Personal Injury Law

barfblog.com now really at barfblog.com; change your RSS feeds and sign up

Posted on January 19, 2010
barfblog.com is becoming our flagship communication tool. To stay up-to-date and get the fastest food safety news – along with pithy comments – subscribe to barfblog.com or change your RSS feed to receive barfblog.com. barfblog.ksu.edu will later today start being directed to barfblog...

If American beef is the safest in the world, then put a label on it at retail and food service

Posted on January 17, 2010
If the American beef industry is as proud of its safety record as a couple of spokesthingies write in the N.Y. Times today, then take that safety record directly to consumers at retail, instead of bland and empty statements about the safest food in the world...

Food safety is suddenly fashionable, consultants look to cash in

Posted on January 15, 2010
In the burgeoning category of anyone-can-put-out-a-BS-press-release-and-have-it-pass-for-food-safety-news, the Canadian branch of consultants Douche Deloitte released a report yesterday that concluded the requirements and benefits of superior food safety management extend far beyond onsite food plant and production measures and protocols...

Science is always politicized: Ron Doering says so, and I agree

Posted on January 15, 2010
My friend Ron Doering (right, exactly as shown), a lawyer with Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, and a former president of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (and the only CFIA president anyone can remember) writes in this morning's National Post that science is always politicized...

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Mind the baby: Bacterial risks when preparing powdered infant formula

Posted on January 14, 2010
Long-time FSnet/bites fan, first-time contributor, Steve Forsythe of Nottingham Trent University sends along this bit he prepared for the U.K. Food Standards Agency. Who knew preparing infant formula could be so complicated? I've been doing it for months and didn't give it much thought...

The chicken made him do it or he's just chickensick

Posted on January 14, 2010
Classes are back in session at K-State today and the 'undercooked chicken made me miss class' excuse has already popped up. A student who apparently ate undercooked chicken (how does he know it was undercooked?) on Wednesday was too sick to come to class today, but his doctor says he will be well enough on Tuesday...

Michael Taylor is a food safety god/demon - really, he's just a dude

Posted on January 14, 2010
There's microbial food safety – the things that make 30 per cent of all people around the world barf every year – and then there's all the other food stuff, the politics, the posing, the porn. Me, I focus on the barfing. But the politics just seems to be so interesting to so many people – I'd rather just play hockey...

Delectable gourmet food just as susceptible to germs as the supermarket stuff: Top-10 things gourmet grocers won't tell you

Posted on January 13, 2010
Delectable gourmet food is just as susceptible to germs as the supermarket stuff. That's the number-1 thing that gourmet grocers won't tell you according to this Smart Money list adapted from the book "1,001 Things They Won't Tell You: An Insider's Guide to Spending, Saving, and Living Wisely," by Jonathan Dahl and the editors of SmartMoney...

Fashion over food safety -- Baltimore Sun edition

Posted on January 13, 2010
Joan Westlake of the Baltimore Sun writes that the very fruits and vegetables you are eating to be healthy can make you deathly ill. You've seen it in the headlines - E. coli on spinach, Listeria on sliced melon and Salmonella on shelled hazelnuts. The Food and Drug Administration spent a good deal of time early last year investigating three different alfalfa sprout illness outbreaks...

Tyson settles chicken 'Raised without antibiotics' suit

Posted on January 13, 2010
Meatingplace.com is reporting this afternoon that Tyson Foods Inc. has settled a consumer class action suit targeting its chicken "Raised Without Antibiotics" claim. An agreement filed Tuesday night in U.S. District Court in Baltimore provides that individual consumers will receive as much as $50 apiece, according to a report by the Daily Record in Baltimore...

Nestle Tollhouse cookies to cook the crap out of flour; does that mean flour was suspected in 2009 E. coli O157:H7 outbreak?

Posted on January 13, 2010
Newly heartbroken relationship victims were further devastated in June 2009 after Nestle Tollhouse cookie dough was linked to an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak that sickened at least 66 people in 28 states. The company never said what ingredient carried the dangerous E...

Food safety news, like other news, is repetitive, superficial, dubious

Posted on January 12, 2010
Most of what passes for food safety news today is recycled pablum, devoid of any news or analytical content, regurgitating and amplifying food safety facts of dubious merit. There are exceptions, and they are primarily found at the remaining daily newspapers with investigative reporters...

Rock and rolla: Cleveland puts get restaurant inspection results on-line, so can any other town

Posted on January 12, 2010
The inspection records of over 3,000 food establishments and food service operations in the City of Cleveland are now available for the public to see online. The Cleveland Department of Public Health launched their online food inspection report service on Monday afternoon...

Wash your hands, cook your meat, live to see another day

Posted on January 12, 2010
I've talked a bit about my beef with organic products here on barfblog.com before, and after taking Parasitology in vet school, I will probably continue to steer clear of the organic meats isle. Drs. Payne and Dryden did a great job this fall discussing the major parasites that affect food animals such as cattle, pigs, and goats...

Food safety in your kitchen

Posted on January 11, 2010
  The Toronto Sun is giving tips in keeping your kitchen clean and safe. Start by checking inside your fridge and cupboards for foods that are stale or have evidence of spoilage. For many foods, it's more a taste and quality issue than safety, but it's a good idea to pitch what's old and stale...

