Salmonella Contamination in Chocolate Products

Salmonella contamination refers to the presence of Salmonella bacteria in food products, posing significant health risks to consumers. In chocolate products, this issue is particularly significant due to the potential widespread consumption and severe consequences of contamination.

Salmonella bacteria are commonly found in the intestines of animals and humans, with various strains causing illness in humans. Sources of contamination include raw meat, poultry, eggs, and unpasteurized milk. Transmission routes to chocolate products primarily occur during processing, where contaminated ingredients or inadequate sanitation practices introduce the bacteria.

Notable outbreaks, such as the 2006 Cadbury Schweppes incident and the 2010 salmonella outbreak in German chocolate products, have underscored the seriousness of Salmonella contamination in the chocolate industry. Contributing factors often include inadequate hygiene practices, contaminated ingredients, and insufficient regulatory oversight. Regulatory responses and industry changes following such incidents have aimed to improve safety standards and prevent future outbreaks.

Salmonella contamination poses significant health risks to consumers, including symptoms such as diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps, which can be particularly severe in vulnerable populations. For chocolate manufacturers, contamination incidents lead to economic implications such as product recalls, loss of revenue, and damage to brand reputation, resulting in long-term consequences for consumer trust.

Companies like Mars Inc. and Nestlé have faced challenges due to Salmonella contamination in their chocolate products. Responses have included extensive product recalls, improved sanitation protocols, and enhanced quality control measures to mitigate contamination risks and rebuild consumer confidence.

Informing consumers about Salmonella risks in chocolate products is essential for promoting safe consumption practices. Labeling and product information play a crucial role in communicating potential hazards, while public health campaigns and educational initiatives further raise awareness about proper handling and storage to reduce the risk of illness.

In conclusion, Salmonella contamination in chocolate products remains a significant concern, with implications for both public health and industry stakeholders. By understanding the sources of contamination, historical cases, associated risks, and effective mitigation strategies, stakeholders can work together to ensure the safety and integrity of chocolate products for consumers worldwide.
Salmonella Contamination in Chocolate Products

Bread: Mold Contamination

Mold is a term commonly employed to characterize the fuzzy growth that emerges on damp or decaying organic matter due to fungal proliferation. This growth of mold can lead to diverse types of food spoilage, encompassing off-flavors, toxins, discoloration, rot, and the generation of pathogenic or allergenic spores.

The majority of molds are acknowledged as saprotrophs, reproducing by releasing spores that settle on decomposing organic material. They acquire nutrients by utilizing digestive enzymes to break down large molecules into smaller components before absorbing them.

An estimated 1-5% of bread production is thought to be impacted by fungal activity. In the context of bread, the contamination by mold not only induces changes in color and taste but also results in a deterioration of food quality due to the potential formation of mycotoxins.

The color of mold on bread can range from white, golden yellow to green-gray, depending on the species and the extent of sporulation.

Molds require moisture to thrive and typically disseminate spores in damp or moist settings. In general, most molds thrive in conditions with high water potential (aw values > 0.8), whereas a few xerophilic molds prefer to grow at lower aw values, dropping as far as 0.65.

The manifestation of moldiness is linked to external contamination of bread after the baking process, as the spores present in flour during a standard technological process lack favorable conditions for multiplication and are eliminated during baking.

Bread contamination with molds may occur during transportation, cooling, storage, or optional cutting and packing procedures.

Molds, mold spores, and mold fragments can negatively impact an individual's health, causing minor irritations such as a runny nose or itchy, watery eyes, and progressing to more severe health issues like breathing difficulties, asthma attacks, infections, fever, and notable skin irritations.
Bread: Mold Contamination

Mouldy food

Moulds are visible but other organisms that cause food to decay such as bacteria are not. Since many micror0gansm release large quantities of spores into the air and some people are allergic to these, mouldy foods should be kept in closed plastic bags or other closed containers.

Moulds are fungi composed of many cells. Most of them have a thread-like structure, live on plant or animal material and thrive in a warm, humid conditions.

Under a microscope they look like narrow mushrooms, with root threads which can extend very deeply into the food, and a stalk rising above the food.

