In the news

The FDA announced on its website that B&I Overseas Trading Inc from Van Nuys, CA recalled frozen “Veladis herring in oil with Italian spices” due to the potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. Approximately 400 units were sold in November and December of 2020 at select International retail stores in Washington. The product comes in a 17.64 ounce (500 gram) plastic package and is stamped on the top portion of the container with an expiration date of 08/08/2021. 

The company has removed the affected lots from distribution.  @ https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/bi-overseas-trading-recalls-product-due-potential-contamination-listeria-monocytogenes

The Interagency Food Safety Analytics Collaboration (IFSAC) is a tri-agency group created by the CDC, the FDA, and the USDA-FSIS. IFSAC developed a method to estimate the percentages of foodborne illness attributed to specific sources using outbreak data from 1998 through the most recent year for four priority pathogens: Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157, Listeria monocytogenes, and Campylobacter. Each year in the US, an estimated 9 million people get sick, 56,000 are hospitalized, and 1,300 dies of foodborne disease caused by food pathogens. More than 75% of Salmonella illnesses were attributed to seven food categories: Chicken, Seeded Vegetables (such as tomatoes), Pork, Fruits, Other Produce (such as nuts), Eggs, and Turkey. Over 75% of E. coli O157 illnesses were linked to Vegetable Row Crops (such as leafy greens) and Beef. More than 75% of Listeria monocytogenes illnesses were attributed to Dairy products and Fruits. Over 75% of non-Dairy Campylobacter illnesses were linked to Chicken. @ https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/ifsac/annual-reports.html

The FDA, CDC, and states completed the investigation of  20 state (AZ (2), CA (6), IL (2), IN (1), KS (4), MI (3), MN (2), MO (3), ND (4), OH (1), OR (1), PA (2), TN (2), TX (1), UT (1), VA (1), WA (1), WI (2), and WY (1)) outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 in the fall of 2020. The investigation identified multiple types of leafy greens as a potential cause of the outbreak that had 40 cases of illnesses, 20 hospitalizations (with 4 cases of HUS). No deaths were reported. No single ranch was identified as a common source of the leafy greens. FDA and state partners conducted inspections on farms of interest and collected environmental samples. FDA is analyzing the samples and continuing their investigations to identify the root cause of this outbreak. @ https://www.fda.gov/food/outbreaks-foodborne-illness/outbreak-investigation-e-coli-leafy-greens-december-2020?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

A new article (Pulford, C.V., Perez-Sepulveda, B.M., Canals, R. et al. entitled “Stepwise evolution of Salmonella Typhimurium ST313 causing bloodstream infection in Africa”, Nat Microbiol (2020), published 21 December 2020), explores how Salmonella evolved to kill hundreds of thousands of immunocompromised people in Africa. Bloodstream infections caused by a drug-resistant type of Salmonella Typhimurium ST313 are a significant public health concern in Africa, causing ~49,600 deaths every year. In the study, mutations that influenced gene function during the evolution of ST313 were identified for the first time. The researchers also discovered a new antibiotic-susceptible lineage of ST313 that emerged in Malawi in 2016 and is closely related to Salmonella variants that cause stomach infections in the United Kingdom and Brazil. The study provides a snapshot of the extensive repertoire of genomic changes that shaped the emergence of successful ST313 lineages. The researchers speculate that changes in antibiotic (the phased removal of chloramphenicol from clinical practice) in Malawi between 2002 and 2015 could have resulted in the emergence of this new antibiotic-susceptible ST313 lineage. @ https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-020-00836-1#Sec2