While the coronavirus infection continues to spread exponentially, food companies should perform due diligence with suppliers, even though the risk of virus transmission in the supply chain is low.
E. coli tests of romaine fields where investigators traced contaminated lettuce did not turn up outbreak strains, so the FDA will move to an in-depth “root-cause” investigation for three outbreaks.
Public health officials are investigating an outbreak of hepatitis A illnesses in three states that might be linked to fresh, conventional blackberries sold at Fresh Thyme Farmers Market grocery.
Michael Taylor, former deputy commissioner for food for FDA and present co-chair of the Stop Foodborne Illness Board, suggested that in spite of all the technology, collaboration and education to improve food safety, crisis management still drives changes.
Though Cyclospora outbreaks in the US happen less frequently than those caused by typical pathogens, the recent salad mix outbreaks occurring in July and August of this year have a familiar ring.
During the recent romaine lettuce E. coli outbreak, the CDC web-site page for E. Coli got 2 million page views. The month before that, it had gotten just 125,000.