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March 2010

  • Rallying the troops to fight food-borne illness

    Posted: March 22nd, 2010 - 6:54pm

    Nancy Donley remembers sitting helplessly beside the hospital bed of her 6-year-old son Alex as he fought for his life after eating hamburger contaminated with E. coli 0157:H7.

    Date Published: 
    01.nov.97
    Source Title: 
    FDA Consumer, Vol. 31, November-December 1997
    E. coli  |  Comments
  • Diners' fury at Heston Blumenthal's £200k food bug payout

    Posted: March 21st, 2010 - 11:11am

    A year after 529 diners were sickened by norovirus at the swanky Fat Duck restaurant in the U.K., after the chef, Heston Blumenthal, blamed his decision to buy and serve raw oysters grown in human sewage on others, and months after a government report slammed the restaurant for letting sick workers work, Blumenthal has received £200,000 compensation for lost business related to the incide

    Date Published: 
    21.mar.10
    Source Title: 
    barfblog
    None  |  Comments
  • Faith-based food safety – god is good version

    Posted: March 21st, 2010 - 11:10am

    In a new take on faith-based food safety, Jeff Brown, owner of the Dungeness creamery in Washington state which produces raw milk and was linked to three cases of E. coli illness in Dec. 2009, was quoted as telling the Seattle Times this morning, "Everything God designed is good for you." I don’t know who designed small pox, but I don’t want it.

    Date Published: 
    21.mar.10
    Source Title: 
    barfblog
    E. coli  |  Comments
  • 8 sick with campylobacter from MICHIGAN raw milk cowshare

    Posted: March 21st, 2010 - 11:09am

    The Michigan Department of Community Health said Friday there are eight confirmed cases of campylobacter in Macomb, Washtenaw and Wayne counties and that the people all reported consuming products from Family Farms' Cooperative in Vandalia, 60 miles south of Grand Rapids. It operates a program in which members own part of a cow and receive raw dairy products.

    Date Published: 
    20.mar.10
    Source Title: 
    barfblog
    Other Microorganisms  |  Comments
  • Make my turkey burger rare – just kidding

    Posted: March 21st, 2010 - 11:08am

    A long-time barfblog.com reader -- first-time commenter -- writes in with the following restaurant experience from Olathe, Kansas:

    Date Published: 
    20.mar.10
    Source Title: 
    barfblog
    None  |  Comments
  • USDA announces recall of Mexican food

    Posted: March 21st, 2010 - 11:06am

    MAT-SU -- The U. S. Department of Agriculture has announced a recall of frozen Mexican food that may have been sold in Valley Fred Meyer stores. According to a USDA press release, the cartons of beef and chicken taquitos may contain Salmonella.

    Date Published: 
    19.mar.10
    Source Title: 
    Frontiersman
    Salmonella  |  Comments
  • US: Recalled products linked to potential salmonella risk: frozen potatoes

    Posted: March 21st, 2010 - 11:05am

    The following products are being recalled because they could be contaminated with salmonella, an organism that can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children and others with weakened immune systems:

    Date Published: 
    19.mar.10
    Source Title: 
    Associated Press
    Salmonella  |  Comments
  • US: FSIS re-testing carcass pathogen baselines

    Posted: March 21st, 2010 - 11:04am

    USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service is running a series of tests on cattle, hog, chicken and turkey carcasses with the objective of resetting pathogen testing baselines. Among the specific baselines that need to be addressed are those for beef trim, other beef components, bench trim, ground beef and chicken parts, say USDA officials.

    Date Published: 
    19.mar.10
    Source Title: 
    Pork
    None  |  Comments
  • ARIZONA: Restaurant health inspections

    Posted: March 21st, 2010 - 11:03am

    Cilantro's Colombian Grill 8270 S. Houghton Road Failed Feb. 2 inspection, passed on reinspection Feb. 4. Critical violations

    Date Published: 
    21.mar.10
    Source Title: 
    Arizona Daily Star
    Restaurant Inspection  |  Comments
  • 10% of CHINA restaurant meals use 'oil’ from drains and gutters

    Posted: March 19th, 2010 - 5:37pm

    Oil from China’s drains and gutters treated to look like edible cooking oil in a lucrative night-time operation is being used in “1-in-10” restaurant meals in China. The swill oil is apparently loaded with aflatoxin.

