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According to Itar-Tass (Moscow), a total of 444 construction workers has been infected with food poisoning and remains in hospitals within the Moscow region.

A total of 444 workers employed at Sheremetyevo (3 terminal in Moscow), the IKEA - Khimki Business Park construction sites had been hospitalized since June 20 with symptoms of food poisoning, a representative of the Ministry for Emergency Situations said.

The workers - citizens of Russia, the CIS and Turkey, lived at the Iskorka and Morozovka recreation compounds in the village of Myshetskoye of the Solnechnogorsk district. Poor quality food was is a presumed cause of food poisoning, a source of the infection is being established, the same source said.

Managers of the ENKA Company have been questioned within the framework of an investigation into mass food poisoning of construction workers employed at Terminal 3 at Sheremetyevo airport.

Almost all of the workers arrived in Russia from Turkey, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan to work on construction sites in Moscow. They lived on the premises of Ozero Krugloye recreation center in the Solnechnogorsk district.

According to preliminary data, all the victims have been infected with the salmonella bacteria and the source of the food for the workers were brought from Moscow.

The ENKA company might be stripped of the right to employ foreign workforce, the regional branch of the Federal Migration Service told Tass. “Since the company failed to fulfill its guarantees to the workers, which entailed grave consequences - mass food poisoning, and failed to ensure proper living conditions for the workers we are raising the issue of recalling the company’s license for the use of foreign workforce,” the Federal Migration Service said.

An operational headquarters for prevention of emergency situations in the Moscow region that is working round the clock has been following the situation. Healthcare Minister of the Moscow region Vladimir Semyonov said the workers’ condition was assessed as “medium seriousness”. Luckily, none of the sick people is in serious condition now, Semyonov said.

Deputy chairman of the government of the Moscow region Sergei Koshman said that the workers lived under conditions that did not meet the norm. Having obtained the license to accommodate 500 people, the employers invited 800 instead, Koshman said.

Source

Gills Onions, LLC is recalling diced yellow onions with the following lot no. “Lot #2017-R and a Best if used by 06/16/07.”

The recall is due to the detection of Listeria monocytogenes during routine testing by the Washington State Department of Agriculture. Both Gills Onions and the Washington State Department are working to determine the cause. So far there are no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of the product.

Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems such as AIDS infected patients. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhoea. Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women. Anyone with these symptoms, are encouraged to contact their physician.

The identified lot 2017-R is no longer in production at Gills Onions and as a precautionary measure; both retail and food service diced packs are being recalled.

The retail product was labelled with the Trader Joe’s brand name and was distributed to stores in Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. The Trader Joe’s brand diced onions were packaged in a 10 oz. bag with the Lot 2017-R and a best if used by date of 06/16/07.

The lot information for the 10 oz diced retail product can be found printed directly on the back of the package. The foodservice packages were packed in 4/5 lb cartons and labelled under the Gills Onions Brand and the Sysco Natural Brand, both with the Lot 2017-R and the best-if-used by date of 06/16/07 printed directly on the front of the 5 lb bag as well as on the outside carton label. Consumers and Retailers that have this recalled product should either destroy or return to place of purchase.

“Although no illnesses have been reported and only one 10 oz. retail bag of diced onions tested positive, we want to be sure that all diced products associated with the production lot are accounted for,” said Nelia Alamo, VP of Marketing. “We are committed to food safety at all levels and we will always put our customers and our consumer first.”

Questions can be directed to the company at (800) 348-2255.

According to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a study has proven that certain strains of probiotics can have the potential to destroy Listeria monocytogenes.

According to Sinead Corr from the University College Cork told NutraIngredients.com that their results have clearly demonstrated the ability of certain probiotic bacteria to protect against potentially fatal illnesses. More specifically they have shown a role for bacteriocins in protecting against the potentially fatal food borne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes.

As probiotics mechanisms are specific, only certain strains will be effective which is why a thorough understanding of their beneficial effects are required. By understanding these specific mechanisms will enable their use in prevention and treatment of specific illnesses.

