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Neogen (NASDAQ: NEOG) announced that it has acquired Clarus Labs, Inc the owner of the patented Colitag™ water test. The acquisition provides Neogen greater access to the $400 million global water microbiology testing market. Colitag™ test, detects coliform bacteria, including E. coli, in water. Colitag also detects coliforms that have been weakened, but not killed. From 2004 Neogen has offered Colitag to the food and beverage industries in the United States and Canada through a distribution agreement. Now Neogen will own the technology and will work with a sister company to distribute the technology to markets outside of its traditional markets of foods. @ https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/neogen-acquires-water-microbiology-testing-technology-300690102.html

A new research published by Science Translational Medicine shows that several strains of bacteria found in hospitals have begun adjusting to alcohol-based hand sanitizers. They are not yet resistant to the alcohol but they’re becoming “more tolerant” of it, the authors write. That means the bacteria were able to survive for longer periods of time after being doused with alcohol. The study used different strengths of alcohol concentrations to kill the bacteria. While at 70% alcohol mixture, the bacteria were killed, at 60% the typical concentration of hand sanitizers, some did survive. Many of these alcohol-tolerant bacteria are resistant to multiple drugs as well. That means the bacteria are spreading more easily within hospitals, and there are limited options for treatment. The researchers compared 139 types of bacteria, looking at the same strains over a 19-year from 1997 to 2015. The bacteria evolved to tolerate alcohol better. Bacteria collected after 2009 were 10 times more tolerant than pre-2004 bacteria which correspond to the national push to use more hand sanitizers. @ https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2018/08/02/635017716/some-bacteria-are-becoming-more-tolerant-of-hand-sanitizers-study-finds
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Since the last update on July 18, 2018, an additional 58 people got infected. This includes six people who have been infected with a strain of Salmonella enterica subspecies IIIb, and two people infected with this strain and with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Sandiego at the same time. As of July 30, 2018, 79 people infected with the outbreak strains of Salmonella Sandiego (71 people), Salmonella enterica subspecies IIIb (6 people), or both (2 people) have been reported from nine states.
Out of 74 people with information available, 18 (24%) have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported. The recalled pasta salad was sold in all Hy-Vee grocery stores in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. @ https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/sandiego-07-18/index.html

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is demanding that the Food and Drug Administration publish the names of retailers who received romaine lettuce from the recent Fresh Express recall. The romaine was implicated in a Cyclospora outbreak traced to McDonald’s salads. So far, according to the CDC, 286 people in 15 states have become ill in the outbreak and 11 people were hospitalized. Cyclospora was confirmed by FDA in a sample of Fresh Express salad mix distributed to McDonald’s. The mix contained carrots and romaine lettuce. The USDA confirmed that chopped romaine from the same lot as the positive sample had also been distributed to other stores, including Kroger, Trader Joe’s, and Walgreens. Neither Fresh Express nor the FDA has published the names of retailers other than McDonald’s who may have received lettuce from the affected lot and sold it to consumers under different brand names. Until the retailers’ names are published, CSPI is advising people to avoid eating romaine lettuce unless they can confirm with the retailer that it was not included in the Fresh Express recall. @ https://cspinet.org/news/cspi-advises-consumers-avoid-romaine-lettuce-until-fda-discloses-retailers-20180801