PHOENIX — As milling and baking industries work with government agencies and other groups to address a growing number of foodborne illness outbreaks linked to flour, researchers are seeking the best ways to treat wheat and the flour after processing. Increased food safety concerns and recalls linked to wheat were addressed today at the International Association for Food Protection’s annual meeting in Phoenix, which features in-person and digital sessions. Juliany Rivera Calo, a senior food…

The CDC has declared that a Salmonella Weltevreden outbreak traced to imported shrimp is over. According to an update from the Food and Drug Administration the implicated shrimp from Avanti Frozen Foods, which was recalled June 25, should no longer be available at retail, but there is concern that consumers may still have it in their homes. The outbreak sickened at least six people in two states, Arizona and Nevada, according to the Centers…

PHOENIX — Many people say a huge part of the burden of food safety depends on consumers, but a key takeaway from a session here today was that consumers can’t practice what they haven’t been taught. The presentation was part of the annual meeting of the International Association for Food Protection. The session “After 2020, Where Do We Go Next in Enhancing Consumer Food Safety Education?” asked many questions and answered some. Unanswered questions, many…

The Maquoketa, IA, Sentinal Press, today is reporting the first news since about June 8 about three children in Jackson County with E. coli infections. While families of the three children shared their stories with friends and family on social media, public health officials in Iowa and Jackson County have said nothing since early June about the apparent outbreak. Officials have reported nothing about a source of the E. coli infections. But The Sentinal Press…

Washington state has initiated a recall of live oysters harvested from the Samish Bay growing area in the Puget Sound area. The recall is in response to multiple cases of Vibrio parahaemolyticus illnesses associated with oysters harvested in the area.  The outbreak has already surpassed the highest number of cases ever recorded by the state for the month of July, according to the state’s Health Department. Distribution details are incomplete but it is known that…

More than 330 outbreaks affected more than 1,200 people in Belgium in 2020, according to the food agency’s annual report. The 333 outbreaks sickened 1,262 people with 27 needing hospital treatment. Two elderly people died, one due to Salmonella and the other Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) infection, but a link to food could not be confirmed. Outbreaks were down from 571 in 2019 with 2,457 people sick and 28 hospitalized. The Federal Agency for the…

More than 100 people were sickened during a Yersinia outbreak linked to pasteurized milk in 2019, according to a study. Raw milk may have cross-contaminated pasteurized milk during the pasteurization process. Yersinia enterocolitica infections affected a youth summer camp and nearby community in northeastern Pennsylvania in July 2019. Researchers identified 109 cases, 48 confirmed and 61 probable. Ninety-two were campers and camp staff while 17 were in the community. Yersiniosis is not a reportable condition in…