Tag Archive: BSE


Food Safety

 

Deliberate attempt to mislead the public about safety concerns.

 

In a recent CNN segment, announcing the discovery of a case of
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or ‘Mad Cow Disease’ at a
dairy farm in California, there was made a deliberate attempt to
mislead the public about safety concerns.

Quoting the USDA, CNN repeated claims that the cow was “never
presented for slaughter for human consumption” and “milk does not
transmit BSE.”

Two things…

It was a DAIRY cow, so the claim that it was not presented for
‘slaughter’ is a deliberate attempt to confuse the issue in the
public mind.

Additionally, both Mad Cow Disease and it’s human counterpart
Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease are ‘prion’ diseases.  Scientific
studies have demonstrated that prions can actually transfer from
animal to animal via MILK consumption.

Prion Diseases  

About Prion Diseases
CDC.gov

Prion diseases or transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are a family of rare progressive neurodegenerative disorders that affect both humans and animals. They are distinguished by long incubation periods, characteristic spongiform changes associated with neuronal loss, and a failure to induce inflammatory response.

The causative agents of TSEs are believed to be prions. The term “prions” refers to abnormal, pathogenic agents that are transmissible and are able to induce abnormal folding of specific normal cellular proteins called prion proteins that are found most abundantly in the brain. The functions of these normal prion proteins are still not completely understood. The abnormal folding of the prion proteins leads to brain damage and the characteristic signs and symptoms of the disease. Prion diseases are usually rapidly progressive and always fatal.

Listed below are the prion diseases identified to date. Click the linked diseases to go to their respective topic sites. CDC does not currently offer information here on every prion disease listed.

Human Prion Diseases

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD)
Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD)
Gerstmann-Straussler-Scheinker Syndrome
Fatal Familial Insomnia
Kuru

Animal Prion Diseases

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD)
Scrapie
Transmissible mink encephalopathy
Feline spongiform encephalopathy
Ungulate spongiform encephalopathy

Visit the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention webpage on this subject.
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North Carolina Salmonella Outbreak Under Investigation

29 with possible Paratyphi B infection

Twenty-nine possible cases of Salmonella Paratyphi B infection have been identified in Buncombe County, North Carolina, but the source of the outbreak remains undetermined.

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According to the Buncombe County Department of Health, all the cases seem to be linked to residence or travel to Buncombe County, in western North Carolina, since February 28.
Communicable disease experts from the North Carolina Division of Public Health and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are assisting food specialists from the state Department of Agriculture with the investigation.
A hotline was established Friday to offer people a way to get accurate information about the outbreak. The number – 828-250-5300 – includes an automated message and a phone number for people with symptoms to talk with a Communicable Disease Nurse.
Public health specialists are continuing to conduct interviews with people who currently have or have had the infection, reviewing laboratory reports and inspecting food sources that may be linked to the outbreak.
Salmonella Paratyphi B, found in the intestines of humans, can be spread from person to person or by eating food or water contaminated with the feces of a person ill with Salmonella Paratyphi B infection or a person who carries this infection in their body.
The Buncombe County news release notes that any food can become contaminated at any point in the food chain, including at home or in restaurants. Contamination can occur when a person infected with Salmonella Paratyphi B handles food and does not wash their hands well after using the bathroom.

 

Read Full Article Here
 

 

33 Sickened After Attending Health Center Luncheon In Pueblo

April 28, 2012 By

At least 33 people became ill after attending the Pueblo Community Health Center’s annual luncheon on Tuesday, according to health officials in Pueblo, Colo.

“We don’t know what it is yet,” said Sarah Joseph, a spokeswoman for the Pueblo City-County Health Department. Health officials are trying determine whether the source was environmental or foodborne, she said.

Those who became ill reported gastrointestinal symptoms including diarrhea and abdominal cramping that lasted for 24 hours. So far,  77 of the 80 attendees have been interviewed and samples from those who became ill have been sent to the state lab in Denver, said Joseph. “We’re hoping to know more next week.”

Read Full Article Here

 

 

Hepatitis A in Des Moines, Iowa

April 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Food Poisoning Bulletin recently received an email from a person who was diagnosed with hepatitis A in Des Moines, Iowa. That disease is spread by contaminated food and person-to-person contact, so it’s very possible that more people are sick.

Hepatitis A is irritation and swelling of the liver, caused by the hepatitis A virus. The virus comes from the feces and blood of an infected person, and it is shed from the body two to four weeks before the symptoms manifest, and during the first week of the illness.

