Author: Tony Coveny, Ph.D

Caviar Recalled Due to Potential Infection with Clostridium Botulinum. There has been a voluntary recall by Roland Foods on their red and black lumpfish caviar.  According to the company, no additional product will be released until the issue has been resolved.  The announcement was made after the company found bacteria in the caviar following a routine inspection.  According to the announcement the red and black lumpfish caviar, which is manufactured in Iceland, could be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum. Clostridium botulinum is the bacteria that causes botulism.  Botulism is a very serious disease and even a small amount can cause severe…

E. Coli Death in France: E. coli Lawyer Pursues Case as Implicated Manager is Given Three Year Sentence A ten-year-old boy in France has died, after a lengthy fight that lasted years, as a result of an E. coli illness in 2011.  Nolan Moitte became ill from a serious E. coli infection after consuming a beef burger, prepared as steak haché, in 2011. Steak haché is a chopped steak dish that is popular in France. Young Nolan passed away on Saturday, September 14, 2019 after a long battle with the complications related to that infection. After ingesting the contaminated beef, Nolan,…

Penn Dutch Listeria:  Two Locations Closing Due to Repeated Listeria Contamination Penn Dutch, a Fresh Meat, Seafood, and Poultry Market, will be permanently closing its doors at both its Hollywood and Margate locations due to widespread listeria contamination. Penn Dutch’s Hollywood location was inspected and closed two weeks ago. The Margate location was tested on August 6, with the samples showing no apparent contamination. But then the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) performed a state inspection of Penn Dutch’s Margate location on September 9, 2019 and found 13 samples positive for listeria monocytogenes. The contaminated samples were…

Salmonella and Chicken: The Inherent Risks in Raising Backyard Poultry More and more families have recently have been bringing a little country-life into their own backyards.  Many suburban and city residents are loving the idea of a small farm in their very own homes and are making the decision to adopt a group of chickens, sometimes just for the enjoyment of their children, but sometimes as egg layers.  Imagine waking up and sending your children out into your own backyard to collect fresh eggs for breakfast. But before you head outside to build your own chicken coup, authorities have warned…

New regulations for pork factories are seen by some as more akin to deregulation.  Only time will tell. The USDA Food and Safety and Inspections Service (FSIS) has new regulations for pork factories, allowing them more independence and power in deciding how to implement food safety.   The new regulations for pork factories will allow pork factory workers, not USDA inspectors, to discard questionable carcasses or simply remove pieces that look inedible prior to presenting the carcasses to FSIS inspectors.  The USDA claims it will still have a place in the process but it will be further down the chain of…

Minnesota’s State Fair E. Coli Outbreak:   “Miracle of Birth” Exhibit is Possible Culprit of  E. coli Outbreak  11 confirmed cases of E. coli among Minnesota residents who visited state Fair. St. Paul Minessota hosted its annual state fair August 25-September 3. One of the most popular exhibitions this year was the Miracle of Birth exhibit. Unfortunately, after reportedly attending Minnesota State Fair, 11 people have fallen ill with E. coli. As Minnesota Department of Health investigates the possible cause of this outbreak they discovered that most fair attendees who reported E. coli infection also visited the Miracle of Birth exhibit.…

Salmonella Linked to Dog Treats:  Outbreak Hospitalizes at Least 33 The CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the FDA, US Food and Drug Administration, have confirmed many different strains of salmonella has been linked to dog treats that contain pig ear.  Health officials are advising the public to not purchase any pig ears as well as dispose safely of any of these dog treats that are already in the home.  Not only are dogs getting ill from ingesting the treats, their owners are also becoming sick from touching the pig ear dog treats. Over the summer, there have…

MN State Fair E. coli outbreak – 6 hospitalized, with one suffering from E. coli Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS) Visiting the state fair serves as a great way to spend time and share infectious laughs with family and friends each year, but for a handful of Minnesota residents, visiting the fair may have resulted in an infectious outbreak of E. coli, not laughs. This is the basis of an investigation currently being undertaken by the Minnesota Department of Health: whether or not a visit to the Minnesota State Fair was the cause of 11 separate cases of E. coli…

Ground Bison E. coli linked to Northfork Bison Distributions, Inc. Outbreak Declared Officially Over  As of September 13, 2019 at 4 PM ET, the FDA declared the E. coli outbreak linked to ground bison produced by Northfork Bison Distributions, Inc. is over. The multistate E. coli outbreak linked to ground bison was investigated by several major governmental agencies, such as the Center for Disease Control (CDC), The U.S. Food and Drug Association (FDA), The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), as well as several U.S state inspectors. After performing epidemiological procedures to trace the origin of the outbreak, Northfork Bison Distributing,…

Northfork Bison E. Coli Outbreak Spurs Recall A major distributor of bison meat in portions of the United States and Canada, Northfolk Bison Distributions, has issued a voluntary recall on a large portion of their bison-based products that were processed earlier in the year, per the Food and Drug Association (FDA). This came as a result of an investigation of illnesses in multiple states that found there to be at least one of two common strains of E.coli in the company’s bison products. The two strains, E. coli O121 and O103, are known to lead to intestinal bleeding and even…