Atypical scrapie in single NZ sheep
Contrary to what the New Zealand Herald reported tonight (this morning in NZ), the animal in question was born in NZ, not the UK, because NZ does not import sheep from the UK.
MAF Biosecurity New Zealand (MAFBNZ) and the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) today confirmed that a series of New Zealand and European laboratory tests on a single New Zealand sheep brain have detected the condition atypical scrapie (also known as Nor 98).
Atypical scrapie/Nor 98 is a relatively recently discovered brain condition of sheep and goats that is quite different from the classical form of scrapie.
Neither atypical scrapie/Nor 98 nor scrapie is known to pose any risk to human health or the safety of eating meat or animal products.
MAFBNZ Principal International Adviser Dr Stuart MacDiarmid says global knowledge about atypical scrapie/Nor 98 is evolving. The widely accepted mainstream scientific view is that it occurs spontaneously or naturally in very small numbers of older sheep in all sheep populations around the world.
“This positive detection of atypical scrapie/Nor 98 in a sheep from New Zealand’s national flock reinforces that view. Every country that has conducted sufficient surveillance for atypical scrapie/Nor 98 has found it in their flocks. This includes most Scandinavian and EU countries, the UK, the USA and Canada,” he says.
The detection does not change New Zealand’s status as free from scrapie.
Dr MacDiarmid says because of this scrapie freedom status, New Zealand supplies sheep brains to the European Union for use in the development of tests for scrapie.
“The affected brain was one of a consignment of 200 brains sent for this purpose. EU-authorised tests carried out in New Zealand prior to shipment had not picked up anything unusual. However further tests in Europe and re-testing in New Zealand on different parts of the brain from the area originally tested have now established a diagnosis of atypical scrapie/Nor 98.
There is no evidence that atypical scrapie/Nor 98 can be transmitted naturally to other animals or to people, or that it in any way affects people.
New Zealand court slams poultry processor
An Auckland woman whose company slaughtered thousands of poultry in what a judge described as stomach-turning conditions has been fined more than $23,000 in a case brought by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA).
Ling Zhang and her company Ling Ling Poultry pleaded guilty in Papakura District Court last week to four charges under the Animal Products Act.
Judge Eddie Paul fined Zhang $20,000 for selling animal product that has not been processed in line with the Act and $3000 for not having a registered risk management programme, plus court costs.
He told Zhang that to call the operation ‘bad’ was an understatement: “Anyone viewing that barn in the manner in which those chickens were slaughtered, their stomach would turn.”
New Zealand Food Safety Authority nails restaurant -- no one wins when people barf
A New Zealand restaurateur whose poor food safety practices caused more than 50 Christmas Day diners to fall ill has had his appeal thrown out.
Robin Pierson, the owner-operator of Bushmere Arms, was ordered to pay $400 in fines, along with $850 in reparation to victims and $10,414 in costs to the Crown in a case brought by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA).
The court heard that on 25 December 2006, Pierson’s restaurant provided a Christmas Day buffet luncheon for about 110 diners, with a selection of ham, beef and turkey. The next day some of the diners called him complaining of illness after the luncheon. Fifty-seven reported varying degrees of stomach pain, abdominal cramps and diarrhoea.
A Health Protection Officer found the symptoms of illness described by the complainant diners were consistent with food poisoning caused by Clostridium perfringens. C. perfringens was also found in samples of the leftover turkey, and the enterotoxin form of the bacteria in faecal samples from two of the ill diners.
While C. perfringens can be found in the stools of normal people, the enterotoxin is only found in people with C. perfringens food poisoning.
NZFSA’s Assistant Director of Compliance and Investigation Justin Rowlands, said the luncheon had all the hallmarks of an outbreak in waiting.
“The turkey was inadequately thawed, cooked, and reheated. The person serving meats at the buffet also used the same knife to carve the turkey, meat and ham, raising the chance of cross contamination. Also, the restaurant did not have formal steps in place for operating safely during stressful periods.”
Culture, camp, pregnancy and ... synchronized diving?
Why is synchronized diving an Olympic sport?
I don’t know either, but it caught the attention of my dining companions, each with their own food safety story to share.
Philippa Ross-James, Program Manager Communications, with the New Zealand Food Safety Authority, gave a great talk Monday morning at Kansas State University, sharing the agency’s experience promoting food safety practices in culturally acceptable ways with New Zealand's indigenous people -- Maori, and New Zealand's Pacific peoples.
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The take home messages: build trust, get out of the office, and be in it for the long term. That’s Philippa (right), with Curtis Kastner, director of Kansas State’s Food Science Institute, me, Philippa, and Lisa Freeman, associate dean for research at K-State’s vet college, and a v.p. at K-State’s new Olathe innovation campus.
