Brian for Cornell University alerted me to a new video that appeared on CNN this morning.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat/2008/01/05/mi.cat.poo.coffee.beans.wzzm

Cat poop coffee, or kopi luwak -- otherwise known as the most expensive coffee in the world -- is, according to wiki, coffee made from coffee berries which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus). The civets eat the berries but the beans inside pass through their system undigested. This process takes place on the islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago, and in the Philippines (where the product is called Kape Alamid). Vietnam has a similar type of coffee, called weasel coffee which are coffee berries which have been defecated by local weasels. In actuality the "weasel" is just the local version of the Asian Palm Civet.

Lots has been written about cat poop coffee, but here's a more graphic representation from a few months ago.




And don't eat poop.

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Do you like pictures of celebrities vomiting, people picking their noses, kids on the toilet, poop, puke, barf, vomit, diarrhea and the squirts? We do, and, we've found that many food handlers do as well.

Through iFSN's infosheets, we try to put a compelling spin on food safety information, attempting to draw in even the laziest, creepiest and stonedest of food handlers. That's why we use skulls sometimes.

The infosheets are received by 300 direct e-mail subscribers, over 7,000 FSnet subscribers, and are distributed by many public health inspectors and environmental health officers during inspections and food handler courses (if you want to subscribe to receive infosheets directly, e-mail bchapman@uoguelph.ca).

Each sheet contains information about a recent outbreak coupled with recommendations on how a food handler or operator can avoid the same problems in their business. Some of the largest food service, retail and food processors in the world use our infosheets on a weekly basis and the feedback we've received has been awesome. One company said they changed their food safety training to all-infosheets, and they knew it was working when they overheard employees talking about the stories during lunch breaks. That contributes to a culture of safe food.

Still, we need your help to keep going. Each week the guts of the infosheets are generated by fabulous undergraduate and graduate students who pull news and find great stories, search out gross (and sometimes disturbing) pictures, and help create the framework for the sheets.

And as one of our biggest fans, an environmental health officer, wrote in response to this infosheet:

“Now that's some funny stuff! Those folks at iFSN have a great sense of humor. This is obviously no dry and boring government info.”

If our funding goes away, we'll be forced to start making cheaper infosheets that contain dry and boring government info. Please help us avoid that; there's already too many bureaucrats in the world. Send money.

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During the holidays I heard a couple of barf stories that were attributed to uncertain causes. At the same time, Doug and I were laid up with the flu for about two weeks, neither of us really puking but feeling exhausted, nauseated with chills and muscle aches. One woman said she had the flu, too … that it came on really fast, was coming out both ends, and then she felt better the next day. I asked her, “Are you sure it wasn’t foodborne illness?” “Might’ve been…” she replied thoughtfully, probably going over the list of things she had eaten. Another friend just got back from Chicago – a trip that she said was ruined by her husband puking his guts out. They thought it was the Polish buffet because while he chose some foods, she had others, and she assumed something he ate was off. Might’ve been. But how do you know when it’s food poisoning and when it’s the flu?

The following list of flu symptoms, which I looked up while I was laid up on the couch over break, comes from the CDC :

Influenza usually starts suddenly and may include the following symptoms:

    * Fever (usually high)
    * Headache
    * Tiredness (can be extreme)
    * Cough
    * Sore throat
    * Runny or stuffy nose
    * Body aches
    * Diarrhea and vomiting (more common among children than adults)

Flufacts.com suggests you know the FACTS (Fever, Aches, Chills, Tiredness,
Sudden symptoms)

If you have foodborne illness, the FDA’s Bad Bug Book gives a comprehensive list of suspects by symptom and time of onset. It can be a little more complicated to diagnose as some toxins, such as shellfish toxin, can have an onset of diarrhea and vomiting in under an hour whereas salmonella takes on average 2-4 days to produce possible symptoms of abdominal cramps, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, chills, malaise, nausea, and/or headache.

Foodborne illness is not usually (although sometimes can be) caused by the last thing you ate, and the flu does not usually (but sometimes can) produce vomiting and diarrhea in adults. Next time you’re puking your guts out, if you can manage to concentrate, you might have to make a longer grocery list of items in your diet. Was it what you had three days ago? Might’ve been.

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I’m a senior in Marketing and Spanish at KSU.

When I’m not fighting in the trenches of Hale Library jacked up on coffee, I pull news for iFSN.

