On February 16, 2021, Connecticut official found Listeria in samples of El Albuelito brand queso fresco cheese collected from a store where a sick person bought Hispanic-style fresh and soft cheeses. Investigators are working to confirm if the Listeria bacteria found in this queso fresco is the same bacteria making people sick in this outbreak. As of February 11, 2021, seven people infected with the outbreak strain of Listeria monocytogenes have been reported from four states – Connecticut, Maryland, New York and Virginia. Illnesses started on…

In an increasing era of transparency, the FDA, along with its food safety partners at the CDC and FSIS, have for the last several months been listing and announcing  investigations of foodborne illness outbreaks – even if a source is not determined – and may never be found. The following is a list of outbreak investigations being managed by FDA’s CORE Response Teams. The investigations are in a variety of stages, meaning that some…

According to Food Safety News, the FDA is launching a new, temporary testing program for the romaine lettuce from commercial coolers in the Yuma, AZ, growing region. Romaine from the area has been linked to several foodborne illness outbreaks in recent years. Samples will be tested for Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and Salmonella spp. as part of ongoing surveillance efforts following the spring 2018 multistate E. coli O157:H7 outbreak of foodborne illness. Since then there have been other outbreaks linked to…

Here is Thomson International’s and their financial backers position on a Salmonella outbreak that has sickened thousands in the United States and Canada: The FDA took over 2000 swabs of Thomson’s onions, fields and facilities and were unable to locate any trace of Salmonella Newport. In fact, the FDA has since cleared Thomson International and has allowed them to continue their operations. It appears at this time the FDA made a rash decision to recall…

1.25.2020 FSIS Salmonella Campylobacter Petition FINAL Food safety advocates are calling on the United States Department of Agriculture to better protect consumers with new enforceable standards that will reduce, with an aim to ultimately eliminate, Salmonella types of greatest public health concern while continuing to target reductions in Salmonella and Campylobacter overall. The petition also asks the agency to require slaughterhouses to control risks in their supply chains, following best practices for food safety from…

Rest in Peace Larry King. I wrote in my blog that in March 2009 I finally made it to the Blakely, Georgia Peanut Corporation of America plant.  Despite being scrubbed a bit in the last few months after the announcement of the outbreak, we still found mice and cockroaches in the plant with several spots where the roof had been clearly leaking.  Really little question that any company purchasing product from this plant should have…

A documentary based on Jeff Benedict’s 2013 bestseller “Poisoned” has officially been announced. The 2011 book, Poisoned: The True Story of the Deadly E. coli Outbreak that Changed the Way Americans Eat, chronicles a deadly 1993 Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak and the rise of Bill Marler as a food safety attorney. The documentary is being executive produced by award-winning author and journalist Jeff Benedict. Benedict is joining forces with Ross Dinerstein’s…