Rule 65: Don't pay attention to lists of things to eat and not to eat

Posted on January 10, 2010
Journalist Michael Pollan has polled readers and come up with 64 rules to govern eating. But he forgot the most important one: ignore lists.

Whole Foods bragging about raw milk in Pennsylvania; this will be handy in the next lawsuit when someone gets sick

Posted on January 10, 2010
Whole Foods Market has terrible food safety advice, blames consumers for getting sick, sells raw milk in some stores, offers up fairytales about organic and natural foods, and their own CEO says they sell a bunch of junk. This afternoon, the Whole Foods blog offers up, The Family Cow – Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, a heartwarming tale of nostalgic and scientific BS about the alleged virtues of raw milk...

A journey through the past: Tipton Slasher edition

Posted on January 09, 2010
The Internet is useful for all sorts of things beyond food safety – it's been a boon for genealogy research. Which is how we ended up meeting with Carl yesterday at The Fountain Inn in Tipton, U.K., not far from Birmingham. At one point Carl asked, 'So what do you think of it over here?' 'Oddly comfortable...

HACCP or get out: FDA closes Maryland seafood processor

Posted on January 09, 2010
Failure to document proper refrigeration, failure to keep fish species separate to avoid cross-contamination, failure to mee sanitation standards or keep records of compliance, and failure to verify that imported fish met FDA standards has led the U.S...

42 St. Oyster Bar outbreak climbs to 280 ill; norovirus isolated from three patrons

Posted on January 08, 2010
Initially reported as an outbreak of foodborne illness among 30 patrons, WRAL reports tonight that up to 280 people have reported becoming ill after eating at Raleigh's 42 St. Oyster Bar in late December. Health authorities also believe that illnesses also might not have been linked to oysters as initially reported...

5 years later, Canada releases illness data; trends for Salmonella, Campylobacter, verotoxigenic E. coli and Shigella

Posted on January 08, 2010
The Public Health Agency of Canada, which was created to streamline various public health duties like providing meaningful data on foodborne illness and provide leadership on public health issues (totally useless during the 2008 listeria in deli meats outbreak that killed 22) has gotten around to releasing so-called integrated surveillance data for selected enteric diseases in Canada...

Ireland reports 17% increase in food safety enforcement orders in 2009

Posted on January 08, 2010
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) today stated that there were a total of 54 Enforcement Orders – including 34 Closure Orders -- served for breaches in food safety legislation in 2009 compared with 46 in 2008, an increase totaling 17%...

Outbreak at Newark Restaurant described as an "isolated incident"

Posted on January 07, 2010
Reports from the ABC affiliate in Newark (NJ) are that Iberia, a popular local restaurant, is the source of an outbreak linked to Salmonella. To date there have been 35 illnesses reported with five culture-confirmed as Salmonella. All illnesses appear to be linked to Christmas parties on 5 different dates...

Mystery of the green sheen on Subway roast beef solved

Posted on January 07, 2010
It has been years since my Subway sandwich artist days, but I think I could still make a delicious sub if put behind the counter. I worked there for over three years, during which time I noticed a few odd things. One thing was the roast beef. There was always some green gasoline-like sheen on the slices of deli meat (see right)...

Birds and turtles and frogs - just say no to kissing; abstinence will limit Salmonella

Posted on January 07, 2010
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a summary report today on a Multistate Outbreak of Human Salmonella Typhimurium Infections Associated with Aquatic Frogs --- United States, 2009. During April--July 2009, the Utah Department of Health identified five cases of Salmonella Typhimurium infection with indistinguishable pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns, predominantly among children...

Rats set to reproduce with global warming; restaurant inspections - and YouTube videos -- will get uglier

Posted on January 07, 2010
The aptly named Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use (CRRU) reports that a survey of British farmers and countryside managers found 61% of respondents noticed a rising rat population already and 74% believed that climate change would exacerbate the problem...

Cardiff to Manchester - snow problem; Brits barfing on cruise ship

Posted on January 07, 2010
There aren't enough castles with moats. At least not anymore. But Cardiff Castle in Wales, which dates back to 3rd century Romans, has a lovely moat constructed by the Normans to fend off the locals as they pillaged their way across what is now the U...

McDonald's restaurant rage sweeps the nation

Posted on January 06, 2010
Maybe it's the weather. The U.K. is in the midst of its biggest snowstorm in 40 years but at least it's not -10F, like it's going to be in Kansas this week. Whatever the reason, Kansas City police want to know the identity of a woman who trashed a McDonald's restaurant Dec...

If cruising on a ship you're now less likely to barf; norovirus outbreaks down

Posted on January 05, 2010
USA Today today says the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta recorded just 13 outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness on cruise ships in 2009, down from 15 in 2008, 21 in 2007 and 34 in 2006. The decline, moreover, came even as the number of people cruising continued to rise...

One reason the Globe and Mail became a terrible newspaper; giving space to columnist Leah McLaren who tries to cook lamb and poisons in-laws

Posted on January 04, 2010
The Toronto Globe and Mail used to be a decent newspaper. I was enamored with the paper and its journalists as a genetics undergrad, was thrilled when I started writing regularly for the paper in the 1990s, and then dismayed as the amount of crap published began to far outweigh the thoughtful stuf...

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