher for children if counterfeit or illegally imported milk products were present in the EU. The risk for humans with compromised renal function or haemo-concentration associated with absorbing ”acceptable” melamine doses, i.e. at the TDI, is unclear. Such individuals would be advised to avoid consumption of suspect products.
In particular, specific groups of EU citizens may have been and/or still be at higher risk of having been exposed to contaminated products:
Visitors to China in the recent months;
Citizens of overseas territories, to which contaminated products have been exported;
Children who have been recently adopted from China and were exposed to contaminated infant formula of Chinese origin provided they are still exposed to infant formula originating from China;
Travellers to and residents in China; they should currently be aware of the possibility of contamination of dairy products still sold in China, including milk, milk products and infant formula until the extent of the contamination is fully ascertained by Chinese authorities.
Even though there were indications of potential contamination already in late 2007, the period of potential exposure can be considered to have started in March 2008, when the contaminated batches were produced which triggered the alert. The assessment of the public health impact of potential exposure of EU citizens to melamine-contaminated food products during this period should therefore focus on children under the age of 10 years (the oldest case reported in Hong Kong) even though most of the cases were younger than three years. The ECDC suggests the assessment to be done as follows:
Retrospectively, by checking hospital discharge data (or other appropriate sources e.g. emergency consultation registers) for ICD 10 codes related to renal failure and urolithiasis, for infants under the age of 10 years, as most cases in China were in this age group. The relevant ICD 10 codes include N17, N19, N20, N21 and N23. This review should cover the period from March 2008 onwards. Data retrieved should be compared to historical baseline data;
Prospectively, by informing health care providers in paediatric wards of the clinical presentation of the disease. Children, under the age of 10 years, who present with symptoms or signs of urolithiasis or acute renal failure and for whom other potential causes of kidney stones have been excluded by differential diagnosis, should be tested for melamine exposure using a food exposure questionnaire and, if appropriate, by testing for melamine; confirmed cases should be notified to the health authorities.

Denmark - Antimicrobial resistance and molecular epidemiology of Salmonella Rissen from animals, food products, and patients in Thailand and Denmark
01 Oct 2008
Foodborne Pathogens and Disease, Vol 5, No 5
Rene S. Hendriksen, Aroon Bangtrakulnonth, Chaiwat Pulsrikarn, Srirat Pornreongwong, Henrik Hasman, Si Wook Song, Frank M. Aares [edited] [iFSN]
Recently, increases in both the number of Salmonella infections due to Salmonella Rissen in Thailand and the isolation of this serovar from pork products in Thailand were reported. The objectives of the present study were to determine the genetic diversity and antimicrobial resistance of Salmonella Rissen isolates recovered from humans, food products, and animals in Denmark and Thailand. Additionally, risk factors due to travel and consumption of specific food products were analyzed and evaluated. A total of 112 Salmonella Rissen isolates were included in this study from Thailand and Denmark. Thai isolates were recovered from humans, uncooked food, and ready-to-eat food. Danish isolates were obtained from humans (with and without a history of travel to Thailand prior to the infection), Danish pig or pork products, imported pig or pork products, turkeys, and animal feed. A total of 63 unique XbaI PFGE patterns were observed. The predominant pattern was shared by 22 strains. Limited antimicrobial resistance was observed in the Danish strains, and a higher degree of resistance was observed in strains originating from Thailand. Virtually all isolates were resistant to tetracycline. The tetA gene was detected in tetracycline-resistant isolates. Statistical analysis and molecular subtyping identified the combination of travel to Thailand and consumption of imported pig or pork products as well consumption of as pig or pork products produced in Denmark as risk factors for Salmonella Rissen infection among the Danish patients. The outcome of this study might be used as a supplement for future Salmonella Rissen investigations and outbreak detection.

France - Prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes in poultry production in France
01 Oct 2008
Journal of Food Protection, Vol 71, No 10, pp. 1996-2000(5)
Chemaly, Marianne; Toquin, Marie-Therese; Le Nôtre, Yolene; Fravalo, Philippe
This study aimed to update and create a data set from laying hens and broilers regarding contamination by Listeria monocytogenes . Two hundred laying-hen flocks were sampled, with 88 flocks reared in cages and 112 reared on the floor. One hundred forty-five broiler flocks were sampled, with 85 conventional and 60 free-range flocks. A total of 774 and 725 samples were analyzed from laying hens and broilers, respectively. L. monocytogenes was detected in 31 of 200 flocks, yielding an estimated prevalence of 15.5% in laying-hen flocks. Among positive flocks, there appeared a significant (P = 0.004) difference between caged and floor-reared hens, with a higher detection in dust samples from floor-reared hens. In positive caged hen flocks, significant (P = 0.028) differences between dust and fecal samples appeared, with a higher detection in feces than in dust samples. In broiler flocks, L. monocytogenes was isolated in 46 of 145 flocks, yielding an estimated prevalence of 32% (28% in conventional flocks versus 37% in the free-range flocks). L. monocytogenes was isolated in samples taken from conventional flocks with a lower frequency than in free-range flocks (13 versus 18%, respectively). The serotyping of L. monocytogenes strains showed that the majority belonged to type 1/2a in laying-hen flocks (74.3%) and in broiler flocks (40.5%). A significant difference (P = 0.007) between laying hens and broilers was shown for serogroup 4 and for serovar 1/2b (P = 0.007); these serogroups were more prevalent in broilers (40%) than in laying hens (5.7%).

The Netherlands - Prevalence of Salmonella in the broiler supply chain
01 Oct 2008
Journal of Food Protection, Vol 71, No 10, pp. 1974-1980(7)
van der Fels-Klerx, H.J.; Jacobs-Reitsma, W.F.; Van Brakel, R.; Van der Voet, H.; Van Asselt, E.D.
This article presents detailed information on Salmonella prevalence throughout the broiler supply chain in The Netherlands, based on results from a national monitoring program. Data were collected during the period 2002 through 2005 and from six sampling points in the chain, covering hatchery up to and including processing. Trends in Salmonella prevalence over years and seasons were analyzed as well as the effect of slaughterhouse capacity on these trends. In addition, correlations between the occurrence of Salmonella at the various sampling points were calculated. The results showed a decreasing trend of Salmonella prevalence from 2002 through 2005 at all sampling points. A seasonal effect on the occurrence of Salmonella was found at the broiler farm, with a higher prevalence during the third and fourth quarter of the year (July through December). The higher the capacity of the slaughterhouse, the lower the prevalence of Salmonella on arrival at the slaughterhouse, and the higher the prevalence at the end of slaughter and the end of processing. The detailed insights obtained in this study could be used to focus future field and experimental research on the prevention and control of Salmonella in the broiler supply chain. Results presented could also be used in risk assessment studies.

Germany - Automatic outbreak detection algorithm versus electronic reporting system
01 Oct 2008
Journal of Emerging Infectious Disease 2008 Oct [edited][iFSN]
Masja Straetemans, Doris Altmann, Tim Eckmanns, and Gérard Krause
DOI: 10.3201/eid1410.071354
To determine efficacy of automatic outbreak detection algorithms (AODAs), we analyzed 3,582 AODA signals and 4,427 reports of outbreaks caused by Campylobacter spp. or norovirus during 2005–2006 in Germany. Local health departments reported local outbreaks with higher sensitivity and positive predictive value than did AODAs.

Germany - Congruency within rural social networks as an indicator of interpersonal influence on risk judgments: the great stir caused by BSE in a village in northern GERMANY
01 Oct 2008
Public Understanding of Science, Vol. 17, No. 4 - Markus J. Lehmkuhl [edited][iFSN]
In the following survey, congruency within a sample of 150 rural social networks ascertained by comparing independently gathered data is used as an indicator of interpersonal influence concerning BSE-related current knowledge and consumption habits. Our findings suggest that friends, relatives and acquaintances mutually orientated each other about what was worth knowing about BSE. Concerning the behavioral dimension of risk judgments, our findings indicate that social networks obtained within the village explored have activated collective resistance against fear. This is explained by the character of the risk source. Positive attitudes towards conventional farming obviously contributed to the social identity of villagers. The devaluation of conventional farming as a source of societal threat by the mass media touched on an integral part of the self-definitions of villagers and activated resistance within their social networks. It is argued that a central point in explaining the role of interpersonal influence in risk judgments is not only the dimension of risk judgments but the character of the risk source. If attitudes concerning a risk source contribute positively to one's identity, the devaluation of the risk source by mass media coverage may enhance the probability of collective resistance against fear.
Free University Berlin, Department Science Journalism, Garystra β e 55, 14195 Berlin, Germany, kuhle@zedat.fu-berlin.de

France - Salmonella outbreak in infants linked to baby milk formula
30 Sep 2008
Eurosurveillance [edited][iFSN]
On Thursday 18 September 2008, the hospital of Nantes in west France informed the District Health Office of a case of salmonellosis in an exclusively bottle-fed infant.
On Monday morning 22 September, two additional cases of salmonellosis in infants were reported by the hospital of Niort in southwest France. The serotype of the three cases was unknown at that time.
At the same time, the database of the French national reference centre (NRC) for Salmonella showed a recent increase in the proportion of Salmonella enterica serotype Give isolates from infants.
The overall number of S . Give isolates received by the NRC in 2008 was 19, similar compared to the same period in previous years. However, six of the recent isolates had been obtained from infants, whereas this proportion was zero in previous years.
An investigation was started to identify any common exposures between the three reported cases of infant salmonellosis, and to identify the serotype(s) involved. In addition, we investigated the cases of S. Give in infants identified by the NRC.
The parents of the three reported infant Salmonella cases were interviewed by the district health office on their consumption of foods and drink and other exposures.
The infants, aged 9 weeks, and 4 and 5 months respectively, had developed symptoms of febrile diarrhoea between 13 and 18 September and had been hospitalised between 17 and 19 September. The infants had not been in contact with other diarrhoea cases, and had no common exposures except for their infant formula milk. All three drank the same brand (brand X) formula milk.
The batch number of the product consumed during the days before the onset of symptoms was known for two cases. The serotype of one of the three isolates was known on 25 September and confirmed as Give.
As of 25 September, five of the six infant cases of S . Give in the NRC database have been investigated. The infants are between 1.5 and 4.5 months of age and live scattered throughout France.
They developed symptoms between 17 and 28 September: all had diarrhoea, which was bloody for four infants, four had fever, and two were hospitalised. The parents of all five infants reported feeding their infants the same brand X of infant powdered formula milk in the week before onset of symptoms. The batch number is known for one case and it is the same batch as in the two cases mentioned above. No other common exposures were identified.
The preliminary results of the investigation strongly suggest the brand X formula milk as the vehicle of transmission. On 22 September, the authorities and the producer decided to recall the incriminated batch. On 23 September, the producer initiated the recall of this batch. On 24 September, the recall was extended to all batches since consumers had difficulties identifying the batch number. Consumers have been advised not to drink the product and to return it to the place of sale.
Investigations are ongoing, particularly microbiological examination of the product and investigations of additional infant salmonellosis cases. Since the recall, five additional cases of infant salmonellosis have been reported. All five infants had consumed the incriminated product before illness. The isolates of these cases are currently being serotyped.
A European alert was issued by France through the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) on 23 September.
A warning was posted on the European Early Warning and Response System on 25 September, and information was sent via the European Food and Waterborne Diseases and Zoonoses Network at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Levels of ochratoxin A in wheat and maize bread from the central zone of Portugal
28 Sep 2008 [edited][iFSN]
International Journal of Food Microbiology: Volume 127, Issue 3, 31 October 2008, Pages 284-289
C. Juan, A. Pena, C. Lino, J.C. Moltó and J. Mañes
Ochratoxigenic fungi are natural contaminants of cereal and the produced toxins are harmful to humans and animals. Ochratoxin A (OTA) is among the most important mycotoxins, and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies it as possibly carcinogenic to humans (group 2B). A total of 61 samples of bread from the central zone of Portugal were analysed for OTA by liquid chromatography (LC) with fluorescence detection (FD). For confirmation two procedures were applied, methyl ester derivatization with boron trifluoride–methanol and liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (LC/ESI/MS/MS). As far as we know, this is the first report where on-line LC/electrospray ionization (ESI) tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) was used for OTA analysis in bread. Limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) were 0.015 and 0.03 ng/g, using LC–FD, and 0.03 and 0.09 ng/g by LC-MS/MS. The incidence of OTA was 12.9% and 70.0% for wheat and maize bread, respectively. The highest OTA levels were obtained for maize bread, having one sample exceeded the European maximum limit established for OTA in cereal products. The estimate daily intake (EDI) was below the tolerable daily intake.

EFSA assesses possible risks related to melamine in composite foods from China
25 Sep 2009
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) [edited] [Promed]
Following recent events in China, the European Commission asked the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to provide urgent scientific advice on health risks for European consumers related to the possible presence of melamine(1) in composite foods containing milk or milk products originating from China. EFSA's scientists today [25 Sep 2008] issued a statement saying that if adults in Europe were to consume chocolates and biscuits containing contaminated milk powder, they would not exceed the TDI (tolerable daily intake) of 0.5 mg/kg body weight, even in worst case scenarios. Children with a mean consumption of biscuits, milk toffee, and chocolate made with such milk powder would also not exceed the TDI.
However, in worst-case scenarios with the highest level of contamination, children with high daily consumption of milk toffee, chocolate, or biscuits containing high levels of milk powder would exceed the TDI. Children who consume both such biscuits and chocolate could potentially exceed the TDI by up to more than 3 times.
High levels of melamine can primarily affect the kidneys. EFSA applied the TDI of 0.5 mg/kg body weight for melamine in a specific case of contamination in 2007.
The Commission requested EFSA to focus its assessment on biscuits and chocolate, which contain milk powder as such products can be imported from China. EFSA developed theoretical exposure scenarios based on European consumption figures of biscuits and chocolate. In the absence of available data for contaminated milk powder, EFSA also used the highest value of melamine, reported in Chinese infant formula as a basis for worst-case scenarios. EFSA stressed that it is not known at the moment whether such theoretical high-level exposure scenarios could occur in Europe.
Melamine is a chemical compound commonly used in the manufacture of resins, plastics and glues. In Europe, melamine is approved for manufacturing plastic materials and articles, but the addition of melamine in food and animal feed is prohibited.
EFSA used the highest value of melamine (approximately 2,500 mg/kg) reported in Chinese infant formula and consumption at the 95 th percentile as a basis for worst case scenarios. Because there is uncertainty with respect to the time scale for development of kidney damage, EFSA used the TDI of 0.5 mg/kg body weight which is protective for exposure over a lifetime in considering possible effects of exposure to melamine over a relatively short period, such as might occur with repeated consumption of melamine contaminated products

