Bill Marler

OCTOBER 24, 2021

Here are guides – especially for parents – of the four food borne pathogens I see most frequently. E. coli. E. coli are bacteria that can cause serious, sometimes fatal, infections in humans. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that E. coli causes 2,000 hospitalizations in the United States each year.Ten percent of E. coli victims develop hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which can cause kidney failure, damage to the central nervous system, and ultimately death.

Hospitality 351

Hospitality Hospitality Food Safety 351

Modern Restaurant Management

JULY 29, 2021

Running a restaurant today is a challenging undertaking. Some challenges, like crowded and highly competitive markets and shifting consumer demands, have always been relevant to restaurant owners. Now, as restaurants embrace new technologies, there’s another threat to consider: cybercrime. Cybercriminals are a growing threat to virtually every industry.

Food Safety 245

Food Safety Point of Sale Hospitality Hospitality 245

Sculpture Hospitality

JULY 27, 2021

Your restaurant inventory is the backbone of your business. The stock you buy is an asset that directly impacts how profitable your business is, yet so many restaurants aren’t building inventory management strategies that protect those assets.

Inventory 156

Inventory Inventory Management 156

Bill Marler

AUGUST 3, 2021

Is there another outbreak brewing? It was about three weeks from now, sixteen years ago, that I was teaching my daughters to surf on the Oregon coast when I got a tip that an E. coli outbreak was brewing. It eventually blew up to the 2006 Dole baby spinach E. coli outbreak that sickened 205 – killing 5. The industry called it their Jack-in-the-Box and their 911. 2006 seems a long time ago, but when I got a tip today that an outbreak – hopefully smaller in size – is coming to a salad bar near

FDA 351

FDA 351

Bill Marler

MAY 12, 2021

9 sick in Snohomish and King counties. All under the age of 15, except one woman in her 20’s. Question: what food items are consumed by kids as young as 1 and someone in their 20’s? The Snohomish Health District announced Tuesday evening that it has identified two cases of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) in Snohomish County residents.

Hospitality 343

Hospitality Hospitality 343

Bill Marler

JULY 16, 2021

As of July 14, 2021, eight people infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium have been reported from two states. Illnesses started on dates ranging from June 10, 2021, to June 15, 2021. BrightFarms today initiated a voluntary recall of packaged salad greens produced in its Rochelle, Illinois (Ogle County) greenhouse farm sold in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and Indiana because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella.

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Bill Marler

MARCH 15, 2021

Pre-COVID, I spent at least 5-6 days of any month somewhere in the world preaching the gospel of “why it is a bad idea to Poison your customer.” There are the business reasons – you will likely see a downturn in sales of your leafy green, and I will sue you for millions of dollars on behalf of kids like the below. There is also the moral reason – either of these kids could be your son or daughter or a grandson or grandaughter.

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Bill Marler

AUGUST 27, 2021

Jackson County Public Health is investigating an unusually high number of Shiga toxin- producing Escherichia coli (STEC) cases. Since August 1, 2021, 14 cases have been reported to Jackson County, and 10 (71%) of these cases have been hospitalized. Urgent Flash Report_Shiga-toxigenic Escherichia coli_8.22.21. .

Hospitality 334

Hospitality Hospitality 334

Bill Marler

JUNE 24, 2021

It was only a matter of time – as commercial marijuana becomes a thing that we would see recalls due to bacterial contamination. We should expect to see the sam in other, especially edible, marijuana products. Multiple Arizona marijuana establishments and dispensaries are initiating a voluntary recall of specific marijuana products due to possible contamination with Salmonella or Aspergillus.

Purchasing 332

Purchasing 332

Bill Marler

MAY 8, 2021

2018 and 2019 were not good years for consumers of romaine lettuce grown in the fields of the southwestern United States, specifically the Yuma growing region of Arizona and the Salinas Valley of California. Although nearly 500 miles apart as the crow flies, the two regions share a notorious history of sickening consumers with a particularly lethal strain of Escherichia coli – O157:H7 – known to strike, and sometimes kill, the most vulnerable among us – children, elderly, and the immunocompromis

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FDA Hospitality Hospitality Nutrition 331

Bill Marler

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

To protect Canadians from possible health risks, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is implementing temporary import conditions for romaine lettuce from the Salinas Valley ( Santa Cruz , Santa Clara , San Benito , and Monterey ) in California for the 2021 growing season. Between September 30 and December 31, 2021, importers of romaine lettuce and products containing romaine lettuce from the U.S. are required to provide proof that the product does not originate from counties in Ca

Food Safety 325

Food Safety FDA Food Supply 325

Bill Marler

JANUARY 4, 2021

Thank you www.barfblog.com. As far back as September 1998, FDA issued a warning against sprouts urging: Children, pregnant women and the elderly should not eat alfalfa sprouts until growers find a way to reduce the risk of a potentially deadly bacteria that infects some sprouts, the Food and Drug Administration said this week. The FDA, which is investigating sprout industry practices, said children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems should avoid eating sprouts.

