In the news

The CDC reported as of April 18, 2018, 53 people have been reported infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157: H7 in 16 states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Virginia and Washington). Thirty-one ill people have been hospitalized, including five people who developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure. No deaths have been reported. Health officials had issued a warning for residents and restaurants about chopped romaine lettuce grown in the Yuma, Arizona. The outbreak investigation is ongoing and the responsible brand has not yet been identified. Various producers such as Fresh Foods Manufacturing Co. received notification from their romaine lettuce supplier that the products were being recalled due to E. coli O157: H7 concerns. According to US Department of Agriculture, although the supplier was not identified and no other known recalls related to this outbreak have been issued thus far.@ https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/19/health/chopped-romaine-lettuce-ecoli-outbreak/index.html

The United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) in its reports made the following recommendations: The Administrator of FSIS should document the agency’s process for deciding which products to consider for new pathogen standards, including the basis on which such decisions should be made (Recommendation 1). The Administrator of FSIS should set time frames for determining what pathogen standards or additional policies are needed to address pathogens in beef carcasses, ground beef, pork cuts, and ground pork (Recommendation 2). The Administrator of FSIS should include available information on the effectiveness of on-farm practices to reduce the level of pathogens as it finalizes its guidelines for controlling Salmonella in hogs (Recommendation 3). @ https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/690709.pdf

Carlos Filipe, a chemical engineer and colleagues at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, have developed a new a transparent, durable, and flexible sensing surface that generates a fluorescence signal, under UV light, in the presence of a specific target bacterium. Their first target was E. coli. The authors claim that the material is capable of monitoring microbial contamination in various types of food products in real time without having to remove the sample or the sensor from the package. They tested their sensor with contaminated apple juice and meat. the researchers report online April 6 in ACS Nano.@ https://www.sciencenews.org/article/new-plastic-film-glows-flag-food-contaminated-dangerous-microbes and https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.7b08010

According to a CDC statement, “Information collected to date indicates that chopped romaine lettuce from the Yuma, Arizona growing region could be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 and could make people sick.” “Consumers anywhere in the United States who have store-bought chopped romaine lettuce at home, including salads and salad mixes containing chopped romaine lettuce, should not eat it and should throw it away, even if some of it was eaten and no one has gotten sick,” the CDC advised. “If you do not know if the lettuce is romaine, do not eat it and throw it away.” @ https://www.cdc.gov/ecoli/2018/o157h7-04-18/index.html. Did this recommendation go too far?