Nationwide outbreak of Salmonella enterica serotype Give infections in infants in FRANCE, linked to infant milk formula, September 2008
25 Sep 2008
Eurosurveillance, Volume 13, Issue 39, 25 September 2008 [edited][iFSN]
N Jourdan ()1, S Le Hello2, G Delmas1, J Clouzeau3, C Manteau4, B Désaubliaux5, V Chagnon6, F Thierry-Bled7, N Demare8, F X Weill2, H de Valk1
On Thursday 18 September 2008, the hospital of Nantes in west France informed the District Health Office of a case of salmonellosis in an exclusively bottle-fed infant. On Monday morning 22 September, two additional cases of salmonellosis in infants were reported by the hospital of Niort in southwest France. The serotype of the three cases was unknown at that time.
At the same time, the database of the French national reference centre (NRC) for Salmonella showed a recent increase in the proportion of Salmonella enterica serotype Give isolates from infants. The overall number of S. Give isolates received by the NRC in 2008 was 19, similar compared to the same period in previous years. However, six of the recent isolates had been obtained from infants, whereas this proportion was zero in previous years.
An investigation was started to identify any common exposures between the three reported cases of infant salmonellosis, and to identify the serotype(s) involved. In addition, we investigated the cases of S. Give in infants identified by the NRC.
The parents of the three reported infant Salmonella cases were interviewed by the district health office on their consumption of foods and drink and other exposures. The infants, aged 9 weeks, and 4 and 5 months respectively, had developed symptoms of febrile diarrhoea between 13 and 18 September and had been hospitalised between 17 and 19 September. The infants had not been in contact with other diarrhoea cases, and had no common exposures except for their infant formula milk. All three drank the same brand (brand X) formula milk. The batch number of the product consumed during the days before the onset of symptoms was known for two cases. The serotype of one of the three isolates was known on 25 September and confirmed as Give.
As of 25 September, five of the six infant cases of S. Give in the NRC database have been investigated. The infants are between 1.5 and 4.5 months of age and live scattered throughout France. They developed symptoms between 17 and 28 September: all had diarrhoea, which was bloody for four infants, four had fever, and two were hospitalised. The parents of all five infants reported feeding their infants the same brand X of infant powdered formula milk in the week before onset of symptoms. The batch number is known for one case and it is the same batch as in the two cases mentioned above. No other common exposures were identified.
The preliminary results of the investigation strongly suggest the brand X formula milk as the vehicle of transmission. On 22 September, the authorities and the producer decided to recall the incriminated batch. On 23 September, the producer initiated the recall of this batch. On 24 September, the recall was extended to all batches since consumers had difficulties identifying the batch number. Consumers have been advised not to drink the product and to return it to the place of sale.
Investigations are ongoing, particularly microbiological examination of the product and investigations of additional infant salmonellosis cases. Since the recall, five additional cases of infant salmonellosis have been reported. All five infants had consumed the incriminated product before illness. The isolates of these cases are currently being serotyped.
A European alert was issued by France through the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) on 23 September.
A warning was posted on the European Early Warning and Response System on 25 September, and information was sent via the European Food and Waterborne Diseases and Zoonoses Network at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Ireland - Increase in VTEC cases in the South of IRELAND: Link to private wells ?
25 Sep 2008
Eurosurveillance, Volume 13, Issue 39, 25 September 2008 [edited] [iFSN]
M B O’Sullivan ()1, Patricia Garvey2, M O’Riordan1, H Coughlan1, Paul McKeown2, A Brennan1, E McNamara3
High levels of verotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) have been recorded to date in 2008 in the Republic of Ireland. One hundred and forty-eight VTEC cases were notified up to the end of August 2008 (Figure 1), compared to 70-90 confirmed cases reported in the equivalent time period in 2006 and 2007. Thirty three percent of cases notified in Ireland in 2008 indicated that their usual drinking water supply was a private well.
In August, national attention was drawn to the concerns of investigators in the Health Service Executive (HSE) – South (counties Cork and Kerry) that most of the VTEC notifications over the summer months in that region had links to private wells. In the three-month period June –August 2008, twenty-two cases of VTEC were notified in HSE – South (Figure 2), out of a total of thirty notifications since the beginning of the year. The twenty-two cases comprised four sporadic cases and five family clusters. The household drinking water supply was from a private well in all but one sporadic case and in two cases who were part of a larger cluster (the remaining cases in that cluster had household exposure to a private well).
Investigators are concerned that exposure to private well drinking water was the primary risk factor for most of the June – August VTEC cases in HSE-South. All of the eight private wells involved were either on farms or in close proximity to farmland and livestock. Seven of those wells were found to be microbiologically contaminated. VTEC was detected in three of the wells.
Exceptionally heavy rainfall in Ireland this summer resulted in unprecedented high water table levels, marked runoff and extensive flooding. As a result, the potential for microbiological contamination of drinking water was markedly increased. Private water supplies have been repeatedly highlighted as a concern in relation to VTEC infection in Ireland. A recent E. coli O157 outbreak in Scotland emphasised the risks associated with private water supplies. Increasing awareness among households with private water supplies has also been highlighted as an initiative to reduce livestock-associated risks of VTEC.
The Irish Health Protection Surveillance Centre has recently issued a press statement advising household owners with private wells of the importance of proper maintenance of private water supplies following increases in contamination. Water authorities in Ireland have been advised of the current findings of the ongoing investigation of VTEC cases reported so far in 2008 and of associated public health concerns.

United Kingdom - Animals farmed for meat are the number one source of food poisoning bug
23 Sep 2008
University of Chicago Medical Center [edited] [iFSN]
Study by researchers from Lancashire, England, and Chicago, IL, found that 97 percent of campylobacteriosis cases sampled in Lancashire were caused by bacteria typically found in chicken and livestock. The work, which appears September 26 in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics, is based on DNA-sequence comparison of thousands of bacteria collected from human patients and animal carriers.
Campylobacter jejuni causes more cases of gastroenteritis in the developed world than any other bacterial pathogen, including E. coli , Salmonella , Clostridium and Listeria combined. Wild and domestic animals act as natural reservoirs for the disease, which can also survive in water and soil. However, the relative importance of these sources is unclear, and recent work has suggested that livestock are not the main reservoir for human disease.
Researchers led by Daniel Wilson, of the University of Chicago, and formerly Lancaster University, United Kingdom, sequenced the DNA of bacteria collected from 1,231 patients and compared it to Campylobacter jejuni DNA sequences collected from wild and domestic animals, and the environment. They used evolutionary modeling to trace the ancestry of human C. jejuni back to one of seven source populations.
In 57 percent of cases, the bacteria could be traced to chicken, and in 35 percent to cattle. Wild animal and environmental sources were accountable for just three percent of disease.
"The dual observations that livestock are a frequent source of human disease isolates and that wild animals and the environment are not, strongly support the notion that preparation or consumption of infected meat and poultry is the dominant transmission route," Wilson said.
Further studies are underway in the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand to determine the generality of the result. But the authors say they hope the current study will add impetus to initiatives aimed at controlling food-borne pathogens.
The study was funded by the Higher Education Funding Council of England and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

United Kingdom - Way to protect babies from Listeria found
17 Sep 2008
Telegraph.co.uk Roger Highfield [edited][iFSN]
According to this story the death of around two dozen babies each year in the UK could be prevented as a result of the discovery of how a disease-causing bacterium crosses the placenta from mother to unborn child. Infection with Listeria monocytogenes in healthy adults causes a mild flu like illness. However the infection can result in meningitis or blood poisoning in new born babies. It is reported that thanks to studies of gerbils and mice, the Pasteur Institute in Paris, has discovered how the bacterium manages to move from mother to unborn child. This story goes on by stating that the infection begins with ingestion of food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes , which can then cross the intestinal barrier and reach the bloodstream. The bacterium is then able to cross the barrier between the blood vessels of the brain (blood-brain barrier) or cross the placenta to disseminate to the fetus in pregnant women. They report in the journal Nature that two bacterial invasion proteins, InlA and InlB, are required for the bacterium to target and cross the placental barrier, marking the first time that this has been revealed.

United Kingdom - Low levels of Listeria in smoked fish
16 Sep 2008
Food Standards Agency (UK) [edited] [iFSN]
The food poisoning bug Listeria is rarely found above legal limits in smoked fish on sale in UK shops, according to a new survey published by the Food Standards Agency today. The study, which ran between July and November 2006, looked at the levels of Listeria in ready-to-eat smoked fish in over 1,000 supermarkets, fishmongers and grocers across the UK. More than 3,000 samples were analysed to check for Listeria monocytogenes , the main type of Listeria that causes illness in humans. While traces of Listeria monocytogenes were found in 302 samples, 99% were within the legal limit for ready-to-eat foods. Only three samples in the whole survey breached legal limits. Dr Andrew Wadge, Chief Scientist at the Food Standards Agency said: “Although only a snapshot of one type of food, this survey adds another piece to the Listeria puzzle. We know cases are on the increase in the over-60s, but we don't know why. These findings suggest that, Listeria isn't generally a problem in ready-to-eat smoked fish at point of sale – but it doesn't tell us what happens when people get it home. Are they preparing and storing food correctly and eating it within its 'use by' date? These and other questions are at the heart of further work we’re doing with our expert scientific committees to get to the bottom of this increase in Listeria .” Since 2000, the reported number of illnesses from Listeria in the UK has doubled, particularly in people over 60 years of age. In 2005, there were an estimated 400 cases, of which 380 people were hospitalised and 130 people died, making Listeria the biggest cause of death from food poisoning. Listeria is found naturally in the environment and can be present in a wide range of foods, from pâtés and soft cheeses to cooked sliced meats and smoked fish. To help minimise the risk of Listeria, the Agency has recently published guidance for those preparing and supplying chilled ready-to-eat foods. For more information about Listeria and the Agency's work in this area can be found at the links below.

Sweden - Police called on to investigate stomach bug outbreak
15 Sep 2008
The Local [edited] [iFSN]
According to this story, a severe stomach bug epidemic in a small town in western Sweden may have been caused by effluent unlawfully discharged into the Göta River, say local authorities. It is reported that at least 500 people in Lilla Edet have been affected by a bout of winter vomiting disease thought to have been caused by polluted drinking water. Witnesses report having seen a belt of excrement and toilet paper in a neabry stretch of the Göta River just days before the onset of the epidemic, which reached its most critical point last Thursday

Italy - Mafia's car-boot bread is 'poisoning' Naples
14 Sep 2008
The Observer - Tom Kington [edited][iFSN]
According to a report released last week, city officials and investigators suspect Camorra clans are behind many of the 1,400 unlicensed backstreet bakeries in and around the city which supply hundreds of street vendors who sell loaves out of car boots. Open 24 hours a day, the street sellers are drawing shoppers with cheap, crusty bread fresh from wood-burning ovens. But it is reported that police say Naples' new breed of bakers are slowly poisoning their customers by burning old varnished wood, nut shells covered in pesticides and even planks pulled from exhumed coffins.

United Kingdom - Research reveals shoppers' priorities
12 Sep 2008
Food Standards Agency (UK) [edited][iFSN]
Research findings published today show that shoppers are more likely to consider cost, quality and healthiness over environmental factors when buying their food and groceries. But, 53% of consumers said that they did consider at least one environmental issue when food shopping. Research participants were questioned in March this year on topics that included general attitudes to food, the factors influencing choices while shopping and whether they were willing to pay more for products produced in a sustainable way. Sustainability covered environmental, social and economic considerations. The survey showed that only 10% of shoppers put environmental issues first when shopping. That compares to 66% of shoppers whose first concern was economic related (including food quality) and 23% concerned with social issues (including the healthiness of food). The study found that participants had been influenced by issues commonly associated with environmental concerns at least once in the last two months when making purchases - for example, buying free range eggs or choosing a Fairtrade product. It showed that sustainability is clearly still a confusing concept for some people, with two fifths of those surveyed unable to explain what it meant. It also found that consumers have a wide range of views and differing priorities on sustainable food policy.

United Kingdom - Acrylamide survey published
10 Sep 2008
Food Standards Agency [edited] [iFSN]
The Agency today published the results of a new study looking at the levels of acrylamide, and other chemicals produced as a result of food processing, in a range of UK food products. The results are from the first year of a three-year rolling programme measuring the amounts of acrylamide, along with three other chemicals produced during food processing: 3-MCPD (3-monochloropropanediol), furan and ethylcarbamate. These types of substances are known as 'process contaminants' and are found in a range of different food products. Occurrence and levels for all of the process contaminants surveyed were in line with results from previous research and surveys carried out in the UK and internationally. Based on previous risk assessments, the occurrence and levels found do not increase concern about the risk to human health. These results do not affect Agency advice on what you should eat. The Agency advises that people should eat a healthy balanced diet, including plenty of fruits and vegetables, bread, rice, potatoes, pasta and other starchy foods, some meat, fish, eggs, beans, milk and dairy foods, and just a small amount of foods and drinks high in salt, fat and/or sugar (including chips and crisps). Further information on healthy eating can be found at the link to our eatwell website below.

Ireland - Titanium work surfaces could cut food poisoning cases say scientists
09 Sep 2008
from a press release [edited][iFSN]
Food factory work surfaces coated in titanium could cut the number of food poisoning cases every year, scientists heard today (Wednesday 10 September 2008) at the Society for General Microbiology's Autumn meeting being held this week at Trinity College, Dublin. In the food industry surfaces must be easy to clean. Wear of food contact surfaces through abrasion, cleaning and impact damage increases the surface roughness. Researchers from Manchester Metropolitan University, UK have looked at the way different work surfaces harbor bacteria that could contaminate food. They discovered that titanium could be a better work surface than stainless steel, as some pathogenic bacteria find it more difficult to attach themselves to the metal. "It is important that surfaces in a hygienic environment are kept clean," said Adele Packer from Manchester Metropolitan University. "Scratches may entrap micro-organisms such as Escherichia coli and protect them from being removed during cleaning. We measured scratches found on different surfaces and reproduced them in our lab. We coated the surfaces with titanium so that they all had the same chemistry and the only difference was the surface roughness." The researchers looked at how bacteria are retained after cleaning to surfaces with scratches. They found that the shape of the bacteria affected their retention; rod-shaped Listeria remained in tiny scratches less than 0.5 micrometers across, and round Staphylococcus cells stuck in scratches measuring 1 micrometer across. "The results show that surface scratches retain bacteria well if they are of comparable size. The more tightly the bacteria fit in the scratches, the more difficult they are to remove during cleaning," said Adele Packer. "Our findings also indicate that titanium coating may have a role in reducing the attachment of E. coli to food contact surfaces; E. coli cells attached to stainless steel much better than titanium. These results will help designers make hygienic surfaces that are easy to clean. This should help to reduce the chances of cross-contamination and cross infection," said Adele Packer of Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.

United Kingdom - Veterinary residues annual report published
08 Sep 2008
Food Standards Agency [edited] [iFSN]
The Veterinary Residues Committee (VRC) 2007 Annual Report on the surveillance of veterinary residues in food in the UK is now available online. The report details the checks that have been done for a range of residues of veterinary medicines in food. A couple of results were of particular interest to the Agency:
1) The Agency supported the VRC brand-name survey on chloramphenicol in high concentration royal jelly nutritional supplements. Where positive samples were found during the course of the survey, the Agency was notified and worked with local authorities and the companies involved to ensure that the products were withdrawn from sale. Where the products affected came from outside UK, the Agency notified the European Commission.
2) There was a fall in the number of Rapid Alert notifications about fish and shellfish products from countries outside the EU issued by the Agency to other countries in the European Union (EU). These products have been found with residues that have been banned in the EU owing due to concerns that they may damage DNA and/or cause cancer. There are several possible reasons for this fall, one being that some countries had introduced effective measures to reduce the levels of these residues in food.

Domestic refrigeration practices with emphasis on hygiene: Analysis of a survey and consumer recommendations
01 Sep 2008
Journal of Food Protection, Volume 71, Number 9 [iFSN]
Lagendijk, Emmanuelle1; Asséré, Adrien1; Derens, Evelyne2; Carpentier, Brigitte1
Abstract:
A Web-enabled survey was conducted to improve knowledge of home refrigeration practices of French consumers (n 809), with an emphasis on hygiene, and this information was used to establish recommendations. The survey targeted a convenience sample of working people. Analysis of the survey responses revealed that efforts should be directed toward improvement of microbiological control measures. Only 37% of respondents made sure the temperature in their refrigerator was 4 C or below. Only 37% of respondents reported that they systematically wrapped food. Sponges, known to be frequently highly contaminated, were used by 89% of the respondents to clean their refrigerator, which indicates the need to recommend disinfection of sponges before they are used for cleaning. Twenty-seven percent of respondents used sodium hypochlorite (bleach), but it was applied without previous cleaning (21% of the users) or in the commercial concentrated form (7% of the users). The permanent presence of water condensation on the shelves was noted by 2% of respondents, suggesting imperfect closure of the door, with a consequence of higher energy consumption and water available for microbial circulation and growth. Thus, an important recommendation is to check the door gaskets and to ensure the tight closure of the door. Seventy percent of the respondents declared that they never put warm or hot food in the refrigerator. However, many people, when orally questioned, acknowledged that they leave dishes at ambient temperature overnight before putting them in the refrigerator. It therefore is essential to recommend that perishable food not be left for more than 2 h at ambient temperature.

