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Rapid and brief commentary on food safety issues including post videos, powerpoint presentations, and podcasts.
Post Frequency: 1.9/day Last Entry: November 20, 2009 at 09:25:14 Recent Entries: 409
By Dr. Doug Powell
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New Food Safety Infosheet: First U.S. Thanksgiving edition
Posted on November 20, 2009Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. I love the changing leaves, the crisp weather and all the food. Growing up, my family's feast rotated between my grandparents' houses and ours; it was a pretty cool time to explore their towns and spend some quality family time...
Special Agent Oso Feeds a Llama at the Petting Zoo
Posted on November 18, 2009I want a llama. Or so I've been telling Doug ever since I saw Tina the lasagna-eating llama in one of my favorite films, Napoleon Dynamite. Now we have a baby and our lifestyle is not compatible with llama tending. This morning when Sorenne and I got up, we turned on the Disney channel to watch Special Agent Oso...
South Carolina fundraiser linked to foodborne illness outbreak
Posted on November 18, 2009The Sunnews.co reports from South Carolina that at least seven people who ate food sold Friday at a fundraiser at a Conway church have been hospitalized, officials with the state Department of Health and Environmental Control said Tuesday. DHEC officials are asking that anyone who purchased any of the roughly 1,450 plates of food sold at the fundraiser to throw leftovers away and to contact their private healthcare physician if they are experiencing any symptoms...
Must love dogs - the Australian Internet dating version
Posted on November 18, 2009Oh John Cusack and Diane Lane; you were both so cute in the 2005 romantic comedy, Must Love Dogs. And that's why Jodie O'Brien and her husband, Tom, started www.lovemelovemypet.com.au, a dating website for a particularly niche clientele. "We started to notice over the years that a lot of our friends are really intelligent, good looking people, easy to get along with...
11 hospitalized, 125 sick from South Carolina fundraiser
Posted on November 18, 2009At least four more people who ate food sold last week at a fundraiser at a Conway church have been hospitalized as of today, said Jim Beasley, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Environmental Control. A total of 11 people have been hospitalized, and DHEC officials believe there are about 125 people who sought physician care for gastro-intestinal illness symptoms in the area, Beasley said...
Gratuitous food porn shot of the day - Steamfresh corn on the cob
Posted on November 18, 2009Sorenne eating lunch with dad, 11:00 a.m., Nov. 18, 2009. Kids love corn on the cob. Me too. Bit it's difficult to find in mid-November. In Manhattan (Kansas). SO I tried out the Steamfresh frozen corn on the cob. Microwave and serve. Yummy. Expensive, but a cob of corn gives me 15 minutes to put stuff away and clean up...
Children paraded in support of raw milk
Posted on November 17, 2009Shameless exploitation of children? Sure, why not. As Henry Fonda said in the movie, On Golden Pond, 'What use is it having dwarfs around if they don't do chores.' But why do some have to be so sanctimonious about it? This is from Wise Traditions: The Weston A...
Toronto restaurant fined maximum $20K for heavy cockroach problem
Posted on November 17, 2009Oh Scarberia, suburb of Toronto, home to Mike Myers and some of the Barenaked Ladies. Why do your restaurants suck? A takeout restaurant in Scarborough was fined $20,000 - the maximum penalty - after pleading guilty to four food-safety violations, including a "heavy" cockroach infestation...
Bakery source of 9 U.K. E. coli O157 illnesses; 6 more suspected
Posted on November 17, 2009By bakery, the Brits mean deli-style, with cold-cuts, meat pies, and more of the traditional sources of E coli O157 other than bread. Nine adults who bought food from a bakery in Gateshead have been confirmed as having the O157 strain of the infection, with a further six people currently undergoing tests...
Food safety in schools sorta sucks
Posted on November 17, 2009Today's USA Today has a great feature about food safety and school lunches in the U.S. Students at Starbuck Middle School stumbled through the halls just after lunch on Oct. 31, 2007, holding their bellies and moaning. When the vomiting began, teachers knew that it wasn't a Halloween prank...
Raw milk: save the family farm while making kids barf?
Posted on November 17, 2009The N.Y. Times has a story running in tomorrow's edition flaunting the value of raw milk as a way to save the family farm because a small percentage of people pay a hefty premium for the raw stuff. The story lacks any mention of adverse health effects from raw milk , other than quoting an FDA type as saying, 'raw milk should not be consumed by anyone, at any time, for any reason...
Boys should urinate outside to stimulate the compost pile; girls, your pee is too acidic
Posted on November 17, 2009Sometimes, when I wake up in the middle of the night, and don't want to disturb Amy and Sorenne in our small space, I'll go pee off the back deck. I also don't flush the toilet when I pee, unless I've eaten asparagus. Cameron Diaz would approve and say I'm saving the planet...
Most Australian restaurants serve 'crap:' critic
Posted on November 16, 2009Matthew Evans is a food critic for The Sydney Morning Herald. In September 2003, the paper published a review by Evans of the now defunct restaurant Coco Roco at Sydney's King Street Wharf, in which Evans said the dishes were "unpalatable" and that the restaurant's overall value was "a shocker," scoring it 9/20 - in the "stay home" category...
Colts win in stunner; stadium food service company denies media access to witness food safety improvements
Posted on November 16, 2009Maybe it was the stadium food that somehow lifted the Indianapolis Colts to a stunning come-from-behind 35-34 victory over the New England Patriots in another chapter of the U.S. football rivalry of the decade, Peyton Manning (right) versus Tom Brady (below, left)...
Filth cuisine -- 5 edible things borne from crap you'd never eat
Posted on November 15, 2009Ian Fortey reports for the Asylum blog on the 5 edible things borne from crap you'd never eat. The edited list is below. • Tilapia Tilapia are little fish found pretty much all over the world at this point in farms and in freshwater, swimming about innocent as you please and occasionally winding up on the menu at Red Lobster...
The Slammin Salmon: new movie puts food porn in its place?
Posted on November 15, 2009Hopefully. It's from the creators of Super Troopers and Beerfest, two quality, underrated flicks, and the trailer for the film, opening Dec. 11/09, shows promise. The wiki entry says, The Slammin' Salmon is a 2009 film by Broken Lizard. The film is about the owner of a restaurant initiating a contest to see which of his waiters can earn the most money in a single night, with a prize of $10,000...
Whole Foods still sucks at food safety advice - Hosea from Top Chef edition
Posted on November 15, 2009In July, 1977, Fernwood 2Night, a satirical talk show like no other, began airing as a summer replacement for Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. I was explaining this to Amy the other night as Fred Willard showed up in a cameo in yet another movie – the guy's everywhere – and I was telling her about this wildly satirical talk show featuring Willard as sidekick Jerry Hubbard, and host Barth Gimble, played by Martin Mull...
Gratuitous food porn shot of the day - oven baked salmon, squash soup, garlic bread, strawberries and melon
Posted on November 15, 2009Farmed salmon fillets with oil, lime, garlic, rosemary and white wine, baked in a 400F oven. Roasted butternut squash soup with apple, cinnamon, nutmeg potato and carrot, pureed, and using a homemade chicken stock (the stock makes the soup). Cheap whole wheat buns I picked up at Dillion's at 7 a...
Grimy grub at Texas restaurant
Posted on November 14, 2009Having never been to Texas, much of what I picture when I think of the state comes from creepy child pageant shows where mothers dress their daughters in outrageous outfits and coat them in self-tan. I should probably visit Texas just to dispel these odd visions...
Top-10 gross food scenes from the big screen
Posted on November 14, 2009Westword, the Denver Foodblog, offers their take on the top-10 movies scenes that may cause the viewer to lose their lunch. Edited below. 10. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1997) The turkey is nearly carbonized, the chewing noises are atrocious, Uncle Eddie calls dibs on the neck, and Aunt Bethany puts cat food in the green Jell-O 9...
Listeria causes illness in fetuses, infants, at much lower dose than previously thought
Posted on November 13, 2009Chapman is here in Manhattan (Kansas) for a couple days, delivering a seminar later today, hanging out at the Missouri-Kansas State football game tomorrow, and primarily helping plot our research and extension activities for the next few years. We've both sired offspring in the past year-and-a-bit, so the issue of listeria and pregnant women has been a recurring theme – on barfblog...
1,500 UK holidaymakers hit by food bug at six First Choice resorts
Posted on November 13, 2009From the things-not-to-say-when-1,500-customers-have-barfed file: "Holiday Villages are all large properties and the reported level of illness is very low considering the large population." The Mirror reports this morning that families staying at six of the most popular First Choice Holiday Villages have been hit by a deluge of gastric illnesses over the last three years...
Handwashing for nerds: Are those Dysan jet dryers better than paper towel?
Posted on November 12, 2009Amy, Sorenne and I spent a long last weekend in San Francisco, where Amy conferenced, I had some meetings, but mainly just hung out with the kid (three pirates and a little girl, right). The washrooms at the San Francisco airport featured the Dysan airblade, billed as the 'fastest, most hygienic hand dryer...
NEW ZEALAND: Closed restaurant required to display low inspection grade for two months
Posted on November 12, 2009Currently living in New Zealand, and having the opportunity to travel around it, I've seen my fair share of restaurant inspection grades. Like many other developed countries, letter grades displayed at a food business are popular here, and are meant to relay food safety information to consumers...
11 sick with E. coli O157 linked to meats from UK bakery
Posted on November 12, 2009Health officials on Tyneside are investigating seven confirmed and four possible cases of E.coli O157 infection in adults from the Gateshead area. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said six of those infected bought cooked meats or sandwiches from Myers bakery in Felling...
Kentucky father says his three children caught salmonella from class lizard
Posted on November 11, 2009Taking classroom pets home for the weekend was a kindergarten ritual 40 years ago, along with the scurrying to find the bunny corpse behind the couch and returning it to class Monday morning. It's not dead. It's sleeping. Tuckered out. Jerry Curtsinger of Louisville, Kentucky, thought it would be a good idea if his kids could bring home the green anoles, a type of small, green lizard, that are apparently science class favorites...
25 Chicago students arrested for a middle-school food fight
Posted on November 11, 2009The cafeteria food fight, as immortalized in the 1978 film, Animal House, has become a high school rite of passage. Except in Chicago (home to John Belushi, right) The New York Times reports this morning that 25 students, ages 11 to 15, were rounded up, arrested, taken from school and put in jail on charges of reckless conduct, a misdemeanor, after a food fight at the middle-school campus of Perspectives Charter Schools, in the Gresham neighborhood on the South Side...
Campylobacter week: two great papers on the pathogen
Posted on November 11, 2009A couple of cool papers on Campylobacter were published last week -- one discussing outbreaks of the pathogen in Australia (and the most common sources) and another suggesting that generic E. coli is a lousy indicator of campy in water. In the first paper, Outbreaks of Campylobacteriosis in Australia, 2001 to 2006, researchers looked at 33 outbreaks of campylobacterosis between 2001 and 2006 resulting in 457 probable and 147 confirmed illnesses...
Australia: Restaurant owner sues food critic for bad review
Posted on November 11, 2009This Christmas I will be venturing to Australia for the first time. My flatmate graciously invited me to spend the holidays with her, and the chance to potentially bump into Mr. G (Summer Heights High) was something I couldn't pass up. While I search for the famous mockumentry star, a Sydney restaurateur will likely be continuing her ugly legal battle against a food critic reports TheAge...
Is that the entrée or are you just happy to see me? Nude barbecue in Oregon
Posted on November 10, 2009Sub Rosa describes itself as a virtual restaurant & secret bar located in Dundee, Oregon. By day, it's a lunch room for the distillery office and stealth drop in bistro with thundering tunes, WiFi Internet connections and a limited lunch menu. By night, when we are open, it's an underground fine dining restaurant and spirits bar...
Direct video observation of adults and tweens cooking raw frozen chicken thingies
Posted on November 10, 2009One of the first things I did after officially joining Kansas State University in 2006 was try and figure out some novel research. Chapman flew in from Guelph, we had a beer with Phebus at a local bar and sketched out a proposal on the back of a napkin, to observe people cooking chicken...
Peyton Manning, call an audible on the mice at your football field
Posted on November 10, 2009A worker at Lucas Oil Stadium, home to Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League, told WXIN she's blowing the whistle on continual food safety issues at the stadium. "The pictures are actually showing mice droppings in the food pantry, on the floor, on the shelves, on the counters, there's been some on the carts...
Food safety culture means employees don't contaminate food with brooms or forklift tires
Posted on November 09, 2009If a company making ready-to-eat refrigerated deli-meats has a 'strong culture of food safety,' would an employee shake a broom over a line of processed product? If more inspectors are the answer to safer food, why would the inspectors need publicly reported accounts of foodborne illness and death to try harder? And if the company and inspectors are doing lots of tests to ensure enhanced food safety, why aren't they bragging about it instead of requiring an Access to Information request by a media outlet to discover that inspectors continue to find problems with Maple Leaf Foods infamous Bartor Road plant in Weston, Ontario...
Is street meat safe to eat?
Posted on November 08, 2009During my undergraduate days in Canada I tended to grab a bite after hitting the town. Though I rarely do it now (BK burgers just aren't made with the same care at 3am), I do recall scarfing down hotdogs from street vendors during the wee hours of the morning...
It was the Methomy in the salsa: Kansas couple charged in mass poisonings
Posted on November 06, 2009A couple who were upset at the owner of a Mexican restaurant were charged today with deliberately sickening dozens of patrons by spiking the salsa with an insecticide. The Capital-Journal of Topeka (Kansas) reports today that Arnoldo Bazan, 30, and his wife Yini De La Torre, 19, both of Shawnee (Kansas) and both in clear violation of the half-your-age-plus-7-rule for relationships, have been charged with mixing Methomyl into salsa served to patrons at Mi Ranchito restaurant in Lenexa (Kansas),...
Shopping cart sanitation (and don't let kids lick packages of raw meat)
Posted on November 06, 2009Amy, Sorenne and I go grocery shopping fairly frequently. The 11-month-old is curious about everything, a trait I called the day she was born; she's alert, curious and increasingly mischievous. When she was strong and co-ordinated enough to sit on her with a seatbelt on the seat behind the handle, a battle of wills soon emerged as Sorenne would have her hands on the handle, then in her mouth, or worse, would try to suckle the handle...
For the love of God, take it back and next time use a thermometer
Posted on November 05, 2009Restaurants are always faced with the problem of rapid staff turnover rates resulting in an on-going regime of constant training. Fair enough but are new staff being trained in food safety? In certain provinces only one staff in five on any given shift are required to have some sort of food safety training through a professional organization...
Camp and cheeseburgers shouldn't kill - mother and son describe effects of E. coli O157 illness linked to Rhode Island camp; 'I want it to be Ponderosa night again'
Posted on November 04, 2009Stephen Smith of the Boston Globe writes this morning, The signs of trouble arrived deep in the night: first, bloody diarrhea, then nausea Austin Richmond nor his mother knew it at the time, but he had been infected with a potentially lethal germ known as E...
Honey on a dummy could have killed tot
Posted on November 04, 2009The Scots have a way with headlines -- and in this case it's deadly serious. Call it what you will, a dummy, pacifier, soother, nuk – that's Sorenne with one of hers a few weeks ago – they should never be dipped in honey. A child in Scotland has been in hospital for six weeks fighting for his life with botulism and he could have caught it from sucking a dummy which had been dipped in honey, it emerged last night...
I got an H1N1 vaccine and a really cool sticker
Posted on November 04, 2009I'm H1N1-ready. The vaccine that I received this evening will start providing immunity in a few weeks. I received one of a thousand doses available at the Riley County Health Department in Manhattan, KS. The first wave of high-risk people received vaccinations a few weeks ago...
UK: Restaurant receives Michelin stars, but no food safety stars
Posted on November 04, 2009The Star Inn restaurant in North Yorkshire has been closed after more than 80 customers developed symptoms of vomiting and diarrhoea, reports YorkPress.co.uk. The Star Inn has won a raft of prestigious awards since 1996, including a Michelin star, the Egon Ronay Gastropub of the Year title and, most recently, The Good Pub Guide County Dining Pub of the Year for 2010...
Canada reminds Canadians about the risks of eating raw sprouts - dos this mean there's an outbreak?
Posted on November 04, 2009When Canadian bureaucrats send out a food safety press release for no apparent reason other than to remind Canadians of something it usually means there is an outbreak going on. Once again, it's raw sprouts, and it's not like it's sprout season or something (unlike the often terrible turkey food safety advice the surfaces at Thanksgiving)...
Rats, mice, roaches, the need for more inspectors
Posted on November 03, 2009Astonishing and amazing, like the recent Pet Shop Boys concert I attended, what one can find during a restaurant inspection. KITV writes In mid-August, a customer complained about finding a roach in a hamburger from a Honolulu fast-food restaurant...
Poorly cleaned public cruise ship restrooms may predict norovirus outbreaks
Posted on November 03, 2009Chapman says that while dirty bathrooms can be gross, like the gotcha moments on hidden camera programs, there really isn't any information that suggests a place with a dirty bathroom is any more or less likely to cause an outbreak than a place with a clean bathroom...
Wendy's VP says E. coli salad safe - provides no evidence
Posted on November 02, 2009From the growing catalogue of worst things to say after an outbreak of foodborne illness, Dan Moore, the owner of the Wendy's franchise on Prospect Street in New Brunswick said yesterday, 'The senior vice-president of Wendy's was here (on Saturday) to inspect the restaurant...
Australian hepatitis A outbreak still linked to semi-dried tomatoes
Posted on November 02, 2009Hepatitis A is one of the few causes of foodborne illness that only cycles through humans – and their poop. So any outbreak of hepatitis A means human sewage came into contact with the food (which then wasn't cooked) or someone shedding the virus had a poop, failed to adequately wash their hands, and then prepared an uncooked food...
