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Campylobacteriosis was the most commonly reported zoonosis in the European Union (EU) for the last five years followed by salmonellosis and yersiniosis

On 28 January 2010 the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) launched their annual report on zoonoses and food-borne outbreaks for 2008. The report provides a comprehensive overview of zoonotic infections and disease outbreaks caused by consuming contaminated food. The number of reported human cases of the three most reported zoonotic infections, was lower in 2008 compared to 2007

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Consumers have begun to demand more information about the health, safety and environmental characteristics of the food they eat. In turn, food producers are putting a greater focus on consumers' wants and needs, and labels are becoming increasingly important. A new book on food labelling aims to help producers mark goods more accurately and assist shoppers in making the healthiest choices.

FAO nutritionist Janice Albert, editor of Innovations in Food Labelling, tells us more in this Q&A interview.

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By Sharon Durham
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Plywood-shelved carts that are used to transport eggs into processing plants can harbor Enterobacteriaceae, according to a microbial survey conducted by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Athens, Ga.

Enterobacteriaceae, a bacterial family that includes the human pathogens Salmonella and Shigella, are known to contaminate the shell egg processing environment. High levels of these bacteria in the processing plant can signal inadequate sanitation.

By Marcia Wood
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Most people need about two days to recover from being sickened by foods contaminated with what's known as staphylococcal enterotoxin A, or "SEA." Produced by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, this toxin is a leading cause of foodborne illness in the United States and worldwide, according to Agricultural Research Service (ARS) research chemist Reuven Rasooly.

To help public health officials trace the source of food poisoning outbreaks in which staph A is a suspect, and to give food makers another way to ensure the safety of their products, Rasooly has developed a superior new test for finding this toxin in foods. He and technician Paula M. Do developed the test at the ARS Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif.

The ARS test can detect the toxin at levels that are a remarkable one billion times lower than the current "gold standard" assay for SEA. The researchers' experiments with chicken, beef and milk indicate that the assay reliably distinguishes active from inactive toxin and yields reproducible results.

The test takes advantage of the fact that the toxin has a double life. Besides causing nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and other gastroenteritis symptoms, SEA also acts as a superantigen—a molecule that activates large numbers of immune-system cells. The assay neatly exploits this trait by measuring proliferation of splenocytes, which are immune system cells produced in the spleen. For the assay, the cells are kept alive in laboratory petri dishes.

The SEA assay is practical, comparatively fast, and relatively inexpensive. Experienced technicians can quickly learn how to perform the test using equipment that's standard in laboratories across the nation.

Rasooly and Do describe their test in an article published earlier this year in FEMS Immunology and Medical Microbiology.

ARS is the principal intramural scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Albany research is one of dozens of studies conducted by agency scientists nationwide to help keep food safe—a top priority of the USDA.

Further reading:
Botulism assay quickly detects potent foodborne toxin
Arcobacter: Foodborne pathogen's genome exposed
Garden microbe foils E. coli O157:H7 in laboratory tests