More on antibiotic resistant bacteria in natural waters and wild-harvested foods.
Safe Food
by
8M ago
I wrote an article on 05/12/2012 about our isolation of antibiotic-resistant genes in bacteria in water and in stream and river muds, comparing pristine waters with polluted ones along a stretch of a river in the Waikato region of New Zealand. I recently read another article by Jack Heinemann and Sophie Joy van Hamelsveld from University of Canterbury in Stuff:  https://www.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/300930926/antibioticresistant-bacteria-in-wild-cockles-and-watercress-putting-people-at-risk-of-serious-illness.  It's worth a read. The article raises yet another concern about an ..read more
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Will in vitro meat be the new SCP?
Safe Food
by
1y ago
 In the 1960s, several companies began development of Single Cell Protein (SCP) as a protein source for human and animal feed.  SCP refers to protein produced by microorganisms, such as bacteria, yeasts and unicellular algae.  This was not a new concept and can be traced back at least as far as 1936. My first job was as a fermentation experimental officer at ICI in the UK, helping to develop the ICI Single Cell Protein Process.  Several other companies were developing SCP for human and animal consumption.  ICI intended to produce 1m te/yr by the 1990s; Shell was workin ..read more
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Got the munchies?
Safe Food
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2y ago
 Hands up anyone who, at any time during their lifetime, has scraped the cake mixing bowl and eaten the residues, or eaten raw cookie dough.  Yes, I see a lot of you with your hands up!  In a survey by Ardent Mills, Minnesota, 73% of respondents admitted to eating raw homemade cookie dough and 57% allowed children to lick the bowl and spoon after mixing cakes, while 65% admitted to eating store-bought cookie dough without cooking.  In a 2009 outbreak of Escherichia coli O157 food poisoning in 30 U.S. states, 77 patients, mostly young females contracted the illness and 35 we ..read more
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Subscriber e-mails discontinued
Safe Food
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2y ago
 If you have been receiving e-mail notification of new posts on this blog, you need to be aware that recently, the FeedBurner team released a system update announcement that the email subscription service will be discontinued in July 2021.   The blog will still exist and you can search earlier posts, but you will not be notified of new ones. This is not under my control, but I apologist for any inconvenience or irritation that this causes you. Regards,  John ..read more
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Hello Fresh fish causes food poisoning in New Zealand
Safe Food
by
3y ago
 At least three people have been treated in hospital for scombroid poisoning after eating Trevally from a meal kit supplied by Hello Fresh. Histidine in the fish tissue can be converted to histamine by histidine decarboxylase, found in Escherichia coli, Morganella morganii, Proteus, Pseudomonas and Klebsiella species, which may occur naturally in the gills, skin and gut.  If the fish is not properly handled after being caught and during transport and distribution, allowing the temperature to rise for an extended period, these bacteria can grow and produce sufficient histamine to caus ..read more
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Nothing new under the Sun
Safe Food
by
3y ago
 Sorry!  That was a click bait title.  However, as far as food poisoning goes, there really is very little that is new - the same old suspects keep turning up. I've written about Clostridium botulinum before (and you can find those posts by searching the labels).  It has now caused food poisoning in Vietnam, this time in Minh Chay pate products, which have all been recalled.  The outbreak is reported in Food Safety News.  The article includes a photograph of the product, which is packed in screw capped jars and possibly cans. The Department of Food Safety, Ministr ..read more
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Infection transmission
Safe Food
by
3y ago
 The COVID-19 pandemic should have got us all thinking about infection transmission and control.  Yet, the virus continues to spread. I remember the pretty much the first laboratory class we did in Microbiology 101 was a demonstration of how infection transfers within a community.  There were 24 students in the class. First, everyone wiped their hands with a paper tissue, one of which had been contaminated with a bacterial culture.  This organism was Serratia marcescens, which produces a bright red pigment when grown under the right conditions.  A sequence grid was set ..read more
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Should we switch to plant-based proteins?
Safe Food
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3y ago
While New Zealand was in lockdown, I had ample opportunity to think about life, the universe and everything.  Specifically, I was thinking about plant-based protein as human food.  Recently, meals at home have exposed me a variety of new dishes and some of these were plant-based.  I’m setting out these thoughts in the hope that they will stimulate conversation between readers. First, there is a strong drive from some members of the community to change from eating animal proteins to eating plant-based protein meals.  Some of this is a concern for the welfare of animals and ..read more
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Safe Food in Lockdown
Safe Food
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4y ago
Are you tired of reading and hearing about COVID-19 yet?  Are you totally confined to your home, or are you an essential service worker?  How have things changed for you? My on-line news service provides the ten top items each day as links.  For the last two weeks, nine out of the ten have been about COVID-19 and mostly they provide depressing reading.  I'm not going to rehash all that. New Zealand, where I live, has closed its borders.  The majority of shops are closed, so our food shopping is mostly confined to visits to the supermarket, which may involve long queues and limited numbers ..read more
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Can this be real?
Safe Food
by
4y ago
It's amazing how a throwaway line can be picked up and takes on a life of its own.  A New Zealand botanist referred to a lichen, Xanthoparmelia scabrosa, as "Sexy Pavement Lichen" because it contains a PDE5 inhibitor.  See https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3083877/ It appears that powdered X. scabrosa is being sold on-line as a Viagra alternative.  It has even been reported that people are actually licking sidewalks!  This is probably not a smart way to obtain a potential erectile disfuntion medication, as the inhibitor is not the same thing as Viagra and is also somewhat toxic, no ..read more
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