The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued a public health alert for raw non-intact beef products derived from imported beef from Ontario, Canada, that has been recalled by Ryding-Regency Meat Packers Ltd. because of possible E. coli O157:H7 contamination. Ryding-Regency recalled beef products in Canada on Oct. 8. A number of related recalls have been issued. (See links below.) The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is conducting a food …

Prior food safety inspections and the current rating for the Al Basha Restaurant in Seattle were excellent, but Seattle-King County Public Health has associated the establishment with a September Salmonella outbreak. The outbreak involves three confirmed cases, one hospitalization, and no deaths.  The Salmonella illnesses followed meals served by Al Basha about one month ago on Sept. 15, 22, and 23. The health department is investigating the outbreak of salmonellosis associated with the restaurant. A specific…

A Florida company is expanding its recall of tuna because the fish poses the risk of scombroid poisoning. Mical Seafood Inc. imported the tuna from Vietnam and sent it to 23 states.  The recall includes frozen, wild-caught yellowfin tuna loins, tuna poke, tuna steaks, tuna ground meat, and tuna Saku, according to the company’s recall notice posted on the Food and Drug Administration’s website. The fish products may have excessive levels of histamine, which can…

More than 60 foodborne outbreaks with 1,600 patients were reported in Denmark this past year, according to recently released data. Three large incidents caused one quarter of the outbreak illnesses. In 2017, 63 outbreaks were reported but only 1,151 people got sick. Norovirus was the most common cause in 2018 with 21 outbreaks involving 839 cases, a substantial increase compared to 2017 but at the same level as 2016. The number of people affected by…

Woodstock in 1969 on Max Yasgur’s 600-acre dairy farm near White Lake in Bethel, NY, with 400,000 in attendance for three days of Peace Music was the birth of large music festivals. It came off with two deaths, two births and hundreds of drug overdoses with about 30 requiring serious medical treatment.   Times have changed and music festivals today are not usually held on isolated dairy farms, but in big cities. One such example is the…

Public Health England is investigating an E. coli O157 outbreak with people sick across the country. One infection is in a four-year-old child from Hampshire named as Isla Aspery who needed treatment at Southampton General Hospital after a trip to the Isle of Wight. Public Health England (PHE) South East and the Isle of Wight Council’s environmental health team investigated the illness in the young child who became severely sick with a complication as a…

The food recall warning of certain powdered infant formula issued on October 6, 2019, is revised to correctly identify the formula that may be contaminated with Cronobacter spp. President’s Choice brand Lower Iron milk-based powdered infant formula was incorrectly identified as having been associated with the testing results.  Accordingly, the following product is no longer subject to a food recall warning: No longer recalled product Brand Product Size UPC Codes President’s Choice Lower Iron milk-based…