#ConsumerWatch: Loadshedding and the risk to your fridge contents
01 April 2019, Independent Online
Dr Lucia Anelich, says she’s concerned not enough attention is being paid to food safety – particularly during power outages. She says the duration and frequency of blackouts can and will affect the safety of food in your fridge.
#ConsumerWatch: Confusion around best-before dates causing unnecessary waste
24 March 2019, Independent Online
Renowned food safety expert Dr Lucia Anelich said: “Shelf-stable foods, such as canned soup and flour, don’t normally need the fridge. They can stand at room temperature and not spoil. If the best-before date has been exceeded it tells you it might not be as before, but the quality doesn’t dip for a while. Eventually, nuts will go rancid, biscuits become soggy, coffee won’t taste as fresh. But it’s definitely not a safety issue.”
Power out? Here’s how long until the food in your fridge is unsafe to eat
12 March 2019, TimesLIVE
Dr Lucia Anelich, food safety expert and owner of Anelich Consulting, a food safety training and consulting business, says refrigerated food should be safe, as long as the power is out for no more than four hours, and the fridge door is kept closed.
Chocolates sold to public after best-before date
12 November 2018, City Press
Food safety expert Dr Lucia Anelich said best-before dates were an indication of quality, not safety. “If one exceeds the best-before date for a chocolate bar, for example, it may mean that the quality of the chocolate and ingredients, for example nuts, may deteriorate.
Imported eggs suspected in Durban’s Salmonella outbreak
09 November 2018, TimesLIVE
Food microbiologist Dr Lucia Anelich said all parts of a hollandaise sauce made with raw egg yolks would need to reach a high-enough temperature for a long enough time in order to kill any Salmonella that may be present.
Tiger Brands to reopen its Germiston branch following #Listeriosis outbreak
14 October 2018, Independent Online
The listeriosis outbreak highlighted the gaps and complexity of food safety regulations in South Africa. A range of government role-players – the Health; Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries; and Trade and Industry departments manage food safety but local government is responsible for enforcing regulations, which is unevenly applied and open to interpretation, explains food microbiologist, Dr Lucia Anelich.
‘Fake’ food likely a hoax – and here’s which ‘expired’ items you can safely eat
31 August 2018, Times Live
“These foods can last for years and ‘best before’ labelling is quite irrelevant to such products‚ as it has nothing to do with food safety but rather food quality‚” says Dr Lucia Anelich‚ food safety expert and president of the SA Association of Food Science and Technology.
Update: South Africa Listeriosis Outbreak
03 August 2018, Food Quality & Safety
“It’s the worst documented listeriosis outbreak in global history.” So says microbiologist Lucia Anelich, PhD, principal of Anelich Consulting, Pretoria, South Africa, of the devastating public health crisis that has tallied a mindboggling 1,056 cases and 214 deaths as of July 4, 2018.
Listeriosis scare continues as deaths jump to 204
19 May 2018, Bloemfontein Courant
“Listeria monocytogenes is the primary cause of the illness called listeriosis. The organism is an environmental pathogen and is found in soil, water, sewage and decaying vegetation,” said Dr Lucia Anelich of Anelich Consulting.
Listeriosis: Food safety expert highlights need for clear government regulations
17 March 2018, Bizcommunity.com
Food safety expert Dr Lucia Anelich says the listeriosis outbreak in South Africa has shown the urgent need for appropriate microbiological regulations for processed meats.
Motsoaledi backs class action over listeriosis outbreak
14 March 2018, Medical Brief
“The South African food control system is quite fragmented,” said Dr Lucia Anelich, a food microbiology and safety specialist who heads up Anelich Consulting. “The system as it stands is not ideal and needs to be revisited completely.”
Listeriosis: Mind the regulatory gap
09 March 2018, Mail & Guardian
“The South African food control system is quite fragmented,” said Dr Lucia Anelich, a food microbiology and safety specialist who heads up Anelich Consulting. “The system as it stands is not ideal and needs to be revisited completely.”
Source of listeriosis outbreak traced and blame game begins
7 March 2018, Medical Brief
“It is the worst outbreak in global history,” Professor Lucia Anelich from Anelich Consulting Food Safety Solutions said earlier. One of the reasons it is so hard to find is because, even in solid food‚ a scientist may sample the infected food and not find it.
