Personal Injury Law

FDA going to court to close NEW JERSEY cheese manufacturer for repeat listeria problems

Posted on January 04, 2010
I'm still not sure of the difference between insanitary and unsanitary, like insane and unsane, but the dictionary says insanitary means, 'so dirty or ridden with germs as to be a danger to health,' whereas sanitary is defined as, 'of or relating to the conditions that affect hygiene and health,' and the word unsanitary does not exist...

Ontario man finds ants in his McDonald's burritos?

Posted on January 04, 2010
The Toronto Sun reports that 28-year-old Tommy Lam and his girlfriend stopped by the McDonald's at Markham Rd. and Denison St., north of Toronto, around 11 a.m. last week to order four pita-wrapped sausage and egg burritos to eat on their way to work...

A journey through the past - Wales edition

Posted on January 04, 2010
At the Dallas airport on Jan. 1, 2010, Amy ordered a hamburger while awaiting our flight to London's Heathrow airport. 'How would you like that done?' '160F please' 'Does that mean medium-well?' Sigh. We booked an airport hotel for one night to recover from the trip – and to learn to drive on the wrong side of the road, with a stickshift on the wrong side of the steering wheel, and negotiate the many, many roundabouts...

Safest restaurant in the city of Harrisburg (PA)?

Posted on January 04, 2010
It might look good today, but by cleaning up is the Aramark-managed Capitol cafeteria the "safest restaurant in the city of Harrisburg"? PennLive.com reports that after being closed by Pennsylvania officials on December 17th following an inspection that revealed rodent droppings, underheated dishwashing water and poor food handling procedures, Capitol is trying to clean up their image...

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Sell food from home in New Mexico, get a permit

Posted on January 01, 2010
The Las Cruces Sun-News reports that a rule change will go into effect today that requires those who sell home-based food products to have a permit issued by the New Mexico Environment Department. That permit will allow the sale of certain foods that can be prepared in home-based food processing operations within state jurisdiction...

Moose head falls on woman in restaurant, woman sues

Posted on December 31, 2009
Moose, like other ruminants, are the natural reservoirs of E. coli O157:H7 and other verotoxigenic E. coli. A moose head, hanging on a wall, probably lacks the water activity to support E.c oli sustinence or growth. Raina Kumra is suing a Lower East Side bar, the White Slab Palace on Delancey Street near Allen Street, claiming she got a concussion and other injuries after a 150-pound decorative moose head fell off the wall and slammed into her head on Oct...

I am a golden god: Wisconsin boy pets snake, gets Salmonella

Posted on December 31, 2009
If I owned a fake zoo store, like a pet store, I'd probably call it Serpent Safari. Reminds me of the scene in the 2003 movie, Almost Famous, when the lead guitar player goes off to meet real people, in of all places Topeka, Kansas, just down the road, and after doing some acid, a basement-dwelling dude asks the guitar player if he wants to watch him feed a mouse to his pet snake...

Airport food safety faux pas

Posted on December 31, 2009
As a follow-up to Alison Young's Dec. 23/09 piece on airport food safety –she interviewed both me and Chapman but we didn't say anything quotable -- Mindy Meeks writes in today's USA Today that she worked at the Colorado Springs airport for almost 10 years, and twice yearly inspections were routine...

How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat? School lessons in food safety

Posted on December 30, 2009
Today's USA Today asked a bunch of food safety types what the government could do to improve the school lunch program. My full answer included, 'Does it have to be government? They're not very good at this stuff.'  What got published this a.m...

Salmonella outbreak in New Jersey

Posted on December 30, 2009
MyFox is reporting that dozens of people got sick after a party at Iberia Peninsula in the Ironbound section of Newark Sunday night. At least one person who was there has been hospitalized at Robert Wood Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick. Angelo Afonso's family says he is in the intensive care unit after suffering from severe gastrointestinal distress consistent with food poisoning...

Bad seafood destined for Year's Eve dinners seized by Italian authorities

Posted on December 30, 2009
Italian authorities have seized some 500 tons of bad seafood and shellfish believed to be largely destined for New Year's Eve dinner parties. Agriculture Minister Luca Zaia said Wednesday that worms were found in some of the fish seized across Italy between Dec...

Belfast restaurant sorry after rodent runs past diners

Posted on December 30, 2009
A top French restaurant in Belfast has apologized after a rodent was spotted running amok on the premises. A complaint was lodged with Belfast City Council's public health department yesterday after a group of diners claimed they spotted a rat in the restaurant on Monday night...

Restaurant inspection disclosure widely popular in Windsor, Ontario

Posted on December 29, 2009
Like pretty much every other county or town that has implemented some form of restaurant inspection disclosure, the system is way popular in Windsor, Ontario. About 1,300 locations have been inspected under the star ratings, including all of the premises in the highest-risk categories, said Deb Bennett, Windsor-Essex County Health Unit's health protection director...

You've got to fight for your right to relevant and reliable food safety information

Posted on December 29, 2009
Chapman asks me the other day, 'How do we fight the dogma?' Is that like fight the power? Fight the man? Fight for your right to party? What he was talking about was food safety dogma, the kind where seemingly good people give bad food safety advice...

Leftovers are the meal

Posted on December 29, 2009
"The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for 30 years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found." - Calvin Trillin, journalist and social commentator on things American I love the leftovers...

It's 4:20 somewhere: dinner and a buzz at Denver's Ganja Gourmet

Posted on December 28, 2009
The Los Angeles Times reports that one of the latest "Dinner Buzz Specials" at the Ganja Gourmet, was described as, "Start with our ganjanade [ganja tapenade], bread and a fat dank joint! Then choose from a slice of pizza or LaGanja [lasagna]...