    Date Published: 
    19.mar.10
    Source Title: 
    barfblog
    None  |  Comments
  • SERBIA: Revoked: Euroshopper frozen raspberries with stomach virus

    Posted: March 19th, 2010 - 5:36pm

    ICA withdraws frozen raspberries because of the presence of calicivirus. The case of frozen raspberries Euroshopper brand, package size 500 grams, the country of Serbia. Revocation of all the best before date. The product can be sold in ICA stores across the country. Calicivirus can cause winter vomiting disease.

    Date Published: 
    18.mar.10
    Source Title: 
    ICA
    Other Microorganisms  |  Comments
  • INDIA: Two schoolgirls die after sharing friend's tiffin

    Posted: March 19th, 2010 - 5:35pm

    KOLKATA -- Two Class-IV girls died at a south Kolkata hospital on Thursday, apparently after having food one of their classmates had brought from home to their Bansdroni school. Police have initiated a case of unnatural deaths, but nobody has lodged a formal complaint yet. An officer said the cause of death can be ascertained only after post-mortem.  

    Date Published: 
    19.mar.10
    Source Title: 
    Times of India
    None  |  Comments
  • CARIBBEAN health and food safety agency formed

    Posted: March 19th, 2010 - 5:34pm

    PARAMARIBO, SURINAME -- The Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency (CAHFSA) was launched here yesterday. The agency will facilitate the harmonisation of the relevant laws and administrative practices required by the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas under the Agriculture Ministers of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and provide assistance to member states.

    Date Published: 
    19.mar.10
    Source Title: 
    Nam News Network
    None  |  Comments
  • US: DHS giving $44 million for zoonotic disease, food safety research

    Posted: March 19th, 2010 - 5:33pm

    Universities in Kansas and Texas will each receive $12 million for zoonotic disease research. And a Minnesota university will receive about $20 million for research to improve food safety.

    Date Published: 
    01.apr.10
    Source Title: 
    JAVMA News
    None  |  Comments
  • US: USDA to mandate test and hold, non-intact meat labels

    Posted: March 19th, 2010 - 5:32pm

    USDA plans to propose rules that would mandate test-and-hold practices at meat plants as well as labels alerting consumers when they are buying non-intact meat subjected to mechanical tenderization, according to Deputy Assistant Administrator for USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service Daniel Engeljohn.

    Date Published: 
    19.mar.10
    Source Title: 
    Meatingplace.com
    None  |  Comments
  • KANSAS: Temple Grandin says animal welfare audit systems should be simple, objective

    Posted: March 19th, 2010 - 5:31pm

    Grandin and Cargill’s Siemens to Speak at May 19-21 Beef Cattle Welfare Symposium

    Date Published: 
    19.mar.10
    Source Title: 
    Kansas State University
    Animal Welfare  |  Comments
  • Production of recombinant proteins in E. coli by the heat inducible expression system based on the phage lambda pL and/or pR promoters

    Posted: March 19th, 2010 - 5:30pm

    Abstract (provisional)

    Date Published: 
    19.mar.10
    Source Title: 
    Microbial Cell Factories 2010, 9:18doi:10.1186/1475-2859-9-18
    E. coli  |  Comments
  • Growth characteristics of Listeria monocytogenes as affected by a native microflora in cooked ham under refrigerated and temperature abuse conditions

    Posted: March 19th, 2010 - 5:28pm

    Abstract

    Date Published: 
    17.mar.10
    Source Title: 
    Food Microbiology
    Listeria  |  Comments
  • A possible foodborne outbreak of hepatitis A in the NETHERLANDS, January-February 2010

    Posted: March 19th, 2010 - 5:26pm

    As of 1 March 2010, a total of 11 primary cases with onset of symptoms between 31 December 2009 and 10 February 2010, have been identified with identical hepatitis A genotype IB strains in the Netherlands. A relation with Australian and French foodborne outbreaks occurring in 2009 and 2010 is suspected.

    Date Published: 
    18.mar.10
    Source Title: 
    Eurosurveillance, Volume 15, Issue 11
    Hepatitis A  |  Comments
  • Cases of Salmonella urbana in FINLAND, the CZECH REPUBLIC and LATVIA, January-February 2010

    Posted: March 19th, 2010 - 5:25pm

    A cluster of 14 cases of Salmonella Urbana cases in Finland, the Czech Republic and Latvia were identified in January-February, 2010. The majority of cases (11) were male and children under 16 years of age. The investigation is currently ongoing and comparison of pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) profiles of the isolates suggests that the cases may have a common source of infection.

    Date Published: 
    18.mar.10
    Source Title: 
    Eurosurveillance, Volume 15, Issue 11
    Salmonella  |  Comments