Author: Tony Coveny, Ph.D

Wisconsin Public Health Officials Investigating Potential Norovirus Outbreak Linked to Hotel Marshfield Wisconsin public health officials confirmed the existence of a potential norovirus outbreak in Marshfield associated with a company party held last weekend at Hotel Marshfield in Wisconsin. State of the (Potential) Outbreak At least 16 people who attended the weekend party contracted the norovirus-like illness, and the Wood County Health Department is in the process of confirming whether or not norovirus is the pathogen to blame. As of Wednesday evening, officials had confirmed the 16 reported cases in party attendees, according to local publication WSAW. Considering that the number of confirmed cases…

Home Canning Company Recalls Vegetable Soup Mary’s Home Canning is recalling Mary’s Home Made Vegetable Soup due to concerns it may have become contaminated with a life-threatening bacteria. A Lancaster, Pennsylvania company is recalling 1,644 jars of canned goods due to potential contamination with Clostridium botulinum, which is the bacteria that causes the illness known as botulism. Mary’s Home Canning has initiated recalls of the following products: Mary’s Homemade Vegetable Soup (Net Wt. 16 OZ) and Mary’s Homemade Vegetable Soup (Net Wt. 32 OZ). The company is recalling a total of 516 16-ounces cans, and an additional 1,128 32-ounce cans.…

Beginning of the Oregon State Outbreak On April 6th, Oregon State University (OSU) reported an outbreak of a norovirus-like illness. At the time the University made the announcement, the virus had already apparently infected approximately 50-60 students on the Corvallis campus, officials said. At the time, however, “the etiology [had] not been identified,” according to Outbreak News Today. A statement released by the University later that day, however, stated that the “gastroenteritis symptoms” reported by “a number of students living on campus” were now “confirmed to be norovirus.” Both Student Health Service (SHS) and Benton County Health Department (BCHD) were aware of the…

Washington pork linked to massive summer Salmonella outbreak During the summer of 2015, Washington state experienced the largest Salmonella outbreak in the state’s recent history. The outbreak, which was linked to contaminated Washington pork from a single slaughterhouse, is a reminder to consumers and health officials alike that pork is an important source for human Salmonella infections. Ultimately, public health officials confirmed a total of 192 outbreak cases in five states, with 96% (184 cases) reported in Washington. The youngest outbreak case was less than a year old, while the oldest confirmed outbreak case occurred in a 90-year-old individual. Officials had hospitalization…

Six days ago, Food Poisoning News reported that University Health Service at the University of Rochester released a statement that the “total number of students from River Campus and the Eastman School of Music reporting [Norovirus] symptoms [was] 60.” Despite extensive efforts to prevent the spread of the virus  and additional new cases through continued sanitization, the statement released by the University six days later confirmed that the number of “Norovirus-like cases [as of the 16th was 120], with still 5 total reported cases at Eastman School of Music. Rapid Increase in Case Count; One Student Hospitalized During the night and early morning…

Nature’s Touch is recalling its “Organic Berry Cherry Blend” after it was linked to an ongoing Hepatitis A outbreak in Canada. Costco is the exclusive retailer of the blend of frozen organic strawberries, blackberries, cherries, blueberries and raspberries. Contamination of US Products “Under Investigation” by Manufacturer Although public health officials and officials at Nature’s Touch, the manufacturer of the contaminated berry mix, know with certainty that Nature’s Touch Organic Berry Cherry Blend was distributed and sold at Costco locations in Canada, it is currently unknown whether the contaminated berries were distributed to other retailers or to the U.S. There has only been a recall notice posted…

Wyoming Company Recalls Smoked Salmon Following Positive Listeria Test Results Warehouse Market initiated a recall of its 1 lb. pound packages of Smoked Salmon this Thursday morning.  All salmon subject to the recall by the Sheridan, Wyoming company has a sell-by-date of April 6, 2016. The recalled salmon is packaged in clear plastic labeled packages marked “Best Before: 04-06-2016”. The recall comes after routine testing by the Wyoming Department of Agriculture detected the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in the product. with a sell-by-date of 04-06-16 because the fish has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria. Warehouse Market Smoked Salmon Tests Positive for Listeria Wyoming Department…

FDA Egg Law Leads to Decrease in Contaminated Iowa Eggs, Iowa State University Study Shows In spite of recent news reports regarding the current hiatus on egg production facilities by Iowa state public health officials, new data suggests that instances of Salmonella contamination at the production sites for Iowa eggs is becoming less frequent. Only one of 175 positive environmental tests conducted between 2010 and 2015 showed Salmonella contamination at the eggshell level, and that positive test occurred during a 2010 nationwide recall of over 550 million eggs. The conclusion that Iowa eggs are less likely to cause consumers to contract…

Study Shows New Bacterial Testing Technology May Be Step in the Wrong Direction for Food Safety The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention has released its preliminary report on pathogens transmitted by food for the year 2015. According to the report, new and changing tests that aid epidemiologists in identifying foodborne infections may soon become part of the problem. As the medical community begins to turn from the traditional culture methods towards new, more rapid testing technology, he agency says that the new tests may begin to “pose challenges to finding outbreaks,” slowing progress toward preventing foodborne disease through monitoring and reporting illnesses and…

California Department of Food and Agriculture Cracks Down on Illegal Mexican Cheese Last week, California officers raided a Bakersfield house looking for illegal contraband, but this raid is nothing like one expected: the officers were from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), and the contraband they were looking for was illegal Mexican cheese. According to a local report, the officers found what they were looking for. Grace Martinez, a Bakersfield resident, said officers “came to her house [and] searched all the rooms.” At the time, she had over 30 packages of Mexican cheese in the house. The packages were brought…