16 hospitalized and 2 deaths now linked to ground beef recall
Posted on November 02, 2009Following Saturday's FSIS announcement of Fairbank Farms' ground beef recall, a CDC spokesperson has been cited as saying that the cluster of illnesses has been expanded to 28. USA Today reports that CDCs Lola Scott Russel released information this afternoon that 16 of the ill have been hospitalized an additional death has been linked to the outbreak...
Roy Costa to star on Dr. Oz Tuesday; Powell dresses up and gets in a couple of zingers
Posted on November 01, 2009In the beginning there was Oprah, and all was ideal. Oprah begat Dr. Phil, and all was ideal, at least until his ratings started to fall. Then Dr. Oz appeared – 55 times on Oprah – and Oprah eventually begated Dr. Oz. The Dr. Oz show started in September 2009 and is syndicated throughout the U...
Natural does not mean safe: Kansas locals still pushing unpasteurized cider
Posted on November 01, 2009Oh, unpasteurized apple cider, when will you stop providing food safety moments? It was 13 years ago last night that U.S. health investigators figured out that unpasteurized juice with apple cider as a base was making people sick with E. coli O157:H7 in the Pacific Northwest region...
Shoot, shovel and shut up - the wrong approach for animal and zoonotic diseases
Posted on November 01, 2009Daughter Sorenne woke up around 6:15 a.m. after a big Halloween night (thanks for the costume, Katie). Then the clocks on the computer changed and I realized it was 5:15 a.m. Damn you daylight savings. So while Sorenne plays on the floor and fills her diaper, I'm looking at a poignant release from the France-based World Organization for Animal Health, inexplicably referred to as OIE (it's a French thing) reiterating the importance of animal health rules to control human disease...
Ground beef recall linked to cluster of E. coli O157 illnesses in New England
Posted on October 31, 2009USDA FSIS has announced a recall of 545,699 pounds of fresh ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 and distributed in seven states. According to FSIS, the product has been linked to a cluster of illnesses in New England...
9 outbreaks, 2 dead, 130 ill from same Salmonella across UK
Posted on October 31, 2009The Telegraph reports this morning that around 130 people have fallen ill with the same strain of Salmonella linked to poultry and eggs since August across England and Wales Five outbreaks have been linked to oriental restaurants, three to other restaurants and one was in a care home...
E. coli O157:H7 outbreak linked to Wendy's salads in New Brunswick
Posted on October 31, 2009The Daily Gleaner reports this morning that four people have been stricken with E. coli O157:H7 after eating salad at a Wendy's restaurant in Fredericton, New Brunswick (that's in Canada). The cases of E. coli O157:H7 are believed to be linked to salads prepared and served at the Prospect Street restaurant...
Elton John sick with E. coli, postpones Portland concert with Billy Joel
Posted on October 31, 2009Hold me closer, tiny dancer, there will be no dueling pianos in Portland: The Elton John and Billy Joel concert originally scheduled for the Rose Garden November 10 was postponed after John was diagnosed with an E. coli infection. Live Nation and The Rose Garden said Friday that John was advised by his doctor to postpone these performances due to a serious case of e-coli bacterial infection and the flu...
Rats, mice and cockroaches, oh my - UK KFC needs to clean up
Posted on October 30, 2009KFC may be dabbling with marketing food safety (see the lid from a bucket of chicken), but marketing has to be backed up with data. And having a lousy restaurant inspection report will turn anyone's stomach, no matter how many checkmarks are on things...
Foodborne illness? There's an app for that. Using new methods and messages to communicate about food safety
Posted on October 30, 2009With the expansion and ease-of-use of non-traditional, Internet-based communication tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, YouTube and blogs, individuals are discussing high-profile food risks through various mediums. Because up to 60 per cent of adults use on online social networking site, an opportunity exists to utilize these communities to engage individuals around foodborne risks by providing information and establishing relationships tailored to specific audiences...
From the douchebag files
Posted on October 29, 2009Some people are lawyers and specialize in rhetoric It's that Plato thing. Some of us submit our opinions to cat scratching peer review, take our lumps and get better. There's this bunch of lawyers who say they're Defending Food Safety. Probably the worst blog name since Maple Leaf's 'Our Journey to Food Safety Leadership...
Hinting at food safety - marketers play games but invoke consumer concerns
Posted on October 29, 2009I shop at Dillons in Manhattan (Kansas), owned by Kroger. I've gotten to know the staff, we talk food safety stuff, and I've really enjoyed the few times I've chatted with Gale Prince, who used to be head of food safety at Kroger. But I don't understand the press release Kroger sent out today about its new line of salads which includes new technology on the packaging that enables customers to learn where the produce was grown as part of Kroger's "Quality You Can Trace" program...
Poland: 'We want to live in a country that doesn't stink'
Posted on October 28, 2009Poland's soccer team may suck, but the co-host of the 2012 UEFA Euro championships wants to make sure the toilets sparkle. Arkadiusz Choczaj, leader of the so-called "Clean Patrol" campaign, told reporters in Warsaw, "Our toilets are better prepared for these championships than our football players...
Fat Duck spared, chippy owner charged by local council after E. coli O157 illnesses
Posted on October 28, 2009The Fat Duck sickened 529 customers with norovirus, adopted a ridiculous PR strategy, and continues to blame others even though employees were working sick. The local council decided not to prosecute. The Llay Fish Bar, thought to be the source of an E...
Atypical scrapie in single NZ sheep
Posted on October 28, 2009Contrary to what the New Zealand Herald reported tonight (this morning in NZ), the animal in question was born in NZ, not the UK, because NZ does not import sheep from the UK. MAF Biosecurity New Zealand (MAFBNZ) and the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) today confirmed that a series of New Zealand and European laboratory tests on a single New Zealand sheep brain have detected the condition atypical scrapie (also known as Nor 98)...
Canadians can go back to sleep; Maple Leaf Foods is profitable again
Posted on October 28, 2009Some American colleagues have said killing 22 customers with deli-meat would have led to a non-existent company. Not so in Canada, where $5.5 billion companies like Maple Leaf Foods can say with a straight face that listeria presented new challenges in the ready-to-eat food category...
I'm bona fide. I'm the paterfamilias. I have a residency card and can leave the U.S. and get back in
Posted on October 27, 2009Or something like that from George Clooney in the 2000 movie and Courtlynn favorite, O Brother Where Art Thou. As far as the U.S. government is concerned, I am indeed somewhat more bona fide, having received my permanent residency (below), so let the food safety world tour begin...
Better food poisoning awareness amongst docs after E. coli O157 inquiry in Wales
Posted on October 27, 2009Looks like the E. coli O157 death of 5-year-old Mason Jones, the illnesses of 160 other Welsh schoolchildren and the subsequent inquiry headed by Prof. Hugh Pennington were not entirely in vain. The South Wales Echo is reporting today that the number of reported foodborne illnesses increased to 631 in June, compared to 234 in January...
Another A for Curb Your Enthusiasm
Posted on October 27, 2009Rather than wait a week, Amy and I watched Sunday's Curb Your Enthusiasm last night. And there it was – another Los Angeles restaurant inspection disclosure A on the front of a pizza shop. I'm starting to think the L.A. County health department is paying for A placements in the scripts...
How much am I paying that person to poop? Workpoop.com
Posted on October 27, 2009How much time do you spend on the toilet? With foodborne illness, it could be hours and hours and hours. Inventorspot reports on workpoop.com, an online calculator that helps answer a pressing question of every employer: how much am I paying that person to poop?
Automated hand sanitizer - Chicago, Illinois
Posted on October 27, 2009The newly married Gonzalo Erdozain, one half of the Erdozain news pulling siblings and a pre-vet student at Kansas State, writes in a state of marital bliss: As I walked down an aisle in Chicago's Navy Pier, I couldn't help but notice a nice little automated hand sanitizer dispenser in the middle of the wall, which just happened to be right in between both exits of the restrooms...
Parents pissed E. coli petting zoo reopening
Posted on October 27, 2009The petting farm at the centre of an E.coli outbreak that left several children seriously ill and more than 90 people reporting symptoms of the infection, has reopened despite a storm of criticism from parents. Godstone Farm in Surrey opened its play areas yesterday but kept all visitors out of contact with animals...
Safe food shouldn't just be for the affluent - and they're sorta clueless when it comes to food that makes them barf
Posted on October 27, 2009Market research sucks. With food, people vote at the checkout counter with their wallets. Sitting at home, talking to some annoying survey person who only calls when dinner is about to be served reveals … nothing, except the potential buying patterns of pissed off shoppers, wondering why they can't just eat dinner without the phone ringing...
Photoshop isn't just for people - turkey breasts enhanced for magazine covers
Posted on October 26, 2009The turkey has done what a supermodel never could: land the cover of dozens of magazines in a single month. The November covers of American food magazines are a turkey delight, with the burnished bird stuffed, garnished and splayed every which way. Dana Cowin, the editor in chief of Food & Wine, said, 'I know it seems like, hey, what could be simpler than roasting a bird? But the perfect roast bird is a challenge...
Fat Duck won't face charges - 'I'll never set foot in there again' says food poisoning victim
Posted on October 26, 2009The Telegraph reports this morning that Heston Blumenthal and the Fat Duck restaurant – home to 529 cases of norovirus earlier this year – will not face criminal charges despite failures in reporting illness and what appears to be an overall lack of food safety awareness...
Compelling and disgusting messages might work better
Posted on October 26, 2009As outbreaks of H1N1 continue to strike campuses across North America, our paper 'University Students' Hand Hygiene Practice During a Gastrointestinal Outbreak in Residence: What They Say They Do and What They Actually Do,', keeps getting a bit of run...
NYC restaurant: A mouse in the display case doesn't mean a failed inspection
Posted on October 26, 2009Being the typical older sibling, growing up middle-sister Lisa and I used to pick on youngest-sister Julie. Whenever we watched Disney movies we would assign Julie the nicknames of the odd Disney characters, like Gus-Gus. Gus-Gus, as some may recall, is one of the mice from Cinderella...
Halloween decorations hide a poor inspection score
Posted on October 25, 2009Halloween in New Zealand doesn't appear to be as hyped-up as North America. I've yet to see any houses decorated in Wellington, and the usual surplus of costumes and candy in grocery and department stores is nearly non-existent here. That won't stop me however; I've already begun gathering the fixin's for my costume...
An A for the ice cream shop on Curb Your Enthusiasm
Posted on October 25, 2009Finally getting around to watching last week's Curb Your Enthusiasm before delving into this week's, and once again, the Los Angeles restaurant inspection disclosure program is the money shot of the show. In addition to the A, the 31 Ice Cream has some sort of food safety seal I haven't seen before...
Gratuitous food porn shot of the day - rib eye steak and all the fixins
Posted on October 25, 2009Sorenne eating dinner with mom and dad, 6:00 p.m., Oct. 25, 2009. Should have taken the picture last night with seafood surprise (in Manhattan Kansas?) and grandma here, but tonight will have to do: Grilled rib eye steak with rosemary and garlic, grilled sweet potato fries, grilled Portobello mushrooms and red pepper, garlic-lime butter on home-made whole-wheat baguette, and sugar snap peas...
Can citrus-scented Windex make the world a better place?
Posted on October 24, 2009From the reading-too-much–into-the-results-of-a-study category, researchers have found that people are unconsciously fairer and more generous when they are in clean-smelling environments. The research found a dramatic improvement in ethical behavior with just a few spritzes of citrus-scented Windex...
Supermarket Guru says stickers on clamshells a good food safety idea to go
Posted on October 24, 2009Supermarket Guru picked up on our food safety stickers for takeout food and suggested it was one way retailers could turn food safety into a competitive advantage, and wrest takeout business from nearby restaurants. Which was exactly one of our thoughts when we began experimenting with food safety stickers about five years ago...
But we've never had E. coli - petting zoo visitor freefall
Posted on October 24, 2009Staff at the Stonebridge City Farm want to reassure potential visitors that the farm has never been affected by E. coli as the number of visitors continues to decline in the wake of a petting zoo outbreak that sickened 93 children. Mark Barry, funding development worker at the farm in St Ann's, said, "We've been quite severely affected by E...
Restaurant inspections:announced or unannounced...
Posted on October 23, 2009Restaurant inspections are generally carried out unannounced by a health inspector. In this way one can obtain a snap shot of what is actually going on at that time. Some of the expressions on employees' faces when I arrive and announce myself are priceless, makes me feel so wanted at times...
Milking cows on the Sydney Habour bridge
Posted on October 23, 2009The bridge over Sydney Harbour connecting Sydney with the business area of north Sydney is an engineering marvel. Ben, Dani and I walked it one night after too much fine wine with some Australian colleagues. I've jogged across it many times. And walked, like in this pic from 2004 (right)...
Top Chef: Medium-rare lamb is 140F and soy sauce is the secret ingredient in perfect gravy
Posted on October 23, 2009Jennifer and daughter Ingrid brought the lamb, I did the cooking, and Amy's mom flew in from Vegas. Another Thursday night in Manhattan (Kansas). What better occasion to try out alleged perfect gravy that scientists with the U.K. Royal Society of Chemistry have determined contains drippings from a roast on a bed of halved onions, carrots and celery and the left-over water from boiled cabbage...
Faith-based food safety? Market microbial food safety directly at retail so consumers can choose
Posted on October 22, 2009Most food purchases are based on faith. That's why an extensive series of rules, regulations and punishments emerged beginning in 12th century Mediterranean areas. Faith-based food safety systems are prevalent from the farmer's market to the supermarket, especially in the produce section...
World record wash-off: India versus South Africa
Posted on October 22, 2009The World Health Organization launched their second annual Global Handwashing Day on October 15, 2009. The purpose of the two events was to break current world record holder, Bhiddwa School Niketon of Dhaka, Bangladesh, with 1,213 participants. South Africa broke the current record with 1,802 Gauteng school-children participants with help from rugby hero Bryan Habana...
Food safety doesn't just happen in English - so why aren't restaurant inspection disclosure results available in other languages?
Posted on October 22, 2009You'd figure that getting stuff translated into other languages would be a breeze, since I have an in with the modern languages department. But to do it in real-time is a bit messy. Whether it's a recall, an inspection report or a warning label, not everyone who eats in the U...
Higher processing temperature may reduce listeria risk in smoked salmon
Posted on October 22, 2009I'm a big fan of smoked salmon, especially the farmed kind – it's more sustainable. The convenience and nutrients are hard to top – except maybe with a slice of tomato. The problem with such refrigerated, ready-to-eat foods is listeria, the bacterium that's everywhere and grows at refrigerator temperatures...
Bathroom blogging in New York City
Posted on October 21, 2009Amy, Sorenne and I just got back from a whirlwind trip to New York City. And when we're all in the same hotel room, and I wake up early to do some writing, I'll go to the bathroom, shut the door and blog away. If I go to NYC for five weeks Thanksgiving to New Year's holiday orgy in the U...
Eat Me Daily: Creepy Chinese food safety ads
Posted on October 21, 2009The folks over at Eat Me Daily have unearthed three food safety advertisements produced by the Beijing Women & Children's Development Foundation. '(They) are nicely executed but super-creepy: Kids enjoying themselves in playgrounds built out of giant food, etc...
Dancing in the Loo wins, wins, wins at the Gloden Poo awards
Posted on October 21, 2009Occasional guest barfblogger and handwashing advocate Michéle Samarya-Timm, now with the Somerset County Health Department in central New Jersey – represent – writes: Usually poo is an undesirable thing. Regular readers barfblog.com know about the focus on poo avoidance – through proper farm-to-fork food handling, through sound regulatory practices, and through increased handwashing...
All UK E. coli petting zoo kids released from hospital - illness toll remains 93
Posted on October 21, 2009The final two children who remained in hospital following the E.coli outbreak at a Surrey farm have finally been allowed home, more than a month after the site was shut down by health officials. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said on Tuesday that the total number of E...
It was over when she farted - there's a car for that
Posted on October 21, 2009Of the few websites I have in my RSS feeds for entertainment is, It Was Over When, all about how couples didn't come to be. From yesterday: It was over when she farted at the dinner table and kept on eating like nothing happened. —WarDog Aftermath: It ended the next day after I confronted her about the act...
New Food Safety Infosheet: Five students ill from outbreak linked to Campylobacter at school in UK
Posted on October 20, 2009The newest food safety infosheet, a graphical one-page food safety-related story directed at food handlers, is now available at www.foodsafetyinfosheets.com and http://bites.ksu.edu/infosheets (with multiple language translations of past infosheets) Food Safety Infosheet highlights: - Environmental health officers focus on cross-contamination practices of food handlers...
Chinese restaurant to close for good after Salmonella outbreak, failed repeat inspection
Posted on October 19, 2009Ruby Chinese Restaurant, the beleaguered eatery at the source of a Salmonella outbreak that sickened at least 22 people and possibly contributed to the death of another, will close for good. The Toronto Star reports that word is spreading in north Scarborough's Chinese community that the immensely popular restaurant will not reopen after a recent salmonella outbreak...
Indiana: BS inspection results at BSU
Posted on October 19, 2009Adding another peg to my places-I've-visited-in-New Zealand map, I'm currently in Dunedin at an Otago Universtiy café. Perhaps it's the years at the uber laidback University of Guelph, but I prefer the campus atmosphere to that of the usual downtown internet hot spot, though it often gives me moments of déjà vu...
Tiny turtles still making kids sick
Posted on October 19, 2009Growing up in late-1960s suburbia, I had a turtle. Turtles were inexpensive, popular, and low maintenance, with an array of groovy pre-molded plastic housing designs to choose from. Invariably they would escape, only to be found days later behind the couch along with the skeleton of the class bunny my younger sister brought home from kindergarten one weekend...
It is called barfblog
Posted on October 18, 2009This clip typifies celebrity barf. It's not often we actually have clips of folks actually barfing.
Routine sampling of cantaloupe reveals Salmonella, leads to recall
Posted on October 18, 2009On Friday, Raley's Family of Fine Stores posted a message regarding a recall of fresh cantaloupes due to potential Salmonella contamination (triggered by routine sampling). There wasn't any pick up of the recall story until this morning when the California Department of Public Health issued a warning (which I can't actually find anywhere)...