Probiotic products containing ‘friendly’ bacteria are now well accepted by consumers in many European countries, with putative benefits highlighted for gut and immune health.

Some of the researchers in this new study previously reported that a mixture of five Lactobacillus probiotic strains that may reduce food poisoning by salmonella. In that instance, the benefits for gut health were reported to be due to the probiotic bacteria adhering to the walls of the intestine, which inhibits the ability of the pathogenic Salmonella to stick and colonise the gut, thereby reducing the infection.

The new study offers an alternative method of protection, with a specific strain of Lactobacillus salivarius named UCC118 capable of producing a specific secondary metabolite or bacteriocin.

When the researchers tested UCC118 in mice infected with two common strains of food-borne Listeria monocytogenes, EGDe and LO28, they found that the mice were protected against infection. When the mice were given a mutant form of the probiotic that was unable to produce the Abp118 bacteriocin, no protection against infection was observed.

Also, “Lactobacillus salivarius UCC118 did not offer any protection when mice were infected with a strain of Listeria monocytogenes expressing the cognate Abp118 immunity protein AbpIM, confirming that the antimicrobial effect is a result of direct antagonism between Lb. salivarius and the pathogen, mediated by the bacteriocin Abp118,” reported the researchers.

“The results of the UCC work clearly demonstrate a role for bacteriocins in protecting the host against potentially lethal infections. The study is the first to clearly demonstrate a mechanism by which probiotic bacteria may act to help improve the health of consumers,” said a release from the university.

Most foods containing probiotic bacteria are found in the refrigerated section of supermarkets as the bacteria is destroyed by heat and other processing conditions.

This has given the dairy sector, already used to handling live bacteria for the manufacture of yoghurt, a major advantage in probiotic foods - probiotic drinking yoghurts are currently the fastest growing dairy product in Europe.

But increasing research has focused on expanding protecting probiotics during processing and expanding the food categories available to prebiotics. Such an avenue of research has led companies like Cell Biotech from Korea using a dual-coating to protect probiotics against oxygen, acid, moisture and high temperatures for use in emerging new product categories such as breakfast cereals and smoothies.

Other approaches are also being explored, with scientists looking at improving probiotic viability by using whey protein gel particles, or prebiotic fibres.

Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

May 1, 2007, Volume 104, Number 18, Pages 7617-7621

“Bacteriocin production as a mechanism for the antiinfective activity of Lactobacillus salivarius UCC118″
Authors: S.C. Corr, Y. Li, C.U. Riedel, P.W. O’Toole, C. Hill, and C.G.M. Gahan

The giant chocolate manufacturer, Cadbury has pleaded guilty in a UK court to three breaches of the country’s food and hygiene regulations, admitting that it was responsible for allowing salmonella contaminated chocolate bars to be sold on the market last year.

In fact, the public recall of the chocolate was not voluntary but was forced by the regulators where 37 people fell sick and over one million chocolate bars were recalled.

Although it is rare to have salmonella implicated in chocolate, the products manufactured in England have affected 37 people between February to June 2006.

The outbreak in June 2006 prompted Cadbury to reveal their findings. In the findings, a leaking pipe was discovered that leaked waste water into the milk chocolate crumb mix. This mix is the base ingredient in several chocolate bar varieties.

On testing, the company revealed the presence of the rare strain of Salmonella, however they did not report these findings to food regulators or to instigate a public health recall.

It was not until the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) published the results of their own outbreak investigation in June 2006 that the company disclosed their findings and withdrew seven products. This amounted to over a million chocolate bars from the UK market.

In defence, the manufacturer stated in an official media release that the reason they did not initially report their contamination findings was because the low levels of microorganisms found did not warrant such an action. This was a poor response and as part of due diligence should have acted on the results initially. In most developed countries, isolation of salmonella is notifiable.

A report released in July 2006 by the Advisory Committee on Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF), an expert committee that advises the FSA, responded with the statement that “the presence of Salmonella in ready-to- eat foods such as chocolate is unacceptable at any level”. The company implicated was under such pressure that it released a further statement declaring that they have changed their protocols and that any products showing traces of Salmonella, regardless of how low the levels are, will be destroyed.

