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Michele Jay-Russell was interviewed for this multi-part One Health piece, entitled "The Infection Loop", in The Huffington Post.

For more information on the One Health Initiative click here.

Feral in the Fields: Food Safety Risks from Wildlife
Managing low probability, high consequence hazards

By Michele Jay-Russell
Published in Food Safety News on September 19, 2011

Last month's announcement by the Oregon Health Authority confirmed that deer droppings were the source of E. coli O157:H7 contamination in strawberry fields linked to 15 human illnesses, including one death.  These findings are not unprecedented because undercooked venison is a recognized vehicle of transmission for E. coli O157:H7.  Indeed, the first outbreak of deer meat-associated E. coli O157:H7 was described in 1995 among Oregon residents.

Prior to the strawberry outbreak, free-roaming wild animals were investigated as a potential source of fresh produce contamination during several notable outbreaks.  In 1996, deer intrusion into apple orchards in California with subsequent fecal contamination of dropped apples was identified as a possible contributing factor in a multi-state E. coli O157:H7 outbreak associated with unpasteurized apple juice.

In 2006, a nationwide outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 was traced to baby spinach grown on a single ranch in California, where a large population of feral pigs shared pasture with a grass-fed beef cattle herd; feces from cattle and feral pigs tested positive for the spinach outbreak strain.  Two years later in Alaska, public health officials investigating a campylobacteriosis outbreak linked to raw peas found the outbreak strain in fecal material from a large population of sandhill cranes feeding in the pea fields.  

These outbreaks illustrate the potential for wildlife to carry foodborne pathogens and cause illness through ingestion of contaminated fresh produce.  However, how significant is this food safety risk?

Read the whole story. 

Communicating Risks and Benefits: An Evidence-Based User's Guide

Baruch Fischhoff, PhD, Noel T. Brewer, PhD, & Julie S. Downs, PhD, editors
US Department of Health and Human Services Food and Drug Administration
Risk Communication Advisory Committee and consultants.

If you are involved in risk communication, here is a resource for you: Communicating Risks and Benefits:  An Evidence Based User's Guide.  This volume, from FDA's Risk Communication Advisory Committee and consultants, presents pointers on communication design, summaries of scientific foundations, and tips for evaluating communications in range of budgets.  Effective risk communication is essential to the well-being of any organization and those people who depend on it. Ineffective communication can cost lives, money, and reputations. Communicating Risks and Benefits: An Evidence-Based User's Guide provides the scientific foundations for effective communication.

Read the guide.

News

Conferences and Meetings

The American Society for Microbiology

May 20-24, 2011
New Orleans, Louisiana

Xunde Li attended the 111th General Meeting of The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) in New Orleans.  Xunde presented a poster entitled "Occurrence of Giardia intestinalis in Wild Rodents Populations in a Major Produce Production Region in California".

Advanced Topics in Microbial Safety of Fresh Produce Workshop

April 27-29, 2011
Wimauma, Florida

About 25 people participated in the Florida offering of the USDA Specialty Crops Research Initiative grant supported workshop “Advanced Topics in Microbial Safety of Fresh Produce”.  The workshop was held at the Balm Campus, Gulf Research & Education Center.  Topics included an introduction to Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment, science basis for GAP and GHP standards and metrics, and considerations in pathogen testing.  The breakout sessions allowed for interaction and in-depth discussion of issues related to metrics associated with good agricultural practices.  Extensive resources were provided to participants. Instructors included Trevor Suslow and Linda Harris from UC Davis and Michelle Danyluk and Keith Schneider from the University of Florida.

Microbial Challenge Study for Foods Workshop

April 7-8, 2011
Rosemont, Illinois

Linda Harris (WIFSS, University of California, Davis), Kathy Glass (University of Wisconsin-Madison) and Don Schaffner (Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey) presented a two-day course on developing and evaluating challenge study protocols, sponsored by the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP).  This course previously was presented prior to the 2010 meeting of the IAFP and to the California Food Emergency Response Team.  The workshop presents the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF) report and instructors guide the students though use of the material in the report to develop actual challenge study protocols based on NACMCF recommendations.

Conferences and Meetings

WCFS Advisory Board Meeting

April 6, 2011
College Park, MD

Rob Atwill, Linda Harris, and Michele Jay-Russell traveled to College Park, MD, to meet with the WCFS Advisory Board meeting chaired by Chris Elkins at the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.  Current and proposed research projects were discussed.  For more information on FDA-sponsored and leveraged research, click here.

Beef and Range Field Day

April 9, 2011
UC Sierra Foothill Research & Extension Center
Browns Valley, CA

Michele Jay-Russell attended the Beef and Range Field Day, which provided information to ranchers on UC extension programs such as the herd health program, using DNA information, niche markets, poisonous plants, and regulations regarding transport of agricultural equipment and livestock.  For more information on UC extension programs, click here. 

