A startup in Hong Kong is hoping to use light-up fish embryos to improve food safety. The company, Vitargent, engineered medaka and zebrafish embryos to turn fluorescent green or develop tumors in the presence of harmful substances called Estrogenic Endocrine Disruptors (EEDs). The technology can screen for more than 1,000 chemicals such as DDT…
Ackee Products Can Be Seized or Refused Entry for Toxin Levels, Says FDA
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is issuing final guidance on enforcement criteria for ackee products containing the toxin hypoglycin A. Ackee is a fruit native to West Africa but is also found in Central and South America, many Caribbean countries, and Southern Florida. Canned, frozen and other ackee products are marketed in the U.S.,…
Botulism Antitoxin Gets Thumbs-Up from FDA Advisors
A committee of advisors to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given its stamp of approval to an antitoxin designed to treat patients with botulism. In a unanimous decision announced last week, the 18-member Blood Products Advisory Committee voted to recommend the heptavalent botulinum antitoxin (HBAT), developed by a Canadian pharmaceutical company, to the…
Tropical Fish Poisoning Struck Big Apple in 2010 and 2011
Nearly 30 people in New York City were sickened by ciguatera fish poisoning between August of 2011 and July of 2012, marking a sharp increase in recorded cases for the area, according to a new government report. Ciguatera fish poisoning, or CFP, arises from eating tropical reef fish that have accumulated ciguatoxins. CFP can cause…
Do Nanomaterials Pose Health Risks? What Science Has to Say
Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) have great potential to benefit animal and human health. But there are uncertainties surrounding the long-term effects of applying ENMs to food and pharmaceutical products consumed by humans and animals. Therefore, in a previous article, I suggested that more regulations should be applied to ENMs in our food system. I believe that…
USDA Offers Post Wildfire Food Safety Tips
Following a series of recent wildfires across the western United States, the government is reminding people that fire can compromise the safety of foods in the home. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) Monday issued a warning to the estimated 2 million Americans whose homes will be affected by fires…
CA Recalls More Farmers Market Soups for Botulism Potential
The California Department of Health is warning consumers not to eat certain soups sold at southern California farmers markets because they may have been produced in a way that makes them susceptible to Clostridium botulinum. CDPH said Monday that canned soups manufactured by Malibu-based One Gun Ranch and Santa Barbara-based Organic Soup Kitchen had the…
Wild Mushrooms Can Kill, California Health Officer Warns
Wild, edible mushrooms are a delectable treat but California issued a warning earlier this week to people who forage for them.
Mistakes in wild mushroom identification can result in serious illness and even death, cautions Dr. Ron Chapman, director of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and State Public Health Officer.
“It is very …
Mussel Recall Due to Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning Fear
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is warning the public not to serve or consume certain raw mussels from British Columbia because they may contain paralytic shellfish toxins.
There have been no reported cases of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) associated with the consumption of the mussels, which have been recalled.
The recalled raw mussels were …
A Parallel Clinical Pattern to O104:H4
The O104:H4 serotype has an unusual clinical pattern for Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) pathogens, including bloody diarrhea in adults followed by a high conversion rate to adult hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) or to severe non-HUS enterohemorrhagic symptoms in adults.
There is another STEC group that parallels the unusual pattern of the current outbreak in …