Ben Chapman
Dr. Ben Chapman is an assistant professor and food safety extension specialist at North Carolina State University. He's interested in learning from and sharing stories from outbreaks. Through using new methods and messages, Ben hopes to compel folks from farm-to-fork to change food safety behavior and create a culture of food safety. Ben can be emailed at benjamin_chapman@ncsu.edubenjamin_chapman@ncsu.edu.
New Food Safety Infosheet: First U.S. Thanksgiving edition
Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. I love the changing leaves, the crisp weather and all the food. Growing up, my family's feast rotated between my grandparents' houses and ours; it was a pretty cool time to explore their towns and spend some quality family time. During my university years, Thanksgiving (celebrated on the second Monday of October in Canada) marked the first trip home after the start of the fall semester and a fun time to hang out with high school friends and take advantage of up to four turkey dinners. Once I hit university, I also started to celebrate U.S. Thanksgiving, especially partaking in the Thursday and Friday afternoon football-viewing.
This year marks our first in the U.S. and I'm excited to celebrate Thanksgiving with the locals. We've been invited to participate in a traditional U.S. Thanksgiving (turkey, all the fixin's, football) with our friends Julia and Ship (a foodie who doubles as my main man at NC State News Services) and their kids.
Thanksgiving dinner does come with some food safety risks. Trying to pull off multiple dishes; thawing, preparing and cooking a 20lb+ bird; and, putting it all in the fridge for leftovers makes for a complicated day.
To help out with some tips on how to avoid foodborne illness at Thanksgiving and during the holiday season, we've pulled together this week's food safety infosheet, focusing on turkey, downloadable here.
Campylobacter week: two great papers on the pathogen
A couple of cool papers on Campylobacter were published last week -- one discussing outbreaks of the pathogen in Australia (and the most common sources) and another suggesting that generic E. coli is a lousy indicator of campy in water.
In the first paper, Outbreaks of Campylobacteriosis in Australia, 2001 to 2006, researchers looked at 33 outbreaks of campylobacterosis between 2001 and 2006 resulting in 457 probable and 147 confirmed illnesses. These outbreaks only captured 0.1 per cent of laboratory confirmed outbreaks suggesting that sporadic cases are much more problematic than outbreaks. The group found that commercial settings were implicated in 55 per cent of the outbreaks, and the most common suspected food vehicle was poultry (41 per cent of outbreaks). Salads were also suspected in two of the outbreaks.
In the second paper, Thermotolerant Coliforms Are Not a Good Surrogate for Campylobacter spp. in Environmental Water, researchers in the former home of the Nordiques, Quebec, analyzed over 2400 samples of river water from 25 sites over a two year period. The samples were tested for the presence of indicators (thermotolerant coliforms and generic E. coli) and Campylobacter. The group found that there was a weak association between the distributions of Campylobacter spp. and thermotolerant coliforms and between the quantitative levels of the two classes of organisms. Their results suggest that sampling water for thermotolerant coliform does not provide a good indication whether or not Campylobacter is present.
This is important information for the produce industry which, as the first paper shows, plays a role in Campylobacter infections. By testing water for common indicators, producers and packers may be missing campylobacter risks entirely.
A good way to get campylobacter? Use raw chicken to reduce swelling.
16 hospitalized and 2 deaths now linked to ground beef recall
Following Saturday's FSIS announcement of Fairbank Farms' ground beef recall, a CDC spokesperson has been cited as saying that the cluster of illnesses has been expanded to 28. USA Today reports that CDCs Lola Scott Russel released information this afternoon that 16 of the ill have been hospitalized an additional death has been linked to the outbreak.
This week's food safety infosheet focuses on the outbreak and recall.
Food Safety Infosheet Highlights:
- Fairbank Farms recalls over 500,000 lbs of ground beef in CT, MD, VA, NC, MA, NY, NJ and PA; NH and NY deaths linked to the beef, at least 26 others ill.
- The meat juices created from thawing a frozen product like ground beef can transfer pathogens to other foods.
- Never place cooked hamburger patties on the unwashed plate that held raw patties; wash hands, counters, and utensils (like forks and spatulas) with hot soapy water after they touch raw meat.
