More than two decades after Aaron Giles lost his identity bracelet, a meat cutter at Olson Locker in Fairmont, Minn. discovered the shiny object in a chicken gizzard and saw a name, address and phone number engraved on it, and returned it to Giles.

Associated Press explains that Giles had lived in Fairmont as a child and played hide-and-seek and other games with his brothers in their grandfather's barn near Sherburn.

The 31-year-old Giles said,

"I would spend most of my time out at his farm, and that's the only place I can think of that I would have lost it."

Giles figures the bracelet was lost when he was 4 or 5.

The barn was dismantled a few years ago, and Giles thinks his bracelet was imbedded in materials used to construct another barn in Elmore, about 45 miles away.

The bracelet was found in a chicken that came from an Elmore farm.

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There's a food safety feeding frenzy going on in the nation's media outlets. Not a week goes by when Ben or I (and I'm sure dozens of other food safety geeks) get a call from an earnest reporter who wants to dish the dirt on dangerous dining, or seep into the city's soiled food service underbelly, or test for toxins in takeout.

But there's always someone who will play along. Yesterday it was menus and movie theaters.

Not the food on the menu, but the actual menu as a source of dangerous microorganisms, Same with movie theater chairs.

South Carolina's Live 5 News --with Tracey Amick -- reported that they tested a single menu from a single outlet of chain restaurants.

"The menu from the Olive Garden had no bacteria...and the ones from Noisy Oyster, Applebees, and Waffle House had normal levels of normal staph...nothing to cause concern.

"But the TGI Friday's menu had 100 units of Bacillus Cereus which if ingested...could make you sick with diahrrea and vomiting."

Charlotte, N.C's WCNC -- with action reporter Jeff Sonier -- bought tickets at a half dozen Charlotte area movie theaters.

Then we took our hidden cameras inside, along with a black light to locate stains and other foreign material, and swabs to take samples. We sealed up everything we found in test tubes, and sent them off to a laboratory near Raleigh.

… most of the germs WCNC found in most of the movie theaters we tested probably won't make you sick. But there were some exceptions – such as the seatback sample of bacteria we swabbed from the Carolina Pavilion theater on South Boulevard. The laboratory identified it as bacillus cereus.

Don't eat the menu. And don't lick movie theater seats.

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The University of Western Ontario has taken what one newspaper called "the unusual step" of apologizing the salmonella food poisoning outbreak that has been linked to its on-campus food service.

The move comes a day after some pushback to statements made by Susan Grindrod, Associate Vice-President of Housing and Ancillary Services, who earlier said,

"This is the first [salmonella contamination] we’ve had in 25 years. … We serve 30,000 people per week, and while it’s nice to have sanitary practices, there’s no 150 per cent guarantee.”

In the apology yesterday, Grindrod said,

“We have made a number of recommended changes to further improve all our food handling and sanitary practices. These include the installation of hands-free sanitization stations at entrances to the Centre Spot, the hiring of an independent health and safety inspector to provide suggestions on enhanced food safety processes, and further measures to avoid cross contamination between foods.” 

What Grindrod did not mention is the steps Western takes to verify that suppliers -- especially suppliers of fresh fruits and vegetables -- are taking steps to reduce the risk of contamination from the farm through to the Western receiving dock.

The Rochester Post-Bulletin in Minnesota reported yesterday that a salmonella outbreak that sickened 20 who ate at a Quizno's Subs had been traced to tomatoes that were contaminated before they even got to the restaurant.

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The Sydney Morning Herald reports that five people from Newcastle and Tamworth and two from Sydney -- including three children -- have been diagnosed with Shiga toxigenic E. coli. Four of the sufferers had been seen by GPs and were recovering at home, while the three children were admitted to the Sydney Children's Hospital at Randwick; one has been discharged.

Jeremy McAnulty, the director of communicable diseases at NSW Health, said yesterday that no link has been found between the seven cases, which were all diagnosed in the past month, but that the disease usually only affected about 15 people a year.

Neither the story nor the NSW Health press release identify the strain of STEC involved; while E. coli O157:H7 is predominant in North America and the U.K., Australia has had bouts of E. coli O111.

The NSW Health press release also notes in its preventative tips,

"cook hamburgers and sausages thoroughly to at least 71 degrees Celsius - although colour alone is not necessarily a good indicator - do not eat them if there is any pink meat inside."

Color (without the u) is a lousy indicator, but the message tries to accommodate the cultural reality that people don't cook burgers with a thermometer, unlike the Brits, who say colour is an OK indicator.

Finally, the Australians went public based on limited info. That's OK, and certainly better than the Canadians, who wouldn't release any public information about 45 people sick with E. coli O157:H7, including one death, over several months this year, until pressured to by the Americans.

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The Indian anytime delight and after dinner digestive, the Paan, can be a terrific source of Salmonella.

A study by researchers at the National Salmonella Centre at the Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Uttar Pradesh's Izatnagar, found salmonella in Paan as well as betel leaves.

Sandeep Budhiraja, head of the department of internal medicine said,

"It is not surprising if it is found in Paan, as the shopkeepers keep the betel leaves soaked for long hours in water that may be infected."

Rajan Gupta, MD pathology, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, said,

"This disease is not acquired because of lack of personal hygiene but because of contamination via food or water. In India, when people go out to eat in a restaurant they drink mineral water but they never think of cleanliness when it comes to Paan.

"If everybody makes sure that what they eat is prepared in a clean place with pure hands and water then it can be easily avoided. It is best to make a Paan at home."

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The Blackpool Gazette in the U.K. reports that a second Blackpool hotel, the Metropole, is at the centre of a suspected norovirus outbreak.

The Newcastle-based balletLORENT performed their opening night on Friday, but Saturday's performance was called off 15 minutes after the curtain was due to go up.

Grand Theatre house manager Stephen Williams took to the stage to break the bad news to the audience, stating,

"Unfortunately due to a virulent outbreak of food poisoning the company is unable to perform. They are unable to perform how they wish to perform and how you would like to see them perform."