United Kingdom - Scotland may be under threat from an E. coli superbug
01 Sep 2008
The Press and Journal - Ryan Crighton [edited] [iFSN]
Experts are probing whether Scotland is home to a more vicious strain of the deadly E. coli O157 bug than the rest of the world, the Press and Journal revealed in this story. Studies into how E. coli affects different countries are underway in America – and last night a leading microbiologist said evidence is emerging that Scotland may suffer from the nastiest strain of the bug.
It is reported that E. coli is more prevalent in Scotland, and the north-east in particular, than anywhere else in the world. According to this story, last week, there were 11 confirmed cases of the bug at Auchinclech, near Westhill, Aberdeenshire. A further six people are showing symptoms of the infection following the outbreak, which is believed to have been caused by heavy rain washing cattle faeces into a private water supply.

Denmark - Morbidity and mortality of elderly patients with zoonotic Salmonella and Campylobacter : A population-based study
01 Sep 2008
Journal of Infection, Volume 57, Issue 3, pg. 214-222 [edited][iFSN]
Kim O. Gradela, b, c, Corresponding Author Contact Information, E-mail The Corresponding Author, Henrik C. Schønheyderc, Claus Dethlefsend, Brian Kristensene, Tove Ejlertsenc and Henrik Nielsena
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WJT-4T2J12S-3&_user=10&_coverDate=09%2F30%2F2008&_rdoc=8&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_srch=doc-info(%23toc%236887%232008%23999429996%23697096%23FLA%23display%23Volume)&_cdi=6887&_sort=d&_docanchor=&_ct=20&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=a8987d7303d511d0652014c26d625ea6
Objectives
To evaluate the impact of age and comorbidity on the risk and prognosis of zoonotic Salmonella and Campylobacter gastroenteritis in elderly individuals.
Methods
Registry-based study comprising all first-time zoonotic Salmonella / Campylobacter gastroenteritis infections in two Danish counties from 1991 through 2003. Cases were elderly (≥65 years) Salmonella / Campylobacter patients. Younger Salmonella / Campylobacter patients and age and gender matched individuals were reference persons.
Results
There were 13,324 Salmonella / Campylobacter patients (including 1226 elderly patients) and 26,648 matched reference persons. Elderly Salmonella / Campylobacter patients had more comorbidity than their matched reference persons (OR [95% CI]: 1.56 [1.35–1.80]) and comorbidity adjusted mortality rate ratios (95% CI) were 11.4 (5.1–25.4), 1.9 (1.4–2.6), and 1.3 (0.9–1.9) at day 0–30, 31–180, and 181–365, respectively. The differences in crude 365-day mortality increased with age when Salmonella / Campylobacter patients and reference persons without comorbidity were compared. The independent impact of age was less clear for individuals with comorbidity. There were no differences in comorbidity or survival between non-hospitalized elderly patients and their matched reference persons.
Conclusions
Elderly hospitalized Salmonella / Campylobacter patients had higher comorbidity and 1-year mortality than the background population. The excess 30-day mortality elucidated the prognostic role of the Salmonella / Campylobacter infection per se.

United Kingdom - Fewer cases of food poisoning – Wales
27 Aug 2008
Wales Online - Cynon Valley Leader
According to this story, a dramatic fall in people in Rhondda Cynon Taf suffering from food poisoning has been revealed. Just 13 cases have been reported up to August 5 this year – 10 of them affected by the Campylobacter strain and three from Salmonella . This compares with 39 cases through the whole of 2007 – with 30 cases of Campylobacter , eight cases of Salmonella , and one of Listeria It is reported that an explanation for this fall is the decline in the number of food poisoning cases caused by Salmonella infection and that this falling trend may be attributable to many reasons, including public awareness about food safety.

Ireland - Listeria poisoning almost double
25 Aug 2008
Independent.ie - Eilish O'Regan [edited][iFSN]
It is reported in this story that two people have died in four years from the food bug Listeria , which affected a record number of patients here in 2007. A new report reveals there were 21 cases of listeriosis in Ireland last year compared to 11 in 2004 when it first became mandatory to report outbreaks.

Switzerland - Chemical Engineers discover silver-lined solution to E. coli
14 Aug 2008
AlphaGalileo Foundation [edited] [iFSN]
Chemical Engineers in Switzerland have created a plastic film that’s up to 1000 times more effective at killing E. coli bacteria cells than conventional methods. The team from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich have discovered that coating the film with a mix of silver and calcium phosphate nano-particles proves deadly to bacteria. A chemical engineer and leader of the project explained that it had been previously impossible to apply silver in a targeted and measured way. However, by using a film and applying the silver to the calcium phosphate, he believes the problem has been overcome: Details of the work have been published in the science journal, Small with a second paper due for publication in Nature Nanotechnology next month.

France - First report of a Salmonella enterica serovar Weltevreden outbreak on Réunion Island, August 2007
07 Aug 2008
Eurosurveillance, Volume 13, Issue 32
E D'Ortenzio ()1, F X Weill2, S Ragonneau3, J A Lebon3, P Renault1, V Pierre1
Date of submission: 28 March 2008
An outbreak of gastroenteritis involving 26 guests of a wedding dinner occurred in August 2007 in Réunion Island, a French Overseas Department. Salmonella was isolated in 61.5% of cases and the two isolates serotyped were of serovar Weltevreden. We believe this to be the first food-borne outbreak due to S. enterica serovar Weltevreden described in Réunion Island. The epidemiological and environmental investigations of this outbreak did not provide enough evidence to identify a single vehicle of infection. It is necessary to improve surveillance of salmonellosis by multidisciplinary cooperation between clinicians, epidemiologists, microbiologists and veterinarians on Réunion Island.

Food scares and trust: A EUROPEAN study
07 Aug 2008
Journal of Agricultural Economics, Volume 59, Number 1, February 2008, pp. 2-24(23)
Mazzocchi, Mario; Lobb, Alexandra; Bruce Traill, W.; Cavicchi, Alessio
The complex interactions between the determinants of food purchase under risk are explored using the SPARTA model, based on the theory of planned behaviour, and estimated through a combination of multivariate statistical techniques. The application investigates chicken consumption choices in two scenarios: (a) a `standard' purchasing situation; and (b) following a hypothetical Salmonella scare. The data are from a nationally representative survey of 2,725 respondents from five European countries: France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Results show that the effects and interactions of behavioural determinants vary significantly within Europe. Only in the case of a food scare do risk perceptions and trust come into play. The policy priority should be on building and maintaining trust in food and health authorities and research institutions, while food chain actors could mitigate the consequences of a food scare through public trust. No relationship is found between socio-demographic variables and consumer trust in food safety information.

Turkey - Tourist survey: Turkish food is delicious and safe to eat
05 Aug 2008
Today's Zaman [edited] [iFSN]
A new survey has revealed that while close to 100 percent of tourists to Turkey find Turkish food from eating establishments satisfactory taste-wise, only 59 percent consider it safe and hygienic. The Turkish Food Safety Association (GGD), which was founded to raise awareness in society about food safety, recently conducted a survey titled "Food Safety Information Research" to ascertain the opinions of tourists to Turkey, particularly those from the European Union, on food safety and hygiene and their food retailing and eating establishment preferences. The survey group comprised 108 tourists from European countries above the age of 18. The survey showed that 40 percent of European tourists were quite satisfied with dishes from Turkish restaurants, 56 percent were satisfied and 5 percent gave no opinion. One hundred percent of male participants said they found Turkish meals delicious. All of the participants between ages 35 and 54 also reported that they found Turkish meals delicious.
The survey, which was conducted in person, also looked at the level of satisfaction among tourists with the safety and hygiene of dishes. While 59 percent of tourists surveyed considered Turkish food safe and hygienic, 40 percent were undecided on the question. The survey also covered the food retailing preferences of tourists to Turkey. Results showed that tourists prefer supermarkets (28 percent), small local grocers (26 percent) and specialty stores (16 percent), such as bakeries, fruit and vegetable markets and meat markets, for buying foodstuffs in Turkey. Furthermore, 8 percent of respondents noted that they prefer shopping at local bazaars and street vendors. The survey also explored what types of eating establishments tourists prefer in Turkey. While 63 percent stated that they prefer local restaurants, 21 answered hotel restaurants and 7 percent said street vendors. The GGD also recently initiated a project titled "Safe Food, Healthy Turkey" in July to raise awareness among the public on food safety issues.

Fear of food in Europe? Fear of foods in Europe through Hungarian experience
01 Aug 2008
Trends in Food Science & Technology ,Volume 19, Issue 8, Pages 403-448 D. Banati
Nearly half of European consumers think that the food they eat damages their health. Consumers fear of the unknown the most. Therefore, accurate, reliable and well-timed information about risks is crucial from competent authorities to insure consumers' safety, measure their risk perception and there is a need to avoid overreaction or hysteria of consumers under real or possible food safety threats. The ever-emerging risks, the fear of the unknown, especially of new techniques and technologies and anything considered to be “unnatural” or artificial or hard to be understood make consumers worried despite the safety of their food declared by experts. Sensitising consumers might be important in the light of an emerging risk or in case of a worsening food safety situation or an emerging outbreak, but an exaggerated warning campaign could lead to lost sensitivity, especially upon repetition. The level of fear would increase furthermore if a well-trusted, valuable regional or national product affected.

Spain - Foodborne outbreak of gastroenteritis due to Norovirus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus
31 Jul 2008
Cambridge University Press [edited][iFSN]
M. R. Sala, C. Arias, A. Dominguez, R. Bartolome and J. M. Muntada [edited][iFSN]
Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Norovirus have been recognized as the cause of sporadic cases or outbreaks of diarrhoeal illness in association with the ingestion of raw or improperly cooked seafood. This report describes a foodborne outbreak of gastroenteritis caused by both Norovirus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus following the consumption of raw seafood in a restaurant in Terrassa (Catalonia, Spain) in September 2005. Measures are needed to reduce contamination of raw seafood. Consumers can reduce the risk of foodborne illness by avoiding consumption of raw or undercooked food.

European – Union - EU food safety alerts on rise
24 July 2008
Euroactiv [edited] [Julian Knott - TACD Coordinator -Consumers International]
A record number of 7,354 of food safety alerts and notifications were sent out through the EU's rapid alert system last year. The fact that the number of notifications increased by some 600 compared to the 2006 figure (6,768) does not mean that our food is less safe, argued the EU's Health Commissioner, presenting the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed annual report for 2007 on 23 July. The purpose of the RASFF, established in 2002 as part of the bloc's new food safety external legislation, is to provide the food and feed safety control authorities with a rapid alert system for the notification and exchange of information on a direct or indirect risk to human health deriving from food or feed. The annual report details the origin of the notifications, the products and countries involved and the identified risks, as well as follow-up actions carried out in response to various food safety problems. The RASFF report breaks down the overall number of notifications into alerts, information notifications and additional information notifications. The respective figures were 961, 2015 and 4339 in 2007 compared to 934, 1989 and 3845 in 2006.
Related story:
23 July 2008 European Union reports spike in food safety warnings in 2007
Reuters - Darren Ennis and Clare Black [iFSN]

France - Recent increase of Listeriosis
22 Jul 2008
Institut de veille sanitaire, Saint-Maurice, France [edited] [iFSN]
Véronique Goulet, Alexandre Leclercq, Véronique Vaillant, Alban Le Monnier, Edith Laurent, Françoise Thierry-Bled, Nathalie Pihier, Henriette de Valk
From 1987 through 2001, the incidence of Listeriosis in France declined spectacularly, then stabilised until 2005 to around 3.5 cases/million inhabitants. This trend changed suddenly in 2006 with an incidence increase of 4.6 cases/million inhabitants, which continued until 2007 to reach 5.0 cases/million inhabitants. This increase has occurred mainly among persons >60 years of age and immunosuppressive patients, regardless of their age. No increase has occurred in pregnancy-associated cases. Most geographical districts are involved, and seasonal variation is similar than before 2006. The increase of incidence is not linked to the emergence of particular strains at the origin of clusters, and the increase occurred in both sporadic and cluster-associated cases. In nine other European countries, an increase of Listeriosis has also been observed during the period 2000-2006, with similar characteristics as in France (occurring in subjects >60 years, with no geographical and temporal clustering, and no emergence of any particular strain). In France, as in other European countries, the cause of this increase remains unknown. Different hypotheses contributing to explain this increase are discussed here.

Finland - Sharp drop in hepatitis A infections
18 July 2008
YLE News - Savon Sanomat [edited] [iFSN]
According to this story, just 17 cases of the infectious liver disease were diagnosed in Finland last year, down from hundreds in previous years. More travellers have vaccinated themselves against the virus, helping to bring infection numbers down. Most cases of Hepatitis A are blamed on the consumption of contaminated food and water while travelling abroad.

European Union - Spot checks for bacteria
16 July 2008
The Engineer - Anh Nguyen [edited] [iFSN]
Food-borne diseases could take only minutes to detect with a new lab-on-a-chip device that uses a material more commonly found in the semiconductor industry. European researchers have developed a system that prepares samples and performs DNA tests on the Salmonella and Campylobacter bacteria in a portable and cost-effective chip. They claim that it can provide results in 25 minutes, in comparison with existing methods that can take hours or days.

United Kingdom - Consumers give their views on eating out
22 June 2008
Food Standards Agency [edited] [iFSN]
The Food Standards Agency has today published a survey of more than 2,000 people across the UK that provides a snapshot of what consumers want when they eat out. The questions will help the Agency to develop more in-depth research to inform future activity in this area and were posed as part of an omnibus survey. The findings show that 85% of people agreed with the statement that restaurants, pubs and cafes have a responsibility to make it clear what is in the food they serve. In addition, when asked where respondents would expect to see nutritional information for it to be most useful, 81% of people said they would like to see it at the point when they order food, such as on the menu in a restaurant, or visible when they are buying a sandwich or a muffin in a coffee shop or cafe. In contrast, only 2% of respondents said they would find it useful on company websites.

United Kingdom - Survey results on iodine levels in UK foods
16 June 2008
Food Standards Agency [edited] [iFSN]
The Agency has today published the results of a survey measuring the levels of iodine in dairy and seaweed-based foods produced in the UK. The survey concluded that concentrations in these foods do not pose a health concern for consumers, including young children. Iodine is a trace element found in seawater, rocks and some types of soil. It is naturally present in milk. But concentrations in other foods can be influenced by its presence in animal feed and hygiene products used in the dairy industry. A total of 350 samples were taken from a range of dairy foods for sale in the UK, including milk (cow, goat and sheep), eggs (duck, goose, hen and quail), cheese, yoghurt and commercial seaweeds. The survey was used to estimate how much iodine people take in when consuming these food groups, and the choice of samples aimed to reflect the range of products available across the UK and their market share.
The results
All samples of cow milk contained low concentrations of iodine (ranging from 0.30 to 1.00mg/kg). A small number of goat and sheep milk samples gave slightly elevated levels of iodine. The highest levels were 1.3mg/kg in goat milk and 4.6mg/kg in sheep milk – though relatively few samples were tested, and the results cannot therefore be regarded as statistically significant. One sample of seaweed from a supplier in Northern Ireland contained a very elevated level of iodine (2,400mg/kg above the level of detection). FSA Northern Ireland has informed the relevant local authority, which has arranged to carry out further analysis.

