Most of the stuff I've worked on in the past ten years has something to do with evaluating and supporting food safety culture. bites, barfblog, infosheets and reality-based research are all about providing information to make risk-based decisions and assessing where there might be gaps. The ultimate goal is less sick people.

Officials of a Mexican political party are apologizing to 650 indigenous people who suffered food poisoning after attending a campaign rally in southern Mexico. Authorities in the indigenous town of Chilapa had to open an auditorium on Wednesday to treat people who became sick after eating rice tacos and eggs handed out by former mayor Sergio Dolores, who is running for congress.

If you’ve eaten at Gonzalez Restaurant, 8121 Bruton Road, in Dallas, between January 25-28, you may want to see a doctor. An employee who was diagnosed with hepatitis A went to work and may have come in contact with customers. Health-types are working to alert medical care providers to be on the lookout for any customers who may have been infected.

 Just a month after Jim Keen submitted a proposal to receive a $25 million grant to research strains of E. coli in beef, his own niece was infected with the dangerous infection. His niece, who contracted the bacteria at a Kentucky petting zoo in October 2010, nearly died.

Abstract

Abstract

I didn’t write the headline, but this is now running in the Toronto Star, regarding the article, Low blow from Loblaw boss gets farmers’ goat, Feb. 8.

A new report says Canadians suffer more foodborne illness than Americans, that most of it happens with restaurant meals, and that consumers are sorta dumb too. Unfortunately, the report relies heavily on other reports that are not peer-reviewed, assumptions, and suffers from highly selective referencing to make a point – and I have no idea what that point is.

More than 1 million eggs bound for supermarkets, delis and convenience stores have been recalled since late January for possible contamination with Listeria monocytogenes, a bacterium that causes fever, nausea and diarrhea, and can be deadly in children and the elderly. No illnesses have been reported.