The audience was offered a full refund or credit note to use for future productions.

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One year after a three-part investigation by the Edmonton Journal, Karen Kleiss reports this morning that the number of compulsory restaurant closures is up, health regions across the province have adopted minimum standards, and all Albertans can expect to have online access to inspection results by July 1.

Capital Health Authority spokesman Steve Buick, referring to lessons learned after last year's complaints by the public and provincial auditor general, said,

"We think generally the system has served people well, but it needed upgrading in a few key respects, and certainly the disclosure issue is one of them. We get that the public wants to see more information. ... It needs to be more transparent, and it will be."

Health Minister Dave Hancock has ordered all Alberta health regions to adopt uniform risk assessment and management standards, and he wants all Alberta health regions to come up with a plan to make restaurant inspection reports available online.

Robert Bradbury, director of public health for the Calgary Health Region, said,

"We will move as close to complete disclosure as we possibly can. It's all about choice. The more information the dining public has, the better prepared they are to make that choice."

Another convert. Now, what is the most effective and meaningful way to communicate the results of restaurant inspections?

Last year, The Journal put a searchable database of restaurant inspections on the edmontonjournal.com website. It received more than 500,000 hits.

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Devil's star forward Patrik Elias returned to New Jersey Saturday with what he believes was a case of food poisoning and not related to hepatitis A or the flu.

Elias told the N.J. Star-Ledger,

"It just came on real quick. I had no symptoms before. I think it was just regular food poisoning, nothing related to hepatitis. I started feeling nauseous Friday morning. I had a nap before the game and by midnight I was vomiting and had a fever. I still have a little fever today, probably because of dehydration, but stomach-wise I feel much better. I ate some soup today. Hopefully, it will go away as quickly as it came on."

The story notes that it may indeed be food poisoning or the flu, but it is always a more serious matter with Elias. He contracted hepatitis A while playing in Russia during the 2004-05 lockout and missed the first 39 games of the '05-06 season while recovering.

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In October, Topps Meat Company, founded in 1940, went out of business. That was after Topps had recalled nearly 22 million pounds of frozen hamburger contaminated with E. coli and 40 people across the U.S. had become ill.
 
Tort deformers decried the “tragedy” that is this Topps’ collapse - that a business went under and employees had lost their jobs.  Yes, a company bankrupt and unemployment are tragic.  What makes it more so is that the catastrophic breakdown in the food-safety chain at Topps could have and should have been prevented by Topps management.
 
It’s been a century since Utpon Sinclair published the “Jungle,” which exposed the contaminated underbelly of the American meat industry.  Reform quickly followed.  America got the Pure Food and Drug and Meat Inspection Acts.  In the early 1990s, when these safeguards failed – e.g. Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak – again there was a public push for improving food safety.
 
The U.S.D.A. Food and Inspection Service responded with creating and aggressively enforcing the mandatory Risk Management System.  Derived from research and operations in the American space program, this approach HACCP prevented new outbreaks by establishing check-points at every phase of meat processing.  In addition, the agency classified the presence of E. coli O157:H7 as an adulterant under the Meat Inspection Act.  Until recently, the meat contamination problem seemed fixed.
 
Had Topps complied with the letter and spirit of HACCP, it would not have processed contaminated meat in 2005 and again in 2007.  So, why hadn’t Topps done what was the right thing to do for it and its now unemployed?  We will be researching that question for years.
 
My theory is that Topps’ leadership might have chosen to take short-cuts on systemic food-safety procedures.  Therefore, contamination which should have been detected early in meat processing wasn’t.  The result wasn’t pretty: Food-poisoned consumers went through the agony that E. coli inflicts.  They had incorrectly trusted that label “Inspected by the U.S.D.A.” as guaranteeing safety.
 
Over a century, two waves of reform in ensuring the safety of the American food supply chain have given business a total systems approach.  That approach works if management follows the rules.  Unfortunately, employees at Topps who lost their means of making a living were among those punished - severely. 
Will other businesses be able to learn that century-old lesson: Inattention to proper food processing will be the kiss of death for their brand name, profitability and, yes, very existence.
 
Bill Marler has been a lawyer representing E. coli victims, mainly children, since 1993. 

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Chef and restaurateur Lenny Russo joins other food pornographers such as Mark Bittman and Nina Planck in promoting fashion over facts by recycling the claim that grass-fed cattle have significantly lower levels of dangerous E. coli than grain-fed cattle.

Mike Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy and professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota and Russo's target, does a nice job of, um, crushing Russo's assertions in today's Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune:

"Russo cited conclusions from a 1998 study from Cornell University that cattle fed a diet of grass, not grain, had very few E. coli, and that those bacteria that survived in the cattle feces would not survive in the human when eaten in undercooked meat, particularly hamburger. This statement is based on a study of only three cows rotated on different diets and for which the researchers did not even test for E. coli O157:H7. Unfortunately, the authors extrapolated these incredibly sparse results to the entire cattle industry. The Cornell study is uncorroborated in numerous published scientific papers from renowned research groups around the world. Finally, work conducted by the Minnesota Department of Health as part of a national study on foodborne disease recently showed that eating red meat from local farms was a significant risk factor for E. coli infection. ...

"Russo would understand this issue in an entirely different light if he had been with me when I had to explain to distraught parents that their young daughter's death was due to eating an undercooked hamburger, prepared by them, and the E. coli that caused her illness came from meat from a cow raised only on pasture grass and processed by the local meat packer. The cow also came from Grandpa's farm down the road."

Lawyer Bill Marler offered his own take on the exchange, so I'll jump in to reiterate that the natural reservoirs for E. coli O157:H7 and other verotoxigenic E. coli is the intestines of all ruminants, including cattle -- grass or grain-fed -- sheep, goats, deer and the like. The final report of the fall 2006 spinach outbreak identifies nearby grass-fed beef cattle as the likely source of the E. coli O157:H7 that sickened 200 and killed 4.

