May 2010

  • Food safety at the salad bar

    Posted: May 7th, 2010 - 1:53pm by Guest Blogger

    Author: 
    Guest Blogger

    (Long before an outbreak of E. coli O145 was linked to romaine lettuce served at salad bars, Food Safety Reporting student Reggie Stimpson (right, exactly as shown) set out to document food safety practices at some Manhattan (Kansas) salad bars. Reggie describes himself as new to food safety reporting but a vigorous eater. Currently a Kansas State University student living in Wichita, Kansas, he hopes to one day graduate and pay off his student loans before death – dp)


    MANHATTAN, KS -- On my 16th birthday my mom got me a job at a large grocery chain, and I continued to work there for another 6 years. During lunch breaks I often found myself at the salad bar looking for something light to keep me going during the remainder of my shift. At the time I knew very little about food safety.

    I assumed if it was there for the taking, it had to be safe.

    Assumptions can be dangerous in the world of food safety. How can anyone truly know how safe the food at the salad bar is? The procedures of the salad bar staff are unknown to customers. Furthermore, the customers themselves can cause safety problems.

    Researchers at the University of California watched salad bars to see sanitary practices and found that 60 per cent of the customers committed at least one infraction in serving themselves at the salad bar. These included: spilling food around containers; dipping their fingers into salad dressings for a sample lick; eating from their plates while waiting in the serving line; and ducking their heads underneath the sneeze guard (clear plastic roof) for better access to the food.

    All these are just the infractions that take place at the salad bar, but what about the safety of the raw ingredients?

    How fresh are the salad bar items, and how long can food be out safely on the bar? What are the protections against airborne contaminants, and contamination of the bars’ contents by the workers and customers? And, most importantly, what are the criteria the answers to these questions are based on?

    These are some of the questions I set out to find answers to. Some of those answers may surprise, some may be exactly as assumed.

    According to former Dillons Grocery salad bar worker Shauntae Richardson it all depends on what you consider fresh.

    "What we usually did with the fruits and vegetables is chop them up and place them into dated bins before storing them in a refrigerator," Richardson said. “The dates on the bins would be sort of like a expiration date, with four or five days being the cut-off. So on the third day it wasn‘t as fresh as it was on the first, but it was still fresh.”

    The dated bins are replaced daily after the bar closes, a ritual meant to insure further safety according to Richardson.

    “We would put them in a fresh, clean container so the food wouldn’t just sit in the same spot for days,” she explained. “Which would leave me with a mile-high stack of dishes to do every night.”

    According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) perishable fresh fruits and vegetables can be best maintained by storing in a clean refrigerator at a temperature of 40° F or below. Temperature is also an important component to salad bar safety. According to the FDA’s food safety website (http://foodsafety.gov/) bacteria grow most rapidly in the range of temperatures between 40 ° and 140 °F, doubling in number in as little as 20 minutes. This range of temperatures is often called the "Danger Zone."

    “I would monitor temperatures every two hours to make sure [items] weren’t warm,” said Richardson. “At Dillons we didn’t have a “Danger Zone” we had the “Safe Zone” which was the ideal temperatures for certain foods.”

    Fresh produce does not mean new produce.

    “Before I actually worked in produce I thought fresh meant it was picked, washed, and cut that day,” said former Super Target produce worker Brandon Cornwell.

    Dates and refrigeration are not the only tests of freshness used at salad bars. According to Cornwell workers are asked to use their senses: “We would touch it, smell it, look at it, and taste it everyday before we put it out.”

    According to Richardson different products required different tests.

    “When we had watermelon on the bar and it was getting close to expiring you would know because it would start to get real mushy,” she explained. “Pineapples you have to eat because they would still be firm, but taste sour.”

    Richardson believes that eventually workers began to make assumptions on the freshness of food based on past experiences.

    “Normally the strawberries would be the first to go bad. Then it was the melons, like honeydews, cantalope, and watermelons. So if the strawberries were still good I wouldn’t even check the melons yet,” she said. “And I wasn’t the only one.”

    Even the most basic of food safety procedures, like wearing gloves and washing hands, can be taken for granted.

    “I would see people wearing the same latex gloves all day,” Cornwell said. “We cut meat, like the chicken for the salad, and they had on the same gloves.”