Report your hepatitis A case.

Human beings are the only natural host of the virus. It replicates in the liver, moves through the blood and is present in feces. Most adults display symptoms of the disease, while children are usually asymptomatic.

The virus is contagious and is spread in several ways: through food contaminated with feces, if a person who has the virus doesn’t wash their hands after using the bathroom then touches food or another object, or if you touch stools or blood of an infected person.

 

Read Full Article Here

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Recalls

Diamond Pet Foods Expands Dry Dog Food Recall

Diamond Pet Foods has expanded a recall, announced April 6 for certain batches of its Diamond Natural Lamb Meal & Rice dry dog food, to include one production run and four production codes of Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover’s Soul Adult Light formula dry dog food.

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One bag of the product has tested positive for Salmonella, and the company says the recall of the four production codes is a precautionary measure.
No dog illnesses have been reported.
The latest recall is for:

Soybean Sprouts Recalled Due to Listeria

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Soybean Sprouts from Henry’s Farm Inc. of Woodford, VA are being recalled because of possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination, according to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

The following products are being recalled:…..

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Articles of Interest

 

 

Scientist Defends Research on Heavy Metals in Oysters

In the two years since the BP oil spill, most scientific research on its effects falls into one of two categories — seafood safety or environmental damage.
Now there are signs science is moving beyond those preliminary assessments to career-defining work that the some researchers don’t want to see misused by others.
That can be difficult in a region known for strong opinions and still divided over whether the Gulf’s message for the rest of the country should be the recovery of its seafood and tourism industries or the possible ecological disaster that may be in its early innings.
oystersnshells-406.jpgDr. Peter Roopnarine, curator of the California Academy of Sciences (CAS), is one scientist who decided playing offense is the best way to navigate those choppy Gulf waters.
To mark the second anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion, Roopnarine announced his team had detected evidence that pollutants from BP oil have entered the ecosystem’s food chain.
Mother Jones, the activist magazine and website, made its story on Roopnarine’s research its BP oil spill anniversary-day story.

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[In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit, for research and/or educational purposes. This constitutes ‘FAIR USE’ of any such copyrighted material.]

Food Safety

 

AEI Calls for Single Food Safety Agency, Better Foodborne Illness Surveillance

by Helena Bottemiller | Apr 26, 2012

The American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, DC, released a working paper this month recommending a single food safety agency, better market incentives, and more foodborne illness data and surveillance.

eggs-in-one-basket-350.jpgIn the paper, AEI scholar Sébastien Pouliot acknowledges the difficulty in making major changes to America’s food regulatory system, citing the long and tenuous debate over the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which was enacted early last year.

Pouliot, an economics professor at Iowa State University, notes that instead of recommending “more controversial and perhaps more cost effective” changes — including shifting away from government regulation, toward more market accountability — he specifically focuses on more attainable solutions like reallocating resources and making better use of technology.

 

Read Full Article Here

 

 

 

House, Senate Continue to Disagree on FDA Appropriations

by Helena Bottemiller | Apr 26, 2012

As the budget process in Washington rolls along, the House and Senate remain at odds over doling out resources that impact the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The House on Wednesday released the allocation for discretionary spending for FDA and agriculture programs for fiscal year 2013, which is $19.4 billion below the spending ceiling set by last summer’s Budget Control Act. In total, the House appropriations allocations are  $1 trillion below the BCA limits. The Senate is currently considering an FDA appropriations bill that is expected to be at the limit.

According to Stephen Grossman, the executive director at the Alliance for a Stronger FDA, “there does not appear to be any coordination between the two bodies and there are fundamental disagreements on total spending.

 

Read Full Article Here

 

Search Underway for Any More ‘Mad Cows’

by Dan Flynn | Apr 26, 2012
The dead Hanford, CA dairy cow with laboratory-confirmed bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is now the centerpiece of an investigation into whether there are any more mad cows in the vicinity.

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Dairymen in the Central Valley of California have been told state and federal officials are testing the BSE-infected animal’s feeding herd, which could include some of its own offspring, and other cows in the area that were born about the same time.
A spokesman for Western United Dairymen said its members maintain “meticulous records” on birth dates, parentage, and linkages to other animals – all easily traceable – and such documentation should help investigators.
Baker Commodities, the Los Angeles-based company that owns the transfer rendering station at Hanford, also announced it not only was holding the diseased carcass in cold storage, but all other cows that arrived with it on the same truck.