As my colleague David Renter wrote in Sept. 2006,

"Cattle raised on diets of 'grass, hay and other fibrous forage' do contain E. coli O157:H7 bacteria in their feces as do other animals including deer, sheep, goats, bison, opossum, raccoons, birds, and many others.

"Cattle diet can affect levels of  E. coli O157:H7, but this is a complex issue that has been and continues to be studied by many scientists.  To suggest switching cattle from grain to forage based on a small piece of the scientific evidence is inappropriate and irresponsible.  Several pieces of evidence suggest that such a change would not eliminate and may even increase E. coli O157:H7 in cattle.

"The current spinach outbreak may be traced back to cattle manure, but there are many other potential sources.  Simplistically attacking one facet of livestock production may be politically expedient, but instead provides a false sense of security and ignores the biological realities of E. coli O157:H7. In 1999, for example, 90 children were felled by E. coli O157:H7 at a fair in London, Ont. The source? A goat at a petting zoo, hardly an intensively farmed animal."

Images courtesy of the IFSN video Poop in the Field, available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL8iXUbTqgI

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Health officials urged people suffering symptoms of giardia lamblia to stay away from swimming pools as the number of infected people climbed to 53.

The Ilkley Gazette reports that the investigations continue to focus on Saffron restaurant, Station Plaza, currently closed for refurbishment, after local water supplies were ruled out.

The incubation period for the bug can be up to 25 days, and those who have contracted the illness may not show symptoms until then.

The PCT is still advising anyone with the symptoms of diarrhoea, gas or flatulence, indigestion, nausea, stomach cramps, bloatedness and lethargy, to see their GP. The trust also advises food handlers and health care workers who show the symptoms to seek advice about continuing to work.

Sounds like most people in the U.S. after Thanksgiving yesterday.

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Couple of fun ones tonight, first one is a pretty sweet video about quick cooking a turkey (they do mention a thermometer, but I don't see it being used).



A Thermite Thanksgiving


Second one is a nice food safety story about what happens when you eat your hair.  Here's a preview picture (this was removed from an 18-year-old girl).

from a New England Journal of Medicine article covered on CNN:

She complained of a five-month history of pain and swelling in her abdomen, vomiting after eating and a 40-pound weight loss.
After a scan of the woman's abdomen showed a large mass, doctors lowered a scope through her esophagus.
"On questioning, the patient stated that she had had a habit of eating her hair for many years -- a condition called trichophagia," the authors of the article wrote.

My favourite part of the article is:

A year later, the pain and vomiting were gone, the patient had regained 20 pounds "and reports that she has stopped eating her hair."

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"In this outbreak, vomiting by a line cook at the work station might have contributed to transmission … Because of the open physical layout of the restaurant, no barrier impeded airborne spread of the virus from the kitchen to the main dining area."

Or so concludes the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in its write-up of a Jan. 2006 norovirus outbreak in Michigan (it was a Carrabba's Italian Grill in Lansing, Mich.) in which "at least 364 restaurant patrons became ill with gastroenteritis after dining at a restaurant where employees had reported to work while ill."

At the time of the outbreak, a food service employee in Lansing wrote that, "What happened at Carrabba's could occur at any of our local eateries. Not because their kitchens are not clean, not because they don't follow all of the safety standards, but because sick employees report to work. There is an internal peer pressure to report to work even when you are ill, not to mention that a day without pay can be crucial for some families."

As I wrote in Feb. 2006,

The industry spokesthingies may say that sick employees should not work, but the reality is, no work, no pay. So, for the food industry, tell your sick employees to stay at home, and perhaps even provide incentives, like allowing for a couple of sick days. The cost of a few workers abusing the system pales in comparison to the lawsuits and lost business.

Following the outbreak, the Barry-Eaton District Health Department (where Lansing, MI, is located) issued four recommendations (based on previously published guidelines) for infection control and environmental decontamination after any vomiting incident in a food-service establishment (what to do after someone barfs):

• Any exposed food or single-service articles (e.g., drinking straws, takeout containers, and paper napkins) should be discarded, and all surface areas within at least a 25-foot radius of the vomiting site should be disinfected with a bleach solution;

• ill employees should be excluded from work for at least 72 hours after symptoms subside, and employees returning after a gastrointestinal illness should be restricted from handling kitchenware or ready-to-eat food for an additional 72 hours;

• because thorough disinfection might be necessary, partial or complete closure of the food establishment should be considered after a vomiting incident

• restrooms used during or after a vomiting incident should be closed immediately until they are disinfected properly with bleach solution.

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Nashville, Tennessee's News Channel 5 reviewed state restaurant inspection results and discovered that some of the dirtiest eateries get written up over and over.

The news team ended up at the Jade Dragon in Clarksville,

one of the worst offenders around when it comes to dirty kitchens; in the last two years, the Jade Dragon has repeatedly failed its surprise inspections, getting scores as low as a 58, 52, even a 47.

The manager told us, "Everything's clean."

The TV crew poked around and discovered what appeared to be many of the same violations the joint had been cited for previously.

Eventually the manager of the Jade Dragon asked, while the cameras rolled,

"Can we get everything stopped? I don't want to be on TV at all."

Hugh Atkins with the state Health Department was quoted as saying,

"We don't allow an unsafe restaurant to remain open," and that if a restaurant is open, it's safe.

Ronnie Hart with the Tennessee Restaurant Association said,

"The bottom line is fix the problem. You can't put a band-aid on it. Fix the problem," adding that his group has little patient for repeat offenders and is now pushing for mandatory food safety training.

We agree.

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"One year the turkey took a long time to cook and I went to carve it after about 13 beers. The way I remember it, I bore down to take off the leg and the whole thing went shooting off the platter and knocked over the centerpiece."

That's Maurice Landry, who lives near Lake Charles, La., telling the N.Y. Times about his worst turkey carving experience -- at least the one he can partially remember.

Forget the Father Knows Best approach with the big bird gracefully carved and doled out to the appreciative -- or glassy-eyed -- guests.

Ray Venezia, the meat director for the four Fairway markets, a third-generation butcher and one of the biggest turkey purveyors in New York City, carves turkey the same way I do.

