China’s State Food and Drug Administration has released a list of locally made medications — antibiotics and traditional formulas — that are contaminated with heavy metals. (They are compound into capsules and “industrial gelatin” was substituted for food grade.)
The page in Mandarin is here
A GoogleTranslate version is here.
FDA press release:
Moon Marine USA Corporation voluntarily recalls frozen raw yellowfin tuna product “Nakaochi Scrape” associated with a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Bareilly infections
Fast Facts
Moon Marine USA Corporation (also known as MMI) of Cupertino, Calif. is voluntarily recalling 58,828 lbs of a frozen raw yellowfin tuna product, labeled as Nakaochi Scrape AA or AAA. Nakaochi Scrape is tuna backmeat, which is specifically scraped off from the bones, and looks like a ground product.
The product is not available for sale to individual consumers, but may have been used to make sushi, sashimi, ceviche and similar dishes available in restaurants and grocery stores.
The company name and Nakaochi Scrape AA or AAA were printed on boxes of the product when it was initially sold to distributors.
However, the boxes may have been broken into smaller lots for further sale and may not be available to the end retailer or consumer. Therefore, the tuna may not be readily identifiable by retail outlets or by consumers as being from the implicated lots.
The Nakaochi Scrape AA and AAA from MMI was sold through distributors to restaurants and grocery stores that make sushi, and has been linked to an outbreak of Salmonella Bareilly, which has caused 116 illnesses in 20 states and the District of Columbia to date. Of the reported illnesses, there have been 12 hospitalizations, and no deaths.
Many of the people who became ill reported eating raw tuna in sushi as “spicy tuna.”
If you purchase “spicy tuna” or other sushi, sashimi, ceviche, or similar dishes that might contain Nakaochi Scrape from a restaurant or grocery store, check with the establishment to make sure that it does not contain raw recalled product from Moon Marine USA Corporation, also known as MMI. When in doubt, don’t eat it. Consumers who think they might have become ill from eating possibly contaminated raw Nakaochi Scrape should consult their health care providers…
From an emailed press release, not online yet. Looks like they are releasing three long-delayed documents at once: Guidance 209 (growth promoters/feed efficiency), Guidance 213 (labeling) and their Veterinary Feed Directive (veterinarian involvement). Voluntary controls, not mandatory.
“Today, the FDA is issuing three documents that will help veterinarians, farmers and animal producers use medically important antibiotics judiciously in food-producing animals by targeting their use to only address diseases and health problems. Under this new voluntary initiative, certain antibiotics would not be used for so-called “production” purposes, such as to enhance growth or improve feed efficiency in an animal. These antibiotics would still be available to prevent, control or treat illnesses in food-producing animals under the supervision of a veterinarian.
“It is critical that we take action to protect public health,” said FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg, M.D. “The new strategy will ensure farmers and veterinarians can care for animals while ensuring the medicines people need remain safe and effective. We are also reaching out to animal producers who operate on a smaller scale or in remote locations to help ensure the drugs they need to protect the health of their animals are still available.”
The FDA is publishing three documents today in the Federal Register.
—A final guidance for industry, The Judicious Use of Medically Important Antimicrobial Drugs in Food-Producing Animals, that recommends phasing out the agricultural production use of medically important drugs and phasing in veterinary oversight of therapeutic uses of these drugs.
—A draft guidance, open for public comment, which will assist drug companies in voluntarily removing production uses of antibiotics from their FDA-approved product labels; adding, where appropriate, scientifically-supported disease prevention, control, and treatment uses; and changing the marketing status to include veterinary oversight.
—A draft proposed Veterinary Feed Directive regulation, open for public comment, that outlines ways that veterinarians can authorize the use of certain animal drugs in feed, which is important to make the needed veterinary oversight feasible and efficient.
“USDA worked with the FDA to ensure that the voices of livestock producers across the country were taken into account,” said Dr. John Clifford, USDA Chief Veterinary Medical Officer, “and we will continue to collaborate with the FDA, the American Veterinary Medical Association and livestock groups to ensure that the appropriate services are available to help make this transition.”
From kindergarten to Grade 3, children in British Columbia and Alberta are being taught what they can do to save the endangered antibiotics of the world. They learn that handwashing can prevent infections. They learn not to expect an antibiotic when they’re sick and to trust their doctor if no antibiotic has been prescribed. They even get to play online games that teach them how to defend properly against bugs. “Use antibiotics wisely,” instructs the program, called Do Bugs Need Drugs? “You can make a difference.”…
Racial Profiling for Pigs?
Farmers and ranchers – including Ted Nugent – are boiling mad about a new law that classifies their domesticated pigs as “feral.”
On Saturday afternoon, retired Airforce veteran Mark Baker scuttled his wife and eight children away from their Marion, Michigan farm, and spent a stressful night awaiting a raid by state officials. Baker had been tipped off by a fellow farmer that agents were planning on eradicating his heard of heritage pigs.
Why? Because as of April 1, a controversial ruling by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) transformed the 13 Russian sows Baker breeds with his heritage Mangalitsa boar, into an invasive species. He was suddenly in violation of the law and at risk for having the hogs on his farm wiped out…
By Mark Godfrey, SeafoodSource contributing editor reporting from Beijing, China
02 April, 2012 - Despite a string of initiatives on food safety promised by Beijing policymakers, China’s latest seafood-safety mess looks worryingly familiar.
Shrimp injected with a translucent glue-like gelatin was initially spotted by a consumer in Tianjin in September 2009, whose blogging on the issue drew little national notice. However, when the same girl found the same gelatin-injected shrimp in a retail outlet in Xingtai Food Market in Tianjin in February 2012, she called a local journalist. Coming quickly after Chinese New Year, a peak season of seafood consumption and gift-giving, the resulting news story sent news crews from local media around the country into seafood markets nationwide.