United Kingdom - Top UK food chains failing to meet basic legal hygiene standards
14 June 2008
Asian News International - [edited] [iFSN]
Britain's largest food chains are not meeting basic legal hygiene standards at the restaurants they run, according to a report. Food safety ratings given by local councils suggest that about one-third of a Japanese seafood chain restaurants do not meet all the legal standards required of them. Similar problems were found with 25 per cent of Pizza Hut outlets also. In a survey of Pizza Express's 132 restaurants, it was found that 18 restaurant did not meet the standards. The law requires all restaurants to be inspected every two years by environmental health officers, and handing out of star ratings to them on the bases of the results. Restaurants with no stars are "very poor" with a general failure to comply with legal requirements. An analysis of the star rating of 1,270 outlets run by 10 of Britain's best-known restaurant chains-which included McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, Pizza Express, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, and Wagamama-shows that each of them had at least one branch that did not comply with food safety legislation.
Related stories
16 June 2008 - Yo! Sushi defends food-safety procedures after Independent attacks hygiene record
Caterer Search - Kerstin Kühn

A descriptive study of the prevalence of atypical and classical scrapie in sheep in 20 European countries - Abstract
10 Jun 2008
BMC Veterinary Research 2008, 4:19 [edited] [Promed]
A Fediaevsky, SC Tongue, M Noremark, D Calavas, G Ru, P Hopp
Background
The development of active surveillance programmes for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies of small ruminants across Europe has led to the recent identification of a previously undetected form of ovine prion disease, 'atypical' scrapie. Knowledge of the epidemiology of this disease is still limited, as is whether it represents a risk for animal and/or public health. The detection of atypical scrapie has been related to the use of only some of the EU agreed rapid tests. Information about the rapid tests used is not, as yet, available from
public reports on the surveillance of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in small ruminants. We collected detailed results of active surveillance from European countries to estimate and to compare the prevalence of atypical scrapie and classical scrapie in sheep for each country stratified by each surveillance stream; healthy slaughtered and found dead adult sheep.
Results
From the 20 participating countries, it appeared that atypical scrapie was detected in Europe wherever the conditions necessary for its diagnosis were present. In most countries, atypical scrapie and classical scrapie occurred at low prevalence level. The classical scrapie prevalence estimates were more variable than those for atypical scrapie, which appeared remarkably homogeneous across countries, surveillance streams, and calendar years of surveillance. Differences were observed in the age and genotype of atypical scrapie and classical scrapie cases that are consistent with previous published findings.
Conclusions
This work suggests that atypical scrapie is not rare compared to classical scrapie. The homogeneity of its prevalence, whatever the country, stream of surveillance, or year of detection, contrasts with the epidemiological pattern of classical scrapie. This suggests that the aetiology of atypical scrapie differs from that of classical scrapie.

United Kingdom - New method could end lettuce contamination, say researchers
09 June 2008
Food Production Daily - Jane Byrne
A method being developed to stop microbes attaching to tissues could prevent bacterial contamination of fruit and vegetables, claims a UK food research agency. The Institute of Food Research, based in Norwich, said that it is currently at the patent application filing stage in regard to an agent it has devised to inhibit bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella attaching to spinach and lettuce.

United Kingdom - Don't make your mealtime a horror story
09 June 2008
Food Standards Agency [edited] [iFSN]
Cases of Salmonella and Campylobacter food poisoning are set to soar to over 120,000 in just three months this summer. The Agency's latest food hygiene campaign, 'GermWatch' aims to combat the rise in food poisoning cases, which double during the summer months and cost the economy, in England and Wales, upwards of £1.5 billion a year.
A recent FSA survey also showed that three-quarters of the public had never heard of the most common form of food poisoning – Campylobacter . The survey also found:
*89% of people don’t store raw meat properly
*63% of people don’t wash their hands after handling raw meat or fish

Greece - Prevalence, genetic diversity and antimicrobial susceptibility of Listeria monocytogenes isolated from open-air food markets in Greece
08 Jun 2008
Food Control (Volume 20, Issue 3, March 2009, Pages 314-317) [iFSN]
George Filiousis, Anders Johansson, Joachim Frey and Vincent Perreten
Abstract
A total of 210 food samples originating from milk products, ready-to-eat salads, raw meat and raw meat products purchased in ten open-air market places in Thessaloniki, Greece, were analyzed for the presence of Listeria monocytogenes . Thirty (14.3%) contained L. monocytogenes with the highest prevalence in raw meat (27.5%), raw meat products (18%) and cheese (8%). The strains were susceptible to 16 antimicrobials as determined by microbroth dilution, except one strain which displayed resistance to tetracycline (MIC > 32 μ g/ml). This strain carried the tetracycline resistance gene tet(M). Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) revealed a low genetic diversity among the isolates, irrespective of their origin. This suggests that dominant L. monocytogenes clones are widespread in different food product types in open-air food markets in Greece. The high prevalence of L. monocytogenes in these products indicates that appropriate hygienic measures and periodic bacteriological controls are also necessary in open-air food markets to reduce contamination with food-borne pathogens. Greek specialties made with raw meat and raw milk may contain L. monocytogenes and should not be consumed by persons at risk.

United Kingdom - Cloned animals research report published
05 June 2008
Food Standards Agency [edited] [iFSN]
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has today published research into the views of the UK public about cloning animals, and cloned animals, their offspring and their products (such as milk and eggs) entering the food chain. The Agency carried out the UK-wide research in advance of being asked by any company wanting authorisation to market food produced using cloned animals.
The key areas of concern that workshop participants expressed were whether food derived from clones would be safe to eat, standards of animal welfare, the lack of tangible consumer benefits, and a mistrust in the motives of the key players involved.
When considered in the context of current breeding practices, animal cloning was seen by participants to be very different from other Assisted Reproductive Technologies; it was felt to represent a leap from ‘giving mother nature a helping hand’ to ‘interfering with nature’.
Existing levels of knowledge and understanding of the cloning process varied widely among participants at the beginning of the research. However, it was clear that their focus was less on ‘how does it work?’ and mainly on ‘why is it being used?’ and ‘what are the consequences?’
Participants struggled to identify any tangible consumer benefits and were concerned that the main motive would be a financial one to biotech companies, livestock breeders, farmers or food retailers.
As participants learned about the current low efficiency rates of Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer (SCNT) they became increasingly concerned about the impact the technique has on animal welfare. This became a significant factor behind their reluctance to accept food derived from cloned animals. Other ethical concerns raised were about where the technology is going and whether we, mankind, have the moral right to pursue such a course.
Participants were concerned that cloning could result in food that was unsafe for human consumption; this was partly a function of the perceived high incidence of miscarriages, deformed and short-lived. They feared that the process of cloning might somehow create new diseases or affect the food in some way that will be harmful to humans and that the impact on human health and wellbeing may only become apparent at some unforeseen point in the future. There was a major mismatch between the methods used by regulatory authorities to assess food safety and the public’s perception of what is needed. Participants wanted to see methods for assessing food safety that were similar to the approach used in clinical drugs trials.
If food derived from clones and their offspring were to go on sale in the UK, the research provides a clear steer in terms of what would provide consumer confidence. Regulations should be in place that address the entire process, these should be monitored and enforced and should be fully transparent to the consumer. Clones and their offspring should be fully traceable throughout the food chain and food should be labelled to enable consumers to make an informed choice.
There was a call for a programme of continuing independent research to improve the efficiency of the cloning process and to prove that food derived from clones is safe to eat.
The Agency (possibly in partnership with other bodies) was seen by most as having a key role to play, both in terms of setting and policing the rules and in informing and educating the public and therefore allowing them to make informed choices. Whatever the Agency’s role, it is crucial that it is perceived to be independent and trustworthy.

United Kingdom - Warning over faecal matter on ice cubes
04 June 2008
Western Mail South Wales Echo - Madeleine Brindley [edited] [iFSN]
Fecal matter has, according to this story, been found in ice cubes served in some hotels and pubs across South Wales. An investigation commissioned by the Chartered Institute for Environmental Health (CIEH) Wales revealed that some staff are not washing their hands before serving customers ice in their drinks. And the research also found that almost two-thirds of the ice-making machines showed evidence of mould and slime growth – presenting a further risk of contamination. The CIEH research found that one in five samples of ice tested from hotels and pubs in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan were contaminated with faecal matter. But it is reported that the researchers found no E. coli contamination in the 91 samples which were tested in February and March.

United Kingdom - Salmonella in garden birds responsive to antibiotics
02 June 2008
University of Liverpool [edited] [iFSN]
Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found that Salmonella bacteria found in garden birds are sensitive to antibiotics, suggesting that the infection is unlike the bacteria found in livestock and humans. Salmonella is increasingly resistant to antibiotics and can sometimes go undetected in animals, which increases the risk of the infection being spread to humans. The team tested the strains found in birds in the laboratory and found that antibiotics were able to kill off the bacteria. Scientists believed that wild birds carried a variety of Salmonella strains and passed the infection on to livestock through their feces. Scientists at Liverpool, however, have found that only two Salmonella strains are common in garden birds, neither of which is prevalent in livestock or humans. Research showed that these strains were a fairly distinct population of bacteria and well adapted in garden birds. The research, conducted as part of the Garden Bird Health Initiative led by the Institute of Zoology and in conjunction with the Health Protection Agency, is published in BMC Veterinary Research.

Georgia - Study finds healthy intestinal bacteria within chicken eggs
02 June 2008
American Society for Microbiology - Jim Sleva [edited] [iFSN]
The conventional wisdom among scientists has long been that birds acquire the intestinal bacteria that are a necessary for good health from their environment, but a new University of Georgia study finds that chickens are actually born with those bacteria. According to the study co-author, a professor of avian medicine, the findings could lead to better methods for promoting growth of poultry and for reducing the risk of food borne illness. He explained that as the poultry industry has moved away from the use of growth promoting antibiotics in recent years, it increasingly relies on administering probiotics – beneficial intestinal bacteria – to newly hatched chicks. Establishing a community of healthy bacteria in the birds is thought to make it more difficult for pathogenic bacteria to establish themselves, but studies on the effectiveness of probiotics have shown mixed results. He said it appears now that the timing of probiotic administration is important.

Germany - Epidemiological data on Pathogenic Yersinia enterocolitica in Southern Germany during 2000–2006
01 June 2008
Foodborne Pathogens and Disease Volume: 5, Number: 3 Jun 2008
Michael Bucher, Cornelia Meyer, Britta Grotzbach, Silke Wacheck, Andreas Stolle, Maria Fredriksson-Ahomaa
Yersinia enterocolitica is the most common species causing enteric yersiniosis, which is still the third most frequently reported foodborne gastroenteritis in Europe. Y. enterocolitica generally causes sporadic human infections, and outbreaks are rare. The most important infection source of yersiniosis is believed to be contaminated pork and pork products. Data on the prevalence of pathogenic Y. enterocolitica in animals and foodstuffs are very limited and old; thus, more information on the extent and range of the prevalence of this enteropathogen in nonhuman sources is needed. In this work, prevalence of pathogenic Y. enterocolitica in different sources in Bavaria is presented. Further, the antimicrobial resistance of human and nonhuman strains is reported. The highest isolation rate of pathogenic Y. enterocolitica (67%) was found in tonsils of slaughter pigs. No pathogenic strains were isolated from cattle, sheep, turkey, and horses. ail-Positive Y. enterocolitica was detected in dogs (5%), cats (3%), and rodents (3%) by real-time PCR. Pathogenic Y. enterocolitica was isolated only from raw pork, especially from edible offal (51%). Surprisingly, 38% of game was contaminated with this pathogen when the samples were studied with PCR. Additionally, some raw pork sausages and one poultry sample were PCR positive. All pathogenic Y. enterocolitica isolates from nonhuman sources were belonging to bioserotype 4/O:3. Antimicrobial resistance of 60 human and 140 porcine strains of bioserotype 4/O:3 was tested by the agar disc diffusion method to 15 different antimicrobial agents. All Y. enterocolitica 4/O:3 strains were susceptible to most of the tested antibacterial agents.

Ireland - An investigation into the efficacy of washing trucks following the transportation of pigs —A Salmonella perspective
01 June 2008
Foodborne Pathogens and Disease Volume: 5, Number: 3 Jun 2008
Celine Mannion, John Egan, Brendan P. Lynch, Seamus Fanning, Nola Leonard
Washing of trucks before leaving the abattoir is mandatory in the Republic of Ireland; however, little is known about the efficacy of the cleaning methods in use on trucks following the transportation of live pigs in Ireland. A National Salmonella Control Programme is in place in the Republic of Ireland, which requires the categorization of all pigs according to their Salmonella status. Herds in categories 1, 2, and 3 have a serological prevalence of infection with Salmonella serotypes of ≤10%, >10% to ≤50%, and >50% to ≤100%, respectively. Healthy pigs can carry Salmonella serotypes in their intestine, and the stress of transport may induce these carriers to shed the bacterium at a higher rate. Salmonella -contaminated trucks may infect other farms, abattoirs, and other animals if the trucks are not cleaned between trips. The main objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of washing trucks transporting pigs from category 1 and category 3 herds. In total, six category 3 and three category 1 herds were followed to three separate abattoirs. Salmonella organisms in samples collected from farm pens and from trucks preload, postload, and after washing were quantified and compared using serotyping, phage typing, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Enterobacteriaceae counts were also evaluated to indicate the level of contamination of the environment with enteric bacteria. Results suggest that although trucks are visually clean after cold-water power hosing, such washing is not effective at reducing levels of Enterobacteriaceae regardless of category. Of the 108 samples taken from trucks transporting category 3 herds, 6% were positive for Salmonella spp. preload, 17% postload, and 18% after washing. In contrast, of the 54 samples taken from trucks transporting the three category 1 herds, 11% were positive for Salmonella spp. preload, 11% postload, and 6% after washing. Salmonella isolates from the trucks postload and after washing were indistinguishable, based on PFGE patterns, from Salmonellae isolated on farm, indicating the probable shedding by carrier pigs during transit. These results demonstrate the need for better cleaning of trucks after each load, particularly when transporting pigs from high-risk herds.

Sweden - A large Escherichia coli O157 outbreak associated with locally produced lettuce
01 June 2008
A. Soderstrom, P. Osterberg, A. Lindqvist, B. Jonsson, A. Lindberg, S. Blide Ulander, C. Welinder-Olsson, S. Lofdahl, B. Kaijser
Foodborne Pathogens and Disease Volume: 5, Number: 3 Jun 2008
In 2005 a large outbreak of verotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) occurred in Sweden. Cases were interviewed and cohort and case–control studies were conducted. Microbiological investigations were performed using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to detect the Shiga-like toxin (Stx) genes followed by cultivation and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. A total of 135 cases were recorded, including 11 cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome. The epidemiological investigations implicated lettuce as the most likely source of the outbreak, with an OR of 13.0 (CI 2.94–57.5) in the case–control study. The lettuce was irrigated by water from a small stream, and water samples were positive for Stx 2 by PCR. The identical VTEC O157 Stx 2 positive strain was isolated from the cases and in cattle at a farm upstream from the irrigation point. An active surveillance and reporting system was crucial and cooperation between all involved parties was essential for quickly identifying the cause of this outbreak. Handling of fresh greens from farm to table must be improved to minimize the risk of contamination.

Drastic decrease of Salmonella enteritidis isolated from humans in Belgium in 2005, shift in phage types and influence on foodborne outbreaks
01 Jun 2008
Epidemiology and Infection Vol 136, Issue 6
J.M. Collarda1 c1, S. Bertranda1, K. Diericka2, C. Godarda3, C. Wildemauwea3, K. Vermeerscha4, J. Duculota4, F. Van Immerseela5,
In Belgium, non-typhoidal salmonellosis and campylobacteriosis are the two most frequently reported foodborne illnesses. During 2005, a 71% decrease of Salmonella Enteritidis infections compared with the average annual number cases in the period 2000–2004 was recorded by the Belgian National Reference Centre for Salmonella and Shigella. After the peak of 1999, the total number of salmonellosis cases decreased gradually, with the exception of 2003 when an increase was again recorded due to the rise of isolates belonging to the serotype Enteritidis. PT4, the predominant phage type of serotype Enteriditis over recent years (except in 2003), became the second most prevalent phage type in 2005 after PT21. The researchers present in this paper the epidemiology (incidence and trends) of human salmonellosis in Belgium and assess the role of the vaccination programme in layer flocks on the decline of the incidence of human salmonellosis and foodborne outbreaks due to S. enteritidis.