    Richardson agrees: “Yeah, I saw that. We had a sign that told you all the things you can touch that would force you to change gloves: meat, skin, hair, clothing... I probably changed gloves like 10 times a day. I was also given a lovely hair net to minimize the chance of hair getting into the food.”

    When asked whether any of these procedures were backed up by research or proof neither former employee knew.

    “I just did what I was told,” Cornwell explained.

    For example, when used for food safety, hairnets serve two purposes. The first is to keep hair from contacting exposed food, clean and sanitized equipment, utensils and linens, or unwrapped single-service articles. The second is to keep worker's hands out of their hair.

    However many may be unaware there are different types of hairnets. O.R. caps provide maximum protection, making them ideal for use near exposed food products. Mesh hairnets release body heat, but are not for use in direct food contact areas. When asked, Richardson said she believed her hairnet was mesh, but wasn’t sure.

    There was a time when I assumed if it was there for the taking, it had to be safe. I assumed that the salad bar was emptied daily, the contents thrown out, and every morning it was re-stocked with new items. I was wrong.

    I would not eat at a restaurant if I knew the cook would not eat there. I would not ride in a plane that a pilot found unsafe. So it finally came time to ask the big question: would a former salad bar worker eat from the salad bar?

    “One day out of the week we dumped everything on the bar in the trash and started again with all fresh products,” Richardson answered. “That was usually the only day I ate from the salad bar.”

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  • Six Salmonella sicknesses linked to raw milk in Utah?

    Posted: May 6th, 2010 - 9:09pm by Doug Powell

    The Salt Lake Tribune reports that public health and agriculture officials are investigating six cases of salmonella they believe were caused by drinking unpasteurized milk.

    Lance Madigan, spokesman for the Utah County Health Department said milk samples are being tested for the bacteria at the state's public health lab, with results due next week, adding,

    "It's a known issue that unpasteurized milk will carry a lot of different things, including Campylobacter, E. coli and salmonella. We're investigating other possibilities but that's the suspicion at the moment."

    The sick range in age from a toddler to a 56-year-old.

    The milk was bought in Orem and Heber at Real Foods Market, said Madigan. The stores stopped selling the milk last Friday.

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  • Freshway Foods geographically challenged, tries to communicate about E. coli O145 crisis

    Posted: May 6th, 2010 - 3:38pm by Doug Powell

    lettuce.skull_.e.coli_.O145.jpg

    Freshway Foods has recalled romaine lettuce products sold for food service outlets, wholesale, and in-store retail salad bars and delis after links with over 50 sick people in Ohio, Michigan and New York were established. On May 5, 2010, the New York state Public Health Laboratory, Wadsworth Center, in Albany reported finding E. coli O145 in an unopened bag of Freshway Foods shredded romaine lettuce being recalled.

    When the recall press release was issued by Freshway Foods around noon today, it said,

    The recalled romaine lettuce products were sold to wholesalers and food service outlets in the following states east of the Mississippi river: Alabama, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The recalled romaine products were also sold for distribution to in-store salad bars and delis for Kroger, Giant Eagle, Ingles Markets, and Marsh stores in the states listed.

    Amy pointed out, since when in Kansas east of the Mississippi river? Someone else e-mailed me to say the same thing about Missouri. I called Freshway Foods and asked, why are Kansas and Missouri on the list, since they are west of the Mississippi (see, according to their own map, left, the company stops moving product at the river). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration press release about the outbreak repeated the same geographical nosestretcher. Given the states listed, should Dillons supermarket, in Manhattan (Kansas), owned by Kroger, be dumping their salad bar? The dude said, uh, good point, thanks, someone will get back to you.

    That person just called, so at least she called back. Unfortunately, she seemed confused (understandable, given the situation, but that’s why everyone in the food system should be prepared for these sorts of things).

    The nice lady said, we distribute a few other products into Missouri and Kansas but not romaine lettuce. … Oh, we do send romaine lettuce to a couple of distributors in Kansas City, Missouri.

    Sigh.

    FDA said today that multiple lines of evidence have implicated shredded romaine lettuce from one processing facility as a source of infections in a multistate outbreak to which this recall may be related.

    To date, 19 confirmed cases of E. coli O145 illnesses have been reported from Michigan, Ohio, and New York. These illnesses include 12 individuals who have been hospitalized, and three with a potentially life threatening complication called hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).