The presence of mould has a major impact on the quality of grain for example. Nobody wants to eat mouldy food. Mould-contaminated grain is often discarded, is certainly difficult to sell, and will either cause grain to be rejected or at best downgraded with a loss in value.

However, mouldy grain is usually retained for brewing beer or is fed to livestock.
Mouldy food

Spoilage of foods

Food spoilage is a complex process that changes in food making it unsafe, less acceptable or unacceptable to the consumer for its original purpose.

The spoilage can be detected organoleptically. That is, people can either see the spoilage, smell the spoilage, taste the spoilage, feel the spoilage, or combination of the four sensations.

Food may be spoiled by being contaminated with disease-causing organism that may not be organoleptically detected by consumer, by contamination with glass, pieces of metal or paint, light oxidation of colors, by undergoing chemical change (e.g. rancidity) or by the growth of microorganisms that may become manifest in a variety of ways.

It is widely recognized that food spoilage often occurs due to growth of microorganism and activities of enzymes they secrete.

Food spoilage is usually and indicator that a food has been improperly handled or stored too long.
Spoilage of foods

Staphylococcus aureus in hams and it products

Spoilage for raw hams can be caused by a variety of bacteria growing within the meat before the salt concentration is sufficiently high and/or if the initial curing temperature is not sufficiently low to prevent multiplication.

The reason why ham products are frequently involved is that in their preparation they may contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus, and since this product contains 2-3% salt, other bacteria might grow and inhibit the growth of staphylococci are themselves inhibited by the salt.

Staphylococcus aureus is able to grow and produce enterotoxin on slices of raw of the aw (water activity) is above 0.90. Values of aw above 0.90 are usually associated with the production of ham from high pH meat. Values of aw above 0.90 should be stored refrigerated.

Dry-cure hams, after salting and before ripening, are washed to remove excess salt. If the washed hams are dried at the elevated temperatures (e.g. 30 °C) high number of Staphylococcus aureus can develop on the surface.

Tests in both media and raw pork showed that Staphylococcus aureus growth can occur in any combination of salt, nitrate and nitrite that is palatable and permissible. Staphylococcus also die rapidly in ham curing pickle unless protected by meat juices.

To reduce Staphylococcus aureus food poisoning, the amount of manual handling should be minimizes. Slicers should be dismantled when cleaned and sanitized. Ham should be sliced when it its cold. Rapid cooking should be permitted by storing food in small, loosely covered containers.
Staphylococcus aureus in hams and it products 

Food Contaminants

During their journey from farm to consumer food commodities are likely to be exposed to a multitude of hazards that may lead to contamination by dust, dirt weeds, mechanical injury, physicochemical changes accelerated by heat, light, metal ions, contamination or spoilage due to microorganisms insects and rodents or biochemical changes brought about by enzymes that may be endogenous or contributed by the invading biological agents.

Food commodities are thus likely to undergo significant alteration. Even though the consumer reference is undoubtedly for farm fresh foods and farmers and traders have been striving to keep up farm fresh image of food commodities, the question remains how fresh?

Amongst food grains particularly oilseeds, which are seeds high in essential oils, the entry of weed seeds at harvest, especially if harvesting is mechanical, is a serious contamination of the weed seeds harbor toxicants like Crotolaria, Datura and Argemone for instance.

Not only fruits and vegetables but even seeds may undergo mechanical damage. In the case of high moisture commodities, this will most likely be followed by microbial infections and spoilage.

In fat rich commodities such as oilseeds and nuts, oxidative chemical changes are most likely to be catalyzed by exposure to air, elevated temperature, humidity, light and metal salt contaminants leading to rancidity.

Such oxidative reactions affect essential oils and oil bearing material adversely.

Microbial spoilage of foods and health hazards to consumers through bacterial and fungal toxins and enteric disease are especially associated with high moisture foods, animal foods in particular.
Moisture pick-up or loss depending on the relative humidity (RH) is another change that significantly affects the quality.

Many foods undergo staling on storage: bread and coffee are good examples. In many countries, where feasible, specifications have been laid down for food commodities indicating the tolerances with respect to changes to their quality.
Food Contaminants

Food Contamination

Food Contamination
Because the same nutrients in foods are also the same nutrients microbes need for their growth, food spoilage is inevitable. However, most infectious agents do not multiply on foods, but use them as a vector to gain entrance to the human body.

