Food Safety & Carving Pumpkins

Recent news about listeria and cantaloupe has heightened the awareness that all produce needs to be washed well before eating. But what about produce you don't plan to eat, such as the pumpkin for a jack-o-lantern? Have you thought about washing it? Most of us rinse off the dirt from the rind for safety, but have you thought about the bacteria or other pathogens which may be transferred from the pumpkin rind to your body? 

When children, or even adults, carve pumpkins it's pretty easy for dirt, bacteria and lots more to transfer to clothes, skin, into the nose or eyes, under the fingernails, and yes -- definitely into the mouth. Especially with young children; they're likely to want to taste pieces of the pumpkin rind as they carve. 

While the majority of us probably wouldn't even feel nauseated from this contamination, if you're in a high risk population, it could be deadly. High risk populations include young children, elderly, pregnant women, anyone recovering from disease or infection, and anyone undergoing chemotherapy or other specialized treatment. For those people, their immune system has been stressed. Therefore, the body doesn't have the ability to fight off the effects of pathogens which could cause a serious illness or even death. 

This year, as you get ready to make the jack-o-lanterns, do it safely. This rule is important whether it's from your own garden or purchased from another location. The potential for contamination is still there. 

When shopping for just the right pumpkin and handling many of them, be sure to wash your hands when you're done. Thoroughly wash hands with soap and water before touching your face or handling any other food. 

When you get home, wash the pumpkin well with dish soap and water, using a soft brush to get into the groves of the rind and around the stem area. Rinse thoroughly to remove remaining soap. Let air dry completely before carving. By air drying you're removing any pockets of moisture which could harbor bacteria you missed in cleaning. 

Follow these basic food handling tips and make sure your Halloween is a safe event for everyone in your family.

Happy Halloween!

Food Safety Project: How Safe is Your Food?

A year-long national investigation on Food Safety “How Safe is Your Food?” was reported and produced by 27 student journalists in the Carnegie-Knight News21 program.  Some of their articles have appeared in the Washington Post this month.

In their research, the students’ reporting determined: 

• Foodborne illnesses sicken one person in six — 48 million — in the U.S. each year. Of those, 128,000 require hospitalization and 3,000 die. 

• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration anticipates that 24 million agency-regulated products will enter the U.S. in 2011, but it expects to inspect only 1.59 percent of them.

• Nearly 3 million Americans are sickened by contaminated meat and poultry each year. Poultry carrying the salmonella pathogen is routinely sold to consumers with the expectation that they’ll protect themselves from infections.

• Even though small farms lobbied Congress successfully for an exemption from stringent new federal food safety regulations, there is no scientific evidence that their products are safer than those produced by large farms.


Click here for the project website and more information.

Listeria 101 for Hollywood

This month a television drama included a fictional outbreak of Listeriosis in a school. Unfortunately, the script writer hadn't done his homework on foodborne illnesses, as many viewers probably recognized. Americans have learned a lot about this very dangerous illness in the past few months as the death toll continues to rise from the contaminated cantaloupes grown in Colorado and distributed widely.

As a public service to CBS and it's drama the Good Wife, we would like to help the writer and his colleagues in Hollywood learn some important and basic facts about food poisoning from Listeria monocytogenes. These facts are published almost daily with each new article tracking the current outbreak.

Listeriosis does not occur as an instant outbreak. After ingesting the Listeria bacteria, it may take anywhere from three days for the first signs of illness to appear and up to two months for symptoms to develop. Flu-like symptoms include fever and muscle aches, stiff neck, and headaches.

While children, like all people, are at risk, the most vulnerable to Listeriosis are newborns, pregnant women, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems from other diseases or illnesses.

Click here for more information on Listeriosis and Listeria infections.

Intralytix to partner with Procter and Gamble on phage projects

Recent news: Intralytix, Inc. has entered into a Multiple Project Collaboration Agreement ("MPCA") with The Procter and Gamble Company (NYSE:PG).

"The MPCA sets the stage for Intralytix and P and G to collaborate on the development of bacteriophage (or phage) based technology for a range of applications," stated John Woloszyn, Intralytix's CEO.

"Our phage-based technology is all natural and environmentally friendly and we look forward to this collaboration bringing forth new innovations," Mr. Woloszyn added. The company already has two FDA/USDA approved phage-based products on the market: ListShield™, effective at substantially reducing or eliminating Listeria monocytogenes on food products, and EcoShield™, which is effective at substantially reducing or eliminating E. coli O157:H7 on red meat intended for grinding.

Intralytix, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on using its core bacteriophage/phage technology platform to improve human health through the development and commercialization of innovative products for food safety, animal health and human therapeutics and probiotics.
For more information, contact Mr. John Woloszyn (410-625-3813 or jwoloszyn@intralytix.com) or Dr. Barbara Miller (513-622-4350 or miller.be@pg.com).

more Intralytix press info

Wash Your Cantaloupes, Then Your Hands

The Listeria outbreak from Rocky Ford cantaloupes is growing and more illnesses and possible deaths may be linked to the contamination in the coming weeks. The problem is compounded by challenges in trying to determine where the cantaloupes were shipped. The most recent consumer information on this recall may be found here.

FDA Consumer Safety Information
Listeria can grow at refrigerator temperatures, about 40^◦ Fahrenheit (4^◦ Celsius). The longer ready-to-eat refrigerated foods are stored in the refrigerator, the more opportunity Listeria has to grow.

It is very important that consumers clean their refrigerators and other food preparation surfaces. Consumers should follow these simple steps:

• Wash hands with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds before and after handling food.
• Wash the inside walls and shelves of the refrigerator, cutting boards and countertops; then sanitize them with a solution of one tablespoon of chlorine bleach to one gallon of hot water; dry with a clean cloth or paper towel that has not been previously used.
• Wipe up spills in the refrigerator immediately and clean the refrigerator regularly.
• Always wash hands with warm water and soap following the cleaning and sanitization process.

The FDA advises consumers not to eat the recalled cantaloupes and to throw them away. Do not try to wash the harmful bacteria off the cantaloupe as contamination may be both on the inside and outside of the cantaloupe. Cutting, slicing and dicing may also transfer harmful bacteria from the fruit’s surface to the fruit’s flesh.
Listeriosis is rare but can be fatal, especially in certain high-risk groups. These groups include older adults, people with compromised immune systems and unborn babies and newborns. In pregnant women, listeriosis can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, and serious illness or death in newborn babies, though the mother herself rarely becomes seriously ill. A person with listeriosis usually has fever and muscle aches. Persons who think they might have become ill should consult their doctor.