Herpes, hepatitis A, swine flu -- beer pong transmits disease?
Posted on October 17, 2009No beer pong? What is college life without beer pong? Last year, some publication at the University of California at Los Angeles – UCLA – warned students that beer pong, a communal drinking game, could be a source of infectious disease like herpes...
Charred hamburger patties, no thanks
Posted on October 16, 2009Digital tip sensitive thermometers are as important to a chef as espresso is to m wife and I. While inspecting a fast food restaurant which serves predominantly burgers, I noticed the chef relying solely on color to determine doneness of burgers...
I could eat a horse
Posted on October 16, 2009In the wake of news that some in south Florida are taking to butchering horses, here are some tips from Australia on how to eat horse. Horse Steaks The world's most famous horse steak eaters, the French, have only gained that reputation since the 1789-1799 revolution simply because the horses of aristocrats were an easy source of protein for a country in turmoil...
Cook your own food at Glasgow restaurant an invitation to health problems?
Posted on October 16, 2009The Glaswegian reports that diners are being invited to make their own dishes at a new Glasgow restaurant. Cookie will be the first restaurant in Scotland to invite customers into the kitchen to prepare and cook the food. They will have access to quality ingredients and be guided by a trained chef...
Say it loud, say it proud, blow dryers suck
Posted on October 16, 2009Daughter Courtlynn – the 14-year-old – arrived from Canada last night for a last-minute weekend bonding session with Sorenne. And Amy. And me? While waiting for Courtlynn's plane to arrive in Kansas City – it's not her plane, it's Air Canada's plane, but she was on it – we killed some time at the Zona Rosa outdoor mall near the airport...
Cats shouldn't hang out in supermarket meat cases
Posted on October 15, 2009Cats like meat. Even though we live in central Manhattan (Kansas), there's a small greenbelt behind the house and we've had visitors such as deer, turkeys, and yesterday, a fox. The raccoons, squirrels, birds and rabbits are everywhere. My two black cats have had happy hunting since our 2006 arrival, and left me a pair of lucky rabbits feet the other day (the two black ones, as kittens in this pic, from 2003; the other one, named Lucky, wasn't so lucky)...
He said, she said: USA Today on E. coli in ground beef
Posted on October 15, 2009Today's USA Today offered up its point-counter-point editorial space this morning to the persistent problem of dangerous E. coli in ground beef. From the newspaper: Too many Americans get sick and too many die from eating that most all-American of foods, the hamburger...
Shock and shame: How to increase handwashing compliance
Posted on October 15, 2009A British study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine concluded that people are more likely to wash their hands properly after using the toilet if they are shamed into it or think they are being watched. As part of a flood of handwashing information for today's World Handwashing Day, the study, published in the American Journal of Public Health found that with no reminders, 32 percent of men and 64 percent of women used soap...
Global Handwashing Day is Thursday, October 15, 2009
Posted on October 14, 2009Break out the party hats, soap, vigorously running water, and paper towels, it's Global Handwashing Day. Well, I guess it depends on where you are in the world. Several countries and organizations are celebrating in a variety of ways. I think it should be like New Years...
bites, barfblog and food safety need your continued support
Posted on October 14, 2009There's no shortage of food safety news; there is a shortage of evidence-based, incisive approaches that challenge food safety norms and may eventually lead to fewer sick people. The International Food Safety Network evolved into bites.ksu.edu over the past year as a way of consolidating and making food safety news delivery more efficient...
E. coli O157:H7 linked to Western Fair in London, Canada, again, 10 years after 159 sickened
Posted on October 13, 2009There are more people tragically sick with E. coli O157:H7 from what looks like another petting zoo. But this would be especially tragic – or hopelessly sad -- if proven. In 1999, 159 people, mainly children, were thought to be sickened with E...
Sushi + bacteria = barf
Posted on October 13, 2009I was always skeptical when it came to sushi because of hands constantly touching the rice, fish, and other ingredients that go in the roll. Rice is notorious for harbouring bacteria such as Bacillus cereus, a nasty little germ that is capable of forming a spore and can cause one to seriously embark on a journey of barfing...
The world has cooties
Posted on October 13, 2009I am sure I am not the only person who had to deal with cooties. I wasn't sure cooties had a definition, but apparently it is a non-medical term for an invisible disease. When I was younger I thought, or was told, that boys had cooties (unless you were a boy and then girls had cooties)...
Consumer groups, industry, lots of others, misuse food safety data for political gain
Posted on October 12, 2009Chapman already commented on some of the, uh, failings of the recent top 10 (PR stunt) allegedly most dangerous foods issued by the poorly named Center for Science in the Public Interest – there wasn't much science or public interest in that last report...
Cold water is fine for washing hands - soap and vigor are the critical components
Posted on October 12, 2009'Hot water for handwashing has not been proved to remove germs better than cold water.' That's the conclusion of The Claim column in tomorrow's N.Y. Times science section. We've been saying for a couple of years that water temperature is not a critical factor -- water hot enough to kill dangerous bacteria and viruses would scald hands -- so use whatever is comfortable...
Salmonella in nuts...again.
Posted on July 09, 2009Nuts and seeds seem to be prone to Salmonella contamination. This year alone peanuts, pistchios, sesame and sunflower seeds, and now potentially pecans have been recalled due to Salmonella contamination. Today General Mills announced a voluntary recall of Nature Valley Granola Nut Clusters 'Nut Lovers' (pictured right) due to potential Salmonella contamination believed to be from pecans in the product, reportsForbes...
ABC News: 3 kinds of E. coli linked to Nestle's cookie dough
Posted on July 09, 2009Brian Hartman of ABC News is reporting that investigators have linked at least three different kinds of E. coli to Nestle's cookie dough but they remain stumped as to just how the bacteria got in the product. DNA testing of E. coli found in an unopened package of cookie dough at Nestle's plant in Danville, Va...
Food safety in French: Le Blog d'Albert Amgar
Posted on July 09, 2009I'm not sure how I would have figured stuff out when I moved to Manhattan (Kansas) if Amy wasn't with me. Especially the American university administrative hoops. And the French. I'm Canadian but, like many other Canadians, don't speak French. Fortunately, Amy's a French professor so I can now understand all the food safety stuf Albert Amgar sends me from France – it's usually in French...
Real World cast member needs to wash his hands
Posted on July 09, 2009I watch MTV. I have watched every season of the Real World since I can remember. Partly because I have a strong opinion on how MTV was the first television station to do reality shows, but mostly because I love the idiotic drama, which includes, but is not limited to drunken nights, roommate fights, and hook-ups...
Welsh government responds to E. coli outbreak report; parents of Mason say it's not enough
Posted on July 08, 2009After the 2005 E. coli O157 outbreak which killed 5-year-old Mason Jones and sickened and 160 schoolchildren in Wales, Professor Hugh Pennington led a public inquiry which revealed the futility of food safety training, government inspection, and pretty much anything to do with the so-called food safety system...
Powell to Times - stick it in
Posted on July 08, 2009The following letter appeared in the Dining and Wine section of this morning's N.Y. Times: Re 'The Perfect Burger and All Its Parts' July 1: The only thin piece of metal that should be stuck into the side of a hamburger is a tip-sensitive digital thermometer...
Andrew Stormer: stick it in for safety (a thermometer)
Posted on July 08, 2009Andrew Stormer (right, exactly as shown), a Kansas State food science grad who used to work with me writes from Topeka: Food is my career and a passion, so I often find myself in conversations with people regarding trendy food topics (organic, healthy, safe etc...
Belgica mussels under the microscope; is New Zealand better than Old Zeeland?
Posted on July 08, 2009A year ago Amy and I were sitting in a Wellington, New Zealand restaurant overlooking the harbor, pulling mussels from the shell (it was a holiday complete). Consumers in Belgium are just beginning to enjoy the annual harvest of so-called Belgica mussels...
Not-so "Totally awesome, dude": California pizza parlour home to rat(s)
Posted on July 08, 2009Growing up my older cousin Adam was obsessed with the pizza-loving Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and every time we visited his house my sisters and I were forced to re-enact fight scenes from the wildly popular TV series. Adam was always Leonardo, and somehow one of us was always the wise rat Splinter...
An inspectors' dream.....
Posted on July 08, 2009I love food safety and hate pathogens, so sometimes I can get a little too excited when restaurant operators' are engaged in food safety and really care about what they are doing. Just the other day on a routine restaurant inspection, the manager pulled me aside and asked me if I want to hear everything they are currently doing to ensure food safety...
Obama moves on food safety: will it mean fewer sick people?
Posted on July 07, 2009Reuters is reporting this morning ahead of a press conference later today by recently formed supergroup, the Food Safety Working Group (right, not exactly as shown), that the Obama administration is ordering tougher steps to curb salmonella and E.coli contamination in U...
Beets, bears, Battlestar Galactica and restaurant inspection
Posted on July 07, 2009I've never been to Saskatchewan, but for some reason whenever I picture the prairie people I picture Dwight Schrute's beet-lovin' cousin Mose (pictured right) from The Office. Perhaps the fear on the Saskatchewanonian's shirts has caused the recent decrease in restaurant inspection website numbers...
From the we've never had a problem file: Salmonella in lasagna edition
Posted on July 07, 2009NBC 29 reports that a group of central Virginia guests have Salmonellosis that appears to be linked to frozen lasagna from a popular past a shop. In a classic blame game maneuver and "wha happened?" defense, the owner of Mona Lisa (the pasta shop) says that if his food is the source of the outbreak, it was likely customer error...
E. coli cause of kidney failure in Iowa child?
Posted on July 07, 2009KSFY is reporting that a one-year-old boy from Sioux Center, Iowa is in a Sioux Falls hospital tonight, fighting hemolytic uremic syndrome or HUS. His dad told Action News today that Isaiah is normally an active kid, but this has slown him down and their time in the hospital has been heart-wrenching saying "you never think you're going to see your child in the hospital and the reality of it is, is that it can happen to anyone...
How many food poisoners can you spot on this list?
Posted on July 07, 2009As Eddie Murphy said in the movie, 48 Hours, 'A badge and a gun goes a long way. … There's a new sheriff in town.' That's the impression the Obama Administration is trying to project with a spate of announcements to enhance food safety, which makes me feel it's 1994 all over again … and look, there's Michael Taylor back as a food safety advisor at the Food and Drug Administration (good choice, BTW)...
Food poisoning strikes Birmingham police
Posted on July 07, 2009In 1984, the Pope visited the restored 350-year-old Jesuit mission of Ste. Marie-among-the-Hurons in Midland, Ontario. After departing, 1,600 hungry Ontario Provincial Police officers who had worked the ropes gathered for a boxed lunch. Of those 500 officers who chose ones with roast beef sandwiches, 423 came down with salmonella...
Doggie dining update: seems to work in Sarasota
Posted on July 06, 2009Amy and I have developed a habit of going to the Sarasoto/Venice Beach area on Florida's Gulf coast. Especially in August. It's just too hot in Kansas. We won't be taking the dogs this year but we probably will in the future. According to this update in the Herald Tribune, Florida authorized local governments to create doggie dining in 2006, and Sarasota and Manatee counties enacted ordinances in 2007...
Fireworks, food safety and bad, bad stuf
Posted on July 05, 2009As the fireworks continue in the background, Amy and I are working in bed and put on a terrible, 1972 movie, 1776, which turns out to be a musical about American Independence starring Ken-The-White-Shadow Howard as Thomas Jefferson and William-I-was-on-St...
Lizard droppings may have poisoned Bangladesh students
Posted on July 05, 2009Lizard droppings or similar contamination may have been the cause for scores of students falling ill after eating at a girls' hostel of Bagerhat Government PC College, civil surgeon Subhash Kumar Saha said on Sunday. Saha was making an inspection of the hostel's kitchen after 63 students, who had taken lunch there on Saturday, underwent treatment for food poisoning at Bagerhat Sadar Hospital...
Five kids sick with E. coli in Ohio county
Posted on July 04, 2009The Cuyahoga County Board of Health confirms that three children have been exposed to the E. coli bacteria. Two more cases are under investigation. "Five cases is very unusual for us to have," says Terry Allan, the health commissioner in Cuyahoga County...
Cooking with Pooh
Posted on July 04, 2009Last night while Doug was cooking dinner and we were feeding Sorenne some rice cereal and squash, I noticed we still had a tube of Pillsbury Cookie Dough in the refrigerator leftover from last week's cookie experiment. We decided to make some cookies and free up more space in the fridge...
No Reservations' Catherine Zeta-Jones gives good garnish; does she wash her hands?
Posted on July 04, 2009Catherine Zeta-Jones gives good garnish. After working undercover for a week at a posh Manhattan restaurant in preparation for an upcoming role, the owner told People magazine that Zeta-Jones was, "a great garnisher. Drizzling oil and balsamic on plates - she does a nice job...
Backyard bacteria and consumers: use a thermometer
Posted on July 03, 2009I'm really proud of the folks who contribute to barfblog and bites.ksu.edu. This morning, I wrote all the contributors from yesterday and said, I'm really proud, or good job, or something like that. The mixture of food safety content and personal experience on barfblog...
Fresh Anaheim peppers pulled from Wegmans on Salmonella suspicion
Posted on July 03, 2009Wegmans has removed fresh Anaheim peppers from its Produce departments due to the possibility of salmonella contamination. The FDA is currently investigating the situation. If you still have Anaheim peppers, please throw them away. Do not return them to the store...
Salmonella outbreak in Denmark
Posted on July 03, 2009I have an affinity for the Danes. I spent five summers working with two Danish home builders in Ontario, who introduced me to 45% Danish Schnapps, pate and beet snacks, which Amy and I munched on our balcony yesterday, and when I go to meetings in Copenhagen, they offer beer at the 10:30 a...
Organic crap gets crappier
Posted on July 03, 2009One of the reasons I don't buy organic – besides being on a professor's salary, which I have no complaints about but I'm certainly not going to waste it on organic – is that the so-called claims and rules are followed about as thoroughly as Peanut Corporation of America can pass an audit and end up having 4,000 products recalled because Salmonella makes people barf...
BBQ safely with Douglas Powell
Posted on July 03, 2009Look, I'm goofy. Probably the Brantford, Ontario, water, cause hometown pal Wayne Gretzky sure looked goofy on The Young and the Restless in 1981. I don't want to be on video. But if that's what it takes to get the message out about how to safely grill burgers this holiday weekend, then why not...
Whole Foods porn
Posted on July 02, 2009If you're a retailer as big as Whole Foods, how hard is it to provide accurate information? For their July 4 'perfect burgers' the food porn emporium says, 'Grill meat to desired doneness; about 4 to 6 minutes per side over a medium hot fire. Be careful not to overcook, which will dry out the meat...
New food safety infosheet -- Harvey's E. coli O157:H7 Outbreak Report Released
Posted on July 02, 2009The newest food safety infosheet, a graphical one-page food safety-related story directed at food handlers is also now available at foodsafetyinfosheets.ksu.edu. Infosheets are created weekly and are posted in restaurants, retail stores, on farms and used in training throughout the world...
British Columbia: Stop pointing the finger at consumers
Posted on July 02, 2009A recent spike in Salmonella cases in the Vancouver, B.C. area has lead the B.C. Centre for Disease Control to release the following, reports News1130: Over 56 cases of infection are being blamed on the same strain of Salmonella. While the BCCDC says they have not identified a common source associated with the infections, they advise that the two most important risk factors for Salmonella are the consumption of eggs and chicken...
Roadkill burgers banned in Newfoundland
Posted on July 02, 2009"I've been involved in getting moose for over 30 years from wildlife, and I have never heard of anyone ever getting sick from eating a moose burger." So says Dave Barker, who works for the Knights of Columbus in Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland...
Happy Canada Day Kiwis
Posted on July 01, 2009July 1st is Canada Day, so being in New Zealand and feeling patriotic I decided to make butter tarts, a Canadian baked dessert (pictured right). While making the filling-- which consists of brown sugar, eggs and cream -- my flatmate had a spoonful of the unbaked filling...
Investigative journalists still required for food safety - even if newspapers disappear
Posted on July 01, 2009Toronto city councillor Brian Ashton said yesterday, "I was stunned that the Toronto Star was able to – for the second time – expose a problem that the Board of Health seemed to be unaware of," referring to the newspaper's "Dirty Dining" series in 2000, which prompted public health to release restaurant inspection records...
New York Times' Bitman promotes unsafe practice
Posted on July 01, 2009In the June 26 Minimalist column and accompanying video about herb and garlic flavored oils barfblog favorite Mark Bitman suggests a frugal trick to add flavor to a meal. And possibly a frugal method to create a serious foodborne toxin. The pathogen of concern, Clostridium botulinum, could exist as spores on the suggested ingredients...
New Canadian organic logo is pornographic?
Posted on July 01, 2009Raise a butter tart and Molson Export – or Labatt Crystal if you're into the skid stuff – it's Canada Day, the celebration of the July 1, 1867 enactment of the British North America Act, which united Canada as a single country of four provinces...
Mice Found Twice at the Movies
Posted on July 01, 2009I'm a self-proclaimed germ-a-phobe not from a previous experience with foodborne illness, but more from reading and writing for Barfblog. Also, Microbiology lab in undergrad taught me that germs are everywhere. It's enough to make someone like me crazy! I've become excessively paranoid about how I prepare my own food at home, and how others prepare food for me...
Watch where you're sticking it in
Posted on July 01, 2009I've loved Chicken with Broccoli and Cheese (of various brands) since childhood. These prepared-but-raw entrees mostly fell by the wayside when I started cooking like a grown-up. But just last week, the crunchy broccoli with melted cheese hidden inside tasty breaded chicken thingies called out to me and my inner child, and a box of them was soon in my home freezer...
