Getting to the CORE of foodborne illness outbreaks

FDA establishes foodborne illness outbreak response network Aims at increased coordination, using lessons learned

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced today a streamlined, integrated approach to effectively and rapidly respond to human and animal foodborne illness outbreaks: the FDA Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation (CORE) Network.

The CORE Network is comprised of a multi-disciplinary team of epidemiologists, veterinarians, microbiologists, environmental health specialists, emergency coordinators, and risk communications specialists. Working full-time on outbreak prevention and response at headquarters, the CORE is complemented by trained, experienced investigators in FDA field offices nationwide. CORE will coordinate closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and state public health and agriculture agencies in human and animal foodborne illness outbreaks.  More

Test Identifies Red Angus Carriers of Bone Disease

By Sandra Avant
September 29, 2011

A new test that detects a rare and deadly bone disorder in Red Angus is now available to cattle producers, thanks to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists.
Marble bone disease, also known as osteopetrosis, had not been seen in the United States since the 1960s until it resurfaced in Red Angus cattle three years ago. The birth defect, which affects humans, cattle and other animals, causes abnormal brain and bone marrow cavity development, leading to overly dense, brittle bones. Calves with the mutation usually are stillborn or die soon after birth.

To stop the disease in cattle, scientists at the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center (USMARC) in Clay Center, Neb., and the Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) in Beltsville, Md. collaborated with several university and Red Angus Association of America partners to identify the gene mutation responsible for the disorder. They then developed a DNA diagnostic test that identifies osteopetrosis carriers. More

First ‘Animal Welfare Approved’ restaurant to open

HUDSON, NY – On Oct. 1, the first Animal Welfare Approved Restaurant, Grazin', in Hudson, NY, is set to open for business. As a result, Grazin' will become the first restaurant in the US using only Animal Welfare Approved meat, eggs and dairy products. Restaurants can only earn the distinction of being an "Animal Welfare Approved Restaurant" if all meat, dairy and egg products are from Animal Welfare Approved farms.

The owners and operators of both Grazin' Angus Acres farm in Ghent, NY, and the new Grazin' restaurant are Dan Gibson and his family. When Grazin' opens its doors, customers will consume locally sourced and sustainably produced meals. Signature menu items at the classic 1950s-style stainless steel diner on Warren Street will include eight different burgers; all made using local Grazin' Angus Acres' 100 percent grass fed and finished Black Angus beef served with hand-cut organic fries, plus a range of homemade organic ice creams and house-made organic sodas from an old fashioned fountain. More

Elk farmer in battle with Ottawa bureaucracy over compensation for cull

By Adrian Humphreys

  

Like driftwood logs, two enormous antlers stretch from their sharp tips down four feet to the head of an enormous elk, lying dead on the flat Prairie soil.

These are the "trophy" - an enormous souvenir of the kill that brought corporate executives and celebrities to Rick Alsager's 1,600hectare Saskatchewan farm on the Yellowhead Highway, midway between Saskatoon and Edmonton.

Bagging the best of these trophies, some of the biggest in the world, ran into the tens of thousands of dollars.
Then, on April 16, 2010, one of the elk tested positive for chronic wasting disease and the operation was quarantined by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. An order to kill the herd soon followed.

The fallout of that cull has not yet settled.

What ostensibly is a battle over compensation has become a culture clash - a head-butting akin to rutting elk - pitting civil servants against a prickly farmer; bureaucrats against a man fed up with government; city-living regulators and taxfunded lawyers against someone who has lived on a farm all his life and represents himself to save the cash.

It is, Mr. Alsager believes, a battle to save the real Canada. More

Big data gaps on animal drugs and antibiotic resistance

Robert Roos  News Editor

Sep 16, 2011 (CIDRAP News) – The US government needs to collect much more data on antibiotic use in food animals and resistant bacteria in animals and retail meat to clarify the possible links between them, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report released this week.

Government agencies have collected some data, but the data "lack crucial details necessary to examine trends and understand the relationship between use and resistance," the GAO said. The agency also said a shortage of data makes it unclear whether a voluntary strategy the government uses to deal with concerns about older antibiotics is working.

A number of medical, public health, and food safety groups for years have been advocating restrictions on the use of antibiotics in food animals, because of concern that excessive use gives rise to resistant bacteria, which can then spread to humans via food.

As noted in the report, however, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has banned just one antibiotic for use in food animals out of concern about encouraging bacterial resistance. In 2000 the FDA proposed to ban the use of two fluoroquinolones, enrofloxacin and sarafloxacin, in poultry. The maker of sarafloxacin voluntarily withdrew the product, but the enrofloxacin manufacturer opposed the move, and it took the FDA until 2005 to finally ban its use in poultry.

The new GAO report repeats the main thrust of a report issued in 2004, in which the agency called for improved data collection and risk assessment.

"Since GAO's 2004 report, FDA began collecting data from drug companies on antibiotics sold for use in food animals, but the data do not show what species antibiotics are used in or the purpose of their use, such as for treating disease or improving animals' growth rates," the new report says.

