Watermelon

  • 1 dead 54 sick with salmonella in UK, Europe linked to watermelon

    Posted: February 2nd, 2012 - 2:37pm by Doug Powell

    harvestmark.watermelon1.jpg

    The UK Health Protection Agency (HPA) is investigating an outbreak of a strain of Salmonella Newport infection among 30 people in England, Wales and Northern Ireland since the beginning of December 2011. Cases of illness caused by the same strain have been confirmed in Scotland, Ireland and Germany.

    Dr Bob Adak, head of the gastrointestinal diseases department at the HPA said: “Although it’s too soon to say with certainty what the likely cause of infection is, early indications suggest that a number of people became unwell after eating watermelon. This has also been noted in the cases in Scotland and Germany although further investigation is ongoing.

    Confirmed cases:

    • England - 26
    • Wales - 3
    • Northern Ireland - 1
    • Scotland - 4
    • Republic of Ireland - 5
    • Germany – 15

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    Salmonella  |  0 Comments
    food safety, newport, salmonella, Uk, Watermelon
  • Chinese watermelons explode

    Posted: May 17th, 2011 - 11:41am by Doug Powell

    Watermelons are exploding in China the same way David Letterman used to drop them out of windows.

    An investigative report by China Central Television found farms in Jiangsu province were losing acres of fruit to overuse of a chemical that helps fruit grow faster, causing a rash of exploding watermelons in eastern China.
     

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    Wacky and Weird  |  0 Comments
    China, food safety, growth, Hormone, letterman, Watermelon
  • Summer means melons

    Posted: November 29th, 2009 - 8:08pm by Katie Filion

    In my current neck of the woods summer is approaching. I’ve decided only the oldies station will play in my pimpin’ ride, and I’ve been purchasing strawberries and watermelon on every trip to the grocery store. Nothing says summer like fresh melon(s).

    But melons have their risk. Cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon have been linked to outbreaks of Salmonella in the past, and currently the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has issued a health hazard alert for Melon up! brand large seedless watermelons from Mexico.

    You can check out a video on how to safely prepare melon, here. Or the FDA guidance for industry document, here.
     

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    Salmonella  |  1 Comment
    Canada, Melons, Summer Sausage, Watermelon
  • Stickers source watermelons to California farm

    Posted: August 4th, 2009 - 9:34am by Doug Powell

    The San Francisco Chronicle reports that at a farm in Manteca, in San Joaquin County, workers smack labels onto watermelons freshly cut from the vine, each sticker bearing a unique string of letters and numbers that identifies where they were harvested.

    Ryan Van Groningen of Van Groningen & Sons Farms, which sells watermelons under the Yosemite Fresh brand, said,

    "With food safety as big as it is, we can give each watermelon its own code so a consumer can check on the Internet to see where it is grown.”

    This new code, called the HarvestMark, is being developed by the Redwood City startup YottaMark Inc. at a time when Congress is considering food-safety legislation that could make some type of tracking system mandatory.

    In advance of any legal mandate, a few growers have started putting HarvestMark codes on products like plastic-packaged grapes and strawberries, as well as watermelons.

    The idea is to enable a consumer to type the 16-digit tracking code into a locator field at HarvestMark.com to learn where the product was grown. Depending on the grower's records and what the farm chooses to reveal, the system could detail the date and part of the field where the product originated.

    Great idea.

    A decade ago, I advised the Ontario Greenhouse Vegetable Growers – whose cluster tomatoes still dominate supermarket shelves in Florida in the middle of summer – to do something similar, to market their food safety efforts directly to the concerned consumer.

    For other produce producers, forget government babysitters and the non-niceties of offending other growers … growers who maybe aren’t so good at food safety.

    Go further. Put a url on the sticker so concerned shoppers can check out a web site with video, not just about where a commodity was grown, but about food safety standards, and real-time test results for water quality and product sampling.

    And then market it.
     

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    Food Safety Policy, Raw Food  |  0 Comments
    Marketing, Sticker, Traceability, Watermelon
  • Salmonella outbreak in N. Ontario may be linked to melons

    Posted: April 24th, 2009 - 5:03pm by Doug Powell

    When I think Thunder Bay, Ontario in January, I think melons.

    Ripe, juicy melons, like cantaloupe.

    The Thunder Bay District Health Unit is investigating an increased number of Salmonella cases in Thunder Bay and District. Twenty-three cases of Salmonella have been reported since January of this year. We would normally expect approximately seven (7) cases in this time period.

    Some cases have been linked to person-to-person transmission or travel and some are related to a North American outbreak being investigated by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). Six cases are still under investigation, but like most Salmonella cases, are likely related to unsafe food handling in the home. …

    The outbreak under investigation by PHAC may be related to melons. Because melons grow at ground level, their rough and pitted outer skin can trap Salmonella bacteria from the soil. If the outer skin of a melon is contaminated, the fruit inside may be affected when the melon is cut. Follow these tips:

    * Buy melons that are not bruised or damaged and store them in the fridge.
    * Throw away any melon that is bruised or rotten.
    * Wash all melons before cutting.  When cleaning a cantaloupe, brush the whole fruit under running water using a clean produce brush, getting into all the pits on the skin.
    * Put cut melon on a clean plate; don’t put the pieces back on the cutting board.
    * Don’t reuse any food equipment (e.g. knife, cutting board) used to prepare a melon.
    * Wash all equipment with hot water and soap or clean them in the dishwasher.
    * Store cut melon in a clean container in the fridge.

    How is Salmonella in melons a consumer handling issue? Where is the data that says most Salmonella cases are related to unsafe food handling in the home? And why no notice from PHAC about an outbreak investigation?
     

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    Salmonella  |  1 Comment
    Cantaloupe, Phac, Thunder Bay, Watermelon
  • The human face of E. coli O157:H7: 3-year-old died in 2000

    Posted: June 15th, 2008 - 9:28pm by Doug Powell

    Three-year-old Brianna Kriefall and her family ate at a Sizzler restaurant in South Milwaukee in July 2000. Brianna died a week later after battling E. coli-related hemolytic uremic syndrome.

    Brianna, along with most of the other 140 people who were sickened in the outbreak, consumed watermelon that had been cross-contaminated with raw meat.

    Genetic testing showed the microbes that made the restaurant patrons sick matched microbes contained in an unopened package of meat.

    The national Sizzler chain, its local franchise and an insurance company are suing Excel Corp., the subsidiary of Cargill Inc. that produced the meat.

    On Friday Brianna's family reached a $13.5 million settlement with the company's meat supplier and others.

    The Kriefalls' case had been dismissed in 2004 by a different Milwaukee County Circuit judge after Excel lawyers argued the company was exempt from state lawsuits because it had followed federal regulations in handling the beef sold to Sizzler.

    An appeals court reversed the dismissal, saying the legal action fit within the federal goal of making food safer for consumers. The U.S. Supreme Court declined Excel's appeal.
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    E. coli  |  1 Comment
    Cargill, Excel, Sizzler, Watermelon