Having never been to Texas, much of what I picture when I think of the state comes from creepy child pageant shows where mothers dress their daughters in outrageous outfits and coat them in self-tan. I should probably visit Texas just to dispel these odd visions.

When and if I do visit, I won’t be dining at La Cocina De Susana in San Antonia. According to WOAI.com, the Mexican-style restaurant has had three follow up inspections and multiple violations this year.

During a recent inspection, the health inspector found employees using grocery and black trash bags to store food. There was also no soap or towels at any sink in the restaurant for employees or customers to clean their hands.

All the violations added up to 48 demerits. Anything higher than 30 is considered a poor score.

Nearly eight months ago, the restaurant received 58 demerits on an inspection. Back then, evidence of roaches and rodents was found and the restaurant shut down to clean things up.

No one would speak with us on camera, but an employee did tell us they are continuing to work on all the problems.

Chapman is here in Manhattan (Kansas) for a couple days, delivering a seminar later today, hanging out at the Missouri-Kansas State football game tomorrow, and primarily helping plot our research and extension activities for the next few years.

We’ve both sired offspring in the past year-and-a-bit, so the issue of listeria and pregnant women has been a recurring theme – on barfblog.com, in research proposals, and in our microbiological nerd discussions.

Researchers from the University of Georgia reported in the journal, Risk Analysis, this month, that pregnant women may get ill from Listeria at lower doses than previously thought.

The risk of fetal or infant mortality among pregnant women who consume food containing 1 million cells of the food-borne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes in soft cheeses and other food is estimated at about 50 percent, suggesting five stillbirths potentially could occur when 10 pregnant women are exposed to that amount.

A previous risk assessment estimated more than 10 trillion cells would result in stillbirths to 50 percent of pregnant women exposed, researchers said.

"We're not saying there's a new epidemic here, we're suggesting we've come up with a more accurate method of measuring the risk and how this deadly bacteria impacts humans, especially the most medically vulnerable among us," study co-author Mary Alice Smith of the University of Georgia said in a statement.

When estimates are extrapolated from data in tests on laboratory animals, the results showed "Listeriosis is likely occurring from exposure to lower doses than previously estimated," Smith said.

That’s a convoluted way of saying Listeria happens, and it’s probably more deadly than anyone thought for developing babies. Given the ridiculously low levels of awareness amongst physicians, health professionals and expectant mothers, new messages using a variety of media are needed so parents-to-be are at least aware of the risks of certain refrigerated, ready-to-eat foods.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has estimated approximately 2,500 cases of Listeriosis occur annually in the United States, with about 500 cases resulting in death. In 2000, Listeria exposure resulted in a higher rate of hospitalization than any other food-borne pathogen and more than one-third of reported deaths from food pathogens, the CDC says.
 

Currently living in New Zealand, and having the opportunity to travel around it, I’ve seen my fair share of restaurant inspection grades. Like many other developed countries, letter grades displayed at a food business are popular here, and are meant to relay food safety information to consumers.

In the Auckland region, where many districts have a grading system operating, some districts require a food business to display a low grade for a period of time after they’ve been closed due to risk to public health.

From Stuff.co.nz,

The owner of a west Auckland restaurant forced to close in May because of an infestation of mice has been found guilty and fined.

Waitakere City Council staff carried out a routine inspection of Hobsonville’s Sanjang restaurant earlier this year and were shocked to discover a serious rodent problem among dirty, unhygienic conditions.

Council contract solicitor David Collins, said,

"The officer determined there was a risk of food contamination and required the premises to close.”

"The owner contracted a registered pest control firm who treated the property the same day… The premises were allowed to reopen with an E grading the following day after re-inspection."

Council environmental compliance spokesman Alan Ahmu says the restaurant was only allowed to reopen after it was thoroughly cleaned and had to display an E grade for the next two months.

Mr Ahmu says Sanjang has just passed a reinspection and is now B grade.

I’m still waiting to meet Bret, Jemaine or Rhys from the popular New Zealand show Flight of the Conchords, pictured right.
 

Amy, Sorenne and I spent a long last weekend in San Francisco, where Amy conferenced, I had some meetings, but mainly just hung out with the kid (three pirates and a little girl, right).

