California County Approves Restaurant Food Safety Placard Program

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BY FoodSafetynews.com from NEWS DESK | APRIL 16, 2015

The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors in California has approved a new restaurant placarding program that will make it easier for the public to understand how a restaurant has scored on its most recent food safety inspection. Training for the new system will begin in June, and the program is scheduled to launch in January 2016.

The new placarding program uses the same familiar traffic light colors — green, yellow, and red — already on display at restaurants and food outlets in other cities and counties in the Bay Area.

At a glance, customers will be able to spot a green placard for “go,” which means a restaurant passed a food safety inspection, yellow for “caution,” a conditional pass, which means that the facility will be inspected again in one to three days, or red for “stop,” indicating that the facility will be closed until unsafe conditions are corrected.

“I’m proud of the Board of Supervisors for supporting this important public health issue,” said Adrienne Tissier, San Mateo County District 5 Supervisor. “Our residents should always have quick, easy access to all the information they need to make a smart choice about where to eat.”

Placards will be required at approximately 3,000 permanent food facilities that prepare food throughout the county, including restaurants, mobile food trucks, bakeries, schools, licensed health care facilities, and some convenience stores.

County officials hope the new system will provide consistency for food operators with restaurants in multiple counties and will benefit the public by presenting an easy and consistent way to make an informed decision when eating out.

“Foodborne illness is 100-percent preventable, and yet every year, one in six Americans gets sick from foodborne illnesses, and 3,000 people die from them,” said Heather Forshey, director of San Mateo County Environmental Health Services. “This program will help consumers quickly understand a restaurant’s food safety status and give restaurant operators a chance to show off their successful commitment to food safety.”

The county had previously required food facilities to post their most recent restaurant inspection reports. However, an investigation last year into a number of restaurants not meeting that requirement resulted in a county civil grand jury recommending the placard system and fines for restaurants which didn’t post them.

Other places now requiring the posted placards include: Hawaii; the California counties of Alameda, Santa Clara, Solano, Contra Costa, Butte, Marin, Sonoma and Orange, and the cities of Sacramento, Berkeley and Pasadena.

Additives

Environmental Working Group Releases First ‘Dirty Dozen’ List for Food Additives

Published in Foodsafetynews By LYDIA ZURAW |12 DE NOVIEMBRE 2014

BY LYDIA ZURAW | NOVEMBER 12, 2014

The Environmental Working Group – famous for its list of produce most likely to be contaminated with pesticides – has now released a “Dirty Dozen” guide for food additives.

There are more than 10,000 additives in food distributed in the U.S., and EWG is trying to highlight “some of the worst failures of the regulatory system,” it says.

The list includes:

Nitrates and nitrites

Potassium bromate

Propyl paraben

Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA)

Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)

Propyl gallate

Theobromine

Secret flavor incredients

Artificial colors

Diacetyl

Phosphates

Aluminum additives

The report goes into detail about the concerns surrounding each additive. Some of them are known or possible carcinogens and some can have reproductive and developmental effects.

EWG recommends that consumers avoid or consider avoiding the Dirty Dozen. Not only could this mean avoiding risky chemicals, but it could also mean improving overall diet, says the group, since food additives are most often found in highly processed, unhealthy foods. For the additives without definitive links to health concerns, EWG recommends limiting consumption until more information is available.

The other aim of the list is to draw attention to problems surrounding food regulation, particularly those with “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS) designations.

The category has been controversial because it allows companies to determine whether a substance is GRAS without having to seek FDA approval. Consumer groups like EWG claim that some additives with GRAS status don’t meet the same safety standard as food additives.

“There are some additives that are classified generally recognized as safe and we really question that classification because they’re not free of health concerns,” said Johanna Congleton, EWG senior scientist.

For example, propyl paraben is an endocrine-disrupting chemical but is considered GRAS. The report references studies that found that rats fed with the FDA’s Acceptable Daily Intake of propyl paraben had decreased sperm counts and decreases in testosterone.

EWG argues that companies shouldn’t be allowed to certify the safety of their own ingredients and wants consumers to urge FDA to strengthen its regulatory system for food additives.

Congleton says she finds nitrates and nitrites — often used as preservatives in cured meats such as bacon, salami, sausages and hot dogs — to be the most alarming additives. Nitrites, which can form from nitrates, react with naturally occurring components of protein called amines, forming nitrosamines, which are known cancer-causing compounds. Nitrosamines can form in nitrite or nitrate-treated meat or in the digestive tract, EWG says.

