McDonald's screen of death. I remain unsurprised.

A recent post from IFLScience.com claims that microbiologists from London Metropolitan University conducted swabbing on touch screens in McDonald's restaurants in London and Birmingham, finding coliforms, Bacillus and Listeria.  They also found Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas, Enterococcus faecalis and Klebsiella.

All of these bacteria are capably of causing infections, and you will find some discussion of these bacteria on this blog site - see labels.

But should we be surprised and should customers at McDonald's be concerned?  Well, I am not at all suprised.  If a microbiologist conducts swabbing in any public place, such as a supermarket, they will find all of these bacteria, perhaps on trolley handles, push plates on doors, in the toilets etc.  As for the customers, if they are concerned, they could order their meal on the touch screen, then wash their hands, or use a hand sanitiser.  Be honest - if you go to any fast food joint after you have been shopping in the mall, do you always wash your hands before you eat?

The original research was done for Metro (see https://metro.co.uk/2018/11/28/poo-found-on-every-mcdonalds-touchscreen-tested-8178486/).   Not surprisingly, when this post was published on FaceBook, there were 1.2 thousand comments and nearly a thousand shares.  My personal opinion is that this article was written and published for shock value and to boost circulation.  Interestingly, a video clip posted on this same site showed that the majority of customers were not surprised by the findings and would still go and purchase food there.

Whatever you think of McDonald's or any other fast food outlet, in my opinion, the researchers are making a mountain out of a molehill, and IFLScience is making it worse.  Don't pick on just one fast food chain, and think about how you protect yourself and your family from infection.

And while you are at it, think about a similar scenario in your own home.

Food for thought:  How do you recognise the microbiologists around you?  They are the people who use their little fingers or elbows to open doors, use a paper towel to turn the taps off in a public washbasin, use a knuckle on the touch screen and who often use hand sanitiser before eating in public.

Talking crap

Microbiologists, and particularly food microbiologists, are rarely invited to be after-dinner speakers - our interests are just too awful! 

I recently listened to a TED talk that set me thinking.  This blog is about safe food and, I admit, tends to concentrate on microorganisms in food.  Safe food should be the right of every man, woman and child on earth; without it, life becomes unpleasant, and in some cases, unsafe food can be the cause of death.

 We read about the devastation that can be caused by HIV, but apparently, the major cause of infant death is diarrhoea.  The latter is easy to treat, but without clean water and good sanitation, many children die.  My daughter-in-law recently presented me with a granddaughter.  It's a long time since I held a new-born baby, but I realised just how tiny a new-born is - they can't afford to lose large amounts of fluid.

As the TED lecturer said, we take clean water and flush toilets for granted, but a large proportion of the world's population don't have even suitable latrines. 

Have a look at an attractive woman talking crap: 

 http://video.ted.com/talk/podcast/2013/None/RoseGeorge_2013.mp4

Third World water supply

Residents of this village have been boiling their water for drinking for the past four years.  They have just been told that they can expect to do this for at least another ten years, because upgrading the supply is not a priority.

The village water supply, which is drawn from an open stream, was described by the regional mayor as "Potentially safe to drink, most of the time".  There is the possibility of Giardia and Cryptosporidium contamination in the water supply.  Doesn't sound too good does it?

The UN General Assembly declared on 28th July 2010 that safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights. The General Assembly also voiced deep concern that almost 900 million people worldwide do not have access to clean water.

So, is this village in Africa, South America, or India?  No.  It's in the North Island of New Zealand.  That puts these residents on a par with many Third World countries.

Mathew Grocot, writing in the Manawatu Standard this week, reports that the Horowhenua District Mayor told the local residents association that the minimum period before residents could expect to see a tangible improvement in their water supply was ten years.  Water and sewage projects in the district would cost more than $100 million over the next 20 years.  Another town in the district had priority for upgrade of its water and sewage systems.

Some residents were predictably annoyed when told that other infrastructure projects, including a community centre, library and park upgrades in other towns had priority.  When asked why these projects were deemed more important than the village water supply, the mayor said that if these community facilities were not provided, people would not want to live in the district.

