In the news

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

The FDA investigators found serious violations of the Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis, and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food regulation. Based on FDA’s inspectional findings and the analytical results for the environmental samples collected during the inspection, FDA determined that the cereal manufactured in the facility is adulterated because it was prepared, packed or held under insanitary conditions. Some of the reasons for the letter include the fact that the hazard analysis for the cereal did not identify contamination of RTE cereal with the environmental pathogen of Salmonella as a food safety hazard requiring a preventive control. Salmonella was repeatedly found in the environment (81 positive samples and 32 positive vector samples) without corrective action procedures that must be taken if preventive controls are not properly implemented. Additionally, the facility did not implement sanitation corrective action procedures and did not verify that sanitation preventive controls are consistently implemented and are effectively and significantly minimizing or preventing a hazard with environmental monitoring as required. @ https://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/ucm615073.htm

July 30, 2018 – The USDA/FSIS issued an alert due to concerns about contamination of beef, pork and poultry salad and wrap products were distributed by Caito Foods LLC, an Indianapolis, with Cyclospora. The products were produced on July 15 to 18, 2018. Boar’s Head, Trader Joe’s, GFS, and Walgreens are some of the names associated with the recall. The problem was discovered when Caito Foods received notification from their lettuce supplier, Fresh Express, that the chopped romaine that was used to manufacture some of their salads and wraps was recalled. FSIS is concerned that some product may be in consumers’ refrigerators and that consumers may be at risk due to the length of the Cyclospora incubation period. @ https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/newsroom/news-releases-statements-and-transcripts/news-release-archives-by-year/archive/2018/pha-07302018-1

A multi-country (United Kingdom (129 cases), Finland (15), Denmark, Germany and Ireland (one case each)) outbreak of Salmonella Agona (S. Agona) is under investigation in the European Union (EU), with cases retrospectively identified back to 2014. Overall, 147 outbreak cases have been reported. The outbreak was first detected in the United Kingdom using WGS. Seventeen S. Agona food isolates from 2018, detected in the, were found to be closely genetically related to the human strains. The food isolates were from cucumbers sampled during processing before and after washing (11 isolates) and ready to eat (RTE) food products containing cucumbers (six isolates). The microbiological evidence suggests RTE products containing cucumbers as a possible vehicle of infection but so far it has not been possible to identify the specific point in the production chain where the contamination occurred. Although the cucumbers used in all final contaminated products originated from Spain for a limited period (from November 2017 to April 2018), no connection between supply chains was identified @ https://www.efsa.europa.eu/sites/default/files/scientific_output/EN-1465.pdf