In 2010, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer declared that ingested nitrites and nitrates are probable human carcinogens, and the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment is currently considering listing nitrite in combination with amines or amides as a known carcinogen.

The Dirty Dozen Guide to Food Additives is based on scientific studies of hundreds of additives and data gathered from EWG’s Food Scores database, launched on Oct. 27, which includes information on more than 80,000 foods. The database scores foods based on nutrition, ingredients of concern (including food additives), contaminants (such as the likely levels of pesticide residue) and how processed the foods are.

Foodborne Illness in Australia Sickens 250, Hospitalizes 24

From: http://www.foodsafetynews.com BY NEWS DESK | MARCH 4, 2015

At least 250 people attending a convention for school principals last week in Brisbane, Australia, were reportedlysickened with a foodborne illness and 24 were hospitalized.

Dr. Jeannette Young of Queensland Health said the conference participants had fallen ill after returning home, so the total number of those reported as hospitalized and their individual conditions would vary.

The Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Young said that health officials were working through the varied menus served at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre and checking with those sickened to see if they had eaten elsewhere while attending the conference. She reportedlyconfirmed that a chicken curry was under investigation.

“The usual causes for Salmonella infections are poorly cooked meat, poultry and eggs,” Young said, adding, “Of course, you can get transmission person to person, but given there are so many people unwell, we think it’s probably related to the food they all shared.”

She noted this was one of the largest foodborne illness outbreaks to have occurred in Queensland, which usually has about 4,000 Salmonella cases each year.

The convention center’s general manager, Bob O’Keeffe, said that a thorough investigation of the facility was being done, and that a full safety audit, including supplier facilities and systems, had been completed last year.

“We are looking deep into our supply chain to see if there is any possibility that food supplied to the centre was the cause,” O’Keeffe said.

He said the convention center had suspended the supply of fresh eggs and poultry products as a precautionary measure until the health investigation results were available. Officials said they expected the investigation to be completed within two days.

About 1,200 delegates from schools across Queensland, plus education department officials, had attended the conference held Feb. 26-27 at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. Brisbane is a city of about 2 million on the Gold (Pacific) Coast of Australia about 10 hours north of Sydney.

Most people infected with Salmonella bacteria develop diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps 12 to 72 hours after infection. The illness usually lasts 4 to 7 days, and most people recover without treatment.

However, in some people the diarrhea may be so severe that they need to be hospitalized. In these patients, the Salmonella infection may spread from the intestines to the bloodstream, and then to other body sites and can cause death unless the person is treated promptly with antibiotics. The elderly, infants, and those with impaired immune systems are more likely to have a severe illness.

Some Mrs. T’s Pierogies Recalled for Potential Plastic Pieces

From: http://www.foodsafetynews.com/

BY NEWS DESK | MARCH 2, 2015

Ateeco Inc. of Shenandoah, PA, has voluntarily recalled specific lots of its Mrs. T’s Mozzarella, Tomato & Basil variety of pierogies due to safety concerns. The affected product was distributed to a limited number of retail customers and is being recalled due to plastic contamination in the product which may pose a choke hazard.

The specific product in question is the 16-ounce box of Mrs. T’s Mozzarella, Tomato & Basil Pierogies (UPC 4116400042), sold in retail grocery outlets in New England, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Virginia and Illinois, and that have the following Best By information:

Product with “Best By 05/20/16”

Product with “Best By 07/15/16”

To date, Mrs. T’s has not received reports of any adverse events associated with this issue, and no other varieties or lots of Mrs. T’s Pierogies are impacted by this voluntary recall.

The recall was initiated after a quality assurance check found plastic in the filling of the product during production.

The company notified the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is cooperating fully with the agency.

Consumers who purchased this product are welcome to return it to the place of purchase for a full refund, or to contact Mrs. T’s Pierogies at 1-800-743-7649, Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. EST.

Most Consumers Don’t Use Food Thermometers Despite Importance to Food Safety

BY LYDIA ZURAW | FEBRUARY 9, 2015

A couple of weeks ago, I was having dinner with my parents. My dad was making chicken and asked me what temperature he needed to cook it to. After all, working for Food Safety News does qualify me as the food-safety expert of the family.

“165 degrees F,” I told him.

“What if it’s barely pink?” he countered, goading me.

“I don’t care what it looks like,” I said. “Use the thermometer!”

I try not to be this pedantic about food safety around anyone who doesn’t have to love me unconditionally (it can be annoying, I know), but one of the most important tools for food safety is the thermometer.

Two of the four consumer steps toward food safety — Clean, Separate, Cook, and Chill — rely on temperature control.