    The evidence includes preliminary results of product traceback investigations that indicate:
    • the shredded romaine lettuce consumed by ill persons in three states originated from one processing facility;
    • preliminary results of a case-control study in one state that found a statistically significant association between E. coli O145 infection;
    • ingestion of lettuce from the same processing facility; and,
    • recovery of E. coli O145 from an unopened package of shredded romaine lettuce from the same processing facility that was obtained from a food service entity associated with the outbreak.

    On to the harder questions. Did the contamination occur at the plant (unlikely) or in the field, and where was the stuff grown? It should be easy to figure out where the stuff was grown because, as Freshway proclaims on its website,

    We can ensure complete product traceability all the way back to the field. We also exceed the minimum standards with over 30 audits per year conducted on our facilities and growers from firms like Cook and Thurber, Primus, as well as many of our customers’ own quality assurance teams.

    Food safety starts on the farm. A table of 34 previous outbreaks involving leafy greens like lettuce and spinach is available at:

    http://bites.ksu.edu/sites/default/files/lettuce-outbreaks-table_0.pdf

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  • New Food Safety Infosheet: Romaine lettuce linked to E. coli O145 outbreak

    Posted: May 6th, 2010 - 3:08pm by Ben Chapman

    Author: 
    Ben Chapman

    Freshway Foods of Sydney, Ohio is voluntarily recalling products containing romaine lettuce with a use by date of May 12 or earlier because they may be contaminated with E. coli O145. The products were sold under the Freshway brand and Imperial Sysco brand.

    Illnesses associated with this outbreak have been centered in the North East and Midwest U.S. To date 60 indviduals have been confirmed ill.

    The special edition food safety infosheet is a 3-page sheet with all of the recalled products attached.

    Click here to download the infosheet.

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  • Romaine lettuce linked to E. coli O145 outbreak; over 50 people sick; where was lettuce grown?

    Posted: May 6th, 2010 - 12:58pm by Doug Powell

    Romaine lettuce appears to be the vehicle for E. coli O145 which has sickened over 50 people, primarily at university campuses in Michigan, Ohio and New York.

    Cross-contamination was unlikely in this scenario because students in different states got sick at the same time, and investigators said early on that beef was an unlikely vehicle.

    Freshway Foods of Sidney, Ohio, just announced it is voluntarily recalling products containing romaine lettuce with a use by date of May 12 or earlier because they have the potential to be contaminated with Escherichia coli O145 bacteria. The products were sold under the Freshway brand and Imperial Sysco brand. The company is working with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to inform consumers of this recall.
    This recall includes romaine lettuce products sold by Freshway Foods for food service outlets, wholesale, and in-store retail salad bars and delis; no other products are involved. Freshway Foods does not produce bulk, prepackaged romaine or bagged salad mixes containing romaine for sale in supermarkets.

    The recalled romaine lettuce products were sold to wholesalers and food service outlets in the following states east of the Mississippi river: Alabama, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. The recalled romaine products were also sold for distribution to in-store salad bars and delis for Kroger, Giant Eagle, Ingles Markets, and Marsh stores in the states listed.

    (Note, as Amy pointed out, I'm not sure what genius wrote this press release, but Kansas is west of the Mississippi river, not east. Does that mean Dillions in Manhattan, Kansas, owned by Kroger, should be cleaning out its salad bar?)

    The recall comes after FDA informed Freshway Foods the afternoon of Wednesday, May 5 that a previously unopened product sample in a New York state laboratory tested positive for the bacteria. Freshway Foods traced the entire lot of romaine products and is advising customers to cease use and distribution of it immediately. This recall may be linked to an outbreak investigation in New York, Michigan, and Ohio.

     

    Now, where was the romaine lettuce grown?
     

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  • Slough takeaway fined over £3,000 for food safety violations

    Posted: May 6th, 2010 - 8:26am by Doug Powell

    The Slough Observer, in the town of Slough, on the outskirts of London, reports a takeaway owner who failed to keep his food premises clean has pleaded guilty to seven offences in court and fined £3,015.

    Mohammed Shahid, director of Star Karahi Limited, Herschel Street, appeared at Maidenhead Magistrates Court on Friday last week and was charged with failing to keep food premises clean; failing to effectively clean equipment which food came into contact with; failing to keep articles and equipment which food comes into contact with in good order, repair and condition to minimise any risk of contamination; failing to maintain equipment in good order, repair and condition where it is kept clean and where necessary disinfected and failing to protect food from contamination which could render the food contaminated in such a way it would be unreasonable to expect it to be eaten.

