Food Standards Australia New Zealand

This case study, finalized and updated onto the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, talks about the Multistate Outbreak of Salmonella Wandsworth Infections Linked to Veggie Booty. Publishing this outbreak onto their website makes it very beneficial and helps the public realize the importance of food health. Food health is just as important as overall public health. It is essential because people need to consume food in order to live, and if their food is tainted or contaminated, it would cause health problems and sickness and in some extreme cases, death. Ensuring food health will overall promote public health in the long run.

This replaced the 1994 health and safety outlines and was put forth to improve the inspection and compliance action of R.T.E foods, with respect to their potential to support the growth of this pathogen. This applied to all R.T.E foods, including dairy, produce, fish and seafood, meats and was applied to federally registered and non-registered sectors. 16 This policy was administered in such a way that based on perceived vulnerability to grow Listeria; Ready-to-Eat foods were divided into an assortment of categories. The presence of L. monocytogenes in Category 1 foods poses the highest-risk. This would typically generate a Health 1 concern, where consumers would be made aware that contact with the food will likely produce severe health consequences. 17 In addition, Canada’s policy indicated that any R.T.E food tainted with Listeria, specifically produced for at risk groups, would be considered a Health 2 concern. This would illustrate that some form of health consequence is expected to result from exposure to the contaminated food, especially if it is a vulnerable group coming into contact with it.

Contamination of produce by bacteria has become an ever increasing concern in recent years. Unfortunately, the precise route of contamination is not completely understood. While physical contamination can definitely occur pre or post-harvest, there is also the incidence of internalized contamination. This specifically has caused the highest number of questions overall, especially in relation to Salmonella spp., Listeria spp., and E. coli O157:H7. It is believed that a primary mode of transmittance could potentially be through contaminated water, whether irrigation, flooding, chemigation, or spraying. The following information will review the scientific evidence that has been found to support this theory.

“Infections caused by microbes that contaminate the food supply are a frequent reminder of the complex food web that links us with animal, plant, and microbial populations around the world. While we are all at risk, the elderly, the very young and those with compromised immune systems are most vulnerable.

You will need 11.5 grams of Nutrient Agar mix, a flask, a stir bar, a hot plate, a polystyrene partitian sterile petri plate, and 500 mls of distilled water. You now have to combine the agar mix and the 500 mls of distilled water and mix together. Put the agar into the 500 mls of distilled water and make sure the stir bar is in the flask. Put this mix on the hot plate and bring to a boil. Make sure the agar mix is dissolved before removing from the hot plate. After pouring into the plates, close the lids on them to prevent condensation. Also important is to use plates within one day of making agar. Make sure to label the plates properly(name, date, swabbing area). What is especially important during swabbing is to use sterile cotton Q-tips and to make sure they are not contaminated. To do this, you should not touch the tip of the swab or put it in contact with anything besides the area being tested. This general rule should also apply to the plates. To swab, after collecting the sample, gently roll the tip of the swab against the agar in a zig- zag type motion, making large patterns. This will help you to achieve better colony growth. Make sure to place the lid back on the plates. After swabbing, place petri plates in 37 degree celsius incubator and let stand for 4 days, then record data. When collecting data, make sure to use qualitative and quantitative

According to the Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), there are around 48 million people who get sick annually due to foodborne diseases. One out of six people in the USA get sick or suffer from foodborne illness annually. More than hundred thousand people are hospitalized and thousands of dying every year (“Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) > Food Safety Legislation Key Facts” 2015). Therefore, the new FSMA rules are important to ensure safe U.S. food supply system. In December 21st, 2010 the new food safety law passed by the congress. This is the turning point of U.S. history concerning national food safety. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has the legislative mandate to carry out comprehensive, prevention-based controls

The unwanted spread of foodborne illnesses has become a main cause of gastrointestinal complications from consuming tainted foods. Over seventy-six million cases will occur in the United States every year according to Sagar, in "Viruses in Food." The spread of foodborne illness is through the oral-fecal route and can be from viral causes like Hepatitis A, Noroviruses, and Human Caliciviruses, or has bacteria present like E. Coli or Salmonella. Thinking about consuming contaminated foods with fecal material present seems like it would be unrealistic. However, even microscopic traces of fecal matter found on the food items can carry any of the viral, or bacterial properties can cause illness. The process of not being thoroughly cooked and or cleaned properly is some of the other leading factors of foodborne illness. Cross contamination, along with improper handling and cooking of raw meats, poultry, and egg products are to blame for this in the United States. Stopping the unwanted spread of foodborne illness may prove to be difficult, due to the vast variety of causes; however, with proper education of cleaning & cooking of raw foods the battle of foodborne illness can begin to be stopped.