When food contaminated with pathogens such as Salmonella, E. coli or Listeria reaches consumers’ kitchens, cooking to certain minimum temperatures can kill the bugs. Keeping leftovers below 40 degrees F hinders bacteria growth.

The safe minimum internal temperatures vary by food. All poultry, casseroles and leftovers should be heated to 165 degrees F. Ground meats and egg dishes need to be at least 160 degrees F. Fresh beef, pork, veal, lamb and ham should reach 145 degrees F and then rest for at least three minutes. Fish should also be cooked to 145 degrees F.

“Using thermometers is the only way to really know that your food is thoroughly cooked — that it has reached a temperature to destroy any harmful bacteria that could possibly be there — and thermometer use is also important in the refrigerator in chilling,” says Christine Bruhn, retired director of the Center for Consumer Research at the University of California.

But few consumers actually use a thermometer to check the doneness of meat, poultry and seafood, or to check the temperature in their refrigerators.

“They might do it on a roast, they might do it on whole chicken,” Bruhn says. “They don’t do it on the smaller chicken parts, they seldom do it on burgers, and even on steaks they are relying on visual indicators. They’re not really verifying the temperature on the inside.”

How many use thermometers for cooking?

Self-reported use of thermometers has increased from 33 percent in 1998 to 53 percent in 2010. This seems like great progress, but Bruhn warns that people may only use thermometers on large hunks of meat or poultry, such as a pot roast or the Thanksgiving turkey, and not necessarily in everyday cooking. People might also say they use thermometers even though they don’t just because they know they’re supposed to.

According to a survey conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 46 percent of participants said they never use a thermometer when cooking chicken parts and 66 percent said they never use one when cooking or grilling hamburgers.

Last year, while studying various aspects of chicken preparation in consumer homes, Bruhn found that only 5 percent of participants used a thermometer without prompting from the researchers, and only about a third agreed to do so when prompted.

From there, researchers found that 40 percent of the chicken in the study was undercooked, especially when it was grilled or barbecued.

According to another study published last month and conducted by RTI International, Tennessee State University and Kansas State University, 62 percent of consumers own a food thermometer, but less than 10 percent of them actually use it to check for doneness in all poultry.

Addressing barriers to thermometer use in cooking

Bruhn says that the main barriers to thermometer use are the idea that using a thermometer implies inexperience and the thought that cooking meat and poultry to the recommended minimum temperatures degrades taste.

Most home cooks use visual indicators such as color, firmness, clear juices or shrinkage, but these aren’t accurate indicators of doneness. For example, a chicken breast could turn white, but still be less than 165 degrees F.

Many recipes refer to these visual cues or to cooking time. Bruhn says that time is only reliable if there is consistency across everybody’s frying pan or oven and the food always starts out at the same temperature.

To get more consumers to rely on thermometers, anyone writing recipes for a book, magazine, or blog should include the temperature recommendations, Bruhn says.

“That could so simply be added to a recipe” and would mean consumers wouldn’t have to keep all the correct temperatures in their head, she adds.

Another way to show people that using thermometers isn’t an amateur move is for “role models” to use them. Bruhn’s hope is to reach celebrity chefs and their producers to stress the impact they could have by “modeling correct and safe behavior for the public.”

As for the thought that your chicken or burger will be too dry if you cook it to the recommended temperatures, many food-safety experts argue otherwise.

For chicken, “We found that at 165, it’s still moist and juicy,” Bruhn says. “If you want it to be dry, bring it up to 180 or something like that.”

As for ground beef, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says that burgers can still be juicy when cooked to 160 degrees F, regardless of color.

If you still have your heart set on that rare or medium-rare burger, go ahead and order it, but just know that it’s a risk, Bruhn says.

“That’s one of the dilemmas I face as an educator: seeing people doing things that I would not do. But if they consciously choose to take that risk, then I need to seal my lips,” she says. “If they don’t know any better, then I can find a gentle way to let them know it’s a high-risk action.”

How many use thermometers for chilling?

In that FDA survey, 55 percent of consumers said their refrigerator didn’t have a built-in thermometer. Only 21 percent of respondents said they put a thermometer in the fridge to check its temperature.

People tend to trust that the refrigerator is going to be cold enough when relying on its factory settings. This might be OK, Bruhn said, but things can change over time.

In her studies, Bruhn says she’s seen around 13 percent of consumers’ refrigerators with temperatures above 45 degrees F (the recommendation is 40).

