Food Irradiation Update is published by the Minnesota Beef Council

Quotable Quotes:

"People's perception of the disease (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) is coloured by the fact that it's not a very nice disease," adding that salmonella, botulism and E. coli are much more effective killers.” Stephen Moore, chairman of bovine genomics, University of Alberta's department of agriculture

 "We've resolved our differences. Both restaurants agreed to settle the claims with the (E. coli) victims and are now going upstream after the suppliers," William Marler, Attorney, Marler Clark.

In This Update:

E. coli victims settle claims with restaurants serving California-grown veggies

Risk of contracting BSE lower than one in a million: Salmonella, botulism, E. coli considered deadlier

Wegmans heads Fortune's best-employer list

Food Technology Stock Rises

Cattle linked to common stomach bug

Antimicrobial Efficacy of UV radiation on Escherichia coli O157:H7 (EDL 933) in fruit juices of different absorptivities

E. coli victims settle claims with restaurants serving California-grown veggies (Jan. 13, 2005); Knight-Ridder Tribune; By Joe Livernois, The Monterey Co. Herald, CA.

Victims of an E. coli outbreak allegedly involving contaminated vegetables grown in Salinas Valley are, according to this story, settling their claims against the restaurants serving tainted produce in 2003. But, the story says, the legal cases continue while the restaurant owners attempt to pin
the blame on Salinas Valley produce companies, and operators of those produce companies blame the Monterey County Water Resources Agency.

William Marler, a Seattle attorney representing the victims, was cited as saying that terms of the settlement agreement between the restaurants and the approximately 49 victims of the outbreak are confidential. Fred Gordon, a San Diego attorney representing Pat & Oscars restaurant and The Sequoias, a retirement facility in Portola Valley, was cited as saying that not all those claims have been settled, but most have, and that once the final claims are settled, the terms of the agreements will be public.

Marler was quoted as saying, "We've resolved our differences. Both restaurants agreed to settle the claims with the victims and are now going upstream after the suppliers."

The story says that the suppliers have filed claims against Monterey County, alleging the county failed to maintain Santa Rita Creek, resulting in flooding that contaminated a field with toxic substances and animal waste.

The story notes that a woman at The Sequoias, 85-year-old Alice McWalter, died after eating raw spinach she got from a self-service buffet in the facility. She died on Oct. 14, 2003, at Stanford Medical Center, two days after she became violently ill after eating a salad from the buffet. At least 16 others at The Sequoias also got sick, but they all survived, according to Marler.

In Southern California, health officials were cited as concluding that Pat & Oscars customers treated for E. coli had all consumed salads provided in pre-mixed, pre-washed packaged lettuce mixes. Those bagged salads were tracked back to Salinas Valley.

Gordon was further cited as saying his clients filed cross-complaints against two distributors and the two Salinas Valley produce companies, Diamond Produce and River Ranch Fresh Foods. Those companies grew, processed and bagged the vegetables that eventually were consumed by customers at the restaurant or residents at The Sequoias.

Gordon added that the two Southern California distribution companies -- FT Produce and Gold Coast Produce -- have settled the case, agreeing to pay a total of $5 million to Pat & Oscars, but that the restaurant's case against Diamond Produce and River Ranch is not yet resolved.
Meanwhile, attorneys for the two produce companies have filed claims against Monterey County, California.

Source: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via FSNET:

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Even if you sat down and ate a slab of mad cow steak, your chances of contracting the human variety of BSE are, according to this story, close to nil. Chris Clark, of the University of Saskatchewan's Western College of Veterinary Medicine, was cited as saying that Canada's fourth instance of BSE in cattle in a population of 15 million cattle across the country -- with six million of those over the 24-month-old hump, when BSE commonly emerges -- puts the chances of coming across cattle with mad cow at less than one in a million, adding, "Since the middle of last year we have been involved in a very aggressive targeted surveillance program. Canada committed to testing 8,000 animals last year, with a ramp up to 30,000 animals this year."

Stephen Moore, chairman of bovine genomics at the University of Alberta's department of agriculture, was quoted as saying, "People's perception of the disease is coloured by the fact that it's not a very nice disease," adding that salmonella, botulism and E. coli are much more effective killers.

Source: National Post via FSNET; By Nicholas Kohler:

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 by Deborah Silver for Meatingplace.com:  

Wegmans Food Markets topped Fortune magazine's eighth annual list of the best 100 companies to work for in America.  The Rochester, N.Y.-based grocery chain, whose motto is "employees first, customers second," scored high marks on employee surveys in regard to job satisfaction and communication with management, among the biggest factors in determining the list.

"I've been aiming for this for 54 years," says Robert Wegman, the 86-year-old company chairman, who led the company to $3.4 billion in sales last year. "It's taken a long while to hit the target, but I finally got there."

At Wegmans' 67 stores in four states, 32,800 workers are paid hourly wages at the high end of the market and offered a $3-per-week health insurance premium. The result is a 6 percent annual turnover rate among full-time employees, compared to 19 percent among its competitors. "It's hard for me to walk through a store without customers stopping me and saying, 'You've got a great store, but, wow, are your people something else,'" says Wegman.

Editors Note: Wegmans, a leader in the introduction of irradiated ground beef, has provided Food Irradiation Update with the following statement: "Wegmans is a strong believer in the irradiation process.  Although we take every measure to ensure all our ground beef products are safe, the additional step of irradiation adds another layer to the food safety chain.  Irradiated ground beef is a value-added product, and we are proud to offer this alternative to our customers.”