France - Ceftriaxone-resistant Salmonella enterica serotype Newport
01 Jun 2008
Emerging Infectious Diseases Volume 14, Number 6–June 2008
Svetlana Egorova, Mohammed Timinouni, Marie Demartin, Sophie A. Granier, Jean M. Whichard, Vartul Sangal, Laëtitia Fabre, Auréli
Abstract
The multidrug-resistant (MDR) Salmonella enterica serotype Newport strain that produces CMY-2 _-lactamase (Newport MDR-AmpC) was the source of sporadic cases and outbreaks in humans in France during 2000–2005. Because this strain was not detected in food animals, it was most likely introduced into France through imported food products.

France - A food-borne outbreak of hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection in a secondary school in Upper Normandy in November 2006
29 May 2008
Eurosurveillance, Volume 13, Issue 22, 29 May 2008
NG Schwarz, M Revillion, A M Roque-Afonso, E Dussaix, M Giraud, C Liberpre6, E Couturier, E Delarocque Astagneau
In November 2006, six symptomatic cases of hepatitis A in pupils of a secondary school in Upper Normandy, France, were reported to the district health service. This paper describes the outbreak investigation undertaken with the aim to identify the vehicle and source of infection, implement control measures and estimate the size of the outbreak. We identified 10 primary and 5 secondary cases. Among primary cases 90% reported eating liver pate at the canteen compared to 62% among controls (OR 5.5, 95% CI 0.62-256.9). One liver pate sample contained markers of faecal contamination. HAV genotypes were of one identical type. All 13 canteen employees were negative for IgM anti-HAV while four had anti-HAV total antibodies. We found deficiencies regarding food preparing procedures and insufficient hand washing facilities. The vehicle of the outbreak was believed to be the liver pate but the source of HAV could not be identified.

Italy - Outbreak of imported trichinellosis in Verona January 2008
29 May 2008
Eurosurveillance, Volume 13, Issue 22, 29 May 2008 [edited] [News source provided by Dr. Doug Powell for iFSN]
A Angheben, M Mascarello, G Zavarise, F Gobbi, G Monteiro, S Marocco, M Anselmi, A Azzini, E Concia, A Rossanese, Z Bisoffi
The article describes an outbreak of trichinellosis in Verona, Italy, in early 2008 that was imported from Romania. Trichinellosis is a cosmopolitan zoonotic disease caused by a nematode of the genus Trichinella. The main source of human infection is consumption of raw or undercooked meat (especially from pig, wild boar and horse). The symptoms vary with the amount of viable larvae ingested, from asymptomatic to severe trichinellosis. The first symptoms are enteric (nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal cramps) and occur within a few days. After eight to 15 days (range, five to 45 days), the larvae invade the muscles causing systemic symptoms (muscular pain, fever and eosinophilia). Conjunctival haemorrhages and periorbital oedema may be present. In this 'invasion stage', neurological involvement and myocarditis may appear.
Outbreak description
In January 2008, a Romanian family living in Italy (two adults and one child) and a friend of the family were admitted, respectively, to the Centre for Tropical Diseases of Sacro Cuore Hospital of Negrar and to the Department of Infectious Diseases of the University Hospital G.B. Rossi, both in Verona. During a visit to relatives and friends in Romania, they had all consumed ham produced from a pig slaughtered without any veterinary control. Two more people in Romania developed trichinellosis from the same source, as recorded through an epidemiological survey by the local health unit that received our notification. We are not aware of any laboratory testing on the implicated food in Romania.

Austria - Salad & Salmonella - food poisioning as a side dish
28 May 2008
from a press release - Till Jelitto [edited] [iFSN]
Salmonella can also infect plant cells and successfully evade all the defence mechanisms of plants. As a result, cleaning the surfaces of raw fruits and vegetables, e.g. by washing, is not sufficient to protect against food poisoning. This surprising discovery, made during a project supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, has been published today. The results of the project are based on a model plant, which also represents the ideal basis for future development work on treatment and testing systems in the area of food safety. If the bacteria survive particularly well in a person, they can even infect intestinal cells and persist for longer. Previously, the only known sources of infection were infected meat products and plants that had come into contact with contaminated water. However, work by the Unité de Recherche en Génomique Végétale (URGV) in Evry, France, and the Max F. Perutz Laboratories (MFPL) in Vienna, Austria, has now shown that this is not entirely true.
FRUIT & VEGGIES & BACTERIA
Work carried out by a team led by geneticist Prof. Heribert Hirt, and published today in PloS ONE, shows that the strain of bacteria known as Salmonella typhimurium can also invade, and multiply inside, plant cells. It is already known that Salmonella can survive for up to 900 days in contaminated soils, which creates a rich source of infection for plant material. However, Prof. Hirt's team can now show that bacteria from such a source can actively achieve the infection of plant cells, thereby disproving the previous assumption that infection was coincidental and - as regards the bacteria - passive. Prof. Hirt explains: "We marked individual bacteria with a fluorescent protein, which enabled us to observe them as they quite clearly penetrated root cells and multiplied. Just three hours after the bacteria came into contact with the roots, they had penetrated inside the cells of the finest root hairs. 17 hours later, the cells inside of the roots had also become infected."
WEAK DEFENSE GAME
In principle, plants are anything other than helpless when under bacterial attack, and know how to defend themselves. They have a whole range of defence mechanisms they can use to ward off infection. The team also investigated the efficacy of these mechanisms when under attack from Salmonella bacteria. Prof. Hirt's discovery has important implications for the production and processing of foodstuffs. As emerging nations develop into industrial countries, a development that can be witnessed around the world, their needs for food and water also grow. Besides the use of organic manures, many of which come from animals, these needs also necessitate irrigation, often with contaminated - and therefore potentially infectious - water. If, as has now been discovered, Salmonella survives and multiplies in plant cells, then washing raw fruit and vegetables does nothing to prevent food poisoning. Instead, scientists need to develop new methods of treatment and testing to tackle Salmonella infections in plants.

United Kingdom - Frozen fly is among hygiene complaints
27 May 2008
Press and Journal [edited] [iFSN]
According to this story, more than 160 food hygiene complaints were investigated by Highland Council officials last year, according to a new report. The complaints about restaurants, hotels, takeaways and kitchen facilities across the north included one claiming a caterpillar was found in vegetables served at a table. Another claimed to have found a fly in a frozen baguette, and in one instance officials received a report of a robin in a kitchen. The incidences are highlighted in an annual report to the council’s transport, environmental and community services committee, which is due to meet on Thursday. It is reported that among the complaints, 80 related to the hygiene of premises or staff, 37 related to “foreign bodies”, while 18 concerned microbiological problems, such as mouldy food. Nine complaints were made about chemical contamination, including chicken tikka pasta which tasted of soap and “unusual-tasting” lemonade. And 24 complaints related to labelling and composition, including out-of-date breakfast cereal. The report by principal food safety officer also reveals that officials sent 1,168 warning letters to establishments alerting them to contraventions of public health legislation. They ordered one premises to close immediately after serving it with a hygiene emergency prohibition notice. Another five hygiene improvement notices were served in 2007/08, ordering kitchens to clean up their act. The report also highlights an outbreak of the highly-infectious Norovirus following a wedding at the Drumossie Hotel in Inverness. Of the 172 guests, 72 displayed symptoms of the bug, which include vomiting and abdominal cramps, diarrhoea, headache and fever. The report also shows officers carried out 2,958 visits across the north in connection with food hygiene, and 826 in connection with food standards – the composition and labelling of food.

United Kingdom - Reminder on safe storage of freshly cooked sliced meats
26 May 2008
Medical News [edited] [iFSN]
The Health study carried out in the North West, initiated by the Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside Food Liaison Group and the Health Protection Agency's Food and Environmental Microbiology Services North West, reemphasises the importance of using these meats as soon as possible after purchase. The study looked for levels of the food poisoning bacterium Listeria ( Listeria monocytogenes ) in freshly sliced cooked meats purchased from a number of retailers. Laboratory tests found that 7.3% of samples were contaminated on their day of purchase. In a few cases (0.4%) the meat sample had levels of this organism which failed to comply with food safety legislation. This could have been potentially hazardous, particularly to people vulnerable to Listeria .Further laboratory tests showed that when the meats were tested again following storage in a refrigerator for 48 hours at 6° C, L. monocytogenes had multiplied in some cases, resulting in a larger percentage of samples (2.7 %) being potentially hazardous to vulnerable people if consumed.
Related Story:
23 May 2008 - Health experts warn of Listeria dangers in meat
Liverpool Daily Post - Alan Weston [iFSN]
According to this story, health experts in the north-west last night issued a stark warning on the dangers of catching the potentially deadly Listeria germ from the improper storage of freshly sliced cooked meats. It followed tests in which environmental health officers from the region’s 42 local authorities – including Merseyside and Cheshire – purchased 1,127 samples of sliced-at-the-counter cooked meats from food retailers including butchers, delicatessens, market stalls and supermarkets. Laboratory tests found that 15% of the samples were contaminated with low numbers of Listeria on the day of purchase, while 7.3% were contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, the more serious form of Listeria . It is reported that although these were within European Food Safety Standards, when the contaminated samples were tested again after storage for 48 hours in a refrigerator, the L. monocytogenes in some of the contaminated samples had multiplied to unsafe levels. The tests were carried out at a fridge temperature of six degrees centigrade.

Latvia - Increase in hepatitis A cases in Latvia, in 2008, including an ongoing outbreak associated with a restaurant in Riga – preliminary report
15 May 2008
Eurosurveillance, Volume 13, Issue 20
J Perevoscikovs (1), I Lucenko1, S Magone1, A Brila1
The Latvian Public Health Agency (PHA) is currently investigating an outbreak of at least 44 hepatitis A cases (as of 8 May) associated with a restaurant X in Riga, Latvia. Seven of the infected people were employees of the restaurant; 37 were customers, mostly employees from the nearby office buildings who had lunch at this restaurant.

EFSA: Food can pass resistant bacteria to people
06 May 2008
European Public Health Alliance
According to this story, the use of antibiotics and other anti-microbial agents throughout the food chain contributes to the growth of resistant bacteria which can be passed on to humans through food, and the resistance of bacteria has become a growing concern as anti-microbials become less effective in fighting infections. This has coincided with a rise in bacterial resistance to anti-microbial agents in animals. Hygiene controls should be tightened at every stage of the food chain, from veterinary medicine to food processing and preparation, to prevent the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance. The panel found bacteria could be passed directly to people from contaminated food of animal origin carrying resistant bacteria which could colonize or infect people after ingestion. Bacteria could also be passed to humans by the consumption of fresh produce from land irrigated with water contaminated by slurry or sewage. Food of animal and non-animal origin could also be contaminated during handling and preparation.

United Kingdom- Verocytotoxin -producing E. coli food poisoning and its prevention
02 May 2008
Institute of Food Science & Technology
The Institute of Food Science & Technology has authorised the following Information Statement, dated May 2008, replacing the version dated November 2004.
Foodborne illness caused by verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) - sometimes also referred to as shiga toxin producing E. coli (STEC) or enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) - is now regarded as an important pathogen because of the very serious complications which may follow infection. The O157:H7 serotype is the predominant cause of VTEC infection in the UK and USA. There are four main transmission routes for infection: foodborne, waterborne, direct or indirect contact with animals and person to person spread. Food vectors linked to transmission include ground beef, poorly-prepared dried and fermented sausages, milk and milk products, apple juice, sprouting seeds and fresh produce (salads, herbs etc) that have become contaminated with animal faeces. Water has been responsible for some of the largest outbreaks. Control of VTEC illness in humans requires good slaughterhouse and kitchen hygiene and heat treatment of raw meat and milk. There are standardised and sensitive methods to detect and isolate VTEC O157 from food, and animals. For the other serotypes, there are no universally accepted and validated methods, but pragmatic approaches have been produced.

Increasing incidence of Listeriosis in France and other European countries
30 Apr 2008
Emerging Infectious Diseases, Volume 14, Number 5
Véronique Goulet, Comments to Author Craig Hedberg, Alban Le Monnier, and Henriette de Valk
Institut de Veille Sanitaire, Saint Maurice, France; University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; and Institut Pasteur, Paris, France
From 1999 through 2005, the incidence of listeriosis in France declined from 4.5 to 3.5 cases/million persons. In 2006, it increased to 4.7 cases/million persons. Extensive epidemiologic investigations of clusters in France have ruled out the occurrence of large foodborne disease outbreaks. In addition, no increase has occurred in pregnancy-associated cases or among persons <60 years of age who have no underlying disease. Increases have occurred mainly among persons >60 years of age and appear to be most pronounced for persons >70 years of age. In 8 other European countries, the incidence of listeriosis has increased, or remained relatively high, since 2000. As in France, these increases cannot be attributed to foodborne outbreaks. The cause of this selective increased incidence is unknown.

United-Kingdom - Arsenic in rice
30 Apr 2008
Food Standards Agency
The Agency today issued reassurance to consumers, following reports on arsenic levels in baby rice and in rice milk. One study measured the levels of arsenic in rice milk and showed that exposure to arsenic would be increased by the consumption of rice milk. Another study, on baby rice, claimed that the levels of arsenic present in some baby rice samples were unsafe. The Agency disagrees with this claim and says the current levels do not raise concern.

Turkey - Aflatoxin M1 levels of Turkish white brined cheese
22 Apr 2008
Food Control (Volume 20, Issue 3, March 2009, Pages 196-199)
Mustafa Ardica, Yakup Karakayab, Meryem Ataseverb and Gulsah Adiguzel [edited][iFSN] Abstract
This study was undertaken to determine the presence and levels of aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) in Turkish white brined cheese consumed in the province of Erzurum, Turkey. For this purpose, a total of 193 cheese samples were randomly obtained from retail outlets and Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) technique was used to determine the presence and levels of AFM1. AFM1 at detectable level (50 ng/kg) was found in 82.4% of the samples. The concentration of AFM1 in samples ranged from 52 to 860 ng/kg. Of the samples, 26.4% exceed the legal limit of 250 ng/kg established by Turkish Food Codex. It was concluded that widespread occurrence of AFM1 in Turkish white brined cheese samples were considered to be possible hazards for public health especially children.

United Kingdom - New research finds no evidence of more bugs in free range than standard chicken
15 Apr 2008 Farmers Weekly Interactive - Richard Allison [edited]
Scientists at Oxford University have, according to this story, found that the free-range environment is not a major source for the infection of chickens with a bug responsible for 340,000 cases of food poisoning in the UK every year. Chicken meat contaminated with the bacterium Campylobacter jejuni is a major cause of food poisoning in humans. This has led to increased biosecurity measures that attempt to limit infection of chickens in intensive, housed conditions. It had been thought that free-range chickens are more at risk because they cannot be protected from outdoor infection sources such as wild birds. The story says that a total of 975 chickens from 64 flocks were sampled over a period of 10 months as part of the research. Wild bird populations in the areas concerned were also studied.

Outbreak of Salmonella Thompson infections linked to imported rucola lettuce
14 Apr 2008
Journal of Foodborne Pathogens and Disease 5(2): 165-173
Karin Nygard, Jorgen Lassen, Line Vold, Yvonne Andersson, Ian Fisher, Sven Lofdahl, John Threlfall, Ida Luzzi, Tansy Peters, Mic
On November 15, 2004, a cluster of three cases of Salmonella Thompson infection was registered by the Norwegian reference laboratory. In the following days further cases occurred, prompting a case–control study among the first 13 cases and 26 matched controls. By December 31, 21 cases had been reported, with the first onset on October 24. Consumption of rucola lettuce (Eruca sativa, also known as rocket salad or arugula) (OR 8,8 [1,2–∞]) and mixed salad (OR 5,0 [1,0–∞]) was associated with illness. On November 26, Swedish authorities notified the finding of Salmonella thompson in rucola lettuce through the EU Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed. Later, several countries reported finding this and other Salmonella serovars and Campylobacte r in rucola produced in Italy. Sweden and England also reported an increase of cases. Salmonella thompson isolates from products and patients from several countries showed high similarity by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, but some isolates showed significant differences. Researchers believed that the outbreak in Norway reflected a larger international outbreak caused by rucola imported from one Italian producer. Findings of other pathogens indicate a massive contamination, possibly caused by irrigation with nonpotable water. Rapid international information exchange is invaluable when investigating outbreaks caused by internationally marketed products.