Bruhn says she would love to see fridge manufacturers “be more assertive” in including thermometers in their products. Some of the high-end ones do, but not all, and she wonders about those who can’t afford one of those.

“Food-safety standards should be made available to all income groups,” Bruhn says.

And, in her chicken study, only a quarter of participants knew the correct temperature for their fridges. When adding thermometers to refrigerators, Bruhn suggests that manufacturers include a scale to indicate whether the appliance is in the safe range.

“We don’t all need to have numbers bouncing around our head, but we need to know where we are,” she says.

Study: E. Coli From Feedlots Can Contaminate Produce by Air

BY http://www.foodsafetynews.com/ NEWS DESK | DECEMBER 26, 2014

New research finds that E. coli O157:H7 can spread more than a tenth of a mile downwind from a cattle feedlot onto nearby produce.

In the study, first author Elaine D. Berry of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s U.S. Meat Animal Research Center and her colleagues sampled leafy greens growing in nine plots (three each at 60, 120, and 180 meters downwind from the cattle feedlot at the research center) over a two-year period.

The rate of contamination with the pathogenic E. coli O157:H7 declined with distance. There was an average positive sample 3.5 percent of the time at 60 meters and 1.8 percent at 180 meters.

The findings suggest that current buffer-zone guidelines of 120 meters (400 feet) from a feedlot may be inadequate.

Transmission of the pathogens is thought to be airborne. The researchers found E. coli in air samples at 180 meters from the feedlot, though the instruments were not sensitive enough to pick up E. coli O157:H7.

The highest levels of contamination on the produce were in August and September of 2012 after several weeks of very little rainfall and several days of high temperatures, conditions that appear to aid airborne transport of bacteria.

The research was published ahead of print in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

Chinese Lawmakers Mull Tougher Penalties for Breaking Food Safety Laws

BY http://www.foodsafetynews.com/  NEWS DESK | DECEMBER 23, 2014

The bi-monthly legislative session of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, being held Monday through Saturday in Beijing, is considering a draft revision to China’s food safety laws that would include detention for offenders.

Anyone who adds inedible substances to foods could go to jail for up to 15 days, states the submitted bill language. Current law mandates fines and certificate revocation for such violations, so “administrative detention” (imposed by police without court proceedings) is considered a tough penalty in China.

Those suspected of committing more serious offenses would be subject to China’s criminal law. Lawmakers had argued in August that the current food safety law is not clear about what action should be considered a criminal offense.

The draft bill also adds punishments for adding expired material or additives to products. A high-profile event occurred back in July when Shanghai Husi Food Co., which supplied McDonald’s and KFC, was found to be using reprocessed expired meat in its products. Six of the company’s senior executives were subsequently arrested.

The fine for producers would be 10 to 20 times the total product value if worth more than 10,000 yuan ($1,600). For products worth less than that, the fine would be 50,000 to 100,000 yuan (approximately $8,000 to $16,000). Production certificates would be revoked for serious offenses.

The latest version of the bill also allows for the prosecution of anyone who leases out production sites and allows illegal activities on their property, but it exempts distributors from punishment if they can show they followed procedure and were unaware of suppliers’ practices.

The bill would also require producers to label products that contain any genetically modified ingredients. A member of the committee noted that the public needs more specific labeling information since general awareness of the issue is not as high as it could be.

“Labeling does not mean that genetically modified foods are unsafe, but the public might not see it that way,” said Xu Weigang.

Shigella

From http://www.foodsafety.gov/

Shigellosis is an infectious disease caused by Shigella. The Shigella germ is a family of bacteria that can cause diarrhea in humans. People with shigellosis shed the bacteria in their feces. The bacteria can spread from an infected person to contaminate water or food, or directly to another person. Getting just a little bit of the Shigella bacteria into your mouth is enough to cause symptoms.

The illness is most commonly seen in child-care settings and schools. Shigellosis is a cause of traveler’s diarrhea, from contaminated food and water in developing countries.

Sources	Contaminated food or water, or contact with an infected person. Foods most often associated with Shigellaoutbreaks are salads and sandwiches that involve a lot of hand contact in their preparation, and raw vegetables contaminated in the field.
Incubation Period	1 -7 days (usually 1-3 days)
Symptoms	Sudden abdominal cramping, fever, diarrhea that may be bloody or contains mucus, nausea and vomiting
Duration of Illness	2-7 days
Who’s at Risk?	Children, especially toddlers aged 2-4
What Do I Do?	Drink plenty of fluids and get rest. Stay home from school or work to avoid spreading the bacteria to others. If you cannot drink enough fluids to prevent dehydration, call your doctor.
How Do I Prevent It?	Wash hands with soap carefully and frequently, especially after going to the bathroom, after changing diapers, and before preparing foods or beverages. Dispose of soiled diapers properly Disinfect diaper changing areas after using them. Keep children with diarrhea out of child care settings while they are ill. Supervise handwashing of toddlers and small children after they use the toilet. Do not prepare food for others while ill with diarrhea Avoid swallowing water from ponds, lakes, or untreated pools. When traveling in developing countries, drink only treated or boiled water, and eat only cooked hot foods or fruits you peel yourself.

