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Food Safety Briefing ISSUE 3813, 23 SEPTEMBER 2013

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Food Safety Briefing ISSUE 3813, 23 SEPTEMBER 2013 Food Safety Briefing ISSUE 3813, 23 SEPTEMBER 2013 Prosecutions Noodle bar fined for large rat infestation A large rat infestation and very poor hygiene among staff resulted in How Cha Noodle Bar in Chapel Street, Luton being shut down and fined. Council food safety officers were alerted to the noodle bar after a passer-by spotted a rat there in July 2012. In a hearing at Luton Magistrates Court, a representative of the owner, Xing Yu Investment Ltd, pleaded guilty to seven food hygiene offences and was fined £9,380 plus £1800 prosecution costs. The serious breaches of hygiene regulations included a large rat infestation, no pest control procedures in place, food preparation surfaces, equipment and utensils not being properly cleaned or disinfected and food not protected from contamination. Because of the serious risk to public health, council food and safety officers closed the premises immediately using a Hygiene Emergency Prohibition Notice. The restaurant reopened four days later once the premises was pest free and adequate cleaning and structural work had been completed to allow food to be produced safely. Officers visited the restaurant again in August to check hygiene standards were being improved and maintained. However, during another follow-up check in November, officers discovered poor food handling practices and a lack of food safety management including high risk food kept outside temperature control with no record of recent temperature checks. Food areas and containers were greasy throughout the premises. There was poor personal hygiene among staff, especially poor hand washing, and food was not protected from contamination. An environmental health spokeswoman said: “We aim to support Luton’s businesses but will not hesitate to use our enforcement options and court action where necessary to protect public health and safety.” The court gave credit to the company for sending staff on training and having the premises professionally cleaned, but said they had to balance this with the risk to public health. The restaurant is now under new ownership. Luton News, Herald and Post September 2013 Dirty Chinese takeaway fined The owner of a Leamington Chinese takeaway has been fined £1,500 after inspectors witnessed poor personal hygiene from employees handling food. Bruce Fu, operator of Fu Garden, pleaded guilty to magistrates in relation to five offences in relation to Food Hygiene Regulations. Warwick District Council brought the proceedings for hygiene offences witnessed by inspectors in November 2012. They visited Fu Garden during the evening to carry out a routine inspection and found the premises to be dirty and in a poor state of repair. Equipment, including refrigerators and a food chopping board, was found to be filthy and damaged. Inspectors also deemed food handlers’ personal hygiene to be poor and believed food was not protected from contamination. The prosecution said that the offences were of a serious nature and could result in customers being placed at risk of food poisoning. The magistrates fined Fu £1,500, including a victim surcharge of £60, and ordered him to pay Warwick District Council’s prosecution costs in full. Coventry Telegraph September 2013 Curry and mice The owner of a “filthy” and “disgusting” restaurant where mouse droppings were found on food, work surfaces and plates, pleaded guilty to four hygiene offences. The owner of the Taj Palace Restaurant Mohammed Saleem, agreed to close the restaurant on 16 May 2013 after officers investigating the establishment found the foul conditions, which also included a build-up of grease on the walls and a hole in the kitchen ceiling. The offences, which relate to two visits on March and May of this year, include a failure to put in place and implement food-safety-management systems, deal with an active mouse infestation and keeping the food premises clean and in good repair. The case was adjourned until 9 October for sentencing. Oldham Evening Chronicle September 2013 News Formaldehyde detected in supermarket fish imported from Asia A large number of fish imported from China and Vietnam and sold in at least some US supermarkets contain unnatural levels of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, according to tests performed and verified by researchers at a North Carolina chemical engineering firm and North Carolina State University. Around 25 per cent of all the fish purchased from supermarkets by researchers in the Raleigh, North Carolina, area were found to contain formaldehyde, a toxic chemical compound commonly used as a medical disinfectant or embalming agent. All of the fish found to contain the compound were imported from Asian countries, and it was not found in fish from the US or other regions. The researchers only collected samples from supermarkets around Raleigh, NC, and could not comment on whether or not the same results could be applied to fish sold nationwide. Formaldehyde is illegal in food beyond