Category Archives: food-safety

MERS Coronavirus outbreak in Saudi Peninsula

food-safety, ,

corona virus

Saudi health officials are stepping up efforts to fight the Middle East respiratory symptom coronavirus, or MERS-CoV, after a recent spike in cases.

Saudi Arabia confirmed more than 50 cases of the virus in the past week, at least seven of which were fatal. The Saudi Health Ministry says 13 new cases were reported Monday alone, bringing the total to 257.

It is not clear why there was a sudden increase, said Dr. Abdullah Al-Asiri, assistant undersecretary at the Saudi Ministry of Health and a member of the Scientific Committee of Infectious Diseases.

“We have faced an increase in the number of cases around the same time last year at the end of winter,” the Saudi Press Agency quotes him as saying.

Last week, reports on social media said health care workers had refused to treat MERS-CoV patients. The government has since issued a statement saying ambulance services that refused would be suspended from work and investigated.
What is coronavirus?
WHO: Coronavirus ‘threat to the world’

Saudi officials have also called on the World Health Organization and a group of medical experts to meet at the end of this month to discuss the status of the virus.

In a prepared statement, Ministry of Health spokesman Khalid Marghalani said a drug company would be arriving in Saudi Arabia to discuss the production of a vaccine to fight the virus.

MERS-CoV was discovered in September 2012. Last month, 200 cases were reported to the World Health Organization globally, but in the past month, the number of cases has jumped 20%.

A new cluster of the virus was reported in the United Arab Emirates this week, as were the first cases in Greece and Malaysia.

MERS-CoV acts like a cold virus and attacks the respiratory system, the U.S.-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. But symptoms, which include fever, cough and shortness of breath, can lead to pneumonia and kidney failure.

Although many of the cases have occurred on the Arabian Peninsula, people have died of the infection elsewhere, including in European countries and Tunisia. However, all of the people involved contracted the disease in the Middle East before being diagnosed. Limited human-to-human transmission of the disease has also occurred in other countries.

Health officials do not know exactly how the virus spreads, and they stress hygiene, such as diligent hand-washing, to limit its spread.

The WHO has not recommended any MERS-related travel restrictions but says member countries should monitor any unusual respiratory infection patterns in travelers to the Arabian Peninsula.

Trader Joes and Antibiotic use in Animal Feed

food-safety

For over a year now, Consumers Union has been urging Trader Joe’s to be an industry leader by stopping the sale of meat and poultry raised on antibiotics.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria in meat continues to make headlines–from the recent announcement by FDA urging drug companies to stop selling antibiotics for livestock growth promotion, to Consumer Reports own investigative piece, released yesterday, on chicken breasts. I’m including Consumer Reports latest article and a couple of other articles from this week, including an editorial by Mark Bittman of the New York Times, that highlight the need to end the regular use of antibiotics in meat production.

Please take a moment to review the enclosed articles. We again urge you to take a stand for public health by changing Trader Joe’s policy and stop selling meat raised on antibiotics.

Consumer Reports

New York Times

Desk and Pens Need Cleaned and Sanitized Also

food-safety, ,

I read a recent study that the office desk in a kitchen contained 21,000 germs per inch and a seat in the restroom contained only 49 germs per squarre inch. How can this be?

Article on germs on desks and toilet seats.

Everything in the kitchen is cleaned and sanitized on a regular basis (hopefully). But when was the last time you cleaned your pen? Never, right? each time you grab it, you add germs to it which multiply, multiply, and multiply. Then when you grab it with a clean hand, you hand now has those germs on it again. You may wipe your desk top off, but when was the last time it was cleaned and sanitized like everything else in the kitchen. What about your cliip board?

Add your pens, desk, clipboard, and other things you touch on a regular basis to the list of things needing cleaned and sanitized on a regular basis.

The Battle Against Salmonella in Poultry

food-safety, ,

Poultry

we do not eradicate billions of live chickens because they might carry Salmonella, a naturally occurring microorganism that is inherent to the bird. What will make Salmonella disappear is science, research and breaking the chain at every stage of production from the breeder farm to the processing plant.

U.S. chicken companies recognize that constant vigilance and continuous improvement in food safety is a requirement of doing business. The risk of doing any less is too great to consumers and to the company’s reputation. Each company has stringent food safety and quality assurance programs that complement federal government inspection.

It all starts even before the egg. Healthy breeder flocks lead to healthy chicks — measures are taken to prevent diseases from passing from hen to chick and to ensure that natural antibodies are passed on which help keep the birds healthy. At the hatchery, strict sanitation measures and appropriate vaccinations ensure the chicks are off to a healthy start.

U.S. chicken producers also focus heavily on the further reduction of Salmonella at processing facilities by using safe and effective interventions at critical control points.

