Poultry products recalled over Salmonella enteritidis concerns

The Aspen Foods Division of Koch Meats, Chicago, is recalling 28,980 pounds of chicken products that may be contaminated with a particular strain of Salmonella enteritidis, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced October 24. FSIS requested Aspen Foods conduct this recall because this product is known to be associated with a specific illness cluster.
The recalled product includes partially prepared chicken products sold by retailers under the Antioch Farms brand name, with “sell by” dates of October 1, 2015 and October 7, 2015. The products subject to recall bear the establishment number “P-1358” inside the USDA mark of inspection. The chicken products were produced on July 2, 2014 and July 8, 2014. These products were shipped to retail stores and distribution centers in Minnesota.
The product is identified as single 5-ounce plastic packets of Raw Stuffed Chicken Breast Breaded, Boneless Breast of Chicken with Rib Meat “A La Kiev”
FSIS was notified of an investigation of Salmonella enteritidis illnesses on October 9, 2014. Working in conjunction with Minnesota Department of Health, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, FSIS determined that there is a link between the Chicken Kiev from Aspen Foods Division of Koch Foods and this illness cluster. Based on epidemiologic investigation, six case patients have been identified in Minnesota with illness onset dates ranging from August 17 to September 27, 2014. Among the six case patients with available information, one was hospitalized. No deaths have been reported. All 6 case patients reported chicken Kiev consumption prior to illness onset. Samples of product collected during the course of this investigation by Minnesota Department of Agriculture tested positive for Salmonella enteritidis with the outbreak strain. It is not known at this time if this outbreak strain has any drug resistance.
On October 17, FSIS received evidence that linked the illnesses associated with this outbreak to a specific product or production lot. Evidence that is required for a recall includes obtaining case-patient product that tests positive for the same particular strain of Salmonella that caused the illness, and packaging on product that clearly links the product to a specific facility and a specific production date, which were all met. FSIS is continuing to work with our public health partners on this investigation and will provide updated information as it becomes available.

FDA issues final egg safety rule guidance

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued final guidance designed to help egg producers follow new rules for reducing Salmonella Enteritidis contamination. The egg safety rule was issued in July 2009, and its provisions went into effect a year later for the largest egg producers (those with 50,000 or more laying hens). There are also recommendations that address five provisions of the egg safety rule: SE prevention measures, environmental testing for SE, testing eggs for SE, sampling methodology and record keeping for SE prevention plans. "Producers should select and implement only those recommendations and options from this guidance that are most appropriate and will be most effective for their particular farm and situation," said the FDA. The guidance also addresses biosecurity elements such as traffic barriers and sanitation, pest control, cleaning and disinfection, and related record keeping. The rules will apply to intermediate-sized firms — those with 3,000 to 50,000 birds — in July 2012. Smaller farms are exempt from the rules. The FDA has projected that the new safety measures could reduce the number of SE infections from eggs by 60% and prevent as many as 30 Salmonella-related deaths each year.  

University of Pennsylvania, Life Technologies develop new salmonella detection kit

The University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine and Life Technologies have developed a DNA-based Salmonella enteritidis detection kit, which has been Food and Drug Administration-approved for use with liquid eggs.
The kit, which took just over a year to finalize, returns results in 27 hours. Traditional laboratory tests take a minimum of 10 days.
Shelley Rankin, associate professor of microbiology at Penn Vet, said she initiated work to develop a new, quicker test after learning about the revised federal guidelines for egg quality assurance. She also said that her lab's work isn't complete. “I’m hoping that as we move along over the next couple years that we’ll improve this kit," she said. “There [are] some amazing techniques out there right now that might actually take this over at some point and allow us to do testing of a lot more samples than we test currently for a much-reduced cost. This is something my lab is going to be working on for several years to come.”

FDA milk testing program meets opposition

The FDA has introduced a program for testing milk for the presence of antibiotics, concentrating on dairies with previous violations. The problem relates to the need to withhold milk until microbiological assay results are obtained.