The Little Couple sanitizes their hands
Posted on July 01, 2009On last night's episode of the Little Couple, Tuesday nights on TLC, Dr. Jennifer Arnold and her husband, Bill Klein, showed the world clips of their every day lives: honey-do lists, visiting another little person, and giving speeches. The most interesting moments, in my opinion, were the hand hygiene opportunities...
N.Y. Times sucks at food safety: stick a piece of metal in a burger and lick it, rather than a thermometer, to tell if it's done?
Posted on July 01, 2009In the continuing saga of bad food safety advice in the N.Y. Times – and the elevation of food pornography over food safety – the Times today ran a piece about the perfect burger. In interviews with dozens of so-called chefs around the U...
Bittman article updated: now includes safety information
Posted on July 01, 2009Maybe it was barfblog influenced, maybe not. My previous post on Mark Bittman's garlic and other stuff in oil was a letter to the editor I submitted to the New York Times on Friday night. As the Times likes to have exclusive first printing right I held off on posting the letter until last night (since I hadn't heard whether it was going to be printed)...
K-State food safety types contribute to new book on causes, solutions to produce contamination
Posted on June 30, 2009Anyone can bitch. My colleagues and I try to provide solutions. So Ben, Casey and I jumped at the chance to write the concluding chapter for a new book, "The Produce Contamination Problem: Causes and Solutions," slated for release July 15 from Academic Press...
FDA chief focuses on produce safety
Posted on June 30, 2009Dr. Margaret Hamburg, the new chief of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said a couple of weeks ago she was going to focus on preventing contamination of fresh fruit and vegetables. That's good, because this year has brought a new crop of unrealistic expectations about the microbial safety of fresh produce, created primarily by the largest producer of fresh produce, California...
NPSA fights back
Posted on June 30, 2009The National Patient Safety Agency is fighting back media accusations. They're not literally fighting, like my favorite mother of eight, Kate, and her soon to be ex-husband, Jon. The NPSA is fighting accusations saying they have endorsed the complete removal of alcohol based hand sanitizer from all clinical areas (see barfblog post: Drunk on Sanitation)...
How to greenwash food packaging; market food safety instead
Posted on June 30, 2009Eat Me Daily is fast becoming one of my go-to sites. They write today: This illustration by Lunchbreath is basically a checklist for corporate greenwashing: Earth tones, sans serif type, unbleached paper, and emotional messaging are essential components of the deceptive marketing techniques employed by corporations that rebrand their products...
Source food from safe sources - the missing component in food safety communications
Posted on June 30, 2009Tomorrow is Canada Day, the celebration of the July 1, 1867 enactment of the British North America Act, which united Canada as a single country of four provinces. Saturday is Independence Day in the U.S., commonly known as the Fourth of July, a federal holiday commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain...
Drunk on sanitation
Posted on June 30, 2009At Dorset County Hospital, in the UK, alcohol based hand sanitizing gel is now banned at hospital entrances. The hospital's Infection Prevention and Control Committee previously placed sanitizing gel at hospital entrances to promote hospital visitor hand hygiene...
Waste not, want not: food safety, discarding food, and tough times
Posted on June 29, 2009Whenever I think of leftover pizza, I recall my teenage years listening to Rolling Stones on vinyl at George's apartment, I wonder whatever happened to that stray puppy one of the visitors brought home until the fleas were discovered, and I wonder how long the pizza would be good...
Possible poop remnants and Nestle's raw cookie dough
Posted on June 29, 2009During the evening of Thursday, June 18, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment urged Coloradans not to eat raw Nestle Toll House cookie dough because of possible contamination with E. coli O157:H7. The next morning, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers not to eat any varieties of prepackaged Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough due to the risk of contamination with E...
Health inspectors at Taste of Chicago
Posted on June 29, 2009Two years ago a salmonella outbreak traced to hummus made 700-plus people sick at the Taste of Chicago outdoor food festival in Chicago, IL. The annual festival lasts for 10 days, and millions of people attend. This year 60 health inspectors will be patrolling the venue attempting to prevent another outbreak, reports Chi-Town Daily News...
NYC: Apps in the Big Apple
Posted on June 29, 2009Robert Pattinson, the dude from Twilight, is in NYC filming his latest flick and tweens from all over are flocking to the city to stalk him. Meanwhile, NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced the start of 311-Online, a one-stop web portal for NYC services, and the Big App competition, reports the New York Times blog...
Smoking gun' found in cookie dough E. coli scare
Posted on June 29, 2009Brian Hartman of ABC News appears to be first off the block reporting that U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigators today found E. coli in an unopened package of raw chocolate chip cookie dough at the plant in Danville, VA where Nestle makes Toll House cookie dough...
Oregon. man upset by McDonald's order repeatedly calls 911
Posted on June 29, 2009Oregon appears to be an emerging state for 911 wackos – rivaling Florida and Texas – after a 23-year-old called 911 Friday to complain about his order at a McDonald's in Clackamas, Ore. Last month, a fellow Oregonian was arrested after calling 911 to complain about a juice box missing from his McDonald's order...
A cookbook of recipes to move the poop: The Un-Constipated Gourmet
Posted on June 29, 2009Baby Sorenne is coming up on seven months, and her poop is changing. As more solids are introduced into her diet, her poop has gone from runny brown to sticky to fully formed turds. Yesterday, she started screaming as loud as she could for about 20 seconds...
Three kids stricken with E. coli O157:H7 linked to London, Ontario Halal store
Posted on June 28, 2009The London Free Press – that's London, Ontario, in Canada – reports that after three children were diagnosed with E coli O157:H7 infections within five days, the Middlesex-London Health Unit advised the public today to avoid eating any ground beef or spiced ground beef (kofta) purchased from Westmount Halal Food Store located at 490 Wonderland Road South...
New Zealand: Traffic light approach to food labelling a no-go
Posted on June 28, 2009I've been in New Zealand for over a month now, in which time I have become accustomed to the accent, picked up some slang, and sampled many a new food. Although Marmite has not grown on me, I do enjoy a warm cup of Milo, a chocolaty malt drink, not quite as sweet as hot chocolate...
Winnipeg: Health inspectors need to crack down on dodgy diners
Posted on June 28, 2009About a month ago Winnipeg citizens were horrified when a couple dining at Sizzling Wok found a dead baby rodent in their stir-fry. Over the weekend the Winnipeg Free Press reported that restaurant inspections in the city are too slack. In the last four years, five city eateries accounted for close to 20 per cent of all health-code violations, ranging from rodent infestations to serving chicken that wasn't inspected or registered under the Meat Inspection Act...
Soft-serve sucks in France
Posted on June 28, 2009Not just a problem for Toronto or Tori Spelling, France also apparently has some issues with soft-serve and regular ice cream. Albert sent along a link to a recent report by Test-Achats, a Belgian-based consumer group that anonymously sent researchers to 69 points of sale for ice cream and soft-serve in France during the summer of 2008...
18 sick with E. coli O157:H7 linked to Swift Beef
Posted on June 28, 2009Sigh. Another E. coli O157:H7 outbreak, with at least 18 suspected cases in the U.S. linked to beef produced by JBS Swift Beef Company, a Greeley, Colo., establishment that is voluntarily expanding its June 24 recall to include approximately 380,000 pounds of assorted beef primal products...
Soft-serve sucks in Belgium
Posted on June 28, 2009Not just a problem for Toronto or Tori Spelling, Belgium also apparently has some issues with soft-serve and regular ice cream. Albert sent along a link to a recent report by Test-Achats, a Belgian-based consumer group that anonymously sent researchers to 69 points of sale for ice cream and soft-serve in Belgium during the summer of 2008...
Soft-serve safety redux
Posted on June 27, 2009In part two of the Toronto Star's investigation of soft-serve ice cream safety reporters have stumbled upon a snack bar with an extraordinary amount of coliform in the treats. The biggest offender found during the blitz was the Kew Gardens snack bar (with coliform above 1000000 cfu/gram)...
Shigella from sugar peas in Scandinavia
Posted on June 27, 2009The peas apparently came from Kenya. But that wouldn't fit the alliteration. Eurosurveillance reports that in Norway, shigellosis is a mandatorily notifiable disease, and all isolates are submitted to the NIPH for verification and typing. Around 150 cases of shigellosis are confirmed per year, the majority caused by Shigella sonnei...
India: Red hot chillis to be used in hand grenades
Posted on June 26, 2009India's security forces are planning to mix one of the world's hottest chilli powders in hand grenades to control riots and during insurgency operations in the remote northeast. India's defense scientists say they will replace explosives in small hand grenades with a certain variety of red chilli to immobilize a person without killing him...
Health Canada make some suggestions on reusable cloth bags: Wash 'em
Posted on June 26, 2009A month after posting about it on barfblog, Health Canada has some new suggestions about reusing cloth grocery bags: When using cloth bags, make sure to wash them frequently, especially after carrying fresh produce, meat, poultry or fish. Reusable grocery bags may not all be machine washable...
Urban Hens promotes chicken poop for kids' gardens in Colorado
Posted on June 25, 2009A public health student at Kansas State passed along this story from 9NEWS.com about Urban Hens, a Boulder, Colorado-based group that is working with the Children, Youth and Environments Center for Research Design at CU and a private grant to supposedly help teach sustainability to children by placing chickens near neighborhood and school gardens...
Hamburger ads go skanky
Posted on June 25, 2009Daughter Courtlynn graduated from elementary school last night and begins the teenage angst of secondary school in September (that's grade 9, freshman for Americans) As a 14-year-old who outgrew the nonsense of the TV show, The Hill's about 6 months ago, Courtlynn's miles ahead of the marketing geniuses at Carl's Jr...
Australian judge: 'If you cannot offer food that is safe for consumption, you ought not to '
Posted on June 25, 2009A North Melbourne bakery riddled with cockroaches and mouse droppings that failed to comply with an order to clean the shop has been fined $7,000. After an inspection in April last year that found a live mouse, cockroaches, moths, mouse droppings and dirty shelving and work benches, Queensberry Hot Bread's owner Dino Primitivo did not comply with an order to clean the shop or deter pests, the Melbourne Magistrates Court heard yesterday...
Salmonella not your fault? Prove it
Posted on June 25, 2009The Associated Press reports that certain packages of Kowalke Organics alfalfa spouts are being recalled due to possible salmonella contamination. The California Department of Public Health said the packages were mostly distributed at Gelson's and Whole Foods grocery stores in Southern California...
Poisoned Deviled Eggs
Posted on June 25, 2009Yesterday on Days of Our Lives, Kate tried to poison Daniel and Chloe with an undetectable substance that she put on a tray of deviled eggs. When she caught her son, Lucas, trying to snatch an egg, she freaked out. As recounted by Prevuze: Lucas opens his mouth (something he's very experienced at) and prepares to snack on the delectable poison egg...
Travel agents: if people are barfing at a resort, don't keep sending more tourists
Posted on June 25, 2009A 48-year-old teaching assistant from Crayford, and a family from Broadstairs are among more than 500 British tourists who won compensation for a nightmare Caribbean holiday at the Bahia Principe Hotel in the Dominican Republic (below, left) in 2007. According to media accounts, the holiday companies continued sending guests to the hotel despite a major outbreak of Shigella and Salmonella which lasted for months...
Furry marmot joins diners at Wash. restaurant
Posted on June 25, 2009Diners at a restaurant in Prosser, Wash., were startled Monday when a furry marmot wandered through the front door and settled into a corner. City Administrator Charlie Bush told the Tri-City Herald the big rodents have long been a problem in the central Washington wine town, adding, "I know there's a lot of marmots in Prosser, there's no question...
You can have whatever you like, including a gastrointestinal virus
Posted on June 24, 2009Visitation at Federal Correctional Complex-Forrest City (FCC-FC), Arkansas, has temporarily been suspended, according to the Times-Herald, due to inmates sickened with a 'suspected gastrointestinal virus.' R.D. Weeks, executive assistant at FCC-FC explains, 'The institution's medical staff is evaluating and appropriately treating the inmates for the symptoms that appear to dissipate after 48-72 hours...
UK toddler's relative dies of E. coli O157
Posted on June 23, 2009A relative of a north-east Fife toddler who contracted E. coli O157 has died of the infection. The Courier reports that the child, who became ill around a month ago, was treated at home. NHS Fife, whose public health department was investigating the case, confirmed that no one outside the family had contracted the illness and that a woman—an older relative of the child—had died in Ninewells...
Washington's Breadline sandwich shop has food safety issues
Posted on June 23, 2009barfblog.com fan Jessica said I should do something on famed Washington, D.C. sandwich shop, Breadline. I checked it out, and yeah, a number of D.C. outlets reported on the establishment's closing, but the detailed inspection reports in the Washington City Paper were the best...
County fair urges handwashing
Posted on June 23, 2009The Mighty Howard County Fair in Cresco, IA, will provide handwashing stations around livestock. Fairgoers are asked to wash their hands before and after visiting the livestock areas. Livestock at the fair include: rabbits, goats, sheep, lamas, chickens, horses, dairy cattle, bee cattle, dogs and pigs...
Microbiologically safe produce - local or otherwise
Posted on June 23, 2009The Obama's – meaning Michelle – have started a gardening craze. Robert Kenner, the director of Food Inc., told Vanity Fair the solution to so-called industrial food issues was 'to go to a farmers' market whenever possible … it kind of feels like a religious experience...
Florida woman assaulted at church with cucumber
Posted on June 23, 2009Cucumbers should be used as vegetables, or even conversation starters like in this scene from the movie, Animal House (right). But a Lee County, Florida, Sheriff's Office report says that during a food giveaway at the Lehigh Christian Church, a 33-year-old woman was struck with a cucumber by another woman after an argument over which free food belonged to which woman...
NEHA 2009 Annual Educational Conference training showcase materials
Posted on June 23, 2009I'm in Atlanta for the National Environmental Health Association's Educational Conference. At 1pm today I'll be presenting during the Food Safety Training Showcase (Courtland Rm at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta for those of you who are in town). You can find the materials I'll be presenting at bites...
If you're happy and you know it, wash your hands
Posted on June 23, 2009If you have kids, know kids, or consider yourself a kid, singing songs may help increase handwashing. For pre-schoolers, a handwashing song, performed by the Wiggles, to the tune of 'Are you sleeping' may help. Although in their music video, the Wiggles use a bowl of water to clean their hands...
Nestle Toll House cookie outbreak victim: "I had major headaches, diarrhea and cramping."
Posted on June 22, 2009As the Nestle-linked E. coli O157:H7 outbreak unfolds in the upcoming days, stories about affected individuals highlighting the fallout will begin to appear. In the first one I have seen, the Oregonian reports that 15-year-old girl's craving for a treat resulted in her and her fathers illness...
Avoiding cross-contamination at checkout
Posted on June 22, 2009After my post in April 'Cross-contamination at checkout,' one person (crs) commented: 'That's the ultimate check-out horror story. I usually put meat items in plastic bags to be on the safe side. I bag fresh produce for the same reason. I also leave the meat items till last to minimize contact with my other groceries (which doesn't help the person behind me, but I can't cover for everyone)...
Ontario E. coli outbreak likely caused by Spanish onions: 235 sickened
Posted on June 22, 2009In a refreshing change for Canadian public health, a report has actually been issued regarding an outbreak of foodborne illness – specifically the 235 people who got sick dining at a Harvery's restaurant at a major thoroughfare in North Bay, Ontario, last fall, four hours north of Toronto...
Where does E. coli O157:H7 come from? Food Inc. and cookie dough versions
Posted on June 22, 2009Is E. coli O157:H7 associated with things other than feedlot cattle? I had a few people call me recently, saying, I saw that movie, Food, Inc., which says that E. coli O157:H7 is predominately in feedlot cattle because of the grain they are fed, and that's how the bug came to exist...
Homemade pancakes, Woody Allen and robots
Posted on June 21, 2009When Katie Filion lived with us for a few months before setting off for graduate work in New Zealand, Amy and I would tell the 22-year-old, "‘oh, you should see this movie" – insert Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Wonderboys, or even more modern fare like Napoleon Dynamite – at which point she would politely recoil...
Babies need clean hands, too.
Posted on June 21, 2009BarfBloggers and others have stressed the importance to wash hands time after time (no, not just the Cindi Lauper song; although it is my favorite in the movie Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion, dance included). It is essential to wash your hands before and after using the bathroom, before and after handling food (which includes eating), and when gardening or playing in dirt...
Handwashing is top safety precaution at Lakeland Community Hospital
Posted on June 21, 2009In Niles, Michigan, fourteen children, ages 8-10, attended the annual Lakeland Community Hospital's ‘Take Your Child to Work Day.' The primary lesson of the tour was emphasizing the hospitals' top safety precaution: handwashing. JoEllen Gamso, RN, said, 'The goal for the event was to identify the many ways that patient and associate safety is maintained in the workplace...
D-listed and the problem with raw cookie dough
Posted on June 20, 2009Michael K of celebrity blog D-listed encapsulates the problem with Nestle, raw cookie dough, labels and E. coli O157:H7, which has so far sickened 66 people in 28 states. If you get the craving to eat cookie dough this weekend, lick this picture and don't eat the real thing or you may doody until you dieeeeeee...
Arby's condiments and insects
Posted on June 20, 2009Evan Mitchell, another ex-pat Canadian living in Manhattan (Kansas) writes that last night, he and the wife had a biological urge … for something cold (Kansas is humid in the summer). Our house is within walking distance of Arby's, and with their current 'happier-hour' promotion (50% off all drinks), we couldn't resist...
Soft-serve ice cream concerns in Toronto
Posted on June 20, 2009I'm a fan of soft-serve ice cream. If I'm out somewhere and have an urge for a treat I'm likely looking for a DQ dipped cone or a McDonald's hot fudge sundae (with nuts). The Toronto Star reports today that eating my top dessert choice from some Ontario outlets might not be a good idea...
Evan finds Nestle refrigerated cookie dough; Doug cooks it (sorta)
Posted on June 20, 2009During the evening of Thursday, June 18, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment urged Coloradans not to eat raw Nestle Toll House cookie dough because of possible contamination with E. coli O157:H7. The next morning, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers not to eat any varieties of prepackaged Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough due to the risk of contamination with E...