Food Poisoning results from many sources. Some of them include the following: Bacillus cereus, Campylobacter jejuni, Clostridium perfringens, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, and Yersinia enterocolitica. Infection from them usually causes the same basic symptoms of acute gastroenteritis, abdominal discomfort and pain, and diarrhea, but symptoms vary -- from mild gastric distress to death -- depending on the type of bacterial infection. Transmission is usually passed via the fecal/oral route with the ingestion of the pathogen on contaminated food.

Foodborne diseases affects roughly seventy-six million people each year in the US, which is more common and deadlier than bacterial meningitis, toxic shock syndrome, and the flesh-eating strep combined. Typical bacteria that cause most of the epidemics include Salmonella, Campylobacter, and Shigella. More recently, such mutant strains as Escherichia coli 0157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Cyclospora cayetanensis, and caliciviruses are becoming more commonplace.

Water contamination is usually because of the presence of three bacteria and are indicators of fecal contamination -- E. coli, Clostridium perfringens, and enterococci. In the case of water contamination by Klebsiella pneumoniae, it should not be assumed that the contamination came from a fecal source. The bacterium is also found in soil and runoff can contaminate water.

Meat held at room temperature often invites bacteria from the family Enterobacteriaceae. This also happens with strains of Staphylococci, micrococci, and aerobic Gram-positive spore-forming bacilli. Refrigeration suppresses these microbes, but can allow the growth of such other organisms as pseudomonas. Eating raw meats, fish, and milk is becoming more of a hazard and should be avoided. Suspect, too, are salads prepared in restaurants where meats and vegetables share a common surface during preparation.

Color can often indicate the type of microbe involved in the spoilage:

• Black spots on meat are the result of Cladosporium species.
• White spots are from Sporotrichum carnis.
• Yellow or green spots form as a result of the Penicillium species.
• A rainbow effect, often seen on bacon and fish, is caused by a spoilage bacteria known as Photobacteria that can break down ATP to produce visible light. After a couple of days, this bacterium can grow sufficiently to enable raw fish to glow in the dark!
  

Spoiled milk, as opposed to fermented products, is caused by such capsulated organisms as Lactococcus cremoris or Enterobacter aerogenes, leaving the milk to form unpleasant strands. Various strains of clostridium can also cause milk to spoil. Contaminated ice cream in Minnesota in 1994 caused an estimated quarter of a million people to become ill. Despite this, it took a full three months before the Salmonella-type bacterium was tracked down and appropriate action taken. This is not an inspiring record designed to instill confidence in the public health system. On the other hand, when a contaminant is suspected, much food is wasted in an effort to track down a few questionable samples.


Stores of rotten black potatoes that turn into an oozing mess are the result of an Erwinia contamination.


A liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica, can be contracted by humans, mainly from eating watercress harvested from beds where infected snails live.

Listeria monocytogenes is a Gram-positive bacillus capable of growing at temperatures of 0°C (32°F) and lower. It is relatively heat-resistant, having been isolated from pasteurized products. Another reason for it being an easy microbe to be passed on is its ability to remain on the hands for long periods of time -- at least eight hours -- and is not easily removed by conventional handwashing.

Foods associated with this microbe are soft cheeses, pates, and raw vegetable dishes. Pre-cut foods are most at risk for developing listeria contamination. Most people remain relatively unaffected, except for pregnant women and newborns, where often fatal cases of meningitis and/or septicemia develop.

