The New Mexico Restaurant Association (NMRA) is not happy with a proposal to switch the current green (pass)/red (fail) inspection disclosure system in Albuquerque to letter grades, reports KRQE.com.

Currently results of restaurant inspections are disclosed to the public using green or red stickers at the establishment, with similar in-compliance/not-in-compliance information available online.  The proposed change would provide consumers with more information than simply pass/fail, awarding establishments a letter grade -A,B,C or U (unsatisfactory) - based on the latest inspection scores.

But the NMRA is opposed to this, and released a statement on their website,

“A health department inspection sheet, while a matter of public record, is really a working document, a snapshot, that is provided by the health department to the restaurant owner and is not designed to serve as a guidepost to the general consumer as to the quality or purity of the food served in restaurants. The fact that a restaurant is open for business indicates that no health hazard exists at that establishment.”

I don’t see how that statement suggests why letter grades would be any different than the pass/fail disclosure system. And the part about “if a business is open there is no health hazard” – not sure about that either, since the association stated inspection is just a snapshot, so how can it ensure consumer safety at all times?

What the association should have suggested is that there is no evidence to support a letter grade system over a pass/fail system in conveying inspection results to the public. And some research indicates that consumers still think in terms of pass/fail, even with more complex disclosure systems.
 

I've been following food porn backlash in the UK as a result of an outbreak of something at quasi-celebrity Heston Blumenthal's restaurant, the Fat Duck.  Today Cold Mud picked up a blog post from one of the walking wounded who experienced  “two weeks of serious unpleasantness”.

The poster writes:

“The only things that felt a bit dodgy on the way down were the oysters. Neither of us is a huge fan, but we both ate them because we were determined not to miss out on anything. Anyway, we were eating in one of the most famous restaurants in the world so we were confident that there wouldn't be anything wrong with them."

I especially love this quote; it demonstrates the power of trust in food sources -- this guy is famous, I have a personal connection, I don't want to miss out, he wouldn't make me sick.

At the end of the post, the author discusses the lack of communication between the Fat Duck and ill patrons, and here's where it all goes really wrong for me:

“The next day I went onto the Fat Duck website and sent them an email. At that point the news bulletins were saying that 40 or so diners had been affected and I wrote something to the effect of: 'This has happened to us as well. We loved the meal and we’re not angry but count us among the walking wounded and let us know what's happening.’
“We received no reply so I wrote quite a long letter. I haven’t received a reply to that either. I’m appalled because I was so entranced by Heston Blumenthal and he comes across as being very decent and clever. We had been so ill and, at the very least, we expected some kind of acknowledgment.  We really thought they would be interested in what had happened to us."

Dude, Captain Food Porn Blumenthal, you need to respond to patrons who got sick at your restaurant. It doesn't matter whether contamination occurred in your restaurant, or if it was something contaminated prior to its arrival (Those dodgy oysters? Fresh sprouts? Whatever).  You are the face and brand associated with that meal. You have folks reaching out to you for info, or just to let you know what happened to them, you need to acknowledge it.  Tell them what you are doing to find out what happened, and how you manage food safety in your organization -- especially how you assess safe suppliers.

In last week's food safety infosheet  (you can download it here) we focused on the fallout of a Staphylococcus aureus outbreak associated with baked hams in Kentucky -- a 72-year-old man died and a wrongful death suit has been filed against the operator.  Outbreaks like this one, and the Fat Duck happen all the time. It is on operators to be proactively identify risks with their products, address them and prepare for when things go wrong.  And answer emails from ill patrons. And post something on your website about the outbreak -- have that stuff ready to go, because it's one of the first places people will be looking.

Epidemiological studies conducted in France show that beef burger consumption is the main risk factor of a serious disease caused by Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli bacteria or STEC.