Cadbury will be sentenced for the offences on the on 13 July at at Birmingham Crown Court. The company still faces other charges in a separate regional court over the same incident.

Cadbury’s failure at the time to fully adhere to the new EU-wide hygiene rules whihc is based on Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) analysis, serves as a warning to other processors who may also have been tardy in making sure the system is in place at all their plants.

In April this year the Birmingham City Council decided to bring the company to court for the incident, alleging the company knew about the contamination but still put the products on the market.

“Mistakenly, we did not believe that there was a threat to health and thus any requirement to report the incident to the authorities,” Cadbury said in a statement today. “We accept that this approach was incorrect. Quality has always been at the heart of our business, but the process we followed in the UK in this instance was unacceptable. We have apologised for this and do so again today.”

So far, Cadbury has spent about £20m since last year on “new and rigorous” quality control procedures to ensure any potential future incidence is eliminated.

Cadbury said it is examining the new charges and would respond at the appropriate time. A hearing is set for 24 July.

“We sincerely regret this lapse and are focused on ensuring that this can never happen again,” the company stated. “A major review has taken place of our quality, health and safety procedures globally to learn lessons and ensure that our consumers can rely on the highest levels of processes and standards wherever we operate.”

The court action targets the company’s alleged failure to report to food regulators that its microbiological testing in January last year had found a rare Salmonella strain in the chocolate products.

The products were on the market until June, when the Food Standards Agency revealed some people had fallen sick from the chocolates. Cadbury then withdrew the seven chocolate products from the UK market

The Birmingham City Council court action relates to three offences. The first charge accuses Cadbury of being in contravention of the General Food Regulations 2004.

The council alleges that, between January 19 and March 10 Cadbury “placed on the market ready-to-eat chocolate products which were unsafe, in that they were injurious to health and unfit for human consumption due to the presence of Salmonella organisms”.

The second charge alleged that Cadbury “failed to immediately inform the competent authorities that they had reason to believe that ready-to-eat chocolate products, placed on the market, may be injurious to human health due to the presence of Salmonella organisms”.

The third charge alleged that the company also “failed to identify hazards from ready-to-eat chocolate products contaminated with Salmonella and failed to identify critical control points and corrective actions in line with HACCP(Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) principles”.

Each offence carries a maximum penalty of an unlimited fine and up to two years of imprisonment for managers identified as causing the problem, the council said.

The contamination was traced to a leaking waste water pipe at the company’s plant in Marlbrook, Herefordshire. The pipe had dripped bacteria into the chocolate crumb used to make a variety of chocolate bars. The company allegedly knew about the problem since February, but fixed it without making a recall or notifying regulators.

The Health Protection Agency subsequently found a direct link between a salmonella outbreak affecting 37 people and the Cadbury chocolate.

The Health Protection Agency said interviews with 15 of the 37 people affected by an outbreak of Salmonella montevideo last year indicated that 13 of them reported eating products made by Cadbury.

The HPA also confirmed that samples taken from Cadbury’s factories showed the same Salmonella montevideo was present in January and February. The dates of the outbreak in the population was from February to June.

The HPA also noted the decrease in the frequency of cases of Salmonella montevideo following the company’s recall of a number of its chocolate products.

The HPA reported the company had discovered that waste water from a plant in Herefordshire had dripped down into the milk chocolate crumb, a mix that is blended with other ingredients to make some of the company’s chocolate bars.

The pipe was fixed but despite finding the Salmonella pathogen in some of its products, the company allegedly failed to make a recall at the time.

Cadbury claimed in a subsequent press release it did not disclose to officials that its products could be contaminated with the Salmonella montevideo strain as only ‘minute’ traces of the bacteria were found and the company deemed the risk too low.

The Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food (ACMSF) released a damning report in July 2006 in which it stated that: “The presence of salmonella in ready-to-eat foods such as chocolate is unacceptable at any level.”