In China, which has sanctioned the death penalty for food-safety violators, senior officials from the State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) have already periodically appeared in the press this year to vow higher standards. However, the challenges to improving traceability and safety of local produce are obvious from visits to numerous supermarkets and wet markets in Beijing and Shanghai, where scant information or tracking data is available, in particular on wet product…
On the surface, the expansion of HACCP Plans to include [pathogenic E. coli other than O157, also known as “pSTECs”] should be easily accomplished. On closer evaluation, however, there are so many missing pieces, that I for one am finding it difficult to generate reasonable and scientifically based HACCP plans for pSTECs.
One problem is that more research is needed to scientifically validate the numerous beef slaughter interventions for control of pSTECs. The limited studies that have been conducted to date support the concept that intervention for E. coli O157:H7 are also effective for pSTECs http://www.amif.org/research/10-113/ However, specific validation studies are needed to document the reductions for the six regulated pSTECs associated with all slaughter interventions.
Another problem is that it’s much more difficult to design effective testing programs for pSTECs (a group of organisms) than it is for E. coli O157:H7 (a single organism).
” —Testing meat for the “other E. coli’s” (the six Shiga toxin-producing strains, other than O157:H7, that meat processors must now consider “adulterants” in the legal sense) is going to be more difficult than it looks. A column at Meatingplace.com (free subscription) explains some of the nitty-gritty.
Carbon monoxide from neighbouring restaurants: the need for an integrated multi-agency response
C. Keshishian, Environmental Public Health Scientist1⇓, H. Sandle, Health Protection Nurse2, M. Meltzer, Consultant in Communicable Disease Control3, Y. Young, Consultant in Communicable Disease Control4, R. Ward, Pollution (Technical) Team5 and S. Balasegaram, Consultant in Communicable Disease Control2
Author Affiliations 1Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards, Health Protection Agency, Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 9SZ, UK 2North East and North Central London Health Protection Unit, Health Protection Agency, Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 9SZ, UK 3North West London Health Protection Unit, Health Protection Agency, 61 Colindale Avenue, London NW9 5EQ, UK 4South West London Health Protection Unit, Health Protection Agency, Springfield University Hospital, 61 Glenburnie Road, London SW17 7DU, UK 5Pollution Team, Regulatory Services, London Borough of Ealing, 14-16 Uxbridge Road, London W5 2HL, UK Address correspondence to C. Keshishian, E-mail: catherine.keshishian@hpa.org.uk
Abstract
Background Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colourless, odourless toxic gas produced during incomplete combustion of carbon-based fuels. Most CO incidents reported to the UK Health Protection Agency (HPA) are due to faulty gas appliances, and legislation exists to ensure gas appliances are properly installed.
Methods
We present three CO poisoning incidents of unusual origin reported to the HPA. In each, residents living above restaurants were poisoned after workers left charcoal smouldering overnight in specialist or traditional ovens whilst ventilation systems were turned off. This led to production of CO, which travelled through floorboards and built up to dangerous concentrations in the flats.
Results
Working with local authorities, these incidents were investigated and resolved, and work was conducted to prevent further occurrences.
Conclusions
The novel nature of these CO incidents led to delays in recognition and subsequent remedial action. Although previously undescribed, it is likely that due to the number of residences built above restaurants and the rising popularity of traditional cooking methods, similar incidents may be occurring and could increase in frequency. Multi-agency response and reporting mechanisms could be strengthened. Awareness raising in professional groups and the public on the importance of correct ventilation of such appliances is vital.
I posted on this two or so weeks ago: A petition has been put up on the We The People citizen-participation page of the White House site, asking for regulation over antibiotic use in agriculture.
It’s been up three weeks now and has 13,581 signatures so far. Looks like the floor for consideration is 25,000 within a month. The month expires March 16.
Here’s the text:
WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO: Protect our families’ health by ending the overuse of antibiotics in food producing animals.Almost 80% of all antibiotics sold in the U.S. are for food animals. Industrial farms routinely feed these drugs to the animals to promote growth and compensate for unsanitary and overcrowded conditions. This overuse creates antibiotic-resistant bacteria that can spread to humans and cause expensive, hard-to-treat illnesses.
In June 2010, the FDA issued draft recommendations on voluntary limits to this overuse—but we are still waiting for action.
With more Americans becoming ill with infections resistant to antibiotics, we must end this practice that threatens the viability of these miracle drugs.
Please sign this petition urging the Obama Administration to end antibiotic overuse in food animal production.
On Jan. 4, the Food and Drug Administration proposed banning some extra-label uses of cephalosporins, a category of antibiotics used in farming that are also critical drugs in human medicine.
The 60-day public comment period closes March 6 - that’s today.
Here’s where to comment.
Here’s my original blog post explaining why this ban is so unusual for the FDA, and why it’s a first step in addressing uncontrolled agricultural antibiotic use.
Blaming “Writer’s Block” is wonderful. It removes any responsibility from the person with the “block”. It gives you something to blame, and it sounds fancy.
But it’s probably more honest to think of it as a combination of laziness, perfectionism and Getting Stuck.
” —(go read the whole entry, it’s worth it.)
Old-media nepotism: Getting your kid a publishing contract.
New-media nepotism: Getting your grand-grandmother one?
McSweeney’s occupies rarified niche in publishing world - Books and Media - The Sacramento Bee
On Jan. 4, the Food and Drug Administration proposed banning some extra-label uses of cephalosporins, a category of antibiotics used in farming that are also critical drugs in human medicine.
The 60-day public comment period closes March 6, next Tuesday.
Here’s where to comment.
Here’s my original blog post explaining why this ban is so unusual for the FDA, and why it’s a first step in addressing uncontrolled agricultural antibiotic use.