- For a full list of recalled products, visit the FSIS release: http://tinyurl.com/yzemas7
Ground beef recall linked to cluster of E. coli O157 illnesses in New England
USDA FSIS has announced a recall of 545,699 pounds of fresh ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 and distributed in seven states. According to FSIS, the product has been linked to a cluster of illnesses in New England.
There are quite a few recalls going on most of the time; this one is notable because this product has been linked to an outbreak of illnesses at a camp in Massachusetts. It's also notable because bulk amounts of the product were shipped down the East Coast for further processing. Retail outlets receiving some of this product include Shaw, Giant, Price Chopper,Trader Joe's, BJs and others.
From the press release:
"Products for further processing:
Cases of 10-pound "FAIRBANK FARMS FRESH GROUND BEEF CHUBS."
Each case bears the establishment number "EST. 492" inside the USDA mark of inspection; has package dates of "09.14.09," "09.15.09," or "09.16.09;" and sell-by dates of "10.3.09," "10.4.09," or "10.5.09. These products were distributed to retail establishments in Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia for further processing. However, these products at retail will likely not bear the package dates and sell-by dates listed above. Customers with concerns should contact their point of purchase."(2).jpg)
It is unlikely that any of the product is still being sold fresh at retail stores (the best-if-sold-before dates range from mid-September to early October) but it's likely that the affected beef is still around in freezers. The meat juices from thawing can provide a nice vehicle for pathogen transfer.
Stick it in with a tip-sensitive digital thermometer (in multiple spots) to ensure that ground beef has reached a safe temperature and be vigilant in containing meat juices when thawing frozen meats. Juicy is good, nasty meat juice spread around the kitchen isn't.
Compelling and disgusting messages might work better
As outbreaks of H1N1 continue to strike campuses across North America, our paper “University Students’ Hand Hygiene Practice During a Gastrointestinal Outbreak in Residence: What They Say They Do and What They Actually Do,”, keeps getting a bit of run. And a common discussion topic focuses on strategies that might work to affect hand hygiene practices.
One of the solutions we talk about is tailoring messages to the target audience. This means communicate with them like they talk amongst themselves and use trusted methods to get risk-reduction info out.
Bell and colleagues at Washington State University did this with their raw milk/Abuela project a decade ago. 
Recent publications out of the UK and Australia have focused on emotion and disgust in message building and even within a target audience, gender is a factor in intervention effectiveness.
These four papers demonstrate that generic, sanitized messages might be a waste of time and resources. A better bang for the public health buck might come from something more compelling and engaging. Or as Doug mentioned to the Nebraskan, "Wash your damn hands," and follow up with the consequences of not. They may or may not actually change their practices, but maybe you got their attention.
New Food Safety Infosheet: Five students ill from outbreak linked to Campylobacter at school in UK
The newest food safety infosheet, a graphical one-page food safety-related story directed at food handlers, is now available at www.foodsafetyinfosheets.com and http://bites.ksu.edu/infosheets (with multiple language translations of past infosheets)
Food Safety Infosheet highlights:
- Environmental health officers focus on cross-contamination practices of food handlers.
- Infections often are a result of cross-contamination, cooking to unsafe temperatures or contact with animals; Campylobacter is not often passed person-to person.
- Clean and sanitize all surfaces (cutting boards, counters) between raw and ready-to-eat food preparation.
- Use different utensils such as knives, tongs and lifters for raw and ready-to-eat foods, if cleaning and sanitizing between use isn't practical.
Food safety infosheets are created weekly and are posted in restaurants, retail stores, on farms and used in training throughout the world. If you have any infosheet topic requests, or photos, please contact Ben Chapman at benjamin_chapman@ncsu.edu.
You can download the food safety infosheet here.
It is called barfblog
This clip typifies celebrity barf. It's not often we actually have clips of folks actually barfing.
Routine sampling of cantaloupe reveals Salmonella, leads to recall
On Friday, Raley's Family of Fine Stores posted a message regarding a recall of fresh cantaloupes due to potential Salmonella contamination (triggered by routine sampling). There wasn't any pick up of the recall story until this morning when the California Department of Public Health issued a warning (which I can't actually find anywhere). CDPH is telling consumers not to eat Del Monte whole cantaloupe sold between Oct. 5 and 16 at Northern California and Nevada Raley's, Bel Air, Nob Hill Foods and Food Sources stores. No illnesses have been linked to these products to date.