The ACMSF also said that the company failed to correctly implement EU-wide guidelines laid down by international food safety codes, known as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) analysis. New EU hygiene directives came into force at the start of this year, embodying HACCP principles in the bloc’s law.

“Cadbury’s risk assessment does not address the risk of Salmonella in chocolate in a way which the ACMSF would regard as a modern approach to risk assessment,” the ACMSF stated.

The findings of the report, published by the UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA), concluded that Cadbury had used methods of product testing that were likely to underestimate the presence of the bacteria. A negative result from the tests would not necessarily mean that the product was uncontaminated.

“Based on the information provided, Cadbury appears to have used methods for product testing which the committee considered would underestimate the level and likelihood of salmonella contamination,” the advisory committee stated in its report.

“Sample heterogeneity including clumping of bacteria will influence the MPN (most probable number) estimate and therefore the approach cannot be relied upon in foods such as chocolate.”

HACCP is a science based and systematic method of identifying specific hazards and measures for their control to ensure the safety of food. Its basic principles rest on establishing control systems that focus on prevention rather than relying mainly on end-product testing.

Following a meeting with the FSA in July, Cadbury agreed to undertake ‘remedial action’, which would involve changing cleaning regimes in the plant and stepping up testing for a wider range of products.

In a statement, Cadbury Schweppes said it was “moving to a protocol in which any product evidencing contamination is destroyed.”

According to the FSA, Cadbury has pledged to carry out a positive release system whereby products will only be released for consumption if they test negative for the salmonella bacteria.

Source

According to the Daily India, a new study has found that a precursor of niacin prolongs the life-span in yeast. This discovery has brought scientists a step closer to the possibility of finding a vitamin for longevity in humans.

The study was conducted by a team of researchers led by Dr. Charles Brenner at Dartmouth Medical School.

The study builds on Brenner’s prior discovery of the vitamin nicotinamide riboside which is a natural product found in milk. Like the B3 vitamin niacin, nicotinamide riboside is a precursor to a versatile cellular factor nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide which is vital for all life and is elevated by calorie restriction.

As part of this study, researchers provided the newly discovered vitamin to yeast cells, whose genes are easy to manipulate, to develop an intervention to elevating nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide.

Researchers found that the vitamin activated the yeast’s anti-ageing gene product Sir2, which resembles sirtuins found in humans.

“It’s surprising that no one was be able to elevate nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide with a small molecule before,” Brenner said.

At the molecular level, elevating nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide to turn on Sir2 actually enabled the yeast to silence genes that are not supposed to be expressed. In any organism, not all genes are on at once. In yeast, there are sets of genes that Sir2 normally represses.

“We showed that that we could improve Sir2-dependent gene silencing with NR and increase the longevity of yeast grown in high glucose conditions,” Brenner said.

Researchers found conditions in which wild-type cells can’t accomplish normal gene silencing to test for Sir2 gene repression.

Researchers found that yeast cells formerly capable of dividing 13 times, divided over 23 times when given nicotinamide riboside. There are still further testing for nicotinamide riboside in humans.

“As a natural product found in milk, we expect the compound to be much safer than most drugs, and to be a more specific remedy than most vitamins,” Brenner said.

Now here is an interesting study where the aim of this double-blind, randomised cross-over study was to compare the antibacterial effect and the substantivity of two toothpaste formulations containing amine fluoride (AmF) or zinc chloride (ZnCl2).

After a professional tooth cleaning, 20 volunteers refrained from all oral mechanical hygiene measures for the subsequent 24 hours (day 0). Subsequently, a plaque sample was taken from three teeth and analysed for vitality of the plaque bacteria by means of the vital fluorescence technique (VF0; in %). After assessment of this baseline value the subjects had to brush their teeth for 2 minutes with 1.2 ml of the allocated toothpaste containing (a) 0.66% AmF or (b) 0.2% ZnCl2. For the following 8 hours no oral hygiene measures were allowed. After 4 and after 8 hours further plaque samples were analysed for biofilm vitality (VF4, VF8). During the following 3 days the volunteers had to brush twice daily for 2 minutes with the allocated toothpaste. On day 4, plaque index was assessed using the criteria of Quigley and Hein (Turesky modification). After a washout time of 9 days the next test cycle with the other toothpaste was started.

