USA: Report Card for Food Safety

Each year, foodborne illness, commonly known as food poisoning, affects about 48 million people in the United States. 

Each year, FoodNet (Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network) reports on the changes in the number of people sickened with foodborne infections that have been confirmed by laboratory tests.

As we can see, Salmonella is the most commonly reported infection, followed by Campylobacter, continuously increasing.

But even more interesting is that for every confirmed case of salmonellosis or campylobacteriosis, there are about thirty undiagnosed.

The data collected by FoodNet also lets CDC, its partners, and policy makers know how much progress has been made in reaching national goals for reducing foodborne illness.

Pathogenic Escherichia coli

There are 6 pathotypes of E.coli that cause enteric illness in man: enterohemorrhagic (EHEC), enteropathogenic (EPEC), enterotoxigenic (ETEC), enteroaggregative (EAEC), enteroinvasive (EIEC), and diffusely adherent E.coli (DAEC). Only EHEC is a zoonosis. The large serotype O104:H4 outbreak centered in northern Germany was is chimeric organism having features of both EHEC and EAEC and is not a zoonosis either. Each organism has different pathogenic mechanisms.

(source: promedmail.org)

See also the FDA Bad Bug Book section on E.coli.

(this post is also available in italian)

Salmonella found in U.S. restaurant

290 customers and 4 employees of the Firefly on Paradise restaurant in Las Vegas have shown synthoms of Salmonellosis between April 21st and 26th, 2013. According to the final report from the Southern Nevada Health District, a cooked  sausage could be the cause of the infection because it has been verified positive for Salmonella spp. In Nevada, in the same period, other 70 cases of Salmonellosis have been reported (5 of whom hospitalized). It has reported that all of them have consumed food at the Holiday Inn Bordeaux in Fayettville. The full report by the Southern Nevada Health District about the Firefly on Paradise infection is available here.

(this post is also available in italian).

ISO Standards updated

New ISO standards related to food products have been published between April 1st and April 30th, 2013.

ISO/TS 15216-1:2013 Microbiology of food and animal feed -- Horizontal method for determination of hepatitis A virus and norovirus in food using real-time RT-PCR -- Part 1: Method for quantification 
ISO/TS 15216-2:2013 Microbiology of food and animal feed -- Horizontal method for determination of hepatitis A virus and norovirus in food using real-time RT-PCR -- Part 2: Method for qualitative detection
ISO 5530-1:2013 Wheat flour-- Physical characteristics of doughs -- Part 1: Determination  of water absorption and rheological properties using a farinograph
ISO 17180:2013 Animal feeding stuffs -- Determination of lysine, methionine and threonine in commercial amino acid products and premixtures
ISO 21569:2005/Amd 1:2013 Foodstuffs -- Methods of analysis for the detection of genetically modified organisms and derived products -- Qualitative nucleic acid based methods -- Amendment ISO 21570:2005/Amd 1:2013 Foodstuffs -- Methods of analysis for the detection of genetically modified organisms and derived products -- Quantitative nucleic acid based methods -- Amendment 1
ISO 24276:2006/Amd 1:2013 Foodstuffs -- Methods of analysis for the detection of genetically modified organisms and derived products -- General requirements and definitions -- Amendment 1

EFSA and ECDC 2011 zoonoses report

The 2011 annual report on “Trends and Sources of Zoonoses, Zoonotic Agents and Food-borne Outbreaks” has been recently released. The report has been jointly developed by EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) and ECDC (European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control). Campylobacteriosis is confirmed as the most reported zoonotic disease, with 220,209 single cases of infections in humans (a 2.2% increase since 2010). Salmonellosis ranks second, with 95,548 reported cases (decreasing in last years). Escherichia coli (VTEC/STEC) has been instead responsible for 9,485 cases in human: the high growth observed in 2011 has been mainly related with the relevant outbreak of the rare strain O104:H4 in Germany and France, associated with sprouted seeds.
Concerning food-borne outbreaks (i.e. cases where infection is observed in two or more humans consuming the same food), Salmonella remains the most reported cases (26.6% of the total), followed by bacterial toxin and Campylobacter (10.6%). The most common food sources for food-borne outbreaks have been eggs and eggs producs, mixed foods, fish and fish-derived products. You can read the full press release from the EFSA website.

(this post is also available in italian).

ISO Standards updated

New ISO standards related to food products have been published between March 1st and March 30th, 2013:

ISO 6887-6:2013 Microbiology of food and animal feed -- Preparation of test samples, initial suspension and decimal dilutions for microbiological examination -- Part 6: Specific rules for the preparation of samples taken at the primary production stage
ISO/TS 15216-1:2013 Microbiology of food and animal feed -- Horizontal method for determination of hepatitis A virus and norovirus in food using real-time RT-PCR -- Part 1: Method for quantification 
ISO/TS 15216-2:2013 Microbiology of food and animal feed -- Horizontal method for determination of hepatitis A virus and norovirus in food using real-time RT-PCR -- Part 2: Method for qualitative detection
ISO 21571:2005/Amd 1:2013 Foodstuffs -- Methods of analysis for the detection of genetically modified organisms and derived products -- Nucleic acid extraction -- Amendment 1
ISO 5667-3:2012 Water quality -- Sampling -- Part 3: Preservation and handling of water samples