As I’ve said before, I’m not a fan of raw seafood.

Medical examiners in Florida say a Florida man who was a passenger and died suddenly following a high speed chase with police, had a deficient liver and was killed by Vibrio vulnificus in raw oysters he had eaten earlier.

Meanwhile, Mahogany clams served at Hinerwadel's Grove in North Syracuse, New York, have been found to contain two bacteria, including campylobacter. So far, 236 people have been sickened. The investigation continues.

A KFC manager hurled cooking oil, gravy and a metal chip drainer at a customer who complained after a server insisted he could only have two breasts and a leg in his meal, screaming,

"You'll get what you're given” and calling the customer a "motherf***er."

The Mirror reports that stunned families watched on in disbelief.

Police were called and both men were arrested at the restaurant and given £80 fixed penalty fines.

The customer said,

"That was the most expensive fast food meal I ever had. I got a battering from the Colonel. I just can't believe how rude the KFC staff were. The manager was swearing at me and insulting my mum. When I swore back it became a free for all. I was no angel in all this and responded when sworn at. But I'm now pursuing KFC for compensation for my ruined clothing."

The 26-year-old manager has been suspended while KFC bosses carry out an investigation into the incident at Ealing, West London.

Amy and I were in Kansas City and surrounding area last weekend. We’re working with some high school kids in Olathe, Kansas, which is geographically to Kansas City what Brampton is to Toronto, except a lot nicer.

Sunday we had some time, checked out the big city baby stores for the impending birth, and I found out everything I knew 20 years ago was completely irrelevant, so we went to dinner.

The meal came with a hot pepper on the side of my fish and veggies. Having flipped through some food porn – is there a better way to watch than fast-forwarding – I thought I heard that the hot part was in the seeds and stems, and if trimmed away, the hotness would be more manageable.

I was wrong.

So was Andrew Lee, 33, who challenged his girlfriend's brother to a contest on September 19 to see who could make and eat the hottest sauce.

He died.

The forklift driver from Edlington, West Yorkshire in England, made a tomato sauce with red chillies grown by his father, but after eating it suffered intense discomfort and itching.

Mr Lee went to bed and asked his girlfriend, Samantha Bailey, to scratch his back until he fell asleep.

When she woke in the morning he was dead, possibly after suffering a heart attack, The Guardian said.
 

Not deliberately dumb, or deliberately daft, but deliberate with intent for death – or at least dysentery.

Sweden’s security service Säpo is investigating possible sabotage following an incident which left 140 people at the headquarters of Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Svenskt Näringsliv) suffering from dysentery.

The victims, which included employees of the association, its members, and other guests, all suffered from the illness caused by the Shigella dysenteriae bacteria after eating in the office’s cafeteria several weeks ago, reports the Veckans Affärer magazine.

According to the Metro newspaper, the group claiming responsibility for the attack is a left-leaning, internet-based forum which had previously staged demonstrations outside of the association’s headquarters.

In Texas, an IHOP restaurant has been closed three times in the past five months for repeated occurrences of what health investigators call a rare Salmonella, type C; over 10 people have been sickened.

Group C is a strain that researchers and health officials hardly ever see and it's so powerful it clings to surfaces and is more resistant to disinfection.

Police have been called in to help with the investigation.
 

The Public Health Agency of Canada, still smarting from criticism over its absence  in the listeria outbreak, decided to show up Sunday night and advise Canadians about melamine, and a North American-wide Salmonella Poona outbreak

In Canada to date, there have been 6 cases spread across Manitoba, Quebec and Nova Scotia with the same genetic fingerprint, and 14 other suspected cases in Ontario.  No one has been hospitalized so far.  There have been 48 cases reported in the U.S.

The cause of the potential outbreak is not known at this time.  Provincial laboratories and the Agency's National Microbiology Laboratory are conducting ongoing analyses to determine if other Salmonella Poona cases share the same genetic fingerprint as those identified thus far.  The number of cases associated with this outbreak may increase as the investigation continues. … The Agency will keep Canadians informed as new information becomes available.

Salmonella Poona has been associated with outbreaks in cantaloupes and turtles. Given the outbreak of Salmonella – strain not yet identified in U.S. reports -- involving pet turtles and up to 100 Americans announced last week, it’s probably the same outbreak.

But with the Public Health Agency of Canada who knows.

Don't kiss turtles.

On the same day that congressional investigators cited shoddy oversight of produce processing operations, wholesale, bagged iceberg lettuce appears to be the culprit in the Michigan E. coli O157:H7 outbreak that has sickened at least 26 people.

“Some of the 26 Michigan cases consumed shredded or chopped iceberg lettuce in restaurants or institutions purchased from Aunt Mid’s Produce Company, a Detroit-based wholesale distributor; and other distributing outlets could be identified. Product trace back and additional tests results are still in progress.

