Food Safety Scan for Jan 08, 2014

News brief

US audit finds Canada's meat inspections wanting

Canada's food inspection agency received the lowest possible passing grade—"adequate"—from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its latest audit of practices surrounding meat, poultry, and eggs, according to a Food Safety News (FSN) story today.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) needs to improve its oversight of practices at meat facilities concerning hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) and of sanitation and humane animal handling. The CFIA said it has taken corrective action after being informed of the report, FSN report.

The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) conducted the audit from Oct 22 to Nov 9, 2012, but the USDA released the report just last month.

FSIS inspectors visited two red-meat slaughterhouses, four meat-processing facilities that produce ready-to-eat meat products, and an egg-processing facility. Inspectors also visited five Canadian government food safety agencies and two private laboratories.

The inspectors found a lack of HACCP compliance and noted concerns over sanitation and humane handling at a beef slaughter plant that was involved in an expansive recall in 2010. They also found poor sanitation practices at a pig slaughterhouse.

Because of the results of the audit, food imported to the United States from Canada will be subject to closer scrutiny than food from countries with higher-rated food safety systems, FSN reported.
Jan 8 FSN story
Full USDA audit report

O111, O26 top list of non-O157 E coli outbreak strains

The most common strains of non-O157 Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli (STEC) causing US outbreaks are O111 and O26, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a report yesterday in Epidemiology & Infection.

The investigators studied outbreaks to 2010 and defined "outbreaks" as having two or more epidemiologically linked culture-confirmed STEC cases. They analyzed data from 46 outbreaks in 26 states that involved 1,727 illnesses and 144 hospitalizations.

Of the 38 outbreaks that involved a single pathogen, 14 were caused by STEC O111 and 11 by O26, which together accounted from two thirds of the outbreaks. Eighty-four percent of the outbreaks were transmitted via either food (17 outbreaks) or person-to-person spread (15).

Food vehicles included dairy products, produce, and meats, and childcare centers were the most common setting for person-to-person transmission. The incidence of hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious kidney complication, was higher in single-pathogen outbreaks than multiple-pathogen outbreaks (7% vs 0.8%).
Jan 7 Epidemiol Infect abstract

News Scan for Jan 08, 2014

News brief

FDA expects temporary shortage of liquid oseltamivir

Increased demand and manufacturing delays are expected to cause a temporary shortage of the liquid form of the influenza drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu) in coming days, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on its Web site.

The oral suspension formulation is intended for small children and others who can't swallow capsules.

"Genentech is experiencing temporary delays in manufacturing of Oral Suspension. A brief shortage of Oral Suspension is expected in early to mid January," the FDA said on its "Current Drug Shortages" page. The agency also listed increased demand as a reason for the shortage. The company expects to have more of the product in mid-January, officials said.

Oseltamivir remains available in capsules at all three doses (30, 45, and 75 milligrams), the FDA reported. It said children over 1 year old can be dosed correctly with 30- or 45-mg capsules. For those who can't swallow capsules, a capsule can be opened and mixed with chocolate syrup or some other liquid as directed by a health professional. Also, professionals can use 75-mg capsules to make a liquid form of the drug.

Scattered shortages of the liquid drug were reported in several recent years, including 2013, 2011, and the 2009 pandemic, prompting pharmacies to compound it from capsules.
FDA shortages page covering oseltamivir
Jan 11, 2013, CIDRAP News story noting shortages

Measles still too common in Europe, says ECDC

The 30 countries in the European Union and European Economic Area (EU and EEA) had 12,096 measles cases from November 2012 through October 2013, which is well below 2010 and 2011 levels but still too high, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) reported yesterday.

"The number remains unacceptably high, considering that measles and rubella are targeted for elimination in Europe by 2015," the agency said. The reported cases included three deaths and eight cases of acute measles encephalitis.

Countries that reported the most cases were Germany, 14%; Italy, 28%; the Netherlands, 18%; Romania, 14%; and the United Kingdom, 19%. The Netherlands had the highest incidence at 130 cases per million people.

By age-group, incidence was highest in infants under 1 year old, at 172 cases per million, followed by 1- to 4-year-olds, 93 per million, and 10- to 14-year-olds, 74 per million.

Of 9,882 cases in which patient vaccination status was known, 87% of patients were unvaccinated, 9% had received one dose of measles vaccine, 0.5% had received two or more doses, and 4% had received an unknown number of doses.

As for rubella, the ECDC said 27 EU and EEA countries reported 39,122 cases over the same 12-month period, with Poland accounting for 99% of them. Fewer than 1% of cases were lab-confirmed.
Oct 2013 ECDC report (released Jan 7, 2014)

India on cusp of being declared completely polio-free

Declared free of endemic polio 2 years ago, India may soon be classified as completely polio-free by the World Health Organization (WHO), The Hindu, India's national newspaper, reported yesterday.

The WHO will declare the country polio-free if no polio cases are detected by Jan 13, the country's health minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, told The Hindu. "Any country that does not have a case of polio for 3 consecutive years is declared polio-free by the WHO," Azad said.

The last case of polio in India was detected in January 2011 in West Bengal's Howrah district, near Kolkata. In 2009, India had 50% of the world's polio cases, the story said.
Jan 7 Hindu report