Cooking or heating meat products kills listeria bacteria – food safety expert
05 March 2018, CapeTalk
International food safety expert Dr Lucia Anelich says the foodborne pathogen has the ability to hide, despite regular testing and hygiene measures in food facilities.
Listeriosis: This is how the disease survives in tainted food products
5 March 2018, The South African
As reported by TimesLive, Listeria cells are also capable of “shielding” themselves from the rigours of cleaning products. According to Professor Lucia Anelich from Anelich Consulting Food Safety Solutions, Listeriosis can cover itself in a sugary-biofilm, which resists the effects of other bacteria.
Enterprise polony identified as source of listeria outbreak
4 March 2018, Times Live
“It is the worst outbreak in global history‚” Professor Lucia Anelich from Anelich Consulting Food Safety Solutions said earlier.
No end to listeria outbreak
16 February 2018, Farmer’s Weekly
This was recently revealed at a Listeria workshop held in Johannesburg, SA. Dr Lucia Anelich from Anelich Consulting, a food safety consultancy, said Listeria monocytogenes, one of over 10 listeria strains, was the one that made people ill.
Pregnant women more susceptible to listeriosis
18 January 2018, Bloemfontein Courant
Pregnant women are approximately 20 times more likely than other healthy adults to get listeriosis. This is according to Dr Lucia Anelich, who is a technical expert and international consultant on projects for the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and who also conducts projects for the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).
Is SA’s current listeriosis outbreak the world’s worst?
17 January 2018, City Press
In South Africa, 67 people have died so far and hundreds more have been infected with a foodborne disease called listeriosis.
The creeping, fatal impact of listeriosis
16 January 2018, Daily Maverick
Listeriosis is serious but treatable – the problem comes when trying to trace the cases. Because of this, the disease might be deadlier than was first thought.
Listeriosis
16 January 2018, Carte Blanche
South Africa is in the grips of a deadly Listeriosis outbreak and with 61 confirmed deaths and over 700 recorded cases of infection, it’s one of the worst outbreaks the country has ever experienced. From fresh fruit and vegetables to meat produce, the listeria bacterium can contaminate almost any food items, infecting pregnant women, vulnerable newborns and the elderly. As the number of infections continues to increase, can the Department of Health contain this dangerous bacterium?
Listeriosis – a crisis with a mystery source
11 January 2018, East Coast Radio
Pretoria-based microbiologist and food safety expert, Dr Lucia Anelich, had this to say about the food culprit: “It is most likely a product that is very widely consumed and consumed extremely often and that is why we are seeing a spike in cases. South Africa has actually had a number of cases every year, but there has never this alarming a rate…”
Tips on how to reduce Listeria risk in foods
10 January 2018, CapeTalk
International food safety expert Dr Lucia Anelich says the listeriosis outbreak could be described as the worst of its kind in global history.
Tips on how to reduce Listeria risk in foods
10 January 2018, 702
International food safety expert Dr Lucia Anelich says the listeriosis outbreak could be described as the worst of its kind in global history. The foodborne pathogen has claimed the lives of 61 patients in South Africa so far.
Dr Lucia Anelich says listeriosis does not discriminate and shares food safety advice on how to protect yourself.
Death toll in S.Africa listeria outbreak jumps to 61
08 January 2018, Reuters
A food microbiologist said the “alarming” outbreak appeared to be the biggest ever recorded and could spread further if it was not tackled urgently. “Of the documented outbreaks globally that we know of… our numbers are way above any of those other cases,” said Dr Lucia Anelich, who runs her own food safety consultancy.
Listeriosis flare-up now seen as worst documented outbreak in global history
07 January 2018, Reuters
The outbreak is across all nine provinces and clinical tests have revealed that the listeria originates from a single source – “most likely a food product on the market or a series of food products produced in the same manufacturing environment‚” says Dr Lucia Anelich‚ a prominent South African food microbiologist and food safety expert.
Listeria outbreak – It’s a wake-up call for all of us
January/February 2018, Food & Beverage Reporter
“The foodborne disease, listeriosis, caused by ingesting food contaminated with infectious doses of Listeria monocytogenes has caused 81 deaths in South Africa and has resulted in 767 confirmed cases at the time of going
to print.