Outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis Phage Type 913 Gastroenteritis Associated with Mung Bean Sprouts Outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis Phage Type 913 Gastroenteritis Associated with Mung Bean Sprouts - Edmonton, 2001 Canada Communicable Disease Report Volume 27-18 15 September 2001 Introduction During February and March 2001, 84 cases of Salmonella enteritidis phage type 913 (SE PT 913) were reported in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan. Of these, 73 (87%) resided in the Capital Health region (greater Edmonton, Alberta) at the time of diagnosis. The ensuing outbreak investigation conducted by Capital Health-Environmental Health, summarized below, epidemiologically linked consumption of mung bean sprouts distributed in the Edmonton area with onset of SE PT 913 infection.   Methods Case Series Data Laboratory confirmation ofS. enteritidis cases was provided by the Provincial Laboratory of Northern Alberta (PLNA), and phage typing of these cases was conducted by the National Laboratory for Enteric Pathogens, National Microbiology Laboratory, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Cases of SE PT 913 captured through notifiable disease surveillance in the Capital Health region were contacted by telephone and administered a

Bioavailability and Kinetics of Sulforaphane in Humans After Consumption of Cooked Versus Raw Broccoli Bioavailability and kinetics of sulforaphane in humans after consumption of cooked versus raw broccoli. J Agric Food Chem. 2008 Nov 26;56(22):10505-9. Vermeulen M, Klöpping-Ketelaars IW, van den Berg R, Vaes WH. TNO Quality of Life, AJ Zeist, The Netherlands. The aim of this study was to determine the bioavailability and kinetics of the supposed anticarcinogen sulforaphane, the hydrolysis product of glucoraphanin, from raw and cooked broccoli. Eight men consumed 200 g of crushed broccoli, raw or cooked, with a warm meal in a randomized, free-living, open cross-over trial. Higher amounts of sulforaphane were found in the blood and urine when broccoli was eaten raw (bioavailability of 37%) versus cooked (3.4%, p ) 0.002). Absorption of sulforaphane was delayed when cooked broccoli was consumed (peak plasma time ) 6 h) versus raw broccoli (1.6 h, p ) 0.001). Excretion half-lives were comparable, 2.6 and 2.4 h on average, for raw and cooked broccoli, respectively (p ) 0.5). This

Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis Patients by Long Treatment of Ulcerative Colitis Patients by Long-Term Administration of Germinated Barley Foodstuff: Multi-Center Open Trial. Int J Mol Med. 2003 Nov;12(5):701-4. Kanauchi O, Mitsuyama K, Homma T, Takahama K, Fujiyama Y, Andoh A, Araki Y, Suga T, Hibi T, Naganuma M, Asakura H, Nakano H, Shimoyama T, Hida N, Haruma K, Koga H, Sata M, Tomiyasu N, Toyonaga A, Fukuda M, Kojima A, Bamba T. Nutrient Food & Feed Division, Kirin Brewery Co. Ltd., Tokyo 104-8288, Japan. kanauchio@kirin.co.jp Germinated barley foodstuff (GBF), which mainly consists of dietary fiber and glutamine-rich protein, is a prebiotic for ulcerative colitis (UC). In our previous study, we carried out a clinical trial of GBF with mildly to moderately active UC patients and showed that GBF treatment was able to attenuate the symptoms of UC in a relatively short-term. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of long-term administration of GBF in the treatment of UC in a multi-center open trial. Twenty-one patients with mildly

An Anthocyanin Compound in Buckwheat Sprouts and Its Contribution to Antioxidant Capacity An anthocyanin compound in buckwheat sprouts and its contribution to antioxidant capacity. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2007 Feb;71(2):579-82. Epub 2007 Feb 7. Watanabe M. National Agricultural Research Center for Tohoku Region, Morioka, Irwate, Japan. The major anthocyanin compound in buckwheat sprouts was determined to be cyanidin 3-O-rutinoside (C3R), based on HPLC data and MS/MS spectra. Investigation of the content of phenolic compounds in commercial buckwheat sprouts indicated that hypocotyls are abundant in C3R and rutin, whereas all of the detected flavonoids are abundant in cotyledons. The superoxide anion radical-scavenging activities (SOD-like activities) of phenolic compounds in buckwheat sprouts and their contents indicated that rutin, isoorientin, and orientin contributed mainly to the SOD-like activity of the extract from buckwheat sprouts. In contrast, the contribution of C3R was substantially lower than that of flavonoids.

