The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) have issued their third joint report “on antimicrobial resistance in zoonotic bacteria affecting humans, animals and foods.” Based on data collected by member states in 2011, the report notes the “continued presence of resistance to a range of antimicrobials in Salmonella and Campylobacter, the main bacteria causing food-borne infections in the European Union (EU),” although co-resistance to more than one critically important antimicrobial remains low overall. According to the findings, “a high proportion of Campylobacter bacteria … was resistant to the critically important antimicrobial ciprofloxacin” in addition to other commonly used antimicrobials. The data also suggested that Salmonella resistance “to at least three different antimicrobial classes[] was high overall in the EU,” with a large proportion of the bacteria in humans and animals already resistant to commonly used antimicrobials and, in the case of poultry, to ciprofloxacin. “If…
Tag Archives campylobacter
A recent study has allegedly linked cattle farming to an “increased prevalence of self-reported symptoms associated with peripheral neuropathy,” raising questions about the role of Campylobacter jejuni infection in Guillain-Barré Syndrome (BGS). Leora Vegosen, et al., “Neurologic Symptoms Associated with Cattle Farming in the Agricultural Health Study,” Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, October 2012. According to the study, C. jejuni “is the most frequently identified antecedent to [GBS],” “the leading cause of acute flaccid paralysis in the United States and worldwide.” Relying on data from 8,887 cattle farmers enrolled in the Agricultural Health Study, which originally sought to assess associations between pesticides and certain health outcomes, researchers concluded that “the prevalence of both reported numbness and weakness was increased in cattle farmers as a group” compared to farmers without livestock exposure. “This association is consistent with, but does not specifically indicate, an association between occupational exposures in cattle farming…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced an expansion of the Salmonella Initiative Program (SIP) to help industry reduce foodborne pathogens in raw meat and poultry products. The agency has extended the comment period to September 12, 2011. According to FSIS, the voluntary, incentive-based program allows “participating establishments to operate under certain regulatory waivers to try new procedures, equipment or processing techniques to better control Salmonella.” As a condition for participation, establishments selected for SIP must regularly collect product samples to test for Salmonella, campylobacter and generic E. coli, and then share the data with the agency. FSIS has set new deadlines for establishments currently operating with regulatory waivers to apply for SIP and has allowed a “limited number of establishments to operate with modified line speed” which will be evaluated by a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health study. See USDA…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced new and revised performance standards to reduce Salmonella and Campylobacter incidence in young chickens and turkeys. Effective July 2011, the standards apparently draw on the FSIS Nationwide Microbiological Baseline Data Collection Programs and the recommendations of President Barack Obama’s (D) Food Safety Working Group. According to a March 21, 2011, Federal Register notice, “The standards will be applied to sample sets collected and analyzed by the Agency to evaluate establishment performance with respect to requirements of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) Rule.” FSIS has estimated that, after two years, the combined Campylobacter and Salmonella standards will prevent approximately 25,000 illnesses annually. “While the industry has made significant strides in recent years, far too many Americans continue to fall victim to these foodborne illnesses,” said Under Secretary for Food Safety Elisabeth Hagen in a March…
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued a new set of performance standards to reduce the incidence of Salmonella and Campylobacter bacteria in young chickens and turkeys. The new standards hold poultry slaughterhouses more accountable by decreasing the number of samples allowed to test positive for the pathogens. After two years under the new standards, USDA predicts that 39,000 illnesses due to Campylobacter will be avoided each year as will 26,000 fewer illnesses attributable to Salmonella. Although Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) Food Safety Director Caroline Smith DeWaal generally welcomed the standards, she lamented the fact that “USDA still lacks authority to enforce these standards by closing failing plants. For consumers to fully realize the benefits of the improved standards, Congress should reinstate USDA’s authority to enforce its performance standards.” In a related move, FSIS has issued the third edition of a…
U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has introduced legislation (S.B. 2819) “to require that food producers take responsibility for keeping food free from harmful pathogens,” according to a November 30, 2009, press release. The Processed Food Safety Act would amend the Poultry Products Inspection Act, Federal Meat Inspection Act and Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act to “prohibit the sale of any processed poultry, meat and FDA-regulated food that has not either undergone a pathogen reduction treatment, or been certified to contain no verifiable traces of pathogens.” The Act also includes provisions to (i) require that “labels on ground beef, or any other ground meat product, specifically name every cut of meat that is contained in the product,” and (ii) close loopholes “in current laws that allow for producers to add coloring, synthetic flavorings and spices to their products without informing the consumer.” In announcing the bill, Feinstein highlighted a recent…
The National Chicken Council and several other industry groups have signed a letter to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, requesting the initiation of a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement panel to re-establish poultry exports to Europe. According to the letter, the European Union prohibits four antimicrobials commonly applied in the United States to reduce pathogens on processed poultry. The trade groups have reportedly estimated that U.S. poultry exports could exceed $300 million if EU regulators permitted the in plant use of chlorine dioxide, trisodium phosphate, acidified sodium chlorite and peracetic acid in products destined for the European market. “[T]he United States should continue to pursue with the European Union resolution of the issue,” stated the letter, which concluded that “it would be most appropriate to take the issue to the next step in the WTO dispute settlement process.” See NCC News Release, October 1, 2009; Law360, October 2,…
A California appeals court has determined that a misreading of prior case law led a trial court judge to erroneously overturn a jury verdict in favor of a plaintiff who alleged that she was made ill from exposure to campylobacter at defendant’s restaurant. Sarti v. Salt Creek Ltd., No. G037818 (Cal. Ct. App., 4th App. Dist., Div. 3, decided October 27, 2008). So ruling, the court reinstated $725,000 in economic damages and $2.5 million in noneconomic damages and allowed the plaintiff to recover her costs on appeal. The trial court granted the defendant’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, after determining, under a heightened causation standard, that reasonable inferences alone cannot prove a food poisoning case. The appeals court exhaustively analyzes the court’s reasoning in Minder v. Cielito Lindo Restaurant, 67 Cal.App.3d 1003 (1977), and shows how the court in that case misread prior case law “to preclude the use…
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