News

AVMA Announces New Podcast: Chickens in the Neighborhood

A couple years ago, AVMA took a look at the ins and outs of running a chicken coop in a residential area. Now, with more and more towns and cities allowing people to have chicken coops in residential areas, consumers are asking questions about the safety of the eggs from these chickens. In this podcast, Dr. Michele Jay-Russell of the UC DavisWestern Center for Food Safety discusses what you should know before you buy eggs from the house down the block, instead of the grocery store.  Listen to the podcast here.

Concerned About Radiation in Food? Here are Some Facts to Consider...

by Michael Payne

WIFSS has received several calls from media and consumers asking whether the Japanese nuclear reactor accident could affect the US food supply, in particular dairy products. The most important message for consumers is that our domestic food safety remains unaffected by events in Japan but, in an abundance of caution, state and federal regulatory agencies are aggressively monitoring our air, water and food. 

Other useful information includes:

• It’s important to remember that reactor accident occurred more than 5 thousand miles from the western coast of the United States.
• Theoretical dispersion models by EPA predict that that fallout will not substantively raise background levels of radiation in the United States or its territories.
• However, to be on the safe side, federal agencies are monitoring air, rain, drinking water and milk through its RadNet system
• Relative to imported food, FDA has released a fact sheet describing the systems in place protecting the US food supply

On the question of potassium iodide supplements:

Due to public concern there is an increased demand for potassium iodide which is used to prevent and treat harmful effects of radiation in people actually exposed. The FDA is not currently recommending that residents of the United States or its territories take potassium iodide, even as a preventative measure. Potassium iodide is only appropriate within close proximity to a nuclear event and inappropriate use can have adverse side effects such as abnormal heart rhythms, nausea, vomiting, electrolyte abnormalities and bleeding. Poison control centers have in fact already reported illnesses in people overdosing potassium iodide. In addition, the FDA is alerting consumers to be wary of internet sites and other retail outlets promoting products making false claims to prevent or treat effects of radiation or products that are not FDA-approved. These fraudulent products come in all varieties including dietary supplements, food items, or other products. For more information which puts radiation risk in perspective, visit the California Department of Health Services Questions & Answers page.

European Commission Visits WIFSS

March 28, 2011
Davis, CA

Dr. Marco Valletta, Assistant to the Director General, Directorate General for Health and Consumers of the European Commission (SANCO), visited WIFSS. He is responsible for overall coordination of the activities of SANCO in the fields of food safety, food and veterinary controls, consumer affairs, public health, risk assessment and animal health and welfare. He also manages institutional relations with the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament.

Dr. Valletta was invited to the United States by the Department of State (DOS) under the auspices of the DOS’ International Visitor Leadership Program. Objectives of his visit were to examine broad issues including US-EU trade policy, agriculture, food safety, biotechnology, animal husbandry and so on. Requested by the International Program Office of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, UC Davis, Rob Atwill and Xunde Li met Dr. Valletta and discussed current trends of microbial safety of produce in the US and EU. He took particular interest in the proposed Produce Safety Rule being developed by FDA.

Drs. Valletta (left) and Atwill

Sacramento and El Dorado County Master Food Preservers

March 5 and 22, 2011
Sacramento, CA and Placerville, CA

Master Food Preservers is a UC Cooperative Extension affiliated volunteer program that offers courses to the public on home food preservation.  Linda Harris provided about 4 hours of lecture on the principles of home preservation and food safety. 

The interest in home food preservation has increased in recent years and the volunteers provide an important service in educating the public on safe methods.  Additional information on home preservation can be found here.

New Research Project Funded

The National Cattlemens’ Beef Association has recently funded Rob Atwill and Xunde Li a $200,000 project entitled “Strategies to reduce super-shedding and the bioburden of E. coli O157:H7 in feedlots”. The objectives of this project are 1) to determine the rate of occurrence and identify host, pathogen, and management risk factors associated for cattle shedding normal levels compared to cattle shedding high levels (super-shedder) of E. coli O157:H7 and 2) to determine if super-shedder cattle are the result of being infected with specific and unique strains of E. coli O157:H7 that cause super-shedder infections, or alternatively, super-shedder infections are only the result of ingesting a high dose compared to a low dose of E. coli O157:H7 regardless of bacterial strain or some other host factor (diet, etc.).

Concerns have been increasing by the beef industry regarding the super-shedding of E. coli O157:H7 and bioburden in feedlot steers which may significantly increase the potential of beef contamination by E. coli O157:H7.  Outcomes of the project will help to develop strategies and Good Agricultural Practices to reduce super-shedding and the bioburden of E. coli O157:H7 in feedlots, and thus improve the microbial safety of beef products by reducing contamination. 

