Gee's Garden Bistro, 1145 N. Alvernon Way, Tuscon, Arizona, failed an unannounced restaurant inspection July 17. And a re-inspection July 27; and Aug. 8 and Aug. 21.

So the Pima County Health Department tried a new strategy - intervention.

Sharon Browning, director of Pima County's Consumer Health and Food Safety unit, told the Tucson Citizen that Gee's is the first restaurant to go through the county's intervention program, devised in 2002, stating,

"It's not like a last resort, but it's close. We're trying to allow these people to stay open while they make significant changes, and it's a tool that's been in our toolbox, but one we'd never used until now."

The intervention period will include unannounced inspections at irregular intervals through January, at which point the restaurant could regain its regular license or have it revoked.

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My hump, my hump, my hump … I'm hurling big lumps

Rapper, Taboo, of the Black Eyed Peas (exactly as shown, left) was apparently sent to hospital with food poisoning last night in Stockholm. When the band took the stage, Fergie announced that Taboo had been taken to the emergency room with stomach pain, adding, "We believe he has food poisoning."

TMZ spies say that Taboo was shaking and sweating as he was transported to the hospital by ambulance. By the time of the concert after party, Fergie told a reporter from Swedish newspaper Expressen that Taboo was already back at the hotel sleeping. No word on the suspect food or bug.

Let's get retarded in here.

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In college football, the Kansas State Wildcats opened at home tonight in Manhattan with a somewhat boring 34-14 victory over San Jose State. The Cats are full of surprises, and not always good ones. When you think they have the other team in check, they give up touchdowns, like in the 4th quarter tonight.

The same is true of K-State tailgating. We tailgated tonight in Cat Town with some of Doug’s lab members. First we ate brauts at the Veterinary Medicine tent, and then we found burgers at Animal Science. Angela asked me where the meat thermometers were, and I replied, “I’m sure they’re in that box with their cooking equipment.” We didn’t see one, so I proposed that maybe they had a standardized cooking procedure with pre-frozen patties and a clear cooking time charted out. Doug said that when they saw him arrive, the cooks called out, “Don’t worry. They’re done!” (We found out later that they use pre-cooked burgers; so indeed, they were done.)

We then went to a private tailgate party where the pregnant hostess, when introduced to Doug the Food Safety Professor, said, “We always try to keep things really safe here!” I didn’t look for thermometers there. By then my stomach was too full to even think about a cookie.

We’ve been thinking about tailgate publicity and reality research possibilities, like meat thermometers with Willie the Wildcat on them and final cooking temperature charts on stickers. Or tonight I thought it would be cool to have backpack coolers with cooking temps printed on them. We like slogans like, “Get‘r done,” and “Stick it in.” I also liked Andrew’s blogpost with the “Heat ‘em up, eat ‘em up” battle cry. But since we have a blog with, hopefully, a few readers, I thought I would put the question out to you. What would compel you to practice safe food handling at a tailgate? There are so many distractions, limited facilities, no running water in the parking lot, and plenty of people coming by and dipping into food unexpectedly. It’s delicious, and not just from the microorganisms' point of view.  Please share your comments, questions, and ideas on tailgating safely.

Post a comment below.

[pictured is a KSU branding iron (not a thermometer) with this description: "Your sizzling hot Original Barbeque Brand Tailgate Tool can sear the pride of the K-State WIld Cats into most any food item. It's for more than just meat! Buns, tortillas, potatoes, pie crusts, let your pride run wild!"]

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Andrew Bridges of the Associated Press writes in a wire story today that companies increasingly are paying others to make the foods we eat -- or the ingredients in them -- and then selling it under multiple brand names, prompting a growing debate about food safety.

While it's psychologically comforting to blame others, the bottom line is that any food producer, around the corner or around the globe, is responsible for producing safe food.

Dr. David Acheson, who leads the Food and Drug Administration's food safety efforts, stated he knew of no evidence that outsourcing production is inherently less safe than traditional arrangements in which companies make what they sell.

Me, Dr. Douglas Powell, scientific director of the International Food Safety Network at Kansas State University, was quoted as saying,

"The lesson for everyone is: Know your supplier."

And as Madeleine Ferrières, a professor of social history at the University of Avignon, wrote in the introduction to her 2002 book, Sacred Cow, Mad Cow: A History of Food Fears,

"All human beings before us questioned the contents of their plates. … And we are often too blinded by this amnesia to view our present food situation clearly. This amnesia is very convenient. It allows us to reinvent the past and construct a complaisant, retrospective mythology. Let us strive for lucidity, and let us look to the past for support."

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