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Jul 15, 2021
We are pleased to announce that several of our CFI Team Members will be participating in the IAFP (International Association for Food Protection) Annual Meeting next week – July 18th-21st.
To learn more about any of the posters, technical sessions, roundtables and presentations, please click here.
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Jun 7, 2021
2019-2020 CFI Impact Report is now avalable. Click here to access the report.
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May 27, 2021
Summary from CDC email:
"Botulism is serious illness caused by a toxin that attacks nerves and causes muscle paralysis, difficulty breathing, and even death. Foodborne botulism is one of the five main kinds of botulism. This month, CDC published the first comprehensive clinical care guidelines for botulism in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
CDC developed the guidelines through a multiyear process involving extensive expert input and six systematic reviews of 100 years of scientific literature.
The guidelines provide:
Recommended best practices for diagnosing, treating, and monitoring people with botulism
Special considerations for infants, children, and pregnant or breastfeeding patients
Suggestions for supportive care, including psychosocial support for patients and family members
The guidelines are intended for the treatment of one or many patients, and they would be especially useful during an outbreak in which resources, such as ventilators, medical staff, and antitoxin, might be in short supply."
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May 10, 2021
The Center for Foodborne Illness Research and Prevention (CFI) at The Ohio State University is pleased to announce that Gina Nicholson Kramer, REHS/RS has joined our team as Program Director for Partnerships and Learning. In this role, she will oversee CFI’s efforts to prepare leaders, students and engaged citizens in food safety as well as develop and implement new learning and education programs that meet the needs of stakeholders and complement existing OSU food safety educational efforts. Gina brings her 20+ years of experience leading food safety projects, programs and companies to CFI. Prior to joining CFI, Gina served as Director of Advisory Services at Matrix Sciences International; Founder and Executive Director of Savor Safe Food and Savour Food Safety International; Global Retail Client Director at NSF International; Senior Food Safety & Quality Manager at The Kroger Company; Health Promotions Program Manager at Columbus Public Health, and Food Safety Specialist at Richland County Health Department.
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Apr 15, 2021
Summary from FDA website:
"As part of our ongoing efforts to combat foodborne illness, today the U.S. Food and Drug Administration published a report on the investigation into the Fall 2020 outbreak of Shiga Toxin-Producing E. coli (STEC) O157:H7 illnesses linked to the consumption of leafy greens grown in the California Central Coast. The report describes findings from the investigation, as well as trends that are key to understanding leafy green outbreaks that are linked to the California Central Coast growing region, specifically encompassing the Salinas Valley and Santa Maria growing areas every fall since 2017."
Click here to read the full article
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Apr 15, 2021
Summary from FDA website:
"Protecting one of our most vulnerable populations, babies and young children, is among the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s highest priorities. Today, we’re announcing a new action plan, Closer to Zero, that sets forth our approach to reducing exposure to toxic elements in foods commonly eaten by babies and young children to the lowest possible levels. Although the FDA’s testing shows that children are not at an immediate health risk from exposure to toxic elements at the levels found in foods, we are starting the plan’s work immediately, with both short- and long-term goals for achieving continued improvements in reducing levels of toxic elements in these foods over time.
We recognize that Americans want zero toxic elements in the foods eaten by their babies and young children. In reality, because these elements occur in our air, water and soil, there are limits to how low these levels can be. The FDA’s goal, therefore, is to reduce the levels of arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury in these foods to the greatest extent possible. We are also sensitive to the fact that requiring levels that are not currently feasible could result in significant reductions in the availability of nutritious, affordable foods that many families rely on for their children. Our plan, therefore, outlines a multi-phase, science-based, iterative approach to achieving our goal of getting levels of toxic elements in foods closer to zero over time."
Click here to read the full article
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Mar 19, 2021
One of the members of our CFI Steering Committee, Dr. Sanja Ilic, was recently interviewed for an article on LiveStrong.com that addressed how to clean with vinegar.
Click here to read the article.
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Mar 18, 2021
The Texas A & M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences Department of Veterinary Pathobiology is looking to hire a Postdoctoral Research Associate to help multidisciplinary research projects investigating animal and human enteric viral diseases.
Click here to view the job description.
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Feb 16, 2021
by: Joe Whitworth, Food Safety News
Summary below is from Food Safety News:
"There has been a drastic decrease in reported diseases including foodborne infections in Germany during the Coronavirus outbreak, according to an analysis.
Robert Koch Institute (RKI) experts found the COVID-19 pandemic and associated public health measures are impacting the occurrence and recording of other reportable infectious diseases.
Experts analyzed the effects of the pandemic and health actions on notifiable diseases in Germany. Those younger than 14 years of age and above 80 were particularly affected.
They looked at cases of notifiable infectious diseases that were submitted to the Robert Koch Institute between January 2016 and August 2020.
The change in the number of cases from the start of March 2020 to early August 2020, classed as the COVID-19 pandemic for purposes of the study, were compared to data from January 2016 through the end of February 2020, which was before the outbreak.
Conclusions back-up results from an analysis in Australia that found diseases, including foodborne infections, declined after public health measures were introduced because of the pandemic."
Click here to read the Food Safety News article.
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Feb 16, 2021
Summary below is from Food Safety News:
"Researchers are using text mining technology to analyze comments and reviews to improve the traceability of and communication about risky food products.
In a new study published by the journal “Risk Analysis” the research team proposes a new Food Safety Monitoring System (FSMS) that uses consumer comments posted on certain websites to identify products associated with food-related illnesses.
The database consisted of 11,190 randomly selected Amazon reviews of “grocery and canned food” items purchased between 2000 and 2018, along with 8,596 reviews of food products posted on iwaspoisoned.com. These two datasets allowed the researchers to test the text mining tools before analyzing 4.4 million more Amazon reviews.
The computers were programmed to recognize words associated with foodborne illness such as “sick,” “vomiting,” “diarrhea,” “fever” and “nausea.” This resulted in a list of flagged products that included specific brands of protein bars, herbal teas, and protein powder.
Two of the products flagged by the computers had already been recalled."
Click here to read the Food Safety News article.