Handwashing at Local Hospital
Posted on June 19, 2009My knowledge of foreign languages is limited to high school Spanish and learning while traveling. Thankfully, I have Amy, who translated all these French words into English, so I could understand what I was reading (and French-bites correspondent, Albert, Amgar, who sent the story in the first place)...
UK family farm closes after 8 get E. coli O157
Posted on June 19, 2009Another reminder to play safe on the farm. An open farm in West Lancashire has been temporarily closed after eight people, including three children, were struck down with E.coli O157. One of the children affected is currently in hospital and is described as ‘poorly but stable'...
Cookie dough? Cookie dough contaminated with E. coli O157:H7?
Posted on June 19, 2009In yet another example of different jurisdictions having different opinions about when to go public, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment sent out a press release last night urging Coloradans not to eat raw Nestle Toll House cookie dough because of possible contamination with E...
Disclosing inspection results online is great, but only if the websites are up-to-date
Posted on June 19, 2009Two Chicago restaurants have been closed this week for public health violations, reports the Chicago Tribune; but you wouldn't know it from the inspection disclosure website. From the story, The Chicago Department of Public Health said two Northwest Side restaurants remained closed Wednesday after being shut due to alleged health code violations...
H1N1=wash your hands
Posted on June 19, 2009Doug introduced me to Google Alerts a few weeks ago and my email inbox hasn't been the same since. I get approximately 50-100 email hits on handwashing everyday. Most of them are relevant to washing hands, but some are about handwashing clothes and dishes...
Oregon: Good restaurants reap benefits of making inspection results publicly available
Posted on June 18, 2009Some restaurants in Estacada, Oregon have learned the benefits of disclosing restaurant inspection results to the public, reports Escadanew.com. In Escada inspection results for local diners are posted at the premise, in the form of a 'Complied' or 'Failed to Comply' card in the establishment window, and the full report plus numerical score is available online...
Bonnie Hunt knows cross-contamination
Posted on June 18, 2009Ever since reading this infosheet on a study of the bacteria and viruses found on lemon wedges, I've ordered my waters without them. I learned today that Bonnie Hunt is also one whose knowledge of microbiology has heightened her awareness of cross-contamination...
Death-by-cold-cuts Minister says Listeria inquiry not necessary
Posted on June 18, 2009The person who is still, inexplicably, Minister of Agriculture in Canada, Gerry-death-by-a-1,000-cold-cuts-and-isn't-my-moustache-awesome Ritz, said last night that despite the recommendations of a parliamentary committee, who were stonewalled by bureaucrats, a full public inquiry into the Maple Leaf Listeria mess that killed 22 people last year was not necessary...
Face of food safety: Tennessee boy loses battle with E. coli
Posted on June 17, 2009The Daily Times reports that an eight-year-old Blount County, Tennessee boy, who loved more than anything spending time with his identical twin, lost his fight for life at 6:31 a.m. Monday after contracting E. coli and suffering the after-effects of the disease...
Eat raw fish ... Get a 9-foot tapeworm
Posted on June 17, 2009Amy didn't feel too good last night. She thought maybe it was the damn-near raw tuna on her salad the other afternoon when we ventured to our nearest patio for some Sunday relaxation. Probably not. But raw is not without its risks. One summer day in August 2006, Anthony Franz went to a Chicago area hospital carrying a 9-foot worm...
Canadian bureaucrats won't talk, so politicians demand full inquiry into Listeria outbreak; rendition of remorse was a little late
Posted on June 17, 2009The Canadian politicians investigating last year's listeria outbreak that killed 22 were so frustrated by the lack of information from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the Public Health Agency of Canada they have demanded a full public inquiry...
UK: Extra special cooking sauce contains mouse
Posted on June 17, 2009Amoung my favourite foods are the Indian dishes aloo-gobi and channa. I can't say I've ever successfully cooked these dishes, but they are a personal take-out favourite. In most grocery stores the less-talented chef can purchase pre-made Indian sauces to try and re-create their favourite dish...
Food safety flashback: Arizona restaurant closed for inadequate bathroom facilities in June 1944
Posted on June 17, 2009The Arizona Daily Star online (www.arizonastarnet.com) posted an article from June 8, 1944 in which a bar and restaurant were closed for inadequate toilet facilities. Acting on instructions from [the] chief sanitarian of the city-county health department, the city license department yesterday revoked the licenses and ordered the closing of the La Cabana Bar and Jimmy's Chicken Shop, both located at 227 South Meyer Street...
AFSCA Inspected Mobile Vendors at EUROFERIA
Posted on June 17, 2009French correspondent Albert Amgar sends along this bit that Amy translated about EUROFERIA, which was set up for the third time at the foot of the Atomium. Amy says the Atomium was built for the 1958 Brussels World Fair. AFSCA has once again this year inspected mobile vendors...
U.K. targets listeria risk in old people - when will Canada?
Posted on June 16, 2009I got an e-mail from the vice-president of communications for Maple Leaf Foods on Saturday afternoon. She was sending me a blog that her boss, Michael McCain wrote, about his new knowledge of listeria and the role of food safety inspectors. I figure she's making at least $150,000 to do her vp communicating, so, even though I was a dick, I felt OK responding, 'Thanks for forwarding this in a timely manner...
New food safety infosheet -- 3 in Spokane sickened by botulism linked to home canned beans
Posted on June 16, 2009Canning season is just about to start. I've never really done any home food preservation before. Growing up all I was really exposed to, canning-wise, was pickles, freezer jam and frozen peaches. All of which I loved to eat, but I always found ways to occupy myself while my mom and grandmother were making them for fear of having to help...
Obama's administration suggests handwashing in schools
Posted on June 16, 2009The Obama administration submitted an emergency war-spending bill this week, which includes flu prevention funds. The White House sent a letter to every public school superintendent that outlines how to cope with expected increases in outbreaks of the H1N1 virus (swine flu) this fall...
Would you like flies with that?
Posted on June 16, 2009Although it's winter in New Zealand, back in North America it's summer, and summer means flies. I distinctly remember eating dinner at my camp with sticky fly traps (pictured right) hanging above the dinner table, dead flies stuck to it, daring to drop onto my cob of corn...
Singing songs of handwashing
Posted on June 16, 2009Children's Memorial Hospital and the Chicago Children's Choir are teaming up to record a handwashing song. Chicago native Joel Frankel wrote the song, 'Wash, Rinse Dry.' The singers will record at SPACE Recording Studio in Evanston. The song and video will be used for patient and staff education...
Doug dreams about flaming turtles
Posted on June 16, 2009I've taken to going to sleep about 10 p.m. and getting up about 4 a.m. That means Amy stays up later, feeds Sorenne a couple of more times, and apparently gets to listen to me babble in my sleep. This is nothing new. I've given entire lectures in my sleep – and I'm just talking about with Amy, not classrooms...
Poland: Dozens poisoned with salmonella in ice cream
Posted on June 15, 2009Twenty-four people have been poisoned with salmonella in the south-eastern city of Przemysl following consumption of ice cream; three have been hospitalized. Adam Sidor from the Sanitary Inspectorate in Przemysl, said, 'The shop which sold poisoned ice-cream has been closed and the staff is under observation...
I'm a big kid now; but, I need to wash my hands
Posted on June 15, 2009While watching Speidi on the View today, I saw a Huggies Pull-ups commercial about potty training. The mom in the commercial mentioned the need for her daughter to be potty trained before they go on a vacation. She goes further in mentioning all the supplies needed to teach potty training to her daughter: the child-sized toilet, the magic wand (an incentive for her princess of a daughter), and toilet paper...
Georgia restaurants whine about poor inspection grades
Posted on June 14, 2009Restaurant operators in Newton County, Georgia, are upset about recent inspection results, complaining that the new regulations are too strict, reports CovNews.com. Community staples like Jim Stalvey's and Smiley's restaurants and popular newcomers like Bangkok Grill and Debbie's Deli and Café have all received failing inspection scores, as low as 44, in the past couple of months...
Food is the new fur for the celebrity with a conscience
Posted on June 14, 2009Jay Rayner writes in the U.K. Observer today that, really bad food, is hot. Greta Scacchi, who is pictured clutching a cod to her naked body (right, exactly as shown), will doubtless come to be seen as the seminal image for a particular moment, when the gruelling, knotty business of campaigning around food issues finally became sexy...
Jack Black vomiting mystery
Posted on June 13, 2009Dude, the urine sample ain't going to tell anyone anything. It's a poop sample you need to give the doctor. Because, as they correctly say on the TV show Scrubs, Everything Comes Down to Poo (see below). Jack Black, who's been in a gazillion movies but is best remembered by me for his scene-stealing effort in 2000's High Fidelity (right, exactly as shown) has been bedridden for a week - after contracting a mystery vomiting virus...
PBS provides terrible advice for cooking hamburgers
Posted on June 13, 2009This is why I don't give money to PBS, or as Stephen Colbert refers to them, State-sponsored Jazz. Reminds me of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: they're morons. Maybe not about everything, but about stuff I know about, they're morons. PBS is broadcasting this video about how to cook moist, well-done hamburgers...
Handwashing campaign in France
Posted on June 13, 2009I'm taking over the handwashing blogging today while Megan recovers from the devastating 2-1 win by Pittsburgh over Detroit to win Lord Stanley's cup. I'm talking about hockey. And I'm not sure Megan cared, but I did. Amy's crushed. Albert Amgar in France just e-mailed me about a new handwashing campaign being run by the French Ministry of Health...
Australian restaurants will soon be playing the name-and-shame game
Posted on June 12, 2009When I think of Australia I think of the hilarious TV show Summer Heights High. Although the mockumentary about high school students takes place in Melbourne, I can't help but picture angry food operators in Adelaide saying 'puck you' to unfavorable health inspections...
Final hockey game - Friday, 7 p.m., our place
Posted on June 12, 2009Fortunately, Dale's in Germany so I don't have to listen to how awesome Pittsburgh is and how he's followed them since he was a kid. Me, I was crushed when Pittsburgh beat out Carolina in 4 straight games in the semis. But I've gotten over it to host game 7 of the National Hockey League finals Friday night...
Anyone can criticize Wal-Mart; can you provide microbiologically safe food? Food, Inc. version
Posted on June 12, 2009I have a lot of respect for my friend Frank. Anyone can be a poser and critic; Frank actually tries to make change. Frank's the head of food safety at Wal-Mart. He used to be head of food safety at Walt Disney in Orlando, and when I visited with Frank and his staff in Bentonville, Arkansas a couple of months ago, he was enthusiastically telling me about the challenges of providing safe food – that's food that doesn't make people barf – to millions of people on a daily basis...
Food safety is not in the eyes of the beholder
Posted on June 12, 2009As someone with experience in microbiology, I have high standards for sanitation. (I always wash my hands after picking up a bag of raw chicken—even if it's frozen—and I wipe down the counter, too.) My mother, on the other hand, focuses on visual cleanliness...
More testing, not inspectors may have prevented listeria says McCain; will test results be made public?
Posted on June 12, 2009Micahel McCain, the president of Maple Leaf Foods, was correct yesterday when he told a Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce event that adding more food inspectors to the plant floor would not have made a difference in preventing last August's listeria outbreak at one of its Toronto plants that caused 22 deaths...
Norovirus outbreak at hospital in New Zealand
Posted on June 12, 2009Although Katie Filion (fellow BarfBlogger) lives in Wellington, New Zealand, I trust she washes her hands properly and often, so I'm not too worried about her and the latest report of norovirus outbreak in Palmerston North, New Zealand. Palmerston North Hospital has reported a possible norovirus outbreak...
In bad taste
Posted on June 11, 2009As a follow-up to yesterday's post about The Food Taster, bites.ksu.edu French correspondent Albert Amgar sent along this story from Le Monde, and French professor Amy translated. In the Parisian restaurant La Fontaine de mars, where Obama ate dinner on Saturday evening, the cooks were stunned: an American secret service member tasted the dishes before they were served to the President of the United States...
Smart patient checklist from Oprah's Dr. Oz
Posted on June 11, 2009Tuesday's Oprah had Dr. Oz talking to viewers about the smart patient checklist. Dr. Oz believes there are eight ways to avoid medical mistakes: preventing infection, avoiding wrong-site surgery, not commencing in chitchat, using a high-tech hospital, using a hospital that uses a patient care checklist, using a nationally accredited hospital, knowing the hospital you are using, and being a smart patient...
I've gotten divorced, remarried, had another kid and moved to the U.S. - CFIA updates bottled water consultations ongoing since 2002
Posted on June 11, 2009Yesterday, I made fun of Campbell soup boss Doug Conant who said he wanted Canadian-style food safety regulation in the U.S. Here's an example of the lightening speed with which Canadian bureaucracy works: In 2002, Health Canada and the CFIA began consulting on proposed regulatory changes for bottled water and prepackaged ice in a document called Making it Clear - Renewing the Federal Regulations on Bottled Water: A Discussion Paper...
CDC speaks: Surveillance for U.S. foodborne disease outbreaks, 2006
Posted on June 11, 2009The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports in tomorrow's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that foodborne illnesses are a major health burden in the United States . Most of these illnesses are preventable, and analysis of outbreaks helps identify control measures...
The Food Taster
Posted on June 10, 2009I've been working my way through Peter Elbling's 2003 novel The Food Taster, for about a year. It's sorta always there but I just can't get that exited about the main character, Ugo, and his struggle to survive as he tastes countless dishes to protect a much loathed but important 16th Century Italian Duke (Federico)...
New Zealand court slams poultry processor
Posted on June 10, 2009An Auckland woman whose company slaughtered thousands of poultry in what a judge described as stomach-turning conditions has been fined more than $23,000 in a case brought by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA). Ling Zhang and her company Ling Ling Poultry pleaded guilty in Papakura District Court last week to four charges under the Animal Products Act...
Safety is in the date in Northern Ireland
Posted on June 10, 2009The Belfast Telegraph reports that, 'Four out of ten older people are putting their health at risk by not checking the use by date on food.' This was determined by a survey of 780 people across Northern Ireland in April. At least the numbers were. I'm not sure why eating food past its use by date is considered risky? Kathryn Baker from the Food Standards Agency says in the article that cases of listeriosis in the over-60 crowd have doubled in the UK since 2000...
Hockey finals, immigration and graduation
Posted on June 10, 2009I'm exhausted. The National Hockey League championship is going to a deciding game 7 Friday night (7 p.m., our house, Manhattan, KS). I finally filed my permanent U.S. citizenship stuff, which means I can't leave the U.S. for a couple of years until this gets settled – I can leave, just won't be allowed back in – and Chapman is in Guelph today getting his PhD degree all formal and everything...
UK: Dead mouse in loaf of bread
Posted on June 10, 2009North Antrim Magistrates Court heard how a man purchased a Hyndman's malt loaf from a supermarket in the Ballymoney area before Christmas 2007. When he unwrapped the loaf he discovered the small lifeless mammal embedded in the base of the bread (right, photo from BBC)...
Handwashing versus hospital-acquired infection
Posted on June 10, 2009To combat the increasing number of hospital-acquired infections—about 2 million patients annually according to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement—Versus Technology Inc. has developed a new way to observe handwashing compliance in healthcare workers using IR-RFID badges...
Campbell's boss smoking ... soup? Calls for Canadian-style food safety regs
Posted on June 10, 2009Campbell Soup boss Doug Conant told the Canadian Embassy in Washington last night that the U.S. should abandon its two-regulator format for food and adopt a one-agency model like Canada's, which would be more effective than product-label laws, adding, 'If the government of Canada can monitor the safety of its food products with one single food-inspection agency, why can't the United States?' There are probably other reasons Conant would like to clone the Canadians...
Softsoap says, 'Lather up for good health'
Posted on June 10, 2009Softsoap brand is set to help parents and teachers enforce better handwashing for kids of all ages. Tips (including lesson plans for teachers), posters (specified for ages/grades), and examples to improve and encourage handwashing can be found on the Softsoap brand's website...
Big Brother or better handwashing tool?
Posted on June 09, 2009Big Brother on CBS may have competition with a handwashing tool. University of Florida researchers have developed a handwashing-monitoring system called HyGreen. It has been developed to promote handwashing and increase compliance rates in healthcare workers...
Norovirus in frozen raspberries
Posted on June 09, 2009Albert Amgar, a food safety consultant in Laval, France for the past 21 years and the provider of all things French and food safety for bites.ksu.edu, steps out in his first barfblog post. National Food Safety Authority Evira recommends that foreign frozen raspberries always be properly heated before use...
Making restaurant selection easy: website launch in UK city reveals hygiene scores
Posted on June 09, 2009Consumers in Litchfield, England will soon be able to access restaurant hygiene scores (and much more) online, reports The Lichfield Blog. In Lichfield restaurant hygiene scores are displayed at the premise, in the form of a card (with a maximum of 5 stars, similar to Scores on Doors, pictured right)...
Bunny burgers
Posted on June 09, 2009Kevin Nealon is great on Weeds and he's great on this 1994 television pilot: Bunny Burgers. Eat Me Daily writes that to see "just how low American marketers would go to help us to get a completely ridiculous to your shopping mall," they designed stationary, made a 24-page business plan, hired an actor to play the Japanese billionaire investor, and lured PR flacks to the Ritz Carlton to see if they wanted to represent the company...
Murder Burger's staff wear Meat is Murder T-shirts - and only serve meat
Posted on June 08, 2009Murder Burger, a New Zealand gourmet burger store that opened in the swish Auckland suburb of Ponsonby last year, used the following for an on-line Help wanted ad: "We need a bunch of people to hang out with, make burgers and talk shit.' The ad specifically requested student nurses and teachers to apply, explaining, "I've gone out with two nurses and two teachers and they were all awesome...
