Beach Beat: Public’s right to know should trump trade secrets

by Coral Beach, Managing Editor, Food Safety News

ICYMI, as the texters say, the FDA finally came clean about a dirty food production operation, naming Dixie Dew Products Inc. as the manufacturer of soy-based goo marketed as an allergen-free alternative to peanut butter.

The revelation Friday evening came weeks after FDA inspectors found filthy conditions, insect infestation and broken food safety equipment at the Kentucky production plant. They went in to check the plant on March 3 because little kids across the country were infected from with the same strain of E. coli O157:H7 that was found in unopened jars of soy nut butter produced by Dixie Dew.

The violations were immediately evident, and the outbreak victim list was growing, but the Food and Drug Administration waited four weeks to name the producer. In the meantime, individual companies that had used the soy paste in their branded products were left to initiate their own recalls and consumers were left in the dark.

How much faster would products have been recalled if FDA had made public the name of the manufacturer and its list of customers? We will never know.

What we do know is that the outbreak count climbed from 12 sick people in five states to 29 people in a dozen states in the four weeks between the initial outbreak announcement and the FDA’s move to go public.

Twenty-four of the 29 victims are children, according to the Friday update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The median age of the victims is 8. A dozen victims have required hospitalization and nine victims have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure.

Why didn’t FDA reveal Dixie Dew as the manufacturer and use its considerable power to force all companies involved to immediately initiate recalls? Federal law protects “confidential corporate information” is the standard response from FDA officials.

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting pretty tired of that refrain. It’s true that federal agencies can’t lobby Congress, but FDA should take a cue from the folks over at the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service who figured out how to get a rule change. The FSIS can and does collect and release retail distribution details and other information that helps consumers identify recalled meat and poultry products.

At least one member of Congress thinks its time for a change in the way FDA handles such situations. Representative Rosa Delauro, D-CT, praised FDA for shutting down Dixie Dew this past week, but called for the agency to do more.

“Not only did Dixie Dew fail to take action to prevent contamination of its products, we do not even know all of the names and locations of where the recalled products were sold,” DeLauro said in a news release.

“While the FDA made the right decision in shutting down the Dixie Dew plant, the agency should take another step forward and reverse its policy of withholding the names and locations of stores and schools where recalled food products are sold.

“As we have seen with Dixie Dew, it is irresponsible and insufficient to rely on the good faith of food corporations to provide all the necessary recall information. Americans deserve to know these details to ensure their health and safety.”

Research published in the March edition of the Journal of Environmental Health supports the argument for public disclosure.

Authored by a trio of food safety heavy hitters from academia — Benjamin Chapman of North Carolina State University, Maria Sol Erdozaim of Kansas State University, and Douglas Powell formerly of K-State and currently living and consulting in Australia — the special report on when to go public pulls together information from dozens of sources.

“The intent of this special report is to contribute to the discourse on public risk communication related to foodborne hazards, and to argue for the establishment of guidelines for determining what is timely, the information content of going-public messages, and to aid public health entities in protecting consumers’ health,” the researchers wrote.

Chapman and his fellow researchers examined numerous examples of foodborne illness outbreaks and how government responded and why. Some common denominators emerged in the answers to the “why” question:

Concern about public panic and/or information overload, which can lead to recall numbness;
Fear that the source of a pathogen could be misidentified, causing undeserved damage to specific companies or segments of industry, such as when FDA incorrectly identified domestic tomatoes as a source, later to discover that imported peppers were actually the cause of an outbreak; and
A lack of guidelines or procedures for determining when to go public, which encourages officials to wait longer to release information.

The researchers address each of these points and others, citing various government people and policies as well as previous research.

“There is no indication in the literature that consumers benefit from paternalistic protection decisions to guard against information overload,” Chapman, Erdozaim and Powell found on the point of public panic.

“Good risk communication practice is to be open and transparent; withholding information, for whatever seemingly logical reason, denies consumers the opportunity to take measures to protect their health. The information might eventually leak out anyway, thereby undermining an organization’s credibility.”

