Reference no: EM132682189

Part A:

Case study 1

Your neighbor, Mary is a 70-year old woman who complains 4-day history of abdominal cramps, headache and 8-10 episodes/day of watery diarrhea. She was not terribly concerned until this morning when she noticed blood in her stool. She reports no fever or vomiting. Martha has no history of other gastrointestinal disorders, only suffering from an occasional bout of self-limiting diarrhea. In your discussions with Mary, you learn that she attended the high school graduation of her youngest grandchild 8 days ago. Mary believes that it was at this celebration that she became ill, chiefly because her son is also feeling poorly, though none of the other guests are feeling ill. The family had a barbecue in which chicken, veggie burgers, baked potatoes, and cake were served. Mary also ate a veggie burger and a baked potato. Mary drank apple cider, whereas the rest of the family drank water or sweet tea. She also ate two servings of macaroni salad. She particularly remembers having to go in the house to get the second serving of macaroni salad out of the fridge because her daughter in law returned the macaroni salad to the house immediately after serving the others.

Case study 2

The doctor enters his examination room to find Rob, a boisterous 2-year old playing with a truck while his pregnant mother, Shelly watches him from the examination table. Shelly has not been feeling well for the last week, she attributes her pregnancy to her not feeling well. However, she has begun having chills, muscle aches, fever, headaches, and sore throat. As this is early summer, you do not suspect influenza. Upon examination, she has a low-grade fever and her cervix has started to dilate even though she is only 28-weeks pregnant. In questioning Shelly, Doctor learned that her husband and co-workers are all healthy; however, Rob complained of mild nausea, diarrhea, and low-grade fever a week ago after he and his mother visited a dairy farm with his playgroup. Shelly and the kids ate picnic lunches of peanut butter sandwiches, chips, cookies, and milk. The milk was fresh from the cow and little Rob had been asked to help milk the cow! Shelly and Rob shared a snack of fresh, soft cheese that they purchased from the dairy and crackers. Shelly had been careful to keep the cheese on ice until they ate their snack. That night, she and the family ate at the local pizzeria for dinner. Rob awoke during the night with the symptoms, which lasted approximately 2 days, though Shelly and her husband felt fine. None of the other children were sick the next day.

Case study 3

On Friday night Tom and his son Jack embarked on a man's bonding expedition. They hiked out into the woods and established a campsite, where they cooked beans and sausage over their campfire. Saturday, was a beautiful day for hiking and fishing. Tom and Jack spent all day in the boat, even eating pre-packed protein bars for lunch. That evening the men came back to camp and cooked the fish they caught for their dinner. Tom and Jack awoke on Sunday morning to enjoy a delicious meal of re-constituted pasteurized eggs and summer sausage cooked over the fire. That evening Tom and Jack hiked back to their truck and prepared to go home. The men were hungry and stopped for dinner at a steakhouse, where Tom ate a well-done steak and a side salad, whereas Jack devoured a giant well-done hamburger and fries. Afterward, they stopped at the local Creamery for an after-dinner treat. Tom had the White Chocolate Mint in a cone, whereas Jack chose the Cake Batter Ice Cream in a dish. The next morning Jack awoke for school and immediately began complaining of stomach pain and headache. It was very shortly after when he began vomiting. He had a slight fever of 101F. Within several hours of his vomiting, he also developed a moderate case of diarrhea. Jack's symptoms continued for 4 days, whereas Tom and the boy's mother continued to feel fine. Jack was diagnosed with acute infectious gastroenteritis by routine stool culture.

Case study 4

We begin this tale of gastrointestinal woe with Nick, and his wife Sally, who is just returning from a second-honey- moon at Niagara Falls. Nick's father Tim has been taking care of the couple's two active boys, Jacob and Jacky, for the last week. On Friday night Nick and Sally arrive home and stop by the delicatessen to pick up some shredded pork barbecue and coleslaw from a convenience-market. The pork was reheated in their home microwave, and Nick, Sally, and Tim sat down to dinner within 30 minutes after it was purchased. The boys, on a recent vegetarian kick, refused the barbecue but instead ate coleslaw and potato chips for dinner. Approximately 3-4 hours after eating the meal, the three adults had nausea, vomiting, and stomach cramps. Jacob and Jacky felt fine. The three adults were taken to a hospital for evaluation, where they were treated and released. Vomiting ceased after treatment with a phenothiazine, and nausea and cramps resolved the following day.

Questions for all cases

1. What is the likely etiologic agent?

2. What food is likely to be associated with their illness?

3. Did you discount any of the foods as the carrier? If so why?

4. In the public interest, specify your recommendations to avoid foodborne illness in each case study.

Part B:

1. Famous Frank's Freshly Frozen Fabulous Pot Pies is losing market share and rapidly becoming less famous as the demand for "fresh, never frozen" food increases, Frank knows that he has to change and figures that going fresh is no big deal. (Just skip the freezing step!) He hires you, the company's first microbiologist, to advise him on what, if any, special challenges might be presented by these fresh products. What advice do you give him?

2. You are interested in the preservation of salad ingredients, including salad dressing, so that you can ship them across the country. To increase the shelf life and retain fresh-like characteristics, you want to use novel nonthermal technologies. How will you choose to process your product? Is there a benefit to using specific technologies for specific foods?

Part C:

1. There has been criticism that the United States is limited by not having one solid public health and regulatory agency controlling food safety. Read about these criticisms in current literature and explain your opinion in agreement with today's system or not.

2. What is the current state of the FSMA? How is it affecting food production companies, including those that produce fruits and vegetables?

3. Using the four objectives of FoodNet as your guide, describe real-life examples that demonstrate how these objectives are being met and how the four play off of each other. (Hint: think about current outbreaks in foodborne pathogens).

4. Describe the roles of programs like the Codex Alimentarius and (Global Hunger Index) GHI in food security.