The results from both toothpastes reduced the biofilm vitality significantly at VF4 and VF8 compared with VF0 (p < or =0.001). While after 8 hours the vitality values for the ZnCl2-toothpaste obtained significantly higher reductions (53%) than for the AmF-toothpaste (44%), results for plaque index were not significantly different (0.98 and 1.04 respectively).

Finally both toothpastes showed a significant and prolonged anti-bacterial effect up to 8 hours with a benefit in favour of the ZnCl2 toothpaste.

Oral Health Prev Dent. 2007;5(1):25-32.
Auschill TM, Deimling D, Hellwig E, Arweiler NB
Department of Operative Dentistry and Periodontology, Albert-Ludwigs-University, Freiburg, Germany. thorsten.auschill@uniklinik-freiburg.de

Did you know that Information on responses of higher organisms to climate change is dominated by events in spring. Far less is known about autumnal events and virtually nothing about communities of microorganisms.

The autumnal fruiting patterns of macrofungi over the past 56 years were analysed and results indicated the average first fruiting date of 315 species is earlier compared to the last fruiting date.

Fruiting of mycorrhizal species that associate with both deciduous and coniferous trees is delayed in deciduous, but not in coniferous, forests. Many species are now fruiting twice a year, indicating increased mycelial activity and possibly greater decay rates in ecosystems.

Science. 2007 Apr 6;316(5821):71.
Gange AC, Gange EG, Sparks TH, Boddy L
School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK. a.gange@rhul.ac.uk

Over the past twenty years, the rapid emergence and increased prevalence of opportunistic Gram-negative bacilli demonstrating resistance to the β-lactam class of antibiotics has become a major health care crisis.

The production of β-lactamases, the innate capabilities of these organisms to genetically adapt structural and regulatory genes and the ease with which resistance genes are transferred via plasmids, transposons and integrons between different species, have broadened the ability of Gram-negative bacteria to inactivate the β-lactam antibiotics. This diminishes the clinical utility of these key anti-microbial agents making them resistant.

Extended spectrum β-lactamases (ESβLs) hydrolyse the penicillins, first-, second- and third-generation cephalosporins, especially cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, ceftazidime and cefpodoxime, and the oxyimino-monobactam, aztreonam.

ESβLs are inhibited by β-lactamase inhibitors, such as clavulanic acid, and are susceptible to the carbapenems (imipenem, meropenem and ertapenem) and the cephamycins (cefoxitin and cefotetan), though there have been a number of reports stating that ESβL-producing organisms can become resistant to the cephamycins due to the loss of an outer membrane porin protein (Martinéz-Martinéz et al 1996).

Since their discovery following the clinical introduction of the third-generation oxyimino-cephalosporins in 1981, there are now approximately 160 Temoneira (TEM), 100 sulfhydryl-variable (SHV), 64 cefotaxime-hydrolysing (CTX-M) and 102 oxacillinase (OXA) variant enzymes, along with a number of minor ESβL variants (Jacoby and Bush 2007).

Extensive laboratory and clinical experience exists regarding the detection and treatment of ESβL-producing Gram-negative bacilli. This suggest that the knowledge of their existence via means of antibiotic selective pressure, adaption and dissemination, may have an impact on therapeutic choices and the health and well-being of patients via targeted pragmatic antimicrobial selection and infection control practices.

It is unclear; however, if ESβL-producing organisms are being accurately detected 100% of the time. Furthermore, with the recent emergence of metallo β-lactamase-producing Gram-negative bacilli, it is also unclear whether the same mandate exists for the accurate detection, treatment and control of metallo β-lactamases. Metallo β-lactamases (MβLs) are a therapeutic disaster.