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  • Top-8 countries for barfing while on vacation

    Posted: May 5th, 2010 - 3:53pm by Doug Powell

    It's a fact of the traveller's life that you're going to get sick while you're on the road.

    So writes Ben Abraham in the Sydney Morning Herald’s travel blog, which follows below.

    Peru

    There's some great food in Peru - ceviche is like God's gift to tongues. But uncooked fish isn't always the best thing for travellers, and there's some other stuff there that can make you violently ill. And it's not what you'd expect. I ate a guinea pig and was fine. I ate a hamburger and spent four days lying in a hotel room sweating like Renton's cold turkey scene in Trainspotting.

    Vietnam

    The first sign is the butcher on the side of the road with his wares laid out in bamboo baskets. Refrigeration's not big here. Then there are all the weird and wonderful things that are just eaten as a matter of course. Washed down with home-brewed street beer.

    Uganda

    It may not be typical, but the sickest I've ever been was in Uganda, and I assume it was something I ate, so that's what I associate the place with. For the record, the toilet blocks of a Kampala campsite aren't the best place in the world to spend your much-anticipated holiday.

    Nepal
    I've never actually been to Nepal, but I'm yet to meet anyone who hasn't come back from there without a horror story. My friends Russ and Rox had an unfortunate case of dual food poisoning in Kathmandu, and found that nothing brings a couple closer together than having to stand outside the bathroom waiting for your partner to finish vomiting so you can go in and have your turn.

    Italy

    Not food poisoning, as such. I just ate so much I felt sick. Every night.

    Bangladesh
    I love street food, and never had a bad experience in India, so when I visited Bangladesh, I was keen for some more of that action. That is, until the girl I was staying with put me off slightly. "See the open drains running next to them on the street," she said, pointing near the vendors' carts. "Where do you think they get their cooking water from? Don't. Eat. The street food." Plus, giardia is rife.

    China

    You can travel relatively safely in China. You can order food you recognise, or just spend your time solely at that bastion of communist ideals, KFC. Or, you can take a chance, and give everything a shot. Most of it will be delicious. But I defy anyone to plow through an entire Sichuan meal without it doing some atomic damage to their insides.

    Thailand

    There's a problem with Thai food: it all tastes so good. Meaning, you want to try everything. Every bizarre morsel you find in street stalls and markets and restaurants looks like it has to be eaten. The end result will be a few hours riding the porcelain, but it's usually worth it.

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  • Food poisoning in Paris – A Brit’s perspective

    Posted: May 5th, 2010 - 3:26pm by Doug Powell

    Halifax, U.K., marketing consultant and Twitter fanatic Rachel McAlley writes in her blog for the Evening Courier that,

    I toddled off to Paris for a romantic weekend back in early March and what a culinary mistake that was.

    On the very last evening of my trip I started with a fever, then sickness, and didn't have a clue what was wrong with me until my boyfriend said it was food poisoning.

    As it turns out I've never really experienced proper food poisoning before, this was a killer. I couldn't walk, started to hallucinate, was violently sick (and the other end), and to top it all off I kept passing out!

    After somehow making it to the airport, I don't remember getting there, or boarding the plane or the actual flight. I do however remember continually passing out and wanting to curl up on a cold floor to sleep for a very long time.

    The next five days are a blur, plenty of doctors, lots of drugs, the loss of 12lbs, no food, more sleep than ever before, and the diagnosis of Campylobacter enteritis. This was the killer!

    It's the middle of April and I feel like I've lost a whole month of my life from eating a piece of diseased chicken whilst on the Champs Elysee in glorious Paris. Maybe I'll have a romantic weekend in Scarborough next time.

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  • Are taco trucks inspected?

    Posted: May 5th, 2010 - 2:38pm by Doug Powell

    A reader writes Medford’s Oregon’s Mail Tribune to say:

    I think taco trucks serve a better lunch than fast-food chains. But I don't see any listed with your restaurant inspection scores. Does anyone regulate them, or should I eat at my own risk?

    Chad Petersen, an environmental health specialist who inspects "mobile food units" for Jackson County Health and Human Services, responded,

    "They're basically a restaurant on wheels.”

    Like bricks-and-mortar restaurants, the county's 100-some mobile ones are licensed and inspected every six months. You don't see their scores with other eateries' because Oregon law doesn't require they get one.

