When I think Best Western, I think free wi-fi. Maybe I should be thinking, cleaner rooms. There’s a certain snobbery about hotel rooms similar to restaurants: dives are dirty, fancy ones are clean.

A legal claim has been settled out of court over the death of a 52-year-old Adelaide man allegedly after eating contaminated smallgoods. Richard Formosa's mother and intellectually-disabled brother sued Conroys Smallgoods over Mr Formosa's death in 2005. District Court documents allege the victim died from eating meat supplied by Conroys which was contaminated with listeria.

The U.S. Senate on Thursday showed near-unanimous support for a bill that helps fund the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a regulatory powerhouse with sweeping influence over the foods Americans eat and the medicines they take. The bill, which passed by a vote of 96 to 1, aims to speed approval of new drugs and devices and ensure food safety.

Abstract

UAE residents have been told to wash away their dirty habits and stop the spread of disease. The message from health experts comes after a survey revealed that half of us claim to be too busy to wash our hands and one in four only scrub them when they look or feel dirty.

In September, Charlotteis hosting the U.S. Democratic National Convention. In preparation for thousands of political folks showing up (including President Obama and crew) the food protection community is ramping up inspections and vetting caterers. And they are going to collect a whole bunch of surveillance data that could be useful for food safety types if published.

Continuing with the gangster theme, mobster hacks are using the Internet to collect points. The Sacramento Bee reported a few days ago that restaurant owner Sonny Mayugba was given an offer he almost could not refuse two weeks ago. Not by a local gangster, but by a user of a popular online review site, Yelp.com.

It wasn’t a good week for food safety for fresh produce. Or was it? While news of a handful of recalls generated buzz in the produce industry before Memorial Day, it was notable that they all lacked much outrage in the media or among consumers. That’s probably because no illnesses were reported in any of the recalls.

Australian medical experts have raised the alarm over a rising number of Asian fish imports containing banned antibiotics.