Food Safety
USDA Announces New Traceback Policy for Contaminated Beef
Dr. Elisabeth Hagen, USDA’s Under Secretary for Food Safety, announced in a press conference on May 2, 2012 that the government is changing its traceback policy for contaminated beef that test positive for shiga-toxin producing E. coli bacteria (STEC).
“Our keys goals are to strengthen our ability to protect consumers and to bolster prevention-based public safeguards,” she said. “We are going to use traceback policies as a proactive measure, launching the investigations earlier to identify contaminated products before they reach consumers.”
Traceback is the path investigators follow to find out where the contaminated product came from, and to discover where bacteria were introduced into the product. The new policy will allow the USDA to begin traceback and investigations if “presumptive positive” test results occur.
There are three steps in the polymerase-based chain reaction (PCR) test used to test for bacteria in meat. First, a “potential positive” test gives investigators a signal that there may be bacteria present. The second test is called “presumptive positive”, and finally the “confirmed positive” test is conducted if the second test is positive. The whole process can take 24-48 hours.
Raw Milk Still Suspect in 14 Missouri E. Coli Cases
Buncombe County Salmonella Paratyphi B Outbreak Grows; Strain Less Severe
Salmonella
According to the Buncombe County Department of Health, there are now 40 cases of Salmonella ParatyphiB in that county. Test results have confirmed that particular bacteria is causing the outbreak. But further testing shows that this particular strain of bacteria causes an illness with “symptoms that are less severe, and which don’t require control measures that are quite as strict.”
Disease control nurses are contacting twelve of the positive cases, who have been restricted from work, telling them they may be able to return to work. In addition, because this strain is less severe, new cases in the outbreak won’t need a course of antibiotics unless they have other special health issues.
N.C. State Epidemiologist: We Expect More Cases In Salmonella Outbreak
A routine inspection of an Asheville food manufacturer has advanced the investigation of a Salmonella outbreak in North Carolina that has sickened 38 people, but the state’s leading health official expects to see more cases before the outbreak reaches an end.
“We’re in the midst of the investigation and interviewing patients,” North Carolina State Epidemiologist Megan Davies, MD, told Food Poisoning Bulletin in an interview this week. “We’re expecting more cases to develop.”
A break in the investigation came this week when, during a routine inspection by the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, samples of soybean tempeh, produced by Smiling Hara of Asheville tested positive for Salmonella.
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Recalls
Recall Expanded for Sprouts With Listeria Risk
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Articles of Interest
Jerry Dell Farm, Source Of 2011 Outbreak, Ends Raw Milk Sales
Jerry Dell Farm, a New York dairy that was linked to a raw milk Campylobacter outbreak in October 2011, will no longer sell raw milk.
Owned by the Sherman family, the dairy, which has been certified organic since 2000, will continue to operate but has given up its raw milk license effective April 30. On its Facebook page, the dairy apologized for leaving raw milk customers without a source and thanked them for their loyalty. The dairy will continue to operate but the milk it produces will now be sold under an organic, pasteurized label.
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