A court in Trelleborg, Sweden, has ruled that a woman's diarrhea was not a sufficient reason for her to break the posted speed limit while driving.

The district court rejected the 49-year-old woman's argument that she was forced to drive 53 mph in a 43 mph zone because of her digestive issues, Swedish news agency TT reported Thursday.

The court said the speed limit can only be broken in cases of emergency, which it defined as a danger to someone's life or to prevent a serious crime.

The woman was ordered to pay her speeding ticket.
 

In the fall of 1998, I accompanied one of my four daughters on a kindergarten trip to the farm. After petting the animals and touring the crops --I questioned the fresh manure on the strawberries --we were assured that all the food produced was natural.

We then returned for unpasteurized apple cider. The host served the cider in a coffee urn, heated, so my concern about it being unpasteurized was abated. I asked: "Did you serve the cider heated because you heard about other outbreaks and were concerned about liability?" She responded, "No. The stuff starts to smell when it's a few weeks old and heating removes the smell."

I repeat this story because it appears that several children have become sick with E. coli O157:H7 after consuming unpasteurized apple cider in Iowa.

As reported by The Hawk Eye, the number of confirmed E. coli cases in the area has grown to six, and it appears that unpasteurized apple cider is the culprit.

Patricia Quinlisk, medical director for the Iowa Department of Public Health, has said the source of a communicable disease will not be released unless it poses an immediate health risk to the public. The department has "made recommendations in the last several weeks" to prevent further cases of the disease, she said. …

Kaden Althide of Basco, Ill., and 7-year-old TiAhnna Bryant of Donnellson, said they believe their children encountered the disease from the same source during the weekend of Oct.4. …

For more than two weeks, both children have endured almost daily dialysis and surgeries, blood transfusions and ultrasounds, among other things. …

The Iowa Department of Public Health issued a press release Tuesday encouraging Iowans to avoid consuming unpasteurized juices and ciders because they can be linked with outbreaks of disease.

Who is that Hamm dude? He hosted Saturday Night Live, on Saturday, and his show, Mad Men, wrapped up Sunday night.

Included was a sketch for the fast-paced lifestyle, the one of eating on the run. Or with the runs. Jon's ham is on a roll in the bathroom across from the toilet paper. Sounds like listeria; or a new market for Maple Leaf Foods Inc., which posted a third-quarter loss this morning of $12.9 million.  Order now, and receive a free mustard soap. And remember, "if it feels like a slice of ham, don't wipe your ass with it."
 

I didn’t know C-store was short for convenience store – the kind at street corners and attached to gas stations. But that’s what you learn when you read Dean Dirks.

Dean says:

• In your weekly newsletters or communications with employees, post articles about other retailer’s misfortunes or law suits. The point isn’t to smear other retailers but to keep the fear in the minds of your team. Don’t let associates go a day without thinking about it. (check out our weekly food safety infosheets and subscribe for the free electronic distribution)

• Require your district managers, store managers and foodservice managers to become ServeSafe certified.

• Develop food safety audits to be completed daily at the store level and have regular audits completed at the district level. Record temperatures of refrigeration and product every four hours, date and rotate products, constant hand washing to name a few. All foodservice professionals know what needs to be done and inspected. The question being, are you doing it?

• Develop a food borne illness reporting procedure. Have a form on site that collects only contact information and train your associates to never comment other than to take the information. In addition, make sure the customer is given the corporate office’s contact information.

• Make it a policy that only the food service director or vice president (senior management) follows up on the call to the customer.

• If more than three customers call with the same symptoms then you legally have a food borne outbreak. The next step is to get the County Health Department involved. The worst thing you can try to do is hide it.

And as Sheetz discovered in a 2004 outbreak of Salmonella that sickened over 400 and was linked to tomatoes in ready-to-eat sandwiches, know your suppliers.
 

Think a few small bugs won’t hurt you?  Think again. Cockroaches are one of the most commonly noted pest insects.  They can cause chaos in the food safety standards of a restaurant because they transport harmful microbes on their body surfaces and through their droppings.  Cockroaches are also found to be a common allergen for humans.

Last week, after two previous warnings about cockroaches in the kitchen, food safety inspectors returned to a Sydney, Australia Pizza Hut only to discover a cockroach in the food preparation area of the kitchen.

The store was issued with a $650 fine for not taking steps to eradicate the pests, and a second fine for not having warm running water in the kitchen for staff to wash their hands...The Pizza Hut was one of 22 premises the Food Authority fined in its blitz in recent days, in which it issued a total of 27 fines.
They will join more than 175 outlets on the authority's website, launched last year to "name and shame" businesses that do not comply with NSW hygiene laws.

The best way to deal with cockroaches is to prevent them before they become present.   Keep kitchen surfaces clean and store food off the ground.  However, if a restaurant already suffers from cockroaches, the problem should be eliminated and the reason behind the infestation should also be addressed.  There are various chemicals and traps available for cockroaches, some more traditional than others.