It’s worth the time to read the rest of the Chapman, Erdozaim, Powell report, but for those who don’t have time, let me cut to the chase for you.

“Public health officials have a challenging job: it can be difficult to discern true signals about an emerging risk from random noise. But establishing some ground rules — and publicizing those rules — would help build public trust,” the trio of food safety researchers contend.

“We propose that communicators and public health organizations develop guidelines for public disclosure of risks based on the questions in (the table at right). … Communication is important for educating the public about steps that individuals can take to reduce the spread of infectious disease and to protect themselves.

“Not naming the source of an outbreak or giving recall information too late affects the public’s trust in agencies. Furthermore, when the agencies themselves do not have a standard procedure regarding when to name or not name implicated firms in an outbreak, it seems as though the agencies’ priority is the firm and not public health.”

Well said.

This opinion piece first appeared at Food Safety News and is reposted with permission.

Norovirus-contaminated oysters sicken hundreds in Canada, USA

Consumption of raw or undercooked oysters from British Columbia is blamed for 321 cases of norovirus gastroenteritis in three Canadian provinces, according to an updated report from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), released March 27.

The outbreak, which has affected residents of British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, began in December 2016 and is ongoing.

The British Columbia Center for Disease Control (BCCDC) first alerted the public to the problem on Jan. 13, reporting more than 70 cases of norovirus gastroenteritis in four different health districts. All of the illnesses were associated with consumption of raw or undercooked oysters consumed either in restaurants or in private homes.

On Jan. 20, Alberta Health Services (AHS) reported a cluster of 10 cases of gastrointestinal illness, which occurred in the Edmonton area between Jan. 10-12. The outbreak victims had consumed raw oysters. The cause of the illnesses was not verified by laboratory testing.

On Feb. 2, Ontario’s Acting Chief Medical Officer of Health alerted residents of Canada’s largest province about 24 reported cases of “gastrointestinal illness consistent with norovirus” in individuals who had eaten raw or undercooked oysters.

PHAC issued an initial Public Health Notice on Feb. 7, and has been updating the case count periodically. As of March 28’s update, 321 clinical cases of gastroenteritis linked to oysters had been reported between Dec. 4, 2016, and March 18, this year: 223 in British Columbia, 42 in Alberta and 56 in Ontario. Not all of the outbreak victims were tested for norovirus; however, testing in several cases has confirmed the presence of the virus in those patients.

According to a spokesperson from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), seven shellfish aquaculture sites have been temporarily closed by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The closures are based on sample results and/or epidemiological assessments. Investigation is ongoing into other harvest areas that have been linked to illnesses.

CFIA has mandated additional control measures for shellfish processing establishments to follow, and is conducting compliance verification activities to confirm that the supplementary measures have been implemented effectively. According to a March 7 notice to the industry, these additional measures will remain in effect until the outbreak has been declared over.

Not just in Canada

Seattle-King County Public Health is investigating a series of illnesses associated with consumption of oysters harvested along the Washington coast. Between Jan. 10 and March 20, as many as 39 people may have become ill after eating raw oysters at one of several different restaurants or private events in the county.

King is the most populous county in Washington State. Seattle is the county seat, and is the location of most of the restaurants associated with the illnesses. Victims of the outbreaks suffered from nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. No laboratory confirmation is available; however these symptoms are ‘suggestive’ of norovirus, according to a March 28 news release issued by THe health department.

While oysters served at the retail locations were harvested from various areas along the Washington coast, one small part of Samish Bay accounted for 22 illnesses linked to four servings. A section of the Samish Bay growing area was closed on March 17 for all species.

In recent months, outbreaks of norovirus gastroenteritis in countries as far apart as New Zealand and France also have been linked to consumption of raw or undercooked oysters. An unspecified number of reported illnesses in France triggered a Jan. 5 suspension of oyster and mussel harvest from Thau in the Hérault prefecture. Live bivalve mollusks from Thau were exported to China, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Luxembourg, Macao, the Netherlands, Thailand, Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates.

