I love to cook but sometimes I get into a rut when it comes to new recipes. I've recently discovered the social networking site Pinterest for cooking inspiration. The folks I follow on Pinterest have led me to glazed pork roast, baked penne with broccoli and a good spinach, blueberry and chèvre salad. Not bad stuff.

When I'm in the kitchen, I worry about pathogen introduction (from the incoming food); cleaning and sanitizing my counters and utensils; and, using my Comark PDT300 tip-sensitive digital thermometer to check whether what I'm cooking has hit the right temp. But that's only the half the stuff I worry about. By the time I've hit the kitchen I've already tried to choose food from retail stores that take food safety seriously or farmers' market vendors who can tell me about their risk-reduction practices.

Most of my steps don't really match up with what food safety expert Mark Nealon's top-4 food safety in the kitchen tips in Prevention Magazine.

Mark says:

-Sanitize with heat: When Nealon uses tongs to put raw poultry or meat on the grill, he also places the tips on the grill. He then closes the lid, leaving the handles outside. The intense heat zaps bacteria, so he can safely use the same tongs to remove the cooked food. (maybe, sort of depends on how long the tongs are in there -ben)

-Wash before you cut: People usually don't wash fruits such as melons before cutting into them. But such produce grows in dirt, and your knife can easily transfer pathogens such as the deadly Listeria that recently contaminated cantaloupes from the rind to the flesh (It's not clear whether the Listeria was on the inside or outside of the cantaloupes -ben). So avoid buying precut produce (why? what about stuff that was washed, cut with a clean/sanitized blade and held below 41F?), and give all the fruits and vegetables a thorough cleansing with a produce brush before slicing. Even better: Place vinegar in a spray bottle and give your produce a spritz. Wait 30 seconds, then rinse thoroughly (What does this do that a rinse under vigorously running water doesn't?).

-Put cooked food away promptly: Never contaminate food with your hands or utensils that have been in your mouth (sort of a weird one - does this mean you shouldn't use a fork that has been in your mouth -ben). And refrigerate it within 2 hours after cooking otherwise, toss it (or 4 hours if you'd like to follow evidence-based instructions -ben).

-Sanitize with boiling water: Before he cooks, Nealon puts a pot of water on the stove. That way it's ready to purge germs from utensils and sponges before and after he uses them. When he's done, he dumps the water in the sink to clean it (I put dirty utensils/cutting boards directly into the dishwasher and use a bleach solution spray on counters/sinks after I've cleaned them -ben).


 

Ottawa Public Health reports the number of confirmed cases in the Lunch-Lady related salmonella outbreak has risen to 45, up from 37 on Monday. The confirmed cases are primarily children, 15-months to 18-years-old.

The schools and daycare with a confirmed case include:
• Bayview Public School
• École élémentaire publique Des Sentiers
• Tiny Hoppers Daycare (50 Colchester, Kanata)
• Steve MacLean Public School
• Stittsville Public School
• Turnbull School
• École élémentaire catholique Jean-Paul II
• W.O. Mitchell Elementary School
• St. Andrew Catholic School.

A recent study by the Robert Koch Institute found that even small children in Germany eat raw meat more often than expected, so the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) decided to remind Germans that raw meat for children is a bad idea.

"Raw animal foods are often contaminated with pathogens", explains Professor Dr. Dr. Andreas Hensel, president of BfR. "For this reason, especially vulnerable sections of the population, such as small children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with a weakened immune system, should as a rule not eat these foods raw."

Raw meat can transmit, among other things, salmonella, Campylo¬bacter, E. coli including EHEC, Yersinia, Listeria and also viruses and parasites.

A recent study by the Robert Koch Institute published in the Epidemiological Bulletin has shown that raw minced pork is the most important risk factor for contracting yersiniosis. Yesiniosis is a gastro-intestinal disease which is notably caused by the bacterium Yersinia enterocolitica. Yersinia are predominantly spread through food, especially raw pork. Pork, for example minced pork and seasoned minced meat, is often eaten raw in Germany. One of the surprising findings of the published study was the high number of children who had eaten raw minced pork. Even of children who were one-year-old or younger it was reported that almost 30% of those who had fallen ill (and 4 % of the control persons) had eaten raw minced pork.

In Germany and other European countries, Campylobacter is now the most prevalent bacterial pathogen for enteric infections in humans. In the year 2011, more than 70,000 human campylobacteriosis cases were reported.