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Speculation that Sunday's tsunami disaster in South Asia could benefit Food Technology Service Inc. in Mulberry, Florida sent the company's stock up to $1.55 a share Tuesday, a one-day jump of 40 percent. The Nasdaq stock, which closed at $1.11 on Monday, traded as high as $2.70 a share early in the day on rumors relief agencies might use the company's irradiation service, said Jim Jones, the vice president of sales and marketing. The stock may have also benefited by a rumor that cable network CNBC would air a positive story on irradiation featuring Food Technology, he said. But no relief agencies or CNBC reporters have contacted the company yet. Volume soared to nearly 2.8 million shares from an average of 24,954 shares during the past three months. Food Technology reported a profit of $46,136 on revenue of $403,210 for the quarter ending Sept. 30. The company uses gamma radiation to kill pests and disease-related microorganisms in food and medical products.

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Cows - New Zealand's main export producers - have, according to this story, been revealed as unexpected carriers of the most prevalent stomach bug, campylobacter.
The story notes that the number of food poisoning cases caused by campylobacter has quadrupled in New Zealand in the past 15 years and is now five times Australia's rate and almost 10 times that of Canada, and that experts assumed the increase was related to the growing popularity of chicken, a prime source of the bug.

But an Institute of Environmental Science and Research study, published quietly by the Ministry of Health two years ago, found that the biggest risk factor for campylobacter in the rural district of Ashburton was contact with cows. The story notes that eating chicken is still believed to be the main cause of campylobacter in urban areas.

The finding was unearthed during a Herald inquiry into what is in our food and why New Zealand has the highest food poisoning rate in the developed world.
The Ashburton study suggests that New Zealand's livestock-based economy may be a big contributor to these high rates.  It recommends that farmers should:

        Stop drinking raw milk taken directly from cows on the farm.

        Stop drinking untreated water.

        Wash their hands before eating or smoking after contact with animals.

 Dr Roger Cook, the Food Safety Authority's principal adviser for food microbiology, was cited as saying the findings did not threaten New Zealand's dairy and meat exports, which were processed or frozen.

The FSA has commissioned nine further reports from Environmental Science and Research to follow up the Ashburton study, including a discussion document on the main sources of campylobacter, to be published in March. The authority says contact with animals, drinking untreated milk and water, and swimming in contaminated water appears to be "equally, if not more responsible" than eating chicken and other foods for most cases.

The story notes that the Ashburton study found campylobacter in 98 per cent of dairy cows' faeces, 84 per cent of beef cattle faeces, 65 per cent of duck faeces and 60 per cent of sheep faeces. This meant that farmers who had any contact with animal faeces needed to be specially careful about washing hands before eating or smoking.  The levels of campylobacter in meat were much lower.

Dr Cook was further cited as saying that as well as doing further research on the sources of the bug, Environmental Science and Research was working on ways of reducing human infection from chicken, including "crust freezing" techniques which could kill the bacteria without hardening the texture of the chicken, adding, "Overseas they have found that if you freeze the chicken it kills off a lot of the campylobacter. So we are looking at the effect of refrigeration, both chilled and frozen, to see if there are some effects that we can use to kill off campylobacter in chicken."

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Journal of Food Protection Volume 68, Number 1 p. 49-58 ; Juan M. Oteiza ; Mercedes Peltzer ; Leda Gannuzzi ; AndnoemÌ Zaritzky; http://www.foodprotection.org/QuickLinks.htm

Abstract
The efficacy of UV light for inactivating E. coli (ATCC 25922) and E. coli O157:H7 (EDL 933) was examined in fruit juices (orange, apple, and multifruit) with different absorptivities under several operating conditions (liquid film thickness and agitation rate). The juices were inoculated with two bacterial concentrations (105 and 107 CFU/ml) and were treated using a UV disinfection unit at 254 nm; UV doses ranged from 0 to 6 J/cm2. The effect of the culture medium, tryptone soy agar (TSA) and sorbitol MacConkey agar (SMAC), on the recovery of E. coli strains exposed to UV radiation was also analyzed. The most suitable culture medium for recovery of E. coli strains in juices exposed to UV radiation was TSA. Values of D (radiation dose [joules per square centimeter] necessary to decrease the microbial population by 90%) obtained in all juices assessed were higher in TSA than in SMAC. In the juices analyzed, stirring of the medium exposed to UV radiation and reducing liquid film thickness (to 0.7 mm) produced the highest bactericidal effect. A linear relationship was found between the D -values obtained and the absorptivity coefficients for all the juices. The higher the absorbance of the medium, the greater the values of D required to inactivate E. coli strains by UV radiation. An equation was developed to describe the relationship of the fraction of energy absorbed by the system (absorbed energy factor [AEF]), the thickness of the film exposed to UV radiation, and the absorptivity coefficient of the juices. A linear relationship was found between D and AEF in the different juices tested.

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Irradiated Foods Booklet Provides Science-based Information on Food Irradiation: The American Council on Science & Health booklet on irradiated foods can be downloaded from: http://www.acsh.org/publications/booklets/irradiated2003.html .

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For more information on food irradiation go to http://www.mnbeef.org/

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Ronald F. Eustice
Executive Director
Minnesota Beef Council
2950 Metro Drive # 102
Bloomington, MN 55425
USA
Phone: 952/854-6980
Fax: 952/854-6906
E-mail: ron@mnbeef.org
Website: www.mnbeef.org