Researchers have shown how the O157:H7 strain of Escherichia coli causes infection and thrives by manipulating the host immune response. The bacterium secretes a protein called NleH1 that directs the host immune enzyme IKK-beta to alter specific immune responses. This process not only helps the bacterium evade elimination by the immune system, it also works to prolong the survival of the infected host, enabling the bacterium to persist and ultimately spread to unaffected individuals. This finely balanced mechanism, observed in both laboratory and animal models, could be relevant to other pathogens involved in foodborne diseases.

While most E. coli strains help check the growth of harmful bacteria in the guts of animals and humans, a few E. coli strains, such as O157:H7, can cause severe diarrhea, abdominal cramps and, in rare cases, death. Human cases of E. coli O157:H7 have been linked to consumption of raw, undercooked, or spoiled meat.

Scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, plan to use the new information to further study how the host immune system mounts a response to E. coli O157:H7 when infection begins and how the bacterium selectively blocks these defenses. Several foodborne pathogens, including Shigella and Salmonella, use a similar secretion system to disrupt host immune responses and infect gut cells.

F Wan, et al. IKK-beta phosphorylation regulates RPS3 nuclear translocation and NF-kappa B function during infection with Escherichia coli strain O157:H7. Nature Immunology. DOI 10.1038/ni.2007
 

VietNamNet Bridge reports that nearly 1000 workers from a Taiwanese footwear company named HongFu in Thanh Hoa province were hospitalized on March 12 for food poisoning after having lunch at their factory.

The lunch for HongFu’s workers on March 12 included rice, chicken, vegetable and vegetable liquor. Workers said that the smell of the vegetable liquor was weird.

As the number of patients is huge, they were brought to many hospitals based in Thanh Hoa city. A hospital had to use their building that is still under construction to receive patients.

Le Thi Nhung, a worker at HongFu, said at 1 pm, after the lunch, a mass of workers said they had headache, vertigo and vomited. They received first aid at the company’s healthcare room but it was useless. The workers were then brought to hospitals.

By 4.30 pm, nearly 1000 workers were hospitalized while many workers continued to faint. All ambulances in Thanh Hoa province was mobilized to transport workers to hospitals.

My fingerprints arrived in Ottawa (that’s in Canada) about a month ago for a travel-related security check. I know this because they signed when they received the package by courier.

I checked on the status of the paperwork a week ago and was told, in doublespeak, by writing,

“Given the information sent, the application has not reached our system at this time. Due to our quality control process, this does not mean that they are not in the building.”

Maybe all Canadian government-types go to the same communication classes, because a couple of days ago, Health Canada issued a press release about updates to its listeria control policy.

Health Canada has completed its update of the 2004 policy on Listeria monocytogenes in Ready-to-Eat (RTE) foods, in view of enhancing the control of Listeria in high-risk foods. The purpose of this policy is to provide guidance to stakeholders regarding verification and control, as well as regulatory oversight and compliance activities of RTE foods with respect to their potential to support the growth of Listeria monocytogenes.

The Canadian "Policy on Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat foods" (hereafter referred to as the Listeria policy) is based on Good Manufacturing Practices1 (GMPs) and the principles of HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point). This policy was developed using a health risk assessment (HRA) approach and uses as its foundation a combination of inspection, environmental sampling and end-product testing to verify control of Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat (RTE) foods. Focus is given to environmental verification and control, especially in post-lethality areas, as applicable. This policy applies to RTE food sold in Canada, produced both domestically and imported. The present policy revises and replaces the Policy on Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat foods dated October 4, 2004.

How this will mean fewer sick and dead people, like the 23 who died in the 2008 Maple Leaf listeria mess, is not addressed. However the Health Canada types did say, “There is an increased focus on outreach with the federal/provincial/territorial community to increase awareness of the risks of foodborne listeriosis and to provide guidance on how to reduce the risks of acquiring listeriosis to personnel in institutions where high-risk people may be exposed.”

How this outreach will be conducted and evaluated is not discussed. No mention of labels or public availability of testing data. But read it yourself and decide.

But when I tried to read the original I had to submit a request, and received the following:

“Thank you for contacting Health Canada. Your message has been received. We will get back to you as soon as possible.”