K-12 330

K-12 FDA 330

Bill Marler

DECEMBER 30, 2021

53 sick, 30 hospitalized, 4 with kidney failure and 3 dead. E. coli and Lettuce 1: As of December 29, 2021, 13 people infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 have been reported from six states. Illnesses started on dates ranging from November 27, 2021, to December 9, 2021. Sick people range in age from 4 to 79 years, with a median age of 54, and 92% are female.

Hospitality 319

Hospitality Hospitality 319

Bill Marler

JUNE 7, 2021

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), with an estimated 600 million cases of foodborne illnesses annually, unsafe food is a threat to human health and economies, disproportionally affecting vulnerable and marginalized people, especially women and children, populations affected by conflict, and migrants.

Food Safety 317

Food Safety Hospitality Hospitality 317

Bill Marler

NOVEMBER 18, 2021

In 2011 I wrote: Last week the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced a recall of ground turkey products due to “possible” Salmonella contamination. According to the press release, “Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation, a Springdale, Ark. establishment, is recalling approximately 36 million pounds of ground turkey products that may be contaminated with a multi-drug resistant strain of Salmonella Heidelberg.”.

Food Safety 312

Food Safety FDA Hospitality Hospitality 312

Bill Marler

NOVEMBER 9, 2021

This afternoon, the Roanoke City and Alleghany Health Districts (RCAHD) announced that RCAHD has identified a total of 50 confirmed primary cases and 2 secondary cases. There have been at least 31 hospitalizations and unfortunately 3 deaths. RCAHD stresses that hepatitis A is a preventable disease. RCAHD urges everyone to consistently practice good hand washing and to consider getting vaccinated, especially if they fall into a high-risk population.

Hospitality 312

Hospitality Hospitality Food Safety 312

Bill Marler

NOVEMBER 2, 2021

I will spare you the list of hepatitis A cases that I have been involved with since 1998 when I represented 30 people exposed in a Seattle, Washington Subway restaurant, including one child who suffered acute liver failure requiring an emergency liver transplant. There have been dozens in the last 23 years, many with tragic consequences. Yet, here we are once again.

Food Service 310

Food Service Food Service Hospitality Hospitality 310

Bill Marler

NOVEMBER 29, 2021

Some, I am sure are a bit tired of my ranting about the FSIS doing its job and deeming Salmonella that causes human illness an adulterant in meat. Fact, after E. coli O157:H7 was deemed an adulterant in ground beef in 1994, it took about a decade for E. coli illness cases to drop. During that time, we saw the same drop in clients seeking our help. Go figure, the FSIS and the beef industry heeded my call.

Food Safety 302

Food Safety 302

Bill Marler

DECEMBER 23, 2021

Congress passed the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in 1938 in reaction to growing public safety demands. The primary goal of the Act was to protect the health and safety of the public by preventing deleterious, adulterated or misbranded articles from entering interstate commerce. Under section 402(a)(4) of the Act, a food product is deemed “adulterated” if the food was “prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with filth, or whereby it

Food Safety 300

Food Safety FDA Hospitality Hospitality 300

Bill Marler

MARCH 19, 2021

Canada has been hit by a number of romaine lettuce recalls. We set out to the U.S., where the majority of our leafy greens come from, to dig up why E. coli outbreaks continue to plague our food supply. We meet one B.C. family whose lives have been forever changed by a contaminated salad.

Food Supply 306

Food Supply 306

Bill Marler

DECEMBER 1, 2021

Volume 28, Number 1—January 2022 Dispatch Salmonella Serotypes Associated with Illnesses after Thanksgiving Holiday, United States, 1998–2018. Here is the CDC’s conclusion: Salmonella Reading was the serotype most strongly associated with illness during the Thanksgiving holiday. Given the dramatic increase in turkey consumption around Thanksgiving, one might expect that serotypes we identified are primarily associated with turkey consumption, and indeed, Reading caused a multistate outbreak with

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Bill Marler

MAY 4, 2021

A few days ago, “Down Under” a.k.a. Australia, my friend, food safety guru, and for some strange reason, eater of raw shellfish, Dr. Julian Cox, was speaking about the risk of pregnant women consuming unpasteurized juice or cider and tahini or hummus. The risk to the mother and the baby is Listeria , which can spread from the human digestive tract to the placenta causing miscarriage or birth defects.