Seems to me that crap in the water is a really good reason not to live there.

Fancy a snot pie?

The thought of this is totally gross.  Why would I contemplate writing under such a heading?

Unfortunately, it's quite possible that some customers have in fact been sold pies contaminated by the profuse nasal secretions of a baby held in the arms of the cook filling the pies.  Talia Shadwell wrote a piece in the Manawatu Standard at the end of December 2012 about a family-owned Rangitikei food premises forced to close because of a very unfavourable food safety inspection report.  In addition to the highly probable contamination of the pies by the infant, the milkshake blender was encrusted with rotten milk.  It is likely that there were other violations of good catering practice and the Food Hygiene Regulations.

Legislation is changing in New Zealand, but it is safe to say that the intent of the regulations will not change.  District councils are responsible for registering food premises and it is illegal to sell food not produced in registered premises.

"No persons shall be issued with a Certificate of Registration for food premises (except a vehicle used solely for the carriage or delivery of food for sale) unless -

• That person has been issued with a Council recognised Certificate in Food Hygiene or another qualification approved by Council; or
• There is, working on the food premises, a Manager or a staff member with specific responsibility for staff training in food hygiene, who has been issued with a Certificate in Food Hygiene, a Certificate in Basic Food Hygiene or other qualification approved by Council."

 It is perhaps surprising that the inspection report noted that the family had 'very limited' knowledge of food hygiene and food safety practices.

Unfortunately, this state of affairs is probably more common than we would like to think - many food premises are run by immigrants who provide the rich diversity of foods available in New Zealand, but who may have very limited knowledge of the language and regulations. This is no excuse for poor hygiene and food production practices.

Consumers have a right to expect their food to be safe to consume and to be produced under aesthetically acceptable conditions.

Economic downturn no excuse for sloppy hygiene

Reporter Katie Chapman writes in the Dominion Post this week that some restaurants in Wellington are blaming their lapses in hygiene on the economic downturn.  The number of restaurants temporarily closed has more than doubled in the last six months compared with the average over the last five years.  In addition, one in five restaurants managed to achieve only the minimum standard.

Rodent and cleaning failures were the reasons given for temporary closures of all eight restaurants between February and July this year.  In most cases, the restaurants reopened within a day.  This suggests that the effort required to keep them clean and hygienic would not be very great if cleaning and self inspection were done on a daily basis.

Hard times are no excuse for sloppy hygiene, even if staff numbers have been reduced.  It's essentially the same argument sometimes presented against a requirement for food companies to have risk based food safety plans - "We can't be expected to have a food safety plan, we are only a small operation and we can't afford it".

My suggestion is "If you can't afford to keep your premises clean and rodent free, you can't afford to be in business;  if you cause a food poisoning outbreak, you'll pretty soon be out of business and looking for work somewhere else".

More on antibiotic use in animal rearing

I wrote last month, suggesting that it is high time we banned the sub-therapeutic use of antibiotics currently used in human therapy for animal rearing. 

When I wrote the article, I was not aware that the Food and Drug Administration had, around 9th November 2011, rejected two petitions to ban antibiotics from being used in food animal production. The petitions were filed by a coalition that included  the American Public Health Association and the Union of Concerned Scientists.

It is troubling that in its denial letter, the FDA acknowledged that its “experience with contested, formal withdrawal proceedings is that the process can consume extensive periods of time and agency resources.”  I interpret that to mean that FDA may well think that antibiotic use should be banned, but it can't afford to force the issue.

Meanwhile, researchers at McGill University have shown that bacteria resistant to tetracycline and tylosin can be isolated from pigs raised in a swine complex 2.5 years after administration of these antibiotics ceased.  See Microbial Ecology  DOI 10.1007/s00248-011-9954-0  published on-line 14th October 2011.  Antibiotic resistance genes were found in the bacteria, though the workers were not able to explain their persistence long after antibiotic use ceased.  The results are of significance for both animal and public health because these antibiotic resistant bacteria can be transferred between animals, humans and the environment.