Victoria Jean Harrah sat down around noon Wednesday to eat a freshly grilled ham and cheese sandwich with her fiance when she decided to warm up a plate of her favorite canned ravioli. But instead of saucy goodness, the 48-year-old Mims, Fla., woman said she got a crunchy mouthful of what she described as a hairy-legged spider tucked into a pocket of pasta.

SUMMARY

Raw egg products are frequently linked to foodborne illness, and the Gippsland regional sampling group aimed to assess the microbiological safety of these products in their regionof Victoria. All samples were accompanied by a questionnaire, detailing egg supply, process and production controls and other food safety aspects of the premises.

INTRODUCTION This short survey was undertaken to determine the microbiological quality of cooked prawns available in the ACT. Cooked prawns are a very popular ready-to-eat (RTE) food that is widely available in retail establishments across the ACT. STANDARDS

Nineteen cases of infection with E. coli O157 have been detected in Limburg, Belgium, of which three have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS). The Federal Agency for Security of the Food Chain (AFSCA) said Thursday that all cases are related to the ingestion of filet américain (lit. American fillet) with onions and more seasoning than a normal steak tartare.

This is why I put question marks on some headlines: because something doesn’t seem quite right. A story dated June 7, 2012 and published by ThePoultrySite – my favorite read while exfoliating in the bath – had this lede:

Health workers in northern Arizona were waiting Thursday for test results to confirm whether the flu-like illness known as norovirus has surfaced among boaters in the Grand Canyon.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is urging food distributors, retailers, and food service operators to remove from sale or service all fresh, frozen, canned, and processed oysters, clams, mussels, and whole and roe-on scallops (molluscan shellfish) from Korea that have entered the United States.

Nine-year-old Ugo Picot was stricken with E. coli O157:H7 linked to frozen meatballs in tomato sauce in June 2011. Ugo was one of eight children in Northern France confirmed with E. coli O157 after eating beef bought from German retailer, Lidl.