Foodborne Disease

(CIDRAP News) – More than 12% of passenger aircraft contained Escherichia coli or coliform bacteria in a recent round of testing, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found.

(CIDRAP News) – Calling for better prevention from catchment to consumer, the World Health Organization (WHO) on Sep 21 issued new guidelines to ensure drinking-water safety worldwide.

(CIDRAP News) – The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing a set of regulations to reduce Salmonella enteritidis (SE) contamination of eggs on poultry farms, with a goal of reducing human SE infections by about 28%.

(CIDRAP News) – California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has vetoed a bill that would have required school boards to take formal action and provide detailed information to students and parents before serving any irradiated food in schools.

In a brief veto message published on the governor's office Web site, Schwarzenegger said the bill would impose needless costs on school districts.

(CIDRAP News) – A nationwide survey by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suggests that risk factors for foodborne disease, such as inadequate handwashing by workers and keeping food at unsafe temperatures, are very common in the nation's restaurants, retail stores, and institutional food services.

(CIDRAP News) – Four cases of infection with Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Colorado have led an Illinois company to recall about 406,000 pounds of ground beef and beef steaks, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

(CIDRAP News) – A distinctive group of symptoms—shortness of breath, impaired gag reflex, and absence of diarrhea—may be predictive of severe outcomes, including death, from foodborne botulism, a group of researchers reported recently.

(CIDRAP News) – The general trend for Salmonella in meat and poultry samples tested by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) continues to head downward, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced on Aug 5.

(CIDRAP News) – Five cases of Escherichia coli 0157:H7 infection in Minnesota and Wisconsin have been linked with beef that was recalled by a Nebraska packing plant this week, according to the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH).

(CIDRAP NEWS) – Two baby food jars in California were found to contain the remains of ground-up castor beans but not purified ricin, the deadly poison derived from castor beans, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced last week.

The tampering incident caused no illness and apparently was confined to the Irvine, Calif., area, the FDA said in a Jul 28 news release.