In 2011, there was an outbreak linked to the whole cantaloupe contaminated with L. monocytogenes whose root cause was speculated to be the unsanitary condition of the processing environment. The firm attachment and biofilm formation by L. monocytogenes in inaccessible areas and later dispersion during processing, supposedly caused the microorganism contaminate the cantaloupes (Sapers, Miller, Pilizota, & Mattrazzo, 2001). Similarly, various common practices in produce industries including trimming, cutting, slicing, washing, rinsing, and packaging; all of which can serve as primary sources of cross-contamination as a result of biofilm formation and hazardous consequences thereafter (Suslow et al., 2003). The sanitizers normally used in produce industries such as ozone, chlorine, organic acids, are only effective in reducing 1-2 logs of microorganisms and are usually ineffective against microbial biofilms (Rosenblum, Ge, Bohrerova, Yousef, & Lee, 2012). Areas of concern in produce industries consist the product itself, equipment and process, all vulnerable to biofilm formation and therefore require a rigorous food safety and sanitation plan.

Unsafe food has been a human health problem since history was first recorded, and many food safety problems encountered today are not new. Although governments all over the world are doing their best to improve the safety of the food supply, the occurrence of foodborne disease remains a significant health issue in both developed and developing countries as stated by WHO (2006). Food safety concept is that food will not harm the consumer so long as intended use guidelines are followed when it is prepared or eaten. Conversely, food is potentially harmful whenever it has been exposed to hazardous agents and intended use guidelines have not been followed (ISO 22000, 2005). York et al. (2009) as well as Gormley et al. (2011) reported that There is no doubt that the food safety is of great importance because it provides supplied food safety and secures the conditions and actions through the production, processing, storage or distribution of food to ensure its safety or suitability for human consumption Safe Food is free from contaminants and risk and that does not cause injury or damage or disease of the human food in the long term or the short.

In the food industry, producers conventionally engage in two forms of environmental monitoring to assess the possibility of contamination. This includes the monitoring of hygiene and pathogens. These two parameters are essential in ensuring that the food that is being produced is safe for consumption and that proper processing techniques are being implemented. If a detection of a pathogen occurs through environmental sampling, it is paramount that the processing facility responds promptly to prevent foodborne illness outbreaks.

Over the decades, numerous cases of food illness have occurred in the U.S due to poor hygiene in the workplace. Did you know that currently Santa Cruz and San Diego are experiencing a Hepatitis A outbreak? “ The contagious, liver-damaging illness has infected at least 568 people since November, mainly in San Diego, Santa Cruz and Los Angeles counties”(sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com). Like Hepatitis, E. Coli can be transferred via unsanitary conditions as well. The illnesses are prevalent in our environments today because industrial food companies have failed to protect our own safety, causing thousands of deaths from illnesses such as E. Coli and Salmonella. The failure to create any change is incredible being that “ foodborne illnesses kill approximately 5,000 Americans a year”(Crawford). However, consumers should not be the only ones concerned with the problem; producers should also take notice, being that it can also affect them both economically and physically.Thus, it is vital for we the people to stand up and speak out against poor hygiene in order to provoke a change.

James Gillespie reports that food poisoning due to four major bacterial pathogens—Salmonella, Campylobacter, E. coli O157:H7, and Listeria monocytogenes—results in 4,000 deaths and five million illnesses each year in the United States (26). Out of all foodborne illness cases in the U.S., 66% are caused by bacteria, 25% by chemicals, 5% by viruses, and 4% by parasites (25). It is evident that food contamination poses a serious threat to consumers. It is for this reason that the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system was developed and is being implemented in every country (Sandrou and Arvannitoyanis 266). This system provides a scientific approach to combating food contamination, has a broad range of applications, and is

For the first experiment, 27 samples were prepared in 96 well plates. Each sample consists of 100 µl of cell suspension, which is a mixture of C.neoformans H99 cells and RPMI-1640 media with a total of 1x105 cells/ml and 100 µl of PA with different concentration accordingly. PA with concentration of 0 µg/ml , 2 µg/ml , 4 µg/ml , 8 µg/ml , 16 µg/ml , 32 µg/ml , 64 µg/ml and 128 µg/ml will be prepared first ,followed by adding in the cells in a triplicate manner. The wells without PA concentration will be the positive control of this experiment whereas there were 3 wells filled with only RMPI-1640 media to function as negative control for

Food safety is one of the primary concerns in our industry, especially to those who process food in large amounts. Therefore, proper sanitation must be provided in order to destroy microorganisms that could possibly spoil and contaminate food products.

Selected colonies are picked one by one from LCSA plate separately into a pre-sterilized tube containing 1- 2 ml sterile water. Macerate the colony by pre-sterilized 5ml pipette in the side walls of the tube without touching the bottom of the test tube. The above suspension is inoculated as each colony into rice flask; mix gently so that the spore suspension is uniformly distributed over the rice grains. Cover the flask with plug with sterilized gauze. Incubate for 13 days in thermostatic chamber at 25ºc± 2 ºc and RH 6±5%