The Cost of Foodborne Illness for Each of the Major Pathogens

 The USDA Economic Research Service issued a series of cost estimates for the various types of pathogens such as Listeria, Salmonella, and Norovirus.

According to these estimates, the cost of foodborne illness exceeds $15 billion, and this does not include industry associated costs of recalls, loss in brand equity, etc.


USDA - ERS
http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/cost-estimates-of-foodborne-illnesses.aspx#48498

Cost Estimates of Foodborne Illnesses


The Cost Estimates of Foodborne Illnesses data product provides detailed data about the costs of major foodborne illnesses in the United States, updating and extending previous ERS research. This data set includes:
Detailed identification of specific disease outcomes for foodborne infections caused by 15 major pathogens in the United States
Associated outpatient and inpatient expenditures on medical care
Associated lost wages
Estimates of individuals’ willingness to pay to reduce mortality resulting from these foodborne illnesses acquired in the United States.

Minnesota Company Recalls Meat Meals after Listeria Positive Test

A Minnesota company is recalling meat and poultry meal products after USDA testing found a sample of the product to be positive for Listeria.  No illnesses have been reported.

The company then indicated that through their own internal testing, they found that the roasted red potatoes were positive for Listeria. These roasted red potatoes were supplied by another company, but no information was listed for the name of that company.
 
 
USDA News Release
Minnesota Firm Recalls Meat and Poultry Products for Possible Listeria Contamination
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/recalls-and-public-health-alerts/recall-case-archive/archive/2014/recall-068-2014-release
Class I Recall 068-2014
Health Risk: High Oct 8, 2014

Congressional and Public Affairs  Lauren Kotwicki
(202) 720-9113

WASHINGTON, Oct. 08, 2014 – Buddy’s Kitchen, a Burnsville, Minn. establishment, is recalling approximately 62,488 pounds of meat and poultry products due to possible contamination with Listeria monocytogenes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.

Raw Pet Food Recalled for Salmonella...Again

Raw pet food is being recalled after testing by a state laboratory found a sample of the product to be positive for Salmonella.  No illnesses have been reported.

Yeah, it is raw pet food...is that a surprise to be contaminated with Salmonella?  This is not the first recall for this company, nor the second. http://pennstatefoodsafety.blogspot.com/2014/05/raw-pet-food-recalled-due-to-postive.html



FDA Recall Notice
http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm416452.htm
Bravo Recalls Select Chicken and Turkey Pet Foods Because of Possible Salmonella Health Risk

Contact Consumer: 866-922-9222

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - September 26, 2014 - (Manchester, CT) Bravo of Manchester, CT is recalling select lots of Bravo Turkey and Chicken pet foods for dogs and cats because they have the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. Salmonella can affect animals eating the products and there is risk to humans from handling contaminated pet products, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the products or any surfaces exposed to these products.

Investigative Report on Foodborne Outbreak at Food Safety Conference in Baltimore

 An investigation of an foodborne illness outbreak occurring at the Food Safety Summit's Conference in Baltimore this past April indicates that the cause of the illness was Clostridium perfrignens associated with the Chicken Marsala dish.  In all, some 216 illnesses were reported with 146 reporting that they ate the Chicken Marsala dish.

While there was no smoking gun, there were a number of issues that may have led to the outgrowth of this sporeforming pathogen.  As you know, spores of Clostridium perfringens will survive cooking, and if that product is temperature abused, the spores will germinate and the organism will multiply very rapidly.

The issues revolved around temperature measurements during holding of the food.  The recommendations in the report provide good guidance for operations to prevent such outbreaks.

From the report:

Recommendations for event A and all event organizers and Caterer A and all foodservice facilities:1.) Ensure that internal food temperatures are measured at the conclusion of cooking and during the hot holding process.
 a. Temperatures should be taken while the food remains inside the hot holding cabinets at one hour intervals and from multiple locations of the food trays on different shelves.
b. Food handlers should record the range of temperatures (versus a single temperature) as observed on log sheets. Food must maintain 135°F at all times after cooking and prior to service.
c. Obtain representative (multiple sites, mix of locations on tray, such as center, corners, edges) temperature measurements of all food trays before serving time.

2.) Report immediately to management or the person in charge when any food temperatures are below the required holding temperatures.

3.) Corrective action, as specified in the facility’s approved HACCP plan, must be taken when food measures less than the 135°F critical limit.

4.) Maintain detailed temperature logs.
a. Retain detailed internal temperature logs of any cold and hot held food every hour for all locations and all serving lines;
b. Log both internal and external temperature readings for all refrigeration units every 2‐4 hours to ensure that potentially hazardous foods do not exceed regulated time and temperature requirements.

Maryland Department of Health
http://dhmh.maryland.gov/docs/Outbreak%202014-119%20FINAL_with%20Attachments_v3.pdf
SUMMARY REPORT
OUTBREAK 2014-119

September 2014

Office of Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Outbreak Response
Prevention and Health Promotion Administration
Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

INTRODUCTION
On April 11, 2014, the Baltimore City 311 system received 3 reports of illness from attendees of Conference A. A 4th report was received on April 15. All of the reports were from conference attendees who also worked in the same building at another work location. The reporters stated that they, and several coworkers who also attended Conference A, became ill with diarrhea between April 8 and April 10. The attendees suspected that lunch served on April 9 was the source of the illnesses. All 4 reports were assigned in the 311 system to Baltimore City Health Department’s (BCHD), Bureau of Environmental Health, Environmental Inspection Services (EIS) Food Control Section. On April 16, BCHD, EIS identified that these reports were related and informed BCHD’s Office of Acute Communicable Diseases (ACD). An outbreak investigation was initiated on April 16 by BCHD. BCHD notified the  Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) Division of Outbreak Investigation on April 16. Subsequently, the response proceeded as a joint state‐local outbreak investigation.

