Going poop in public -- Rocky Mountain Chocolate edition
With four daughters, I’ve changed a lot of diapers over the years.
Almost all the diapers were cloth; at least for the first two children. Then, after too many green apple splatters seeping through, migrated to the seemingly more absorbent disposable diaper.
And then there were the emergency dumps that, well, we’ve all had, regardless of age. On Weeds last night, Nancy Botwin, played by Mary Louise Parker (right), peed into a cup while waiting to cross the Mexican-U.S. border.
Sometimes it’s not nearly that neat.
A reader told The Consumerist yesterday that,
"Last night we were out with friends and went to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory at Bella Terra/Huntington Beach. We were eating outside as my 5 year old daughter got an uncontrollable urge to use the bathroom and began crying and screaming 'diarrhea, diarrhea.' I ran into the store with her in my arms, begging to use the bathroom and they refused multiple times.
“I explained she had diarrhea and couldn't hold it and told them she was about to go on the floor. They refused again and never offered me any alternatives. I begged them to have a heart and that she was 5 but by that time she had lost it all over herself and me. I ran with her in my arms to the movie theater that let me use their bathroom. I cleaned her up, threw out some of her clothes and went back to the Chocolate Factory - asking for names and number of management. I again pleaded with them to use their heart in situations like this.”
Almost a year ago, a similar incident happened at a Jo-Ann Fabrics in Indiana. With similar results.
Today, California’s Orange County Register reported that officials with Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory issued an apology, and that the story sparked a backlash that led to death threats, according to store owner, Bonnie Overturf, who was not there during the incident last Thursday.
Overturf said her employees were following insurance policies for her store, and there were at least a dozen restrooms near the store the mother could have used.
Bryan Merryman, chief operating officer for the Colorado-based candy company, issued an apology to the mother Tuesday, saying "the actions of one franchised store's employees do not represent the values of the company … We truly regret this situation occurred."
"We are a very family friendly company and would never encourage any policy that does not take individual facts and circumstances into account,'' he wrote.
Overturf, who said she apologized to the mother earlier, contacted police once death threats began and her home address was posted on an unknown Website. People also threatened to throw feces at her home, she said.
People shouldn’t throw piles of shit at store owners and their homes; or leave burning bags of poop on the front step. Poop is the source of many pathogens, stores are not all equipped to handle public poop, and some people don’t clean up after themselves (or pick up their dog’s shit).
But when kids (or others) gotta go, it’s better to isolate the mess to a bathroom.
I’ve cleaned up lots of shit. And expect lots more.
Hygiene horrors in Cardiff, Wales takeout restaurants
Bill Marler's gong to London, and if he gets to Wales, beware the Cardiff takeaway.
The South Wales Echo reports that cockroaches, dirt, poor personal hygiene and congealed fat are just some of the shocking details uncovered in health inspector reports on kebab shops and chippies in Caroline Street.
Hundreds of hungry revellers regularly use the street, widely known as Chip Alley (below), after nights out on the town.
But the most recent kitchen hygiene inspection reports, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, show the street’s takeaways broke food safety regulations more than 70 times.
Keep poop out of ice -- wash your damn hands
An investigation commissioned by the Chartered Institute for Environmental Health (CIEH) Wales found that one in five samples of ice tested from hotels and pubs in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan were contaminated with fecal matter -- probably because staff are not washing their hands before serving customers ice in their drinks.
Julie Barratt, director of the CIEH in Wales, said,
“The results of the survey give us cause for concern. Although realistically there is little likelihood of food poisoning from the levels of bacteria that were found, the presence of fecal bacteria shows that the people handing the ice have very poor standards of personal hygiene. While the ice may pose little risk the same may not be true for other foodstuffs that they may also handle. Food business operators and food handlers need to recognise that ice is a food product and treat it in the same way as all other foods prepared for sale to the public.”
The Chartered Institute for Environment Health in Wales has put together these tips for when asking for ice in a drink:
• if the ice is in a bucket on the bar where anyone can lean over it or cough or sneeze on it, don’t have it;
• if the bar tender takes the ice out of the bucket with their hands, don’t have it;
• if the bar tender pushes a glass down into the ice and their hands come into contact with it, don’t have it;
• if the scoop or tongs for handling the ice are not stored properly, don’t have the ice – you wouldn’t chose to have meat cut with a dirty knife;
• if you can see the ice machine, and it looks grubby, don’t have the ice that comes from it; and,
• if the ice bucket looks dirty, don’t have the ice that comes out of it.