Inactivation of Escherichia Coli O157 On Inoculated Alfalfa Seeds with Ozonated Water Under Pressure Inactivation of Escherichia Coli O157:H7 on Inoculated Alfalfa Seeds with Ozonated Water Under Pressure1 Journal of Food Safety, Vol. 22 No.2, July 2002 RATNA R. SHARMA2 and ALI DEMIRCI2,3,4 2Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering 3Life Sciences Consortium The Pennsylvania State University LARRY R. BEUCHAT Center for Food Safety and Department of Food Science and Technology University of Georgia AND WILLIAM F. FETT United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service Eastern Regional Research Center Food Safety Intervention Technologies Research Unit Received for Publication December 21, 2001 Accepted for Publication March 27, 2002 ABSTRACT Alfalfa seeds inoculated with Escherichia coli O157:H7 (~105 CFU/g) were subjected to low hydrostatic pressure. Seeds immersed in ozonated water at 4C were held at 8 and 12-psi ozone pressure for 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64 min. Alternatively, seeds were continuously sparged with ozone for up to 64 min and then held at 12 psi for 5 min. Controls consisted of sparging

GOV GOV'T TO APPEAL RULING OVER DAMAGES FOR SPROUT GROWERS May 29, 2003 AP TOKYO -- Ministry sources were cited as saying Thursday that the Japanese health ministry is planning to appeal a recent ruling by the Tokyo High Court ordering the state to pay damages to growers of white radish sprouts for branding the vegetable as a probable cause of a fatal outbreak of food poisoning in 1996 in Osaka. The story says that the high court on May 21 ruled that the government must pay about 16.9 million yen in compensation to growers of "Kaiware" radish sprouts for damaging their businesses by releasing unconfirmed information when it said the sprouts were the likely source of the outbreak of food poisoning in Osaka caused by the O-157 strain of E. coli bacteria. The growers had demanded that the state pay 110 million yen to make up for the lost revenue they suffered following the announcement, while the ministry had said the announcement was appropriate.  The story adds that the

Two Processing Methods for the Isolation of Salmonella From Naturally Contaminated Alfalfa Seeds Thefollowing research was conducted in order for researchers to be ableto determine contamination levels in seed. Though it was not the intention of the research, the data also shows thatpathogens can be detected in seed with very high probabilities if enough samplesare tested.  The highlights and underlines are mine in order to make apoint at the end of the article. Research Note: TwoProcessing Methods for the Isolation of Salmonella from Naturally ContaminatedAlfalfa Seeds Journalof Food Protection: Vol. 64, No. 8, pp. 1240-1243. Gregory B. Inami, Sue Ming C. Lee, Robin W. Hogue, and Rita A. Brenden California Department of Health Services, Microbial Diseases Laboratory, 2151Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94704, USA Abstract-Twoprocessing methods were examined for the recovery of Salmonella fromnaturally contaminated alfalfa seed. Seed samples, from each of threeinvestigations, were processed by sprouting and shredding before preenrichmentand culture. In lot A, Salmonella serotype Newport wasisolated from 3 of 30 sample units with the sprouting method and 2 of30 with the shredding method. In lot B, three serotypes invarious combinations were

Sensitive and Rapid Detection of Vero Toxin Sensitive and rapid detection of Vero toxin-producing Escherichia coli using loop-mediated isothermal amplification. J Med Microbiol.2007 Mar;56(Pt 3):398-406. Hara-Kudo Y, Nemoto J, Ohtsuka K, Segawa Y, Takatori K, Kojima T, Ikedo M. Division of Microbiology, National Institute of Health Sciences, 1-18-1 Kamiyoga, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 158-8501, Japan. A loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay was developed to detect Vero toxin (VT)-producing Escherichia coli rapidly (within 60 min). The 24 strains of VT-producing E. coli were successfully amplified, but 6 strains of non-VT-producing E. coli and 46 bacterial species other than E. coli were not. The sensitivity of the LAMP assay was found to be >0.7 c.f.u. per test using serogroups O157, O26 and O111 of VT-producing E. coli; this sensitivity is greater than that obtained by PCR assay. Furthermore, the LAMP assay was examined for its ability to detect VT-producing E. coli in food because of the difficulty of detection in food samples. The recovery of VT-producing E. coli by LAMP assay from beef and

Germinated Barley Foodstuff Improves Constipation Induced by Loperamide in Rats Germinated barley foodstuff improves constipation induced by loperamide in rats. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 1998 Sep;62(9):1788-90. Kanauchi O, Hitomi Y, Agata K, Nakamura T, Fushiki T. Applied Bioresearch Center, Corporate Research and Development Division Kirin Brewery Co. Ltd., Gunma, Japan. The effects of germinated barley foodstuff (GBF) derived from the aleurone and scutellum fractions of germinated barley low-lignified hemicellulose were examined in Sprague-Dawley rats with constipation induced by loperamide by addition to the diet (2 mg/kg body weight). Bowel movements were higher in the GBF-fed rats than in the cellulose-fed rats used as a control. Fecal water content was also higher in the GBF-fed rats. The concentration of short chain fatty acids in cecal content, especially butyrate, was significantly higher in the GBF-fed rats than in the cellulose-fed rats. These findings suggested that GBF helps normalize defecation not only in diarrhea but also constipation.