TMZ has confirmed that Jane Seymour did not participate in Tuesday's "Dancing with the Stars" extravaganza -- because she's got food poisoning.

Apparently she'll be back next week.

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When Nebraska Beef first raised the issue that it intended to sue the church for “mishandling” its E. coli O157:H7 contaminated meat I laughed.  I then calmly tried to respond that the Meat Industry that makes a profit off of selling “USDA Inspected Meat” couldn’t blame the consumer if the product actually contains a pathogen that can severely sicken or kill a bunch of nice older ladies at a church supper.  What other product in the United States would a manufacturer expect consumers to fix themselves before they used it?
 
My calmness faded. Think about the little labels on meat that you buy in the store – the ones that tell you to cook the meat to 160 degrees – of course they also say USDA inspected too. However, the labels do not say:

“The USDA inspection means nothing.  This product may contain pathogenic bacteria that can severely sicken or kill you and/or your child.  Handle this product with extreme care.”

I wonder why the Meat Industry does not want a label like that on your pound of hamburger? It knows that the label is truthful. Do you think it might be concerned that Moms and Dads would stop buying it? The day the industry puts a similar label on hamburger is the day that I will go work for them.
 
The reality is that the Meat Industry cannot assure the public that the meat we buy is not contaminated. So, instead of finding a way to get cattle feces out of our meat, they blame grandparents (and presumably all the teenagers that work at all the burger joints in America) when children get sick.
 
Consumers can always do better. However, study after study shows that, despite the CDC estimated 76 million people getting sick every year from food borne illnesses, the American public still has misconceptions and overconfidence in our Nation’s food supply.
 
According to a study by the Partnership for Food Safety Education, fewer than half of the respondents knew that fresh vegetables and fruits could contain harmful bacteria, and only 25% thought that eggs and dairy products could be contaminated. Most consumers believe that food safety hazards can be seen or smelled. Only 25% of consumers surveyed knew that cooking temperatures were critical to food safety, and even fewer knew that foods should be refrigerated promptly after cooking. Consumers do not expect that things that you cannot see in your food can kill you.

Consumers are being blamed, but most lack the knowledge or tools to properly protect themselves and their children. The FDA has stated, “unlike other pathogens, E. coli O157:H7 has no margin for error. It takes only a microscopic amount to cause serious illness or even death.” Over the last few years our Government and the Meat Industry have repeatedly told the consumer to cook hamburger until there is no pink. Yet, recent university and USDA studies show meat can turn brown before it is actually “done.” Now the consumer is urged to use a thermometer to test the internal temperature of the meat. However, how do you use one, and who really has one?

Many consumers wrongly believe the Government is protecting the food supply. How many times have we heard our Government officials spout “The US food supply is the safest in the world.”

Where is the multi-million dollar ad campaign to convince us of the dangers of hamburger, like we do for tobacco? The USDA’s FightBAC and Thermy education programs are limited, and there are no studies to suggest that they are effective. Most consumers learn about food safety from TV and family members – If your TV viewing habits and family are like mine, these are highly suspect sources of good information.

The bottom line is that you cannot leave the last bacteria “Kill Step” to a grandparent or to a kid in a fast food joint. The industry that makes billions off of selling meat must step up and clean up their mess. They can, and someday will, if I have anything to say about it. That day will come much faster if they start working on it now, and stop blaming the victims.

William D. Marler of Marler Clark LLP PS, (www.marlerclark.com) is a trial lawyer who represents victims of food-borne illnesses, and the father of three daughters.  Bill comments on food safety at www.marlerblog.com and can be reached at 1-206-719-4705.

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After 45 illnesses including 11 hospitalizations and one death over the past three months from E. coli O157:H7 tainted beef, Canadian journalists have responded with … a yawn.

No coverage at all, except for robotic re-readings of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) press release which didn't even identify the slaughter plant. The U.S. once again told Canadians they were sick.

One reporter, however, did manage to put some pieces together after talking with Seattle lawyer Bill Marler yesterday.

Neil Waugh of the Edmonton Sun notes today that the company that supplied the E. coli O157:H7 contaminated beef to the now bankrupt Topps Meats was Ranchers Beef Ltd. of Balzac, Alberta, which collapsed on Aug.15 after company president Tony Martinez reported in a court affidavit that his outfit was "in the midst of a severe liquidity crisis".