My youngest daughter, Courtlynn, is back from camp and spending some time in Manhattan (Kansas). She told me on the last day of camp, the chicken that was served was still cold in the middle. A camp counselor came around and told the kids, don’t eat the chicken, it’s not cooked.
If you’re making food for 300 or so kids, have some standard operating procedures, and use a damn thermomter.
Finally, during the synchro swimming display last night, pregnant Amy inquired about the bruschetta with goat cheese. It was a soft cheese and there is a risk of post-processing contamination – the soft cheese can support listeria growth if contaminated with a knife or someone’s dirty hand – so she didn’t order it, but I had to ask, “Is the goat cheese made from raw or pasteurized milk.”
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The waiter didn’t have a clue, but did offer to ask, returned from the kitchen, and said it was made from pasteurized milk, and someone had asked the chef the same question last week.
Consumers can ask questions.
Philippa left for the 30-something hour trek back to Wellington this morning.
Courtlynn, Amy and I are heading to Florida for some much needed beach time.
We like Wellington, New Zealand -- and not just for Bret and Jemaine
Wellington, New Zealand, may be home to Peter Jackson and the Ring things, may be where Bret and Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords met at school and were “formerly New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo,” but I prefer to think of Wellington as home to the New Zealand Food Safety Authority.So after a week of work in Wellington, it was time for leisurely lunches, lamb and All Blacks rugby.
Phillippa and her husband (left) graciously picked up Amy and I and took us out of the city to do what I love to do wherever I go – grocery shopping – followed by a fabulous lunch at their home in Porirua.
Saturday evening, NZFSA chief executive Andrew McKenzie (right) and his wife shared their home and their spectacular view of Wellington for dinner and an evening of All Blacks rugby against South Africa.Sunday, after we checked out of the hotel, we decided to grab a bite at 3C, a restaurant we had visited with the NZFSA gang earlier in the week. The meal was slow in arriving, but we didn’t really care as we summed up our week in Wellington. Doug the manager cared, and said lunch was on him. Doug even knew the difference between a University of Kansas Jayhawk and a Kansas State Wildcat due to years spent in the U.S.
So here’s to all things Wellington, and here’s Flight of the Conchords, celebrating all things French and food, with their hit single that Amy actually uses in her French classes, Foux Da Fa Fa.
Coffee, Conagra and consumers - talking in bed
The coffee place was just opening and as I awaited my order, a load of prepared sandwiches arrived. The first thing the staff member did was insert a tip-sensitive digital thermometer into one of the sandwiches to verify that the proper temperature had been maintained. Good on ya. The guy getting my order said it was standard operating procedure, and as we chatted it emerged he was newly arrived in Wellington from Montreal. Another Canadian buddy. Or friend.Next was a talk with ConAgra’s Food Safety Council in Omaha, Nebraska. That’s ConAgra of pot pie and peanut butter fame.
Quality experts at ConAgra Foods today will hear from a lawyer who has sued the company due to food borne illnesses and from two food safety advocates as the company stresses the need to keep its products safe.
"It's part of raising the game and listening to every expert on the food safety front," said Teresa Paulsen, ConAgra spokeswoman.
ConAgra decided to bring in Bill Marler, Barb Kowalcyk, director of food safety and co-founder of the Center for FoodBorne Illness Research and Prevention, and myself to hear what we had to say.
Marler told the Omaha World-Herald he was going to talk about fostering a culture that focuses on food safety while remaining profitable in a competitive industry, and credited ConAgra Chief Executive Gary Rodkin and other company executives for inviting him to speak.
"It says a lot for the company.”
Being in Wellington, NZ, and 17 hours ahead, provided several technological hurdles, which we sorta managed to get around. Video didn’t work, so the folks in Nebraska saw my slides and heard my disembodied voice – apparently in surround sound. I was talking into a telephone (left, exactly as shown), advancing my slides, but had no audience feedback. While awkward, I could get used to this lecturing style.
By the time I spoke with the consumer advisory group for the New Zealand Food Safety Authority later that afternoon, I had the message much more focused: here’s the top-5 factors that contribute to foodborne illness, here’s the research we do to reduce the burden of each, and here’s how we use different mediums and messages to foster a food safety culture, from farm-to-fork.
It’s been good to reflect on why we do the things we do, and it’s been great traveling in Wellington with Amy. Now it’s time for a couple of days of hanging out, catching up on news if I ever get my e-mail working again, and then its off to Melbourne on Sunday.
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