This situation is reminiscent of the requirements of the Final Rule on Salmonella enteritidis, which obliges farmers to submit four consecutive egg samples for assay over a protracted period following detection of SE in the environment of flocks. The presence of SE in eggs will result in mandatory recall. In the absence of SE. producers are allowed to ship eggs but if the pathogen is identified a mandatory recall is required.
Concern over antibiotic residues in milk stems from test performed on culled cows in which residue violations were detected from in 788 out of 2.6 million slaughtered animals in 2008. The FDA contends that inappropriate administration of therapeutic antibiotics may be leading to a problem of milk residues. Accordingly they intend to test for approximately 20 antibiotics beyond the six that are frequently included in antibiotic panels.
Following vehement protests from agricultural officials in ten northeastern states with significant dairy production, the FDA indicated that it would review the program since it will seriously disrupt milk production and cause significant financial loss to farmers.

High-intensity light pulse technology reduces microbial levels on poultry

The use of high-intensity light pulse technology reduces the microbial counts of bacteria like Campylobacter spp., Escherichia coli and Salmonella enteritidis on raw chicken, as well as packaging and related surface materials, according to scientists at the Centre for Food Safety, School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine at University College Dublin.
Complete inactivation of the bacteria in liquid was achieved after 30 seconds of HILP treatment, with significant reductions after five seconds. Treatment became more effective on the chicken as the thickness of the packaging film decreased. "This study has shown HILP to be an effective method for the decontamination of packaging and surface materials," said scientists. "Additionally, it has demonstrated the potential of HILP to be used as a decontamination method for packaged chicken."

FDA implicates Salmonella Heidelberg in egg recall

In the concurrence letter from the Food and Drug Administration addressed to Jack DeCoster in early December, the FDA communication makes mention of Salmonella Heidelberg in the required program of suppressing Salmonella enteritidis, which is the principal focus of the Final Rule. Mention of other than a Group D Salmonella creates concern.
Although S. Heidelberg along with many other Salmonella serotype is potentially pathogenic to consumers, there is no evidence that serotypes other than SE can be transmitted by the vertical route. Contamination of the surface of shells with Group B and Group C Salmonella should be inactivated by effective washing in an efficient and well-managed plant. It is understood from industry sources that FDA does not intend to initiate a program requiring either depletion or diversion in the event of detecting Salmonella Heidelberg.
The present action relates specifically to Wright County Eggs where S. Heidelberg was detected in the process of extensive environmental sampling. There is concern that this aspect of the Wright County Egg investigation has created a precedent since FDA has the authority to investigate outbreaks of any food-borne disease. In the event of a traceback due to a non-Type D Salmonella it is presumed that appropriate remedial action will be required or mandated.

Wright County Egg to resume shipments of shell eggs after four-month ban

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced that Wright County Egg may resume shipping shell eggs to consumers after a four-month ban related to the August recall of over half a billion shell eggs originating from Wright and Hillandale Farms.
The Salmonella enteritidis-focused recall caused an estimated 1,470 cases of illness. "During the outbreak, I said that the FDA would not agree to the sale of eggs to consumers from Wright County Egg until we had confidence that they could be shipped and consumed safely," said FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. "After four months of intensive work by the company and oversight, testing and inspections by the FDA, I am satisfied that time has come."
The company has taken several corrective measures to address issues that were discovered by the FDA in August. Chicken housing has been cleaned, sanitized and tested; contaminated pullets have been replaced with SE-negative pullets vaccinated against SE; the severe rodent problem has been eliminated and a monitoring system has been put in place; and feed supplies have been made safer through cleaning the feed mill, correcting structural defects, eliminating egg shells, meat and bone meal from the feed and testing the feed for SE. FDA inspections were conducted in October and November verifying the changes.