For more information about cockroach infestations, visit: http://www.cdc.gov/nasd/docs/d001201-d001300/d001251/d001251.html
You can also view an FSN infosheet about cockroaches at http://bp3.blogger.com/_Pzk3AzZPULs/R1cP6_KHaiI/AAAAAAAAAFA/MwcjU8l0_y0/s1600-h/iFSN-infosheet-12-5-07.jpg

The gelato caper gripping Australia had several twists and a couple of great soundbites Tuesday morning (Australia time).

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that security camera footage of an incident in which staff at the Coogee Bay Hotel allegedly served a family a cup of gelato laced with human faeces shows the dessert being delivered to the family by the restaurant's manager. …

"She was concerned about the family's experience and she had the idea of offering a complimentary dessert to try and make some amends," said the hotel's general manager, Tony Williams.

Meanwhile, the family's lawyer, Steven Lewis, of Slater & Gordon, also rubbished newspaper reports the family had links to a rival pub as a "Kevin Bacon … six degrees of separation [defence]. My question is: 'Did Kevin Bacon put the faeces in the ice-cream?"'.

Stephen and Jessica Whyte, along with their three young children and another family, were at the hotel to watch the NRL grand final, but after a series of complaints became suspicious when they were given a free bowl of gelato. "The real issue is that we were fed, as a family, shit, at someone's pub," Mr Whyte told 2UE.

Yesterday the NSW Food Authority announced it was investigating, and the hotel's management confirmed it had contacted Maroubra police in preparation for possible criminal charges against anyone who might have tampered with food at the hotel.

Meanwhile, the head chef at the Coogee Bay Hotel, Adam Wood, who had tendered his resignation before the incident and had continued to work at the hotel for several weeks afterwards, offered to put himself up for DNA testing.

Mr Wood's arrival was trumpeted by the hotel's general manager, Tony Williams, in a media statement about the hotel's revamped beer garden this month.

"Executive Chef Adam Wood [was] poached from Japan where he headed up kitchens for the Swissotel, Osaka and Foreign Correspondent's Press Club of Japan in Tokyo and brings extensive five star international and three hat experience with him," the statement read.

Why he resigned only weeks after being heralded as the hotel's most senior chef remains unclear.

The Delaware County Health Department and others in Indiana are starting to crack down on food establishments that lack a policy of excluding employees from work if they have one of five illnesses.

The Star Press reports that during recent inspections, the county health department instructed the following establishments to have an employee illness/infection control policy in place by January: Gene's Lounge, Pilot/Subway in Daleville, McDonald's in Daleville, Byrd's Landing Bar and Grill, Cowan Elementary and High schools, Central High School, Daleville Elementary and High schools and Papa John's on Madison Street.

Robert Murphy, manager of the Fazoli's in Muncie, said,

"We have posted something in back that lets all employees know what the new policy is. It's really a good idea to post it so everybody knows about it. The flu season will be coming up before you know it."

Keith Ramsey, manager of MCL Cafeteria at Muncie Mall, said,

"We are in business to serve good, wholesome-cooked food to nourish bodies. If people are sick, they need to stay home."

The state health department says food service operators might not be comfortable discussing "private" matters like diarrhea, vomiting and boils, but for the spread of disease to be prevented, illnesses and symptoms must be discussed.
 

That story about the Whytes who found some brown in their ice cream at the Coogee Bay Hotel in Sydney, Australia will lead to a formal complaint and subsequent investigation by the New South Wales Food Authority.

To tackle the poopy publicity, the hotel hosted a press conference yesterday, and offered free ice cream to patrons.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports Monday morning that yesterday – they’re 14 hours ahead or something -- in the beer garden was just another sunny Sunday afternoon.

“Bevan Read, at lunch with his wife and three daughters, unknowingly took advantage of the free ice-cream offer. As the girls sat down to their bowls of vanilla ice-cream, a flash of horror passed across their mother's face as she heard the news. But after careful inspection, the girls were allowed to continue to eat.

Mr Read said, "We're pretty impressed they're putting on free ice-cream for the kids," before adding jokingly, "I'm just glad that I'm not having any."

Eddie and Lynne Sulkowicz had brought their granddaughters, Claudia and Alexia Karam, for a meal. They said they would probably still eat there but the girls' mother said they would not be having ice-cream. "At least not chocolate, anyway," Mr Sulkowicz added.
 

Two confirmed and two suspected cases of E. coli have been linked to the Little Red Rooster restaurant in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

The Niagara Region Public Health department, in Ontario, Canada, says  the owners of the Little Red Rooster voluntarily closed as of Friday for the safety of their clients and the general public. The owners have been co-operative with Public Health staff over the course of this investigation, and have provided full access for food sampling and a general inspection

If anyone has been suffering from bloody diarrhea and severe abdominal pain, with or without fever, between the dates of Saturday, October 11, and this past Friday you are asked to contact Niagara Region Public Health at 905-688-8248, or 1-888-505-6074, ext. 7330 (during business hours) or 905-984-3690 (evenings and weekends).