“Our top priority at the Michigan Department of Community Health is to protect the public,” said Dr. Gregory Holzman, chief medical executive for MDCH. “We appreciate all of the assistance from Aunt Mid’s. They have been very helpful in this investigation. We want to ensure that the public’s health and well-being is protected. Even though the investigation is ongoing, available evidence is strongly pointing to iceberg lettuce.”

Wouldn’t it be nice if just one public health official in Canada had a similar statement – our top priority is to protect public health – during the listeria outbreak that has killed at least 18?

Although I do have some concerns about statements from Michigan State University physician Beth Alexander, who tonight said,

“We will continue to be as cautious as possible, until this issue is completely resolved.”

This is the same MSU physician Beth Alexander who said on Sept 16, 2008,

“Generally, the infection isn’t serious. It’s usually caused by food or water that has been contaminated with that bacteria.”

The eight MSU students who were hospitalized probably thought it was serious.

Further, a press release from MSU tonight said,

“The one food item typically associated with E. coli outbreaks is undercooked hamburger. Health officials advise all chefs to cook their hamburgers until the juice runs clear.”

I’m not sure what that has to do with lettuce. And color is a lousy indicator for judging whether meat is done or not – a digital, tip-sensitive thermometer is a must. Cooking until the juices run clear seems reckless rather than cautious.

Alexander also stressed that thorough hand washing remains the most effective way of fighting communicable diseases, and,
 
“Always wash your hands before preparing any foods. Make sure your countertops are clean and don’t do any food preparation if you are sick.”

Again, I’m not sure what this has to do with lettuce. Doesn’t instill a lot of confidence in the ability of MSU food service to provide safe food – no matter how much Spartan spirit they have. Maybe MSU should be examining their food procurement policies. If this is what a top-10 land grant university produces, maybe those rankings don’t mean too much.

A table of at least 28 previous North American outbreaks of shiga-toxin producing E. coli, like O157:H7, is available at:
 
http://foodsafety.ksu.edu/en/article-details.php?a=3&c=32&sc=419&id=903
 

The Swiss restaurant hailed as the inspiration for PETA’s plea to Ben and Jerry’s to replace the cow’s milk in their ice cream with human breast milk is facing legal action if it continues with its plan to use breast milk purchased from new mothers in its soups and sauces.

The public was startled by Hans Loucher’s newspaper advertisements to new mothers to purchase their excess breast milk for $14.50/liter (or about $3.50 per 8oz. baby bottle) for use in his restaurant, the Storchen, whose name ironically refers to a stork in English.

“The mother’s milk is the most natural thing in the world – how can anyone be against it?” Mr. Loucher asked the Times Online. “I served the meals to my friends without telling them about the new ingredient and the feedback was excellent.”

Of course, being a “natural” food does not make it free of disease-causing microorganisms. It would be very difficult to regulate how the milk was handled before purchase by the restaurateur, and it is not likely he possesses the equipment necessary to pasteurize it before use.

Last week, as reported by the Times Online, the canton’s food regulatory body ruled that Mr. Locher would not be able to store the human milk properly nor guarantee that it was fresh and safe for consumption, since the product was not a registered or regulated food. Along with the Association of Swiss Milk Producers, Zurich’s food regulator has threatened lawsuits against Mr. Locher and anyone who provides human milk for his cause.

Some of you may remember the 2004 International Association for Food Protection meting in Phoenix. At a local supermarket I found this sanitizing system for shopping carts displayed prominently. That’s when I started to think, maybe food safety can be marketed.

A few months later and I was in the Gold Coast, Australia, for a food safety meeting. I told one journalist about this new trend I’d observed –always gotta be trendspotting – of more prominent use of sanitizers in grocery stores.

That turned into,

“Doug Powell, a food safety expert from Canada, says a decision to put hand wipes in supermarkets and provide sanitising towels for shopping trollies has been successful in reducing the number of food poisoning cases in the US and Canada.”

And it ran all over Australia.

So I wrote a letter which was published in the Sydney Morning Herald and read in part,

“The use of hand wipes in supermarkets and sanitizing towels for shopping carts has been experimental at best in the U.S., and has not and cannot be correlated with any reduction in foodborne illness (Shoppers urged to clean hands to wipe out food-borne diseases, October 11/04, Sydney Morning Herald).

“However, as the Food Safety Information Council correctly noted, and as I stressed during the interview, any measure -- whether on the farm, in processing, at food service, in the home, and yes, at retail -- that can enhance food safety awareness should be explored and encouraged.”

Now it appears some such work has been done.

USA Today reports today that supermarkets and other retailers that provide shopping carts are increasingly looking to limit germ exposure for customers and their families.

“A ShopRite supermarket in Passaic, N.J., installed a push-through cleaning machine on Tuesday that sprays each shopping cart between uses with a misty peroxide solution to kill bacteria, according to Jim Kratowicz, president of PureCart Systems, the manufacturer of the machine. …

“Studies conducted in 2006 and 2007 by FoodNet found riding in a shopping cart beside meat and poultry is risky for infants under six months.

“Doing so triples the chance they may contract salmonella and quadruples it for campylobacter, a diarrhea illness, according to Olga Henao, an epidemiologist for the CDC.