A quantitative risk assessment for the consumption of beef burgers containing STEC by the Agence Francaise De Securite Sanitaire Des Aliments concluded that almost 50% of children under the age of 5 eat well-done beef burgers (as well as 29% and 24% of 5-10 year olds and 10-15 year olds respectively). The proportion of beef burgers consumed rare increases with the children’s age: 10%, 17% then 20% for each of the age groups defined (under 5, 5-10 year olds and 10-15 year olds). Regarding the effectiveness of cooking (a frozen beef burger being pan-fried and turned over once), it should be noted that cooking “rare” is associated with a percentage of STEC destruction of 0% to 87% ; “medium” 37% to 96% and “well done” 94% to 99.8%. Concerning the consumption habits that prevail in French households today, these results highlight the importance of the length of cooking on STEC destruction (currently not enough), and the hygiene of beef burger production.

A place to start might be to accurately define what rare, medium and well-done actually mean, as quantified by time and temperature

Eurosurveillance reports that the Netherlands experienced a nationwide outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157 with onset of symptoms from the end of December 2008 until the end of January 2009. A total of 20 laboratory-confirmed cases were linked to the outbreak strain, serotype O157: H-, stx1, stx2, eae and e-hly positive.  The investigation into the source of this outbreak is still ongoing, but evidence so far suggests that infection occurred as a result of consuming contaminated raw meat (steak tartare). 

An 8-year-old Wisconsin girl is heading to New York City next week to compete for a $25,000 college scholarship in a national peanut butter competition for her sandwich shaped like a hedgehog.

Jif peanut butter announced Tuesday that Alexandra Miller's sandwich created in the image of a hedgehog received enough votes in an online competition last month to earn her one of five finalist spots in the Jif Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest (the Jif website totally sucks and I can’t find the picture; it’s also quite sexist; here’s a hedgehog, right).

The recipe, dubbed The Happy Hedgehog, places 1 tablespoon of Jif Creamy Peanut Butter and 1 teaspoon of Smucker's sugar-free red raspberry preserve between two slices of whole wheat bread. It's cut into a circle, with the edges pressed together to seal it. Ten pretzel sticks form the hedgehog quills, and almond slivers create ears with raisins for eyes and a Bugle chip for a nose. The hedgehog is complete with raspberry fruit strip feet, and green apple slices with peanut butter piped on top for grass.

Will the gimmick help sales?

Americans bought 41.8 million pounds of jarred peanut butter in the four-week period ending Feb. 21 - 13.3 percent less than in the same period the previous year, research firm Nielsen reported Tuesday.

The period's sales were the lowest of any in the three years Nielsen has tracked the U.S. food, drug, and mass merchandisers segment, which includes Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation's largest retailer.

Executives said last month that they were seeing weakness in Jif sales because of the outbreak, even though Jif was not affected. The company ran ads in more than 100 papers and aired national consumers saying the Jif brand is safe.

But that safety data is not publicly available. The best food producers, processors, retailers and restaurants should go above and beyond minimal government and auditor standards and sell food safety solutions directly to the public. The best organizations will use their own people to demand ingredients from the best suppliers; use a mixture of encouragement and enforcement to foster a food safety culture; and use technology to be transparent -- whether it's live webcams in the facility or real-time test results on the website -- to help restore the shattered trust with the buying public.
 

Organic is an industry, just like any other industry. While the organic folks may have cornered the language involving sustainable, natural and healthy, they use the same promotional BS that any big food company would use.

That’s why they use pictures like the one, right, to portray the organic industry. I look at the picture and wonder where those hands have been and what kind of poop is being spread on that fresh produce.

The same organic  folks who criticize industry for putting out promotional brochures and information are guilty of … putting out promotional brochures and information.

Taste the Change: How to Go Organic on Campus, is described as “the nation’s first guide for students who want to bring organic dining to campus is now available for download. This ground-breaking student guide is dedicated to feeding the organic revolution on campus.”

I have no idea why a guide that includes “Media Outreach” and “Free Food Never Fails” is considered ground-breaking, but the new brochure does follow the equally abysmal, Organic: It’s Worth It. And once again, the organic folks explicitly state that organic is a production standard, not a food safety standard.

“Organic production is based on a system of farming that maintains and replenishes soil fertility without the use of toxic and persistent pesticides and fertilizers.”

The N.Y. Times pointed out the same thing a few days ago: organic does not mean safer; it’s a lifestyle choice. But the organics industry keeps hinting at health benefits.

