Joe Whitworth

Joe Whitworth is a food and beverage trade journalist. Prior to reporting for Food Safety News, he worked for William Reed Business Media since 2012 as Editor of Food Quality News before becoming food safety editor for Food Navigator. Whitworth has moderated sessions at Food Ingredients Europe in 2015 and The Ingredients Show in 2018. Before joining William Reed, he worked on newspapers run by Fairfax Media in Australia. Whitworth graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).

Firm/Organization: Marler Clark LLP, PS

Blogs: Food Safety News

Latest Articles

Food Safety News

Chance of negative food standards impact from Brexit rises

By Joe Whitworth on October 19, 2019

The likelihood of a negative impact on food standards from Brexit has increased, according to a report from Public Health Wales. The document looks at evidence since January about the possible real-life effects Brexit could have on people’s health and well-being in Wales. The United Kingdom held a referendum on June 2016 and voted to leave the European Union, a move that became known as Brexit. It found the odds of some negative impacts, such…

Food Safety News

Spanish Listeria outbreak declared over after 200 affected

By Joe Whitworth on October 19, 2019

Spain’s largest ever Listeria outbreak is over according to authorities with no new infections reported in the last 20 days. La Consejería de Salud y Familias ended the listeriosis alert, which was started in mid-August, after confirming the risk of new infections was minimal and implicated products were not still being distributed. The incubation period of listeriosis, which can be up to seventy days, is about to expire. The agency will maintain usual surveillance for…

Food Safety News

E. coli infections linked to Isle of Wight

By Joe Whitworth on October 18, 2019

Public Health England is investigating a number of E. coli O157 infections linked to the Isle of Wight. Public Health England (PHE) is working with environmental health officers from the Isle of Wight Council to find the source of the outbreak. Four children who visited the island off the south coast of England in early October have been infected with Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) O157. Up to 10 other people may be affected by…

Food Safety News

Researchers find new form of Listeria monocytogenes in China

By Joe Whitworth on October 17, 2019

medical bacteria illustration of the listeria

Researchers have detected a highly virulent new form of pathogenic Listeria monocytogenes. It was identified as the cause of serious diseases in sheep in a remote area of the Chinese province Jiangsu. An international research group led by the Institute of Medical Microbiology at the Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU) said it had found the most virulent representatives of this bacterial species to date. The work was published in the journal Nature Communications. In…

Food Safety News

Group warns high numbers of food inspections missed each year

By Joe Whitworth on October 16, 2019

Tens of thousands of food hygiene checks went overdue in 2017 and 2018 in the United Kingdom, according to a watchdog group. Unchecked.uk found that only 11 percent of councils managed to carry out all their planned food checks on time, while eight local authorities missed more than 1,000 inspections of local food businesses. A Freedom of Information request obtained by the Unchecked.uk group revealed more than 50,000 food hygiene inspections of rated premises were…

Food Safety News

So-called plastic rice could have been the real deal, but stored for a decade

By Joe Whitworth on October 15, 2019

Reports about “plastic rice” are likely incorrect according to a food fraud expert who says it could have been actual rice that had been poorly stored for up to a decade. Chris Elliott, professor of food safety and founder of the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast, said he has been investigating rice fraud for a number of years. “That all started off by lots of reports coming from different parts of…

Food Safety News

U.S. sent meat from German firm linked to Listeria outbreak

By Joe Whitworth on October 12, 2019

wilke germany listeria 2 — Label of one of the recalled products

The United States is one of more than 20 countries that may have received meat from a German company linked to a Listeria outbreak. Potentially contaminated products from Wilke Waldecker Fleisch- und Wurstwaren were distributed to the U.S., according to the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF). Food Safety News has contacted the Food Safety and Inspection Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture for information. A spokesman said the agency was not…

Food Safety News

Tomatoes linked to Salmonella outbreak in Sweden; 71 infected

By Joe Whitworth on October 10, 2019

Tomatoes are the probable source of a Salmonella outbreak in Sweden that affected 70 people, according to public health officials. Folkhälsomyndigheten (Public Health Agency of Sweden) identified 71 infections from 11 counties that belonged to the outbreak. This is up from 36 illnesses in 10 counties that were linked by whole genome sequencing at the end of September. Västra Götaland, Jönköping, Halland and Dalarna reported the most patients. Illnesses were recorded in all age…

Food Safety News

Dutch airline may have served Listeria contaminated meat

By Joe Whitworth on October 9, 2019

Tablet with the text Listeriosis the display

Dutch airline KLM has issued a warning after it came out that meat products contaminated with Listeria may have been served on some of its flights. The RIVM (National Institute for Public Health and the Environment) and NVWA (Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority) are investigating a Listeria outbreak linked to cold meat from a company called Offerman. The firm stopped production of meat items at its Aalsmeer location this past week. Twenty…

Food Safety News

Three dead in Dutch Listeria outbreak

By Joe Whitworth on October 5, 2019

Folded slices of honey ham — Photo Illustration of ham

Dutch authorities have linked three deaths because of Listeria to meat products from one company. Of 20 patients with listeriosis, officials reported it was almost certain that they had been infected via meat products from a company called Offerman in the past two years. One woman also had a miscarriage. The source of infections was traced by the RIVM (National Institute for Public Health and the Environment) and NVWA (Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety…

Joe Whitworth

Chance of negative food standards impact from Brexit rises

Spanish Listeria outbreak declared over after 200 affected

E. coli infections linked to Isle of Wight

Researchers find new form of Listeria monocytogenes in China

Group warns high numbers of food inspections missed each year

So-called plastic rice could have been the real deal, but stored for a decade

U.S. sent meat from German firm linked to Listeria outbreak

Tomatoes linked to Salmonella outbreak in Sweden; 71 infected

Dutch airline may have served Listeria contaminated meat

Three dead in Dutch Listeria outbreak

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