Science says: wine-in-a-box OK
Posted on June 08, 2009That's a relief. I love my vino in a box, or from a box. In Maubisson, France, I'd bike to the store, and the dude would fill up a 2 litre bottle with Bordeaux from a box. Awesome. Gary J. Pickering, senior author of a study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry says that for some reason the researchers can't explain, wines stored in Tetra Pak-brand cartons had the lowest levels of unwanted chemicals, called methoxypyrazines...
Clear labeling needed; Crunch Berries not a fruit
Posted on June 08, 2009It's important for food companies to disclose relevant information to the public so that consumers can make informed decisions about what they eat. For example, Cap'n Crunch should make it abundantly clear that the berries in its cereal are not real fruit so that Californian Janine Sugawara can intelligently balance her diet...
Grandma knows best
Posted on June 08, 2009I arrived in Kansas City International Airport Saturday evening after a long flight from Rome, Italy. Like many other passengers, once I gathered my belongings from the overhead compartment and the seatback pocket, I headed to the airport bathroom. After I was finished, I washed my hands (just like you're supposed to) and was delighted to observe what I presumed to be a grandmother and her granddaughter...
Ramsay an 'arrogant narcissist'
Posted on June 08, 2009Fresh off a bout of viral food poisoning that was miraculously cured by a penicillin shot to the butt, food buffoon Gordon Ramsey told a cooking session at the Good Food and Wine Show in Melbourne that a doctored picture of a woman with the features of a pig and multiple breasts was similar to television journalist Tracy Grimshaw...
Mayor Ray Nagin quarantined over H1N1 connection
Posted on June 07, 2009FOX8 New Orleans is reporting what might be the first celebrity quarantine due to H1N1 (the virus formerly known as swine flu). Mayor Nagin was reportedly on a flight to China with someone who was displaying symptoms and is suspected to have the virus...
Street meat (and other roadside dishes) on the rise
Posted on June 07, 2009Last week, the Wall Street Journal profiled street food vendors throughout the U.S. highlighting the popularity of mobile/temporary/cart foods. It appears that the segment of foodservice is increasing in popularity as consumers want more than just hot dogs and sausages...
Letter grades for Abu Dhabi restaurants?
Posted on June 07, 2009If the UAE takes letter grades for restaurant inspection disclosure, will they also take American pop culture crap like The Hills (right). The National reports that more than half of all restaurants monitored by Sharjah Municipality have failed basic food hygiene inspections on such grounds as out-of-date food and mouldy kitchens...
Restaurants challenge 'name and shame' in Sydney
Posted on June 07, 2009The Sydney Morning Herald reports that a Sydney restaurant is considering legal action against the NSW Food Authority over its controversial name-and-shame website. Satasia opened in Balmain 28 years ago and has become one of the most popular restaurants in Sydney's inner west...
Food fight: Massachusetts school cafeteria inspections suck
Posted on June 07, 2009Sara Brown, Husna Haq, and Hannah McBride, journalism students at Boston University, got their feature on school cafeteria food safety inspections published in the Boston Globe this morning. They'd been working on it for much of last semester, and I spent some time on the phone with Sara and provided some background...
Acheson writes: FDA plans bold safety effort for food safety
Posted on June 06, 2009David Acheson M.D., associate commissioner for foods with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Silver Spring, Md., (right, pretty much exactly as shown) took to the letters page of The Contra Costa Times this morning to say, '… we recognize that recent problems in food safety represent a clear need for change and a modernization in approach...
Forget beer - Pittsburgh wins 4-2
Posted on June 05, 2009When I think Detroit and Pittsburgh, I don't think professional hockey or beer, I think Austrian Mozart Chocolate Cream Gold liquor that my mother brought us, on berries (a mixture of fresh and thawed). After those pizzas, why not cap off an exhausting evening of child rearing and hockey watching and food porn with a delightful mix of berries and booze – and bed...
Jason Mraz on how to wipe your azz
Posted on June 05, 2009For the past few weeks my morning routine has involved listening to the radio while making myself presentable, and it seems like every morning the same songs play. One of the radio-repeat songs is titled 'I'm Yours' and is sung by Jason Mraz, a fellow blogger...
Gordon Ramsey says he got food poisoning from a virus; penicillin fixed him
Posted on June 05, 2009Food buffoon Gordon Ramsey has once again demonstrated why celebrity chefs may be entertaining but really know nothing about biology – especially food and food safety. The Daily Telegraph reports that celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, the face of Melbourne's Good Food and Wine Show this weekend, was forced to spend his first night in Melbourne after the 16-hour flight barfing in his hotel room because of food poisoning...
FDA chief lauds food safety bill as the 'right direction'
Posted on June 04, 2009In her first appearance before Congress as commissioner, Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (below, right) told the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health that a safety overhaul sponsored by several leading Democrats was 'a major step in the right direction,' but that her agency would need more money to carry it out...
Are you okay to kiss?
Posted on June 04, 2009Amy and I (right, exactly as shown) cuddle and have PDAs (public displays of affection) all the time, even with baby Sorenne. But at bedtime, there's a sleeping position rule: no up close face-to-face. She says she doesn't like to breathe used air. Can't fault her with that...
Cocaine found in Red Bull drinks
Posted on June 04, 2009Cases of Red Bull are being pulled from store shelves by officials in several countries due to the detection of cocaine in the products. Trace amounts of the drug (0.4 micrograms per liter) were detected in Red Bull Cola by German authorities two weeks ago...
Thin-crust pizza, Pens and Wings - end of second
Posted on June 04, 2009That first pizza was so delightful and light, I made another during the second period, modifying cooking times and adding a few asparagus spears. Amy said the asparagus tasted 'green' and not in a good way. The crust was much better but still need to adjust the cooking times...
Thin-crust pizza, Pens and Wings
Posted on June 04, 2009During our recent sojourn to Phoenix, Amy and me ate most of our dinners in the room because baby Sorenne would be tired and it was just easier. There was a so-called authentic Italian pizza place just down the road so we tried it out – awesome...
Tour group affected by Noro in British Columbia
Posted on June 03, 2009Not a scheduled stop on a BC tour, a group of travelers from Australia became ill with Norwalk virus while staying at the Fairmont Chateau this week, reports Whistlerquestion.com. Twenty-three guests were quarantined in their rooms for most of Monday and part of Tuesday (June 1 and 2), suffering from Norwalk virus, a public health official said this week...
Hockey hat trick hats are often discarded for sanitary reasons
Posted on June 03, 2009After three games of the Stanley Cup finals with Detroit leading Pittsburgh 2-1, and some of the best hockey in years, I finally have a reason to blog about it. Puck Daddy asked today, What happens to hats thrown for hat tricks? It all comes down to sanitation...
North Korea's Kim Jong-il 'eats live fish' claims former chef; so do others
Posted on June 03, 2009Kim Jong-il enjoys raw fish so fresh "that it is still moving" washed down with fine French wines and brandies. Kenji Fujimoto, a 56-year-old chef, who is in hiding in Japan after fleeing North Korea, and is set to publish a book called I Was Kim Jong-il's Cook, says, "He particularly enjoyed raw fish so fresh that he could start eating as its mouth is still gasping and the tail is still thrashing...
Listeria-laden cheese hospitalized 38, killed 15 in Quebec last fall; producers want compensation
Posted on June 03, 2009Here is what is lost in the gushing about raw-milk cheeses and many other forms of food pornography: The fall 2008 outbreak of listeria in cheese in Quebec led to 38 hospitalizations, of which 13 were pregnant and gave birth prematurely. Two adults died and there were 13 perinatal deaths...
New food safety infosheet: Possible scombrotoxin outbreak at Raleigh, NC restaurant
Posted on June 02, 2009A couple of weeks ago I was watching the local 11pm news and a story about a pretty nasty event linked to Raleigh restaurant popped on. WRAL reported that one paramedic unit was dispatched and called for backup when 10 patrons of EVOO (which I drive by on my way to campus) suddenly became ill on April 17th, 2009...
From France to Kansas City: foodborne illness in schools
Posted on June 02, 2009Several headmasters from the Haute-Garonne and Tarn primary schools in France simultaneously informed the health authorities of the occurrence of digestive disorders of low severity among students. A retrospective cohort study, conducted through self-administered questionnaires among approximately 3,000 students and teachers who had participated in two meals in 36 schools concerned, was initiated to confirm the existence of a foodborne outbreak and its origin...
Texas teen eats toxic pig testicles on a dare
Posted on June 01, 2009High school biology classes often involve dissections. I distinctly remember the day my teacher, Mr. Deluca, brought in the fetal pigs. My partner was queezy at the thought of cutting open the little piggys, so I ended up doing most of the work, and truthfully was unphased by the dissection apart from the strong smell of formaldehyde in the classroom...
Fresh basil and bird poop
Posted on June 01, 2009Last year, with Amy's guidance, was the first year I really started cooking with fresh herbs. Basil and tomato (and formerly cheese, right), fresh pesto, bruschetta, it's all good. Except for the bird poop. Here are a couple of our basil leaves with some semi-fresh bird plops – similar to the ones I washed off the car earlier today...
Sprout farm to begin testing for listeria
Posted on June 01, 2009Close to 15,000 pounds of Chang Farm bean and soy sprouts were recalled from retailers and restaurants in four northeastern states last week after Listeria monocytogenes was found in a bag of sprouts at a retail store. Speaking for the company, Sidney Chang said, "We followed FDA guidelines to test for salmonella and E...
Sno-cones at Kansas zoo made blue with degreaser, not syrup - 4 sickened
Posted on May 31, 2009Officials at the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita are getting rid of blue sno-cones after a mix-up involving commercial degreaser. Four people became ill Thursday when a zoo employee poured a degreasing agent into the sno-cone machine instead of flavored syrup...
Are self-serve buffet restaurants in hospitals a good idea?
Posted on May 31, 2009Some employees at a U.K. hospital are saying the only buffet in a hospital should be named Jimmy (with an extra ‘t' right, exactly as shown). A new self-service buffet is making a pig's breakfast of infection control at Coventry's University Hospital, angry staff claim...
Dairy-free brownies and other sacrifices
Posted on May 31, 2009It has been almost three months now that my diet has been more or less dairy free. Shortly after Sorenne turned two months old, she became plagued with eczema. Her pediatrician never recommended I change my diet, as he was satisfied that she continued to gain weight, but I couldn't stand watching her turn red and try to scratch herself with little hands that she could barely control...
BC Elementary interschool track meet struck with Noro
Posted on May 31, 2009From Katie Filion on assignment in New Zealand: I have virtually no athletic capabilities, but during my elementary school days I was quite the track star. OK, maybe not a star, but I was good enough to make the track and field team. I remember winning a few races, but usually a day at the track resulted in an embarrassing sunburn...
Another 'Bamaburger, no thermometers in sight
Posted on May 29, 2009U.S. President Obama went to another burger shop in Washington for lunch today, ordering up a cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, jalapeno peppers, and mustard – not the fancy Dijon mustard. He also ordered a cheeseburger for Brian Williams, anchor for NBC...
Children shouldn't play with raw poultry
Posted on May 29, 2009One of Amy's graduate students sent me the following picture this morning. ‘Nuff said.
Effective food safety messages for microbial food safety hazards
Posted on May 28, 2009At some point while endlessly bitching at Chapman to finish his damn thesis and produce some papers, I realized, I wasn't so good at closing the deal myself. I could say I like blogging, being quoted in media, the immediacy of it all, but I also realized I needed the credibility of peer-reviewed publications...
Hockey and triathalons - don't swim in the Oklahoma River
Posted on May 28, 2009I miss hockey. The closest ice is two hours away. I used to play 4-5 times a week, coached a whole bunch of girls teams, and now I'm in Kansas, watching TV, and I'm fat. Maybe my friend Steve will guilt me into getting back into shape. But Steve doesn't have a six-month-old, and Ben does, and he understands the laziness...
Oregon man calls 911 to protest missing juice box
Posted on May 28, 2009In keeping with the storyline of idiots who think 911 is their babysitter, a man who called 911 to complain that McDonald's left a juice box out of his drive-through order was arrested on Monday, Portland television station KPTV reported. Raibin Osman appeared before a Washington County judge Tuesday on a charge of misusing emergency services...
UK baby catches salmonella from pet snake and lizard
Posted on May 28, 2009The two-month old didn't just catch salmonella from exotic family pets. It wasn't like she chose to cuddle with them. I have a six-month-old and don't let her get intimate with reptiles. The Widnes tot was taken to hospital after environmental health officers found the family's corn snake and bearded dragon lizard were both carrying the deadly bacteria (Salmonella)...
This is how useless single food inspection agencies can be
Posted on May 28, 2009When to go public remains a difficult question for public health types, but us mere mortals were offered a glimpse yesterday. "To wait until one has evidence beyond doubt . . . is often too late to protect the public," McKeown said. In front of a parliamentary subcommittee Wednesday, the medical health officers for Ontario and the City of Toronto chastised the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for its handling of last summer's listeriosis outbreak...
Restaurant grades on the other side of the world
Posted on May 28, 2009It's been just over a week since I landed in Wellington, New Zealand. The Kiwis have been friendly, and I've gotten better at understanding the accent (for the most part). As part of my induction into the food safety group on this side of the world, we journeyed up to Palmerston North, about 2 hours from Wellington...
Bye bye, listservs
Posted on May 28, 2009This is what I sent out to all the previous subscribers of my various listservs over the years. I'm grateful for all the support I received and still pissed that the University of Guelph just scooped up the leftover money for their paper clip fund...
Food producers - speak up
Posted on May 27, 2009I have a garden. This is the spinach Amy harvested yesterday. Good crop, although I need to get out there and weed (or convince some students that it's part of a local, natural experiment and they should volunteer; happens all the time). I don't think it's sustainable to drive 11,000 miles to brag about it...
Carrot producers sue sheepherders
Posted on May 27, 2009According to the Bakersfield (CA) Californian, a producer concerned with foodborne illness risks is suing a sheepherding couple (right, not exactly as shown) for crop losses after a flock of sheep were allowed to graze in a carrot field. Grimmway Enterprises Inc...
flushable wipes might not be so flushable
Posted on May 27, 2009Having a baby around the house has introduced me to a bunch of new life necessities like soothers, gripe water and wipes. I'm not a huge diaper-changing fan, but when it's my turn I try to do everything in a quick, fluid-like step but it doesn't always work out...
Food and Drug Administration leaders say: we're risk communicators in charge
Posted on May 27, 2009The newly anointed leaders of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration say in a scientific journal this week that, '… one of the greatest challenges facing any public health agency is that of risk communication.' Lots of public health types say that...
This is why we got married at city hall: 29 ill with campylobacter after UK reception
Posted on May 27, 2009A brewery has been fined £5,100 after guests at a wedding reception were struck down with a serious outbreak of food poising. Young & Co's Brewery plc, who operate the Bull's Head in Chislehurst, admitted to three food hygiene offences that caused 29 guests at a wedding to be ill...
Canadians - Listeria investigator wants to hear from you, or sell you a Sham-Wow
Posted on May 27, 2009Sheila Weatherill, Independent Investigator, Listeriosis Investigation, Ottawa, Ont., who apparently has an affinity for upper case, writes in the Times & Transcript this morning, 'Help us to help you! Give me your views on listeriosis.' Oh, OK...
Guelph is no Oxford - but the food hygiene sucks at both
Posted on May 26, 2009When I began university, staying in an on-campus residence, the occupants had to sign up to a meal plan. That was 1981, and you could buy five pitchers of beer on a $20 meal card in the local dining hall at the University of Guelph. The food was gross, but we always ate in our rooms, saving the meal cards for beer...
Fresh whole chicken leaking bacterial-infested blood onto fresh produce - this is how people get sick
Posted on May 26, 2009This is my fridge. This is my fridge on Salmonella and Campylobacter. This is how cross-contamination occurs. This is why it is important to lower pathogen loads before foods enter the home or a food service kitchen. Because foods can be a mess. I bought a whole, fresh chicken a couple of days ago, but got some cheap lamb in the discount bin (the best time to go to Dillion's grocery in Manhattan, Kansas, is between 10 and 11 a...
Well water should be tested annually to reduce health risks to children
Posted on May 26, 2009Private well water should be tested yearly, and in some cases more often, according to new guidance offered by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The recommendations call for annual well testing, especially for nitrate and microorganisms such as coliform bacteria, which can indicate that sewage has contaminated the well...
Do you pee in the pool? Survey says, yes
Posted on May 26, 2009That's me and Sorenne in the pool in Phoenix last week. And I'm pretty sure one of us, at some point, peed in the pool.And I'm pretty sure all the drunk fashionistas at the afternoon pool parties emptied themselves in the pool. A new study by the Water Quality and Health Council found that nearly one in five adults admits to urinating in a swimming pool instead of using the toilet...
Canada's governor general eats raw seal heart: EU says too bizarre to acknowledge
Posted on May 26, 2009Canada's governor general Michaelle Jean (below, right), the representative of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II – ‘hellooooo little people ‘ -- ate a slaughtered seal's raw heart today in a show of support to the country's seal hunters. Hundreds of Inuit at a community festival gathered Monday as Jean knelt above a pair of seal carcasses and used a traditional ulu blade to slice the meat off the skin...
Grill It! And make some kind of effort to kill the bacteria. With Bobby Flay
Posted on May 25, 2009After the successful tip-sensitive thermometer verified 145 F leg of lamb for dinner guests on Saturday, I'm back to basics for Memorial Day. Whole wheat rolls from scratch, spinach and tomato salad from the garden, and a roast chicken stuffed with an enormous load of garlic...
Grocers claim audits reduce foodborne illness; no evidence provided
Posted on May 25, 2009Two weeks ago, the U.S. Grocery Manufacturers Association came out with a whopper that no one seems to have noticed. In a press release intended to highlight private sector initiatives to bolster food safety – which I'm all for, they make the profit, they should shoulder the burden when they make their customers barf – GMA said, 'Ultimately, wider use of third party certification/audits will reduce the risk of food-borne illnesses...
