Personal Injury Law

Bad handwashing tools via Alaska Airlines

Posted on May 22, 2009
A 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, 2009
A 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, 2009
A 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, 2009
At 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...

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Dirty dining in Manhattan (Kansas)

Posted on May 21, 2009
Katie 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, 2009
Memorial 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, 2009
The 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, 2009
The 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, 2009
Almost 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, 2009
Earlier 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, 2009
Television'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, 2009
A 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, 2009
Megan 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, 2009
While 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, 2009
Your 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, 2009
Yesterday 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, 2009
L&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, 2009
Cumbrian 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, 2009
The 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, 2009
The 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, 2009
On 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, 2009
WRAL 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, 2009
After 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, 2009
A 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, 2009
I 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, 2009
A 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, 2009
Ever 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, 2009
The 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, 2009
I 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, 2009
It 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...

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