Happy St. Patrick’s Day! It’s March 17th, 2025 — forget the shamrocks, we’ve got the real gold: your food safety scoop, hot off the press.

OPINION - By Bill Marler

“As a father of three beautiful and strong young women, I have become nearly immune to constructive criticism. It is in that vein I call out my friends at the FDA and CDC for closing a romaine lettuce E. coli O157:H7 case without supplying the public – who they are supposed to serve – with information about the outbreak.”

OPINION - Michael Taylor

“I’ve been around food safety for nearly 50 years in government, academia, and the private sector. I’ve seen a lot of progress to make food safer for consumers, often led by the food industry itself.  And I’ve seen examples of resistance.”  

“But I’ve never seen a campaign of resistance on food safety more brazen and seemingly hypocritical than the one the chicken industry is waging today.”

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What to know: Scientists have described the investigations performed and control measures taken in relation to a multi-country Salmonella outbreak traced to Ferrero chocolate in 2022.

In February 2022, the United Kingdom detected a monophasic Salmonella Typhimurium cluster of patients based on whole genome sequencing (WGS). Several other countries reported cases in the cluster. Epidemiological, microbiological, and traceability investigations pointed toward Ferrero in Belgium.

Amid regulatory upheaval and recall fatigue, a string of bizarre food safety mishaps offers a quirky reminder: contamination can strike in unexpected ways. From a snake in a Thai ice cream bar to a shark with a grisly surprise, these real incidents highlight quirks in the global food chain that may surprise even seasoned inspectors.

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What to know: Two dozen people were sickened in the Netherlands after eating blueberries contaminated with hepatitis A.

The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) said it received 24 reports of people who very likely contracted hepatitis A from frozen blueberries. This is double the number of cases since the outbreak was announced.

OPINION - By Bill Marler

“I have said this too many times. In the 1990’s ninety percent of the work I did were E. coli O157:H7 cases linked to hamburger. However, due to the collaboration between regulators (deeming E. coli O157:H7 and adulterant), the beef industry (interventions and implementing ‘test and hold’ and the restaurant industry (following the Food Code of at least 155 F internal temperature), E. coli cases linked to ground been have become a “rare” occurrence – and, that has been a good thing.”

Affected Product: Seabear Company of Anacortes, WA, is recalling its Smoked Salmon Chowder and Alehouse Clam Chowder after discovering a packaging issue that could allow contamination with Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium that causes botulism, a potentially fatal illness.

Affected Product: Savage Pet in El Cajon, CA, is recalling 66 large (84 oz.) and 74 small (21 oz.) boxes of Savage Cat Food Chicken because of possible bird flu contamination.

The recall follows reports of two cats—one in Colorado and one in New York—contracting H5N1 after consuming the affected lot. The Colorado cat recovered, while testing on the New York case is ongoing.