Ireland - Reptile-associated salmonellosis in residents in the south east of Ireland 2005 – 2007
10 Apr 2008
Euro Surveillance 2008;13(15) [edited]
AM O’Byrne, M Mahon
Reptiles (e.g. turtles, lizards, snakes, tortoises, terrapins) serve as reservoirs of Salmonella and can shed Salmonella organisms in faecal material. Over 2,460 serotypes of Salmonella have been identified and many serotypes have been associated with reptiles. In 2006, 422 cases of salmonellosis were notified in Ireland, a crude incidence rate of 10.0 per 100,000 population. Sixty-five different serotypes were identified by the Irish National Salmonella Reference Laboratory (NSRL) in 2006, of which S. enterica subsp. enterica serovar Enteritidis and S. enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium accounted for 60% of cases of human isolates. A total of 120 cases of salmonellosis were notified in the south east of Ireland between 2005 and 2007. Of these, there were six episodes of salmonellosis (5%) in five individuals who had contact with reptiles. All six episodes of salmonellosis occurred in children, with three occurring in infants less than one year of age, probably as a result of indirect reptile-contact. Four episodes resulted in illness severe enough to require hospitalisation.

Ireland - More than a million at risk from polluted tap water
03 Apr 2008
Irish Independent - Treacy Hogan [edited]
The story says that the 339 public supplies listed -- many of which are identified as not removing deadly bugs properly, such as cryptosporidium -- provide drinking water to 1,260,541 people. The damning list, affecting more than a quarter of the population, was finally published yesterday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It paints a worrying picture of the potential risk to human health from deadly cryptosporidium and E. coli bugs, excess aluminium and nitrates linked to cancer and blue baby syndrome. The EPA also revealed yesterday that it plans to take legal action against some local authorities to force them to clean up their water. The publication follows the ongoing tap water contamination crisis in Co Galway, which recently saw up to 1,000 people fall ill from the cryptosporidium parasite in their water. The seaside village of Roundstone, in Connemara is now in the grips of a similar crisis.

Europe - Decontamination and antibiotic resistance
03 Apr 2008
The Poultry Site [edited]
Four antimicrobial substances that are used to decontaminate poultry carcasses have been analised for their potential tolerance and resistance to antibiotics. The tests were conducted by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Panel on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ). They concluded that, despite a long history of use, no published data as of yet indicate that the four substances, within the proposed conditions of use, will lead to increased bacterial tolerance to these substances or to increased resistance to therapeutic antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents.
The Panel also encouraged further research on the likelihood of an increase in bacterial tolerance to these types of substances, and the possibility of their resistance to therapeutic antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents. In evaluating the four substances, EFSA’s Panel on additives, flavourings, processing aids and materials in contact with food(AFC) concluded that, based on the data available, there was no safety concern, within the proposed conditions of use.

United Kingdom - Feta cheese made from raw milk has natural anti-food-poisoning properties
02 Apr 2008
EurekAlert! [edited]
According to researchers speaking today (Thursday 3 April 2008) at the Society for General Microbiology’s 162nd meeting being held this week at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, they were able to isolate lactic acid bacteria found in raw sheep milk from small farms in Macedonia, northern Greece. Several of these friendly bacteria naturally produce antibiotics that killed off dangerous food-poisoning bacteria like Listeria. The unique taste of many local cheeses, especially from Greece and other parts of the Mediterranean, is mainly due to the enterococcal bacteria they contain. Apart from their sometimes sinister role when antibiotic resistant strains cause hospital infections, enterococci are important in the food flavouring and manufacturing industries.
The researchers hope that this work will lead to ways of fighting foodborne pathogens, using the naturally produced compounds called bacteriocins made by other bacteria, and to minimise the use of ‘not-so-friendly’ synthetic preservatives in foods by replacing them with naturally produced bacteriocins, which may open up new opportunities for organic food production.

Ireland - Stomach bug costs economy E135m a year
02 Apr 2008
The Independent - Eilish O'Regan [edited]
The economic burden of the stomach bug gastroenteritis is at least $135m a year, according to a new report. Around 40-50pc of this is due to missed work days for those who are laid low and 20pc is borne by the health system. The analysis was commissioned by the all-Ireland body Safefood and aimed to measure the hidden costs of the illness which is generally preventable but passed on by germs, leaving the sufferer with diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pain. One in 10 of the population report being struck down every year but the illness is under-reported with many just treating themselves at home.

Human Listeria monocytogenes infections in EUROPE - an opportunity for improved European surveillance
27 Mar 2008
Eurosurveillance.org
J Denny (dennyjd@gmail.com)1, J McLauchlin2 [edited]
The 2006 Community Summary Report from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) was published recently with the latest trends and figures on the occurrence of zoonotic infections and agents, antimicrobial resistance and foodborne outbreaks in the then 25 European Union (EU) Member States and five non-EU countries. This article seeks to expand further upon reports of human listeriosis ( Listeria monocytogenes infections) and changes in the epidemiology of this disease, and to inform of important developments as they relate to an opportunity for the establishment of a formalized listeriosis surveillance network in Europe. In 2006, listeriosis was reported in 23 EU Member States and was the fifth most common zoonotic infection in Europe, after Campylobacter, Salmonella, Yersinia, and VTEC infections. The high morbidity and mortality of this infection make a strong case for the importance and priority of improved surveillance of the disease. The Zoonoses Community Summary Report also contains data on identified L. monocytogenes in food and animals. In 2006, this bacterium was reported to occur in ready-to-eat products in 2.4% of bovine meat, 3.9% of pork meat, 2.7% of poultry, 2.7% of other or unspecified meats, 1.3% of cheese, and 12.6% of fishery products. In addition to the collection of data via the Zoonoses Community Summary Report, an active surveillance system combining food and human surveillance activities is required to respond to changes in the incidence of the disease and to promptly recognize foodborne outbreaks, particularly those that involve more Member States.

E. coli victims need isolating
25 Mar 2008
Newswales.co.uk
A new study into the 2005 South Wales E. coli outbreak was cited as suggesting that isolating children with the infection may cut by half further spread within the household. Large community foodborne outbreaks of E. coli O157 have been recorded in many countries including Wales, says the National Public Health Service for Wales. An outbreak of E. coli O157 occurred in September/October 2005 with cases recorded in 44 different schools in the South Wales valleys. In total, 157 people, mainly children, fell ill and a five-year old child died. The source of the outbreak was identified as cooked meat supplied to the school meals service by butcher John Tudor and Son. Once a person has contracted an E. coli infection, it is relatively common for the infection to be transmitted to a close associate, such as a family member. A new analysis of the 2005 South Wales outbreak, based on records collected at the time by Environmental Health Officers, was undertaken by epidemiologists at the National Public Health Service (NPHS) Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre (CDSC). This analysis finds that person-to-person transmission was responsible for 5-8% of infections and that half of these cases could potentially have been prevented if the first case could have been taken out of the home, say by admission to hospital, or in some way isolated. The study is being published in the April 15 issue of the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

United Kingdom and France - New insights into mad cow disease: diversity of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease agents discovered
17 Mar 2008
Science Daily
Researchers from the United Kingdom and France have identified four separate biochemical subgroups in a selection of cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The study suggests that these subgroups could represent distinct prion strains in what is the most common human prion disease. Prion diseases are transmissible neurodegenerative disorders characterized by accumulation of an abnormal isoform (PrPSc) of a host-encoded protein (PrPC) in affected tissues. Due to the strong influence of host factors on the characteristics of the disease, diversity of prion agents responsible for CJD remains extremely difficult to investigate. In this study, using two new biochemical assays, the authors identified four distinct biochemical PrPSc subgroups in 41 sCJD cases. These subgroups correlate with the current sCJD subclassification. The subgroups were also found in 12 iatrogenic CJD (iCJD) cases from different countries. Iatrogenic CJD occurs following human-to-human sCJD transmission. In contrast to the sCJD cases, however, there was no particular correlation with the PRNP codon in the iCJD cases, indicating that observed biochemical properties could be specific to the prion agent. Further studies are required to confirm that the four biochemical subgroups identified correlate with distinct biological infectious agents.

Comparison of antimicrobial resistance of C ampylobacter jejuni and C ampylobacter coli Isolated from humans and chicken carcasses in Poland
15 Mar 2008
Journal of Food Protection
Ro_ynek, El_bieta; Dzier_anowska-Fangrat, Katarzyna; Korsak, Dorota; Konieczny, Piotr; Wardak, Sebastian; Szych,
Campylobacter -associated gastroenteritis remains an important cause of morbidity worldwide, and some evidence suggests that poultry is an important source of this foodborne infection in humans. This study was conducted to analyze the prevalence and genetic background of resistance of 149 Campylobacter jejuni and 54 Campylobacter coli strains isolated from broiler chicken carcasses and from stool samples of infected children in Poland from 2003 through 2005. Nearly all isolates were susceptible to macrolides and aminoglycosides. The highest resistance in both human and chicken strains was observed for ciprofloxacin (more than 40%), followed by ampicillin (13 to 21%), and tetracycline (8 to 29%). Resistance to ampicillin and tetracycline rose significantly between 2003 and 2005. Slight differences in resistance between human and chicken isolates indicate that although chicken meat is not the only source of Campylobacter infection in our population, it can be involved in the transmission of drug-resistant Campylobacter strains to humans.

Are Staff Management Practices and inspection risk ratings associated with foodborne disease outbreaks in the catering industry in England and Wales?
15 Mar 2008
Journal of Food Protection
Jones, Sarah L.; Parry, Sharon M.; O'Brien, Sarah J.; Palmer, Stephen R.
Despite structured enforcement of food hygiene requirements known to prevent foodborne disease outbreaks, catering businesses continue to be the most common setting for outbreaks in the United Kingdom. In a matched case control study of catering businesses, 148 businesses associated with outbreaks were compared with 148 control businesses. Hazard analysis critical control point systems and/or formal food hygiene training qualifications were not protective. Food hygiene inspection scores were not useful in predicting which catering businesses were associated with outbreaks. Businesses associated with outbreaks were more likely to be larger small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or to serve Chinese cuisine and less likely to have the owner or manager working in the kitchen, but when size of the SME was taken into account these two differences were no longer significant. In larger businesses, case businesses were more likely to be hotels and were more commonly associated with viral foodborne outbreaks, but there was no explanation within the data for this association.

Economics of reducing Campylobacter at different levels within the Belgian poultry meat chain
15 Mar 2008
Journal of Food Protection - Gellynck, Xavier; Messens, Winy; Halet, Dirk; Grijspeerdt, Koen; Hartnett, Emma; Viaene, Jacques
Campylobacter infections pose a serious public health problem in Belgium. Poultry meat is most likely responsible for 40% of human campylobacteriosis cases in Belgium. On a yearly basis, consumption of poultry meat causes at least 22,000 campylobacteriosis cases, with a cost of illness of €10.9 million. This study aimed to evaluate the cost-benefit ratio, i.e., the ratio of reduced costs of illness on intervention costs of various intervention measures. The selection comprised measures at the farm level (phage therapy), at the processing plant (spraying of carcasses with lactic acid or electrolyzed oxidizing water, crust freezing, or irradiation), and at the consumer level (improving kitchen hygiene and application of home freezing). Among these measures, the decontamination of carcasses with electrolyzed oxidizing water applied in the processing plant was the most efficient (17.66), followed by the use of lactic acid (4.06). In addition, phage therapy generated a positive cost-benefit ratio (2.54). Irradiation indicated the highest efficacy, but its cost-benefit ratio was rather low (0.31). There seems to be less gain by trying to improve food handling in the kitchen. The cost to reach consumers is large, while only a very limited fraction of the consumers is willing to change its behavior. The outcome of this study poses valuable information for future risk-management decisions in Belgium.

Development of European database for improved food safety
13 Mar 2008
Food Production Daily - Linda Rano
The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) said in a statement that it has been commissioned by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to develop the EFSA European Food Consumption Concise Database. The database is being constructed as a screening tool for preliminary exposure assessments by the EFSA Scientific Panels and Member States, aimed at tackling the diverse needs of the various topical areas it covers. By November 2007 the EFSA had produced over 500 scientific opinions and reports across a wide variety of themes.

Salmonella problematic in the case of fattening pigs and turkeys, too
05 Mar 2008
From a press release
EU-wide monitoring provides a representative overview for the first time of the incidence of Salmonella in fattening pigs and turkey flocks In two studies conducted jointly by the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) and the control authorities of the federal states, German turkey flocks and fattening pigs were tested for Salmonella . The results: Salmonella was detected in around 10 percent of the fattening turkey flocks examined. In contrast, the breeding turkey flocks were free of Salmonella . Approximately 13 percent of the samples from fattening pigs tested positive for Salmonella .

Turkey - Ready food does not meet standards
05 Mar 2008
The Turkish Press Scanner
The daily Sabah was cited as reporting yesterday that raw milk, cheese and ready foods are still not suitable for consumption and contain around 9 percent bacteria in Turkey, whereas traces of chemicals in fruits and vegetables have decreased. The story says that the Agriculture Ministry tested 16,000 food samples for its recent report, and chemicals over permissible levels were found in 274 products. The percentage of ready food containing viruses is between 2.6 and 8.7 percent. The tests revealed that there are millions of somatic cells and bacteria in milk, when there should only be around 40,000. Although around 12 million tons of milk is produced in Turkey, only four million tons meet the microbiological criteria. The quality of milk also affects the standards of cheese in Turkey. The test results revealed that seven out of the 794 cheese samples contained the “salmonella spp” virus.

United Kingdom - National CJD Surveillance Unit - Monthly Statistics
3 Mar 2008
UK National CJD Surveillance Unit, monthly statistics [edited]
Monthly Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease statistics as of 3 Mar 2008:
Number of probable vCJD cases still alive: 3
Number of definite or probable vCJD (dead and alive): 166
These data indicate that there have been no new cases diagnosed during the past month, and the number of patients alive is unchanged. These data are still consistent with the view that the vCJD outbreak in the UK is in decline (although the incidence curve may be developing a tail). The peak number of deaths was 28 in the year 2000, followed by 20 in 2001, 17 in 2002, 18 in 2003, 9 in 2004, 5 in 2005, 5 in 2006, 5 in 2007, and so far none in 2008 Totals for all types of CJD cases in the year 2008: As of 3 Mar 2008 in the UK, so far there have been 20 referrals, 8 deaths from sporadic CJD, one death from iatrogenic CJD, none from familial CJD, none from GSS, and none from vCJD.

Ireland - Lethal E. coli risk in private water supplies
03 Mar 2008
The Independent - Eilish O'Regan
A new report was cited as showing that in 2006, outbreaks of E. coli O157 were linked to contaminated private wells.
The story notes that around 200,000 households in Ireland get their water from private schemes or wells, rather than public supplies operated by local authorities. Person to person contact was the main source for the spread of the infection in households, childcare facilities and institutions, and this accounted for nine outbreaks. The second most common source was food, and the report showed that a growing number of these cases in the United States are linked to fresh produce, particularly lettuce and spinach. But these were followed by untreated water supplies. A separate Environmental Health Agency report found that more than one third of private water schemes were contaminated with some form of the bug in 2006.

Outbreak of infection with Salmonella anatum in England, Wales and Scotland, ongoing analytical study
29 Feb 2008
Health Protection Report
The Health Protection Agency, the National Public Health Service for Wales (NPHS) and Health Protection Scotland (HPS) are performing a case-control study to determine the cause of an outbreak of Salmonella anatum affecting England , Wales and Scotland. Since 1 November 2007, there have been 87 primary indigenous cases in England and Wales (E&W), and 44 in Scotland, with the most recent known onset date of 11 February 08.

