Linda Bren
Sheknows.com
Pasteurization, since its adoption in the early 1900s, has been credited with dramatically reducing illness and death caused by contaminated milk. But today, some people are passing up pasteurized milk for what they claim is tastier and healthier “raw milk.”
Public health officials couldn’t disagree more.
Drinking raw (untreated) milk or eating raw milk products is “like playing Russian roulette with your health,” says John Sheehan, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Division of Dairy and Egg Safety. “We see a number of cases of foodborne illness every year related to the consumption of raw milk.”
More than 300 people in the United States got sick from drinking raw milk or eating cheese made from raw milk in 2001, and nearly 200 became ill from these products in 2002, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Continue Reading Got milk? Make sure it’s pasteurized

Foodinfo Online FSTA Reports 4 July 2006
http://www.foodsciencecentral.com/fsc/ixid14389
© IFIS Publishing 2006 – All Rights Reserved
Listeria monocytogenes is a significant foodborne pathogen, particularly in ready-to-eat (RTE) meats. Over recent years, there have been several illnesses and deaths associated with foodborne listeriosis. There is therefore a need to evaluate post-process interventions for their ability to enhance the safety of high-volume RTE foods.Continue Reading Listeria – going cold turkey

The study will be posted on June 30 in the June issue of the online journal PLoS Pathogens.
For years, doctors have puzzled over why pregnant women are 20 times more likely than others to be infected by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, now think they have the answer, and it isn’t pretty.
Their research, conducted in guinea pigs, shows that the bacteria can invade the placenta, where – protected from the body’s immune system – they proliferate rapidly before pouring out to infect organs such as the liver and spleen. The illness they cause often results in miscarriage or infection of the fetus.Continue Reading Finally: A Study That Details Why Listeriosis Rates Are 20-fold Higher During Pregnancy

01.jul.06
Journal of Food Protection Volume 69, Number 7 pp. 1680-1689(10)
Sauders, Brian D.; Schukken, Ynte; Kornstein, Laura; Reddy, Vasudha; Bannerman, Tammy; Salehi, Ellen; Dumas, Nellie; Anderson, B
http://www.foodprotection.org/QuickLinks.htm
To better understand the transmission and epidemiology of human listeriosis, 647 Listeria monocytogenes isolates obtained from human listeriosis cases in four U.S. locations (Michigan, Ohio, New…

July 5, 2006
Matthew Borghese – All Headline News Staff Writer
Philadelphia, PA (AHN) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is issuing a recall of Shernoff’s Salads, Inc. brand Potato Salad because Listeria monocytogenes Poly O, type 1 was discovered in both environmental and product samples.
According to the FDA, “during an inspection,…

05.jul.06
RxPG News
National Institutes of Health
PLoS Pathogens, reviewed by: Dr. Priya Saxena
“It’s rare for a pregnant woman to get infected, but once she is, she can’t clear the infection unless the placenta is expelled.”
For years, doctors have puzzled over why pregnant women are 20 times more likely than others to be infected by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, now think they have the answer, and it isn’t pretty.
Their research, conducted in guinea pigs, shows that the bacteria can invade the placenta, where – protected from the body’s immune system – they proliferate rapidly before pouring out to infect organs such as the liver and spleen. The illness they cause often results in miscarriage or infection of the fetus.Continue Reading Why Listeriosis rates are 20-fold higher during pregnancy

Contact:
Shernoff’s Salads, Inc.
215-467-7880
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Philadelphia, PA — June 30, 2006 — Shernoff’s Salads, Inc. of Philadelphia, PA is recalling Shernoff’s brand Potato Salad because Listeria monocytogenes Poly O, type 1 was discovered in both environmental and product samples. During an inspection, FDA reviewed the firm’s environmental testing results and observed a positive result for Listeria in the manufacturing room. Finished product was sampled and analytical results were positive for Listeria. Listeria monocytogenes is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in babies, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, listeriosis infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women. Persons who have consumed this product and experience any of these symptoms should seek the advice of a health care provider.Continue Reading Shernoff’s Salad, Inc., Recalls Potato Salad for Listeria

By Liese Greensfelder, Media Relations
University of California — Berkeley
29 June 2006
BERKELEY — For years, doctors have puzzled over why pregnant women are 20 times more likely than others to be infected by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, now think they have the answer, and it isn’t pretty.
Their research, conducted in guinea pigs, shows that the bacteria can invade the placenta, where – protected from the body’s immune system – they proliferate rapidly before pouring out to infect organs such as the liver and spleen. The illness they cause often results in miscarriage or infection of the fetus.Continue Reading Listeriosis’s path to miscarriage traced to placental infection