Food Borne Infection / Food Safety

This week’s Public Health News Watch highlights initiatives taking place this week in celebration of National Public Health Week, as well as two new pieces of legislation being considered in Congress that could impact food safety in the country and healthcare, in general.

Researchers in China have discovered a troubling case of the presence of a variant of the multidrug-resistant gene MCR-1 in a common strain of Salmonella in a healthy patient.

CDC researchers found that not only is the proportion of US food that is imported is increasing, but the number of food-borne disease outbreaks associated with imported foods is also increasing.

The Centers for Disease Control and Pevention and the US Food and Drug Administration are currently investigating an E. coli outbreak that has managed to spread over five states and has infected twelve individuals thus far.

This Valentine’s Day, be sure to remember these food safety tips to protect you and your loved one from any pesky food-borne illnesses.

Researchers from Salk Institute make a surprising discovery regarding the link between sickness-induced behaviors, such as loss of appetite, and their role in how the body fights off infection.

Throwing a Super Bowl party? There are a few food poisoning hazards that you should be mindful of this weekend.

A team of researchers has found that urbanized white ibises may be shedding Salmonella enterica and transmitting it to humans visiting parks.

Elizabeth Nolan, PhD, and her team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, recently explored the fight between microbes and hosts over essential metals and how understanding this battle may open the door for alternate treatments for bacterial infections.

A new study explores why some animals and humans might be more susceptible than others to develop prion diseases.

As Hawaii struggles to recover from two food-borne outbreaks, DOH officials seek to make revisions to their food safety regulations to enhance food-borne illness prevention.

University of New Hampshire (UNH) scientists are developing an algorithm to predict when NH’s Great Bay Estuary’s oysters may be at risk of contamination.

Australian students manufactured the $750 pill in their school lab.

Researchers have found evidence that pre-cut bagged salads may encourage Salmonella colonization.

Public Health England and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs researchers in the United Kingdom found drug-resistant E. coli in a large number of chicken samples, while much lower rates of contamination were observed in beef and pork samples.

A recent presentation by US Food and Drug Administration representatives explained why contaminated sprouts continue to be the cause of many food-borne illnesses.

IBM, Walmart, and Tsinghua University have partnered up to improve food safety practices in China.

The US Food and Drug Administration has announced that Sabra Dipping Co., LLC has recalled certain hummus products due to concerns about Listeria monocytogenes.

York’s Lassonde School’s Micro and Nano-scale Transport (MNT) Lab researchers have discovered “DipTreat,” a water treatment device capable of detecting and removing E. coli from drinking water.

European researchers have found that bacterial DNA molecules called plasmids are driving the evolution of antibiotic resistance in ways previously unknown.

A team of researchers from Tufts University and the University of Maryland have discovered a way to predict cholera outbreaks using satellite data from coastal waterways.

US food-safety legislation has toughened up as both regional and national centers strive to provide the public with safe food through the use of food-related disease surveillance programs and new technologies.

Experts in clinical diagnostics and tracking food-borne outbreaks discuss using culture-independent diagnostic tests (CIDTs) as well as how the use of CIDTs is currently working in Colorado.

An employee in the prepared foods section of a Whole Foods Market in Detroit, Michigan, has been diagnosed with hepatitis A.

Recent studies have shown how a commensal intestinal bacterium produces an enzyme that can help protect against pathogenic bacteria.

Researchers have predicted that less than 10% of Escherichia coli 0157:H7 strains are likely to have the potential to cause human disease.

A case of hepatitis A in a bakery employee at a Shop ‘N Kart located in Washington state has been confirmed by the Lewis County Public Health & Social Services Department.

For the last six years Haiti has been fighting a severe cholera epidemic and it is unlikely that the fight will end soon.

As individual nations attempt to make meaningful progress on stemming antibiotic use, a troubling new study shows that hospitals in the United States have continued to dispense antibiotics at a steady rate in recent years.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is investigating a multi-state outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157:H7.