Outbreaks and Alerts: July 8, 2010

A daily digest of international outbreaks, alerts and food safety news

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United States

• Baton Rouge, LA. July 7: One hundred and ninety-nine cases of oil spill exposure-related cases have been reported to the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals to date; 166 of those cases involved workers on oil rigs or workers involved in the oil spill clean-up efforts, while 33 were reported by the general public.
• Baton Rouge, LA. July 7: The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals is reopening oyster harvesting Area 7 to give harvesters as much time as possible to harvest their product before any potential impact from the BP oil spill in the Gulf.
• University Park, PA. July 8: A counselor at a Penn State tennis camp was diagnosed with an E. coli infection last week. Three other participants in the tennis camp also reported digestive system problems, although none of them reported E. coli. The University, which is investigating the incident, could not confirm that the counselor, a resident of New York, contracted his illness while at Penn State.

Europe

• Dublin, Ireland. July 7: Seven food businesses were ordered to shut down over safety breaches in June, according to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. Overall, 10 enforcement orders were served on food businesses around the country.

Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands

• Beijing, PRC. July 7: The State Food and Drug Administration, in concert with five other central government agencies, has launched a six-month crackdown campaign on livestock and poultry slaughtering to ensure meat safety for consumers. The campaign is focussing on illegal sale of diseased or dead livestock and poultry, illegal slaughtering, feeding pigs with banned substances such as clenobuterol hydrochloride, and sale of pigs injected with water.
• Beijing, PRC. July 7: China's Food and Drug Administration will investigate allegations in recent media reports, which claim that fast food giant McDonald's chicken nuggets contain excessive amounts of two chemical ingredients – tertiary-butylhydroquinone and dimethylpolysiloxane.
• Taiwan. July 8: Fast food restaurants in Taiwan have been urged to drop big burgers from their menus amid reports of a growing number of jaw injuries.
• Chaohu City, PRC. July 8: A green algae outbreak has been reported in China's fifth-largest freshwater lake, threatening the drinking water source for 300,000 residents.
• Anand, India. July 8: Six villages in the district of Gujarat are being closely watched for signs of a cholera outbreak after cases of the disease were detected in Valasan village.
• Phnom Penh, Cambodia. July 8: Officials at Preah Sihanouk provincial prison requested intervention from the provincial health department this week after 10 prisoners were stricken with severe vomiting and diarrhoea, five of whom were hospitalised.