Chain Leader magazine reports that new kitchen employees at Fatz Café in South Carolina take a food-safety pre-test and must receive an 80 percent or higher before they can begin training. Workers take another practice quiz, then a final food-safety test. The company also promotes quarterly initiatives on food-safety topics that are discussed at the monthly operator-partner meetings. Handouts and new training tools are sent via mail and e-mail, and presented during pre-shift meetings.

Director of Training Sara Anderson said,

"We were already doing ServSafe [the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation’s food-safety training program] with our management, but we wanted to make sure that it was truly getting down to the front lines. …

"We really had to start marketing to them to get the buy-in on the importance of it. These habits take time to form. Educating people on why it’s so important has really helped make it happen and make it become real-life practices. We just keep adding more and more aspects of it. It’s become a part of our culture more than it ever was. … We’re sticking to basics and constantly talking about it."

Food safety information must be rapid, reliable, relevant and repeated. And to really create a culture that values microbiologically safe food, start marketing such efforts.

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The Manchester Evening News reports that in June 2006, eight people who dined at Fu's restaurant on Manchester Road, Mossley, U.K., suffered food poisoning and contacted Tameside Council environmental health department. Eventually, 12 complaints of salmonella were reported.

Environmental health officers visited, and found cooked duck stored in cardboard boxes where raw poultry had been, dirty chopping boards and no cleaning or drying equipment for the hand basin near the staff toilets.

Directors of the Cantonese restaurant pleaded guilty to eight offences under food hygiene laws at Tameside magistrates' court Dec. 28/07, and were fined £14,000.

A major shareholder was cited as saying he didn't ensure staff had sufficient hygiene training because he had been trading 22 years without a problem.

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning consumers not to eat raw oysters harvested from West Karako Bay, a section of Growing Area 3 in Louisiana. These oysters, harvested from Dec. 3 through Dec. 21, may be contaminated with norovirus.

Consumers who ate raw oysters on or after Dec. 3 and experienced these symptoms are encouraged to contact their health care providers and local health departments. Consumers concerned about the origin of oysters they have recently purchased should contact the place of purchase to determine if the oysters were harvested from the identified area during the Dec. 3-21 period.

FDA has received reports of norovirus infection in seven individuals who ate raw oysters on Dec. 13 at a restaurant in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Tennessee Department of Health's test results from two of the ill patients were positive for norovirus. FDA confirmed the presence of norovirus in shell oysters harvested from the West Karako Bay section of Growing Area 3 and were served at the restaurant. Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals closed the affected growing area on Dec. 21. FDA is working with the states involved to determine if any additional actions may be necessary to ensure public health protection.

The original shipper of the oysters is Prestige Oyster Company of Theriot, La. The company shipped the oysters to Bon Secour Fisheries in Bon Secour, Ala. Bon Secour Fisheries, in turn, shipped the oysters to the restaurant in Chattanooga. Considering the shelf-life of the product, it is possible that suspect oysters from the designated area are still available in other retail and food service settings.

FDA advises that it's always best to cook seafood thoroughly to minimize the risk of foodborne illness. Consumers can continue to enjoy oysters in many cooked preparations by following this advice:

At Restaurants and other Foodservice Establishments:
 0. Order oysters fully cooked.

In the Shell:
• Purchase oysters with the shells closed. Throw away any oysters with shells already opened.

To prepare oysters for eating, choose one of the following methods:
• Boil oysters until the shells open. Once open, boil for an additional 3-5 minutes.
• Steamer - add oysters to water that are already steaming and cook live oysters until the shells open; once open steam for another 4-9 minutes.
• Use smaller pots to boil or steam oysters. Using larger pots, or cooking too many oysters at one time, may cause uneven heat distribution, which may cause the oysters in the middle to not get fully cooked.
• Discard any oysters that do not open during cooking.

Shucked Oysters:
To prepare oysters for eating, choose one of the following methods:
 • Boil or simmer shucked oysters for at least 3 minutes or until the edges curl.
• Fry at 375 degrees for at least 3 minutes.
• Broil 3 inches from heat for 3 minutes.
• Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes.

For further information contact:
FDA Food Safety Hotline: 1-888-SAFEFOOD_FDA website: www.cfsan.fda.gov

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Proving once again that fancy food does not mean safe food, Your Local Guardian reports that of the 539 establishments rated in Merton, U.K. this year under the Scores on the Doors rating scheme, supported by the Food Standards Agency, 94 were given a one-star or "poor" rating and 31 were given a no star or "very poor" rating, making a total of 125.

The rating ranges from no stars for the worst levels of compliance, through to five stars for the very best standards of food safety management. A two star rating is defined as largely compliant with national requirements.