United Kingdom - Latest consumer attitudes survey suggests increased consumer confidence around many food issues
29 Feb 2008
Food Standards Agency
checkbiotech.org
The eighth annual Consumer Attitudes to Food Survey published recently by the Food Standards Agency, points to increased confidence among the public in the food they are consuming and to wider food issues. Since the initial survey in 2000, the number of people concerned about issues such as food poisoning, additives and food safety in general has stayed steady, but the latest survey reveals the first dip in the number of people who are concerned about many food safety issues. The results reveal some other encouraging trends, particularly relating to increased awareness and claimed consumption of ‘five-a-day’.

United Kingdom - Hygiene assessment system (HAS) scores – An analysis of the available data from English slaughterhouses
Food Control
Rebeca Garcia Pinillos and David John Jukes
Abstract
As control systems have developed and the implications of poor hygienic practices have become better known, the evaluation of the hygienic status of premises has become more critical. Since the creation, for the United Kingdom, of the meat hygiene service (MHS), one of the aims of the service was to monitor hygiene on different premises to provide a means of comparing standards and to identify and encourage improvements. This desire led to the implementation of a scoring system known as the hygiene assessment system (HAS). This paper analyses English slaughterhouses HAS scores between 1998 and 2005 outlining the main incidents throughout this period. Although rising initially, the later results displayed a clear decrease in the general hygiene scores. These revealing results coincide with the start of a new meat inspection system where, after several years of discussion, risk based inspection is finally coming to a reality within Europe. The paper considers the implications of these changes in the way hygiene standards will be monitored in the future.

Slovenia - Consumers’ awareness of food safety from shopping to eating
Food Control, Vol. 19, Issue 8 - M. Jev_nik, V. Hlebec and P. Raspor
The objective of this quantitative survey (n = 1030) was to determine Slovenian consumers’ food safety knowledge and practices during purchase, transportation and storage of food, as well as food handling practices at home. The study highlighted gaps in food safety knowledge and some critical safety violations regarding food handling at home. Half of the respondents never thought of using a cooling bag for the transport of refrigerated or frozen foods. Approximately half of the respondents defrost meat on working surfaces and only one-third wash knives and cutting boards with hot water and detergent before re-use or use clean implements. Forty-four percent of respondents did not know the correct refrigerator temperature for the storage of perishable food. All other determinations concerning food safety knowledge and practices are presented and discussed. Consumer education should be the focus in order to reduce foodborne diseases. Educational material regarding Good Housekeeping Practice should be available to the general public from many sources. Only safety-conscious consumers can become active partners within the food safety circle.

Poland - The first report on Campylobacter coli family outbreak detected in 2006
28 Feb 2008
Eurosurveillance
A family outbreak of gastroenteritis caused by Campylobacter coli occurred in May 2006 in Bielsko-Biala, in the south of Poland. Four members of a family had non-bloody diarrhea and abdominal cramps. C. coli were isolated in three of the four patients. PFGE and PCR-RFLP-flaA patterns confirmed the link between cases, showing the usefulness of these methods in outbreak investigation. At the same time, the epidemiological and environmental investigations of this outbreak were very limited and did not provide enough evidence to identify the source of infection, and thus to support the hypothesis formulated by the local epidemiologist. It is necessary to improve surveillance of campylobacteriosis mainly by multidisciplinary training of epidemiologists, microbiologists and general practitioners.

Looking for tips to find icebergs - surveillance of haemolytic uraemic syndrome to detect outbreaks of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli infection
28 Feb 2008
Eurosurveillance
In a recent article, De Schrijver et al. described an outbreak of Verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli, syn. Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), linked to the consumption of ice cream produced at a farm in the province of Antwerp, Belgium. Interestingly, the outbreak was identified through the time-clustering of patients who had developed haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) and from whom STEC O145 was isolated. HUS – a triad of acute renal injury, micro-angiopathic haemolytic anaemia and thrombocytopenia – predominantly affects children. A subset of STEC-infected patients (circa 5-15% in patients infected with serotype O157:H7) develop HUS, and more than 80% of childhood HUS is attributable to STEC infection.

United Kingdom - Demographic determinants for Campylobacter infection in England and Wales: implications for future epidemiological studies
27 Feb 2008
Epidemiology and Infection 136:1717-1725 [edited][iFSN]
I. A. GILLESPIEa1 c1, S. J. O'BRIENa2, C. PENMANa1, D. TOMPKINSa3, J. COWDENa4 and T. J. HUMPHREYa5 on behalf of The Campylobacter Sentinel Surveillance Scheme
Despite a significant public health burden the epidemiology of human Campylobacter infection remains blurred. The identification of demographic determinants for Campylobacter infection is therefore essential for identifying potential areas for intervention. Demographic data from an active, population-based sentinel surveillance system for Campylobacter infection (from 2000 until 2003, n=15 907) were compared with appropriate denominator data from the 2001 United Kingdom Census. Incidence was higher in males from birth until the late teens and in females from 20 to 36 years. Age- and gender-specific differences in Campylobacter incidence were observed in different ethnic and socioeconomic groups and hence are all major drivers for Campylobacter infection. Epidemiological studies on Campylobacter infection need to take these factors into consideration during design and analysis. The collation of detailed epidemiological data and its comparison with appropriate denominator data provides a valuable epidemiological tool for studying infection.

Belgium – E. coli VTEC Non- 0157 , Pasteurized ice cream 2007 (Antwerp)
14 Feb 2008
Eurosurveillance Surveillance and Outbreak reports, 2008 13(7) [edited]
In October 2007, an outbreak of verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) O145 and E. coli O26 occurred among consumers of ice cream produced and sold in September 2007 at a farm in the province of Antwerp (Belgium). The ice cream was consumed at 2 birthday parties and also eaten at the farm. A total of 5 children, aged between 2 and 11 years, developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), and 7 other co-exposed persons contracted severe diarrhea. In 3 of the 5 HUS cases, VTEC O145 infections were laboratory confirmed, one in association with VTEC O26. Identical isolates of E. coli O145 and O26 were detected with PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and PFGE (pulsed field gel electrophoresis) in fecal samples of patients and in ice cream leftovers from one of the birthday parties, in fecal samples taken from calves, and in samples of soiled straw from the farm at which the ice cream was produced. Ice cream was made from pasteurized milk and most likely contaminated by one of the food handlers.
Related Sources:
22 Feb 2008 United Kingdom - Report on a national outbreak of Vero cytotoxin-producing E. coli O157
Health Protection Agency (UK)

Maintaining a cold chain from purchase to the home and at home: Consumer opinions
01 Feb 2008
Food Control, Volume 20, Issue 2, Pages 167-172 (February 2009)
Andrej Ovca and Mojca Jevšnik Department of Sanitary Engineering, College of Health Studies, University of Ljubljana, Poljanska 26a, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
http://www.sciencedirect.com/
The importance of maintaining a cold chain for foods that require cold-storage should guide the habits of the modern consumer in this era of globalisation. Lack of time is the reason why consumers in everyday life often buy chilled and frozen food that either has a short preparation time or does not even require any further heat treatment. This article investigates the maintenance and understanding of the cold chain among consumers in the framework of food safety. Data were collected with a questionnaire completed by 116 consumers during a specific time of the day in stores in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, and in surrounding districts. The results confirmed that the term “cold chain” is not well known among consumers. It was also shown that Slovenian and European consumers place the responsibility of maintaining a cold chain onto other parts of the food chain. One of the reasons for poor knowledge of the cold chain could be due to the unsatisfactory efforts of governmental and non-governmental organizations, which are responsible for educating and informing consumers. The role of the consumer in maintaining a cold chain is more important than is currently thought, and is greater than the importance attached to other parts of the food chain.

Outbreak of verocytotoxin-producing E. coli O145 and O26 infections associated with the consumption of ice cream produced at a farm , Belgium, 2007
01 Feb 2008
R Van Damme-Lombaerts, C Lauwers, R Jacobs (Euro Surveill 2008)
K De Schrijver, G Buvens3, B Possé, D Van den Branden, C Oosterlynck, L De Zutter, K Eilers, D Piérard, K Dierick
In October 2007, an outbreak of verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli (VTEC) O145 and E. coli O26 occurred among consumers of ice cream produced and sold in September 2007 at a farm in the province of Antwerp (Belgium). The ice cream was consumed at two birthday parties and also eaten at the farm. Five children, aged between two and 11 years, developed haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS), and seven other co-exposed persons contracted severe diarrhoea. In three of the five HUS cases VTEC O145 infections were laboratory confirmed, one in association with VTEC O26. Identical isolates of E. coli O145 and O26 were detected with PCR and PFGE in faecal samples of patients and in ice cream leftovers from one of the birthday parties, in faecal samples taken from calves, and in samples of soiled straw from the farm at which the ice cream was produced. Ice cream was made from pasteurised milk and most likely contaminated by one of food handlers.

Italy - Contamination of Salmonella spp. in a pig finishing herd, from the arrival of the animals to the slaughterhouse
29 Jan 2008
Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Umbria e delle Marche, DVM, Istituto Superiore di Sanità
C. Magistrali, A.M. Dionisi, P. De Curtis, L. Cucco, O. Vischi, S. Scuota, A. Zicavo, G. Pezzotti
The aim of the study was to investigate the contamination sources and the transmission of Salmonella within a pig finishing herd in Italy. Nine sets of samples were collected during the fattening period from cleaned and disinfected pens, animals at different ages (4 days after arrival, 90, 150, 170 and 240 days of age) and at slaughter. Salmonella was isolated from cleaned pens, individual faecal samples, the truck used to transport the pigs to the abattoir and after slaughter (cecal contents, mesenteric lymph nodes and carcasses). Several serovars were isolated: Salmonella typhimurium and S. derby on farm; S. bovismorbificans, S. bredeney, S. blockley, S. hadar and S. corvallis from the truck; S. derby, S. hadar, S. bredeney, S. bovismorbificans and S. infantis at slaughter. Antibiotic resistance of the strains was tested and PFGE was carried out to investigate the on-farm epidemiology of Salmonella. The results showed that the environmental contamination may have represented a major source of infection for the pigs both on farm and during transport to the abattoir.

Spain - A survey of food-borne pathogens in free-range poultry farms
29 Jan 2008
Department of Animal Health and Production, Instituto Vasco de Investigación y Desarrollo Agrario
Jon I. Esteban, Beatriz Oporto, Gorka Aduriz, Ramón A. Juste and Ana Hurtado
A survey of the occurrence of Campylobacter, Salmonella, Listeria and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli was performed on 60 flocks of free-range chicken from 34 farms in the Basque Country (Northern Spain). In total 48 flocks from 26 farms were positive for at least one pathogen: 31 of them for a single pathogen (64.6%), and 17 for more than one species (35.4%). C. coli was more prevalent than C. jejuni (15 vs. 13 farms), and both species of Campylobacter were found in 3 farms. L. monocytogenes isolates were identified as serotype 4b complex, and the only Salmonella and Campylobacter isolates (36 C. jejuni and 55 C. coli) yielded 26 patterns, with higher diversity among the C. jejuni isolates. More than one pattern was found in 11 farms, and in 8 of them several patterns were found within the same flock. The findings of the study suggest that the free-range rearing conditions described herein might have an advantageous effect on diminishing Salmonella but not on Campylobacter or L. monocytogenes flock contamination.

Ireland - Campylobacter key cause of food illness
25 Jan 2008
Irish Medical News
Campylobacter infection is the most important cause of sporadic cases of foodborne illness in Ireland with almost 2,000 cases reported in 2006, according to the annual report of the Food Safety Authority. According to the latest report (for 2006), healthy chickens are known to carry these bacteria in their intestinal tracts and raw chicken is the most common source of Campylobacter. The total number infected by the disease stood at 1,815. Most of the cases in the report related to acute infectious gastroenteritis, amounting to 2,306 cases. The report stated that person-to-person spread through contaminated hands is probably the most common way that rotaviruses are transmitted. The number of Salmonellosis cases increased from 349 in 2005 to 422 in 2006. The report said that provisionally there were 300 outbreaks of infectious intestinal disease (IID) in 2006, compared to 161 in 2005. Overall, food or water was suspected to have contributed to 40 of the IID outbreaks. These resulted in 307 cases of illness, according to the report. Salmonella spp was responsible for the majority of food-and/or waterborne outbreaks (27 per cent). The figures came from notifications of infectious diseases sent to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre.

Simple handwashing can reduce diarrhea: studies
23 Jan 2008
Reuters
UK Researchers were cited as saying on Wednesday that encouraging people to wash their hands properly can reduce the rate of diarrhea by 30 percent, potentially saving lives. Their review of 14 different studies showed that in rich and poor countries alike, and in schools, hospitals and elsewhere, hand washing is a simple way to stop infections that cause diarrhea. Dr. Regina Ejemot of the University of Calabar in Nigeria led the study. Ejemot and colleagues reviewed the various studies for the Cochrane Collaboration, a journal that specializes in reviewing important scientific and medical studies to get a bigger picture of an issue. Diarrhea kills around 2.2 million people a year, the World Health Organization estimates. Most are young children in middle- or low-income countries. They wrote. "This significant reduction is comparable to the effect of providing clean water. Some of the studies provided soap, while others involved leaflets or other written materials. The challenge is to find effective ways of getting people to wash their hands appropriately."

Spain - Non-imported brucellosis outbreak from unpasteurized raw milk in Moroccan immigrants
21 Jan 2008
Epidemiology and Infection , Vol. 136, pg. 1552-1555 [edited][iFSN]
J.M. Ramos, E. Bernal, T. Esguevillas, P. Lopez-Garcia, M.S. Gaztambide, F. Gutierrez
Nine cases of brucellosis were identified in the city of Elche (Comunidad Valenciana, Spain) in two families of Moroccan immigrants. All of the patients had drunk unpasteurized raw milk from goats. Brucella melitensis biovar 3 was identified in clinical specimens. Preventive measures for brucellosis should be implemented among immigrant populations in Spain.
(Accepted December 05 2007)

Europe - Creating an online atlas of Salmonella serotypes
17 Jan 2008
Eurosurveillance Volume 13 Issue 3
M Rudbeck Jepsen, I Fisher, M Galle, H Bang, S Ethelberg
Salmonellosis is a frequently occurring disease in Europe. Through their national surveillance systems, the European Union (EU) Member States collect a substantial amount of information on cases of Salmonellosis, which may be used to gain new insights into the epidemiological characteristics of the many different Salmonella serotypes. One simple approach to this is by visualising the spatial distribution of the cases on maps. Geographic information systems (GIS) are computer tools that help to map and analyse the spatial distribution of cases. This may help to identify associations that are not otherwise easily noticed. In the project described here, we used GIS to depict the spatial distribution of the most important Salmonella serotypes in Europe.

Epidemiology and dynamics of BSE - Abstract
11 Jan 2008 (online publication date)
Vet. Res. (2008) 39: 15 [edited] [Promed]
C Ducrot, M Arnold, A de Koeijer, D Heim, D Calavas
The paper describes how the comprehensive surveillance of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and studies carried out on these data has enhanced our knowledge of the epidemiology of BSE. Around 7000 BSE cases were detected through the screening of about 50 million cattle with rapid tests in Europe. It confirmed that the clinical surveillance had a poor capacity to detect cases, and also showed the discrepancy of this passive surveillance efficiency between regions and production types (dairy/beef). Other risk factors for BSE were being in a dairy herd (3 times more than beef), having a young age at first calving (for dairy cattle), being autumn-born (dairy and beef), and being in a herd with a very high milk yield. These findings focus the risk on the feeding regimen of calves/heifers.Several epidemiological studies across countries suggest that the feed borne source related to meat and bone meal (MBM) is the only substantiated route of infection -- even after the feed ban --, while it is not possible to exclude maternal transmission or milk replacers as a source of some infections. In most European countries, the average age of the cases is increasing over time and the prevalence decreasing, which reflects the effectiveness of control measures. Consistent results on the trend of the epidemic were obtained using back calculation modelling, the R0 approach, and Age-Period-Cohort models.Furthermore, active surveillance also resulted in the finding of atypical cases. These are distinct from previously found BSE and classified in two different forms based on biochemical characteristics; their prevalence is very low (36 cases up to 1 Sep 2007), affected animals were old and some of them displayed clinical signs. The origin and possibility of natural transmission is unknown.