“Infants can become ill when they transfer bacteria from the packaging into their mouths, Henao said. Also, if raw juices leak out onto the cart, it can create a bacteria risk for the next infant in the cart, she said.”

Trendspotting is just so hip. Here’s Demetri Martin with his own trendspotting.
 

I'm a self-described food safety nerd. I don't hide from this obsession, I embrace it.  But my fixation on everything food safety has led to much stress lately -- for the past 9 months my food safety spidey-sense has been heightened more than normal as Dani and I have been expecting a baby.

And he finally arrived last week.

Our little dude, Jack Neil Chapman, showed up Friday morning at 4:11am (Yes, the Neil part is named after the greatest Canadian singer/songwriter, Neil Young -- I'll fight anyone who disagrees, Ari Gold style, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGVoLsDS3t8&e)

Throughout Dani's pregnancy I became the food police in our house -- no soft cheeses or cold deli meats made it to Dani's plate, most didn't even make it in the house. Everything (and I mean everything) has been temped during cooking. I read pretty well every paper I could on listeria, and Doug and I discussed the merits of broad food surveys and listeria growth in blue-veined cheese. It was a bit ridiculous, but I hear that first time parents sometimes can be obsessive.

During the recent Canadian listeria outbreaks I selfishly felt vindicated for keeping the products out of our house -- our view was that no matter what type of food safety system food processors had, we weren't taking the risk. Maple Leaf is a huge company that can afford lots of food safety controls, spoke about their commitment to food safety, and even used the food safety culture term Doug and I are so fond of. But 18 people have so far died from listeria in their products.

When I held Jack for the first time, about 30 seconds after he was born, I first thought "Wow, you're tiny and light, and you don't smell as manky as I had thought you would" and soon after I thought about the parents, people just like us, who have been recently affected by listeria.  The victims include at least one miscarriage and  six babies born prematurely in Quebec resulting from the consumption of soft cheeses. A 6-week old Manitoba infant born with a listeria, not linked to either Maple Leaf or Quebec soft cheeses outbreak, also died last week. Those are the ones we know about.

And then I realized that, although I thought I did a great job managing risks in our house, I and the rest of the food safety world have probably failed many out there who haven't reduced risks.  Not the individuals who made the choice to eat risky foods, but the parents who have never heard about listeria, the ones who ate risky foods without knowing that listeria is 20 times more likely to infect pregnant women or that listeria infections during preganancy are likely to cause miscarriages or stillbirth.   Who knows what effect our risk-reduction practices had on Dani's pregnancy. Maybe things would have been fine without being so strict, but we weren't interested in taking the chance.

I'm all about informed decisions around risk. I even think there is a place for raw milk consumption for adults.  But we had the info to make the decisions.  Info that came from a variety of places (for us it was primary resources, outbreak reports and review papers). Other parents rely on food safety professionals, like the health authorities, for info.

Last weekend was all about Jack, and I didn't get back into reading FSNet until yesterday morning (I'm getting quite good at holding him and reading emails at the same time) and I came across Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. David Butler-Jones’ advice concerning listeria, including the below:
*Wash your hands. This will help avoid many kinds of infections. Wash your hands in warm soapy water before preparing food, afterwards, and again before eating.
*Read labels and follow cooking and storage instructions for all foods. Make sure to check the “best before” date.
*Freeze or consume leftovers within four days of cooking. Always reheat leftovers until steaming hot before eating.
*Keep refrigerators clean and at a temperature below 4 C, or 40 F. Listeria can grow in the fridge, but the colder it is, the slower it grows. Install a thermometer in your fridge to be sure.
Those tips apply to all of us, all the time, and not just during an outbreak.

There are so many holes in his list of advice, many have nothing to do with listeria, and I don't think there is evidence that supports many of his statements. Following the list of consumer blames, Butler-Jones did get into listeria with feel-good language: "For seniors, pregnant women, and those with weakened immune systems, or for those serving or caring for anyone in these groups, some extra precautions are very important as [various] foods pose some risk."  He ended his advice with "these steps form a simple approach to food safety."

The most important message missing from his list was: Don't eat this stuff unless you are cool with the risks.

I sent an email to Doug (the subject line was "what a f*ing joke"), saying where was Dr. Butler-Jones when the outbreak was announced a month ago.  Did it really take a month for his staff to wake up and get some info out there?  A question echoed in the upcoming Canadian Medical Association Journal which says that the Public Health Agency of Canada should be the primary source of information for the public during a crisis and that Canada's chief public health officer has not been the lead voice to inform the public.

So I guess my preachy message is along the lines of don't eat poop (especially baby poop, though Jack's hasn't started to smell yet).We need to do a better job of creating a dialogue around food safety risks with specific target audiences -- especially those at higher risk for foodborne illnesses.  And though the bureaucrats talk a lot, they need to be the real leaders in information -- and forget about the fuzzy language that will make the minister happy.  Tell people to stay away from the risky stuff.