E. coli Water Contamination in Texas Restaurant Under Investigation
E. coli contamination in water caused Fralo’s Pizza of Leon Springs, Texas to be temporarily shut down, although the restaurant reopened this week, according to local news sources. Dozens of diners and restaurant employees reportedly became sick after eating at the restaurant, and these contamination problems began at the same time a sewage leak occurred across the street from the restaurant.
Health officials have not attributed the restaurant’s water contamination to the spill, which involves up to 400,000 gallons of sewage that leaked into the ground. However, tests of the restaurant’s water are now showing no contamination as health officials continue to investigate the source of the problem.
“It is very hard to determine because there are so many factors that can impact water quality especially from a well, such as septic tanks,” said Sarah Gateswood of San Antonio Water System. “We know the area has a lot of septic tanks. The most important thing is for people to rest assured that the tests we are taking are coming back clean.”
The restaurant owner said he will hire a firm to regularly test the well. Right now, as an extra safety precaution, Fralo’s Pizza is still testing the water every day.
Sources:
http://www.ksat.com/news/24735142/detail.html
http://www.saws.org/latest_news/NewsDrill.cfm?news_id=702
Federal Agencies Join Forces to Promote Produce Safety
Fresh produce, particularly lettuce, has become an increasingly common source of E. coli infection in the United States. The Food and Drug Administration, which has some regulatory authority over the produce industry, is promulgating a new rule for the safe production, harvesting and packing of fresh produce. FDA announced it is working more closely than ever with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and its agencies, the Environmental Protection Agency, state departments of agriculture, advocacy groups, and growers to ensure the effectiveness of the new rule.
Over the past several months, FDA and USDA technical experts, scientists, and other staff have participated in listening sessions and meetings in 13 states and toured farms to hear from people who have the “on-the-ground” knowledge that FDA states must be reflected in the proposed rule. In addition, more than 700 comments were received from all parts of the country and around the world from growers; environmental groups; state and local government agencies; retail food chains; academia; consumers, and others.
The comments have been sorted and routed to specific areas that these groups have been focusing on, and will be carefully considered and evaluated for inclusion. In addition, FDA will consider testimony and comments received by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in response to the proposed National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement, as well as comments FDA received in response to its draft guidance on leafy greens, tomatoes and melons, issued in 2009.
FDA anticipates publishing a proposed fresh produce rule in 2011. The proposed rule will have a comment period, whereby stakeholders can provide comments and feedback to agency before the final rule is issued.
E. coli in Flour and Cookie Dough Addressed at Food Protection Conference
At this year’s annual meeting of the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) in Anaheim, California, several presentations address the issue of E. coli contamination in refrigerated cookie dough and the flour used to make it.
One presentation, “Flour Food Safety: The Changing Landscape — Escherichia coli O157:H7,” was given by representatives from Cargill, Nestle and ConAgra and outlined how the industry is reexamining flour as a potential source for E. coli contamination in food. The importance of this issue is highlighted by last year’s E. coli outbreak associated with Nestle Tollhouse raw cookie dough that sickened roughly 75 people in multiple states. According to and IAFP summary of the presentation:
“Flour has been viewed as a raw agricultural product for years; but with a recent outbreak involving consumption of an uncooked product containing flour, regulators and industry are re-examining whether flour should be treated as a RTE ingredient in some foods that may be consumed uncooked by the consumer. This mini-symposium will examine the history of flour and what industry knows about the microbiology of this product during production, harvesting and milling; the regulatory perceptions of flour as a potential vehicle of pathogens; the transformation of microbiological criteria associated with flour and the verification testing required to gauge compliance with the new criteria; and one solution available to deliver RTE flour as an ingredient.”
Another piece of research included at the conference comes from researchers at the Silliker, Inc., Food Science Center in South Holland, Illinois, and focuses on validating testing methodologies for raw cookie dough and its ingredients.
Stricter Food Safety Penalites Sought in New Legislation
Companies that knowingly violate food safety standards would face stricter penalties under a new bill introduced Thursday by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.). The Food Safety Enforcement Act would allow prosecutors to seek prison sentences of up to 10 years for companies who knowingly distribute contaminated food and would make it a felony offense to do so. In a press release, Leahy stated:
“Current statutes do not provide sufficient criminal sanctions for those who knowingly violate our food safety laws. The bill I introduce today would increase sentences for people who put profits above safety by knowingly contaminating the food supply. It makes such offenses felony violations and significantly increases the chances that those who commit them will face jail time, rather than a slap on the wrist, for their criminal conduct.”