Cook, clean, chill and separate -- when slaughtering pig in a flat
A Dunedin, New Zealand, City Council Environmental Health Inspector was called to a Union Street Flat recently after several complaints of a dismembered pigs body having been disposed and left on the street and a property.
Health Inspector Judy Austin attended the scene with two Campus Watch officers and a security guard to find blood, skin and the remains of entrail on the street, and the head and trotters of the pig inside the property boundary but close to the public footpath.
Austin said wild pigs can carry diseases such as E-coli, Trichinosis and Brucellosis, so the risk of having an outbreak of disease was possible.
Campus watch issued the tenants with a $100 fine under the Litter Act.
Mice at Metropolitan Opera restaurant
The New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene says on its website that an April 9 restaurant inspection at the Metropolitan Opera found "evidence of mice or live mice present in facility's food and/or nonfood areas."
The nation's largest musical organization also was cited for "food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service."
The department did not issue a notice of violation against the Met because the inspection found 13 violation points — below the average of 15 for New York City restaurants.
Farmer's vomit sickens 54 bystanders at hospital
Police and hospital officials said 54 people were sickened at a Kumamoto Red Cross Hospital in Kumamoto, Japan, after inhaling toxic gas from the vomit of a 34-year-old farmer who had apparently swallowed an agricultural chemical to kill himself.
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He vomited while undergoing treatment, generating toxic chlorine gas.
A total of 54 people near him, including doctors and patients, fell ill. Of them, 10 were admitted to hospitals including the Red Cross Hospital, while the 44 others who were not in serious condition are steadily recovering.
If you're going to off yourself, try not to involve involve others.
Train quarantined south of Timmins, Ontario
A VIA train bound for Toronto with more than 260 passengers aboard has been stopped north of Timmins after one person died and five other people became ill with flu-like symptoms.
Ontario Provincial Police emergency workers with full protective gear were called to the train and about 10 people have been taken to hospital in Timmins. The rest of the passengers on the train have been quarantined.
The train originated in Jasper, Alberta.
And in a good use of technology, the Toronto Star says,
Are you on the train or know someone who is? Call us a 1-800-268-9756.
NZ cafe served dishwashing liquid instead of wine
Two women were hospitalised after a New Zealand cafe mistakenly served dishwashing liquid as mulled wine.
The Southland Times newspaper reported that Chico's Restaurant Ltd in the mountain resort of Queenstown on South Island pleaded guilty to a charge of selling food containing extraneous matter -- the chemical sodium hydroxide -- that caused injury.
An investigation showed the two liquids had been mixed up after 20 litres of dishwashing liquid was delivered in a container formerly used to hold Mountain Thunder mulled wine.
Under New Zealand's no-fault accident law, victims do not sue for damages. Instead, treatment costs and income loss are met by the nation's Accident Compensation scheme.
The company will be sentenced next month and faces a possible fine.
Banana leaves left uncovered in the dirt outside Singapore restaurants
Bundles of banana leaves are often left on the pavement, exposed to the elements as well as to pests like rats, cockroaches and pigeons, before being used in Singapore restaurants.
The banana leaves are usually wiped with a damp cloth before being used to serve food on.
Student Nicholas Lee, 19, said he had assumed all restaurants have hygienic practices and would avoid restaurants which leave their banana leaves on the pavement.
A National Environment Agency spokesman said food shop operators must thoroughly wash the leaves before using them to serve food.
Florida restaurant fined for keeping bread in bathroom
Eyewitness News in Sanford, Florida discovered a popular fast food restaurant, Checker's. that's accused of storing food on the floor inside the men's restroom. The food that was left on the floor in the restroom was just one of several critical violations health inspectors found at a Checkers location in Sanford.
Employees at the Checkers store on South French Avenue at West 15th Street apparently decided it was okay to store buns for their hamburgers inside a not-so-clean men's room.
Tuesday, it appeared they had changed the policy, but not before racking up a dozen health code violations.
