Public health officials in an Argentinian province have warned of an increase in Salmonella infections. The Ministry of Public Health in Salta reported that, from January to November, 407 people with Salmonella infection were laboratory confirmed in the province. There have been 545 suspected cases since the beginning of 2020. In the first months of 2020, a greater number of patients was observed. Then, between weeks 10 and 40, mostly isolated infections occurred. Since early…

A food safety case is on track to be the vehicle for deciding whether federal judges have gained any extra power to stop time during the coronavirus pandemic. It rises out of the United States versus Paul Kruse, the retired president of Blue Bell Creameries. The government is attempting to prosecute Kruse on conspiracy and fraud charges connected with the deadly 2015 listeriosis outbreak that temporarily shut down the iconic Texas ice cream maker. In…

An expert group on tropane alkaloids that gathered after an outbreak traced to contaminated food aid in Uganda has published its findings. In 2019, 315 people were ill and five died after eating “Super Cereal” provided by the World Food Programme (WFP) that was contaminated by tropane alkaloids. Super Cereal consists of pre-cooked corn, soybean and micronutrients. High concentrations of scopolamine and hyoscyamine, from the toxic plant species Datura stramonium, in soybeans were the source of…

The Center for Produce Safety awarded more than $300,000 to a research project that is examining the risk of contamination in distribution center environments by surveying managers and collecting testing samples at their facilities, focusing on potentially high-risk areas, practices and equipment. The Food and Drug Administration’s Preventive Controls for Human Food Rule requires environmental monitoring programs within registered facilities, this includes distribution centers (DCs) that handle produce.  Products often arrive at the DCs fully…

Food poisoning in England and Wales has gone down for the fifth year in a row, according to annual figures. There were more than 8,800 formally notified cases of food poisoning in 2019 compared to just more than 11,000 in 2018. The most recent time numbers went up was from 2013 to 2014. Public Health England (PHE) collects notifications of infectious diseases (NOIDs) and publishes analyses of local and national trends every week. NOIDS is one of the…

More than 20 E. coli infections are being investigated in a German municipality. Four day care centers in the Lützow-Lübstorf district are affected by the outbreak of E. coli O26. Lützow-Lübstorf is in Nordwestmecklenburg, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) are often referred to as Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC). Authorities initially reported 18 patients but that had risen to 25 by the end of this past week. They warned further testing is ongoing so…

The Penn State Extension service is offering a webinar next week for volunteers who help prepare and serve food for their nonprofit organizations. The webinar is set from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. EST on Dec. 8.   The webinar is titled, “Cooking for Crowds: A Volunteer’s Guide to Safe Food Handling.” It is designed for non-profit organizations and their volunteers to help them understand the risks involved with preparing large volumes of food and…