Queso Fresco garnishing this Latin dish

The State of Utah, StateFoodSafety.com’s own back yard, is making national news this month thanks to a mysterious bootleg vendor known only as “Mr. Cheese.” Since 2009, Mr. Cheese has been using raw milk to create queso fresco, a staple in classic Latin-American cuisine. The raw milk, however, was tainted with salmonella and may have been the cause of thousands of foodborne salmonella infections across the state since 2009. The Salt Lake Valley Health Department estimates that as many as 2,100 consumers may have become infected by the contaminated cheese.

Queso fresco is a creamy, mild, and salty cheese used as a garnish in many Hispanic dishes, its flavor being commonly compared to the Greek feta cheese. When purchased in the store or from licensed manufacturers, queso fresco can be a delicious and nutritious addition to dishes made in restaurants or at home. Mr. Cheese, however, was not licensed by the UTah Department of Agriculture and Food to make or sell his “bathtub cheese.” He sold the queso from the back of his car in unlabeled containers. The facility he used to make the cheese was also outside of the requirements for safe food manufacturing, with cheese being stored inside presses on the floor, and an abundance of flies in the room and around the equipment.

While Mr. Cheese’s underground operation has been closed by county officials, he has not yet been charged nor identified by name.

For more information on this interesting case, please see the following sources:

KSL.com

Marler Blog

Food poisoning at school results in event catering ban

By Sirkka Huish

A food company has been banned from event catering as it was found to be responsible for a severe food poisoning outbreak that sent ten people to hospital.

Environmental Health officers have revealed the outbreak of vomiting and diarrhoea at Mount St Agnes Academy was down to the company’s catering staff being “careless with their personal hygiene”.

Investigations show that the unnamed company served ham contaminated with bacteria at the school’s catered breakfast.

The Government report states that one of the company’s food handlers contaminated the ham as her/his nasal passage was infected with the bacteria. It goes on to say the bacteria was then allowed to multiply because the ham was not stored and transported at the correct temperature.

The worker has since been suspended from handling food and the food business has been banned from catering at outside events.

The food poisoning outbreak saw ten Mount St Agnes Academy staff, including principal Susan Moench, put on intravenous drip feeds and given shots to stabilise their systems at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

They all became violently sick immediately after eating a ‘thank you’ catered breakfast for staff on the last day of term in June.

Mount St Agnes Academy and the Ministry of Health have both refused to name the caterer responsible without giving their reasons for doing so.

The report ruled that it was “a serious breach” but there was no criminal intent and the company was not taking risks to try to maximise profits.

The company therefore continues to operate and has not been prosecuted as this could “irreparably damage a businesses’ reputation”.

A Ministry of Health spokeswoman said the company had also been directed to change its operations and restrict its menu. Company staff are also continuing to receive intensive food hygiene education.

The spokeswoman said they were working to protect people’s health and did not tolerate any slips in standards.

She said: “It was evident from the investigation that the food establishment staff had been careless with personal hygiene (hand to mouth contact while preparing food) and poor temperature control during the storage and transport of food to a customer. The food handler in question was a symptom less carrier of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria.”

She added: “The food handling practices have been closely scrutinised by the Department, improvements have been required and made.

“The establishment has been compliant and worked to make the required improvements on several fronts to prevent a recurrence. Prevention is the focus of this intervention.”

As previously reported by The Royal Gazette, Government’s Epidemiology and Surveillance Unit was notified of the potential food poisoning outbreak as soon as the staff fell ill on June 17. One member of staff had to be carried to the ambulance on a stretcher as he was in too much pain to walk.

All 43 breakfast attendees were interviewed and an analysis of the food served was found “a statistically significant association between consumption of ham and illness”.

The premises of the caterer was also examined and the temperature was found to be “favourable to the growth of microorganisms”.

Laboratory tests found the ham was contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus and the stool samples of most of the ill staff tested positive for the same bacteria.

Staphylococcus aureus was also found in the nasal passages of the company’s food handler. It is suggested that s/he could have handled food with bare hands, especially after touching the face or mouth, or had an exposed sore on the hands or arms.

The report summary states it was a “point-source outbreak” of Staphylococcus aureus associated with the ham prepared by the caterer.

It states: “Intoxication by Staphylococcus aureus is characterised by an abrupt onset of vomiting and/or diarrhoea with symptoms occurring within an hour to eight hours after ingestion of the toxin-contaminated food. Read Article…

Written by Sirkka Huish

Article: http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20111103/NEWS05/711039948/-1

11/2011

Written by:  Tim Snarr

The one thing we all must do when we travel is eat.  I’ve had the benefit of travelling all throughout the United States from California to Florida.  I’ve also had the experience of living in Northern Peru for two years.  Just eating at an unfamiliar fast food place close to home can be daunting sometimes, let alone a street vendor in another country.  I am by no means a food or travel expert, but I’ve had successes and failures in my travels with eating and food safety.  I’d like to share some of those with you.

As I said, I lived in Peru for 2 years, and I lived the way a local would.  I ate at friends’ houses, shopped at local bodegas, and dined from street vendors like a regular Peruvian.  The most important thing I learned about food safety I learned while living there.  If it makes the locals sick, it will make you sick.  And oh boy, did I get sick.

Everything I ate was grown and prepared locally. Only once did I eat at a big chain restaurant.   I don’t think the fish burger vendor at the side of the road had a food permit.  Still, he had plenty of customers.  I was one of them, and I don’t even really care for fish.  So that’s tip number one.  If there are lots of customers, then the food is likely safe.