Fecal facial latest skin treatment
The N.Y. Post reports that for just $216, Shizuka Bernstein will slather your face in feces for a full 50 minutes -- what she calls the "Geisha Facial" -- at her Midtown New York spa, Shizuka.
It's bird poop.
The ancient Japanese cleanser - geishas and kabuki dancers have been using the bird poop to wash off their heavy white makeup since the 18th century - contains guanine, which supposedly removes pollutants and blackheads, and helps even out skin tone.
The exotic excrement comes in a powder form, directly from Japan, and is sterilized with UV light to kill bacteria.
Marilyn Phillips, a 58-yearold Upper West Sider who had a Geisha Facial late last week, said,
"I figure if poop was good for the soil, it's good for your face. And it doesn't smell at all. I'd say hair coloring smells way worse."
32-year-old massage therapist Andrea Nieto who went in for the facial last week, said,
"You wouldn't even know it was nightingale droppings. And after, my skin was softer than it had been in a really long time. And it looked clearer to me, too. But you gotta wonder how they figured to use these things. Who put 2 and 2 together like that?"
In the name of science: women wanted to eat chocolate for a year
Scientists in the UK are seeking 150 women to eat chocolate every day for a year in the cause of medical research.
The trial, at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, eastern England, will test whether a natural compound found in cocoa, the main ingredient of chocolate, could cut the risk of heart disease among women with diabetes.
A Belgian confectionist has created the special chocolate bar containing high levels of flavonoids -- a plant compound that has been shown to reduce heart risk factors -- to be used in the experiment. Soy, another natural source of flavonoids, has also been added to the bar.
Participants, who must be postmenopausal women under the age of 70, will have their risk of heart disease tested on five occasions during the year to see whether change occurs.
Don't barf in public; it's against the law
City council in Windsor, Ontario (Canada) wants to make it illegal to vomit in public in an attempt to control late-night rowdiness.
Council was also set to discuss a mandatory 2 a.m. closing-time for hotdog vendors.
Apparently that's to keep munchie-driven zombies from roaming the streets.
Patrick Lacey, 25, said,
"What are they really going to do about vomiting in public? … you can't stop someone from throwing up. Throwing up in public is embarrassing enough as it is; you don't need to get arrested."
I can't wait for the next norovirus outbreak to hit Windsor.
From road apples to Prairie oysters
Swanky Auckland restaurant Euro served up a recipe for Metro Food Critic Testicles in an advertisement that finished -- "balls to them" -- before inviting people to try the place for themselves.
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The Nourish Group, which owns Auckland restaurants Euro and the Jervois Steak House and Saloon, and Pravda in Wellington, took out a full page ad in the Herald on Sunday banning what it claimed were "out of step" Metro reviewers from its premises after the restaurants were left out of a top 50 list of New Zealand eateries.
Los Angeles drowning in road apples
Not just the title of the 1991 album by Canadian rockers, The Tragically Hip, road apples is slang for horse shit.
And Los Angeles has lots of it (and doesn't even freeze to use as a makeshit hockey puck).
Bloomberg reports that zoning restrictions have resulted in the closure of all the traditional "manure mulcher" businesses in Los Angeles County, forcing stables to haul their horse poop to ordinary land fills, which charge up to US$47 a ton, or roughly five times what the mulchers used to charge.
L.A. County is home to about 45,000 horses and almost 10 million people. Horses generate an estimated US$900-million a year in revenue from things such as riding lessons, blacksmiths, feed sales.
But more about the Hip.
Released in 1991, the original title of the record was Saskadelphia, but the record label considered it "too Canadian." As a joke, they re-titled it Road Apples, slang for horse dung. After the album was released, they created the Another Roadside Attraction festival -- another joke referring to "road apples."
The album is often cited by fans and critics as the band's finest work. As with most Tragically Hip albums, Canadian themes appear in the album's lyrics. "Three Pistols" is an English translation of the name of the Quebec town Trois-Pistoles, and refers to Tom Thomson, a Canadian painter, as well as Remembrance Day, the Canadian commemorative day for its war dead. "The Luxury" refers to the fleur-de-lis, provincial symbol of Quebec, while "Born in the Water" is about the controversy surrounding Ontario municipalities (particularly Sault Ste. Marie) declaring themselves "English-only" in the dying days of the Meech Lake Accord debate.
