Food Safety
Publisher’s Platform: Non-O157 E. coli – An Alphabet Soup of Illness
Opinion
E. coli O157:H7, O26, O111, O103, O121, O45 and O145 – it can get a bit(e) confusing.
As of June 8, 2012, the CDC and various State health Departments report that there are 14 cases of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O145 infection with indistinguishable DNA patterns that have been identified in lab samples from persons in 6 states: Alabama (2), California (1), Florida (1), Georgia (5), Louisiana (4), Tennessee (1). The dates when those people became ill range from April 15 to May 12, 2012.
Since the Jack-in-the-Box E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in 1992/1993, the food industry and public health has been focused on that most dangerous bug as an adulterant in ground beef. However, under recently enacted rules adopted by the USDA’s FSIS, six additional strains of E. coli will be classified as adulterants on par with the better-known E. coli O157:H7, which was often linked to serious illnesses tied to hamburger. The new strains include E. coli O26, O111, O103, O121, O45 and O145. Hopefully my petition in 2009 helped prompt this movement a little.
According to the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy (CIDRAP), these six STEC strains account for 80 percent of non-O157 E. coli illnesses infections. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates non-O157 E. coli strains cause 112,000 illnesses annually.
Although non-O157 E. colis tended not to be tracked as frequently as their nasty cousin E. coli O157:H7, there have been some reported outbreaks according to my friends at Outbreak Database:
Food Safety Bloopers Volume 1
Last week I told you about some egregious food safety mistakes made by professionals in the public eye. I read every food magazine published, watch as many food shows as I can, and browse dozens of food blogs. And every week, I see a food safety mistake. And I contact the magazine, network, or blog responsible for the mistake; I almost never hear back from them.
The problem with these mistakes is not just that they show a lack of education about food safety. These errors promote dangerous practices that will increase the number of foodborne illnesses in this country and around the world. Food poisoning already costs the United States $78 billion each and every year. More than 120,000 Americans are hospitalized and 3,000 die from foodborne illness every year.
So we’re starting a new feature today: Food Safety Bloopers. I hope that by publicizing these bloopers we’ll raise awareness among the general public that even if food advice appears in a magazine or on television, that doesn’t mean it’s right.
The July issue of Woman’s Day magazine is the focus today. An article on the best ways to save money on food and other expenses listed advice from “experts”. Consumers were told to save money by buying bruised peaches and nectarines, even though “you can’t eat the bruised part”.
Nutrient Dense Diets Are More Expensive
Research published by the Center for Public Health Nutrition at the University of Washington and the Center for Human Nutrition at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health has found that, contrary to a recently released USDA study, nutrient dense diets are more expensive. The study was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Health.
The study was conducted on a random sample of 2,000 adults in the Seattle Obesity Study. The researchers assessed dietary intakes and converted them into quintiles. The diet cost for each quintile was then calculated using supermarket prices in the Seattle area, choosing the least expensive foods that were rich in the chosen nutrients.
Higher food costs were associated with higher intakes of these nutrients
- Vitamins C, A, E, and B12
- Beta carotene
- Potassium
- Magnesium
- Dietary fiber
These important nutrients were less expensive:
- Calcium
- Vitamin D
- Iron
- Folate
Survey Shines Spotlight on Perceptions About Food Safety
What you know about food safety and the way you handle and prepare food helps determine how safe you are — or how at risk you are — from coming down with a foodborne illness.
With that in mind, the International Food Information Council Foundation has been tracking food-safety practices that different sectors of the U.S. population say they are following — or not following — since 2006.
Bottom line: It’s all about the health of U.S. consumers.
“Because only safe food can be nutritious food, this research is an important part of the applied research needed to ensure a wholesome food supply for the United States,” says the conclusion of an article about the foundation’s 5-year retrospective, Food and Health Survey, 2006-2010, which appears in the June issue of peer-reviewed Food Protection Trends.
The comprehensive national study was designed to gain insights from Americans on important food-safety, nutrition, and health-related topics. The goal is to provide information that food-safety educators can use to help people stay safe from foodborne illnesses such as E. coli, Salmonella and Listeria.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, contaminated food causes 48 million illnesses (1 in 6 people), 128,000 hospitalizations, and 3,000 deaths each year. In addition, the United States documents approximately 1,000 foodborne disease outbreaks each year.
The outbreaks represent an amazing variety of foods. For example, in the period between 2006 and 2010, CDC documented 31 multi-state food outbreaks, among them high-profile outbreaks involving fresh spinach, tomatoes, peanut butter, frozen pot pies, cantaloupes, rice/wheat cereals, pistachios, alfalfa sprouts, beef, shredded lettuce, cheese and shell eggs.