“Organic agriculture minimizes children’s exposure to toxic and persistent pesticides in the soil in which they play, the air they breathe, the water they drink, and the foods they eat.”

As Katija and I pointed out in our 2004 paper, Microbial Food Safety Considerations for Organic Produce Production:  An Analysis of Canadian Organic Production Standards Compared with US FDA Guidelines for Microbial Food Safety,

“The production of safe food is the responsibility of everyone in the farm-to-fork chain. With established relationships between growers and regulatory infrastructure, the CGSB organic standard would be an ideal vehicle for providing organic growers with information and guidelines on identifying and controlling microbial hazards on their produce.”

Would be. All growers – organic, conventional and otherwise – need to focus on microbial food safety. There’s just too many people getting sick from the food they eat..
 

At barfblog we're all about community-generated content. It's fun when someone emails with a food safety-related story or a picture for us to share.  Today's content comes from a colleague and avid barfblog groupie who was driving through southern Georgia this morning and snapped the picture at right.

The pictured sign is posted at the entrance of a pecan and peanut company's roadside market/shop. All I know about this unidentified business is that it distributes stuff like raw, roasted and nut products all over the U.S. 

Sure, it's a good idea to keep dogs out of the food area of a store, but suggesting to take a walk in the orchard, an equally important food area, is kind of weird.

To me, it seems like the producer should be thinking their orchard is a food area as well. Sure, it's really tough to control birds, deer and feral pigs, but inviting dogs to take a dump in the orchard (something that is controllable) probably isn't a good idea.  In the climate of uncertainty around the effectiveness of pathogen reduction strategies in the nut industry, it's an especially bad idea.

Keep the dog poop out of the orchard.

In an attempt to upstage upset fast food patrons who call 911 when they don't get their McNuggets, lemonade, cheeseburger or proper garnish, a man in Peoria IL took the law into his own hands.

PJ Star.com reports that a McDonalds staff member was assaulted with an eggless McGriddle, after a customer, who purchased the breakfast sandwich, was angered by its lack of egg. 

Police were called to a West Bluff McDonald's restaurant early Saturday after an employee was allegedly assaulted with a breakfast sandwich.

About 5:20 a.m., a man at the drive-through window at 627 N. Western Ave. was upset his McGriddle sandwich didn't have an egg in it, the victim told police. She told the man she would correct the sandwich, but he became irate when the driver of the vehicle behind him honked at him to move.

The man then threw the hot, greasy sandwich at the 38-year-old employee's face, according to police reports. The man drove off before police arrived.

The woman refused medical attention.

I'm not a huge McGriddle fan, but I do really like those sausage and egg McMuffins.

Fewer than one in four consumers now believe the U.S. food supply is safer than it was a year ago, according to new data from the University of Minnesota's Food Industry Center.

That’s an awkward sentence. But not as awkward as the statement by study co-author Dennis Degeneffe , a research fellow at the center, who told a Minnesota paper that,

Even with low consumer confidence in food safety and intense media scrutiny of recent contaminations, it’s important for consumers to keep in mind that the industry as a whole is safe.

“The truth of the matter is, we have the safest food supply in the world, and it’s probably getting better with technology.”

Tell that to the sick people. And provide some data to back it up.
 

I’ve written extensively about the salmonella-related dangers of kissing pet turtles during my time as an emotionally-vacant adolescent.

Martin Armstrong, a member of the Fisheries Advisory Council, a life member in Trout Unlimited and a member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America, asks in The Advocate, ever watch a competitive angler on TV kiss a big fish that he just caught?

Did you ever kiss a big fish that made your day or, better yet, win a party boat pool?

Well, when you kiss that big fish you are risking contracting a bothersome intestinal parasite.

Giardiasis is a diarrheal illness caused by a microscopic parasite, Giardia intestinalis (also known as Giardia lamblia or Giardia duodenalis). Once a person or animal has been infected with Giardia, the parasite lives in the intestine and is passed in feces. Because an outer shell protects the parasite, it can survive outside the body and in the environment for long periods of time -- often several months or even a year or more.