Food Safety Scan for Jan 08, 2014
US audit finds Canada’s meat inspections wantingCanada’s food inspection agency received the lowest possible passing grade—”adequate”—from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) in its latest audit of practices surrounding meat, poultry, and eggs, according to a Food Safety News (FSN) story today.The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) needs to improve its oversight of practices at meat facilities concerning hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) and of sanitation and humane animal handling. The CFIA said it has taken corrective action after being informed of the report, FSN report.The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) conducted the audit from Oct 22 to Nov 9, 2012, but the USDA released the report just last month.FSIS inspectors visited two red-meat slaughterhouses, four meat-processing facilities that produce ready-to-eat meat products, and an egg-processing facility. Inspectors also visited five Canadian government food safety agencies and two private laboratories.The inspectors found a lack of HACCP compliance and noted concerns over sanitation and humane handling at a beef slaughter plant that was involved in an expansive recall in 2010. They also found poor sanitation practices at a pig slaughterhouse.Because of the results of the audit, food imported to the United States from Canada will be subject to closer scrutiny than food from countries with higher-rated food safety systems, FSN reported.Jan 8 FSN story Full USDA audit report O111, O26 top list of non-O157 E coli outbreak strainsThe most common strains of non-O157 Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli (STEC) causing US outbreaks are O111 and O26, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a report yesterday in Epidemiology & Infection.The investigators studied outbreaks to 2010 and defined “outbreaks” as having two or more epidemiologically linked culture-confirmed STEC cases. They analyzed data from 46 outbreaks in 26 states that involved 1,727 illnesses and 144 hospitalizations.Of the 38 outbreaks that involved a single pathogen, 14 were caused by STEC O111 and 11 by O26, which together accounted from two thirds of the outbreaks. Eighty-four percent of the outbreaks were transmitted via either food (17 outbreaks) or person-to-person spread (15).Food vehicles included dairy products, produce, and meats, and childcare centers were the most common setting for person-to-person transmission. The incidence of hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious kidney complication, was higher in single-pathogen outbreaks than multiple-pathogen outbreaks (7% vs 0.8%).Jan 7 Epidemiol Infect abstract
COLUMBUS, IN — Cummins Inc. has announced several changes of responsibility within its Engine Business. AdvertisementClick Here to Read MoreAdvertisement The MidRange and Heavy Duty leadership team is being divided into two distinct organizations. Dave Crompton, currently vice president – MidRange engine sales and marketing will assume responsibilities as vice president and general manager of the MidRange engine business. Ed Pence, currently vice president – automotive business will assume responsibilities as vice president and general manager of the Heavy Duty Engine Business. Crompton has been with Cummins since 1987. Prior to his current position, he served as vice president – industrial markets in the MidRange Engine Business. He has a varied field of experience in planning, off-highway business, marine and the Chrysler business. Pence joined Cummins in 1981. He has extensive automotive and off-highway experience, has lived and worked outside the U.S. and participated as a key member of the heavy duty business team. In addition, Sean Milloy has been named chief technical officer for the engine business. In this position, he will drive Cummins approach to innovative application of technology. He will continue in his leadership role in MidRange Engineering. Milloy, who joined Cummins in 1981, has continuously expanded his responsibilities in engineering and has extensive experience with the company’s joint venture partners and global technical centers. For more information about Cummins, go to: www.cummins.com. _______________________________________ Click here to view the rest of today’s headlines.
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On this first day of summer, officials are looking ahead a few days to the middle of the week, when Long Island is expected to move into Phase 3 of reopening after the COVID-19 shutdown.“This week we are getting closer, and closer to taking that next step forward in reopening our economy, which is a very good thing, a very important thing,” Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said in his daily briefing Saturday. “We have to get the economy moving, we have to get more businesses open that are struggling.”In the next phase, restaurants will again be able to seat diners inside and personal care businesses that offer services such as places massage therapy, spas, nail salons, tanning, waxing, and tattoo parlors may resume. Hair salons already reopened under Phase 2.Both restaurants and personal care businesses will be limited to 50 percent occupancies and employees must wear face coverings when interacting with customers, unless a physical barrier is in place. Recommended practices include “by appointment only” policies to limit walk-in customers who may congregate.Bellone said there is nothing in the numbers that would indicate anything other than continuing to move forward with the reopening process on the island.The infection rate in Suffolk is at about one percent, he said. The state’s figures show Long Island’s infection rate at 1.10 on Friday, up a little from the .70 percent and .80 percent from Wednesday and Thursday. In Suffolk, there are a total of 40,908 people who have tested positive for the coronavirus, with an additional 44 in the last 24 hours. In Nassau County, 41,443 people have tested positive with an additional 56 in the last 24 hours.Meanwhile, New York City is on track to enter Phase 2 of the reopening on Monday, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Saturday. A total of 212,061 people in the city have tested positive, 391 in the last 24 hours. The governor announced Saturday — in a call with the media, one day after he ended his daily televised updates — that the Yankees and Mets baseball teams will hold delayed spring training in New York this year, as long as the Major League Baseball decides to resume its delayed season. With coronavirus infections spiking in other parts of the country, including in Florida and Arizona where the spring trainings mainly take place, the MLB closed training sites. The Yankees will be at Yankee Stadium, and the Mets over at Citi Field. The teams will work with the State of New York to ensure proper health and safety protocols, the governor said.Bellone said the announcement was exciting, and that county officials are working with the Long Island Ducks on a plan for baseball to resume on the island. “We’ll be renewing our ask of the state to give approval of that plan. We want to see the Ducks out there on the field defending their Atlantic League championship.”taylor@indyeastend.com Share