Campylobacter bacteria are notably found in raw or insufficiently heated poultry meat, but also in raw meat of other animals as well as raw milk and hen’s eggs.
The number of reported salmonellosis cases in humans, especially from Salmonella Enteritidis, has fallen significantly in the last three years.

In contrast, human infections with Salmonella Typhimurium have decreased to a lesser extent. SalmonellaTyphimurium are especially common in turkey meat and pork. As part of zoonosis monitoring, salmonella, most frequently Salmonella Typhimurium, were detected in 5 % of minced meat samples in 2009. This finding confirms that raw minced meat can be a source of infection for humans.

To protect themselves against often severe cases of foodborne infections, especially vulnerable sections of the population such as children under five, pregnant women, elderly and persons with a weakened immune system should as a matter of principle refrain from eating raw foods. They should therefore avoid consuming raw mince or seasoned minced meat, raw sausage, raw milk and raw-milk cheese, raw fish (e.g. sushi) and certain fishery products (e.g. smoked and gravad salmon) as well as raw seafood (e.g. raw oysters).

All that and no mention of raw sprouts? In Germany? The risk assessors did say consumers can “protect themselves by cooking meat and poultry sufficiently and evenly” and that “such meat must be cooked until the juices run clear and the meat has a whitish (poultry), gray-pink (pork) or gray-brown (beef) color. The inside temperature of the meat should be at least 70 °C for two minutes. If in doubt, consumers can measure this temperature by means of a meat thermometer.”

Some risk assessors. Color is a lousy indicator and consumers should be using a tip-sensitive digital thermometer to erase doubt. And stop making little kids barf.

WDIO.com, Duluth’s eyewitness news leader, is reporting that nearly two dozen players from the College of St. Scholastica's tennis teams fell ill in Florida over the weekend after travelling from Duluth, Minn. to participate in a tournament.

Althetes said doctors treated them for E. coli, and suspect it could have come from a swimming pool in a hotel. Ten of 31 students and coaches that made the trip to Orlando came home to the college as planned. The others, we've been told, came home late or were heading home Monday evening.

Athletes said 21 got sick Saturday, the day after their tennis competition wrapped up.

Four athletes stayed in Orlando to go to the hospital, athletes said. Then, on the way home, during a layover in Atlanta, they said 17 others went to the hospital to get checked out.

No one had to spend the night in a hospital, but athletes said some did need to be hydrated via IV.

Athletes describe students feeling sick to their stomachs, and report many throwing up either in Orlando, or on the plane ride to Atlanta.

Those involved wanted to express their thanks to college staff and coaches for responding well to the situation, and for taking good care of them.

The annual Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon and ½ Marathon was attended by about 44,000 runners on Sunday Dec. 4, 2011. By Tuesday, complaints of illness were trickling in to the Southern Nevada Health District. By Thursday, traditional media reported on increasing complaints of barfing on the event’s Facebook page. An investigation was launched.

Within a week, health-types were able to say it wasn’t the water distributed during the race that made runners sick, quelling a rumor that had already taken on a life of its own.

Below are excerpts from the final report, issued last week, identifying the first outbreak of sapovirus in Nevada and the emerging role of social media in epidemiological investigations.

Links to an epidemiology online survey were shared on the marathon’s Facebook page (with 25,732 followers) by members of the running community on four consecutive days starting on the day of release of the survey, and a total of 42 times within one week as part of a number of discussions among ill runners. Twenty-two people shared the survey link on Twitter, potentially reaching 17,982 followers. A total of 362 responses had been submitted within 12 hours of the release of the survey. After the survey had been posted for 4 days, a total of 1,146 surveys had been submitted. Of the 1,082 completed surveys, 578 (53.4%) were from persons who reported developing diarrhea or vomiting. Of these, 528 (91.3%) met the case definition.

Seventeen ill local runners were requested to provide stool specimens; specimens were provided by nine marathon runners and two symptomatic children of a symptomatic marathon runner. Specimens were collected between December 9, 2011 and December 11, 2011 (5-7 days after symptom onset), and all specimens submitted were formed stools. Two were positive by rRT-PCR for sapovirus and negative for all other tested pathogens at CDC and the SNPHL

The findings of this investigation point to the source of the sapovirus outbreak among marathon runners as a common exposure on the morning before the race, most likely at the health and fitness expo. It was not possible to determine which common exposure was responsible for the outbreak. The timing of the exposure and the incubation period of sapovirus resulted in the majority of cases becoming ill during the race or in the hours shortly after; however, exposure during the race was not the cause of the outbreak.