Three Pistols is used in the opening and closing credits of our safefoodcafe videos. Like this one:
Why burn poop on a doorstep when you can cook it in a 7-Eleven microwave
Three high school students who thought they were being funny by sticking a bag of poop in a Sandy, Utah 7-Eleven microwave and cooking it for 10 minutes have been arrested.
Earlier this week, police released surveillance video of three teens who walked into the convenience store near 2200 East and 9400 South, took out a one-gallon plastic bag with human feces inside and put it into the microwave while the clerk wasn't looking.
The boys left the store, and the clerk figured out what had happened when a foul stench filled the building. The store had to be closed temporarily because of the odor.
Sandy police Sgt. Victor Quezada said the surveillance video was broadcast by local news stations, investigators received numerous tips from callers, and that on Wednesday morning, five high school students were greeted by police as they arrived for school in the morning. Two of the boys eventually were released, while the other three, two aged 16 and a 17-year-old, were arrested for investigation of third-degree felony criminal mischief.
The 7-Eleven figured out the video surveillance thing, but USDA says it's too complicated for slaughterhouses.
Tellruide, Colorado, has a problem with poop.
Tellruide, Colorado, has a problem with poop.
Dog poop.
A local biologist, Ramona Gaylord, told city council that the impact of waste produced by 100 dogs located within a 20-mile radius of a watershed draining to a small coastal bay would contribute enough bacteria and nutrients to temporarily close it to swimming and shell fishing after two to three days, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
A new form from the Marshal’s Office is due to come into circulation soon. It will enable passersby to document occasions on which they witness owners neglecting their doodie duties. By signing the form the complainant agrees to be called as a witness if a ticket is issued and the matter goes to trial.
So pick up your poop.
And if you find some old poop, send it to University of Oregon archeologist Dennis Jenkins.
Jenkins found 14 feces, or coprolites, in the Paisley caves in south-central Oregon. He reported in Science on Friday that the oldest piece of crap in the collection was 14,300 years old.
Eske Willerslev, a Danish expert in ancient DNA and one of the authors of the paper, said genetic material found in the ancient poop suggests the earliest known North Americans came from Asia and Siberia, and were the ancestors of modern native peoples
As they sing on Scrubs, Check the Poo.
Barf in UK taxi ... you pay
Passengers who throw up in the back of a cab could get charged more than double – as well as face a hike in taxi fares.
The so-called soiling fee will be increased from £40 to £100 in South Ribble if the council gives the go-ahead.
Cabbies in the South Ribble Council area have asked the authority to consider putting up the fares for the first time since September 2006.
Drivers say that the rising cost of fuel and insurance premiums – as well as an increase in the number of inebriated passengers – means it is costing more to stay on the road.
Now anyone who forces a taxi off the road by soiling it through their drunkenness could be hit with the £100 charge.
Vomiting customers are currently charged £30.
Texas rancher arrested for selling snake vodka -- the ancient Viagra
Bayou Bob found that sticking a rattlesnake inside a bottle of vodka and marketing the concoction as an ''ancient Asian elixir" made a lot of money.
But Bayou Bob Popplewell doesn't have a liquor license.
So Bayou Bob was arrested Monday after the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission obtained arrest warrants on misdemeanor charges of selling alcohol without a license and possessing alcohol with intent to sell.
Popplewell said he will fight the charges and that his intent is not to sell an alcoholic beverage but a healing tonic. He said he has customers of Asian descent who believe the concoction has medicinal properties.
But alcohol commission agent Scott Jones pointed out that investigators confiscated 429 bottles of snake vodka and one bottle of snake tequila. At $23 a bottle, that's almost $10,000 worth of reptilian booze.
Camilla Hsieh, an Asian studies lecturer at the University of Texas said there is some merit to Popplewell's claim that snake vodka could be seen as a tonic. There's a street nicknamed ''Snake Alley'' in Taipei, Taiwan, where street vendors put the gall bladder of a freshly killed snake into a glass of strong liquor. The drink, sold to the highest bidder, is supposed to improve eyesight and sexual performance
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''It's like the ancient version of Viagra,'' Hsieh said.