The washrooms at the San Francisco airport featured the Dysan airblade, billed as the “fastest, most hygienic hand dryer.” Says so right on the machine. And it’s certified by NSF as “tested, certified, hygienic.” Says so right on the machine.

My bowels are in a state of flux when traveling so I had several opportunities to try out the newfangled machinery, that sounds like an airplane is taking off below your fingertips.

We have maintained, based on our reading of the available literature, that proper handwashing, entails:

• wet hands with water;
• use enough soap to build a good lather;
• scrub hands vigorously, creating friction and reaching all areas of the fingers and hands for at least 10 seconds to loosen pathogens on the fingers and hands;
• rinse hands with thorough amounts of water while continuing to rub hands; and,
• dry hands with paper towel.

Water temperature is not a critical factor -- water hot enough to kill dangerous bacteria and viruses would scald hands -- so use whatever is comfortable.

The friction from rubbing hands with paper towels helps remove additional bacteria and viruses.

I did a cursory search to find some data on the Dysan thingy, and found a study comparing paper towel, regular blow dryers, and a Dysan-type jet dryer that was published in 2008.

Those authors state:

“The jet air dryer showed that there were significant differences (although not as great as for the fingerpads) between the towels and both types of dryer. Again, the superior performance of the towels in reducing bacterial numbers was confirmed. As for the fingerpads, the jet air dryer performed better than the warm air dryer in not increasing mean bacterial count on the palms as much but this difference was not significant.

“Therefore, the manufacturer’s claim that the tested JAD is the “most hygienic hand dryer” is confirmed, especially for fingerpads and assuming that the term “hand dryer” refers to electric devices only because its performance in terms of the numbers of all types of bacteria remaining on the hands of users compared to paper towels was significantly worse. …

“It is well known to microbiologists that air movements encourage the dispersal and transmission of microorganisms and increase the chances of the contamination of materials or persons in any situation. This makes paper towels, where little air movement is generated, the most hygienic option tested in this respect followed by the warm air dryer and, lastly, the jet air dryer.”

The friction from rubbing with paper towel is particularly effective at reducing microbial populations; yet many of these public bathrooms have signs proclaiming that electric dryers of whatever kind are better, and save the trees. Oh, and I should hear from someone at Dysan or NSF – public claims need to be backed with public data.

Maybe I’ll just stay at home.
 

Taking classroom pets home for the weekend was a kindergarten ritual 40 years ago, along with the scurrying to find the bunny corpse behind the couch and returning it to class Monday morning.

It’s not dead. It’s sleeping. Tuckered out.

Jerry Curtsinger of Louisville, Kentucky, thought it would be a good idea if his kids could bring home the green anoles, a type of small, green lizard, that are apparently science class favorites.

Curtsinger said the problems began two weeks after his kids took home two lizards from school.

"Caden, our youngest, he got sick, and he had a fever of between 101 and 102.”

In the weeks that followed, Curtsinger and his two other children also became violently ill. And he said the doctor's diagnosis was salmonella.

Curtsinger learned about three out of four lizards carry salmonella. So he brought his concerns to the Jefferson County Public School District.

Lee Ann Nickerson, a science specialist with JCPS, said JCPS has a standard letter that is sent to all parents when their children want to adopt any kind of class pet, which outline the guidelines of each adoption and give some caretaking tips. After the Curtsinger family's salmonella episode, a new warning was inserted into that letter in bold italics.

Those classroom pets are now on double secret probation.

Nickerson said JCPS has been using lizards to demonstrate habitats in science class for several years, and this is the first time anyone has contracted salmonella from them. She also noted that other common pets, such as dogs, can also carry salmonella. Like lizards, they're perfectly safe as long as you practice proper handwashing when you handle them.

I’m sure that’s tremendously comforting to the Curtsinger’s of Kentucky.

A couple of cool papers on Campylobacter were published last week -- one discussing outbreaks  of the pathogen in Australia (and the most common sources) and another suggesting that generic E. coli is a lousy indicator of campy in water.