One time, a little boy came out of his house and offered me an orange-colored drink.  I was thirsty, so I chugged it.  I thought his mother had given it to him.  Turns out, he had gotten the glass, filled it full of water from a bucket, and put who-knows-what in it to turn it orange.  That’s another tip.  Bacteria and other biological hazards are found in un-purified water.  Make sure that any water you consume has been boiled or treated to kill those pathogens.  The next time I was offered a drink, I asked if the water had been boiled.  In my apartment in Peru, I used bottled water for my food and hygiene needs, including brushing my teeth.  After using untreated water one time to brush my teeth, I had skin peeling off the insides of my cheeks.  If you don’t protect yourself even just once, you could end up like me, sick in bed for 8 days, or maybe even worse.

In Peru I had several different cooks who prepared my food.  All were excellent cooks, and I only saw an occasional hair in my food.  If I found one, I just pulled it out and kept going.  That can be very dangerous, however.  Hair, fingernails, and other physical hazards like that can not only represent a biological hazard but can be dangerous in their own right.  Choking is one of the most common things that can happen from physical hazards present in food.  In Peru, I could expect to find a bone, beak, or claw in my chicken soup.  There weren’t any stores selling boneless chicken breasts.  It was much more rural than where I grew up.  Still, I recommend visiting Peru to anyone.  Just make sure you know what you’re putting in your mouth.

I love eating in other countries.  I appreciate not getting sick from the food adventures I take because of these rules I have learned.  Make sure there are a lot of customers and remember that what will make locals sick will affect you as well.  Those are my best tips to avoid food-borne illnesses at the table.  Eat well!

– Associated Press

WASHINGTON — An outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe is now linked to 23 deaths, making it the deadliest known outbreak of foodborne illness in the U.S. in more than 25 years.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that 116 people have been sickened in the outbreak, including those who died. The number of deaths has now surpassed a 1998 outbreak of listeria in processed meats that was linked to 21 deaths. A 1985 listeria outbreak in Mexican-style soft cheeses killed 52 people.

The tainted Colorado cantaloupes should be off store shelves by now, as they were recalled mid-September and their shelf life is about two weeks. But the number of deaths may continue to grow, as the symptoms of listeria can take up to two months to appear.

The CDC on Wednesday confirmed two more deaths in Louisiana that the state had said it was investigating last week. Other deaths have been reported in Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming. Colorado and New Mexico reported five deaths each.

Jensen Farms in Holly, Colo., recalled the tainted cantaloupes earlier this month after they were linked to the listeria illnesses. The Food and Drug Administration, which is investigating the outbreak, has said state health officials found listeria in cantaloupes taken from Colorado grocery stores and from a victim’s home that were grown at Jensen Farms. Matching strains of the disease were found on equipment and cantaloupe samples at Jensen Farms’ packing facility in Granada, Colo.

The company has said it shipped the cantaloupes to about half the states, but added that it wasn’t sure where the cantaloupes went because they have been sold and resold. Thus, many companies may not even know whether they bought or distributed the fruit.

The FDA is still investigating the cause of the outbreak. Officials have said they were looking at the farm’s water supply and possible animal intrusions among other things to figure out the source of the problem. Listeria bacteria grow in moist, muddy conditions and often are carried by animals.

Government health officials said this was the first known outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe. Listeria generally is found in processed meats and unpasteurized milk and cheese, though there have been a growing number of outbreaks in produce.

Listeria is rare but more deadly than well-known pathogens such as salmonella and E. coli. While most healthy adults can consume listeria with no ill effects, it can kill the elderly and those with compromised immune systems. The CDC said the median age of those sickened is 78, and most ill people are over 60 years old.

It is also dangerous to pregnant women because it easily passes through to the fetus. CDC said it is also aware of one miscarriage associated with the outbreak.

Symptoms include fever and muscle aches, often with other gastrointestinal symptoms.

The CDC has reported illnesses in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Colorado has the most illnesses with 34, while Texas has reported 17, New Mexico 13 and Oklahoma 11.

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Online:

CDC on cantaloupe outbreak: http://www.cdc.gov/listeria/index.html

FDA on cantaloupe recall: http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/CORENetwork/ucm272372.htm

Center for Science and the Public Interest, “Super Safe Your Kitchen”:http://www.cspinet.org/new/pdf/safekitchen.pdf

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Find Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MCJalonick

Read Full Story Here

Listeria courtesy of Wikipedia

As reported by WebMD, the recent listeria outbreak linked to contaminated cantaloupe is now the second largest outbreak of listeriosis on record.  Cases have piled up week after week, and now over 100 confirmed cases have been linked to the outbreak, including 21 deaths and a miscarriage.

Listeriosis is an extremely dangerous foodborne illness that particularly targets pregnant women, children, and the elderly. In this case, it is still unclear how the bacteria found its way onto the surface of the tainted melons, but any number of environmental sources (soil, water, animals) could be to blame.

It is unlikely that any of the affected  cantaloupe are still in stores or in consumers’ homes, as the expected shelf-life of those melons came and went weeks ago. However, symptoms can take weeks to present themselves, so additional cases could continue to  mount up.

Food handlers can do their part to prevent the spread of foodborne illness by learning, and following safe food handling principles, but even then, we often rely on the food infrastructure to provide us with clean, wholesome ingredients. Let’s hope that this outbreak runs its course soon, and remember to wash all fruits and vegetables before they are eaten.