What consumers need to know

Bivalve mollusks (clams, oysters, mussels and scallops) feed on algae. Oysters take in 1.5 to 10.0 liters of water per hour per gram of body weight, which can amount to more than 50 gallons of water in a 24-hour period. Plankton and other suspended matter, including bacteria and viruses, are trapped as the water passes over the gills and concentrated within.

In a study published in December 2016, French researchers used nucleic acid amplification techniques to estimate the number of norovirus particles in oysters implicated in several outbreaks. They found between 43 and 1170 viruses per oyster.

Norovirus has a reported infectious dose of just 10-100 particles. Thus, consuming even a single contaminated raw oyster could be enough to infect a susceptible consumer in some cases.

Norovirus gastroenteritis is a short-lived but highly unpleasant illness. Typically, symptoms include nausea, vomiting and a copious, watery diarrhea, and last from one to five days. The virus is highly contagious, and can be spread through contaminated food and water, via direct person-to-person transfer, or through hand-to-mouth contact with contaminated surfaces. With an incubation period of just 24-48 hours, the illness can snowball in confined places, such as cruise ships, hotels, hospitals and nursing homes.

Health authorities in Canada and the USA urge consumers to take the following precautions when preparing or eating oysters and other bivalve mollusks:

Ensure oysters are fully cooked before consuming them. It is recommended to cook oysters to an internal temperature of 90° C (194° F) for a minimum of 90 seconds. Quick steaming or cooking oysters until the shells just open is not enough to kill norovirus.
Discard any oysters that do not open when cooked.
Eat oysters right away after cooking, and refrigerate leftovers.
Always keep raw and cooked oysters separate.
Wash your hands well with soap before handling any food. Be sure to wash your hands, cutting boards, counters, knives and other utensils after preparing raw foods.
If you develop symptoms of nausea, vomiting or diarrhea, wait at least 48 hours after the last episode of vomiting and/or diarrhea before preparing any food for others.

This article first appeared on Food Safety News and is reposted here with permission.

Canadian E. coli Outbreak Traced to Robin Hood Flour

Canadians are being warned today not to use or eat Robin Hood brand All Purpose Flour, Original (10 kg; Lot codes containing BB/MA 2018 AL 17 and 6 291 548; UPC 0 59000 01652 8), as these products may be contaminated with E. coli O121.

Smucker Foods of Canada Corp. initiated a recall after the product was linked to an outbreak of E. coli O121 that has sickened 25 people since mid-November 2016. All 25 outbreak victims were infected with the same genetic strain of E. coli O121. The recalled product was sold in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

Six individuals were hospitalized; all six either have recovered or are recovering from their illnesses. The youngest victim was eight years old, and the eldest was 79. Fourteen men and 11 women are among the 25 victims. There have been no deaths.

Cases were reported in British Columbia (12), Saskatchewan (4), Alberta (4) and Newfoundland and Labrador (5). The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) advises that their ongoing investigation may lead to additional product recalls.

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and CFIA remind consumers that it is not safe to taste or eat raw dough or batter, regardless of the type of flour used, as raw flour can be contaminated with harmful bacteria such as E.coli.

Symptoms of E. coli infection can include severe stomach cramps, watery or bloody diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, and headache, and last 5-10 days in most cases. Typically, there is little or no fever.

PHAC urges the public to take the following precautions:

Do not use or eat recalled Robin Hood All Purpose Flour, Original. Secure the recalled product in a plastic bag and throw it out or return it to the store where it was purchased for a refund.
If you have flour without its original packaging and are unsure if it is included in the food recall, throw it out just to be safe.
Thoroughly wash any containers that were used to store the recalled product before using them again.
If you suspect you may have used recalled flour to make baked goods or a non-baked product, such as children’s play-dough, throw it out. Wash all surfaces or containers where the product may have been used or stored.
Wash your hands with soap and warm water immediately following any contact with the recalled product.