In this article we welcome guest author and industry expert, Alec Kyriakides, to explore some of the food safety developments, recalls and incidents that have happened recently.

 

Food Safety Developments

Food crime

The issue of food crime remains a significant risk to the public and although food crime prevention is part of many food business operators’ resilience processes e.g. threat assessment critical control point (TACCP), vulnerability assessment critical control point (VACCP), etc., economically motivated food crime in the form of illicit manufacture, food adulteration or fraudulent labelling remains a real threat to the integrity of the food supply chain. The arrests in England and Wales in November and December of 6 individuals suspected of supplying unfit and unsafe meat continues to highlight the importance of maintaining vigilance regarding such issues. The UK Food Standards Agency has a useful online vulnerability assessment tool for businesses and there is a rich source of information published by the Food Authenticity Network on this and the wider topic of food fraud.

 

Notification of Infectious Diseases (NOID) in England

The legal requirements for notification and reporting of infectious diseases in England are contained in the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010 (HPNR). A registered medical practitioner must notify the proper officer of the relevant local authority where the practitioner has reasonable grounds for suspecting that a patient has a notifiable disease, has an infection which presents or could present significant harm to human health or is contaminated in a manner which presents or could present significant harm to human health. The list of notifiable diseases includes botulism, cholera, food poisoning and many non food-related infectious diseases such as leprosy, Legionnaire’s disease and measles. The causative agents list includes most of the recognised food borne pathogens including Clostridium botulinum, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp. and Verocytotoxigenic Escherichia coli (including E. coli O157) to name a few. Following a recent consultation, this list is to be expanded to include some notable additional foodborne pathogens including norovirus and Yersinia spp., plus pathogens that can occasionally be acquired through food such as Trichinella spp. If approved by the UK Parliament, this will come into force in May 2025.

 

The European Union One Health Zoonoses Report

December heralded the publication of the annual report by the European Food Safety Agency and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control on the results of zoonoses monitoring and surveillance activities carried out in 2023 in 27 EU Member States, the United Kingdom and 10 non Member States. The report highlighted, once again, that campylobacteriosis and salmonellosis were the two most reported zoonoses in humans with an increase in the absolute number of cases reported in comparison to the previous year (2022). Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) was the next most commonly reported zoonotic agent in humans followed by Yersinia enterocolitica and Listeria monocytogenes, the latter being responsible for the highest percentage of hospitalisations and case fatality rates. The report provides a wealth of insightful data on zoonoses including isolations in humans, annual and food sources.

 

Foodborne disease outbreaks

A wide range of outbreaks were reported in December including a suspected salmonellosis outbreak affecting 379 individuals (one death) in Vietnam after consuming bread, meat and pate from a bakery. Salmonella spp., was also responsible for an outbreak in Norway affecting 49 individuals with alfalfa sprouts implicated as the causative food source. Turtle meat was the implicated food in an outbreak in the Philippines that caused 30 illnesses and 3 deaths due to the suspected presence of the biotoxin, Chelonitoxin. Scombrotoxin poisoning affected 46 children, students, teachers and staff who ate school lunches at 3 elementary and junior high schools in Japan that contained temperature abused swordfish. Similarly, temperature abuse was suspected in a Clostridium perfringens outbreak implicating shredded chicken that affected more than 100 students at a university in New Zealand. Raw oysters served at a restaurant event in the USA caused over 80 cases of norovirus infection amongst attendees. Home produced olives in brine, given as a Christmas gift, were responsible for a case of botulism in Italy, once again highlighting the dangers associated with home preserved, low acid foods and the importance of guidance provided by organisations such as the National Center for Home Food Preservation. Finally, over 24 employees reported food poisoning symptoms after consuming ‘holiday’ meals distributed by their airline company at an airport on Christmas day.

 

Food Recall Highlights

The data used for this food recall highlights review is sourced from open access recall databases covering different countries and continents including the USA (Food & Drug Administration and the United States Department of Agriculture), the UK (Food Standards Agency), Germany (Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety) and Australia (Food Standards Australia New Zealand).

 

Microbiological recalls were dominated by the ongoing incident in the USA associated with Salmonella spp. contamination of cucumbers with over 100 reported cases across 23 states. Listeria monocytogenes was the next biggest driver of food recalls with cheese and produce being the food agents responsible.

 

Allergen recalls were principally caused by inadequate labelling of products with milk, once again, being the primary allergen driving product recalls.

 

Physical contamination events due to the presence of metal were the main reason for recalls in this category.

 

Chemical recalls included a mix of reasons with illegal chemicals being the most common.

 

   

Author

Alec Kyriakides

Independent Food Safety Consultant