"Also, although USDA [US Department of Agriculture] agencies continue to collect use data through existing surveys of producers, data from these surveys provide only a snapshot of antibiotic use practices," it says.

Further, the agencies' data on resistance are not representative of food animals and meat across the nation and, because of a change in sampling method, in some cases have become less representative of the national picture since 2004, the GAO concluded.

The report says that a voluntary process that the FDA implemented in 2003 to assess risks associated with new antibiotics for animals is working reasonably well, but the process for limiting risks related to older antibiotics has problems.

In 2003 the FDA issued guidance to help drug sponsors evaluate potential risks to human health associated with new animal antibiotics. FDA documents say this guidance has been effective in limiting risks, according to the report. In addition, representatives of some producer, public health, and veterinary groups, along with an animal pharmaceutical organization, told the GAO they were "generally satisfied with the risk assessment approach," though they raised some concerns. More

Two more children infected with novel swine flu virus

Sep 6, 2011 (CIDRAP News) – Two more children in Pennsylvania were infected with a novel swine influenza A/H3N2 virus that includes a gene from the 2009 pandemic H1N1 virus, raising the number of such infections in the state to three, the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PDH) announced yesterday.

The two children, like the first case-patient reported Sep 2, attended the Washington County Agricultural Fair in southwestern Pennsylvania the week of Aug 13 to 20, PDH officials said in a press release. The first patient has recovered, and the other two patients are recovering, they said.

On Sep 2 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that one child each in Indiana and Pennsylvania had been infected with a swine-origin H3N2 virus that included the matrix gene from the 2009 H1N1 virus. The viruses were described as similar but not identical. Both of the children recovered. The Indiana child might have caught the virus from a caregiver who had had contact with pigs, the CDC said.

Investigators from the PDH and CDC have not yet determined exactly how the three Pennsylvania patients became infected, according to the PDH. The earlier CDC announcement, however, said the first patient, a girl, was exposed to pigs and other animals at the fair.

None of the three patients had any direct link to the others, according to Brandi Hunter-Davenport, a PDH spokeswoman. "Their only commonality was attending the fair," she told CIDRAP News today. More

Canada’s Wild Bird Survey for Avian Influenza Underway

Ottawa, September 2, 2011: As wild birds begin their fall migration, Canada’s seventh annual Inter-Agency Wild Bird Influenza Survey is underway. The survey is part of global efforts advocated by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to detect highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses that could threaten the agricultural sector and human health.
"The wild bird survey is an important part of Canada’s avian influenza prevention and preparedness biosecurity strategy," said Dr. Brian Evans, Canada’s Chief Veterinary Officer.

"It’s an early warning system designed to detect highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses such as the Eurasian strain of H5N1. To date this highly pathogenic H5N1 strain has never been found in Canada."

Earlier this week the OIE and the FAO noted the emergence of a new strain of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus. While the OIE said that the genetic mutation is not an immediate cause for alert, both organizations recommended sustained monitoring of avian influenza viruses. More

CDC: 2 children sickened by novel swine flu strain

One had contact with pigs. The other is believed to have been infected by a caregiver who had contact with pigs, suggesting the virus can spread person-to-person.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the new virus contains a gene from the H1N1 swine flu that caused a worldwide scare two years ago, plus parts of other viruses that have infected pigs over the last decade.

The children were infected in July and August and have recovered. Both had received flu shots last year.
Officials are investigating other reports of illness in people who attended an agricultural fair in Pennsylvania. No additional cases have been confirmed so far. More

Electronic identification of bovines to further strengthen food safety and animal health in the EU

Brussels, 30 August 2011 – The European Commission today adopted a proposal that will, when implemented, further enhance food safety and better safeguard animal health in the EU.

In particular, the Commission proposal provides the legal framework for the introduction, for the first time and on a voluntary basis, of an electronic identification system (EID) for bovine animals. Bovine EID is already used in several EU Member States on a private basis mainly for farm management purposes. Its implementation on a wider scale will strengthen the current traceability system for bovine animals and food products (e.g. beef) making it faster and more accurate. Finally, it may bring benefits to farmers and other stakeholders as it will reduce the administrative burden through the simplification of the current administrative procedures. Despite its voluntary character, the Commission proposal allows Member States to introduce a mandatory regime at national level.

In addition to EID, the Commission proposal introduces changes in relation to labelling, by repealing the current provisions on voluntary beef labelling. The main objective is to reduce unnecessary administrative burden.

Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner, John Dalli, said. "This is a new step forward in the reinforcement of the safety of the food chain in the EU. Indeed, when implemented, this proposal will facilitate the reporting of animal movements to the central data base. This will mean better and faster traceability of infected animals and/or infected food, which will allow us to react rapidly and fend off any future potential risks to the food chain".

Other benefits

Bovine EID will strengthen consumer protection, improve disease prevention and control and crisis management, support the competitiveness of the sector (e.g. by facilitating identification and registration controls or by improving breeding animal and production management systems) and improve trade perspectives. Meat processing establishments and traders of live animals will also benefit through a reduction of labor costs. More