Food Safety 302

Food Safety 302

Bill Marler

NOVEMBER 10, 2021

The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) shows: Seafood. 168 Isolates (155 clinical, 13 “seafood manufacturer”). Distance between selected isolates: minimum = 0 SNPs, maximum = 4 SNPs, average = 1 SNPs. Target creation date range: 2020-07-07 to 2021-11-08. seafood 11_10_2021 – Full Tree. Onions. 872 isolates (871 clinical, 1 “mixed produce”).

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Bill Marler

JUNE 6, 2021

On Monday I start out with Unilever for World Food Safety Day: [link]. On Tuesday with Highfield in the UK: [link]. And, then on Wednesday with the South Africa Food Safety Conference [link].

Food Safety 290

Food Safety 290

Bill Marler

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

In the next version of my life I want to be a CDC EIS officer chasing foodborne diseases in the footsteps of many of my heroes in the past and in the present who I have gotten to know since the Jack-in-the-Box E. coli Outbreak of 1993. Being an Epi-wannabe, I do tend to look forward to my Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports and articles in Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Food Safety 281

Food Safety Hospitality Hospitality Purchasing 281

Bill Marler

MAY 3, 2021

I was managing the barbecue last night cooking chicken breasts. Of course, before they hit the grill, I had carefully removed them from the plastic-covered tray from the store, and placed them into a triple-strength plastic bag to marinate a bit. I washed my hands and counters along the way and dried all with paper towels. I checked the grill temperature (over 400 °F (204.4 °C), and after carefully removing the chicken with tongs (which I washed before reusing them), I watched them sizzle and wa

Food Safety 279

Food Safety 279

Bill Marler

DECEMBER 2, 2021

“HACCP: A systematic approach to the identification, evaluation, and control of food safety hazards.” – So says the FDA. Although today’s announcement (FDA Proposes Changes to Food Safety Modernization Act Rule to Enhance Safety of Agricultural Water Used on Produce) is a bit to fully digest in one sitting, I am intrigued by FDA’s focus on pre-harvest risk assessment of water risk as opposed to water testing for pathogens generally.

FDA 266

FDA Food Safety 266

Bill Marler

OCTOBER 6, 2021

I have lost track of how many times I have implored restaurants to offer Hepatitis A vaccines to their employees. Here was my latest: And, now here are the consequences: Publisher’s Platform: Vaccinate restaurant employees against hepatitis A or suffer the consequences. PDF Complaint. The Virginia Department of Health says the number of total people linked to three Famous Anthony’s restaurants infected with hepatitis A has increased to 14.

Hospitality 266

Hospitality Hospitality 266

Bill Marler

OCTOBER 6, 2021

The FDA is reporting today for the first time an active investigation to a Listeria Outbreak that has sickened 20. The FDA continues to investigate a Salmonella Thompson outbreak that has sickened 93. Both outbreaks have yet to be linked to a food product. The FDA has not definitively determined what specific food has been the cause of a nationwide Salmonella Oranienburg outbreak – But, cilantro looks suspicious.

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FDA Hospitality Hospitality 266

Bill Marler

MAY 20, 2021

Last night Food Safety News reported that the Arizona Department of Health was reporting a “secondary E. coli case,” linked to Pure Eire Dairy that has thus far sickened over a dozen – mainly children – some with acute kidney failure. “We have a case of E. coli O157 in a 2-year-old girl that matches by whole genome sequencing the cluster of cases in Washington linked to Pure Eire yogurt.

Food Safety 264

Food Safety 264

Bill Marler

DECEMBER 11, 2021

This review is part of FDA’s “New Era of Smarter Food Safety: FDA’s Foodborne Outbreak Response Improvement Plan” that also requires a hard look and the support by those concerned about improving the safety of our food and driving the numbers of ill consumers down. Thanks to the deep dive by Craig Hedberg. Here is the Full Report: NewEra-OutbreakResponseIndependentReview-102621.

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FDA Food Safety Nutrition Staffing 260