Summer sausage is tasty, maggots and all
I grew up in a deer hunting family, and although my own deer hunting career started and ended when I was 13, I was so used to eating venison that beef tasted weird. I still remember one deer my family butchered at home, and my brother chased me around the house with an eyeball. We packaged and marked the cuts, but they stayed in our family freezer. Perhaps we had some guests over for dinner or gave some to a friend at church, but if anyone got sick, it was us.
In Omaha, apparently, things are run differently. Deer processor and poacher extraordinaire Jack McClanahan was finally put out of the summer sausage business.
According to the Omaha World-Herald McClanahan processed and sold tons of tainted summer sausage, much of it from poached deer. McClanahan told federal undercover agents that he sometimes shot deer at night with a rifle from the bathroom window of his home in Omaha's Ponca Hills and then would retrieve the carcasses in the morning. He baited the deer with corn, used a spotlight to blind them, and then shot.
McClanahan is a retired butcher who sold summer sausage in 5-pound casings at $3.50 a pound. He also made salami, jerky and snack sticks, and authorities estimated annual production at about 10,000 pounds.
Mark Webb, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agent, said mouse droppings, maggots, deer carcasses, dried blood, deer hair and other contaminants littered the commercial-grade meat processing equipment that filled McClanahan's three-car garage. There was no running water for cleaning. When wildlife agents seized the equipment and cleaned it with hot water and soap at a carwash, they discovered two lead bullets the size of a man's thumb lodged in the grinder. The blade had been shaving lead into the meat.
The butcher-poacher was fined $10,000 and sentenced to three years of probation Wednesday in U.S. District Court.
My family and most deer hunters I have known have a strong conservationist ethic. I was raised to respect wildlife and have a deep appreciation for nature. McClanahan, and other poachers, are appalling, but making humans sick and putting their lives at risk with filthy processing conditions is even more disgusting.
Whale vomit perfume riches
Stephen Atkinson, an Australian beachcomber, is hoping to strike it rich with a lump of sperm whale vomit he found near Melbourne on the south coast.
More properly called ambergris, it is apparently rare and highly valued by perfume makers. The 7-kilogram lump could fetch more than 100,000 Australian dollars.
The ambergris, which is lighter than water, might have bobbed in the Southern Ocean for more than a decade after being coughed out.
Would you like sewage with that? Chicago Quiznos shut down
The Chicago Department of Public Health closed the Quiznos sandwich shop at 1809 N. Harlem, after inspectors found sewage backing up from two drains in the food preparation area.
CDPH was alerted to the situation by a motorist who called 311 last night to allege that Quiznos’ staff was disposing of the sewage by shoveling it out their back door and into an alley. No evidence of that activity was found by CDPH inspectors today.
Quiznos will remain closed until its management has corrected the violation and passed re-inspection.
Representatives of the Quiznos franchise will have to explain themselves at an administrative hearing on April 17 and pay a fine expected to total $750.
Chicagoans who believe that a sandwich shop or other food establishment is operating in an unsafe manner are encouraged to dial 311 and report it.
Watch out where the huskies go, and don't you eat that yellow snow
Frank Zappa (right) would be proud.
And parents who warn their kids not to eat dirty snow (especially the yellow variety) are left wondering whether to stop them from tasting the new-fallen stuff, too, because of Pseudomonas syringae, bacteria that can cause diseases in bean and tomato plants.
A paper published last week in the journal, Science, found that snow -- even in relatively pristine spots like Montana and the Yukon -- contains large amounts of bacteria.
Dr. Penelope Dennehy, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics' committee on infectious diseases, said,
"It's a very ubiquitous bacteria that's everywhere. Basically, none of the food we eat is sterile. We eat bacteria all the time.''
Dr. Joel Forman, a member of the pediatric academy's committee on environmental health, said,
"We eat stuff that's covered with bacteria all the time, and for the most part it's killed in the stomach. Your stomach is a fantastic barrier against invasive bacteria because it's a very acidic environment. … I can say that I'm not aware of any clinical reports of children becoming ill from eating snow. And I looked,'' Forman says.