At facilities that process chickens for meat, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) requires that poultry establishments must meet Salmonella performance standards as a means of verifying that production systems are effective in controlling any and all contamination. FSIS inspection personnel conduct Salmonella testing in poultry establishments to verify compliance with Salmonella standards.

Since 1996, meat and poultry processors have been operating under Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) plans, which have provided a scientific method of identifying and preventing food safety hazards and managing risk so that key actions can be taken to reduce or eliminate these risks.

Chicken-processing facilities use a variety of intervention strategies at their critical control points that include the use of FDA-approved organic sprays and rinses that kill or reduce the growth of potential foodborne pathogens, biosecurity measures, zero tolerance for visible fecal material, making sure the carcass is properly chilled, and strict sanitation procedures, to name a few.

Microbiological tests for pathogens, including Salmonella and Campylobacter, are then conducted by companies and federal laboratories. These tests help ensure that food safety systems such as HACCP are working properly and they verify compliance with federal Salmonella standards.

The data tell us we’re making progress: From 2001 to 2010 — the latest 10-year period for which data are available — outbreaks related to E. coli, Salmonella and other pathogens decreased by more than 40 percent. In the past five years, Salmonella on whole chickens has decreased by 55 percent. According to the latest FSIS Quarterly Progress Report (July 1 through Sept. 30, 2013), 0.7 percent of young chicken carcasses in large plants tested positive for Salmonella — a fraction of the FSIS performance standard of 7.5 percent.

The incidence of human salmonellosis (from all sources) in the U.S. in 2012 was 16.42 cases per 100,000 people. Denmark’s rate was 21.4 cases per 100,000 for the same year.

No matter if you are in Copenhagen or Columbus, safe handling and fully cooking poultry to 165 degrees F (74 degrees C) is what fully eradicates Salmonella.

Given that Americans eat 160 million servings of chicken every day, the vast majority of consumers are cooking and handling chicken properly and having a safe experience.

But we want that experience to be safe each and every time, which is why the chicken industry is constantly seeking continuous improvement to make our products even safer.

For example, we know most consumers eat chicken parts rather than whole chickens. We are collectively and non-competitively exploring all options to reduce contamination on chicken parts in order to provide the safest product possible to our consumers. This something the industry is proactively working to address, so when a performance standard for chicken parts is put in place by FSIS, the industry can be meeting or exceeding the standard, as we currently do for whole carcasses.

Secondly, USDA needs to move forward to modernize its poultry inspection system that hasn’t changed since the days of Dwight Eisenhower. Under this proposal, the amount of food safety-related tasks performed by USDA inspectors would significantly increase, preventing more than 5,200 foodborne illnesses every year, according to USDA risk assessments.

We all play an important role in ensuring food safety for our families. All chicken is safe when properly cooked and handled, and U.S. chicken producers and processors are continually seeking methods to make them even safer before leaving the plant, like our Danish counterparts.

Not only is it the right thing to do and makes good business sense, but because our families eat the same chicken as you and yours.

When to Throw out Food in the Freezer – Is It Still Safe?

food-safety, , ,

There you are, digging in the freezer for a bag of frozen veggies, when instead you find half a pound of frozen ground beef. How long has it been in there? The color looks a little off, but the packaging is OK. Is the meat still good? To toss, or not to toss—that is the question.

Bacteria that cause foodborne illnesses do not grow in the freezer; so long as the food was frozen safely, it’s still safe to eat. When bacteria are frozen they go into hibernation mode, which keeps them from multiplying to dangerous levels. Freezing food, however, does not remove any toxins released before the food was frozen. So the faster you put perishable food into the freezer, the less time bacteria have to multiply and potentially contaminate the food.

Although freezing food keeps it safe, the quality of frozen food can deteriorate over time. If you suspect that your food has been frozen for a while, check it for freezer burn. Freezer burn occurs when air comes in direct contact with a food surface and dries it out, leaving grayish-brown spots on the food. If freezer burn is mild, cut out the freezer burn spots and use the rest of the item. If the food has heavy freezer burn, the overall quality of the item could be bad enough that you want to toss it out. Remember that ground beef? If it was frozen in a safe condition, it’s still safe to eat when you find it months later, even though it might not be as tasty. As such, consider using it in a spicy dish that will compensate for the beef’s loss of flavor, like tacos or chili.

Next time you find that forgotten freezer item, take a look before you toss it out. Chances are that it’s still good.

To learn more about frozen food and how long food quality lasts in the freezer, visit the Freezing and Food Safety page provided by the United States Department of Agriculture.
– See more at: http://blog.statefoodsafety.com/when-to-throw-it-out-freezer-food/comment-page-1/#comment-165333