The New York Times reports (photo from Times, left), that the communal cheese pot -- with a knife sticking out and some crackers – was a tradition at bars like the ones in Sardi’s in the theater district. Now, after a health department inspection that complained about “food not protected from potential source of contamination,” the communal pot is gone.

“Gloves give a false sense of security” is standard food safety banter when talking about the use of gloves in food service. My version is, “It doesn’t matter whether someone making a sandwich or salad is wearing gloves or not if they pick their nose, explore their ear or scratch their butt and then continue to prepare food.”

A child who attends a nursery in Bangor and an adult with links to it have been diagnosed with E. coli, a month after an outbreak at a nursery on Anglesey. Testing for the infection is being offered to children at Tir Na Nog nursery and the premises have closed.

Bleiker’s is recalling one batch of its Traditional Oak Smoked Scottish Salmon because one pack in this small batch has been found to contain listeria. The batch number is ‘55x’ with a ‘use by’ date of 23 November 2011. If you have bought the product being recalled, do not eat it. The Agency has issued a Product Information Recall Notice.

SUMMARY

McDonald's will be looking for a new source of eggs for many of its hugely popular Egg McMuffins.

PROVO -- Health inspections for restaurants in Utah County are now searchable online. The service is designed both to make it easy for diners to check out their favorite restaurants, and to reduce the time the health department staff has to spend responding to requests for information, said Terry Beebe, director of the Utah County Division of Environmental Health.

HA NOI -- Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat has called for the completion of criteria for unprocessed food imports by the end of this month. The ministry's Agricultural, Forest and Aquatic Products Quality Control Department early this month found more than 100 tonnes of spoiled frozen chicken feet imported from India.

United Natural Foods, Inc. today announced a correction to its previously announced recall of selected types of Gentes Foods Gordita Black Bean Tortillas, specifically to correct the previously stated date code of 12 7 11 to the revised date code of 11 6 11. United Natural Foods, Inc.