News Headlines: 22 - 28 May 2010


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home | News | News Headlines: 22 - 28 May 2010

News Headlines: 22 - 28 May 2010

High levels of bacteria found in Canadian bottled water; E. coli O157 not widespread in Californian wildlife; Salads recalled over Salmonella fears; More authority needed for regulator; Agency publishes 2009 'incidents' report

High levels of bacteria found in Canadian bottled water

More than 70% of bottled water samples tested in a new Canadian study were found to contain numbers of heterotrophic bacteria in excess of US Pharmocopeia recommended limits for drinking water.

The study, carried out by researchers from Ccrest Laboratories in Montreal, reportedly looked at well-known brands of bottled water purchased in local outlets. The researchers compared heterotorphic bacterial counts with the recommended USP limit of 500 cfu/ml for drinking water and found that some samples contained bacterial populations of up to one hundred times this figure. No pathogenic bacterial species were isolated however. By contrast, tap water samples contained an average count of 170 cfu/ml.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-05/asfm-sfh052010.php

E. coli O157 not widespread in Californian wildlife

A new study by scientists at UC Davis Western Institute for Food Safety and Security has found that the dangerous foodborne pathogen E. coli O157:H7 can be isolated from wildlife in the agriculturally important Central Coast region of California, but is not common.

The study was carried out as apart of the response to the 2006 nationwide E. coli O157:H7 outbreak, which affected over 200 people and was traced to bagged spinach grown in California. The researchers collected over 1100 faecal samples from wild animals and birds on farms in the region during 2008 and 2009. Tests carried out on the samples only found the pathogen in seven samples from birds and 13 from animals, including 10 from feral pigs.

The research team says that their results should help to develop an understanding of the potential crop contamination risk from wildlife in comparison to that from livestock and irrigation water. They recommend that growers continue to follow good agricultural practice to prevent contamination.

http://www.news.ucdavis.edu/search/news_detail.lasso?id=9513

Salads recalled over Salmonella fears

The US Food and Drug Administration has announced that Fresh Express of Salinas, California, a subsidiary of Chiquita Brands International, is voluntarily recalling a number of Fresh Express Romaine-based ready-to-eat salads because of possible Salmonella contamination.

A total of 24 different products in varying sized packs are included in the recall, all of which have expired use-by dates of May 13th to May 16th and include an S in the product code. The salads were distributed to retail outlets in 26 states.

The recall was initiated when FDA microbiological testing of a single pack of Fresh Express Hearts of Romaine Salad identified a positive Salmonella result.

http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/ucm213247.htm

More authority needed for regulator

According to a report from the Reuters news agency, the US General Accountability Office (GAO) has called for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be given greater authority to increase its effectiveness in controlling food safety.

Other recommendations made by the GAO in a new report include more cooperation with other agencies involved in regulating food safety and an increase in the amount of scientific research undertaken. The report states that the FDA is only able to inspect 1% of imported foods and that the border authorities do not always inform them when shipments of food products arrive at points of entry.

The Reuters article and the full GAO report can be found at the links below.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64N5UZ20100524
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d10182r.pdf

Agency publishes 2009 'incidents' report

The UK Food Standards Agency has published its Annual Report of Incidents 2009 giving details of the 1208 food incidents investigated during the year.

The total number of incidents recorded in 2009 represents a small decrease over the previous year, when 1298 incidents were investigated. The Agency says that the total has remained relatively constant for the last four years. An incident is any event where there are concerns about actual or suspected threats to the safety of quality of food, which might require intervention to protect consumers.

Incidents are divided by category, with microbiological contamination (18%), environmental contamination (17%), natural chemical contamination (12%) and on-farm incidents (12%) being the major categories. The report states that microbiological contamination incidents have increased over the last four years from 147 in 2006 to 218 in 2009. A total of 91 food alerts were issued, of which 49 were allergy alerts.

The full report can be found on the Agency web site via the link below.

http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/incidents09.pdf