Food-borne viruses in EUROPE network report: the norovirus GII.4 2006b (for US named Minerva-like, for Japan Kobe034-like, for UK V6) variant now dominant in early seasonal surveillance
10 Jan 2008
EuroSurveill 2008
J Siebenga, A Kroneman, H Vennema, E Duizer and M Koopmans
The start of the norovirus season shows a high incidence of outbreaks across Europe, caused mostly by GII.4 viruses belonging to a variant that emerged globally in 2006. It remains unclear if the record high reporting is a surveillance artifact or reflects changes in the epidemiology of GII.4 strains, although in recent years GII.4 viruses have evolved rapidly by mutation. Given the high incidence of norovirus infections in the general population, introduction into health-care settings is inevitable. Immediate action when cases are reported and stringent hygiene measures can reduce the size of outbreaks in healthcare settings.

Demographic determinants for Campylobacter infection in England and Wales: implications for future epidemiological studies
21 Dec 2007
Epidemiology and Infection
A. Gillespie, et. al Despite a significant public health burden, the epidemiology of human Campylobacter infection remains blurred. The identification of demographic determinants for Campylobacter infection is therefore essential for identifying potential areas for intervention. Demographic data from an active, population-based sentinel surveillance system for Campylobacter infection (from 2000 until 2003, n=15 907) were compared with appropriate denominator data from the 2001 United Kingdom Census. Incidence was higher in males from birth until the late teens and in females from 20 to 36 years. Age- and gender-specific differences in Campylobacter incidence were observed in different ethnic and socioeconomic groups and hence are all major drivers for Campylobacter infection. Epidemiological studies on Campylobacter infection need to take these factors into consideration during design and analysis. The collation of detailed epidemiological data and its comparison with appropriate denominator data provides a valuable epidemiological tool for studying infection.

Europe – Salmonellosis – Serotype Paratyphi Var Java
20 Dec 2007
Eurosurveillance weekly release [edited]
In 2007, 354 S. Java cases have been reported to ECDC by 11 MS. 228 of these cases (as of 18 Dec 2007) have an indistinguishable PFGE pattern, designated SPTJXB.0001, and are therefore possibly linked to the multinational outbreak. Unfortunately microbiological investigations have failed to confirm the incriminated vehicle of the Swedish cases. Evidence for a possible vehicle in this multi-national outbreak is based on a case control study conducted in Sweden in response to their late summer surge in cases. A RASFF was issued by the Swedish authorities in August of 2007 and subsequently a substantial decrease in cases was observed in Sweden. The UK epidemiologic investigation results are consistent with salad vegetables being a possible vehicle of infection, yet no single product or outlet was implicated and cases could not identify which type of leaf vegetable they had eaten. More information is clearly needed on the results of random sampling of imported spinach products in order to learn if the risk continues from spinach or is now in a mixed salad vehicle. An in-depth traceback analysis and analysis of supply channels is essential and would greatly enhance the efficiency of any microbiological testing of imported salads by focusing on the most 'at risk' products. ECDC will further explore this question.

United Kingdom - Milk bug 'stops our bodies from fighting off Crohn's disease'
11 Dec 2007
The Daily Mail- Sean Poulter
A link between a bug found in some fresh milk and Crohn's disease has, according to this story, been established by breakthrough research. The discovery could bring demands to change milk production methods - perhaps following the common European practice of Ultra Heat Treatment (UHT). It could also provide the key to antibiotic treatments for the condition, which affects approximately 150,000 Britons. Now scientists at Liverpool University have identified how MAP weakens the body's defence mechanism and so allows other harmful bugs, specifically E. coli, to thrive. The story says that Crohn's leads to chronic intestinal inflammation, pain, bleeding and diarrhea. It is a particularly distressing condition among children. Professor Jon Rhodes, whose work was published in the journal Gastroenterology, said that MAP releases a complex molecule which prevents white blood cells from killing E. coli. Professor John Hermon-Taylor, Britain's leading expert on Crohn's, called for a mass vaccination of cattle against becoming infected with MAP in the first place. The Dairy Council's director, Dr Judith Bryans, said that it is important to stress that not all Crohn's patients have MAP in their intestines. This would suggest that there are additional factors which may cause Crohn's disease. There is no need for anyone to alter their consumption of milk based on current scientific knowledge.

EU project provides risk assessment of acrylamide in heated food
27 Nov 2007
Cordis News
European Commission A new research area appeared overnight when the presence of acrylamide in heated food was discovered in 2002. One of the first teams to investigate the finding and its implications was the HEATOX team, funded under the EU's Sixth Framework Programme. The three-year project began in November 2003, bringing together 24 research teams from 14 countries. The team found toxicological evidence suggesting that acrylamide in food may cause cancer. Their findings also suggest that there are ways to decrease exposure to acrylamide, but not to eliminate it: laboratory experiments succeeded in reducing acrylamide levels in bread and potatoes by adjusting the oil/potato ratio in semi-industrial fryers or minimising long yeast fermentation. The HEATOX project has also found that acrylamide is not the only genotoxic compound that forms when food is heated. The team has created a database of more than 800 heat-induced compounds, of which 50 are highlighted as potential carcinogens based on their chemical structure. Future research should focus on these compounds. The presence of acrylamide in home-cooked food is minimal in comparison with industrially or restaurant-prepared foods. The involvement of so many scientists from different disciplines meant that HEATOX was also able to produce intake calculations, chemical reaction models, exposure assessments, in vivo and in vitro toxicity testing, mitigation proposals to reduce intake, analytical methods for biomarkers and levels and a risk characterisation. More than 40 individual research papers have been published in international scientific journals by HEATOX scientists as a result of the project.

United Kingdom - 25% of food tests show unsafe levels of bacteria
22 Nov 2007
The UK Herald - Alison Campsie
Almost one-quarter of food products tested in Scotland showed "unsatisfactory" levels of bacteria, latest government results show. The figures from the Food Standard Agency Scotland (FSAS) show 23.8% of foods sent to the laboratory, from cakes to meats and fruit, failed tests which gauge acceptable quality and safety levels. The worst offenders in the microbiological surveillance were meat and related products, where out of 1720 samples, 455 (26.5%) were found unsatisfactory. Significant levels of pathogens were also found in cakes and confectionery (33.5% of 236 samples) and, perhaps surprisingly, herbs and spices (62.5% of 80 samples). One sample of fresh herbs was found to be contaminated with Salmonella. FSAS stress the results do not provide a general reflection of the quality of food on offer, as the tests are carried out on products which carry a higher risk to health and not at random. FSAS published the results yesterday. Chemical tests were also carried out on 6422 foodstuffs to identify contamination, presence of additives and accuracy of food labeling.

Netherlands - Less Salmonella in DUTCH poultry products
16 Nov 2007
World Poultry
The amount of pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella and Campylobacter in Dutch poultry and egg products is declining. This is the conclusion of a report published by the Dutch Institute for Human Health and the Environment (RIVM) and the Dutch Food Authority (VWA). Salmonella infections in humans have shown a decline since the 1980s. Twenty-five years ago, 150,000 per year got sick from the bacteria. In 2006, ‘only’ 37,000 people got in contact with Salmonella and developed clinical signs of an infection. According to the report, the decrease in infections is the result of more intensive quality checks at Dutch poultry farms.

Scotland - Life-saving test kit can identify food bugs in just 5 hours
12 Nov 2007
The Scotsman - Frank Urquhart and Raymond Hainey
Thousands of lives could be saved by a testing kit being developed by Scottish scientists which detects a host of fatal food-poisoning bugs in as little as five hours. The device will be capable of dramatically reducing the detection time for foodborne diseases such as E coli, campylobacter, listeria and Salmonella from the current six days routinely required. It has already been successfully tested in the laboratories of the Macaulay Institute in Aberdeen. Backers believe the technology could eventually be harnessed to help detect human pathogens, including the killer MRSA bug. According to Dr. Bahna, reactions may not be to the food, but to something else in the food. In addition to additives, food may contain seafood-associated toxins, parasites or contaminants. Patients with respiratory allergy to mite may get a systemic anaphylaxis after ingestion of mite-contaminated flour. Food allergy is the single leading cause of anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis is the most severe form of allergic reactions, affecting multiple organ systems. The most dangerous symptoms are breathing difficulties, throat swelling, chest wheezing, dizziness, low blood pressure, shock and loss of consciousness, all of which can be fatal. Patients with severe reactions should have continued access to self-administered epinephrine injections.

United Kingdom - E. coli, ESBL
5 Nov 2007
BBC [edited]
A superbug which kills hundreds of patients a year has been found on 32 farms, it emerged yesterday [4 Nov 2007]. The discovery raises fears that the infection is spreading to the human population through meat and milk. The bug -- ESBLEscherichia coli – causes around 30,000 cases of blood poisoning and urinary tract infection each year. It is known to have killed hundreds of people over the past 5 years, although some experts put the annual death toll as high as 4000. Experts from the Government's Veterinary Laboratories Agency are due to reveal details today of the extent of the infection on farms. Experts at the Health Protection Agency are investigating a possible link between the bugs found in livestock and the sale of meat and milk. During slaughter, the bug, which lives in the gut, can be spread through meat, making it a risk to abattoir workers. Similarly, bugs from cow dung can get into milk during milking. E. coli should be killed during pasteurisation but tests show that some forms of TB bacteria can survive heat treatment. The Soil Association said movement restrictions and drugs controls should be placed on the affected farms. By this March [2007], Government vets had found similar strains on farms in Cheshire, Wiltshire and Somerset. A spokesman for Defra, the food and farming department, said infected animals might have caught ESBL E. coli from humans, from contact with sewage or from their food.
Other Source :6 Nov 2007 - BBC News

Shell egg handling and preparation practices in food service establishments in Finland
23 Oct 2007
Journal of Food Protection®, Volume 70, Number 10, October 2007, pp. 2266-2272(7)
Lievonen, S.; Ranta, J.; Maijala, R.
Foodborne outbreaks are often reported to be acquired at food service establishments. As a part of a quantitative risk assessment on the consumer risk of contracting Salmonella infection via shell eggs, researchers studied how small, medium, and large restaurants, institutional kitchens, and staff canteens (n = 171) purchase, store, and use shell eggs. In addition, researchers estimated the fraction of raw and undercooked risky egg dishes among all egg dishes served in food service establishments of different sizes and types. The size of the food service establishment had a less significant effect on shell egg preparation and handling practices than the type of the establishment. Restaurants purchased shell eggs more frequently, were more likely to store them at room temperature, stored shell eggs for a shorter period, and were more likely to prepare undercooked egg dishes than institutional kitchens. The results indicate that although most Finnish food service establishments had safe egg handling practices, a substantial minority expressed risky behavior. Compared with the egg consumption patterns in private Finnish households, however, practices in food service establishments did not prove to be more prone to risk.

France - Ultraviolet light helps to secure water supply
18 Oct 2007
Science Daily
A major public health issue and economic problem has been addressed in experiments carried out by researchers from the University Denis Diderot in Paris, and the VEOLIA Research Center in Maisons-Laffitte (France). Extremely chlorine-resistant parasites, known as Cryptosporidium, which cause a diarrheal disease in humans and can lead to significant mortality in immunodeficient patients, become virtually inactive when exposed to industrial UV reactors. Contamination of water resources for drinking water supplies, as well as inadequate water treatment can be responsible for large cryptosporidiosis outbreaks. Up until now, there has been no efficient curative treatment, making it one of the most common causes of waterborne disease within humans in the United States. Thanks to collaboration between researchers at the Laboratory of Parasitology of the University Denis Diderot, and the VEOLIA Research Center, the efficacy of UV light was demonstrated in large scale tests with pilot equipment. The article published in FEMS Immunology & Medical Microbiology, a journal of the Federation of European Microbiological Societies, describes how replicate experiments successfully achieved inactivation rate of >99.998% with both reactors. These results confirm the remarkable efficacy of both polychromatic medium-pressure and monochromatic low-pressure UV lamps in conditions that are close to that of many small- or medium-size water distribution units.

Ireland - One household in five supplied with drinking water from polluted source
12 Oct 2007
Independent Online
Almost a third of rivers supplying drinking water to hundreds of thousands of families nationwide are polluted, a damning Environmental Protection Agency report reveals today. The crisis is worsening with an alarming 60pc of groundwater supplies sampled during the year-long investigation polluted by E. coli from human and animal waste. Almost one-in-five householders get their tap water from groundwater supplies which are increasingly contaminated, according to the report. Bacteria such as E. coli and cryptosporidium, which can cause serious illness, are increasing in our groundwater, the nationwide-probe concludes. Local authorities' sewage discharges and slurry and fertiliser run-off from farms are branded the main culprits for the pollution.

Challenges regarding implementation of electronic chain traceability
09 Oct 2007
British Food Journal - G. Senneset, E. Forås, K.M. Fremme
Increased focus on safe and healthy food has resulted in the need for implementing electronic chain traceability. This poses challenges both regarding technical solutions and business processes. The purpose of this paper is to report from a research project where implementation in a value chain for farmed salmon is used to investigate these challenges. This study shows that a set of criteria regarding implementation readiness can be used to assess the challenges and risks involved. Coherence between implementation readiness and the final level of implementation is indicated. Because of the increasing demand for improving chain traceability, it can be expected that implementation readiness regarding electronic chain traceability solutions will be an important factor in selecting partners in food value chains. The large number of companies involved in this study is a good basis for evaluating the complexity of implementing electronic chain traceability. This paper describes guidelines and assessment criteria for companies planning to implement such solutions.

Determinants of trust in imported food products: perceptions of European gatekeepers
09 Oct 2007
British Food Journal
J. Knight, D. Holdsworth, D. Mather
The purpose of this paper is to understand the elements of country image that influence gatekeepers of the European food distribution sector when making industrial purchasing decisions regarding imported food products. In-depth interviews were conducted with key informants of seventeen food distribution companies and industry organisations in five European countries to determine the factors that they consider important when deciding from which countries to source food products. Confidence and trust in production systems, the integrity of regulatory systems, and the reliability of suppliers appear to be the major determinants of product-country image as viewed by gatekeepers of the food distribution channel. These specific factors relating to confidence, trust, integrity and reputation appear to over-ride more general perceptions of country image based on scenic or environmental considerations.

Portugal - Activity of wine against Campylobacter jejuni
Aug 2007
Food Control , Vol, 19, Issue 8
Anabela Carneiro, José António Coutoa, Cristina Menaa, Jorge Queirozb and Tim Hogga
This study focuses on the activity of wine against the important food-borne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni . The kinetics of inactivation of two strains of C. jejuni (one food-borne and one clinical) were characterised in various scenarios of exposure to wine and wine components. Undiluted wine was found to rapidly inactivate C. jejuni (>6D inactivation within 30 s); further inactivation data were obtained from experiments performed in wine diluted with water (1:2 and 1:4). Experiments with isolated antimicrobial fractions of wine (ethanol and certain organic acids) suggest that these two components act synergistically, demonstrating an inactivation capacity similar to wine itself. The results indicate that the exposure of contaminated food to wine, as in marinade conditions, significantly reduces the number of viable cells of C. jejuni . A model stomach, containing a food matrix and a synthetic gastric fluid, was used to infer the effect of wine against C. jejuni in a consumption-like scenario. Wine was found to potentiate the anti- Campylobacter effect of gastric fluid. The results strongly suggest that the ingestion of wine during a meal may greatly diminish the quantity of C. jejuni persisting further in the alimentary tract, thus lowering the risk of infection.