In the first paper, Outbreaks of Campylobacteriosis in Australia, 2001 to 2006, researchers looked at 33 outbreaks of campylobacterosis between 2001 and 2006 resulting in 457 probable and 147 confirmed illnesses. These outbreaks only captured 0.1 per cent of laboratory confirmed outbreaks suggesting that sporadic cases are much more problematic than outbreaks. The group found that commercial settings were implicated in 55 per cent of the outbreaks, and the most common suspected food vehicle was poultry (41 per cent of outbreaks). Salads were also suspected in two of the outbreaks.

In the second paper, Thermotolerant Coliforms Are Not a Good Surrogate for Campylobacter spp. in Environmental Water, researchers in the former home of the Nordiques, Quebec, analyzed over 2400 samples of river water from 25 sites over a two year period. The samples were tested for the presence of indicators (thermotolerant coliforms and generic E. coli) and Campylobacter. The group found that there was a weak association between the distributions of Campylobacter spp. and thermotolerant coliforms and between the quantitative levels of the two classes of organisms. Their results suggest that sampling water for thermotolerant coliform does not provide a good indication whether or not Campylobacter is present.

This is important information for the produce industry which, as the first paper shows, plays a role in Campylobacter infections. By testing water for common indicators, producers and packers may be missing campylobacter risks entirely.

A good way to get campylobacter? Use raw chicken to reduce swelling.

A worker at Lucas Oil Stadium, home to Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League, told WXIN she’s blowing the whistle on continual food safety issues at the stadium.

"The pictures are actually showing mice droppings in the food pantry, on the floor, on the shelves, on the counters, there's been some on the carts. I brought these pictures forward because I felt people should know where their food's coming from. It's not safe."

Fox59 contacted Centerplate, the caterer for the stadium, but they did not respond.

Centerplate Catering and Lucas Oil Stadium have been cited for food safety violations dating back to 2008. In January 2009, health investigators found dead rodents hadn't been removed from food service areas. In March, investigators found mice feces by coffee urns. In April, a report showed mice running through a Stadium Kitchen. In September, there were violations for improperly storing toxic materials and for "unsafe food" that wasn't being kept cold or hot enough at Lucas Oil.

If a company making ready-to-eat refrigerated deli-meats has a “strong culture of food safety,” would an employee shake a broom over a line of processed product?

If more inspectors are the answer to safer food, why would the inspectors need publicly reported accounts of foodborne illness and death to try harder?

And if the company and inspectors are doing lots of tests to ensure enhanced food safety, why aren’t they bragging about it instead of requiring an Access to Information request by a media outlet to discover that inspectors continue to find problems with Maple Leaf Foods infamous Bartor Road plant in Weston, Ontario.

Last night, Steve Rennie of The Canadian Press reported that Canadian federal food safety types found a troubling lack of hygiene at Maple Leaf Foods’ Toronto facility just weeks after it reopened last year from a temporary shutdown for cleaning – after 22 people were killed and 53 sickened with listeria linked to deli meat.

A Canadian Food Inspection Agency inspection report dated Oct. 10, 2008, found:

• slime on part of the meat-trimming table in the curing room;
• meat debris on two steel container bins and unidentified debris on the brine tank in the curing room;
•a moist and mouldy cardboard sheet on the base of a skid in the curing room that holds bags of salt;
•mouldy caulking on the walls of the meat-defrosting room;
•a stack of dirty, mouldy and broken skids left in the frozen packoff room during cleaning;
• food debris on knife holders, floor and meat containers in the formulation room; and,
• rust on equipment used to process mock chicken.

The Canadian Press obtained that inspection report and others under the Access to Information Act.

Another report says during visits on Oct. 20 and 21, an inspector watched as "an employee in a grey jacket lifted a floor broom over a finished food product conveyor belt during operation to sweep in between the conveyors." (No additional information as to whether the product was packaged or not).

Then on Oct. 22, the inspector saw a worker using a forklift to move ready-to-eat link sausages from the cooler to a line for packaging. The report notes the meat at the bottom part of the lift "was not protected for the potential wheel over spray or splash cross contamination."

That part is gross. And unacceptable.

On Aug. 23, 2008, (barfblog.com passim ad nauseum) Maple Leaf CEO Michael McCain took to the Intertubes to apologize for an expanding outbreak of listeriosis that would eventually kill 22 people. As part of his speech, McCain said that Maple Leaf has “a strong culture of food safety.”???