Memorial Day: Stick It In to verify the burger is cooked
Posted on May 24, 2009I already caused a mini cow-poop storm when I suggested U.S. President Obama and VP Biden should be ordering their burgers based on a tip-sensitive thermometer verified 160F, and not the vague and meaningless, medium-whatever. But food porn will always trump food safety...
Two heads, seven legs, mutants amongst us
Posted on May 24, 2009About 25 years ago, my ex was working as a veterinary intern and gave me a call. She said, you have to come see this. A calf had been born with two heads and was at the vet school in Guelph and still alive. The heads were mirror images of each other...
New South Wales, Australia - this is your public health inspector
Posted on May 24, 2009Every restaurant and cafe in NSW will receive a random health inspection in the next 12 months after Government health bosses were left reeling by the results of their latest food safety crackdown. Health and safety inspectors have issued 160 fines in four weeks...
Canadian Association of Journalists still exists, says CFIA wins secrecy award
Posted on May 24, 2009The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has won the Canadian Association of Journalists' Code of Silence Award for 2008 for its dizzying efforts to stop the public from learning details of fatal failures in food safety. "The judges were sick with awe at the intestinal fortitude the Canadian Food Inspection Agency gatekeepers have shown," said CAJ President Mary Agnes Welch...
Calif. pistachio plant knowingly shipped Salmonella-tainted nuts for 6 months
Posted on May 23, 2009What is it with nut processors that they seemingly think they can ship out Salmonella-infested shit and no one will notice? First it was Peanut Corporation of America, now Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc. in California knowingly shipped Salmonella-positive nuts for six months...
Food safety culture and marketing go together
Posted on May 22, 2009I've been writing and talking for a couple of years about the importance of food safety culture from farm-to-fork, and that companies should become more aggressive about marketing their food safety efforts. Turns out, the two ideas can feed each other, in a synergistic manner (Chapman made the pic)...
Bad handwashing tools via Alaska Airlines
Posted on May 22, 2009A reader sent along this brief video of handwashing angst: proper handwashing requires access to the proper tools.
UK celebrity restaurant Quaglino's closes after woman celebrating 50th birthday dies, possibly related to oysters
Posted on May 22, 2009A leading London restaurant has been forced to close after a female diner died of a mystery illness following a 50th birthday celebration there. Quaglino's was shut by management this week after the death of the Denise Martin who dined at the eatery with five friends on Saturday night...
Over 100 sickened with Hepatitis A linked to dried tomato product in Australia
Posted on May 22, 2009A semi-dried tomato product mixed with garlic, herbs and oil has been linked to a spike in hepatitis A cases in at least three states, Australian health authorities say. South Australian director of public health Kevin Buckett says there have been 26 cases in the state since March, more than 70 in Victoria and an increased number in Queensland...
Chipotle buys local - but is it safe?
Posted on May 21, 2009At what point did the language of sustainability get co-opted by organo-local business types? I ride my bike around town (which is a health hazard in Manhattan), we had a fabulous salad of greens grown in our own garden last night for dinner along with the tuna steak (which wasn't grown in Kansas), yet when I speak at a local panel or read something, it's all these folks falling over themselves to be declared green...
Dirty dining in Manhattan (Kansas)
Posted on May 21, 2009Katie Filion and Brandon Speight, students in my food safety reporting class, write, There is nothing appetizing about dead rodents, crusty slicers or sewage in a restaurant kitchen, but these are problems the Riley County Department of Health and Environment, in Manhattan, Kansas, has encountered during recent restaurant inspections...
Why blame the consumer when the outbreaks are elsewhere
Posted on May 21, 2009Memorial Day is Monday, so it's time to play, blame the consumer. Foodborne illness outbreaks have been a regular feature in the news lately and are top of mind when consumers think of food and health issues, but new International Food Information Council Foundation research shows that fewer people are taking basic precautions that could significantly reduce their risk of becoming sick...
Are reusable bags really a food safety concern?
Posted on May 21, 2009The Canadian Plastic Industry Association (likely feeling reduced sales due to the popularity of reusable cloth bags) says that reusable bags are a public health risk. In a press release yesterday the plastic dudes touted the results of a bag swabbing study conducted earlier this year...
Girl dies from E. coli in Cleveland
Posted on May 21, 2009The Cleveland Health Department said that a 6 or 7-year-old girl died from E. coli last weekend in Cleveland. The Health Department's Matt Carroll said the girl's death is potentially connected to the recent beef recall. There are three other E. coli cases in the area that may also be affected by the recall and are currently under investigation...
Valley Meats ground beef recalled due to E. coli
Posted on May 21, 2009Almost 100,000 pounds of ground beef are being recalled today after an epidemiological investigation linked E. coli O157:H7 infections in three states to the products. The meat—sold frozen as ground beef, chopped steak, and pre-formed patties—was produced by Valley Meats LLC of Coal Valley, Illinois, on March 10, 2009 and distributed to various consignees nationwide...
Penelope Cruz canned at Cannes by food poisoning
Posted on May 20, 2009Earlier this week, Penelope Cruz missed an event at the Cannes Film Festival after suffering food poisoning. Cruz had been due to appear, but Weinstein said she was ill with "some sort of food poisoning" and was seeing a doctor. She was slated to present a trailer and teaser for the film with Harvey Weinstein, but Cruz was too sick to make an appearance...
Simpsons, safety, aquavit, Ben and barf
Posted on May 20, 2009Television's The Simpson's on Sunday began with a nice riff about foodborne illness loosely based on the Peanut Corporation of America Salmonella-fest, then quickly moved on to immigration and shared cultural values. There was lots of aquavit. I was first exposed to aquavit as a 16-year-old when I spent my first of five summers as a carpenter's helper for two Danish homebuilders in Brantford, Ontario...
Live crabs in loo highlight Sydney's name and shame
Posted on May 19, 2009A fish market that stored crabs in a toilet cubicle is amongst the newest addition to the NSW Government's name and shame list, available at www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au/penalty-notices. Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said Jemes Fish Market on Liverpool Road, Ashfield, in the city's inner west, was hit with two fines of $660 for storing live crabs in a toilet cubicle...
Alligator's have manners. Do you?
Posted on May 19, 2009Megan Hardigree (right) writes, Research shows that people learn handwashing and other hand hygiene acts at a young age, primarily during toilet training. To support parenting efforts, the Disney Channel's television show, 'Can You Teach my Alligator Manners,' reinforced hand hygiene manners on an episode today...
Handwashing and sanitation: try to make the message meaningful
Posted on May 17, 2009While Amy, Sorenne and I observed some sort of cross between The Hills and Real Housewives of Somewhere at a poolside party in Scottsdale, Arizona, some 2,300 Kansas State students were graduating this afternoon. Hand sanitizers were apparently on the agenda as those who convocated were offered hand sanitizer before receiving their degree...
Handwashing: Making it stick
Posted on May 17, 2009Your Health columnist Kim Painter wants to know in USA Today tomorrow if the spike in handwashing compliance after SARS hit Toronto in 2003 will be replicated with swine flu in 2009 – and will it last? In summer 2003, researchers descended on airport bathrooms in the USA and Canada and discovered a dirty truth: More than 20% of restroom visitors left without washing their hands...
Sure kids can visit the farm, but should they be hugging the cows?
Posted on May 17, 2009Yesterday I wrote about a bunch of schoolkids in Carlisle , U.K. that have been stricken with cryptosporidium, apparently related to so called-educational visits to nearby farms. Teachers and school leaders said there were lots of precautions and lots of handwashing...
Whole cantaloupes recalled because of possible Salmonella risk
Posted on May 17, 2009L&M Companies, Inc. of Raleigh, NC is recalling one lot of whole cantaloupes because it has the potential to be contaminated with Salmonella. No illnesses have been reported to date, and we are working with the FDA to inform consumers of this recall...
UK schoolkids sickened after farm visit; 'an absolutely fantastic visit' says teacher
Posted on May 16, 2009Cumbrian health chiefs have issued urgent advice about farm visits after confirming that four children were stricken by cryptosporidium, carried by cattle and lambs, and were investigating an unspecified number of other possible cases. The infections came after a number of recent farm visits, health officials say...
Preparing pot pies and blaming consumers
Posted on May 15, 2009The N.Y. Times repeated my year-and-a-half-old home-alone reporting and video shoot with ConAgra pot pies and other frozen thingies in a front-page feature this morning and reached the same conclusion: the cooking directions suck. (BTW, the Times video accompanying Friday's story also sucks, and they appear to use the wrong kind of thermometer -- always be tip-sensitive) The frozen pot pies that sickened an estimated 15,000 people with salmonella in 2007 left federal inspectors mystified...
Food safety for people who don't cook: stop blaming consumers
Posted on May 15, 2009The N.Y. Times asked me to comment on the food safety feature running this morning as part of their electronic Room for Debate section. Douglas Powell, an associate professor of food safety at Kansas State University and the editor of barfblog.com, writes: ConAgra Foods said on Nov...
Wacky women at the Waffle House
Posted on May 14, 2009On Sunday my Kansas family and I went out for brunch at a local restaurant. I ordered French toast, which I was less than impressed with, but since it was a busy day I didn't throw my breakfast at the waitress. An angry South Carolina Waffle House patron did throw a waffle at her waitress, which lead to an altercation involving a gun, reports WLTX...
EVOO outbreak not confirmed, looks like scombroid
Posted on May 14, 2009WRAL in Raleigh reports that the cause of an outbreak of a foodborne illness in 10 patrons of EVOO may never be found. Andre Pierce, Wake County's director of the environmental health and safety division says regardless of the outcome [of the test results], he's confident the problem was created at the restaurant...
The Birdman returns from possible noro, Nuggets finish off the Mavs
Posted on May 14, 2009After a bout of a gastro illness on Monday night which caused him to miss Game 4, Chris Andersen, nicknamed The Birdman, was back in action tonight for the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets downed the Mavs 124-110 to take the best-of-7 series in 5 games...
Food Safety Working Group hears 'good is simply not good enough'
Posted on May 14, 2009A White House Food Safety Working Group Listening Session was held Wednesday that marked "the beginning of a significant and critical process that will fully review the safety of our nation's food supply," according to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack...
Pearl Jam guitar player Mike McCready loves restroom access
Posted on May 13, 2009I love Pearl Jam -- Two of their albums (Ten and Vitalogy) definitely make my top 5 favorite albums. They are my guilty pleasure (the band I'm not too sure I want to tell folks I love because it might reduce my coolness factor). It's a stretch, but Pearl Jam provides some barfblog material today: According to 93X Rocks, a public-access-to-restrooms law, that Pearl Jam guitar player Mike McCready has been lobbying for, was signed into law yesterday...
Couple didn't know what they were eating
Posted on May 13, 2009A 47-year-old Israeli woman crawled feebly to the front door to call for help from a neighbor before passing out. Her partner, also 47, had already fallen unconscious. FOX News reports that the couple began to feel dizzy after eating a meal of fried blowfish, and could barely breathe when the ambulance arrived...
What's in your fridge? Smell from leftover food in unplugged fridge sends 7 to hospital, sickens 28
Posted on May 13, 2009Ever had leftover food loitering in your fridge for so long it made you yack? Anyone who has worked or lived in an area with a communal fridge has a tale of grossness. Amy's mom recalled yesterday about a fridge in one of their rental units that had been left full of food and unplugged – apparently for some time...
Antenna in your mocha latte?
Posted on May 13, 2009The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) maintains a list of Food Action Defect Levels in the Code of Federal Regulations "to establish maximum levels of natural or unavoidable defects in foods for human use that present no health hazard." A local news station in Michigan got hold of this list and started asking people on the street how they felt about the number of bug parts allowed in their coffee and the amount of rodent "excreta" tolerated in their chocolate...
Mallrats beware: baby rodent found in food court stir-fry
Posted on May 12, 2009I have not seen the 1995 Kevin Smith movie Mallrats, though my cultural education has exposed me to Clerks and Monty Python. Perhaps Mallrats is next. Canadian mallrats dining at a Winnipeg Sizzling Wok restaurant were disgusted to find a baby rodent in their stir-fry, reports CTV Winnipeg...
New study says keep poopy kids out of pools -- swim diapers not best solution
Posted on May 12, 2009It was about 105 F when Amy and Sorenne and I touched down in Phoenix yesterday afternoon, to visit family and do some work. Pools – and air conditioning – become increasingly popular in Phoenix and elsewhere as the temperatures climb. So that means the annual increase of cryptosporidium and other bugs related to exposure in swimming pools...
Social media spreads word on flu: CDC
Posted on May 11, 2009The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that a modest 2,500 people followed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Twitter feed, CDCEmergency, when it was launched during the outbreak of Salmonella linked to Peanut Corp. of America products earlier this year...
Don't eat poop cupcakes and more
Posted on May 10, 2009Things are winding down at Kansas State University for the year – at least on the teaching side. In the past, Amy and I have planned some exotic trip to France or Canada to get out of Kansas for the summer, but this year, we're staying fairly put, with baby Sorenne...
Company says snakehead was planted in T.G.I. Friday's meal
Posted on May 09, 2009T.G.I. Friday said a severed snake head found in a dish of broccoli at one of its upstate New York restaurants was likely planted in the meal. The Carrollton, Texas, company says Friday it asked the New York State Police to open a criminal investigation into product tampering...
Customer says: I've had it with these mofo snakes on this mofo broccoli
Posted on May 08, 2009Jack Pendleton found a snakehead, the size of the end of his thumb, while eating Sunday at the T.G.I. Friday's in Clifton Park, N.Y. The chain restaurant said it regrets the appetite-killing error. Pendleton said he has no plans to sue. Pendleton, doing what all consumers should do to hold suppliers of food accountable, snapped a photo with his cellphone camera, then summoned the waiter...
Marketing the hell out of restaurant inspection results
Posted on May 07, 2009That's what Wayne Strong, president of Ye Old Walkerville Bed & Breakfast in Windsor, ON wants to do with his latest inspection score, reports the Windsor Star. The star-rating system called Safe Food Counts will be rolled out over the next few months as businesses [in Windsor-Essex County] are inspected...
Mike Doyle unfairly slammed by wannabe foodies
Posted on May 07, 2009I don't really know Mike Doyle, other than the brief chats we have at meetings where our paths cross a couple of times a year and talk about our kids' hockey-playing ambitions, or the time Amy and I ran into Mike and his wife at the local Orlando supermarket in 2006 cause I guess we were all too cheap to buy hotel food and went to stock up...
Jon and Kate Plus 8: Petting zoo for kids, just petting for Jon
Posted on May 07, 2009Kate Gosselin of Jon and Kate Plus 8 was on the Today Show this morning addressing husband Jon's alleged affair, while TLC ran re-runs of the popular reality show. This morning's re-run was an episode I've seen before, where the Gosselin gang visits the Pittsburg Zoo...
Don't drink infected pig blood
Posted on May 07, 2009Reuters reported yesterday that new information from the World Health Organization suggested pigs sickened with H1N1 swine flu should not be consumed, despite earlier insistence that fully cooked pork is perfectly safe. The story states, "The WHO comments appear more cautious than those from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), which said import bans are not required to safeguard public health because the disease is not food-borne and has not been identified in dead animal tissue...
Save Lives: Clean Your Hands
Posted on May 06, 2009Megan Hardigree, a research associate at Kansas State University working on hand hygiene, writes that this year, Cinco de Mayo wasn't just a holiday to celebrate the Mexican army's victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla (yesterday) or a song by the band, Cake...
New Zealand Food Safety Authority nails restaurant -- no one wins when people barf
Posted on May 05, 2009A New Zealand restaurateur whose poor food safety practices caused more than 50 Christmas Day diners to fall ill has had his appeal thrown out. Robin Pierson, the owner-operator of Bushmere Arms, was ordered to pay $400 in fines, along with $850 in reparation to victims and $10,414 in costs to the Crown in a case brought by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority (NZFSA)...
Don't eat raccoon poop
Posted on May 05, 2009CBC News reported last night that parents should be on alert for raccoon roundworm, a rare parasite transmitted through contact with the animal's feces, which has left a New York infant with brain damage and a teenager blind. Raccoon roundworm or Baylisascaris procyonis is an extremely rare parasitic infection in humans that can cause nausea, nerve damage and even death...
Can regulators regulate and promote? Safe food sells
Posted on May 05, 2009I cringe when pompous professorial types begin sentences with, 'Clearly …' It happens a lot. Over the years, I've repeatedly heard a variation of, 'Clearly, government agencies can't regulate and promote food at the same time.' I was on National Public Radio in Maryland a few weeks ago and statement was repeated mantra-like by both the host and some activist dude...
Obama at E. coli risk? What does a medium-well hamburger mean?
Posted on May 05, 2009U.S. President Barack Obama and VP Joe Biden (right, photo from AP) ordered a couple of medium-well hamburgers for lunch today at Ray's Hell Burger in Virginia, and while media and blog reports were the usual gaga over, OMG, the President ate, no one asked, what does medium-well mean? Was the President at risk of contracting foodborne illness like the other 83 million American mortals each year? Color is a lousy indicator...
Shades Restaurant serves shady food
Posted on May 05, 2009In Columbus, Ohio diners have restaurant inspection information readily available to them – inspection reports are posted on the Public Health website, and colour-coded signs are displayed conspicuously at restaurant premises. Making inspection results accessible to the public may help consumers make dining decisions, but it won't necessarily prevent restaurants from serving shady food...
Domino's pizza girl whines she can't get a job
Posted on May 05, 2009Megan K. Kelly-Hardigree, soon-to-be handwashing guru and latest barfblogger (right, pretty much exactly as shown), writes: After being rightfully fired from a Dominos Pizza in North Carolina, Kristy Hammonds apologized to the public on ABC's Good Morning America this morning...
White Castle pulls pulled pork pig ad
Posted on May 05, 2009Maybe it was the swine flu, maybe it was the bad Flashdance welder-by-day-peeler-by-night references, maybe it was the BBQ sauce, but an advertisement for White Castle's new pulled pork sliders has disappeared, only to reappear through the magic of YouTube...