Pledges forced to eat raw poultry start barfing
University of Nevada, Reno officials have placed Alpha Tau Omega fraternity on a two-year suspension for hazing pledges by branding their buttocks with dry ice and making them eat raw poultry.
Sally Morgan, UNR director of student conduct, said Thursday,
"Their local alumni board owns the house and will be making provisions to close the house and determine how it will be used in the next two years," adding the hazing came to light in December after as many as 11 pledges became ill after eating uncooked chicken or turkey and sought treatment at the Student Health Center,
The center director determined they had campylobacter, a foodborne illness, required to be reported to the county health department.
Any pledge who wants to recount their story on barfblog, I'll send you a don't eat poop shirt. That's solid advice.
From Toronto to Taiwan, rats in restaurants a problem
Chinese-language media was cited as reporting yesterday that a diner was seriously upset when he saw a rat scurrying about one of Taipei 101's stylish Japanese restaurants.
The man, surnamed Chai, was cited as saying that he and his foreign guest hadn't finished dinning yet on Feb. 2, when a small rat scrambled quickly from the shopping mall into Minhan 101, and then towards the kitchen, adding,
"That was disgusting. The Taipei 101 is a national landmark visited by numerous foreigners."
Wang Yen-chi, spokesperson for Taipei 101, said that rat-eradication campaigns on the fourth floor will be increased, up from two disinfections per moths.
California's Commando-in-chief weights in on animal welfare at slaughterhouse
I spend several hours each day editing news, writing, tapping away at the computer. I do most of this on my living room couch, usually with some sort of TV on in the background. Earlier today, there was a semi-decent movie on, which then went straight into 1985's Commando, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. I glanced up now and then, just cause it was so terrible.
Today, Commando, now California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, said in a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer,
"We urge swift investigation and action so that the public confidence in our food supply is not lost and a message is sent that mistreatment of animals will not be tolerated by anyone. … (The case) represents one of the worst violations of food safety laws in the country and one of the most egregious cases of animal cruelty I've ever seen. Because the State of California has no jurisdiction in this matter, my administration stands ready to assist the U.S. Department of Agriculture in this investigation in any way possible. … If these allegations are proven to be true and an isolated case, we expect full criminal prosecution. If this is a willful and broad-based corporate practice, we urge you to shut the plant down and pursue full prosecution of those involved."
Undercover live -- from Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co.
The undercover investigator behind the biggest beef recall in U.S. history -- who will admit he is a vegan -- told the Los Angeles Times in a telephone interview Monday, that his six weeks at a Chino slaughterhouse that supplied meat to school lunch programs and supermarkets throughout the U.S. provided an abundance of evidence of abuse.
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"It was so blatant, so commonplace. It was so in-your-face . . . they were pushing animals we felt never should have qualified for human consumption."
The investigator said most of the animals slaughtered at Hallmark/Westland were former dairy cattle -- many, he added, already weak and emaciated when they were trucked in.
On his first day, a cow collapsed on its way to the slaughter box, and two workers immediately jumped into the chute. One grabbed the cow by its tail and the other shocked it with electrical prods. When that failed, workers killed the cow on the spot, hooked a chain around the animal's neck and dragged it all the way into the slaughter box on its knees.
The undercover said he saw weaker animals being prodded upright, or having water shot into their nostrils before shakily walking to slaughter. Some downer cows were hauled with chains. He said a supervisor would order his men to "get them up! Get them up!" when cows seemed too sick to walk.
Toronto Chinatown restaurant closed after rat photos surface
The National Post reported Friday that Toronto public health authorities shut down one of Chinatown’s most prominent restaurants after a passerby took a photo of rats on a countertop.
Passerby Vivian Hui said rats were visible through a window of the Dumpling House Restaurant yesterday afternoon, adding,
"I noticed what I thought was a cat on the counter inside Dumpling House but it turned out to be four or five rats piled on top of each other eating from a bowl of flour or something."
She e-mailed her boyfriend, Matt Alexander, who alerted health authorities. He also sent the photo to blogto.com, a popular Toronto city blog.
Toronto Public Health said inspectors went to the restaurant immediately, saw evidence of an infestation, and shut the restaurant down.