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Recalls
Sienna Bakery Brand Cookies Recalled for Undeclared Walnuts
Best Maid Cookie Company in River Falls, WI, is recalling its Sienna Bakery brand Oatmeal Walnut Raisin and White Chocolate Macadamia Nut cookies due to potential undeclared walnut allergens.
The master cases of these products may contain retail boxes labeled “White Chocolate Macadamia Nut” but contain Oatmeal Walnut Raisin cookies inside.
The product was sold through Gordon Food Service Marketplace and Delivery Services from May 11 through June 7 in Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.
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Articles of Interest
Senate to put bigger fish aside, fry catfish inspection program
The Senate is likely to vote to end a small but controversial catfish inspection program next week, saving $14 million annually and potentially preventing a trade war with Vietnam.
While other major cost-cutting amendments to the 2013 farm bill face an uphill climb — including ones slashing food stamp spending and capping crop insurances subsidies for wealthy farmers — the elimination of the catfish program is expected to draw wide bipartisan support.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) introduced an amendment to the farm bill to do away with the inspections. McCain and other senators, including John Kerry (D-Mass.), argue the program is duplicative and could provoke a trade dispute with Vietnam.
“We are predicting victory on the floor, we clearly have the momentum and should have the votes, too,” a lobbyist supporting the amendment said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is required to set up a catfish inspection program under the 2008 farm bill, and has been dragging its feet in putting the program into place. Normally, UDSA inspects meat and eggs, but leaves fish to the Food and Drug Administration.
The USDA estimates that the new program would cost $14 million a year to run, compared to the $700,000 currently spent by the Food and Drug Administration.
A new Government Accountability Report compiled in May urged Congress to eliminate the program. It argues that FDA will have sufficient powers under new legislation to inspect imported fish properly.
Supporters of the program say imported catfish are a salmonella risk that the FDA’s program does not sufficiently address. Catfish Farmers of America argues that since only 2 percent of fish are actually inspected by FDA, keeping catfish under the agency’s oversight is a threat to public health.
Today: Walmart, Kroger, Primus. Tomorrow: You?
Opinion
Last week, Jensen Farms, the grower of the cantaloupe implicated in the Listeria outbreak of 2011, filed for bankruptcy. Prominently listed in the filing were lawsuits associated with the outbreak, from which 146 people were sickened and 36 died. According to the Denver Post, Jensen’s attorney said the filing should free up millions of dollars in insurance and other funds.
Foodborne illness attorney Bill Marler has filed at least 11 lawsuits and is representing almost 40 families or persons said to have been sickened or killed because of the contaminated cantaloupe. According to an article in Marler-published Food Safety News, the bankruptcy filing means that his clients
“can move on to file lawsuits against companies further down the supply chain: Frontera Produce, the cantaloupe distributor; retailers such as Walmart and Kroger; and Primus Labs, the third-party auditor whose subcontractor, Bio-Food Safety, gave Jensen Farms facilities a ‘superior’ inspection rating just six days before the outbreak began.”
“Bankruptcy of Jensen Farms was a necessary prerequisite to allowing families of those who died and those who were injured to seek compensation against Frontera, Primus, suppliers and retailers,” Marler said.
If Mr. Marler is successful in bringing and winning these cases, it is telling us that someone as distant from the farm as the retailer is highly vulnerable to being sued if a farmer’s product makes someone sick and that farm then declares bankruptcy. If you sell adulterated food – or have some role in handling, distributing, or maybe even transporting anywhere along the food chain of that adulterated food, you would be liable to some extent – regardless of the cause or origination of the contamination.
Food Safety Penalties, Raw Milk Among Senate Farm Bill Amendments
Senators have filed more than 80 amendments to the Farm Bill, which the upper chamber is expected to debate this week. The thousand plus page bill — which aims to save taxpayers $23 billion over 10 years — would replace direct payment subsidies to farmers with subsidized crop insurance and a program that pays only if crop income drops below certain levels.
The proposed additions are varied. Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) wants to require an Agricultural Research Service to operate a facility in his state, Sen. Linsey Graham (R-SC) wants to replace the Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program (SNAP) with block grants, and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), wants the government to study the impact of sugar-sweetened beverages on obesity and Sen. McCain (R-AZ) wants to end popcorn and mohair subsidies, just to name a few. But there are also a few that would impact food safety, according to an overview released by the Hagstrom Report (subscription).
Most notably, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is seeking to increase criminal penalties for certain knowing and intentional violations of food standards, likely seeking to attach the Food Safety Accountability Act, a bill he introduced in 2010 and 2011.
Pauls Want Raw Milk Access in Farm Bill & GOP Platform
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