Mobile food-safety labs get FDA up to speed
Posted on May 04, 2009Elizabeth Weise of USA Today once again goes to the food safety frontlines to report about the mobile testing laboratory being used by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, this time at the border crossing between Mexico and Nogales, Arizona. Seventy percent of the fruits and vegetables Americans consume in winter are imported from Mexico, a total of 7 billion pounds, says Allison Moore, communications director for the Nogales-based Fresh Produce Association of the Americas...
Ackroyd does the best Julia Child impersination
Posted on May 04, 2009Meryl Strep as renowned culinaryist Julia Child? Sure. Some of the bloggers have seen the trailer and are not happy. Me, I'll always prefer Ottawa native Dan Ackroyd's take on Julie Child on an early Saturday Night Live.
FDA finds seed supplier of sprouts with Salmonella
Posted on May 04, 2009Cases of Salmonella Saintpaul linked to raw alfalfa sprouts are now up to 35 and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration thinks they can all be traced to one seed supplier. That seed supplier, based in Kentucky, is voluntarily withdrawing from the market all of its 50-pound bags that have a lot code starting with '032...
US waits to react to flu discovery in Canadian pigs
Posted on May 04, 2009As a backlog of state and federal lab test results reached the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the total number of confirmed cases of H1N1 in the US climbed to 244 in 34 states, the Associated Press reported this weekend. The Globe and Mail reported numbers from the World Health Organization, stating, 'Canada, for its part, has tallied 101 cases in seven provinces...
Underground restaurants in St. Louis: how bored are Americans?
Posted on May 04, 2009Food pornography is nothing new. Neither are so-called underground restaurants. That the St. Louis Post-Dispatch thinks both may be new and newsworthy may help explain the decline of American newspapers (and look at that cool arm decal in this pic from the Post, right, below)...
Flu in Canadian swine
Posted on May 04, 2009Someone finally found the H1N1 swine flu in pigs. After I bashed them for allotting resources for hog surveillance when little evidence for such a need existed, the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization is now applauding Canada for spotting the flu in a herd of Alberta swine...
Handwashing on South Park, restaurant inspection on the Hills, Chapman vomiting
Posted on May 02, 2009I have a bunch of food safety images but no literate story line. So here they are, food safety in public. And I told Chapman I'd stop using this picture of him barfing if he ever got his PhD. I'll probably still use it.
barfblog, bites, and food safety
Posted on May 02, 2009Foodborne illness can be an unpleasant experience or something more serious. The World Health Organization estimates up to 2 billion people get sick from food and water each year – 30 per cent of all citizens in all countries. Dr. Douglas Powell, associate professor of food safety at Kansas State University, leads a group of individuals passionately committed to reducing the incidence of foodborne illness, through research, teaching and information...
Chapman gets PhD
Posted on May 01, 2009Irony is pretty ironic sometimes. On the three-year anniversary of me officially starting at Kansas State University, two-years after the beginning of barfblog.com, and a year after going down the baby road yet again, Chapman finally gets his PhD, and all the staff at the remnants of the Food Safety Network at the University of Guelph are fired...
Egypt kills pigs to stop a virus that moves person-to-person
Posted on May 01, 2009Egypt began culling its roughly 300,000 pigs on Wednesday and, Reuters reported, 'The move is not expected to block the H1N1 virus from striking, as the illness is spread by people and not present in Egyptian swine. But acting against pigs, largely viewed as unclean in conservative Muslim Egypt, could help quell a panic...
VP Biden says dumb things about swine flu
Posted on May 01, 2009While on the road for several hours yesterday after visiting family, I finally settled on National Public Radio. I hear lots of good stuff on NPR when I'm in the mood for it. Just a few miles from home, I heard a story about some bad risk communication from an uninformed political figure...
Petting zoos and poo
Posted on May 01, 2009A few years ago I experienced the Exciting and Educational Adventure that is the Elmvale Jungle Zoo in Ontario. It was a blast. The zoo has any animal you can think of: lions, tigers and, not bears, but giraffes, monkeys, lemurs and more. My favourite part was the goat pen where visitors get a hands-on chance to pet and feed goats...
Monty Python and the Holy Grail of Listeria
Posted on April 30, 2009As part of her cultural education, about-to-be graduate student Katie has been exposed –inundated – with some of the favorite movies of Doug and Amy. Last week it was Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Young Katie wasn't too impressed, and I'll admit, the film has aged...
Obama also says, if you're sick, stay at home
Posted on April 30, 2009It's not swine flu, it's people coming to work when they're barfing. I understand it's probably not the person's fault – they may get fired if they don't show up. But barfing employees should not be serving food. And that's exactly what happened to 46 other employees at a Des Plaines, Ill...
Carolina defeats Jersey with two goals in last minute shocker
Posted on April 29, 2009I was a Carolina Hurricanes hockey fan even before Chapman moved to NC State in Raleigh. The team is run by former goalie, Detroit Red Wings executive and Beeton, Ontario, native, Jim Rutherford, who's a few years younger than my parents but went to the same high school in Alliston, Ontario...
Obama says - dude, wash hands to contain swine flu
Posted on April 29, 2009When asked about swine flu – oh, sorry, the H1N1 flu – U.S. President Barack Obama said during his prime-time 100-day press commencement conference that handwashing and staying at home if sick were key to controlling any potential spread of flu...
50 kids sickened by Salmonella in pudding at NH camp; it was the pudding mixer
Posted on April 29, 2009Health officials say a mixer used to make pudding was the source of salmonella that sickened over 50 children at the Stone Environmental Camp in Madison, N.H., this month. The food for the campers is prepared by Purity Springs, where the camp is located...
Colleges dumping cafeteria trays - what about cross-contamination?
Posted on April 29, 2009The New York Times reports that scores of colleges and universities across the country are shelving cafeteria trays in hopes of conserving water, cutting food waste, softening the ambience and saving money. The story has lots of the usual fuzzy stuff about sustainability but mentions nothing about sanitation...
Swine flu? I'll have the oregano oil?
Posted on April 28, 2009People will pay to protect themselves -- or at least for the positive perception they are protecting themselves. Industry is all too happy to oblige with a variety of products of questionable value. When faced with outbreaks of foodborne illness on fresh produce, sales of veggie washes go up...
Scores on doors or online
Posted on April 28, 2009Two US counties have recently adopted systems to communicate restaurant inspection results with the public. They aren't the first, likely won't be the last, and demonstrate two different approaches to inspection disclosure. The first is Calhoun county, MI, which has recently began posting inspection results online, reports the Battlecreek Enquirer...
Wolfgang Puck sued for crappy bathroom
Posted on April 28, 2009Celebrity blog TMZ reports that celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck is being sued over a restaurant bathroom. A woman claims she just wanted to take care of some toilet business during a lunch at Puck's most famous Beverly Hills restaurant, Spago back in 2007...
Wales E. coli O157 parents: All food safety inspections should be unannounced
Posted on April 28, 2009In his report into the 2005 epidemic that struck down more than 150 people, most of them children, across the South Wales Valleys and claimed the life of Mason Jones, aged five (right), Professor Hugh Pennington found that all of the inspections made at the premises of the butcher responsible in the months before people became ill had been pre-arranged...
America's best restroom
Posted on April 28, 2009If you ever find yourself in downtown Nashville, TN looking for a place to pee, WBBM780 Chicago recommends using the facilities at the Hermitage Hotel. The hotel's ground-floor men's bathroom has won the award for 'America's Best Restroom'. Janet Kurtz, director of sales and marketing at the hotel, says, "You just can't find anything like it anywhere else...
Swine flu outbreak affecting pork industry
Posted on April 28, 2009The Associated Press reported yesterday in USA Today that Mexican authorities believe as many as 149 people have died from the current outbreak of swine flu. Also in USA Today, Matt Krantz reported that, 'Shares of pork producers Smithfield Foods (SFD), Tyson Foods (TSN) and Bob Evans Farms (BOBE) dropped 12...
The swine flu problem isn't in the pigs
Posted on April 27, 2009As easy as it may be to assume, there's no evidence that the swine flu spreading through Mexico and beyond is sickening pigs now. The World Health Organization reports that illnesses in Mexico are climbing close to 1,000 with more than 50 deaths—all of which are human...
bites.ksu.edu: food safety news, and more
Posted on April 27, 2009The new web site is sorta ready to go. I say sorta because it's a work in progress that can be continuously updated and improved. The beta-version, warts and all, is now available. The fastest way to receive food safety news is to subscribe to barfblog...
Cross-contamination at checkout
Posted on April 27, 2009Katie and I were craving hamburgers this weekend and Doug decided to indulge us. At the supermarket on Saturday he picked up some ground beef along with our normal cart full of produce and other proteins. As usual, I tried to separate the items in the cart so that the fresh produce was not touching the beef, pork, or salmon filets, even though all the meat was wrapped...
Swine flu prevention Singapore-style: wash hands, win a sports car
Posted on April 27, 2009Singapore launched its CSI -- clean, safe, infection-free -- handwashing campaign Monday that gives thorough hand-washers the chance to win a sports car, a plasma TV or shopping vouchers. Chng Hiok Hee, a doctor at Tan Tock Seng hospital and the head of the two-month-long campaign said, "Good hand hygiene is crucial in stemming the spread of infections and there is no reason why the public should not learn the seven steps to hand washing practiced by medical professionals...
Broken links in food-safety chain hid peanut plants' risks
Posted on April 27, 2009Julie Schmit of USA Today has written another excellent overview documenting the multiple failures – bad inspections, bad audits, bad people -- that led to the peanut paste crapola that sickened 700 and killed nine. Below are just a few of the highlights: •Deibel Labs, which ran more than 1,600 salmonella tests for PCA's Blakely plant from 2004 through 2008, found almost 6% positive...
FDA issues warning after 31 sick with Salmonella linked to sprouts
Posted on April 26, 2009Maybe the folks at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are busy with swine flu, but the timing of the latest raw sprouts advisory is a bit wonky. Oh, and I'm to stress that it is only alfalfa sprouts making people barf, or at least that's what industry told the FDA during a conference call yesterday afternoon...
Hepatitis A at Newmarket, Ontario Tim Hortons
Posted on April 26, 2009The Toronto Star reports that a health alert was issued today after it was discovered that two employees of a Newmarket Tim Hortons were found infected with Hepatitis A. York Region Public Health was notified of a case of hepatitis A at the Tim Hortons at 16545 Yonge St...
Courtlynn Powell: Swine flu's making me nervous
Posted on April 25, 2009Daughter and would-be blogger Courtlynn (below right, exactly as shown) writes that, 'Coming home from school this afternoon, a rush of fear and anxiety seemed to linger. 20 people died in Mexico. 500 nurses in Mexico have this, as well as people returning from Canada, in the past week...
Are disposable gloves necessary to prepare meat in a home kitchen?
Posted on April 25, 2009Food is marketed as 21st century snake oil -- a veritable sideshow of hucksters and buskers, flogging their wares to the highest bidder or at least the most fashionable. And never underestimate the ability of American industry to make a buck off a trend...
Escaped bull shops for produce
Posted on April 24, 2009No one was hurt when a bull escaped the clutches of its owner and ran into Cummins' Super-Valu in Ballinrobe, Co Mayo, Ireland. Independent.ie reports the bull had been at the local mart a few hundred yards away when it made its great escape. Was it shopping for steaks? By the time the bull was eventually recaptured by its owner, a local farmer, the only damage done was to fruit and vegetable stands...
Salmonella outbreak in N. Ontario may be linked to melons
Posted on April 24, 2009When I think Thunder Bay, Ontario in January, I think melons. Ripe, juicy melons, like cantaloupe. The Thunder Bay District Health Unit is investigating an increased number of Salmonella cases in Thunder Bay and District. Twenty-three cases of Salmonella have been reported since January of this year...
Salt Lake county launches inspection disclosure website
Posted on April 24, 2009Diners in Salt Lake county Utah can now view restaurant inspection scores online, reports the Salt Lake Tribune. In its first morning online, Utahns flocked the restaurant site. Around noon, just a few hours after its launch, the link had already received 68,000 hits… Patti Rasmussen, co-owner of Sandy's Tin Roof Grill, whose restaurant received a three-star rank during the latest inspection, said, "I'm a big believer in letting people know...
I buy my eggs at a new-age store so they're safe; Barry's got my back
Posted on April 24, 2009One of the few pleasures in watching the movie, Baby Mama, is Steve Martin's turn as Barry, the narcissistic, new-age genius who runs a Whole Foods-like organic supermarket chain, seen here transferring his success to v.p. and mama-to-be Tina Fey. Stores like Whole Foods are easy to poke fun at because of their earnest idiocracy...
Jay Leno cancels 'Tonight Show' taping over possible foodborne illness
Posted on April 23, 2009Jay Leno had to cancel today's taping of 'The Tonight Show With Jay Leno' because of illness, Access Hollywood has learned. Rumors have surfaced the (un)funnyman may be suffering from food poisoning, however that has not been confirmed.
The first rule of public health? CYA
Posted on April 23, 2009I say the first rule of public health is, don't eat poop. And have fewer sick people. Bureaucrats say the first rule of public health is, cover your ass (no, not like that) so that the department comes out smelling all pretty and not like poop. So after 21 people die and a bunch more got sick from listeria in Maple Leaf deli meats, what do Canadian bureaucrats focus on? Covering their asses...
Teacher packs poop in 5-year-old's backpack
Posted on April 23, 2009A father and mother in Washington state are outraged after their 5-year-old son was sent home from school, allegedly forced to carry a package of human feces along with an embarrassing note from his kindergarten teacher. "This little turd was on the floor in my room," said the note from Susan Graham, an instructor at Apple Valley Elementary School in Yakima, Wash...
Michigan salmonella outbreak tied to alfalfa sprouts
Posted on April 23, 2009This is Amy making a face in Guelph in 2005 after being served raw pea sprouts when she specifically said, no sprouts. At a local Manhattan (Kansas) restaurant, we're known as the ‘no sprouts' people. And now, sprouts are in the news again for making people barf...
90210: Pregnant and hungry for a hamburger
Posted on April 22, 2009Last night on 90210, Adriana, the drug-addict turned mother-to-be, was out dining with her boyfriend and ordered a hamburger, medium rare. Pregnant Adriana could learn some things from Barfblog. Medium rare does not mean the burger is safe to eat – rather a hamburger needs to be cooked to 160F, by someone who knows how to use a meat thermometer properly, to be safe...
Suspected norovirus at south Sioux City, Nebraska, restaurant
Posted on April 22, 2009A restaurant/bar in South Sioux City has closed down voluntarily to disinfect its premises after dozens of people became ill after eating there, according to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. The restaurant/bar at the Marina Inn has closed temporarily on the advice of health officials...
Selling home-baking banned in Urbana
Posted on April 22, 2009It's springtime so bring on variable interpretation of health code rules, the plight of home bakers and outraged local politicians. "I will not stay silent. Most people who go to the farmers' market know it's not made in a commercial-grade kitchen...
The end of Agnet and AnimalNet
Posted on April 22, 2009As we move to the launch of bites.ksu.edu, I am ceasing publication of Agnet and AnimalNet, effective immediately. It's Earth Day, and like the compost in my backyard recycling the detritus from last night's dinner, I'm going back to one listserv, not four...
New food safety infosheet: Hepatitis A in staff member at Littleton, CO grocery store
Posted on April 22, 2009This week's food safety infosheet focuses on a Hep A incident that arose over the weekend. A staff member responsible for handling and preparing produce in a Colorado Albertson's was found to have Hepatitis A. Food safety infosheet highlights: -Albertsons shoppers may have been exposed to virus between April 6 and April 21, 2009...
Raleigh foodborne illnesses possibly tied to restaurant
Posted on April 21, 2009Independent Weekly is reporting that at least eight cases of foodborne illness are being investigated and that they may be linked to a common restaurant. The illnesses, reported April 17, may be connected to Evoo, a Mediterranean restaurant in Raleigh's Five Points...
Canadian politicians beware: Maple Leaf's Michael McCain isn't really that into you
Posted on April 21, 2009He may ooze empathy and smooth, but Canadian politicians on the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food's Subcommittee on Food Safety beware: Michael McCain (below, not exactly as shown) really isn't that into you. Sure he got dressed up for the committee appearance last night, prefaced it with a little foreplay at a luncheon for business types, and said I'm sorry, it was all me, but when a guy says that, he really means, it's all you...
Food auctions: new trend in a down economy
Posted on April 21, 2009While canning, freezing and growing food at home are increasing, so are discounted food sales. Sean Gregory writes in this week's Time that food items are now appearing at auctions across the U.S., As the stock market headed south last fall, Ron Peterson, owner of Elmer Auction, LLC, added grocery items like cereals and cleaning supplies to his ledger...
UK: Done with dirty dining
Posted on April 21, 2009The star-rating posted outside restaurants and pubs in Cumbria, England is making it safer for diners, reports News & Star. The county adopted the Scores on Doors scheme in 2007, which awards a maximum of five stars to establishments with high inspection scores, has noted a decrease in the number of 'high-risk' premises...
Albertsons customers face hepatitis threat
Posted on April 19, 2009The Denver Post reports that people who have eaten store-prepared produce from an Albertsons in Littleton, Colorado, recently could face shots because a store employee has tested positive for hepatitis A. The Tri-County Health Department said the warning applies specifically to those who have bought green onions, celery that has had the leaves trimmed, any lettuce that was not pre-bagged, any pre-cut watermelon, cantaloupe or honeydew melon...
More Canadian listeria reports; more bureaucratic BS
Posted on April 18, 2009The bureaucrats have been busy. Three more Canadian government studies on the listeria outbreak of 2008 which killed 21 were quietly posted Friday afternoon while the House of Commons was adjourned – what the Canadian Press called a traditional dumping ground for news the government wants to bury...
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