"I don’t cut like a chef, I cut like a butcher."

Instead of slicing the meat from the roast at the table, Mr. Venezia’s carving protocol calls for the biggest pieces, the breasts and the thighs, to be removed whole, then boned and sliced on a cutting board. “Trying to carve from the carcass is like trying to cut it off a beach ball: it’s all curved surfaces and it moves around under the knife,” he said. “Give me a flat cutting board any time.”

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While skimming through the pages of People magazine, discovering the latest in style and fashion, I came across chicken poop lip chap.

The label reads “100% free range chicken poop lip junk “ however despite the name, there is no fecal matter listed in the ingredients. In fact, the natural ingredients include all natural 100% pure non-GMO soy, jojoba, sweet orange, lavender, and bees wax.

I was relieved to find out that consumers weren’t actually putting shit on their lips. Chicken feces are often a vector of salmonella- a serious bacteria that can cause sever diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps.

Chicken poop lip junk originated when its creator, Jamie Faith Tabor Schmidt, heard her grandfather say, "I know how to fix those chapped lips, I'll rub some chicken poop on `em so you won't be lickin` 'em."

Along with the ambiguous Chicken poop lip chap, The Simone Chickenbone™ Natural Put-Ons™ line also includes  “Good gravy”, a moisturizing hair pomade, and “Kill It Dead”, a natural vegan spray deodorant- great stocking stuffers for the 2007 holiday season.
--
Tiffany Eversley is an fourth year food science student at the University of Guelph

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I don't believe they are.  I think there are lots of food businesses that have spotless toilets and bad food safety practices.  Ron Pelger of the Produce News suggests they are a good indicator:

The next time you go into a restaurant, I highly recommend that you visit the restroom first to check out the sanitation conditions of the establishment before ordering and eating your meal. Give it the old once-, twice- and three-times-over inspection. If it passes your examination, the restaurant must have high cleanliness standards.

Really? Pelger sounds pretty trusting. There is some great literature that suggests that inspection scores are not a good indicator of whether a restaurant is going to make someone ill. Should consumers also ask to see the conditions of the bathrooms and port-a-potties on farms and make decisions based on that? I don't think so. I think we should be basing our decisions on what a produce distributor (grower/packer/shipper) can prove about the food safety practices on the farm, not what is possible to clean-up in preparation for a planned audit.

Pelger also writes:

There are many scenarios in the produce industry that can lead to product contamination. Through a sophisticated trace-back process, product can be traced to its original source. In the recent past, foodborne illness outbreaks were linked to spinach, lettuce and tomatoes. These cases have been traced back to their sources and the problems corrected. But what about areas other than farms? Could contamination be happening in other links of the food chain as well?

Pelger is right that food safety is a farm-to-fork, food system issue -- but he unfortunately comes across as whining about how it's not always farms (true) without suggesting how the entire supply chain should get together and address it. If an industry truly believes in the everyone-has-a-role-to-play mantra, they should help their partners (upstream and downstream) in producing safe food. And tell everyone about it.

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The London Free Press is reporting that the total number of Salmonella cases at the University of Western Ontario in London has climbed to 42 -- an increase of 10 -- and that none of the new cases is related to the Pita Pit, the source of the original cases.

Dr. Bryna Warshawsky of the Middlesex-London Health Unit was cited as saying the new cases involve people who ate food prepared at a central kitchen in the Centre Spot food court and distributed to other outlets on campus, and that the new cases could point to a cross-contamination at the Centre Spot, adding,

"There's a wide variety of food items, purchased from a wide variety of places. The only common element is that the food was prepared within the Centre Spot."

Or a common ingredient. Maybe something like tomatoes? We await the public results of the health unit's investigation.

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My parents and two youngest (of four) daughters visited Manhattan -- er, Kansas -- for a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving party Friday night, a full day of tailgating and football Saturday (K-State sucked but a great day for socializing) and what else, a visit to the Wizard of Oz museum Sunday in nearby Wamego.

Prior to the football game Saturday, Andrew Reece and I walked around and interviewed people about food safety stuff and food preparation. We got some great material. Look for that video in the near future.

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Jeffrey Steingarten and Vogue magazine is offering up tips to make the perfect tasting burger. Some of the advice sounds helpful, but I question if all of it is safe.
Here are a few excerpts:

“Grind or Else: Steingarten concludes you must either grind your own meat or have a trusted butcher grind it for you, for reasons of taste and safety (or, perish the thought, be sentenced to a life of consuming well-done burgers).”

While fresh ground beef may have taste benefits, I am not too sure what beef straight from the butcher has to do with safety. In fact, a local butcher in Wales was recently jailed for selling beef contaminated with E. coli. Local does not equate to safe; food can only be as safe as the people that handle and produce it.

“He explains in painstaking detail all of the ways supermarket ground beef can be contaminated. His solution, if you have any questions about the chopped meat you've just bought: "Drop the meat into a pot of boiling water for a minute, fish it out, and pat it dry….”

Again, I am not sure how this makes your meat safer. If you drop a clump of ground beef into boiling water, it may kill of any microorganisms on the surface, but no such luck for anything lurking inside. Meat is not done when temperatures around the meat are above 160 degrees Fahrenheit; it is done when the meat itself is 160 degrees.

“…if you flip a burger or a steak every fifteen to 30 seconds, the outside surface will get nicely browned while the inside stays relatively cool.”

It is a good idea to frequently flip to avoid a crispy burger, but what is the purpose of keeping the inside ‘relatively cool’? Studies have shown ground beef is fully cooked only when the center of the patty is 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Keeping the inside ‘relatively cool’ (assuming Mr. Steingarten means less than 160) is only increasing the risk of food borne illness. In fact, temperature is not mentioned anywhere in the article.

Here is my recipe for a perfect tasting burger:
1.    Mix in some Chipotle Tabasco sauce with the meat.
2.    Use a sprinkle of seasoning salt right before cooking the burger.
3.    Flip the burger regularly.
4.    Top with Pepper Jack cheese.
5.    Cook burgers to 160 degrees, and use a tip sensitive meat thermometer.