Recall of grilled chicken due to positive Listeria tests

 Foster Farms is recalling 40,000 lbs of grilled chicken strips due to the potential to be contaminated with Listeria.  The contamination was discovered by company testing.  No illnesses have been reported.

The grilled chicken was packaged in 3.25lb packages and shipped to Costco locations in ID, MT, UT, CO, TX, LA, CA, and Hawaii.  According to the news report - "While some of the product was set aside and held, the product subject to this recall was inadvertently shipped," it said."    Oops, that is not good.

But the Reuters article below also shoves this statement into the article - "The recall comes amid revelations that major U.S. poultry firms are administering antibiotics to their flocks far more pervasively than regulators realize, posing a potential risk to human health."

 It is a long stretch to say that antibiotic usage and post process Listeria contamination are linked.  Vegetative pathogens such as Salmonella and Listeria are eliminated in the cooking process.  The contamination in the plant would be a post process addition, and from what we have seen in past cases, this contamination would be more likely to be a facility related issue rather than in incoming bird issue.

Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/26/chicken-recall-frozen-grilled-listeria-foster-farms_n_5890416.html
Nearly 40,000 Pounds Of Foster Farms Chicken Recalled Due To Listeria ContaminationReuters
Posted: 09/26/2014 4:12 pm EDT Updated: 09/26/2014 4:59 pm EDT
SEATTLE, Sept 26 (Reuters) - California-based poultry giant Foster Farms is recalling nearly 40,000 pounds of frozen grilled chicken due to Listeria contamination, the Department of Agriculture said on Friday.

Foster Farms shipped the breast strips produced on Aug. 5 from Farmerville, Louisiana, to many U.S. states, USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) representative, Benjamin Bell, said.

Renewal Time for FDA Biennial Food Facility Registration

 It is time to renew your food facility registration for the FDA


FDA Constituent Updates
http://www.fda.gov/Food/NewsEvents/ConstituentUpdates/ucm416121.htm
Food Facility Biennial Registration Renewal
Constituent Update

September 26, 2014

Food facilities required to register with FDA must renew their food facility registrations this year during the period beginning on October 1, 2014 and ending on December 31, 2014. FDA encourages food facilities to renew their registrations early on in the three-month renewal period.

Updated Proposal for FSMA Animal Feed Reg Relaxes Requirements for Food Companies Supplying Waste for Feed

The FDA announced some changes in the proposed rule for  Preventive Controls of Animal Food.

One of the biggest changes was reducing the requirements on food companies that provide their waste products for animal feed.  Basically, you would not need a HACCP based system, just controls to prevent chemical and physical contamination.

Human food processors already complying with FDA human food safety requirements, such as brewers, would not need to implement additional preventive controls or Current Good Manufacturing Practice regulations when supplying a by-product (e.g., wet spent grains, fruit or vegetable peels, liquid whey) for animal food, except for proposed CGMPs to prevent physical and chemical contamination when holding and distributing the by-product (e.g., ensuring the by-product isn’t co-mingled with garbage).

They also are making the cGMP requirements more applicable to the type of feed being produced.  However, like the Human Foods updated proposal, they are looking at the possibility of adding language to affect product testing, environmental control, and supplier control.


FDA Website
http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/FSMA/ucm366510.htm
FSMA Proposed Rule for Preventive Controls for Animal Food
Establish Current Good Manufacturing Practice and Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Food for Animals
Based on FDA outreach efforts and public comments, the FDA is proposing a number of revisions to its proposed rule on preventive controls for animal food that are more flexible and less burdensome in key areas.

PCA Executives Found Guilty for Shipping Containated Peanut Butter, Now Getting Time in the Big House

The PCA executives responsible for knowingly shipping Salmonella-contaminated peanut butter were found guilty of a number of felony charges including conspiracy.  In this case, the tainted peanut butter was responsible or nine deaths and more than 700 illnesses.

The disregard for human health was pretty blatant in the charges that were brought against them.

In the end, was it worth it for them?

Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/articles/head-of-company-that-distributed-salmonella-tainted-peanuts-found-guilty-1411149368
Peanut Executive Found Guilty in Salmonella Trial
Conviction Seen as Landmark in Criminal Food-Safety Prosecutions
By
Jesse Newman 
Updated Sept. 19, 2014 6:12 p.m. ET

 A federal jury on Friday convicted the former head of a peanut-processing company of conspiracy and other charges in connection with a deadly salmonella outbreak, one of the first felony convictions of a corporate executive in a U.S. food-safety case.

Outbreak - Penn State Food Safety Propaganda

 Propaganda is a form of communication aimed towards influencing the attitude of a population toward some cause or position.   No doubt, a shameless plug - a term often used on the Internet to refer to a time when someone tries to include (or “plug”) some information that helps advance their own selfish interests.

Penn State Ag News Magazine
http://agsci.psu.edu/magazine/articles/2014/spring/outbreak
Outbreak

Fever, muscle ache, and diarrhea—perhaps even confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions. These were some of the symptoms suffered by the 33 Americans who died of listeriosis in 2011 as a result of eating cantaloupes tainted with the bacteria Listeria monocytogenes.

The outbreak — the deadliest since 1985, affecting more than 100 people in 26 states — eventually was traced to a farm in Littleton, Colorado.