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News Headlines: 31 July - 06 August 2010

Factors contributing to Campylobacter spread in chicken; CDC investigates Salmonella outbreaks; Meat from cloned cow offspring has entered the UK food chain; Monitoring furan levels in food; New PCR test for non-O157 VTEC to be developed; EFSA report on PCBs in food published; Pepperoni recalled over botulinum concerns

Factors contributing to Campylobacter spread in chicken

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published an evaluation of the factors that may contribute to the spread of Campylobacter in live chickens and chicken carcasses in the EU. The evaluation follows the recent report of an EU-wide survey on the occurrence of the bacterium in chickens.

The new report focuses on the control of infection of chickens at farm level and on cross contamination of carcasses during slaughter and processing as being the two key areas for control of the problem. It also points to variation in contamination rates between different countries and different slaughterhouses as a possible source of information on successful controls.

Factors leading to an increased contamination risk include the age of the birds at slaughter, the time of year when slaughter takes place and the time of day when carcasses are processed. The full evaluation report can be found on the AFSA website via the link below.

http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/scdocs/scdoc/1522.htm

CDC investigates Salmonella outbreaks

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced that it is investigating two multi-state outbreaks of Salmonella infection each caused by one of two very rare serovars, S. Hartford and S. Baildon. Both outbreaks have been linked to a chain of Mexican-style fast food restaurants.

The Salmonella Hartford outbreak has so far affected 75 people in 15 states since April. Epidemiological evidence suggests a link with eating at Mexican-style restaurants, but not with any specific food item. Cases have been linked with 13 different restaurant locations all belonging to the same chain.

The Salmonella Baildon outbreak has affected 80 people in 15 states. The epidemiological evidence also suggests a link with Mexican-style restaurants, but again, not with any specific foods. Cases have been linked to 22 different locations of the same restaurant chain implicated in the S. Hartford outbreak.

The investigation into these outbreaks is ongoing.

http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/baildon-hartford/index.html

Meat from cloned cow offspring has entered the UK food chain

The UK Food Standards Agency has confirmed that meat from two bulls reared from imported embryos harvested from a cloned cow has entered the food chain and will have been eaten by consumers.

The two bulls came from a group of eight embryos, which were taken from a cow cloned in the USA and subsequently reared on a farm in Shropshire in England before being sold on to other farms. Of the remaining six embryos, two more bulls are known to have died or been slaughtered without entering the food chain, but two of the four cows are still being traced. Milk from these animals may have entered the food chain but this cannot yet be confirmed.

The Agency does not consider this to be a food safety problem - both EFSA and the FDA have issued scientific opinions stating that meat and milk from cloned animals is considered safe - but it is a legal issue. Products derived from clones and their offspring are regarded as novel foods under EU law and must be authorised before being sold. The Agency says it has received no applications for such authorisation.

Although there is no evidence of a health risk from eating foods derived from clones, there may be animal welfare concerns, since clones have been reported to have high incidences of health problems. Concerns have also been raised over the regulation of the meat industry and the fact that the current case only came to light after the publication of a newspaper story in the USA.

http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2010/aug/updateclonedanimals

Monitoring furan levels in food

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published a report on the results of monitoring foods in the EU for levels of furan, a carcinogenic contaminant formed during heat treatment in certain foods.

The new report presents all the data from samples collected and analysed between 2004 and 2009 and includes over 4,000 complete analytical results from 21 different food categories. These include five separate categories for coffee products and 16 other categories. The highest furan content was found in the five coffee categories and the highest level reported was 6,900 microgram/kg in a sample of roasted ground coffee. The highest level found in a non-coffee category was 225 microgram/kg in a sample from the category 'soups'.

Furan levels above 100 microgram/kg were detected in cereal products such as puffed rice, canned fish products and canned meat and soup products. The report concludes that furan is present in a variety of heat-processed food products. The full report is available on the EFSA website via the link below.

http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/scdocs/scdoc/1702.htm

New PCR test for non-O157 VTEC to be developed

Following recent concerns about outbreaks of foodborne infection caused by strains of verocytotoxigenic E. coli (VTEC) belonging to serogroups other than O157, the USDA and DuPont Qualicon are to collaborate on the development of a PCR-based test for six other important VTEC serogroups.

The new test will be designed to run on DuPont's DNA-based BAX(r) PCR system and will be developed jointly by the Company and by scientists at the USDA Agricultural Research Service. It will be able to detect VTEC strains belonging to the O26, O45, O103, O111, O121 and O145 serogroups.

http://www2.dupont.com/Qualicon/en_US/news_events/article20100802.html

EFSA report on PCBs in food published

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published a report on the levels of non dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in food and animal feed. The report is part of an EU monitoring programme and follows similar reports on dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs published earlier this year.

The report was compiled by the EFSA Data Collection and Exposure Unit and is based on the results obtained from analysis of more than 11,000 food samples and 1,300 animal feed samples from 18 EU member states and two non-EU countries between 1999 and 2008.

The report shows that the highest contamination levels were found in fish and fish products. High levels were also present in animal products such as raw milk and eggs, whereas fresh fruit and vegetables contained much lower levels. EFSA recommends that further monitoring be carried out on a range of food and feed groups.

The full report can be found on the Authority website via the link below.

http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/scdocs/scdoc/1701.htm

Pepperoni recalled over botulinum concerns

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has announced that Cowichan Valley Meat Market is recalling certain pepperoni products because they may be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum.

Five products, Pub Style pepperoni, Mild Pepperoni, Hot Pepperoni, X-Hot Pepperoni and Teriyaki Beef Sticks, are included in the recall, all labelled with 'packaged on' dates up to July 28. The products were sold from the manufacturers' own outlet in Duncan, British Columbia. No related cases of illness have been reported to date.

http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/corpaffr/recarapp/2010/20100728be.shtml

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