Once step five is complete, then you have a mouthwatering burger.

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SanLuisObispo.com is reporting that the Avila Valley Barn in San Luis, Calif., clearly labels sweet corn it sells as genetically engineered -- “Our own GE corn" -- and offers customers a choice of traditional corn.

“People have the right to know what they are eating,” DeVincenzo said.

Couldn't agree more. Consumer right to know is a fundamental value for North American shoppers. Labels may not be the best way to provide such information.

Andrew Christie, director of the local chapter of the Sierra Club, said,

“We still don’t think enough testing has been done on GE crops, but failing that, GE products should be labeled. We heartily endorse the precedent Dr. DeVincenzo is setting."

The store offers the GE and traditional corn at the same price.

While some customers complained that GE corn was offered at all, DeVincenzo said the typical customer says they prefer the modified type because it is not shucked and looks fresher. Traditional corn has to be partially or completely shucked to eliminate ears that are infested with worms.

Contrary to what the story says, it's not a first, to have genetically engineered and conventional whole produce sold side-by-side. Jeff Wilson of Birkbank Farms in Ontario, and my gang, did this beginning in 2000. We published the results in the British Food Journal in 2003 (Powell, D.A., Blaine, K., Morris, S. and Wilson, J. (2003), “Agronomic and consumer considerations for Bt and conventional sweet-corn”, British Food Journal, Vol. 105 No. 10, pp. 700-13.), and won best paper for the year.

People have been complaining ever since, and making a lot of accusations about me and the research.

In response, this is what I published, again in the British Food Journal, Aug, 1, 2006 (Vol  108 Issue 8).

Would you eat wormy sweet corn? Or cabbage? Or broccoli?

That is what Ontario, Canada, producer Jeff Wilson often asks his customers. With 200 acres of fresh fruit and vegetables and a retail market on the farm, inquiring about his customers' preferences is not just good manners, it is good business.

Throughout the 1990s, Wilson's customers expressed a desire for reduced pesticides in the fresh produce purchased at his Birkbank Farms market. Wilson adopted an intensive integrated pest management program, but when cool, wet weather struck in 1997 – ideal for European corn borer – many of Wilson's customers who had previously said they could tolerate wormy corn by breaking off the damaged ends were no where to be found.

Wilson lost about $25,000 on sweet corn sales that year; an expensive lesson in people say one thing, but when it comes to grocery shopping, often do another.

So when I approached Jeff Wilson in 1999 about growing a genetically engineered Bt-sweet corn that in Florida field-trials had significantly reduced the need for pesticide sprays to control corn borer, he was enthusiastic.

I was eager to see what consumers would do when given a choice between genetically engineered and conventional whole produce – in this case sweet corn and potatoes – in a market setting instead of a survey or willingness to pay experiment which are both notoriously misleading.

As described in our paper (Powell et al., 2003), conventional (what we labeled as “regular” based on customer feedback) and genetically engineered Bt-sweet corn and potatoes were grown in similar eight acre plots, harvested, segregated and made available for sale at the Birkbank Farms Market.

Joe Cummins, and others on the Internet, have accused me, and my co-investigators, of academic fraud and bias, because a sign sitting atop the bin of regular sweet corn asked, Would you eat wormy sweet corn?

That is a question Jeff Wilson cares about, with his pocketbook. It is also the language consumers use when talking about sweet corn, and what they are looking for when they peel back the silks of corn-on-the-cob.

But is it language intended to manipulate consumer purchasing patterns?

No.

The use of language, and its shared meaning, is always subjective. I have always based such work on the integrative risk analysis framework, first promoted by the US Presidential/Congressional Commission on Risk Assessment and Risk Management in 1997 (available at: www.riskworld.com/Nreports/nr7me001.htm) which argues that risk assessment, management and communication activities should be intertwined and reciprocal, rather than separate entities. And the best way to deal with value judgments in risk analysis is to openly declare potential sources of bias.

My bias is that science has a responsibility to lead, to explore the use of new technologies to enhance the safety and quality of the food supply while actively minimizing risks and respecting the concerns of affected consumers. For over a decade I have devoted my career to reducing the incidence of foodborne illness, and to the responsible use of new technologies to enhance the safety of the food supply.

Wilson and his staff at Birkbank Farms are committed to providing consumers with high quality food produced in the safest manner, as well as clear and accessible information regarding how that food is produced. Our shared goal is to understand consumer preference, not shape it.

The point-of-sale information in 2000 (and in subsequent years not described in Powell et al., 2003) at Birkbank Farms consisted of a large placard describing the options Wilson had to produce non-wormy corn, smaller handwritten signs describing the treatments received by corn available for sale on a specific day (which varied weekly throughout the course of the six-week consumer data collection period to reflect the different conditions under which different rows of corn were grown and variations in weather) and information pamphlets. This presentation can be viewed at: www.foodsafetynetwork.ca/images/sections/sweet-corn-model-farm.jpg.

The large placard contained the following text:

“Delivering High Quality Sweet Corn
In order to provide you with the quality of sweet corn that you want we have three options
1. Genetically engineered Bt-sweet corn:
contains Bt protein in leaves and stalk; and requires fewer insecticides to prevent worm damage thus minimizing environmental impact.
2. Bt-spary
same Bt protein as in genetically engineered variety but sprayed on leaves; and
protein exists naturally in environment and breaks down rapidly ...
3. Conventional pesticides:
used by most farmers to create worm free corn; and
applied according to guidelines set by governments, but harm to beneficial insects observed”.

Because the work at Birkbank Farms was an overall risk analysis experiment in providing the public, and anyone else, with full and transparent information about how a particular commodity was produced, a press conference was held at Birrkbank Farms on 30 August 2000, to mark the beginning of the sweet corn harvest. The handwritten sign over the regular sweet corn asked, Would you eat wormy sweet corn, and then listed the treatments that corn had received to produce less-wormy sweet corn. The handwritten sign over the GE sweet corn (and we deliberately chose the label GE sweet corn because that is what it was – not just genetically modified, not a product of biotechnology or other terms that proponents of GE have suggested may be more palatable to the consuming public) said “Here's what went into producing quality sweet corn”, and listed no pesticides but herbicide and fertilizer. The handwritten signs were changed the following week.

