In the news

Air France has issued an urgent warning after a routine quality test found that tuna sandwiches served on flights international destinations might be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The sandwiches were served is a self-serve buffet in Air France’s Economy and Premium Economy cabin’s between 21st and 24th. Air France says it has already informed potentially affected passengers via email and believes the potentially Listeria-contaminated foods were served on just nine flights departing from Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris. Air France says it has not received any reports of customers who may have been infected with Listeriosis. Air France says the sandwiches had the potential risk that they were left out in a un-refrigerated area for too long. The contamination probably happened at the catering facility. @ https://www.paddleyourownkanoo.com/2019/06/02/air-france-may-have-served-sandwiches-contaminated-with-the-deadly-listeria-bacteria/#.XPVtj4hKiM8

The CDC announced that of May 30, 2019, 27 people infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium have been reported from 17 states (California(2), Colorado(1), Indiana(2), Iowa(1), Kansas (1), Maine (1), Michigan (1), Minnesota (5), Mississippi (1), Missouri (3), Nebraska (1), Oregon (1), Tennessee (1), Texas (1), Virginia (2), Washington (1), Wyoming (2)). Two people were hospitalized, and no death reported. No deaths have been reported. 42% of the ill people are children younger than 13. Of 20 people interviewed, 18 (90%) reported contact with hedgehogs before becoming ill. Ill people reported buying hedgehogs from various sources, including pet stores, breeders, or online. The outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium was identified in samples collected from 10 hedgehogs in Minnesota, including 5 hedgehogs from the homes of five ill patients. @ https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/typhimurium-01-19/index.html

As part of a plan by Secretary Sonny Perdue to cut costs in the federal bureaucracy he plans to relocate the Economic Research Service (ERS), which provides research and statistical analysis for lawmakers, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), which oversees the allocation of federal funding for primarily academic research across the country outside of Washington DC. He is planning to move the roughly 300from the research unit, along with another division, NIFA, out of Washington and closer to America’s farmers. The potential locations include Indiana, Kansas City or North Carolina’s Research Triangle. Perdue believes that the move will save money and make research more relevant. @ https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/us/politics/agriculture-department-economists.html

The FDA has sent a warning letter (https://www.fda.gov/inspections-compliance-enforcement-and-criminal-investigations/warning-letters/velvet-ice-cream-company-575444-05062019) to the Velvet Ice Cream Company of Utica, Ohio. The FDA investigators found serious violations of the Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis, and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food regulation (CGMP & PC rule), Title 21, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 117 (21 CFR Part 117). In the environmental swabs collected, the FDA laboratory found the presence of Listeria monocytogenes. Nine environmental swabs were positive for Listeria. Whole genome sequencing of those swabs identified twenty-one isolates representing six different strains of Listeria monocytogenes. The same strain was found in seven isolates from the 2019 inspection, and eight collected during the 2018 inspection. This indicates that there is a resident pathogen or harborage site in the facility since 2018. Many other violations were also cited.