The press release cites the 2009 Peanut Corporation of America Salmonella outbreak as an example of a case in which the company may have known the products were unsafe and distributed them anyway. Nine people were killed in that outbreak and hundreds more were sickened. The mother of one of the victims in that outbreak testified at an Agriculture Committee hearing on federal food safety oversight last year at Leahy’s invitation.
The proposed legislation is expected to be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which Leahy chairs. “The Justice Department must be given the tools it needs to investigate, prosecute, and truly deter crime involving food safety,” Leahy stated. “This bill will be an important step toward making our food supply safer.”
E. coli Traceability and Eradication Legislation Proposed
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) introduced legislation Thursday that would tighten testing regulations on meat and meat processing facilities. The goal of the E. coli Traceability and Eradication Act is to completely eradicate the dangerous Shiga toxin-producing E. coli bacteria, according to the announcement, and to establish tracking procedures meant to speed up the recall process if contaminated foods reach store shelves.
Some of the bill’s provisions include:
- Facilities will have to test ground beef and beef trim multiple times throughout the manufacturing process by an independent testing facility certified by the USDA.
- Facilities found to be producing unsafe products for three consecutive days or ten days in a year will have their company name posted on a list of safety offenders.
- A tracing protocol would be created for the USDA to track contaminated meat products.
- Facilities found producing contaminated meat products must have their products tested by the USDA for 15 consecutive days following the positive contamination test results.
Congresswoman DeLauro pointed out several other important features of the bill:
“Because this bill will require processors to test incoming beef trim, it would cease the current industry practice of processors being blackballed by their suppliers. Another important component of this bill is that, when E. coli is detected at a facility, it would require USDA to establish a traceback procedure all the way back to the original source of the contamination. This will allow USDA to recall products more quickly and prevent additional illnesses during an outbreak. Our current food safety system is not doing its job— contaminated meat is still hitting the shelves, and people are still getting sick. This legislation will establish higher standards for food safety and protect the public health.”
Minneapoils-based food safety lawyer Fred Pritzker commended DeLauro’s efforts and confirmed the need for more extensive testing and tighter regulations on American meat producers. “I see the reality of E. coli food poisoning cases every day. I represent people whose lives have been irreparably damaged by this dangerous pathogen. The consequences are too great for our policymakers to sit by the sidelines on this issue, and Rep. DeLauro has clearly recognized that.”
Food Safety Lacking at Stadiums
Sports media network ESPN has published a complete list of stadium food inspection summaries, sorted by state.
The project found a high number of critical food safety violations at 28 percent of the 107 pro football, baseball, basketball and hockey venues in the U.S. and Canada. At 30 of the stadiums, more than half of the concession stands or restaurants had been cited for at least one “critical” or “major” health violation. Such violations pose a risk for foodborne illnesses that can make someone sick, or, in extreme cases, become fatal.
ESPN’s review of inspection reports found mold in ice machines at six stands at Miller Park in Milwaukee, a cockroach crawling over a soda dispenser in a private club at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh and food service workers repeatedly ignoring orders to wash their hands at a stand at Detroit’s Ford Field.
One of the most worrisome violations to health inspectors is food not being cooked, reheated or held at safe temperatures, because that’s when dangerous bacteria such as E. coli O157:H7, Salmonella and Campylobacter can cluster and make people sick with painful diarrhea, fever and vomitting.
At Tropicana Field — home of the Tampa Bay Rays — every one of the stadium’s 47 food and drink outlets inspected incurred a critical violation during inspections within the past year, according to Florida inspection reports. Violations include food residue in a cooler, toxic chemicals stored too close to food preparation areas, “slime” in the ice machines and thermometers not readily visible to measure the temperature of hot foods
Other complaints to inspectors came from employees, including one food service worker at what is now called Sun Life Stadium near Miami who told them that several small insects were mixed into frozen alcoholic beverages at a stand where workers hadn’t cleaned equipment.
Chris Waldrop, director of the Food Policy Institute at the Consumer Federation of America, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit organization that lobbies for stronger food safety laws, said the ESPN report tells consumers that they should be “very concerned about some of the food that they are eating and purchasing in a lot of these stadiums.”
