What does a veterinary/public health student do when his mom is in town from South America? Takes her, his wife, sister and sister's fiancé to Olive Garden, because “when you are here, your are family."

Maybe throw in a little Bed, Bath and Beyond (it’s across the parking lot).

When it was time to put our leftovers in boxes, not only did the server bring the boxes to our table to do the transfer – which avoids the risk of cross-contamination in the Olive Garden kitchen – they also wrote the date on it (right, exactly as shown). However, multi-state chains can do better when it comes to food safety.

Powell et al. developed this label (left) years ago. It lists the temperature at which the box should be stored, reheated, and guidance on when to discard. I may know these things, but maybe not everyone does because, as Steven Seagal said in Under Siege 2, “assumption is the mother of all f**k ups.”

The last thing I want is a barfing mom, or barfing pregnant wife, or barfing sister or barfing sister’s fiancé. One barfing dog is enough.

Assessing management perspectives of a safe food-handling label for casual dining take-out food 
01.oct.09


Food Protection Trends, Vol 29, No 10, pages 620-625


Brae V. Surgeoner, Tanya MacLaurin, Douglas A. Powell


Abstract
:  Faced with the threat of food safety litigation in a highly competitive industry, foodservice establishments must take proactive steps to avoid foodborne illness. Consumer demand for convenience food, coupled with evidence that consumers do not always engage in proper food-safety practices, means that take-out food from casual dining restaurant establishments can lead to food safety concerns. A prescriptive safe food-handling label was designed through a Delphi-type exercise. A purposive sample of 10 foodservice managers was then used to evaluate the use of the label on take-out products. Semi-structured in-depth interviews focused on the level of concern for food safety, the value of labelling take-out products, perceived effectiveness of the provided label, and barriers to implementing a label system. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed, and the data was interpreted using content analysis to identify and develop overall themes and sub-themes related to the areas of inquiry. It was found that labeling is viewed as a beneficial marketing tool by which restaurants can be differentiated from their competitors based on their proactive food safety stance.
 

Byron Truglio, the retired chief of the FDA’s Seafood Processing and Technology Policy Branch, writes:

The Food and Drug Administration is charged with protecting consumers from hazards related to seafood products sold in the United States. The success of the FDA’s seafood inspection program is showcased by the excellent level of seafood safety we enjoy. 
 
In spite of this success, the FDA takes center stage in occasional Congressional battles. Such is the case with an on-going debate about catfish inspection. Yes, at a time when most Americans want their government to tackle the big challenges, some on the Hill are seeking millions in new spending for a low risk species of fish.

Catfish, like all fish, is FDA regulated. FDA Seafood Hazardous Analysis & Critical Control Points (HACCP) regulations hold seafood importers responsible for the seafood safety controls performed by their overseas suppliers the same way they hold domestic producers responsible. The FDA and the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention consider catfish a low-risk product. There have been no reports of catfish related salmonella illnesses in the last 14 years.
 
Despite the fact that the inspection of catfish, as well as the inspection of other riskier fish products, is working quite well, some in Congress passed legislation to move catfish monitoring to the USDA.

If the plan goes forward, businesses that process multiple species would see regulatory oversight from both the FDA and the USDA. Since the USDA has yet to develop a regulatory strategy, the results will be turmoil for seafood purveyors -- nonsensical redundancy over the inspection of a “low risk” product. 
 
The new duplicate rules will not come cheap. The Government Accountability Office puts the price tab at $30 million just to get USDA up and running. It has identified the program as wasteful and recommends that it be scrapped.
 
The inspiration for this rush to spend $30 million (to start) of hard earned taxpayer dollars on a non-existent problem is a group of lobbyists and a trade association representing elements of the American catfish producers. This group has bullied Congress into moving catfish regulation to the USDA, making it harder for their foreign competitors to enter the US market.

This move is a win for US catfish producers, but ultimately, a loss for American taxpayers and consumers. The catfish program is so ridiculous it has attracted a coalition of unlikely allies in opposition to it, including Senators Tom Coburn, John Kerry, John McCain, Bill Nelson and Jeanne Shaheen. As the USDA inches closer to catfish inspection, it is time for more members of Congress to speak up. As Senators McCain and Coburn made clear when they introduced legislation to prevent the expansion of catfish inspections, this regulation is “nothing more than a protectionist tactic funded at taxpayers’ expense.” 
 


There is no room for politics in food safety. If the public was better protected by moving catfish to USDA. I would be the first person to speak up. Science makes clear that Americans are safe from catfish. Whether they are safe from politicians looking to use tax dollars for pet projects remains in question.
 

One of the dumbest food safety quotes ever, but characteristic of food safety failures.