These enzymes hydrolyse all β-lactam antibiotics (except the monobactams), including the “drugs of last resort” the carbapenems (imipenem and meropenem), thus requiring the use of alternative, potentially more toxic classes of antibiotics to circumvent the hydrolytic actions of these β-lactamases.

Metallo β-lactamases, which are found in organisms such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Acinetobacter specie and members of the Enterobactericeae group such as salmonella and especially Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. They all utilise metal ions (usually zinc) to coordinate water molecules that serve as nucleophiles and hydrolyse the amide bond of the β-lactam ring, rendering the β-lactam antibiotic inactive.

These enzymes are divided into four genetically mobile variants: the older imipenem-hydrolysing (IMP) and Verona integron-encoded metallo β-lactamase (VIM) enzymes; and the more recently described Sao Paolo metallo β-lactamase (SPM) and GIM types (Poirel et al 2004).

Gram-negative bacteria that produce extended-spectrum and metallo β-lactamases are being discovered and isolated at a significant rate worldwide, while the development of new synthetic and natural antimicrobial agents to combat and elude the hydrolytic actions of these β-lactamases has significantly decreased in recent years (Valenzuela et al 2004).

Clinicians prescribing antibiotics need to know, understand and appreciate the short and long term outcomes of the inappropriate use of antibiotics for their patients, which, if not controlled and decreased, will inevitably reduce or eliminate the therapeutic options available in the future.

References

Franklin, C., Liolios, L., Peleg, A.Y. (2006). Phenotypic detection of carbapenem-susceptible metallo β-lactamase-producing Gram-negative bacilli in the clinical laboratory. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 44: 3139-3144.

Martinéz-Martinéz, L., Hernández-Allés, S., Albertí, S., Tomás, J., Benedi, V., Jacoby,G.A. (1996). In vivo selection of porin-deficient mutants of Klebsiella pneumoniae with increased resistance to cefoxitin and expanded-spectrum cephalosporins. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 40, pp. 342-348.

Poirel, L., Heritier, C., Spicq, C., Nordmann, P. (2004). In vivo acquisition of high-level resistance to imipenem in Escherichia coli. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 42 (8), pp. 3831-3833.

Valenzuela, J., Thomas, L., Iredell, J. for Australian Society of Microbiology (ASM). (2004). Beta-lactam resistance in Gram-negative bacteria. Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing: Methods and Practices with an Australian Perspective, 5, pp. 127-157.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis has thrived in South Asia for over 100 years, but until now no one had studied the diversity of the strains present. To do this, Niyaz Ahmed and his colleagues from the University of Hyderabad, India, analysed 91 samples of tuberculosis taken from all over the country, studying the number and type of short, repetitive DNA sequences within three key genes.

They discovered that the ancestral strain is widespread, suggesting that India is the ancient reservoir for tuberculosis, from which more recent strains evolved and spread to other countries.

This may have enabled the immune systems of people living there to adapt to it, providing some degree of protection. However, that might be about to change, because the Indian population is far less well adapted to a recent strain of tuberculosis known as Beijing strain, found in India only since 2002. This highly infectious strain is threatening to replace the ancestral one, says Ahmed, who presented his results at a conference in Bangkok, Thailand, last month. Coinciding with a surge in HIV cases, this could spell disaster for the 5.7 million Indians infected with the virus.

Source: 10 January 2007 From New Scientist Print Edition issue 2585, page 15

Here we go again, another Vietnamese Bakery in Australia causing food poisoning with their products, the tasty Vietnamese Pork Rolls. This time it’s in the Melbourne suburb of Springvale. Unlike the previous salmonella outbreak where 18 people were hospitalized, only 4 were affected.

As a precaution, the bakery has been ordered to close after nine customers fell ill with salmonella poisoning.

Victoria’s acting chief health officer Dr Chrissie Pickin issued an order yesterday requiring the business to close. The order also requires the business owners to fully dispose of all their food and raw ingredients and thoroughly clean the premises.

Once the health investigators were satisfied that the cleanup was done satisfactorily, and that food handlers at the bakery were clear about how to handle food properly, the bakery can re-open.