The document eventually arrived.
 

Bogus food claims can be more than deceptive, they can be dangerous.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that two top-selling diet products are the subject of an urgent recall after tests revealed they are highly toxic.

Marketers of The Latin Seed and Slim Seed, who say they have thousands of Australian customers, claim their products are derived from Aleurites moluccana, commonly known as candlenut.

But tests by the New South Wales Food Authority showed the seeds are actually from the poisonous yellow oleander.

The food watchdog has advised anyone taking the products to stop, and asked stockists to remove them from shelves. It has recommended that anyone who has concerns about consuming the seeds seek medical advice.

''The authority has received medical advice that yellow oleander contains cardiac glycosides which can be highly toxic to the heart,'' a NSW Food Authority spokeswoman said.

''Consequently the authority has advised the distributors of these products that further sale should be discontinued and that the products be withdrawn from sale.''

Both products are widely advertised in Australia as a way to help people manage their weight by chopping up the seed and consuming it with hot water.

They have also come under fire from the authority for making misleading claims about their weight-loss properties. The watchdog has fined the companies selling the products and placed them on its ''name and shame'' list.

NSW Minister for Primary Industries Steve Whan said the two companies marketing the products, Latin Seed and Slim Seed, were duping vulnerable consumers.

''Trying to lose weight is a serious and sensitive issue for many people and there is absolutely no room for companies or individuals who try to take advantage of this situation.''

Following Mike Baker's AP stories a couple of weeks ago on commercial kitchen inspection reports in North Carolina newspapers and radio shows across the state are running with the story.

The Raleigh News & Observer called for a revisit of the grade posting system increasing the penalties assessed for yuck-factor violations.

Considering that "on hundreds of occasions" eateries with insect or rodent issues have scored 100 or higher (because there's a provision for bonus points), the current system clearly flunks the test of public protection.

A Durham Herald Sun editorial on the coverage included my take on posting grades and the inspection system:

"From an inspection standpoint, I think we're definitely focusing on the right things when it comes to a risk-based system," he said Tuesday. "We're weighting things correctly ... based on the CDC and WHO risk factors."Although diners (and reporters) tend to obsess about rodent and insect infestations, Chapman said, there's a difference between the stuff that would make someone queasy if he knew about it (like eating an insect, a relatively low-risk event) and the stuff that will make him a lot more than queasy (like eating food that's been sitting out at a temperature in a range that encourages bacterial growth).

I like risk-based inspections a lot, and believe that posting grades and making reports available for review is a must.  The resulting increased dialogue from these articles is a good thing.  For restaurant patrons interested in a reality show-style tour of a restaurant's hygiene practices, North Carolina's inspection grading system provides a needed sneak peak.

Estimates suggest up to 70% of foodborne illnesses are acquired outside of the home. Every week there is at least one restaurant-related outbreak reported in the news media somewhere in the U.S..  Cross-contamination; lack of handwashing; and, improper cooking or holding temperatures are all common themes -- the very same infractions that North Carolina restaurant inspection grades report.

There are limitations to a grade system because an inspection only reflects conditions at one point in time, however, the information collected by inspectors, no matter how limited, needs to accessible and clear.  

But the system can be improved, risks (perceived and real) translated better to meet the needs of an information-hungry public. And that's something the industry, public health and academics can all work on together.

NC’s restaurant inspection system works not just because of posting grades, but because of the regulators’ mandate to engage in a dialogue with restaurant operators and, more importantly, the public, about food safety risks.

A grade should reflect how restaurant staff behaved while an inspector was present; the challenge is to motivate employees and managers to practice good food safety day-in-day-out, whether an inspector is present or not.

I have no idea why those morons on Top Chef don’t use a thermometer.

During last night's episode, Carla (right, exactly as shown) serves raw pork.

Judge Gail says, the center of my pork loin was pretty much completely raw.

Carla goes home

Thermometers would make them better cooks.

The Charlie factor is best summarized by music critic Lester Bangs in the film, Almost Famous:

Lester Bangs: The Doors? Jim Morrison? He's a drunken buffoon posing as a poet.