In other words it was broke. And likely would have stayed that way if the United States Department of Agriculture hadn't blown the whistle on what Ranchers and the feds' controversial Canadian Food Inspection Agency were doing - or apparently NOT doing -last summer.

The CFIA, in typical butt-covering mode, identified the dirty plant only as "a meat facility in Alberta."

But the Americans don't play by Stephen Harper's rules and fingered the fingerprints as coming from "Ranchers Beef Ltd, Canadian establishment 630."

And it gets even more confusing when you dig into the USDA notice, which reveals: "on one or more days Ranchers Beef may have retested, found negative, and exported boneless beef manufacturing trimmings that had originally tested presumptive positive for E. coli."

Waugh explains that the company business plan was "developed in the wake of the 2003 BSE crisis," Martinez told the court, as a result of the "near decimation" of the Canadian cattle industry when the U.S. border was closed.

And it wasn't just a brainwave of 45 unidentified ranchers plus Sunterra Foods and Picture Butte feedlot kingpin Cor Van Raay.

In an attempt to "ameliorate the reliance" on U.S. markets, the Alberta and federal governments "developed policies to encourage construction of Canadian-based meat processing facilities."

There was a $46.5-million loan from Alberta Treasury Branches, the feds' Business Development Bank and the National Bank of Canada.

A $20-million "credit enhancement" from the federal ag department added to the taxpayers' exposure.

The Alberta Agricultural Financial Services also kicked in $9.35 million in "credit facilities" so investors could "purchase" company preferred shares.

Construction of the plant began in June 2006, but by last August, Martinez was reporting "current liabilities of $12.4 million" and "insufficient current assets to meet current obligations."

"We will clearly have to look at additional assets," said Seattle lawyer Bill Marler, who has already filed a class-action suit against Topps.

"We're going upstream looking at who supplied the meat," said Marler, who has already collected more than $250 million in food poisoning litigation. "Who owns them and what's their backing."

What's worse, a group called the Canadian Supply Chain Food Safety Coalition, whose mission is to

"facilitate, through dialogue within the food industry and with all levels of government, the development and implementation of a national, coordinated approach to food safety to ensure credibility in the domestic and international marketplaces"

came out today and said that Canadian provincial and the federal ministers of agriculture should provide more taxpayer money to industry to try harder and not make people sick.

So, Canadian taxpayers get fleeced for millions, 45 get sick and one dies, the Americans have to point it out, and the industry asks for more taxpayer money to tell Canadians if they get sick it's their fault.

Bill Marler will be in touch.

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After 45 illnesses including 11 hospitalizations and one death over the past three months, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) at 3 a.m. Eastern time this morning warned Canadians not to consume certain packages of ground beef, most of it produced in produced as far back as June.

The products are being recalled as a result of  the CFIA’s investigation and traceback conducted on contaminated beef involving Ranchers Beef Ltd.(Establishment 630), Balzac, Alberta.

There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of  these products.

But there have been lots of illnesses in both the U.S. and Canada linked to product from the same Ranchers Beef facility, including the Topps outbreak across the U.S.

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My favorite meal includes a New York strip steak, asparagus, mashed potatoes, salad, and a glass of cabernet. 

In recent months, media reports on new research being conducted at the University of Missouri-Columbia have indicated that that glass of cabernet may effectively kill bacterial pathogens that have found their way into my meal, making it safer.  Just this weekend WTAE TV in Pittsburgh reported on the results of this research: 

The neat thing about the study is that it doesn't seem to matter about the price. It's all in the color of the wine: red.

Researchers said cabernet, pinot noir and merlot have the right stuff to protect against Salmonella typhimurium, H.pylori and the potentially fatal Listeria monocytogenes and E. coli.

After reading this report, one might conclude that eating raw cookie dough is OK as long as it’s followed by a glass of red wine.  But what do the researchers really have to say? 

Azlin Mustapha and Atreyee Das were interviewed by Abraham Mahshie for an article in the Columbia Tribune.  In the interview, Das said, “Sixty percent [concentration] wine is enough to kill bacteria,” but that concentration was reached in a controlled environment in a test tube in a lab – not in the human gut, which is where consumers might seek practical application of this new knowledge.