Sapoviruses (genus Sapovirus, family Caliciviridae) are a group of viruses that cause acute gastroenteritis in humans. Sapovirus is not as well-characterized as norovirus, but is thought to be similar to norovirus in that it has a short incubation period (1-2 days), low infectious dose, causes a self-limiting illness that is rarely serious with a significant percentage of asymptomatic infections, and is easily spread from person to person through fecal-oral transmission. Both infections cause diarrhea, although a lesser percentage of sapovirus patients develop vomiting as compared to norovirus patients.

Outbreaks of sapovirus have been reported in the literature, but reports of foodborne outbreaks and outbreaks among adults outside long-term care are rare and the majority of cases occur in children under 5 years of age. This outbreak represents the first outbreak of sapovirus in Southern Nevada and the first time the virus has been identified in the local population. However, sapovirus testing is not available locally and has not been previously ordered during an outbreak. Rather than representing a newly-introduced disease, the identification of the virus likely indicates that sapovirus circulates at low levels in the population but goes unidentified.

This investigation was also the health district’s foray into using social media as an investigative tool, rather than just as a method of disseminating information to the public. Using the active community of runners on Facebook and Twitter allowed for the rapid dissemination of the survey directly to the exposed population without a delay in requesting participant information from the race organizers. Comments posted to social media sites provided ongoing, real-time insight into the needs and concerns of the ill population, and provided a feel for the efficacy of health district investigation efforts. Comments about SNHD were overwhelmingly positive, and indicated a level of trust and willingness to cooperate from the community.

Ill and non-ill runners quickly responded to the survey, which allowed SNHD staff to rapidly identify ill persons for laboratory testing. It also allowed for a preliminary data analysis to be quickly completed, which allowed the water provided by race organizers, an early focus of complaints by runners, to be ruled out as a source of the outbreak. The water provided in the race was the same potable water that is distributed throughout Southern Nevada, and it was important to quickly determine if the general population was at risk of disease.

The ill persons identified by SNHD staff complied very quickly with the request to submit specimens for laboratory testing. The submission of stool samples for testing is often a difficult task due to the type of sample requested and the handling requirements. The ill persons were highly motivated to provide samples that could be used to identify the causative agent of the outbreak.

In the future, several steps should be implemented to improve the investigative process and to prevent disease at similar events. First, although the survey was developed quickly, a standard template should be developed to allow the rapid deployment of standardized surveys for illness. In addition, corresponding standard analytic tools should be developed to allow for the rapid analysis of survey data.

Next, SNHD should consider using social media more frequently to administer surveys given the appropriate audience; in this case, the use of Facebook was effective because there was an active community of marathon frequently posting and reading the marathon’s page. During a large event, it might be appropriate to set up a social media site for the event response. This would provide an additional avenue for SNHD to share information from the public, and following discussions would allow for real-time feedback on the needs and concerns of the public. However, the decision to launch a social media site should be thoroughly discussed prior to launch, as it would place SNHD in the role of moderating the discussion on the topic (for example, removing libelous comments or threats against employees). It would also necessitate the development of policies on the participation in such discussion by staff members on work time or personal time.

The complete report is available at: http://www.southernnevadahealthdistrict.org/download/stats-reports/rocknroll-marathon-sapovirus-outbreak-final-report.pdf.

It’s not just the greater Atlanta-area where wannabies are trying to trade on the rock-star status of public health inspectors.

In India, the Oshiwara police have arrested two men for allegedly posing as Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials and trying to extort Rs 50,000 from a bakery in the area.

Police officers said the incident took place on Friday afternoon when four men entered the bakery shop on SV Road in Jogeshwari West and complained about the quality of food. They told the owner of the bakery that they were officers from FDA and had been getting complaints from its customers about the inferior quality of products.

They demanded Rs 50,000 from him to shut the case and not seize his shop and goods in it. Sensing foul play, the owner asked them to show him their identification cards.

The men presented their ID cards, but the owner found them suspicious. He immediately alerted the police patrolling the area. On the arrival of the police, two of the fake FDA officers managed to flee, while the other two were nabbed and arrested.

Telling produce farmers they need to clean up and pay attention to food safety stuff is a hard sell until there’s an outbreak.

But what if there’s no outbreak?

That was the situation 15 years ago when I started working with Ontario growers; outbreaks related to fresh produce were starting to become reported regularly in the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration was making rumblings about pathogen sampling (which can shut down cross-border trade) and produce exporters, like Ontario greenhouse veggie growers, were cautiously eyeing the situation.

But there hadn’t been any outbreak involving Ontario greenhouse product. Still hasn’t been (that anyone knows of).