A critic of GE may charge that simply asking the question, Would you eat wormy sweet corn, unduly influences consumer preference. A supporter of GE may charge that by labelling the corn genetically engineered unduly stigmatises the product and influences consumer preference (Powell, 2001).

I find such categorizations simplistic.

However, one journalist, among the dozens of other journalists, scientists, activists and hundreds of consumers who visited Birkbank Farms during the data collection period, and cited by Cummins, apparently interpreted the sign as evidence of manipulation.

We observed no evidence to support that charge, either through formal intercept interviews or anecdotal conversations; quite simply, no one else mentioned the wormy corn aspect of our signage (which was referred to in the description on the placard and, briefly, on the handwritten sign), although we admittedly did not specifically ask the question. What we did observe and respond to was heightened customer interest in methods of food production generally, and in response we developed and maintained a three kilometre self-guided walking tour on Birkbank Farms outlining the various tradeoffs and choices that face a commercial producer. Hundreds of people who wanted to know more about how their food was produced and the challenges involved took a stroll through the farm in 2000, and hundreds more in subsequent years.

In 2001, when we deliberately downplayed the research at the farm after the extensive media attention the previous year, sales of GE sweet corn outsold regular sweet corn 5:2. The presentation used that year is available at: www.foodsafetynetwork.ca/en/article-details.php?a = 4&c = 18&sc = 137&id = 889.

Cummins also alleges that the point-of-sale literature was promotional. The only literature that I am aware of present at point-of-sale was a brochure written by Katija Blaine and me, that contained information about benefits, risks and management strategies. Interested readers can make their own conclusions about the alleged persuasive nature of the brochures – one for Bt-sweet corn and one for Bt potatoes – by viewing them at: www.foodsafetynetwork.ca/en/article-details.php?a& = 3&c = 9&sc = 53&id = 886 and www.foodsafetynetwork.ca/en/article-details.php?a = 3&c = 9&sc = 53&id = 887,respectively.

The research at Birkbank Farms had strengths and weaknesses and both were related to the commercial nature of Wilson's operation. However, since May 2000 when we first wrote to Wilson's neighbours to inform them of our intent and hosted a public meeting for others to voice their concerns, we have been completely open about our intentions and results, and welcomed criticisms as a way to improve the project.

Powell, et al. (2003) explicitly acknowledged the limitations and applicability of the research by stating, “The labels on the produce bins may have influenced consumers to buy, just because they were there or perhaps because there was detailed information provided”, and concluded, “This research is a starting-point and describes the experience of one farmer on one farm during the 2000 growing season”.

Finally, to suggest that I possess some extraordinary persuasive skills, and that if I did, I would influence sweet corn purchases, one buyer at a time (with an intercept interviewee who was not included in the study) says more about the preconceived notion of my critics. What some allege is manipulation could more readily be described as conversation. Talking to people is good for Jeff Wilson's business and good for researchers.

Douglas Powell
Associate Professor, Department Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA

References

Powell, D.A. (2001), “Mad cow disease and the stigmatization of British beef”, in Flynn, J., Slovic, P. and Kunreuther (Eds), Risk Media and Stigma, EarthScan, London, pp. 219-28.

Powell, D.A., Blaine, K., Morris, S. and Wilson, J. (2003), “Agronomic and consumer considerations for Bt and conventional sweet-corn”, British Food Journal, Vol. 105 No. 10, pp. 700-13.

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The Quebec ministry of agriculture is warning people not to eat raw milk goat cheese from La Ferme écologique coop d'Ulverton located on Route 143 in Ulverton after a case of Listeria monocytogenes food poisoning was reported in the Montreal area.

Laboratory tests on the raw milk cheese from the Ulverton coop revealed the presence of listeria.

The ministry said the dairy coop does not have the required permit to make cheese destined for consumers and that people should not eat cheese from producers who are not licensed. Only raw milk cheese produced in licensed factories can be consumed safely.

As Amy noted in June, some of the major French producers have switched to using heated milk to reduce the risk of disease. Lactilis’ spokesperson, Luc Morelon said that although they recognize the importance of Camembert traditions, they’re making the change,

 “[b]ecause consumer safety is paramount, and we cannot guarantee it 100 per cent. We cannot accept the risk of seeing our historic brands disappearing because of an accident in production." In response to his critics Morelon added, “I don't want to risk sending any more children to hospital. It's as simple as that."

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Reuters is reporting that Norway's largest erotic chain store was forced to change the labeling on products such as penis pasta, candy cuffs and chocolate body painting, to comply with Norwegian food regulations.

The Norwegian food safety authority, whose goal it is to make sure consumers have healthy and safe food, conducted a surprise inspection at one of the chain's stores and found that several products violated food labeling regulations.

Kjersti Antonsen, a sexual adviser in the store, said, "We have panties, bras, handcuffs and suspender belts made out of candy," and that the store will comply with the regulations and label all its food products.

The food safety authority also said the store also breached rules of importing erotic candy, which should be reported to authorities at least 24 hours before arrival.

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The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Wedginald, the English cheddar cheese that has become a star of the Internet as it matures live on screen, is up for auction, with the proceeds going to charity.

The 20-kg cheese that has attracted 1.65 million viewer hits on http://www.cheddarvision.tv since it went on the web late last year has nearly completed its 12-month maturation and will be ready to eat by Christmas, the owners said.

Jeff Wilson and I set up an experiment eight years ago, to let people watch corn grow. They loved it.  Watch for some of our Farmer Jeff greatest hits to show up on YouTube -- we were doing this stuff years ago.

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The London Free Press reports that 33 people are now reporting symptoms of Salmonella believed linked to the Pita Pit at the University of Western Ontario Community Centre.