    "They're kind of on a pass-fail basis," Petersen says.

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  • Costa strikes: Orlando s Action 9 investigates dirty dining

    Posted: May 5th, 2010 - 12:43pm by Doug Powell

    WFTV -- Action 9 in Orlando, Florida – goes behind the kitchen doors of local restaurants, where state inspectors kept finding conditions that could make somebody sick. Have these restaurants cleaned up their act?

    I love the erstwhile drama of local news.

    Bugs crawling on dish towels; raw fish on the floor; cooked food at risky temperatures. Those are some of the conditions Action 9 uncovered at local restaurants that had routinely failed state inspections.

    Retired state restaurant inspector Roy Costa (right, exactly as whown) joined Action 9’s Todd Ulrich inside the kitchen at Dim Sum Feast near Orlando.

    Just three months ago, the state shut Dim Sum Feast down temporarily after an inspector found raw waste water on the floor and employees tracked it through the kitchen.

    While Action 9 saw improved conditions, the inspector found big problems remain. He said shrimp thawing in stagnant water and frozen chicken stacked on racks could breed bacteria.

    In the cooler was uncovered, uncooked meat that was stored over ready-to-eat food and that leads to cross contamination. Costa spotted undiluted bleach in a bottle to spray counters. He called that extremely risky.

    “[He] sprays it on a food contact service area and prepares something and soaks it and then serves it to somebody,” Costa explained.

    New China Buffet is a restaurant that flunked seven state inspections in two years and it would have failed Action 9’s test again.

    Managers at New China Buffet and Dim Sum told Action 9 they've improved and their kitchens are safe.

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  • Diarrhea strikes wedding guests in Vietnam

    Posted: May 5th, 2010 - 8:16am by Doug Powell

    Amy’s brother got married in Vietnam. I don’t think there were any food issues, but diarrhea at a wedding doesn’t sound good, what with the white dresses and all.

    Unfortunately for guests at a wedding feast in Bac Ly commune in Ly Nhan District, 47 of them developed acute diarrhea. Health workers are trying to monitor an additional 63 guests, while determining if the source was food.
     

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  • There’s a lot of poop moving around Kansas City transferring Shigella with it

    Posted: May 3rd, 2010 - 2:50pm by Doug Powell

    amy.sorenne.handwashing.jpg

    The Kansas City Missouri Health Department reports the metro area has seen some 300 cases of Shigellosis this year – when there usually are a dozen.

    Jeff Hershberger said 75 per cent of the nearly 300 cases in the KC area have involved children 10-years-old and younger, and that the bacterium targets daycare centers, adding,

    "People are usually good at washing their own hands after changing a diaper. But, they don't remember to wash the child's hands."

    And those same children can then possibly spread those germs to you at your local supermarket. They can spread those germs by touching produce.

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  • Fewer food violations in school cafeterias

    Posted: May 3rd, 2010 - 1:02pm by Rob Mancini

    Author: 
    Rob Mancini
     
     
    Cafeteria food inspections tend to have fewer critical violations than let’s say your full scale service restaurant due to minimal food preparation involved. Everything is essentially pre-packaged and heated in a microwave prior to service or deep fried for the non health-conscience consumer. As such, cafeteria food operators need to pay attention to effective hand washing as well as verifying internal cooking temperatures of what actually goes in the microwave. Food products that are generally cooked in the microwave are initially frozen and thus may not achieve the desired temperature that will inactivate food borne pathogens and keep you from barfing.
    I thought this article was interesting as I just returned from the Twin Cities from a fantastic concert (Jonsi).
     
    The Duluth News Tribune reports
     
     
    Inspections of school cafeterias turn up far fewer problems than inspections of restaurants and convenience stores, say the people who probe the pantries, refrigerators and sinks of local schools.
    Government inspection reports of several area school districts for the past three years showed only a few incidents that would make you say: “Ewww.”
    Reasons for violations include: expired freshness dates for products, dented cans, rotten vegetables, a lack of hand-washing or glove changes between tasks, thawing and refreezing pizza, water not hot enough and milk not cold enough.
    “Typically, schools are pretty good inspections for us,” said Brian Becker, an environmental health specialist with the Douglas County Department of Health and Human Services. “They are well-trained, maintained; they’ve had their staff for a while. Oftentimes in other industries in food, you’ll see a higher turnover.”
    School cafeterias must be inspected twice a year. Most schools this year had low numbers of critical violations — those that can lead directly to food-borne illnesses — or none at all. Non-critical violations — of which there were higher numbers — don’t directly cause illness; they often relate to equipment or flooring. But even they can lead to food-borne illness.
    Improper hand-washing is the practice most potentially harmful to the health of students in cafeterias, said Ryan Trenberth, supervisor of the Duluth District Office of the Minnesota Department of Health, which has taken over for St. Louis County inspections.
    “We’re finding that’s how most viruses get spread,” he said. “Sick employees … not hand-washing, or cross-contamination going from a raw product to a ready-to-eat product.”
    Neither inspector could remember any food-borne illnesses spread in school cafeterias in Douglas or St. Louis counties.
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  • Boston area boil-water advisory affects two million plus; 10 years of food safety for me