Lead researcher Mustapha told the Tribune, “I would not recommend that people go out and consume wine in excess.”  But how does this research really apply to the average person’s wine consumption?  Early reporting on the findings may give us false hope that one, two, even three glasses of red wine with dinner might make eating a rare hamburger safe.

Mustapha and Das anticipate two to three years of additional research on the subject.  When their study is published, maybe they’ll be able to tell me how much cabernet I have to drink to kill the pathogens on my steak, asparagus, and mashed potatoes.  Until then, I’ll rely on the system, from farm to fork, to keep the pathogens off my plate to begin with.

Suzanne Schreck is the communications director of Marler Clark.  Since joining Marler Clark in 2002, Ms. Schreck has managed the firm's media relations and on-line presence, including the firm's websites and blogs.

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President Jon Wefald likes to remind me that Kansas State University will not be getting a hockey arena any time soon. I even gave him one of our collectors T-shirts (left, exactly as shown) and he said, no way.

Which is too bad cause one of our ideas to help finance the arena was the Safe Food Café, a restaurant and observational food service kitchen where we could videotape the food safety behaviors of employees and customers, and experiment with interventions.

Apparently the Dutch were listening in, and have come up with their own variation.

The Associated Press reported that a new research centre -- dubbed the "restaurant of the future" -- at the Dutch university of Wageningen will track diners with dozens of unobtrusive cameras and monitoring their eating habits.

Rene Koster, head of the Center for Innovative Consumer Studies, said,

"We want to find out what influences people: colors, taste, personnel. We try to focus on one stimulus, like light," as overhead bulbs switched through green, red, orange and blue. This restaurant is a playground of possibilities. We can ask the staff to be less friendly and visible or the reverse. The changes must be small. If you were making changes every day it would be too disruptive. People wouldn't like it."

University staff who want to eat at the new restaurant have to sign a consent form agreeing to be watched.

The new research centre -- which cost almost 3 million euros ($4.26 million) -- was set up in partnership with French catering group Sodexho Alliance and other companies interested in using the restaurant to test their products.

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The California Department of Food and Agriculture said that a Southern California couple is facing criminal charges after allegedly being caught with 375 pounds of “bathtub” cheese at an open-air market in San Bernardino County, says.

The illegal soft cheese products are known to cause serious illness such as listeria, salmonella or E. coli.

The 375 pounds of seized illegal cheese included panela, queso fresco and queso oxaca varieties, the CDFA says. It was a significant find, the department says.

Infants, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems are the most susceptible. Expectant mothers should be especially guarded, as the listeria organism can cause miscarriages.

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In a stunningly refreshing admission, Canadian Health Minister Tony Clement said Wednesday that Canada lags behind the rest of the world in its systems for ensuring food and products are safe, stating,

"In all seriousness, we have fallen behind the rest of the world when it comes to some of our enforcement."

Thank you. I've been saying the same thing for years.

However, the story says that in an effort to ease consumers' minds about food and product safety, the federal government has created a new website that will provide details about current recalls and problematic companies.

Enforcement requires more than a website.

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Students at one Putnam County high school in West Virginia walked out of school Monday morning and then came back to school after hours -- to clean.

One student was cited as telling 13 News Monday morning about 100 students refused to enter Buffalo High School after several confirmed cases of staph infection, including rumors that one student willfully contaminated areas in the building.

Senior Priscilla Blankenship said,

"It irritates me, and I'm outraged that I am a high school student. I come here to learn and I have to come and clean my own school to come into it -- to make it safe enough."

Assistant Schools Superintendent Robert Hull was cited as saying the school board has done all it can to keep students safe and the school clean, adding,

"We'll take whatever precautions are necessary, and we are following at this point every recommended precaution, which is routine cleaning and having children wash their hands and doing any cleaning of special areas if we know of an infected area."

Hull said a letter has been issued to all parents detailing the facts and that he hopes educating the community will calm people's nerves.

When someone says they are going to educate the public, things have really gone of the rails. People can be informed and compelled, but they educate themselves.

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