Operational Antecedents Associated with Clostridium perfringens Outbreaks in Retail Food Establishments, United States, 2015–2018

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth C. Wittry ◽  
Meghan M. Holst ◽  
Janet Anderberg ◽  
Nicole Hedeen
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Clostridium Perfringens ◽  
Retail Food

Assessing Employee Health Policies for Reporting and Excluding Ill Food Employees in Restaurants within the United States

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Girvin Liggans ◽  
Marc S. Boyer ◽  
Veronica S. Moore ◽  
Laurie B. Williams
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Fast Food ◽  
Safety Management ◽  
The United States ◽  
Employee Health ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Food Contact Surfaces ◽  
Multiple Unit ◽  
Retail Food

Preventing ill food employees from spreading pathogens to food and food contact surfaces remain an important objective of retail food safety policy in the United States. Since 2005, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recommended food establishments implement employee health policies that include requirements for the exclusion or restriction of ill food employees and reporting, to the person in charge, symptoms or diagnosis of certain diseases transmitted by food. The incorporation of this recommendation, however, has not been widely studied. The purpose of this exploratory study was to assess the presence and prevalence of employee health policies at fast food and full-service restaurants in the United States. More than 50% of fast food and full-service restaurants were found to have non-existent employee health policies for each of the five recommended components specified in the FDA Food Code. Results showed 17.41% of fast food and 12.88% of full-service restaurants had all five recommended components. Moreover, most restaurants with all five recommended employee health policy components were part of a multiple-unit operation and found to have more developed food safety management systems than restaurants with none of the recommended components. Further attention and research into the impediments associated with developing and implementing employee health policies in restaurants is warranted.

scholarly journals Identification of epsilon toxin-producing Clostridium perfringens strains in American retail food

Anaerobe ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
pp. 124-127
Author(s):  
Samantha B. Regan ◽  
Zuha Anwar ◽  
Patricia Miraflor ◽  
Libra B. Williams ◽  
Sarah Shetty ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clostridium Perfringens ◽  
Epsilon Toxin ◽  
Retail Food

Food Poisoning Due to Clostridium perfringens in the United States

1983 ◽  
Vol 147 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. X. Shandera ◽  
C. O. Tacket ◽  
P. A. Blake
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Clostridium Perfringens ◽  
Food Poisoning ◽  
The United States

Levels and Toxigenicity of Bacillus cereus and Clostridium perfringens from Retail Seafood

2008 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. 1178-1185 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. RAHMATI ◽  
R. LABBE
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Bacillus Cereus ◽  
Clostridium Perfringens ◽  
Clostridium Botulinum ◽  
The United States ◽  
Foodborne Illness ◽  
Enterotoxin Gene ◽  
Foodborne Outbreaks ◽  
Imported Food ◽  
Hemolysin Bl

For the period 1990 through 2003, seafood was the most commonly identified food linked to foodborne outbreaks in the United States. Fish as a commodity has rarely been examined for the presence of Bacillus cereus in particular. For the present study, 347 fresh and processed retail seafood samples were examined for the presence of Clostridium botulinum, Clostridium perfringens, and B. cereus. The presence of C. botulinum was not confirmed in any of the isolates, but C. perfringens was confirmed in 17 samples. One of the C. perfringens isolates possessed the enterotoxin gene, as determined by PCR. In contrast, 62 confirmed B. cereus isolates were obtained from separate samples at levels ranging from 3.6 to >1,100 CFU/g. Thirty (48%) of 62 isolates produced both the hemolysin BL (HBL) and nonhemolytic (NHE) enterotoxins, and 58 (94%) and 31 (50%) produced NHE or HBL toxins, respectively. The presence of at least one of the three genes of the NHE complex was detected in 99% of the isolates; 69% of the isolates possessed all three genes. In contrast, 71% of the isolates possessed at least one of the three genes of the HBL complex, and 37% possessed all three HBL gene components. Fifty of the 62 B. cereus isolates were from imported seafood, and 19 (38%) of these samples were at levels >100 CFU/g. Twelve of the 14 highest enterotoxin assay results were from isolates from imported food. Only one B. cereus isolate possessed the cereulide synthetase gene, ces; this isolate also possessed the genes for the three-component HBL and NHE complexes. A majority of enterotoxin-producing isolates were resistant to 2 of 10 antibiotics tested, ceftriaxone and clindamycin. Our results demonstrate the potential of seafood as a vehicle for foodborne illness caused by B. cereus, in particular the enterotoxin-producing genotype.

