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SINGAPORE – About 200 Raffles Institution (RI) students displayed symptoms of food poisoning over the past weekend, just days before many are due to sit their A-level examinations, The Straits Times has learnt.

Source: https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/about-200-ri-students-down-with-food-poisoning-last-week-days-before-a-level

On October 23, 2018, the CDC updated its post from October 4th and added 63 ill people from 14 states. A total of 22 states are involved in this outbreak including Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Washington. Most cases were reported in California (27), Colorado (23) and Arizona (21). This brings the total people infected From Salmonella Newport to 120, with 33 people hospitalized. Epidemiological evidence generated by the CDC points to JBS Tolleson, Inc. as the source of the outbreak. Sixty-six (93%) of 71 people interviewed reported eating ground beef at home. This percentage is significantly higher than results from normal healthy people in which 40% of respondents reported eating any ground beef at home in the week before they were interviewed. The beef, distributed by JBS Tolleson, Inc., of Tolleson, Arizona, was sold by several large chains including Walmart and Sam’s Club, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. @ https://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/newport-10-18/index.html

IBM announced the availability of Food Trust on IBM blockchain platform. This system should be able to decrease the time to trace food products in a transparent way. Food Trust is a decentralized model, permission-based, allowing multiple participants to share food origin details, processing data, and shipping information on the network. The Food Trust includes compatibility with the GS1 standard to ensure interoperability for traceability systems. It allows users the ability to access an unbroken sourcing record for all products. In case of a product recall, the time saved by increased efficiency and in some cases perhaps save lives. By automating the recording of transactions via the blockchain, an entire network of trading partners has access to critical data in near real-time. While some wonder if there is a business application for the technology, a number of companies that are testing the technology. IBM is also working with equipment suppliers to contribute sensor data to its blockchain. An IBM representative said, “It is allowing more collaborative transactions so that organizations that once completed can now work together on the same network to build efficiencies, achieve compliance, and reduce costs.” @ https://www.foodqualityandsafety.com/article/ibm-launches-its-blockchain-traceability-network/?elq_mid=31353&elq_cid=10195538

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) says that it is investigating an outbreak of salmonella infantis infections in five provinces, mostly in western Canada (there has been 45 laboratory-confirmed cases. 37 in B.C., five in Alberta, and one case each in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Quebec). The agency claims that the source of the outbreak has not been identified yet, although many of the people who became sick reported eating cucumbers. Nine people required hospitalization, but no deaths have been reported. All incidents occurred between mid-June and late September. The health agency said the outbreak appears to be ongoing since illnesses continue to be reported. In the US, the Washington State Department of Health is also investigating six cases of salmonella infections there. In a statement, the agency said five of the six people reported buying and eating English cucumbers from various Costco stores in Washington. @ https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/public-health-notices/2018/outbreak-salmonella-infections-under-investigation.html