any naturally occurring trace amounts. But, according to chemical engineer A. James Attar and his colleagues who conducted the tests, the US Food and Drug Administration does not test any imported fish for formaldehyde contamination, and only four per cent of imported fish gets tested for any contaminants at all. “The look on my face when we found this – it was a complete shocker,” said Jason Morton, Attar’s colleague at NC-based Appealing Products, Inc. Attar, Morton and another colleague at Appealing Products, Matthew Schwartz, came across the alarming revelation when they set out to validate a new formaldehyde test they developed for Bangladeshi clients who needed a cheap way to detect contaminated fish. To verify the accuracy of their test, the team purchased domestic and imported fish from supermarkets around Raleigh, NC, with the intent of purposefully contaminating them with formaldehyde and then verifying that their test worked. Instead, they found that about one in four fish was already contaminated with formaldehyde. So, what was the commonality between all the contaminated fish? They were imported from Asian countries, predominantly China and Vietnam. Not all of the Asian fish were contaminated, but many were, Attar said. The FDA has not had the opportunity to analyse the fish samples tested by Appealing Products, nor has the agency had the opportunity to review the test methods utilised. “The FDA’s priority is to ensure that both domestic and imported seafood is safe and that we are protecting consumers from products that can cause illness,” the agency told Food Safety News. “To accomplish this, FDA oversees a comprehensive food safety program designed to ensure the safety of all seafood sold in the United States. This prevention-oriented program includes risk based inspections, product testing, and assessments of foreign countries regulation of aquaculture facilities.” All foods imports entering the US are screened electronically by the FDA. A subset of those foods is physically inspected at rates based on the potential risk associated with them, with some samples undergoing lab analysis. “FDA encourages anyone who has evidence that an FDA regulated product violates food safety laws and regulations to contact FDA,” the agency added. Attar and Morton stopped short of accusing Asian fish companies of intentionally adding formaldehyde to fish to prevent spoilage, though it appears to be a common problem in Bangladesh, where formaldehyde might preserve fish when refrigerators or ice aren’t available. (Think of frogs preserved for dissection in a high-school science lab.) Attar and his team first uncovered the issue in February 2013, and then spent six months routinely testing samples, finding the same results. Their results were then verified by researchers at North Carolina State University. Attar said the sampling was restricted to purchases from Raleigh only and might not reflect fish in supermarkets nationwide. “But, empirically, this is what we found,” he added. Formaldehyde is present in some fish at small, naturally occurring levels. But everything observed in the Asian fish found that they were contaminated with far higher-than-normal or acceptable levels, Attar said. The team tested whether or not levels of formaldehyde increased in cuts of fish as they aged, but the levels remained the same. They also tested the same species harvested from both Chinese and US companies, finding that the Chinese-caught fish contained formaldehyde, while the US-caught fish of the same species did not. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, the US imports approximately 91 per cent of its seafood. China alone accounts for approximately 89 per cent of global aquaculture production. Appealing Products’ formaldehyde test costs approximately $1 per swab, which is applied to a cut of fish and turns purple in the presence of formaldehyde. The company has shipped 100,000 tests to Bangladesh and anticipates orders from companies in other Asian countries. More information on the tests can be found at formaldehydetests.com. Documented instances of intentional formaldehyde contamination of food have occurred in China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. Attar and Morton said that their evidence makes a strong case for improved testing on seafood imports in the US, especially from Asian countries. “I cannot say that companies are adding formaldehyde to fish, but our findings are higher than what naturally occurs,” Morton said. Food Safety News September 2013 Outbreak of Salmonella has links to the consumption of cooked meats Investigations show that an outbreak of salmonella seen in England and Wales has links to the consumption of cooked ham bought from small independent butchers’ shops. The results of tests carried out by environmental health officers on the product did not show the presence of salmonella although it did reveal other hygiene issues. As a result of this the supplier has withdrawn certain batches of ham. There have been 21 confirmed cases in Wales where the outbreak was first detected and a further 36 in England.
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