Or any failure within an organization.

Those who study engineering failures – like the BP oil well in the Gulf, the space shuttle Challenger, Bhopal – say the same thing: human behavior can mess things up.

In most cases, an attitude prevails that is, “things didn’t go bad yesterday, so the chances are things won’t go bad today.”

And those in charge begin to ignore the safety systems.

Listeria counts go up in a processing plant, no worries, we’ll get to it tomorrow.

News out of Japan on food safety outbreaks is often difficult to come by because of a prevailing culture of patriotism. But some gems do leak out.

Daily Yomiuri Online reported yesterday the operator of a yakiniku barbecue restaurant chain linked to four deaths and 70 illnesses from E. coli O111 in raw beef admitted it had not tested raw meat served at its outlets for bacteria, as required by the health ministry, since 2009.

Yasuhiro Kanzaka, president of Foods Forus Co., which runs the Yakiniku-zakaya Ebisu chain, said during a press conference Monday at the firm's headquarters in Kanazawa, "We're not strict enough [about food safety]."

The company said it had not conducted such tests at any of its outlets since July 2009. "We'd never had a positive result [from a bacteria test], not once. So we assumed our meat would always be bacteria-free," Kanzaka said.

Kanzaka said no restaurant would be able to satisfy the ministry's current standard for uncooked beef.

"The government should make it actually illegal to serve raw meat that doesn't meet the standards as yukhoe or in other dishes," he said.

I have no idea what the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry testing requirements are for restaurants serving raw meat, but I do know restaurants can’t test their way to safe food.

This is how four people die and 70 are sickened by E. coli O111.
 

A kebab shop boss whose Shepherd's Bush premises were the source of the worst salmonella outbreak in London for at least 15 years was spared jail on Tuesday.

Mohammed Shafique, 49, who ran the Shahi Nan shop in Uxbridge Road, admitted to food hygiene breaches which caused the poisoning of 72 people, aged between five and 72.

Isleworth Crown Court heard at least 22 victims had to be treated in hospital and were kept in for an average of four days.

Shafique, who took over the shop in 2001, told health inspectors he sniffed the uncooked chicken deliveries to check they were safe to eat.

His premises was first visited in September 2009 after reports emerged that 17 people had visited St Mary's and Charing Cross Hospitals with food poisoning.

The numbers rose to 72 between September 9-18 – in the previous month there had been just 15 reported salmonella cases in the whole country.

Officials found traces of the bug on a light switch and in the fridge, where raw produce was stored next to cooked food, but the exact cause of the outbreak was never located.

Shafique, who admitted to four food hygiene breaches and failing to comply with EU regulations, was ordered to do 120 hours unpaid work and to pay £10,000 in fines, £1,000 costs and a £15 surcharge.

Jiji Press reported this morning that a woman died Thursday of food poisoning from E. coli O111 in central Japan, bringing the total number of deaths linked to a raw meat dish served at a restaurant chain to four, while 70 others have fallen ill.

She went to a restaurant in Tonami, Toyama prefecture, with her family, including another woman who died Wednesday. The two had eaten yukhoe, a dish similar to tartare, served at the eatery run by Foods Forus Co, based in nearby Kanazawa.

A 6-year-old boy also fell ill and died Friday after eating the dish at the same restaurant.

Another boy died a week ago in nearby Fukui prefecture after eating the same dish at another of the company's restaurants.

Jiji reported that 70 other people were suspected to be suffering from food poisoning after eating at the company's restaurants. One of them, confirmed to be infected with the E coli O111 strain, is in critical condition.

Irwin Pronk of HACCP By Design (right, pretty much as shown) writes in this contributed piece:

If you are a food processor or retailer and have been insisting that your suppliers become GFSI compliant (Global Food Safety Initiative), beware. Recent information has shown that some certification bodies (auditing firms) are playing loose and fast and plants have been choosing certification bodies based on price alone, compromising the integrity of audits.

When searching for an auditing firm, plants have been asking for two or three quotes. In providing these quotes, some certification bodies are strictly following the Scheme Holders’ (e.g. SQF, BRC or FS22000) formulae for calculating the number of audit days but other, more principled auditing firms realize these too simple calculations do not leave them sufficient time to audit as they should. Thus they add additional time resulting in a higher price. In evaluating the differing quotes, plant management all too often choose the least expensive option knowing they will save money. More importantly, they realize the less time the auditor has, the fewer non-conformances they will find. The result: GFSI-light.

Some auditing firms are becoming known for their lower cost quotes, and the result is an inadequate audit, inadequate control systems and the risk of a facility, process and product not as effectively managed as the customer had expected.