Risk in cantaloupes is largely due to growing conditions, contaminated wash water and the potential for cantaloupe flesh to support the growth of bacteria. Prevention of surface contamination is an important factor for folks from farm-to-fork to address and control as research has shown a potential for bacteria to be pushed into the meat of the cantaloupe during slicing. Due to the roughness of the rind, it is very difficult to wash away much of the bacteria, suggesting that risk-reduction emphasis needs to be placed before the someone home uses them for a prosciutto-wrapped appetizer.
California Department of Public Health warns consumers not to eat Del Monte cantaloupe -- great -- how would someone in their home know whether their cantaloupe was Del Monte? Are they labeled (I know some here in North Carolina are, some aren't) and if they are, what does that label look like? That's useful information.
I suspect since the scope of this recall has been limited to a specific shipment or lot of cantaloupes that the distributor has at least a rudimentary traceability system. Maybe the system is handwritten notes in a book of sales, maybe they possess a an electronic system incorporating barcodes and shipping documents. I've seen both. And both can work.
Throughout the summer, with help from my trusty assistant Michelle, we have been investigating some of the current traceability systems employed by fresh produce growers/packers/shippers in North Carolina. While labeling of units (that's what the industry calls something like an individual cantaloupe or tomato) is part of the traceability story, what we've found is that there are multiple ways the on-farm/packing folks are trying to differentiate, collect, record and transfer food safety information with their products.
But there are gaps, like the labeling one illustrated here. One of our conclusions is that while many producers might be awake and trying to navigate vague national and international suggestions, what happens to that information (maybe stored in a lot code) once it leaves the packhouse sometimes isn't really known. The distribution folks may or may not record something like a lot code, and the producers may or may not tell their buyers why it's important that they do. That's a GAP gap.
Petting zoos and the fair
The North Carolina State fair is firing up here in Raleigh (the doors open to public on Thursday). I've never been to a state fair and am looking forward to participating in this slice of Americana. I'm all over tasting the fair foods like funnel cakes and turkey legs but I'll probably stay away from the deep fried butter (freeze sticks of butter, cut off 2 tablespoons, put it on a stick, bread it like chicken, and deep fry it).
The fair also brings petting zoo risks. The UK and Vancouver (Canada) have had recent tragic petting zoo stories and over at wormsandgerms Scott Weese detailed some of the things he saw at a recent Ontario event. I'm curious to see what the N.C. State Fair has for risk management tools, and if anyone is using them. .jpg)
Laura Hendley, frequent contributor to the foodsafe listserv, wrote a letter to her local paper detailing her praise over what she saw at a Helena (MT) event:
The Jim Darcy School PTA provided a petting zoo and pony rides at the recent Helena Education Foundation carnival on Sept. 20, at Memorial Park. Located at the exit to the petting zoo were two temporary hand-washing stations set up with potable water jugs filled with warm water, soap, paper towels and catch buckets. There was also hand sanitizer available.
Good stuff, without the tools it's difficult to practice good hand hygiene.
But just having the tools there might not be enough. Like we've seen with norovirus, it's a good idea to engage the petting zoo target audience (parents and kids) with compelling risk-reduction messages and conduct some sort of evaluation (no matter how crude) to see whether they work.
Toronto Public Health investigating Salmonella illnesses associated with chinese restaurant; outbreak possibly linked to death
CBC and CTV are both reporting that Toronto Public Health is investigating an outbreak of Salmonella linked to a Chinese restaurant in Scarborough. The outbreak is reportedly linked to the Ruby Chinese restaurant near McCowan Road and Finch Avenue West in Scarborough. At least 19 diners have tested positive for Salmonella after eating there between Sept. 12 and Sept. 30. 
One elderly man who died ate in the restaurant during the affected time frame, but officials are still waiting for tests to confirm whether he did in fact have salmonella poisoning.
Inspectors had been called in on September 29 after complaints but found everything up to code. When they returned Wednesday they found infractions and shut the place down.
The City of Toronto's online restaurant inspection database shows that the restaurant had passed inspections without conditions eight times before.