On Aug. 27, 2008, McCain told a press conference, ??????“As I've said before, Maple Leaf Foods is 23,000 people who live in a culture of food safety. We have an unwavering commitment to keep our food safe, and we have excellent systems and processes in place.

Dr. Randy Huffman, Maple Leaf’s chief food-safety officer, took to his company’s Journey (worst band ever)-inspired Journey to Food Safety Leadership blog to say today,

“The average reader must be wondering how this plant could have so many issues only a month after re-opening from causing one of the worst food safety crises in Canada.”

I’m not sure what he means by average. I consider myself dull and below-average; does that mean I won’t be able to understand what he is saying?

Huffman: Over the past 12 -14 months- since these inspections were conducted - we have invested over $5 million in upgrades at the Bartor Road plant. This includes repair of floors and wall surfaces, air handling systems, caulking, better separation of raw and cooked areas of the plant, new pallets and new slicing and packaging equipment. We have implemented over 200 new operating procedures.

Why did it take 22 deaths and 53 illnesses to make this food safety investment?

Huffman: CFIA generates these reports and so does Maple Leaf, through our own inspections across all our plants. We welcome this government scrutiny.  Canadians hold us to a higher standard, as they should.

So why did the reports have to be obtained through an Access to Information request, and why doesn’t Maple Leaf just sidestep the government and make the reports public, along with other data, as it becomes available, to build trust with the buying consumer?

Would more inspectors have helped? Maybe if they were looking. Federal food inspection union thingy Bob Kingston said,

"In a normal operation that had not been through what they had been through, that might be a common occurrence. But in this facility, it's very surprising that that would still be there. Because you would expect it to be spotless."

The best food producers, processors, retailers and restaurants will 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.

And the best cold-cut companies may stop dancing around and tell pregnant women, old people and other immunocompromised folks, don't eat this food unless it's heated

A couple who were upset at the owner of a Mexican restaurant were charged today with deliberately sickening dozens of patrons by spiking the salsa with an insecticide.

The Capital-Journal of Topeka (Kansas) reports today that Arnoldo Bazan, 30, and his wife  Yini De La Torre, 19, both of Shawnee (Kansas) and both in clear violation of the half-your-age-plus-7-rule for relationships, have been charged with mixing Methomyl into salsa served to patrons at Mi Ranchito restaurant in Lenexa (Kansas),.

That’s good for one count of conspiring to recklessly endanger other people by conspiring to tamper with a consumer product and two counts of tampering with a consumer product.

U.S. Attorney Lanny Welch explained Thursday that Bazan was employed at a Mi Ranchito restaurant in Olathe until June 27. De La Torre was employed at the Mi Ranchito in Lenexa until Aug. 30.

The indictment alleges Bazan perceived the owner of Mi Ranchito restaurants was responsible for Bazan losing his job and his vehicle. Bazan and De La Torre devised a plan to use a Methomyl-based pesticide to poison patrons of the restaurant in hopes the owner of Mi Ranchito would be blamed and suffer financial harm.

In July, Bazan followed the owner of the Mi Ranchito restaurant, Welch said. An anonymous notice was sent to the Mi Ranchito Web site threatening harm if Bazan's vehicle wasn't returned. On Aug. 10, De La Torre is accused of placing Methomyl into the salsa at the Mi Ranchito restaurant in Lenexa. On Aug. 11, 12 patrons immediately suffered nausea, abdominal cramps, weakness, sweating and discomfort.

On Aug. 28, Arnoldo Bazan sent word to the owner of Mi Ranchito by way of another person that "the worst" was yet to come, Welch said. On Aug. 30, De La Torre again placed Methomyl into salsa at the Mi Ranchito restaurant in Lenexa. On that day, 36 patrons immediately suffered nausea, abdominal cramps, weakness, sweating and chest discomfort.

On Sept. 8, Bazan reportedly told De La Torre not to speak with law enforcement investigators or she would suffer physical harm.

Welch said the following agencies took part in the investigation: the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Office of Criminal Investigation, the Environmental Protection Agency's Criminal Investigation Division, the Lenexa Police Department, the Johnson County District Attorney's Office, the Kansas Department of Agriculture, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, and the Johnson County Health Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Rask is prosecuting.