In the news

The FDA announced on its website that UNFI a voluntary national recall of five-pound bags of its Wild Harvest® Organic All-Purpose Flour, Unbleached, due to the potential presence of E. coli. During routine FDA sampling of the product, positive results were found for results E. coli.     To date, UNFI has not received any direct consumer reports of confirmed illnesses related to this product. This recall only affects the following code date of Wild Harvest® Organic All-Purpose Flour, Unbleached five-pound bags currently in stores or consumers’ pantries. No other types of Wild Harvest® Flour are affected by this recall. @ https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/unfi-voluntarily-recalls-wild-harvestr-organic-all-purpose-flour-unbleached

A study was conducted to validate that a commercial baking process for plain muffins will eliminate E. coli O121 (isolated from the recent illness outbreak associated with flour). The thermal inactivation parameters (D- and z-values) of E. coli O121was compare to inactivation parameters of cocktails of four isolates of E. coli O121 and three serovars of Salmonella (Newport, Typhimurium, and Senftenberg) in muffin batter. Flour samples were spray inoculated with the E. coli O121 or Salmonella cocktails, dried back to the pre-inoculation weight to achieve ~7 log10 CFU/g, and used to prepare muffin batter. For the muffin baking validation study using E. coli O121, muffin batter was baked at 375 °F (190.6 °C) oven temperature for 21 min followed by 30 min of ambient cooling. The E. coli O121 population decreased by >7 log10 CFU/g in muffins by 17 min of baking and was completely eradicated after 21 min of baking and ambient cooling. The D-values of E. coli O121 and Salmonella cocktails in muffin batter at 60, 65, and 70 °C were 42.0 and 38.4, 7.5 and 7.2, and 0.4 and 0.5 min, respectively; whereas the z-values of E. coli O121 and Salmonella were 5.0 and 5.2 °C, respectively. @ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168160519303538

The FDA announced on its website that Hodgson Mill (Effingham, IL) recalled nationally, lots of Unbleached All-Purpose White Wheat Flour (5 lb.) due to the potential presence of pathogenic E. coli which was discovered through sampling raw uncooked flour. While E. coli is killed by heat through baking, frying, sautéing, or boiling products made with flour, some consume it raw resulting in the potential for illnesses. Consumers are reminded to wash their hands, work surfaces, and utensils thoroughly after contact with raw dough products or flour, and to never eat raw dough or batter. This lot of flour was milled at an ADM Milling Facility in St Louis, MO, and repacked at Hodgson Mill, Inc. facility in Effingham, IL, and was distributed by Hodgson Mill through retailers and distribution nationwide and sold through the website. @ https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/hodgson-mill-issues-voluntary-recall-unbleached-all-purpose-white-wheat-flour-due-potential-presence

Researchers at the University of Extremadura (Cáceres, Spain) have developed a rapid, specific, and sensitive method that has potential use in identifying sources of Listeria monocytogenes contamination in the meat industry. The scientists developed a quadruplex real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) method able to differentiate the four predominant serotypes of L. monocytogenes (1/2a, 1/2b, 1/2c, and 4b) in isolates from meat processing plants and ready-to-eat (RTE) dry-cured meat products. The standard curves showed efficiency values ranging between 92.3% and 105.8% and R2 values >0.98. The specificity of the method was also confirmed by the comparison of the results with those obtained by a previously reported conventional multiplex PCR. Strains not ascribed to L. monocytogenes did not amplify any target genes linked to the four major serotypes studied. This method could be very useful for identifying sources of L. monocytogenes contamination in the meat industry or for epidemiological monitoring of persistent strains throughout the processing of RTE meat products. @ https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0740002019309773?dgcid=rss_sd_all