    Posted: May 3rd, 2010 - 12:22am by Ben Chapman

    Author: 
    Ben Chapman

    I'm a sucker for the cliche of anniversaries and today is sort of a big one for me. Ten years ago today I started pulling news in the Powell lab, seeking out the raw stories that made up listserv postings for the precursor to bites, FSNet. Pulling news then meant scouring newspaper websites and manually searching news wires for anything food risk-related. Now, we've got google alerts, twitter and RSS feeds.

    About three weeks in, I fell in love with the content and became hooked on food safety communication. That's when an E.coli O157 outbreak linked to Walkerton Ontario's town water system hit. I was already interested in disease (maybe it was because of Outbreak or the Hot Zone?), but the coverage and discussion within the Powell lab around Walkerton (how the outbreak was handled and communicated to the folks drinking the water) drew me in. The outbreak started with few reported illnesses and a boil-water advisory was issued. In the end, seven died, over 1300 were ill and many who have long-term health issues related to the outbreak will continue to feel the effects for years.

    This weekend, a precautionary warning about the water supply in parts of Massachusetts reminded me of the Walkerton situation. Not so much the tragic aspects revolving around the illnesses, but issues like the best ways for public health officials to get information out to residents and how anyone making food deals with not having potable water.

    According to Boston.com, a major water pipe which supplies Boston and about 30 other communities sprung a leak yesterday prompting a boil-water advisory for over two million residents, businesses and institutions.

    Governor Deval Patrick declared a state of emergency and issued a "boil-water" order for the Boston Area "The water is not suitable for drinking. ... All residents in impacted communities should boil drinking water before consuming it," he said at a news conference this afternoon. Patrick said the state had asked bottled water companies to make more water available in the state and emergency drinking water supplies could also be made available to the affected communities through the National Guard.

    People flocked to stores to buy bottled water when they heard the news. In Lexington, an hourlong run on water cleared a supermarket's shelves. In Boston, Mayor Thomas M. Menino declared a state of emergency and took a number of steps to inform residents, including reverse 911 calls and sending officers into the streets with bullhorns. Downtown restaurateurs declared the boil order a major inconvenience.

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  • Harvard Faculty Club still closed after norovirus sickens over 300

    Posted: May 1st, 2010 - 11:10am by Doug Powell

    The Harvard Faculty Club, home of a norovirus outbreak that sickened 308 people in late March and early April, remains closed and no one is sure when it will reopen.

    Louise Rice, senior director of public health and school health nursing for the Cambridge Public Health Department, told The Cambridge Chronicle,

    "They’ve done a very thorough cleaning at this point and they have done retraining of their staff.” Rice also said the city's Inspectional Services Department recently toured the facility and gave the club a passing grade.

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  • CDC investigators to lead study into E. coli O145 coutbreak; at least 47 sick in 3 states

    Posted: May 1st, 2010 - 10:53am by Doug Powell

    Misti Crane of the Columbus Dispatch reports this morning that federal health officials will investigate an outbreak of E. coli O145 with cases involving college students in Michigan, New York and Ohio.

    Because E. coli O145, a relative of the more common shiga-toxin producing E. coli O157:H7, is not routinely tested for, health types hope an epidemiological investigation will help pinpoint the suspected food vehicle.

    In Feb. 1995, E. coli O111 took the life of a 4-year-old in Australia as part of an outbreak linked to fermented sausage. And in Aug. 2008, E. coli O111 was responsible for hundreds of illnesses and the death of 26-year-old Chad Ingle (right) who had all dined at the Country Cottage restaurant in Locust Grove, Oklahoma.
     

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