Almost half of all food poisonings in Japan are caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus, a marine bacterium found off the coast there, as well as in America and southwest England. Almost all food poisonings have been the result of undercooked fish. Such was the case in an air flight from Hong Kong to the UK, where lobster salad was served. Fortunately, the new crew, picked up in India enroute, did not eat any of the salad as all others aboard were ill by the time the flight ended. Obviously, the incubation period is relatively short -- the time it took to fly from Hong Kong to the UK.
Food Contamination

Pest Control of Fruits and Vegetables

Pest Control of Fruits and Vegetables
Insects, rodents, plant disease, and weeds can devastate food crops, and human history is filled with famines attributable to these scourges. Large scale agricultural production tends to increase the susceptibility of crops to these hazards. Pesticides are currently an integral component of an agricultural system that produces increased yields of fresh fruits and vegetables with good visual quality. Pesticides have become a major cost of production of fruit and vegetable farmers. The use of pesticides is associated with risks of increase pest resistance, environmental contamination, exposure to farm workers, and escalating costs. With mounting regulatory pressure on pesticides it is likely that fewer compounds will be available to the farmer and that these compounds will be available for only a few crops of high economic value.

Damage to fruits and vegetables by pests is not limited to loss of visual quality. Insects and rodents can inoculate plants in the field with microorganisms that can present a health hazard, particularly if the product is not properly washed and is eaten raw. These dangers are compounded if untreated animal wastes such as manure, a potent source of human pathogens, are used for fertilization, particularly with vegetables grown close to the ground. Mold, which can be held in check by fungicide, can infect fruits and vegetables products. Mycotoxins produced by molds, such as patulin in apple products and ochratoxin in citrus fruits, present additional concern. The potential danger of these naturally occurring mycotoxins has been documented but the practical implications of decreased fungicide use are not clear.
Pest Control of Fruits and Vegetables

Cadbury Chocolate – Salmonella contamination – the Story

Cadbury Chocolate – Salmonella contamination – the Story

The source of the Cadbury chocolate Salmonella outbreak is contaminated "crumb," a mixture of sugar, milk and cocoa. This crumb was used to make several Cadbury chocolate products, including Dairy Milk Miniatures and Easter eggs.

Cadbury allegedly knew that the crumb was contaminated with Salmonella back in January but chose not to warn the public or take products off of the market.

It was not until 3 people, including 2 children, got Salmonella food poisoning (salmonellosis) from the chocolate that Cadbury recalled the affected chocolate products on June 23. 1 million Cadbury chocolate products were recalled.

According to a story in the Times, Cadbury's Salmonella testing procedures were inadequate, and Cadbury had the false notion that selling chocolate with low levels of Salmonella is acceptable.

Even small amounts of Salmonella can severely sicken people in high-risk groups, including young children, the elderly, and people with compromised immune systems. As one UK food safety official noted, there is no minimum dose for Salmonella.

Chocolate or any other food product with any level of Salmonella contamination should not be sold to consumers.Due to Cadbury's poor testing procedures, failure to promptly disclose information and willingness to sell Salmonella-contaminated chocolate products to consumers (both this year and in a similar situation in 2002), health officials in the UK are testing another 30 Cadbury chocolate products for Salmonella contamination.

Again the Cadbury chocolate Salmonella outbreak is not linked to any chocolate sold in the United States.

Checked CDC statistics for Salmonella outbreaks from 1994-2004 (the most recent confirmed statistics published by the CDC). During that time, there was not one Salmonella outbreak in the United States associated with chocolate.
Cadbury Chocolate – Salmonella contamination – the Story

Oats weevil contamination

Oats weevil contamination
Oats may be infested by the following cereal pests during storage and transport:
granary weevil (Sitophilus granarius)
cadelle beetle (Tenebroides mauretanicus)
rust-red grain beetle (Cryptolestes ferrugineus)
sawtoothed grain beetle (Oryzaephilus surinamensis)
European grain moth (Nemapogon granellus)
Angoumois cereal moth (Sitotroga cerealella)


The chewing damage caused by the cereal pests brings about increased respiration in the cereal (hot spots) and this, associated with the metabolic activity of the pests themselves, promotes evolution of heat and moisture, which in turn provide favorable living conditions for molds and subsequently, at very high moisture levels, for bacterial growth.

Insect infestation may result in self-heating which ultimately gives rise to depreciation and finally total loss.Inadequately cleaned warehouses, holds and containers are generally the root cause of insect infestation.

Cereal is also at risk from rats and mice, which can act as disease vectors and contaminate the cereal.Before loading, holds/containers should be examined by an independent inspector for infestation by pests of any kind and an appropriate certificate obtained.
Oats weevil contamination