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A project to restore part of the Stroudwater Canal in Stroud can go ahead thanks to a funding boost from The Veolia Environmental Trust.“We have awarded Stroud District Council a grant of £100,000 towards the restoration of 320m of canal between Wallbridge Lower Lock and Lodgemore Bridge,” they announced.The grant will be used to contribute to the Cotswold Canals Partnership’s vision of restoring the Cotswold Canals to full navigation in the interests of conservation, biodiversity and local quality of life.A navigable stretch will be created by dredging the channel. The channel is on the line of the original Stroudwater Canal but has become heavily silted and overgrown since the canal was abandoned in the 1950s.The grant was awarded at the quarterly Board meeting on 20 January 2014, when 77 grants totalling almost £2.5m were awarded to community and environmental projects across the UK.“We award grants through the Landfill Communities Fund and the grant total is a record amount for us since we were set up in 1997. It represents our commitment to helping as many compliant projects as possible, in turn improving the quality of life for tens of thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds, as well as the environment. We will now work with Stroud District Council to finalise the details of their project, including its start date, and get it up and running as soon as possible,” they said.Cllr Simon Pickering, chair of the council’s Environment Committee, said: “This grant is excellent news and we are grateful to The Veolia Environmental Trust for supporting the Cotswold Canals project. It means we can push forward and complete a missing link in restoration.”“This is a fantastic start to 2014, both for us and the projects we have awarded grants to, and this exciting scheme will bring benefits for residents, visitors and wildlife, and I look forward to seeing it start and take shape,” the Executive Director of The Veolia Environmental Trust, Paul Taylor added.[mappress]Press Release, January 27, 2014
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The occasion marked the first time a Dreamliner has been used as part of Boeing’s Humanitarian Delivery Flights programme, which utilises the empty cargo space of the aircraft to transport humanitarian aid free of charge.Liz Warman, director of Boeing Global Corporate Citizenship for the Northwest region, noted: “Our two companies have a long history together not only buying and selling airplanes, but also in leveraging our resources to help those in need.”www.boeing.comwww.flyethiopian.com
New light poles were erected in Robin Court in Bridgetown seven months ago, but residents complained that it had not been switched on, with the darkness leading to opportunistic crimes. After seven months of phone calls and messages, and a lot of money spent on airtime, a Bridgetown pensioner is relieved that the lights in her road have finally been switched on.Priscilla Whittle, 71, from Robin Court, believes it was only because of the Athlone News’ query to the City of Cape Town that the lights were switched on. Seven months ago, new electric poles were erected in the area, and while the rest of the area’s lights were on, residents of Robin Court were left in the dark.According to Ms Whittle, the darkness led to opportunistic crimes.“There have been an increase of thefts in our road. It has become dangerous. We have a lot of elderly people living here and it is not fair on them. There are 11 lights here that needed to be switched on months ago, but even after all the times I have called to complain, it was never done. The old lights that is still in the court, are very dull and it is very dark here when the lights are off. I got no joy complaining about it. Every time I had to buy airtime on credit on one of my store accounts,” Ms Whittle said.Another resident, who wants to remain anonymous, said he was almost robbed twice during the time the lights were off.“The crime is getting bad here. We spent so much money on securing our homes. We have had enough now. The next time someone comes to rob here, we will be forced to take the law into our own hands,” he said.On Thursday April 25, when the Athlone News visited the area, the lights were still not working. On the same day we asked the City to explain why it had not been switched on.Phindile Maxiti, the City’s mayoral committee member for energy and climate change, said the new street lights did not work because a sensor component was stolen.The following day, Friday April 26, the lights were switched on. Residents who would like to submit a service request, report a fault or log an issue can do so via the City’s Customer Call Centre at 0860 103 109, by emailing power@capetown.gov.za, or by sending an SMS to 31220.
BOMBARDIER is expanding its North American rail services business to encompass the supply of spare parts for passenger rolling stock from other manufacturers, a market which it values at US$500m annually.President of Bombardier Transportation, North America, William Spurr said part of the company’s life-cycle approach to fleet management is to offer own-brand spares for vehicles made by other companies.’We have done our research, and what we are finding is that this aspect of the rail business doesn’t get a great deal of attention’, said General Manager, Material Solutions, Keith Sheardown, explaining that operators have told Bombardier ’there has to be a better way to procure parts’.