A manager who answered the phone at the restaurant said they agreed with health inspectors that the restaurant needed to be shut down, adding,
"I fully agree. If there’s a problem, some indication, we have to take it seriously. We have pest control guys working on the case right now. … ‘We have a very good reputation. That’s why we are taking this very seriously. I think [this shutdown] may affect business for a very short time, but not very much because our cleaning conditions are good."
The manager said he had never seen rats himself in the restaurant, and said any rat problem is not confined to Dumpling House. He said downtown has a rat problem generally, and the city needs to do something about it. Same as New York.
San Antonio candy apples could be crap
People on street corners around San Antonio sell candy apples, but now, the health department is, according to KENS 5 Eyewitness News, putting out the word that those apples could make you sick.
Metro Health Sanitation Manager Stephen Barscewski said,
“Hepatitis A, noro virus that have a fecal, oral route to them, so they're practicing poor hygienic practices when they’re producing those apples. That's always a threat. … Candy apples are being made in houses and garages around the city that certainly aren't regulated by the city or the state."
The health department says most of the vendors are not licensed, and there’s no control over how or where the candy apples are made.
USDA shuts Chino, Calif. meat processor for cruelty
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has shut down a meat processing company after concluding workers committed egregious acts of animal cruelty.
The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reports that the move came nearly a week after the Humane Society of the United States released video showing employees of the Westland Meat Co. tormenting cows that were too injured or weak to stand.
The original video is available at https://community.hsus.org/campaign/CA_2008_investigation?qp_source=gaba89.
A related news video is below.
When the video was released last week, the USDA suspended business with the company, sent a team of investigators to the Chino plant and ordered schools across the country to stop serving beef from the company to children.
An employee of the Humane Society of the United States worked undercover inside the company for about six weeks in the fall, secretly recording what went on.
His video shows what appear to be crippled cows dragged with forklifts, sprayed in the face with a high-pressure water hose and poked in the eye with a stick.
The images sparked concern not only from animal-welfare advocates, but from food-safety experts, who feared the company might have used the tactic to prod sick animals to slaughter in violation of state and federal regulations.
So-called "downer" cows, or those that are not able to get up, are more likely to produce beef contaminated with foodborne illnesses such as mad cow disease, E. coli and salmonella.
Dr. Richard Raymond, USDA's Under Secretary for Food Safety, said last night,
"We maintain an inspection system that safeguards the safety and wholesomeness of our food supply. USDA will take appropriate action based on the findings of the investigation."
Maybe, but USDA may need to adopt some new inspection and investigative techniques if the HSUS can so easily document such grotesquely poor treatment of animals.
Restaurant money could make you sick
Healthinspections.com is reporting that Swiss researchers have found that flu germs can live on paper money up to 17 days.
Past research at the University of Georgia discovered that dangerous E.coli bacteria can easily survive on the loose change in your pocket: anywhere from seven to eleven days on pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.
Chirag Bhatt, former director of health inspections for the city of Houston and current food safety director for Healthinspections.com, said,
"When a food worker touches money, then touches food, there is a clear danger of spreading germs. … For the average person, this is just another reminder of how important it is to wash our hands frequently to safeguard our health."
Woman says chicken foot from parade made her child sick
WAFB 9News is reporting that a five-year-old boy had to be hospitalized after playing with one of the throws his mom says he caught at the notoriously risqué Spanish Town Mardi Gras parade this weekend.
Mom Tracy Bamburg told 9NEWS that among all the beads, cups, and doubloons was a real chicken foot, which also happened to be raw.
"We were all touching it, squeezing it, and playing with it." Then, the next morning, reality hit. "My stomach was hurting very, very, very, very bad," the little boy says. "He woke up with 103 fever and vomiting," his mother says.
Spanish Town parade organizer Bruce Childers said throwing raw chicken parts from the floats in this parade is not acceptable and that if the crew members who did this are caught, they will be banned indefinitely from riding in the parade.
Dirty drinking glasses in hotel rooms
HealthInspections.com has uncovered yet another television story that has found that the glasses don't get washed.
WCPO in Cincinnati borrowed an idea that was first tried by a Fox television station in Atlanta. They placed hidden cameras into hotel rooms to watch housekeepers in action.
WCPO found that instead of washing the drinking glasses in guest rooms, they're just wiping them off and reusing them. And it's happening at big name hotels such as the Hilton.
