CHEESE IS BACK IN THE FOOD SAFETY NEWS

For a while we were getting regular cheese recalls in the U.S. because of bacterial contamination - usually Listeria monocytogenes, but sometimes also a Staph, E.coli or Salmonella bacteria. In fact, I called cheese the most dangerous food of 2010 (see Post for 12/22/10 -"Is Cheese our Most Dangerous Food?").

But recently the food safety spotlight has focused more on other foods. Now it seems to be turning back to cheese, with two relatively small but interesting recalls. The New York State Agriculture Commissioner has warned people not to eat certain kinds of fresh cheese - "Queso Fresco" made by Quesos CentroAmericano Corp. of Freeport, New York. This type of cheese is particularly popular with the Latin population of the U.S. The reason for the recall: possible Staphylococcus aureus contamination.

This bacteria can give you a really bad case of food poisoning if you happen to be vulnerable (beware - young children, older consumers and those who have serious health conditions). Anyone who is serious about avoiding food poisoning should best avoid unpasteurized fresh cheeses. Symptoms of Staph food poisoning: nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramping and weakness. In more severe cases, there can also be headache, muscle cramping and changes in blood pressure and pulse rate. Thankfully, Staph food poisoning usually only lasts about 2 days.

Then there was another, small U.S. recall of cheese imported from England -one of my husband's favorites - “Royal Blue Stilton. ” The cheese is being recalled by Atlanta Corporation, a food importer and distributor based in Elizabeth, New Jersey. This food distributor decided to test this cheese for Listeria monocytogenes, after another cheese importer, Schratter Foods Incorporated, a Fairfield of New York, recalled cheeses that were made by the same English dairy (Quenby Hall Dairy - see Alert for May 17 and the post on June 11). Sure enough, theirs also tested positive for Listeria.

Luckily only one big wheel of this cheese had reached the marketplace, chopped up in chunks of course. But what took them so long? The other recall took place almost a month before they announced theirs, and it doesn't take so long to test for Listeria (I have done it).

Watch out for this Stilton cheese in the store or in your refrigerator. They will be labeled “Product of England” “Keep Refrigerated” “Royal Blue Stilton” “English Semi-Hard Cheese". You'll also see a small circular English flag in the upper left, and the logo of the exporter “Coombe Castle International” in the upper center. The rest of the suspect cheese is being quarantined and destroyed by this importer.

To your good health.
TSF

STAPH IN MEAT IS OLD NEWS

The media is doing a good job in alerting us to the risks in food, but you can't take everything in news reports and the absolute truth. Often it's not quite misinformation - just a slight distortion of the facts.

For instance the impression given in many U.S. news reports over the last few days is that Staphylococcus aureus (the bacteria recently found in about half of U.S. retail meat) is something new, or at least, new in meat. It is not. In fact, it was discovered back in 1878. Already in 1894 staphylococcus food poisoning (although it was not called that at the time) was linked to eating beef. This role of Staphyloccocus aureus in food poisoning was confirmed in the early 1900's. It's been popping up as the cause of meat (and other food) recalls quite frequently in recent years.

Resistance of Staphylococcus aureus to antibiotics isn't new either. I remember decades back when I was working in a hospital bacteriology lab on nights and weekends (putting myself through graduate school) noticing how many of the Stapylococcus aureus bacteria I isolated from hospital patients were developing more and more resistance to the drugs in use at that time. A major cause was over-prescription of antibiotics by the medical profession. Now industrialized livestock practices are also daily adding to such dangerous resistance among Staphylococcus aureus and other bacteria that can make us ill.

This is a serious public health threat.

TSF

WAS IT SALMONELLA IN THE EGGS? A FOOD POISONING CASE STUDY

Last night a good friend told me had recently had a miserable case of food poisoning. Since he reads this blog, as do several other mutual friends, let's just call him Joe. Joe is over 65 years old, owns and runs his own company, physically active, and relatively healthy. Here's the sad tale he told me.

Joe had gone to his usual pastry shop for coffee and a custom-made pizza after a bike ride in San Francisco. He asked for the following on the pizza: egg whites, smoked salmon and fried onions. Three hours later, just as he was starting a very critical meeting with an important new client, he started to have stomach cramps. All he wanted now was for the meeting to finish. As soon as the client walked out the door he began vomiting and continued to vomit violently all night. He recovered in about a day. Joe was convinced that there had been salmonella in the eggs on his pizza. But was it the eggs, and was it Salmonella bacteria?

Let's look at four possible causes in Joe's case - all of which are commonly associated with restaurant food, starting with Salmonella. Since he did not go to a doctor, we'll never know what it was, but have a guess. By the way, his case will not be reported as a food poisoning statistic either - as most aren't.

Salmonella bacteria can get into almost any food and at any point between the field and plate, although they are most likely to be in foods of animal origin. Food workers may also carry Salmonella and pass them on. Most persons infected with Salmonella develop diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever. Onset of symptoms usually occurs 12-72 hours after eating. Luckier victims recover in as little as 48 hrs, but usually it's 4-7 miserable days. It can be even longer if complications set in (that is, if it gets into bloodstream, requiring hospitalization).

Listeria monocytogenes is also becoming a major public health problem. Unlike Salmonella, the onset of symptoms can be very slow - 3 to 20 days, and occasionally even longer. Victims tend to have fever and muscle aches (like flu) and sometimes a stiff neck. Gastrointestinal symptoms aren't always present. Like Salmonella, L.monocytogenes is found in soil and water, but can get into food at any point. It is often present in ready-to-eat foods, most likely because a high percentage of food workers carry it - some estimates are as high as 30 percent.

Staphylococcus aureus is another bacterium that commonly causes food poisoning, especially in restaurants. It could get into food from the nose or skin of a food workers (it is believed that up to 25% may carry it without symptoms). Onset of symptoms is caused by the Staph toxins and occurs very quickly - in perhaps as little as 30 minutes, but usually, 1-6 hrs and normally includes several of the following: nausea, retching, vomiting, stomach cramps, and diarrhea, lasting about one day, but sometimes up to 3 days.

Norovirus is the most common cause of food poisoning and is a very contagious virus. It usually gets into food directly from food handlers, and sometimes from contaminated surfaces or kitchen tools. Onset of symptoms is usually 24-48 hours after eating contaminated food, but occasionally it is earlier, and includes very bad vomiting, watery non-bloody diarrhea with abdominal cramps, and nausea. Luckily, recovery is almost always within 1-3 days (and, miserable nights).

A final thought - we tend to think that we got food poisoning from the last meal we ate. This could be true, but it may not be. As you see from the preceding, the onset of symptoms could range from 30 minutes to 20 days - just with these four possible causes. And there are others. Could Joe have got the food poisoning from something else he ate?

TSF