US egg recall should act as warning to others

The recall of over 500 million eggs in the U.S. due to salmonella outbreaks should act as a warning to producers worldwide not to drop their guard, said Klaus Torborg of Lohmann Animal Health.
He continued that there were countries that had successfully tackled salmonella, noting that the UK had the lowest levels of salmonella in laying hens of any major egg-producing country.
In 2004/05, when an EU baseline study was conducted, the prevalence of Salmonella enteriditis and Salmonella tphimurium in UK laying hens was 7.9%. By 2008, the most recent year for which figures are available, this had dropped to 1%.
Torborg added that it was not surprising that the EU had used the UK model for its control program.

Three Maine egg farms on Congress radar

Three Maine farms with ties to Jack DeCoster, the owner of one of the farms involved in the recent U.S. egg recall, are under scrutiny.
A congressional committee has requested inspection records and documents relating to any allegations of egg contamination at the farms. According to Maine state veterinarian Don Hoenig, no commercial farm building has tested positive for Salmonella enteritidis since October 2009. According to Hoenig, Maine has enacted regulations that go beyond federal requirements, including vaccinations of young birds for salmonella, follow-up testing and increased building inspections and cleaning.

UV light to treat contaminated egg shells

USDA-ARS scientists have recently published on the application of ultra violet light to inactivate Salmonella enteritidis (SE) on egg shells. Studies* were conducted involving the inoculation of egg shells with SE and subjecting the shell surfaces to UV irradiation over periods of 1 to 30 seconds.
Significant reduction of SE was obtained after 20 seconds of treatment with a lamp generating a dose of 23.6 J/cm2 and the radiation of the shell surface had no effect on internal quality perimeters.
However, in the event of surface contamination from fecal contact during passage of the egg through the cloaca, existing washing installations operated at recommended temperatures (115-125F) using a chlorine sanitizer at a concentration ranging from 100 to 150 ppm at a pH of 10 to 12 will effectively decontaminate shells at processing rates of up to 500 cph.

FDA to ban surplus broiler hatching eggs

The FDA in a surprise move indicated that surplus broiler hatching eggs could not be sold to breakers. The National Chicken Council (NCC), the industry body representing 95% of U.S. broiler producers, has petitioned the FDA to rescind the intended provision of the Final Rule preventing integrators selling surplus or non-settable hatching eggs into the breaker market.
According to the NCC, 367 million surplus hatching eggs worth $5 million were sold to breakers in 2009. This represents 16 cents per dozen for eggs which averaged over 65 grams, an absolute bargain for breakers. In evaluating this figure, based on approximately 165 million broilers processed per week with 95% livability, 80% hatchability and 3% breakable rejects the broiler industry in all probability transfers 330 million eggs or nearly 28 million dozen to breakers each year. If the unit value approaches a more realistic 35 cents per dozen the loss to the broiler industry would actually approach $10 million annually.
As with many of the decisions made by FDA with regard to the Final Rule to suppress Salmonella enteritidis (SE) infection in consumers, this ban makes absolutely no sense. ...Read the full blog on www.animalagnet.com.

Salmonella outbreaks increase in England

A sharp increase in cases of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) characterized as phage type 14b have been reported in England this year. To date, 259 cases have been reported to the Laboratory of Gastrointestinal Pathogens this year.
Many of the isolates demonstrate a low level of resistance to nalidixic acid and ciprofloxacin, a related antibiotic. The incidence graph for 2007-2009 shows a slight increase in cases commencing in summer with a plateau in the fourth quarter.
In contrast, the pattern in 2009 indicates an earlier and higher level of exposed consumers. Nine outbreaks of SE pt14b were reported to the UK Health Prevention Agency (HPA) recently with case numbers ranging from two to 68 per outbreak. It is noted that all the outbreaks were associated with restaurants, with the exception of one senior care home.
The HPA National Outbreak Control Team is investigating the outbreak. Investigation of sporadic cases of SE began in mid-October with involvement of the Food Standards Agency, Department of Food, Health and Rural Affairs and the Department of Health and local authorities.