Alice Wisdom: I like the Doors.

Lester Bangs: Give me the Guess Who. They got the courage to be drunken buffoons, which makes them poetic.
 

The Capital Press reported yesterday that an Oregon hazelnut packer has refused to give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration a list of its farmer suppliers the agency requested as part of an investigation into an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak that has sickened seven in the U.S. and apparently two in Canada.

The statements by the growers and packers involved with producing hazelnuts were textbook examples of what not to do when foodborne illness is linked to a food product.

Polly Owen, manager of the Oregon Hazelnut Marketing Board, said most producers would prefer not to be visited by regulators from the FDA, but the decision whether to turn over supplier lists is ultimately up to handlers, adding, "We're not going to try to tell any industry packer what they need to do.”

Isn’t that what producer organizations are supposed to do – provide decent advice to growers so they can limit their loses during an outbreak and use the attention to build consumer trust?

The FDA requested the information after hazelnuts packed by the George Packing Co. of Newberg, Ore., were voluntarily recalled in connection with several illnesses from E. coli bacteria, said Shaun George, a principal of the company.

"I think what they're really interested in is the farmers. They're concerned because they're picked up off the ground.”

The company has refused to turn over the supplier information because it's proprietary and because hazelnuts haven't been proven to be the cause of the E. coli outbreak, he said.

Now the hazelnuts have been proven to be the cause of the outbreak, with a standard of proof lacking in most other outbreaks of foodborne illness.

Yesterday, lab testing in Minnesota confirmed E. coli O157:H7 contamination of in-shell hazelnuts (also known as filberts) collected from the home of one of the seven people so far confirmed sick – same genetic fingerprint. The contaminated hazelnuts are part of a multi-state recall announced last Friday, March 4, by DeFranco and Sons, a California-based nut and produce distributor. DeFranco and Sons is a re-packing company in Los Angeles, Calif., said Jerry DeFranco, a principal in the firm. All of the hazelnuts were bought from George Packing Co., he said.

"It's not like we're chopping them up or doing anything with them here," said Defranco. "We're just passing them along."

Owen, of the Oregon Hazelnut Marketing Board, said E. coli O157:H7 is believed to originate in ruminant animals, so growers do their best to keep orchard floors clean, adding, "It's not economically feasible to keep deer out of every orchard."

Is that an indirect admission that deer could be the source of this latest outbreak and that hazelnuts are not immune to nature?

And though DeFranco says it just passes nuts on to others, their food safety program efforts earned a gold star on the forehead from the American Institute of Baking (AIB) based in Manhattan (Kansas). AIB also gave a big thumbs up to Peanut Corporation of America before the salmonella-in-peanut-crap outbreak that sickened 800 and killed nine beginning in 2008, and DeCoster Eggs, source of the salmonella-in-eggs outbreak of 2010 which sickened almost 2,000.
 

Last May the Haaaaaaaaaarvard Faculty Club was shuttered after a norovirus outbreak sickened a few hundred guests and up to 40 per cent of the staff.

Yesterday the Seattle Yacht Club announced it was closing until March 15 after an outbreak of norovirus made about 150 guests and employees ill since March 1.

Club General Manager Steve Hall said the club voluntarily closed in order to sanitize its facilities.

Hall said the first sign of an outbreak was on March 1 and the club contacted Seattle & King County Public Health for guidance on how to manage the situation. The outbreak seemed to be under control until Saturday when several people who attended a function the previous night became ill.

The yacht club, which is located in the Portage Bay neighborhood and has 2,750 members, has hired two cleaning firms to sanitize the club and its food preparation and service facilities during its closure.

Sometimes I feel insightful, sometimes I feel real trashy, and sometimes I wonder, what’s with Germany?

As noted by Michael K of D-listed, an $8 tin of cow farts sold by a company in Germany. Yeah, I thought Jessica Simpson already had a fragrance out, but the makers of this mess swear they're the first to put cow farts in a can. They also say it's the perfect product for city people who miss the smell of the country. … And due to the overwhelming demand for the culo air of cows, they also plan to package the scent of horses, pigs and manure.