Jeff Ward, general manager of Cannizaro House Hotel, which received no stars, said

"We are the only four-star hotel in the area and have two rosettes from the AA. I was shocked by the rating. We have spent £20,000 on the kitchen since then and will be inviting the inspectors back to reassess us now."

Steve Barr, Secretary of London Scottish Golf Club, which received no stars, said, "We think the rating was unfair because we were in the process of changing our steward and caterers. We are very confident we will get a much better rating next time."

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Two elderly men died from listeriosis contracted from contaminated milk from Whittier Farms in Shrewsbury, Mass. in June and October. Just this week, state health officials warned consumers not to drink milk from the farm, while they investigated the source of contamination.

Officials today announced that the pasteurization process at the dairy was found to be working properly and that contamination must have occurred after the milk was pasteurized.

Doctor Alfred DeMaria, the state director of communicable disease control, says the dairy appeared to do everything right.

The dairy continues to suspend operations and work with officials to pinpoint the source of the deadly listeria.

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Amy and I are visiting family in Anoka, Minnesota, for a couple of days, and everyone gathered tonight for her grandmother's 85th birthday.

Oh ya, and the weather's always a popular subject, eh?

Same for Paul Smokov, 84, of Steele, N.D, who looks at pig spleens and predicts: "It looks like a normal year with no major storms. That's what the spleens tell me."

Smokov, who along with his wife, Betty, raises cattle on their 1,750-acre ranch north of Steele, says if the spleen is wide where it attaches to the pig's stomach and then narrows, it means winter weather will come early with a mild spring. A narrow-to-wider spleen usually means harsh weather in the spring.

Forecasters are calling for a normal winter -- matching Smokov's prediction.

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Neurotic is defined as, abnormally sensitive, obsessive, or tense and anxious.

This morning's Globe and Mail, out of Toronto, had a piece which said,

Today's food-safety connoisseurs do not count calories, but the number of days leftovers have been in the fridge, the temperature of a steak's core, and the number of hands they imagine may have handled a piece of fruit en route to their dinner plate.

And they are aided by a range of new gadgets that allow them to treat their kitchens like culinary laboratories under bacteria lockdowns.

... Brenda Watson, executive director of the Canadian Partnership for Consumer Food Safety Education, said she believes a degree of neurosis is necessary to prevent foodborne illness.

I disagree.

Douglas Powell, the Canadian-born scientific director of the International Food Safety Network at Kansas State University, said many people confuse the issues of food safety and food freshness.

“There are lots of things that are yucky but that won't kill you,” he said. “And there are lots of things that will kill you and you can't tell.”

In an effort to protect themselves, Dr. Powell said, some people make choices that have little to with preventing illness – such as buying organic produce – while neglecting behaviours that can truly protect them, such as the use of food thermometers and the proper storage of food.

“It's not simple, otherwise 11 to 13 million Canadians wouldn't be getting sick every year, which they are right now,” he said of food safety. “But the biggest risk is not eating anything. You can't be neurotic about it.”

Cautious, careful, choosey -- sure.

Neurotic? Not so sure.

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Or at least they did in this 2005 animation a couple of my former students, Christian and Heather, made up for a lab party.

Expect more video in the new year. Hope everyone enjoyed their day. Amy and I certainly did.

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Amy and I finally got around to watching Helen Mirren's Oscar-winning performance last night in The Queen, which documents the U.K. Royal family's initially stultified response to the death of Princess Diana in 1997.

About an hour later, I e-mailed Ben Chapman, and said this is a good study in risk communication, we can use it in the classes we teach.

Today, the 81-year-old Queen Elizabeth II once again proved herself adaptable -- at least more nimble than most American food producers, especially spinach growers -- and launched her own special Royal Channel on YouTube.

The Associated Press reports that the queen will use the popular video-sharing website to send out her 50th annual televised Christmas message, which she first delivered live to the nation and its colonies on Dec. 25, 1957.

I was born in 1962 in the colony of Canada, and it was a Christmas tradition when I was young to watch the Queen's broadcast on Christmas Day at my very English grandparents' house, and then cuddle up with my grandmother over a heat register behind the couch and watch the Toronto Maple Leafs -- the same Leafs who last won hockey's Stanley Cup in 1967.

Buckingham Palace said in a statement today,

"The queen always keeps abreast with new ways of communicating with people. The Christmas message was podcast last year."

On Tuesday, Queen Elizabeth II's annual Christmas speech can once again be downloaded as a podcast from www.royal.gov.uk. It also is being made available on television in high definition for the first time.

American baseball pitcher Roger Clemens has also continued his campaign to refute allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs on Sunday as he released a video and agreed to an interview that will air on “60 Minutes."

Kids love the video.

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