Caramel Apples Linked to Multi-State Listeria Outbreak

4 illnesses and 2 deaths reported in MN

From http://www.foodsafetynews.com/ BY NEWS DESK | DECEMBER 18, 2014

The Minnesota Departments of Health and Agriculture are working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on a multi-state outbreak of Listeriosis linked to eating caramel apples.

Four people in Minnesota have become ill as part of this outbreak. All were hospitalized, and two died. All were adults ages 59 to 90 years. They became ill in late October and November.

Health officials are warning consumers who may have purchased any pre-packaged, commercially produced caramel apples, including caramel apples with other toppings such as nuts, chocolate, and sprinkles, to not eat them until more information from the investigation becomes available.

The Minnesota cases purchased caramel apples from Cub Foods, Kwik Trip, and Mike’s Discount Foods, which carried Carnival brand and Kitchen Cravings brand caramel apples. These two brands are no longer available for purchase at retail locations; however, health officials are concerned that persons who purchased them may still have them in their homes.

The investigation is evolving, and other caramel apple brands and locations may also be impacted. Minnesota officials are working with national partners to determine the scope of products impacted. Consumers should not eat any brands of commercially produced pre-packaged caramel apples until additional information is available. At this time, no illnesses related to this outbreak have been linked to apples that are not caramel-coated and not pre-packaged.

Listeriosis is a serious infection caused by eating food contaminated with the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. The disease affects primarily older adults, pregnant women, newborns, and persons with weakened immune systems. On average, seven cases of Listeriosis are reported in Minnesota each year.

Symptoms of Listeriosis include fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions. Infected pregnant women may experience only a mild, flu-like illness; however, infections during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage or stillbirth, premature delivery, or infection of the newborn. Symptoms begin from three to 70 days after consuming the bacteria.

Anyone who believes they may have become ill with Listeriosis should contact their health care provider.

Spending Bill Bans ‘Chinese Chicken’ From Federal Meal Programs

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/ BY LYDIA ZURAW | DECEMBER 16, 2014

A provision included in the $1.1-trillionspending bill Congress passed last week and which is now headed to the president’s desk prevents poultry processed in China from being used in the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program and Summer Food Service Program (Section 736 of Division A).

Four Chinese poultry-processing plants have been approved to export cooked chicken to the U.S. as long as the chicken was raised and slaughtered in the U.S., Canada or Chile.

The ban on including such products in federal meal programs was introduced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and cosponsored by Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME). Both are members of the House Appropriations Committee and added the amendment to the Fiscal Year 2015 agriculture appropriations bill last spring.

Congressional leaders included the provision in the omnibus spending bill that funds the federal government through Sept. 30, 2015, the end of FY 2015.

“Banning Chinese chicken from school meals is a common-sense step to protect our kids,” DeLauro said in a statement. “China’s food safety record is atrocious, yet last year USDA deemed poultry processed in China to be as safe as poultry processed here. Children are among the most susceptible to foodborne illness. We cannot take unnecessary risks with their health.”

Nancy Huehnergarth told Food Safety News that she and Bettina Siegel, co-sponsors of a Change.org petitionto keep poultry processed in China off U.S. plates, were relieved to see the provision carry over into the omnibus bill.

“We’re really happy,” Huehnergarth said. “It’s exactly what we were hoping for.”

In garnering nearly 329,000 signatures, the petition showed strong grassroots support for the ban. The team plans to declare victory once the president signs the bill, which he has indicated he plans to do.

China, on the other hand, is not so pleased because of provisions in the U.S. bill that “discriminate against Chinese companies, violate the principles of fair trade and send the wrong signal,” International Business Times reported. In addition to the poultry ban, the bill also restricts purchase of IT systems produced in China.

“China urges U.S. to take effective measures to correct the erroneous practice and create a favorable environment for the healthy development of Sino-US economic and trade relations,” stated Chinese Ministry of Commerce spokesman Sun Jiwen.