Dr. Bryna Warshawsky, associate medical officer of health with the Middlesex-London health unit, said 15 of the salmonella cases have been lab-confirmed.

The health unit has inspected the restaurant twice since the issue first surfaced, said Warshawsky, and deemed it safe to operate. The task now is to determine if the outlet received contaminated food product, or if something happened there.

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14-year-old Kayla Boner of Monroe, Iowa, died last week from E. coli and kidney failure.

Boner's parents, Rick and Dana Boner, told KCCI that when their daughter first got sick, they thought she had the flu.  But after two days, she wasn't getting any better

Dana and Rick Boner say it's hard to move forward without knowing what caused their daughter's infection.  They can't help but wonder about recent frozen pizza recalls because of E. Coli contamination.

"They have taken some of our Totino's pizza rolls to test at the labs," Dana Boner said.  "She had pizzas but there's none left so there's nothing to test."

Deaths are a sobering reminder that food safety is not simple. Our condolences to the family.

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Mark Arsenault of the Rhode Island Providence-Journal is the latest to validate what I've long suspected:  that the dining public apparently has a huge appetite for information about food safety.

Arsenault says that tens of thousands of people have viewed health inspection reports for Rhode Island restaurants, delis, convenience stores and other places food is served since the reports first became available online last Tuesday.

Ernest M. Julian, chief of the Office of Food Protection at the Rhode Island Department of Health, said,

“We had one person call us who said they searched for 100 places online. People are checking all the places they eat. … It’s obvious the public wants this information, based on the number of views."

The Health Department has posted a database of some 4,000 food service inspection reports, covering about half the food establishments in the state, dating back to January. The reports list health violations with short explanations. The inspection reports are available at www.health.ri.gov/environment/food/inspections.php.

After being publicized by local media, the site attracted so much Web traffic on Thursday that an Internet traffic jam developed that temporarily slowed the site.

Restaurant inspection disclosure on its own does little, but does contribute to developing a culture that values microbiologically safe food.

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Daryll E. Ray, who has a lot of titles at the University of Tennessee, writes in an op-ed promoting irradiation that,

"The most immediate thing a consumer can do is to make sure that all of the hamburger that they serve is cooked to a minimum of 160 degrees F and that they observe sanitary precautions in the handling of meat and meat products.

"On a recent trip, one of us ordered a hamburger at a major restaurant chain-the cooking instructions was “medium.” When the hamburger arrived at the table it was not just pink inside, it was raw. Being polite, we went ahead and ate the burger."

Like so many food safety gurus, Ray is preaching one thing and doing another. And like a lot of public policy types, he talks a good game but doesn't really say anything. And certainly doesn't do anything.

Fifteen years after Jack-in-the-Box, it's time to stop being polite. Only if consumers demand safe food will the corporations -- or mom-and-pop burger shops -- actually pay attention and deliver. Ask hard questions. Demand safe food. And help create a culture that values safe food.

Here are some examples:

During the halfway point of a food safety golf tournament in Baltimore in 2005, a burley, 50-ish goateed he-man requested his hamburger be cooked, "Bloody … with cheese."
His sidekick piped up, "Me too."
I asked the kid flipping burgers if he had a meat thermometer.
He replied, snickering, "Yeah, this is a pretty high-tech operation."
The young woman taking orders glanced about, and then confided that she didn't think there was a meat thermometer anywhere in the kitchen; this, at a fancy golf course catering to weddings and other swanky functions along with grunts on the golf course.
We ordered the burgers well-done.

Two iFSN researchers went to a local restaurant and ordered a hamburger. When asked how we would like them done, Doug asked, "What temperature is well-done?"
The server replied, "All our burgers are well-done unless the customer specifies."
The burger came out dripping blood, and still cold. So even though color is a lousy indicator of doneness, the burger was returned. And a lesson was given on doneness of burgers.

A graduate student and I were recently in Seattle, home of the infamous 1993 Jack-in-the-Box outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 that sickened some 600 and killed four, and put microbial food safety firmly in the minds of American media, lawyers and even the President.
After arriving at the hotel in Seattle and wandering around a bit, we ended up back at this rather posh hotel. Upon ordering burgers, we were asked how we would like them, "Rare, medium, well-done?" We looked at each other, and I asked if they ever used a meat thermometer. The waiter looked befuddled.
We both ordered well-done.

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Six days after the U.S. government said it was going to start looking harder at meat imports from Canada, based on dubious findings at a now defunct Alberta slaughterhouse -- and apparently a few others -- the Canadian Minister for Agriculture has publicly responded (the PR isn't on the Ag Canada website yet, but will eventually show up at http://www.agr.gc.ca/cb/index_e.php).

The statement below is even more baffling in that there is no mention of the 45 sick Canadians, including one dead person, probably linked to the same world-class meat. And Ted Haney, president of the Canada Beef Export Federation, said in the Toronto Star this morning that, "This is a disruption of trade, a disruption of price and a disruption of production. This simply can't be justified."

At some point, someone in charge -- they make the big bucks -- may explain what kind of testing goes on and provide some data to validate the claims of Canada's world-class status.

In the meantime, Canadian Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, (exactly as pictured, left) said:

"I have every confidence in the strength and quality of Canada's food safety, and I have strongly stated our Government's disappointment with United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) decision to temporarily hold and test Canadian beef, pork, and poultry exports to the U.S. We believe that the scope of these measures is not justified nor do they reflect established protocols.

The Government of Canada is committed to maintaining and strengthening Canada's world-class food safety system to ensure that Canadians and our trading partners can purchase our food products with total confidence.

Protecting and promoting the health and safety of Canadians is of paramount importance for this Government, and we highlighted our strong and continued commitment to deliver action on food and product safety in our recent Speech from the Throne.

The Government of Canada is taking an active role in resolving this issue as quickly as possible to minimize any disruption to the Canadian beef, poultry and pork industries. Canadian Food Inspection Agency officials and I are working closely with our American counterparts toward the normalization of cross-border trade.