Food dyes could improve deli slicer food safety

Posted on December 28, 2009
Meatingplace reports this morning that two approved red food dyes, FD&C No. 3 and No. 40, stain the protein and fat in bologna and turkey lunchmeat and may help deli managers quickly determine areas of listeria contamination, according to a study by University of Arkansas researchers funded by the American Meat Institute Foundation...

More mice, now in a Toronto pastry tray

Posted on December 27, 2009
Here's one from east-end Toronto that I missed last week but Coldmud picked up from the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation – hockey and state-sponsored jazz). Amateur photographer Borys Machinkowski's photo (right, exactly as shown) shows a mouse popping out of a space between two trays of pastries sitting in the display case of Bakery On the Go at the Warden Toronto Machinkowski...

Gratuitous (comfort) food porn shot of the day: tomato soup and grilled cheese

Posted on December 27, 2009
Sorenne eating lunch with dad, 11:00 a.m., Dec. 27, 2009. It's not always a food porn extravaganza around the Hubbell household. Sure, last night's dinner was marinated and oven-grilled tuna steaks, with asparagus and roasted sweet potato fries, but with the snow sticking around, and Sorenne's nose draining like a running faucet, sometimes it's best to stick with basics...

Special Agent Oso, the unique stuffed bear, washes hands and vegetables (Stephen Colbert is terrified)

Posted on December 27, 2009
In my continuing quest to watch children's TV and become addicted to every infectious kids song out there – because 1-year-old Sorenne has a cold and insists on being held -- we watched an episode of Special Agent Oso, the unique stuffed bear. 3 special steps, that's all you need wash the vegetables chop the vegetables toss the salad Jade has to help make a salad for cousin Rachel, who can't eat cheese or bread because she has food allergies – no pizza for Rachel...

More rats: rodents close Pennsylvania state capital cafeteria

Posted on December 26, 2009
The cafeteria in the Pennsylvania capital building where the governor and other state legislators hang out, form cliques and toss around tater tots, has not been inspected in four years – despite a state law requiring annual checks -- and is now closed after an infestation of rodents was discovered...

TV food shows are a ratings winner but their food safety still sucks

Posted on December 25, 2009
Yesterday's USA Today reported that ratings for food shows on television are booming – prime-time numbers for the Food Network are up 29 per cent this year to a new record – yet every time I flip by, the stars suck at food safety. We chronicled all this stuff back in 2004, but it's time to redo the study and see if there have been any improvements...

Potlucks and faith-based food safety

Posted on December 25, 2009
I like potlucks because of the social interaction and sampling different kinds of foods. I don't like potlucks because who knows how various dishes are prepared, how they've been stored, and the dreaded double dipping. I told Erin Quinn of the Waco Tribune-Herald in Texas Monday that, Maybe you don't want to eat the turkey noodle casserole made in the kitchen of the woman who you notice never washes her hands before leaving the bathroom...

Cora Pizza in Toronto shut down due to rat infestation

Posted on December 25, 2009
Cora Pizza, (the One Stop Pizza Shop), apparently a favorite of University of Toronto students, was shut down Dec. 21/09 by Toronto Public Health due to a rodent infestation and to prevent gross unsanitary conditions. Among the findings were a bucket that was used for pizza sauce showing obvious "signs of contamination with dirt and mold' and "dead rats and rat droppings in the kitchen...

Load Australian fridges with food, not beer, and keep it cool

Posted on December 25, 2009
In 2004, I spoke at a conference in Gold Coast, Australia. I did a TV bit on Good Morning Australia, or whatever the equivalent was to the U.S. Good Morning America about food safety. The chef at the conference center was with me, and well-versed in food safety...

Has that Christmas steak been needle tenderized? Does that mean a higher internal temperature is required to kill E. coli O157:H7? People sick in 6 states

Posted on December 25, 2009
There's nothing like three inches of freshly fallen Christmas morning snow to make me think … barbeque. Before firing up the grill in a couple of hours, I now have to consider whether the T-bones I bought at Dillons were needle or blade tenderized, or not...

Gratuitous food porn shot of the day (Xmas eve edition) -- French rib rack lamb

Posted on December 24, 2009
The things you can find on sale at Dillon's supermarket (part of the Kroger chain) in Manhattan (Kansas). For Christmas Eve dinner, which has no special significance other than we made it home from Minnesota before the storm hit, only to get walloped in Manhattan, I decided to cook the lamb – with a rosemary, Dijon mustard glaze, to a yummy and greasy thermometer-verified 140F...

Food poisoning during the Dominican honeymoon means Pepto-Bismol and baby wipes

Posted on December 24, 2009
Kansas State University student, and news hunter and gatherer, Gonzalo Erdozain (right, sorta as shown), finally got away on his honeymoon to the Dominican Republic after classes ended last week. Gonzalo returned yesterday and shares his tale below. I probably contracted a slight case of food poisoning while honeymooning in the Dominican Republic...

If you swallow the charm, it's your fault; London diners sign Xmas pudding waiver

Posted on December 24, 2009
I have no use for Christmas pudding, fruitcake, or those stale, doughy cookies strewn with sprinkles. Gross. Christmas pudding is apparently a steamed dessert made with dried fruit, nuts, spices and brandy. It is common to put several charms or coins in the pudding, which are believed to bring prosperity in the New Year to the person who finds them...

Labels on frozen foods can be confusing - the Stouffer's Family Size Lasagna experience

Posted on December 24, 2009
We've been visiting with some of Amy's family in Minnesota the past few days. Dinner for the gang last Sunday in Andover, north of Minneapolis, featured a couple of frozen Stouffer's lasagnas. Two lasagnas were required to feed the crew, and were cooked in the oven at the same time...

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