Friday, 02 March 2012 00:06

Written by Navid Iqbal

In a study of a university in British Columbia, scientists have found the existence of Listeria, one kind of harmful bacteria to human health in various ready-made fish products. Samples were collected from chain stores and a few small retailer shops in Vancouver.

Kevin Allen, A food microbiologist working for UBC food ran experimentation on 40 samples before their expiry date. The samples included tuna, fish jerky, lox and some other products.

A journal named ‘Food Microbiology’, brought out the findings in its latest issue. The report states that 20 percent of those fish products were contaminated with Listeria bacteria. And 5 percent of these products carried a few dangerous kinds of Listeria bacteria.

Although the level of Listeria monocytogenes in those products were according to the guidelines but the number of bacteria can multiply instantly. And this process is most expected to take place during handling and storing in the shops.

Kevin Allen said that handling actions like slicing and packaging can increase the possibilities of cross contamination. He also said that heat in a high grade can kill Listeria bacteria but people usually eat these kinds of foods without any boiling or cooking.

He also added that people with a fragile immune system, pregnant women and the elderly should take extra precautions.

The researchers also studied ready-made meat products from the same retailer shops the fish products were collected from. But no trace of Listeria was found in the meat samples in which pepperoni, beef, ham and bologna were included.

The study was led by Kevin Allen and an assistant professor from the ‘Faculty of Land and Food Systems’ (LFS) along with Lili Mesak, a research assistant working at UBC food and also Jovana Kovačevic, a graduate student studying at LFS food science.

Experts say that federal guideline strictly sates that there can’t be any more than one hundred Listeria bacteria cells per gram. Any food violating this guideline will cause diarrhea and vomiting. Infections caused by Listeria bacteria can also cause brain infection and fatal damage to our blood system. It is also to be noted that these consequences are fatal in about 20-40% of such cases.

As a part of safety measures the ‘Canadian Food Inspection Agency’ has announced a warning to prevent people from eating beef products of a certain brand named ‘Country Morning’ regarding E.coli bacteria poisoning.

Friday, 02 March 2012 00:03

Written by Navid Iqbal

After studying World Health Organization data researchers say that the number of deaths caused by cancer should go down by almost 7% and 6% respectively in men and women. The data were compared with 2007 death rates.

It is estimated that about 1.3 million cancer patient will die in Europe this year.

According to a journal named ‘Annals of Oncology’ the low down in stomach cancer, breast cancer, male lung cancer and womb cancer and other cases will continue.

But lung cancer in women is on the rise all over the EU except UK. Although in this case for almost a decade UK holds the highest rate. Now the rate is not dropping but settling down.

Carlo La Vecchia, a professor from Milan University along with Professor Fabio Levi at Lausanne University have reached a conclusion calculating the general rate of cancer in Europe and also separate rates of six vital countries in Europe.

This overall downswing in cancer death rates is caused by the decline in mortality rate involving a few types of cancers.

In an analysis it shows that number of death from breast cancer should fall by at least 9% in 2012.

Lung cancer and colorectal cancer in men are also showing major decline.

But when it comes to lung cancer, women certainly can’t be happy. In 2007 in per 100,000 the number of death was 12.55. But in 2011 it has gone up to 13.12.

But good news for women is that the increased death rate caused by pancreatic cancer in women is leveling off.

From ‘British Lung Foundation’ Professor Stephen Spiro says that lung cancer is still in general responsible for the biggest numbers of death.

When it comes to men, in the last 3 decades lung cancer death rate has significantly dropped. Because a large number of men already have and intending to quit smoking.

But it is a completely different picture with women. Today approximately one quarter of them smoke regularly.

Mike Hobday, working at the ‘Macmillan Cancer Support’ as chief of policy happily greeted the reduction in cancer death rates. He also warned about the number of cancer patients in UK is going up by 3% each year.

He added, in UK there is about 2 million people under cancer diagnosis. And if the list goes up in this rate, UK will have to handle at least 4 million cancer patients by the year of 2030.