Request for Participants in New Central Coast Study

“Co-management of food safety risks and riparian/wetland habitats for Central Coast California Agriculture”

For over four years, our research team at UC Davis and the USDA ARS Western Regional Research Center has been studying sources of E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, and how these bacteria move within the central California coast agricultural landscape.  The Western Center for Food Safety was recently funded by CPS and FDA CFSAN to examine the potential food safety hazards associated with common amphibian and reptile species from riparian/wetland habitats in central coast California.  These animals were not tested during the earlier studies, and thus represent a gap in our knowledge about wildlife sources of foodborne pathogens in the central coast.

We Need Your Help

All funding and wildlife collection permits are in place to move forward. All we need is your voluntary permission to allow us to quietly and confidentially collect samples at least twice through the end of the year (December 2011).  The study is open to produce growers, ranchers, conservationists, and any other stakeholders interested in co-management in three central coast counties (Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz). We are looking for properties with natural or man-made ponds and riparian/wetland habitat.  All information relating to private properties (location, owner, etc.) is kept confidential by using confidential codes that cannot be linked to the laboratory results.

To sign-up for the study or for more information, please contact Michele Jay-Russell at (530) 757-5756 or mjay@ucdavis.edu.  More details on the study can be found here.

Left to Right: Yingjia Liu and Kristine L. Fernandez performing a spike trial on a red-eared turtle for Salmonella and E.coli O157:H7 detection.

California Department of Food and Agriculture

Imperial County UC Cooperative Extension

Imperial Valley sheep.

1. Celebration of the WCFS’ third anniversary as an FDA CFSAN academic Center of Excellence and website launch
2. Multiple ongoing and new research awards and collaborations with the Center for Produce Safety
3. Numerous professional presentations, workshops and trainings for industry, food safety colleagues, and international delegations
4. WIFSS successfully re-certified the six course curriculum WIFSS Agroterrorism Preparedness Curriculum for Frontline Responders
5. Completion of nine state FDA All-Hazard Food-Feed Rapid Response Team (RRT) assessments
6. Leadership in multidisciplinary research and outreach to address co-management of food safety, wildlife and the environment
7. Extensive outreach and training in the care and welfare of dairy animal
8. Providing CNN and other media scientific expertise following the massive egg recall due toSalmonella Enteritidis
9. Professional recognition including receipt of the 2010 IAFP Frozen Food Foundation Freezing Research Award (Linda Harris)
10. Publications in Journal of Food Protection, Journal of Food Science, Clinical Infectious Diseases, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Journal of Environmental Quality, American Journal of Veterinary Research, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, and the 2010 Proceedings of the American Society for Microbiology

WIFSS Joins FDA, CDC and CDFA in Providing Raw Milk Safety Analysis

Humboldt County is one of only three California counties which prohibit the sale of raw (unpasteurized) milk for human consumption. Last summer the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors was petitioned by consumers and health food store owners to revoke its sales ban. County public health staff sought analysis of the submitted raw milk health and safety claims from the federal Food and Drug Administration, the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, the California Department of Food and Agriculture and the Western Institute for Food Safety and Security. UC educators and investigators are frequently asked by regulatory agencies and legislators to provide background and context on complex scientific issues, with the understanding that such opinions do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the University. In January the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors voted 5 to 0 to maintain the current ban, with the caveat that the issue could be reopened as new information became available.

Available on the internet:

• Archived video of the August 24th and January 12th Board meetings
• The public health staff report with letters from FDA, CDC, CDFA and WIFSS
• A literature review by FDA

For more information contact Michael Payne.

Microbial Challenge Testing for Foods Workshop 

April 7-8, 2011
Rosemont, IL

This workshop was offered in August 2010 at the IAFP annual meeting as a preconference event, and will be repeated for the food industry in response to member interest.  Presenters include Linda Harris, Don Schaffner, and Kathy Glass. Because of the many questions raised by regulatory and industry professionals about the appropriate use of challenge studies, the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF) was asked to provide guidance on the topic of challenge studies and their use. This workshop will present the NACMCF report and instructors will guide the students though use of the material in the report to develop actual challenge study protocols based on NACMCF recommendations.  Registration will be open by February 1, 2011, and will be limited to the first 35 attendees. The NACMCF report may be found here.

Advanced Topics in Microbial Safety of Fresh Produce Workshops

March 1-3, 2011, Davis, CA 
April 27-29, 2011, Wimauma, FL

This course is presented under the sponsorship of the USDA Specialty Crops Project Increasing Consumption of Specialty Crops by Enhancing their Quality & Safety.  Topics include an introduction to Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment, science basis for GAP and GHP standards and metrics, and consideration and conflicts in pathogen testing.  Instructors include Trevor Suslow and Linda Harris from UC Davis and Michelle Danyluk and Keith Schneider from the University of Florida. More information about the course and registration information may be found here.