News Headlines: 20 - 26 March 2010

http://www.foodsafetywatch.com

Norovirus outbreaks linked to raw oysters; Agency consults on date marking; Contaminated pepper prompts further recalls; Campylobacter forms biofilms; Call for report on antibiotic resistance in the food chain; Health Canada consults on revised Listeria policy; Codex to set limit for melamine in foods; New shelf life guidance for ready-to-eat foods; FSAI highlights Campylobacter contamination of packaging

Norovirus outbreaks linked to raw oysters

Health authorities in the UK, Norway, France, Sweden and Denmark have reported a number of simultaneous outbreaks of norovirus infection since January, all linked to the consumption of raw oysters.

Some 65 clusters of infection affecting 334 people have been reported across the five countries, with most of the cases having eaten oysters in restaurants. Tracing the source of implicated oysters in each case revealed that they did not all come from the same source. The UK clusters were linked mainly to a single producer in Ireland, while most of the other clusters were associated with oysters harvested in French waters, notably from parts of Brittany.

The reason for the high number of simultaneous outbreaks is unclear, but one possible explanation is that the unusually cold winter weather helped the virus to survive for longer periods in seawater.

http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=19524

Agency consults on date marking

The UK Food Standards Agency is seeking comments on a draft of updated guidance on compliance with food labelling regulations. The guidance refers specifically to date marking and the use of 'use by' and 'best before' dates.

The new guidance has been issued in response to growing concerns about food waste and some confusion among food manufacturers over whether food products should be labelled with 'use by' or 'best before' information.

Key proposals in the revised guidance include updated advice on complying with labelling legislation, a best practice section including a date-marking decision tree, a simplified version for small businesses, some worked examples and a section about determining shelf life.

Comments on the draft can be made until 16 June and the consultation can be found on the Agency website at the link below.

http://www.food.gov.uk/consultations/consulteng/2010/fsaguidanceappdatemarksfoodeng

Contaminated pepper prompts further recalls

Products containing recalled black and red pepper implicated in the nationwide US outbreak of Salmonella Montevideo infection, which affected at least 250 people in 44 states earlier this year, are still being recalled in the USA and Canada.

The S. Montevideo outbreak was traced to pepper-coated salami products made by Daniele International Inc, but further investigation suggested that crushed black and red pepper supplied by two companies, Mincing Overseas Spice Company and Wholesome Spice Company, was the likely source. Both companies then recalled the implicated products. Investigation of other food businesses that may have received the contaminated pepper has now led to a number of further recalls, with at least nine US manufacturers and three in Canada having to recall products to date.

http://www.fda.gov/Food/NewsEvents/WhatsNewinFood/ucm206052.htm

http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/newcom/2010/20100325e.shtml

Campylobacter forms biofilms

Newly published research by a team from the UK Institute of Food Research (IFR) has discovered that Campylobacter cells are able to form protective biofilms under laboratory conditions. This may help to explain how they are able to survive in hostile environments.

Campylobacter cells are sensitive to oxygen and cannot normally survive in air. The IFR researchers found that Campylobacter cells exposed to air rapidly formed a sticky biofilm and so were protected to some extent from oxygen. They also found that cells were shed from the film, indicating that biofilms could act as reservoirs of contamination in food processing environments.

The IFR team now want to investigate how Campylobacter cells sense oxygen and respond to stress with a view to developing new ways of controlling the pathogen in the food chain.

The research report is published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology (Vol 76, No 7, pp 2122-8)

http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/abstract/76/7/2122

Call for report on antibiotic resistance in the food chain

The UK Veterinary Medicines Directorate has published a report on antimicrobial resistance for a range of bacteria of medical and veterinary importance including Campylobacter, Salmonella and other foodborne organisms.

The report uses data collected in 2007, and included information on food surveys conducted by the Food Standards Agency. However, despite this the report concludes that, "...it is not possible to give a full picture of potential pathogens in food derived from animals to which the human population may be exposed."

Accordingly the report recommends that the various bodies with responsibility for monitoring antimicrobial resistance in humans, animals and food should collaborate to compile a report summarising antibiotic resistance in the UK food chain.

The complete report can be found at the link below.

http://www.vmd.gov.uk/Publications/Antibiotic/AMR_Overview_07.pdf

Health Canada consults on revised Listeria policy

Health Canada's Bureau of Microbial Hazards has launched a consultation on proposed revisions to the 2004 policy on Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat foods. The policy is to be used by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, local authorities and industry to help reduce contamination risks.

The policy has been revised in response to the 2008 listeriosis outbreak in Canada - linked to sliced ready-to-eat meat products - and the findings of the independent investigation into the outbreak.

Changes in the revised policy include new end-product compliance criteria, updated definitions of foods that can/cannot support growth of L. monocytogenes, greater emphasis on environmental monitoring and encouraging greater use of post-process treatments and growth inhibitors.

Comments on the consultation document, which can be found at the link below, are sought until 3 May 2010.

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/consultation/init/_listeria/draft-ebauche-eng.php

Codex to set limit for melamine in foods

A proposal for a Maximum Level for the industrial chemical melamine in food and feed will be discussed at a forthcoming Codex Alimentarius Commission Committee meeting in Turkey next month.

Since the Chinese melamine in milk powder adulteration scandal in 2008, many national food safety bodies have set their own limits for the contaminant in foods. At the same time detection methods have improved so that very small concentrations posing no threat to public health and not arising through deliberate contamination can be detected. Therefore the Codex Committee for Contaminants will be looking at harmonising national limits into an internationally accepted maximum level that allows for low level inadvertent contamination.

An agenda for the meeting can be found at the link below.

http://www.codexalimentarius.net/download/report/739/cf04_01e.pdf

New shelf life guidance for ready-to-eat foods

New guidance designed to help food businesses calculate a safe shelf life for ready-to-eat foods and to help meet the requirements of EU microbiology Regulations has been published jointly in the UK by the Chilled Food Association (CFA) and the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

The free publication, entitled The Shelf Life of Ready to Eat Food in Relation to L. monocytogenes - Guidance for Food Business Operators, was compiled by a group of organisations chaired by the BRC and including the Health Protection Agency and the Food Standards Agency. It explains the technical issues in a straightforward manner designed to be understood by staff with varying levels of expertise and provides worked examples to demonstrate how the guidance can be used.

The Guidance can be downloaded from the CFA website at the link below.

http://www.chilledfood.org/Resources/Chilled%20Food%20Association/Public%20Resources/Shelf%20life%20of%20RTE%20foods%20in%20relation%20to%20Lm%20FINAL%20v1.1.1%2023%203%2010.pdf

FSAI highlights Campylobacter contamination of packaging

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has released information about a recent study of the prevalence of Campylobacter on the packaging of chicken sold in Irish retail outlets.

The study examined 785 external packaging surfaces and 785 retail display cabinet surfaces and found that overall, 13.9% of packaging and 10.9% of display surfaces were contaminated with Campylobacter species. However, packaging designed to prevent leakage showed much lower contamination rates (2.1%), while conventional packaging showed much higher rates (18.9%) than the overall prevalence.

The FSAI statement follows the publication by EFSA last week of the results of an EU-wide baseline survey of the prevalence of Campylobacter and Salmonella on broiler chicken carcases at slaughter, which showed that 76% of broiler carcases were contaminated with Campylobacter (see last weeks News Headlines for more information).

In view of these findings, the FSAI is calling for Irish retailers to introduce more leak-proof packaging for poultry, or to provide specific bags for poultry meat to help prevent cross contamination of other foods.

http://www.fsai.ie/news_centre/press_releases/17032010