In one of the first uses of genome sequencing to trace the path of a foodborne illness outbreak, a team led by scientists from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and the Broad Institute looked at the E. coli O104:H4 epidemic that hit Europe last year.Their study was published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).The...
In an ideal world, perhaps all of our food would be screened for pathogens before we consume it. But in reality, such testing is expensive and time-consuming for companies. Most producers do not have the capacity to test for pathogens themselves and must send samples out to a lab. Results can take 2 or more days to process. For companies...
Concentrated plasma beams can effectively kill pathogens on raw chicken, according to a proof-of-concept study published in the January Journal of Food Protection by food safety researchers at Drexel University.In the study, plasma eliminated all or nearly all bacteria from raw chicken -- both skinless and with skin -- when the bacteria were present in low concentrations. On chicken with...
In the fall of 2006, health officials in Minnesota and Vermont reported multiple cases of Salmonella Typhimurium poisoning with matching genetic patterns. Working with federal officials, they began looking for a source.A month later, their investigations had focused on fresh tomatoes, sliced and consumed in a variety of restaurants. And the tomatoes were, in turn, traced to a packing house...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reported finding low levels of fungicide carbendazim in orange juice headed for U.S. supermarkets, but assured the public the juice remains safe to drink.Of the 14 samples, which were taken from large holding tanks of juice concentrate at large domestic orange juice processors, nine tested positive for carbendazim, five had no measurable level of...
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) may be more prevalent in retail pork products than previously thought, according to a study published in the Public Library of Science's PLoS ONE in January.More than six percent of 395 pork samples, taken from 36 grocery stores in Iowa, Minnesota, and New Jersey, were contaminated with MRSA, which is significantly higher than previous studies. More...
In the world of food safety, it's not just about food poisoning outbreaks and recalls. Sometimes there's some good news to share. That's the case in breakthroughs and advances in science and technology that can stop foodborne pathogens dead in their tracks. And sometimes that sort of news appears in unexpected places.Take, for example, the January edition of Popular Mechanics....
Dietary levels of acrylamide, the chemical compound and known carcinogen naturally produced from cooking food, cannot be shown to pose any health risk to humans, according to an expert panel organized by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) for a press web presentation on Thursday.Since its discovery in cooked food in 2002, acrylamide has prompted questions from governments, health organizations...
A $25 million grant has been awarded to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to study how to reduce the risk of 8 pathogenic E. coli strains that can contaminate beef and cause human illness.The five-year research project, announced Monday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, not only will look at E. coli O157:H7, but also the serogroups O26, O103, O45, O111,...
Small, harmless doses of the metallic element manganese may completely defend cells against the effects of Shiga toxin, the deadly poison produced by harmful strains of E. coli and Shigella that can induce severe diarrhea, intestinal complications and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) in infected individuals. That is according to a study published in Science on January 20 by two Carnegie...
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