A three-year-old girl living in North Point, Hong Kong, was diagnosed with E. coli O157:H7, the first case of the year, so the Centre for Health Protection (CHP) of the Department of Health decided, without providing any details of the how the infection may have happened, that if people cook their food, they could avoid the bug. And they should wash their hands.

Lethbridge, AB -- On December 18, 2009, Mr. Camerom Leth and Wheatland Select Organic Turkey Ltd., in a joint submission, pled guilty at Lethbridge Provincial Court to violating section 7.(b) of the Meat Inspection Act. Provincial Court Justice D.G. Redman fined Mr. Leth, $50,000 for violating one count of section 7.(b) of the Meat Inspection Act.

Abstract

Proving again that risk comparisons are risky and that maybe raw oysters are as dangerous as Cheetos, Eurosurveillance today reports on the forth norovirus-related outbreak linked to raw oysters in recent memory – and there’s a bunch of them.

Harrisburg -- The Pennsylvania departments of Agriculture and Health today advised consumers who purchased raw milk from Pasture Maid Creamery in New Castle, Lawrence County, to discard the product immediately because of potential bacterial contamination. Raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurized.

Thirty-five people were killed by Vietnam’s 152 major food poisoning cases last year, authorities said at a health conference in Hanoi Wednesday. More than half of the 5,200 people poisoned got sick while at home or visiting friends’ houses, while only 4 percent were caused by street food, the ministry’s Vietnam Food Administrator reported at the meeting.

The Agency has welcomed the publication of new guidance to help food businesses determine the shelf life of ready-to-eat foods by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and the Chilled Food Association (CFA), working in collaboration with the Food Standards Agency.

Cryptosporidiosis affects the gastrointestinal and respiratory tract of humans as well as of a wide range of companion, farm, laboratory and wild animals. In the past few years, three independent studies have provided strong evidence for the existence of a distinct Cryptosporidium species affecting tortoises and likely circulating in other reptile species as well.

Basketball is interminably dull. The first college game I ever went to on Jan. 30, 2008, Kansas State beat the University of Kansas – who went on to win the national crown – for the first time in 24 years. All games should be like that. They’re not.