California Cow with BSE (Mad Cow Disease) Does Not Pose a Threat to the Food Supply

by Dr. Mel Kramer | Apr 26, 2012
Opinion
On April 24, 2012, it was announced that the fourth U.S. cow tested positive for BSE.  In truth, the first U. S. cow, which was imported from Canada, had “typical” BSE, which was identified in the United Kingdom and has been present in both Europe and Japan, and to a lesser extent in Canada.  The two previous U. S. cattle were actually atypical, as was the one identified this week.

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Although scientifically less is known about the etiology or causation of atypical BSE, what is known is it is not acquired the same way as the typical BSE (from consuming infected feed containing the brain or other Specified Risk Materials from an infected animal), nor does it seem to present the same danger, even if consumed.  No animal slaughtered in the United States for human or animal feed can contain Specified Risk Material, which is where the prion (not bacteria or virus) can be found.  This includes the brain, the tonsils, and parts of the intestine, as well as the spinal cord.

Wisconsin Finds Salmonella Outbreak Strain in Sushi Tuna

by Mary Rothschild | Apr 26, 2012
A sample of raw yellowfin tuna and a sample of sushi made with yellowfin tuna were contaminated with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Bareilly that has sickened at least 160 people, according to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
In a news release, the department said the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene at the University of Wisconsin, Madison found that Salmonella bacteria isolated from two food samples were an identical DNA match to the bacteria isolated from the outbreak victims.
The lab test results corroborate the earlier epidemiologic conclusion, arrived at through case interviews and product trace back, which identified frozen yellowfin tuna as the likely source of the outbreak.

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Based on that earlier evidence from the outbreak investigation, Moon Marine USA Corp of Cupertino, CA recalled suspect frozen tuna product on April 13. The tuna, imported from India, was labeled as Nakaochi Scrape.

Another Type of Salmonella Found in Raw Scraped Tuna

April 26, 2012 By

Salmonella

Salmonella

Government officials have just announced that another strain of Salmonella bacteria has been found in the raw scraped tuna product imported by Moon Marine USA Corporation. The product was recalled on April 13, 2012.The serotype Salmonella Nchanga was found in one of the unopened samples of imported raw Nakaochi Scrape yellowfin tuna. A total of 10 people in 5 states have been infected with this outbreak strain. The bacteria found in the tuna had a PFGE pattern “indistinguishable from the cluster of Salmonella Nchanga infections.”

This bacteria is very rare in the United States. The illness onset dates for this outbreak ranged form February 19 to April 5, 2012. The ill persons are 17 to 86 years old; the median age is 33 years. Seventy-five percent of the patients are female. One person was hospitalized and no deaths have been reported.

 

Read Full Article Here

 

 

 

Raw Milk Now The Focus Of Missouri E. coli Outbreak

April 26, 2012 By

Raw milk produced by Stroupe Farm in Howard County Missouri is now the focus on an investigation into an E.coli outbreak that has sickened 12 people, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.

Missouri health officials had previously reported that 15 people were part of the outbreak, but now believe that, based on lab results, geographic location and case histories, three of those individuals are not part of the same outbreak as the other 12.

 

Read Full Article Here

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Recalls

 

 

Alfa Sprouts Inc. Recalls Alfalfa Sprouts for Possible Listeria

April 26, 2012 By

Alfa Sprouts Inc. (Springwater Sprouts) of Honeoye Falls, New York is recalling 100 pounds of alfalfa sprouts and clover sprouts because they may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. This bacteria can cause serious or life-threatening infections in high risk groups, and can cause stillbirth and miscarriages in pregnant women.

 

Read Full Article Here

 

 

LA Star Seafood Recalling Dry and Smoked Vobla for Possible Botulism

April 26, 2012 By

LA Star Seafood, Inc. of Los Angeles, California is recalling Vobla Dry and Vobla Smoked because the fish may be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum. This bacteria can cause life-threatening illness and death, even in healthy people. The fish was not properly eviscerated.

 

Read Full Article Here

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Allergen Alert

 

 

Krispak Recalling Hostess Candy Mix for Undeclared Allergens

April 26, 2012 By

Krispak, Inc. of Grand Rapids Michigan is recalling 16 cases of Hostess Candy Mix. The mix was mis-packed, or put into the wrong packages. Cases of GFS® Hostess Candy Mix, which contains wheat and milk and may contain egg, were put into GFS® Chocolate Sprinkles packages.

 

Read Full Article Here

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[In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit, for research and/or educational purposes. This constitutes ‘FAIR USE’ of any such copyrighted material.]