In one case, it shows a housekeeper wiping the bathroom floor with a towel then using the same towel to wipe off drinking glasses.
WCPO found glasses being reused at hotel rooms in Ohio, Kentucky, Kansas City, Phoenix, and Baltimore.
Paging Stephen Colbert
At least 20 bald eagles reportedly died in Kodiak, Alaska, after becoming mired in a truckload of fish guts.
The Anchorage (Alaska) Daily News reported Saturday that about 50 eagles descended on the uncovered truck Friday when it left a garage at the Ocean Beauty Seafoods plant.
Federal wildlife officials said that while gorging themselves, the birds pushed each other into the heavy, thick, goo and were drowned, buried and crushed.
The incident took only minutes and factory officials moved the truck back inside once they saw what was happening, the Daily News reported.
Cat poop coffee
Brian for Cornell University alerted me to a new video that appeared on CNN this morning.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat/2008/01/05/mi.cat.poo.coffee.beans.wzzm
Cat poop coffee, or kopi luwak -- otherwise known as the most expensive coffee in the world -- is, according to wiki, coffee made from coffee berries which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus). The civets eat the berries but the beans inside pass through their system undigested. This process takes place on the islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago, and in the Philippines (where the product is called Kape Alamid). Vietnam has a similar type of coffee, called weasel coffee which are coffee berries which have been defecated by local weasels. In actuality the "weasel" is just the local version of the Asian Palm Civet.
Lots has been written about cat poop coffee, but here's a more graphic representation from a few months ago.
And don't eat poop.
Don't let your dog poop on this lawn
"Warning: Idiot holding dog."
And it gets better. Mentalfloss reports on what it calls a rather aggressive warning sign for dog walkers in Sarasota and the potential risks of crapping on this particular lawn.
Fancy food in Peru - guinea pigs, or cuy
Chefs in the coastal Peruvian capital of Lima have turned guinea pig -- a staple protein of the Andes -- into a gourmet dish.
The Associated Press reports that five years ago, chef Marilu Madueno added cuy, as guinea pigs are locally known, to the menu at La Huaca Pucllana, an exclusive Lima restaurant popular with tourists that overlooks a pre-Inca temple.
When she created the restaurant's menu, Madueno correctly guessed that by chopping off the unsightly head and paws -- cuy is traditionally served whole in the Andes - it would sell better.
Madueno, who estimates she sells about 30 a week at about $14 a plate, was quoted as saying, "We're seeing cuy ordered more and more"
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Guinea pig offered whole is the best option as the animal -- slaughtered at about three months of age when the meat is still soft -- has a bony carcass, which is offset by its thick and flavourful skin.
Adam Goldfarb, an issue specialist in the companion animals department of the Humane Society, said he was not aware of any federal laws prohibiting guinea pig consumption in the United States, but local legislation could vary.
Top 10 movie poop scenes
Propellor.com has posted what it deems to be the Top 10 Poop Movie Scenes.
Below is the list of movies. You can visit propellor.com for pics and descriptions.
And I've seen all the movies except the last one, Friday.
It's hard to argue with the classic simplicity of Caddyshack -- a Baby Ruth chocolate bar in the swimming pool -- but I'll go with Harold and Kumar.
1. Dumb & Dumber
2. Along Came Polly
3. American Pie
4. Van Wilder
5. Austin Powers - International Man of Mystery
6. Caddyshack
7. Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
8. Not Another Teen Movie
9. KingPin
10. Friday
Pig spleens predict winter weather
Amy and I are visiting family in Anoka, Minnesota, for a couple of days, and everyone gathered tonight for her grandmother's 85th birthday.
Oh ya, and the weather's always a popular subject, eh?
Same for Paul Smokov, 84, of Steele, N.D, who looks at pig spleens and predicts: "It looks like a normal year with no major storms. That's what the spleens tell me."
Smokov, who along with his wife, Betty, raises cattle on their 1,750-acre ranch north of Steele, says if the spleen is wide where it attaches to the pig's stomach and then narrows, it means winter weather will come early with a mild spring. A narrow-to-wider spleen usually means harsh weather in the spring.
Forecasters are calling for a normal winter -- matching Smokov's prediction.