Some food processors have wisely established a relationship with one certification body, selecting a specific group of auditors, and requiring their suppliers use the approved certification body. These firms are finding more consistent and rigorous audits. Be sure you are getting what you are asking for. Do not risk GFSI-light.

Irwin Pronk has worked with over 300 companies to implement food safety and quality assurance programs over the past 15 years. He lives in Fergus, which is near Guelph (that’s in Canada).

 

In Jan. 2010, someone decided it would be a bright idea to put needles in bread at the Calgary Co-op Oakridge Centre on Southland Drive and 24th Street SW, Calgary (that’s in Canada). The store called the cops, temporarily closed, and recalled its bulk bakery products, bulk food items and packaged cheeses.

In Feb. 2010, more needles were found and the same routine happened again.

Yesterday, the responsible “punk” with “a box of pins and a brain half as sharp”  was in a Calgary court, on trial for three counts of mischief causing property damage and five counts of trespassing.

Tatyana Granada, 44, (right, exactly as shown) apparently decided needles-in-food was an appropriate response after being banned from the Calgary Co-op for shoplifting.

Bakery department employee Sandra Grassie testified it all began for her on Jan. 18, 2010, when a customer found a cheese bun with a needle in it, adding,

"Morale was awful because of stuff that was going on. They were watching everybody to determine what was going on. We had to take everything in the bakery, rip it open and check everything."

Clifford Gelowitz, meat supervisor at the store, also said the food tampering was devastating.

"It impacted our sales, it impacted everybody in there because our hours were cut. We actually lost a few employees from our department because sales weren't there."

The trial continues.
 

In Jan. 1995, a four-year-old girl died in Australia from E. coli O111 after eating contaminated mettwurst, an uncooked, semi-dry fermented sausage; 173 others were sickened.

The company, Garibaldi, blamed a slaughterhouse for providing the contaminated product, while the State's chief meat hygiene officer insisted that meat inspections and slaughtering techniques in Australian abattoirs were "top class and only getting better." By Feb. 6, 1995, Garibaldi Smallgoods declared bankruptcy. Sales of smallgoods like mettwurst were down anywhere from 50 to 100 per cent according to the National Smallgoods Council.

The outbreak of E. coli O111 and the reverberations fundamentally changed the public discussion of foodborne illness in Australia, much as similar outbreaks of VTEC or shiga-toxin producing E. coli (STEC) in Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. subsequently altered public perception, regulatory efforts and industry pronouncements in those countries.

Yet almost two decades later, history is still being relived.

Japanese media outlets are reporting that two children have died and 56 other people became ill from food poisoning linked to a raw meat dish at a restaurant in central Japan.

One boy died on Wednesday in Fukui Prefecture and the other boy on Friday in Toyama Prefecture after eating dish called Yukhoe served at restaurants run by Foods Forus Co in Kanazawa. The two were infected with E coli O-111 strain.

Yukhoe refers to a variety of hoe (raw dishes in Korean cuisine), which are usually made from raw ground beef seasoned with various spices or sauces. It is basically a Korean steak tartare.

Raw meat is a bad idea.

The company conceded at a news conference that it had failed to carry out hygiene inspections for the last two years of raw meat supplied by a Tokyo-based wholesaler for the dish.

Foods Forus said that it knew its Tokyo-based wholesaler had not sold the beef concerned to be eaten raw, but it served it raw based on its own judgment.

The wholesaler said it was impossible to comment because the person in charge of the sale was absent, Jiji said.

The Japanese apparently have some high-tech bacterial vision goggles that weren’t used in this case.

E. coli O111 has shown up in several tragic outbreaks, including the illness of 314 people and one death in Oklahoma in 2008, the sickening of 212 people in New York in 2004 linked to unpasteurized apple cider, and in salad that sickened 56 in Texas in 1999.
 

This is gross.

Infants as young as one month are being given either dietary botanical supplements or herbal teas.

A study done for the University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio and published in the June edition of Pediatrics, has found that nine per cent of infants in a major survey were given a wide variety of herbal supplements and tea. It is being raised as a concern because some supplements given to infants may be health risks.

The purity and potency of such supplements and teas are not regulated in the same way as pharmaceuticals and may lead to adverse drug reactions and may contain heavy metals and other contaminants which could be harmful, says the study.

In 2007 one brand of gripe water, used to soothe fussy babies, was recalled because it contained cryptosporidium, a parasite that can cause intestinal infections.

The supplements and teas are sometimes preferred by parents because they can be obtained without medical prescriptions and have been shown to be effective for some conditions. Most are marketed as, and considered to be, more natural.

Experts recommend that infants receive only human milk or infant formula for the first four to six months, with vitamins and medicine as needed.