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The USDA, FDA, and CDC emphasize that there is no credible evidence of food or food packaging associated with or as a likely source of viral transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus causing COVID-19. The three government bodies believe that based on currently available reliable scientific information and supported by an overwhelming international scientific consensus, the foods they eat and food packaging they touch are highly unlikely to spread SARS-CoV-2. COVID-19 is a respiratory illness that is spread from person to person, unlike foodborne or gastrointestinal viruses. Only the virus genetic fingerprint was detected on food packaging rather than evidence of virus transmission resulting in human infection. International publications agree with this finding. None of the worldwide cases of COVID-19 show epidemiological evidence of food or food packaging as the source of SARS-CoV-2 transmission to humans. @ https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/covid-19-update-usda-fda-underscore-current-epidemiologic-and-scientific-information-indicating-no?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

The FDA, CDC, and state and local partners investigate a multistate outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes infections linked to Hispanic-style fresh and soft cheeses. As of February 11, 2021, seven people infected with the outbreak strain of Listeria monocytogenes have been reported from four states (Connecticut, Maryland, New York, and Virginia). CDC’s analysis of epidemiologic information indicates that Hispanic-style fresh and soft cheeses are the leading hypotheses for the cause of the illnesses. No specific type or brand of cheese has been confirmed as the source of illness. Of the four people interviewed, three reported eating queso fresco. All seven people have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported. WGS showed that bacteria from sick people’s samples are closely related genetically, indicating that the outbreak likely from the same food. @ https://www.fda.gov/food/outbreaks-foodborne-illness/outbreak-investigation-listeria-monocytogenes-hispanic-style-fresh-and-soft-cheeses-february-2021?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (“CFIA”) reports the updated recall of Orca Specialty Foods Ltd.(Surrey, British Columbia) One Ocean branded Sliced Smoked Wild Sockeye Salmon Fish products from the Canadian marketplace due to suspected Listeria monocytogenes contamination.  The products were distributed and sold in British Columbia. @ https://healthycanadians.gc.ca/recall-alert-rappel-avis/inspection/2021/74995r-eng.php

David Goldberg and his colleges at San Diego State University published an article on improving food safety by mining online customer posts (David M. Goldberg et al., Text Mining Approach for Post-Market Food Safety Monitoring Using Online Media, J.  Risk analysis, December 2020).  The research team proposes a new Food Safety Monitoring System that uses consumer comments posted on the website to identify products related to food illnesses and an AI technology called data mining. The team compiled an extensive data set of labeled consumer posts in two sites (Amazon.com and IWasPoisoned.com). The database consisted of 11,190 randomly selected Amazon reviews of “grocery and canned food” items purchased between 2000 and 2018, along with 8,596 reviews of food products posted on IWasPoisoned.com. Utilizing text mining and supervised machine learning, they identify unique words and phrases (such as “sick,” “vomiting,” “diarrhea,” “fever,” and “nausea”) related to food safety.  Two of the products flagged by the computers had already been previously recalled. Utilizing a data set of 4.4 million online reviews, the data were 77–90% accurate in top‐ranking reviews, while sentiment analysis was just 11–26% accurate. The model was combined with knowledge of higher-risk products to increase accuracy. @  https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.13651