US-CIDRAP News-USDA to name poultry plants with Salmonella problems

Feb 6, 2008 (CIDRAP News) – The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) says it is preparing to begin publishing the names of poultry and meat plants that have trouble controlling Salmonella, as the agency extends a set of policy changes designed to reduce the prevalence of the pathogen in meat.

Starting Mar 28, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) will publish online the names and test results for plants where more than 10% of product samples are found to have Salmonella contamination, the agency announced last week. That step will focus first on broiler (young) chicken plants, which have had the most difficulty with Salmonella.

The USDA said the coming changes are the result of a Salmonella-control initiative it launched 2 years ago, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that Salmonella had become the most common foodborne pathogen, accounting for 38.6% of cases. USDA had seen an upward trend in Salmonella contamination from 2002 through 2005, with about 16% of broiler chicken samples testing positive in 2005.

“The initiative includes concentrating resources at establishments with higher levels of Salmonella and changes to the reporting and use of FSIS Salmonella verification test results,” the USDA said in a Jan 28 announcement…more..

US/Canada-Cattle Network-KLA: USDA Grants Conditional License For E. Coli Vaccine

Bioniche Life Sciences, Inc., a Canadian biopharmaceutical company, has received a conditional license from USDA for the world’s first vaccine that may be used as an on-farm intervention to reduce the amount of E. coli O157:H7 shed by cattle. Bioniche and its collaborators have been moving the vaccine towards commercial availability for eight years, with extensive testing done at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

 

According to USDA, the vaccine “meets the ‘expectation of efficacy’ standard,” and is eligible for a conditional license, providing the company develops a plan that would collect sufficient data to move the product to full licensure. The conditional license will provide the company full access to the U.S. market, with two restrictions: 1) at least one step in the manufacturing process must be performed in the U.S. ; and 2) Bioniche will not be permitted to use a trademark name for the vaccine…more..

US-WA-Deseret Morning News-Seattle-based E. coli attorney makes good money from bad food

SAN FRANCISCO — A girl fell into a 40-day coma after eating a bad Jack in the Box hamburger. Fifteen years later, she is still suffering ill effects. That doesn’t bode well for a toddler who spent six weeks in the hospital in 2006 after eating E. coli-tainted spinach from California. But both have lawyer William Marler in their corner — and that’s no small consolation.

The Seattle-based Marler is the undisputed king of food poisoning litigation. He has made good money from bad food, ringing up more than $300 million in settlements for his clients in the rapidly growing legal field of food safety.

“There is a sense of complacency in the meat industry that believes, ‘Hey, we solved that problem, and we don’t have to watch it so much,”‘ says Marler, whose career has proved otherwise.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that food poisoning each year afflicts some 76 million Americans; 300,000 require hospitalization and 5,000 die.

Many victims end up hiring Marler, who took his first food poisoning case in 1993, during the Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak in the Pacific Northwest that sickened hundreds and killed four children…more…

US-Cattle Network-AMI: FDA Unveils New Policy To Address Listeria Control In Food

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced a new draft compliance policy for control of Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) in ready-to-eat (RTE) foods that for the first time creates different policies for foods that support growth of the organism and foods that do not. AMI has long sought the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) to adopt a similar science-based policy which reflects international standards adopted by Europe, Canada and other nations.

For foods that do not support growth of Lm, FDA will revise its tolerance level from zero to 100 colony forming units per gram of food (cfu/g). The “zero tolerance” standard for those RTE foods that support the growth of the pathogen will remain the same.

Three draft documents are published in today’s Federal Register, including a draft Compliance Policy Guide that provides guidance for FDA staff on the agency’s enforcement policy, draft Guidance for Industry on Control of Listeria monocytogenes in Refrigerated or Frozen Ready-to-Eat Foods, and a Notice of a Public Meeting on March 28, 2008 to receive public comments on the proposed changes to the agency’s policy for Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) in ready-to-eat (RTE) foods that are under the jurisdiction of FDA…more..