scholarly journals Clostridium perfringens: Sporulation, Spore Resistance and Germination

1970 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
I-Hsiu Huang ◽  
Deepa Raju ◽  
Daniel Paredes-Sabja ◽  
Mahfuzur R Sarker
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Clostridium Perfringens ◽  
Anaerobic Bacteria ◽  
The United States ◽  
Genome Sequences ◽  
Enteric Diseases ◽  
Spore Resistance ◽  
Food Borne ◽  
Food Borne Illness ◽  
Spore Proteins

Clostridium perfringens are Gram-positive, endospore-forming, anaerobic bacteria with the ability to cause enteric diseases both in human and domesticated animals. As one of the leading cause of food-borne illness in the United States, certain C. perfringens type A isolates exert their action through the production of C. perfringens enterotoxin (CPE), which is expressed only during spore formation. In addition, C. perfringens spores are highly resistant to heat and other environmental factors. Since genome sequences of three C. perfringens strains have been annotated and made public, efforts have been made towards understanding the initiation of sporulation and identifying the key differences between Clostridium and Bacillus sporulation phosphorelay. Small, acid soluble spore proteins (SASPs) have been shown to be required for resistance of C. perfringens spores to heat. Work is also underway to identify nutrient signals required for C. perfringens spore germination. Keywords: Clostridium perfringens, Endospore, Small, acid soluble spore protein (SASP), Heat resistance, GerminationDOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjm.v24i1.1229 Bangladesh J Microbiol, Volume 24, Number 1, June 2007, pp 1-8

Regulating Food Retail for Obesity Prevention: How Far Can Cities Go?

2011 ◽  
Vol 39 (S1) ◽  
pp. 89-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul A. Diller ◽  
Samantha Graff
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Obesity Prevention ◽  
Food Environment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Farmers Markets ◽  
Food Retail ◽  
Corner Stores ◽  
Local Strategy ◽  
Retail Food

A growing number of cities and counties have emerged as leaders in the fight against obesity in the United States and have enacted innovative policies to address this epidemic. Much of this local strategy focuses on how retail food establishments — namely, chain restaurants, corner stores, supermarkets, farmers markets, and mobile vendors – affect public health. Recognizing the enormous influence a community’s food environment has on the quality and quantity of what people eat, cities and counties have sought to encourage food retail establishments to promote healthier options through regulations and incentives.

scholarly journals Enterotoxigenicity and Genetic Relatedness of Clostridium perfringens Isolates from Retail Foods in the United States

2003 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 1642-1646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuan-Tong Lin ◽  
Ronald Labbe
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Clostridium Perfringens ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
The United States ◽  
Food Samples ◽  
Gene Probe ◽  
Cell Extracts ◽  
Food Borne ◽  
Food Borne Illness ◽  
The 1960S

ABSTRACT Clostridium perfringens is a leading cause of bacterial food-borne illness in countries where consumption of meat and poultry is high. For example, each year in the United States, this organism is the second or third most common cause of confirmed cases of food-borne illness. Surveys of the incidence of this organism in retail foods were done in the 1960s without regard to whether isolates were enterotoxigenic. It is now known that not all strains of this organism possess the enterotoxin gene responsible for illness. We examined the incidence of this organism in 131 food samples from retail food stores in an area of the northeastern United States. Forty isolates were obtained by using the iron milk method at 45°C, with confirmation by use of motility nitrate and lactose gelatin media. The presence of the C. perfringens enterotoxin (cpe) and alpha toxin (cpa) genes was determined by PCR using previously published primer sequences. All isolates possessed cpa. None of the isolates were identified as carrying the cpe gene by this method or by another method using a digoxigenin-labeled gene probe. Consistent with these results, none of the sporulating-cell extracts contained enterotoxin as determined by reverse passive latex hemagglutination. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis was used to determine the genetic relatedness of the isolates. About 5% of the isolates were considered to be closely related (2- to 3-band difference). The others were considered to be unrelated to one another. The results demonstrate the rarity of cpe+ strains in retail foods and the genetic diversity among nonoutbreak strains.

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