Being a business major, the world of food safety was quite foreign to me until I joined the network. Now you can find me patrolling the local bathrooms lecturing on the importance of proper handwashing. I am also the marketing coordinator for the KSU Student Union and one of the tasks I have incorporated into my position is writing articles regarding food safety in the K-State student newspaper, the Collegian.

Expanding our knowledge about food safety is key to making this network grow and prosper. Through donations and other helpful contributions to the network we can make this food-addicted country safer, one bite at a time.

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Doug is going broke.  Not personally, but iFSN is beginning to hurt for money.  Over my years as an undergraduate news puller and graduate student I've benefitted from you, our generous readership, and I figure it's time to try and generate some cash and replenish the reserves for the next generation of iFSN.  Here's my message: Please continue to give.

We do good work, always trying to chase down the most up-to-date food risk information from around the world, provide our pithy commentary and conduct reality-based research.  We've posed as shoppers in grocery stores, watched hundreds of hours of celebrity chefs, watched consumers prepare food and now have cameras up in kitchens to evaluate training interventions.  We really do care about this stuff.

Being around iFSN for as long as I have has given me an appreciation for all the behind-the-scenes labour that goes into our activities, and since Doug's move to Kansas State we've attracted another fantastic crop of undergraduate and graduate students to help carry it out. iFSN is all about developing keen, creative and passionate students who are committed to reducing the risks of foodborne illness.  Past members of the iFSN family have gone on to be faculty members, industry leaders, and yes, surprisingly, some even work as regulators. So your support of the iFSN has a reach far beyond just our group.

Oh, and Doug gets grumpy when money gets low, so donations make our lives easier (and we can focus all the cool things we do).

We can't offer you any DVDs of British comedies or Ken Burns documentaries like they do on PBS, but we can offer a very cool Don't Eat Poop or barfblog tshirt in exchange for your support.  They are really stylish as well, so not only will you be helping iFSN, you'll be dressing better (and I've met many of you, you need all the help you can get).  So please continue to give.

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ConAgra announced Nov. 14, 2007, that it was starting to manufacture Banquet pot pies again, and by early December they were available for purchase.

On Oct. 11, 2007, ConAgra announced it was recalling all of its frozen pot pies to fix some label discrepancies. This was two days after an outbreak of Salmonella was linked to Banquet pot pies and the company reassuringly told consumers that getting sick was their own fault and they should be more careful and cook pot pies thoroughly.

In the end, at least 272 people in 35 states had trouble simply cooking the pot pies and got sick with salmonella.

As I documented before, the instructions on the pot pies weren't so great.

The old labels had statements about how easy it was to cook in the microwave. The new labels are much more explicit, saying the pot pies need to be cooked in at least a 1100 Watt microwave and that a meat thermometer should be used in several places to ensure that an endpoint temperature of 165 F has been reached.

I bought some of the new and improved pot pies and did the same cooking experiment, following what ConAgra called " redesigned easy-to-follow cooking instructions … to help eliminate any potential confusion regarding cooking times."

After four minutes in a 1150 Watt microwave, the interior of the pot pie registered at about 50F. After letting it sit for an additional three minutes -- as per label instructions - the temperature varied anywhere from 75 - 190 F.

I decided to cook an additional two minutes.

After six minutes of cooking, and the previous three minutes of resting, the pot pie had tremendous variation in temperature: anywhere from 200F down to 100F.  165 F is required to kill Salmonella.
I wouldn't want my kids popping these in the microwave after school.

ConAgra has never come clean on which various ingredients may have been the source of the Salmonella. Was it the poultry? How about the vegetables? The pie crust? ConAgra won't say.

Further, were the new labels tested with consumers? There is a lack of research examining whether safe food handling labels perceived as effective translate into actual safe food handling behavior, including the use of proper thawing and cooking techniques, the use of measures to minimize cross-contamination, and the use of meat thermometers to confirm doneness.

If I was a multi-million dollar corporation like ConAgra headed to a dance with food safety lawyer Bill Marler cause my product made people barf, I'd want some evidence that pot pie fans where actually following the instructions on the labels. I would have tested the new labels with at least 100 teenagers -- those afflicted with hormones and horniness -- before introducing it to the mass market.
Maybe they did. But that's up to ConAgra to prove.

And until they do, all products that claim to be safe in the microwave should contain nothing but fully cooked ingredients.

That's the only way to get the poop out.

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