Scare stories from other jurisdictions work to a point, pressure from retailers and others in the supply chain works better, but ultimately, when chatting with individual growers, it would usually come down to: I’ve been doing it this way all along and haven’t made anyone sick. So why should I change?

Public health types have adopted their own version of why change? It’s the increasingly heard, there-was-an-outbreak-but-the-product-was-gone-by-the-time-we-figured-it-out-so-there-was-no-ongoing-threat-to-public-health scenario; therefore, we didn’t have to tell anyone, publicly.

It happened with Fresh Express, the salad folks, that had some salmonella issues in 2010 in which people got sick.

It happened in several outbreaks involving Taco Bell, usually referred to as Mystery Restaurant A long after the fact.

According to long-standing policy at the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration, as long as it does not pose an ongoing public health risk, companies that may be the source of dangerous outbreaks are kept out of the headlines.

"Companies voluntarily share information with CDC and FDA, so when we publish company or brand names and there is not a public health need to do, it could have the effect of discouraging such cooperation between our agencies and the food industry," an FDA spokesperson told ABC News.

And now it’s happened in Kansas.

In Jan. 2012, 18 people were sickened by campylobacter in raw goats milk from a dairy in south central Kansas. The sick people attended the same community function so the outbreak was identified and isolated quickly, so no public warning was ever issued – until Friday, in what was supposed to be a statement from state health-types about the dangers of raw milk.

Instead, it’s another example of outbreaks not being publicly disclosed. And if they aren’t disclosed, how is the public, or farmers or others to know there are problems? How can people become informed without access to information?

People are instead doing it themselves.

The Internet, social media, smartphones, and a host of other tools are providing increasing access to public information, and the private experiences of individuals. Because who doesn’t want to share stories of barfing or bad hookups on the Internet. The information will, increasingly, get out.

In California, there are recurring reports of at least nine children being sickened by campylobacter, in raw milk, from Claravale Farm. No word from public health.

Public health types have a tough job, separating the wheat from the chaff, the meaningful noise from background chatter; resources are diminishing. But establishing some ground rules – and publicizing those rules – would help quell conspiracy theories and perhaps rebuild some public trust.

If people get sick, let it be known, sooner rather than later. Those stories are essential to support statistics. Otherwise I’m just another propeller-head who don’t know nothing about farming and food.

That creepy crawly recall of ground beef from a defunct Canadian processor has now expanded to all product in the past seven months.

According to the Toronto Star, the recall started Feb. 18 and has been expanded eight times as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency continued its investigation.

The meat is suspected of being contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. One person fell ill in October (yes, October) after eating the meat.

The packaged ready-made beef burgers were produced by New Food Classics of Burlington – aka Establishment 761 – between between July 1, 2011 and Feb. 15, 2012. The company went into receivership Feb. 22.

Hundreds of workers have been locked out of plants in St. Catharines and Saskatoon.

New Food Classics distributed packaged burgers and steakettes under the brand names Best Value, Loblaws’ no name and no name Club Pack, Country Morning and Grillhouse.

In unrelated but ironical news, the union representing CFIA-staffers has resumed negotiations with CFIA but are “wearing black in the workplace, to protest against impending cuts to food inspection, the employer's lack of respect for administrative staff and the CFIA's unwillingness to bargain for a fair contract.”

And someone wrote the Ottawa Citizen to say the salmonella-outbreak that has sickened 27 so far from meals associated with The Lunch Lady, is not surprising because, “how can we possibly have safe food when the Canadian Food Inspection Agency will be reducing the frequency of inspection visits to meat plants? The Government of Canada plans to reduce $21.5 million from its Food Safety Program budget by 2013 to 2014. Because of the magnitude of these cuts, of course, there will be greater risks of foodborne illnesses.”

Of course, that’s just a rhetorical tool in the absence of evidence that more inspectors would make food safer.
 

My Fox Atlanta reports that investigators in Fayette County say a bogus health inspector is going around to restaurants and threatening to conduct spot inspections. They say the man backs down if they agree to feed him for free.

The man has struck several businesses over the last two weeks, including a Waffle House in Fayetteville and another in Peachtree City. The fake health inspector faces numerous charges including fraud and impersonating a public official, according to Richard Fehr of the Fayette County manager of Environmental Health.

The man has not shown any identification.

Fehr reminds restaurant managers and owners that true health inspectors do not accept free food or gifts in exchange for favorable results.

"To have the trust of the public is crucial to what we're doing. That is a kick in the face," said Fehr.