The Government of Canada is delivering results to maintain and enhance Canada's world-class food safety system and make sure it meets the new challenges of a global marketplace."

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Raw milk is, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, in a report of a Salmonella Typhimurium outbreak associated with raw milk and cheese consumption in Pennsylvania in 2007, a well-documented source of infections from Salmonella, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Campylobacter, Listeria, Mycobacterium bovis, and other pathogens. In 1938, before widespread adoption of milk pasteurization in the United States, an estimated 25% of all foodborne and waterborne outbreaks of disease were associated with milk.

By 2001, the percentage of such outbreaks associated with milk was estimated at <1%. During 1998--2005, a total of 45 outbreaks of foodborne illness were reported to CDC in which unpasteurized milk (or cheese suspected to have been made from unpasteurized milk) was implicated. These outbreaks accounted for 1,007 illnesses, 104 hospitalizations, and two deaths (CDC, unpublished data, 2007). Because not all cases of foodborne illness are recognized and reported, the actual number of illnesses associated with unpasteurized milk likely is greater.

Unsubstantiated claims of health benefits of raw milk for infants and children are particularly concerning for caregivers because infants and children are dependent on their caregivers to make safe dietary decisions for them. Sixteen of the 29 ill persons in this outbreak were aged <7 years.

Adults, do what you like, but keep your kids out of the raw milk roulette.

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A letter from Dr. William Jam, Acting Assistant Administrator Office of International Affairs FSIS, USDA, to his Canadian counterpart, just released, says in part:

This letter is to alert you that on Friday, November 9, 2007,  the Food Safety and Inspection  Service(FSIS) will begin increased productexams of exported Canadian meat and poultry products, and pasteurized egg products at import houses in the United States (US). FSIS will also increase testing of raw groundbeef for E. coli OI57:H7. Also, FSIS will begin testing of raw beef manufacturing trim, boxed beef, and subprimals normally sent for grinding for E. coli Ol57:H7. Additionally, FSIS will increase testing for Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella in ready-to-eat products. The increase product exams, testing of raw ground beef for E. coli Ol57:H7, and for Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella in ready-to-eat products will be at the rate of approximately double that of the past year for Canada.

These measures are consistent with the statement of Dr. Richard Raymond, USDA Undersecretary for Food Safety released on November 3, 2007 . The measures are a reflection of our concern about the Canadian inspection system based on the audit findings of May 1-Jtrne 6, 2007, and the circumstances related to the unsafe practices employed by Ranchers Beef, Ltd., Establishment 630.
The increase in tests for pathogens will continue while the two US teams currently in Canada complete their audits of Establishment 630, the six establishments that received Notices of Intent to Delist in the last US audit of Canada, the one establishment that was delisted in the last US audit of Canada, and beef slaughter establishments identified as similar to Est. 630 in terms of start-up and operations.

The complete letter is available at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/PDF/Canada_O157_Testing_Letter.pdf

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ESPN reports that The International Tennis Federation is investigating allegations that 13th ranked, US Open quarter finalist Tommy Haas was poisoned before Germany's Davis Cup match against Russia.

The report says that Haas was forced out of a match with what appeared to be a stomach virus (sounds like noro?) on September 23.  Germany's opponent Russia went on to win the semifinal series and reach the Davis Cup final.

German teammate Alexander Waske said he was told by a Russian who manages numerous athletes that it was poisoning, not a virus.

Haas was quoted as saying "I was the only one ever to order dessert or a Latte macchiato after dinner. If all this is true, since no one else got sick, that must have been when it happened."

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The U.S. Interagency Working Group on Import Safety has issued its report to President Bush with the snappy title, Protecting American Consumers Every Step of the Way: A strategic framework for continual improvement in import safety.

The report outlines an approach that can build upon existing efforts to improve the safety of imported products, while facilitating trade.

Approximately $2 trillion of imported products entered the United States economy last year and experts project that this amount will triple by 2015. … While we acknowledge it is not possible to eliminate all risk with imported and domestic products, being smarter requires us to find new ways to protect American consumers and continually improve the safety of our imports. We recommend working with the importing community to develop approaches that consider risks over the life cycle of an imported product, and that focus actions and resources to minimize the likelihood of unsafe products reaching U.S. consumers. …

Supporting this model are six building blocks: 1) Advance a common vision, 2) Increase accountability, enforcement and deterrence,
3) Focus on risks over the life cycle of an imported product, 4) Build interoperable systems, 5) Foster a culture of collaboration, and 6) Promote technological innovation and new science.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Food and Drug Administration would be granted power to require manufacturers and importers of "high risk" products to take steps to prevent contamination and other problems. The FDA could require producers and importers of such goods to certify they comply with FDA standards. The FDA could bar imports if it is given no access or only limited access to production records. The agency would also be able to mandate recalls on tainted products, something it can't do now.

At least the panel got this bit right:

"Americans benefit from one of the safest food supplies and among the highest standards of consumer protection in the world. Our task is to build on this solid foundation by identifying actions for both the public and private sectors that will help our import safety system continually improve and adapt to a rapidly growing and changing global economy."

Not the safest, which is difficult to substantiate, but one of the safest.

There's no real surprises in the report, it all sounds good, but really, government is limited in what it can do. And I'm not sure what they mean by focusing on high-risk products. Anything can be high-risk depending on how it was produced -- pot pies, peanut butter and pepperoni come to mind. And those were all foodborne illness outbreaks associated with domestic products. Food from around the corner or around the globe has the potential to be contaminated with dangerous microorganisms. Focusing on imports may detract from efforts at home. A strong food safety culture may translate to fewer sick people.

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… and the kitchen is the last line of defense. Yet groups like FightBac in the U.S. and something called the Food Safety Information Society in Alberta continue to focus exclusively on the kitchen.

The Alberta group today issued a press release today to tell consumers that "what you don't know about produce can harm you," provided a bunch of tips about washing and handling, and concluded by saying, "if bacteria have been absorbed by the vegetables, washing will not eliminate them."

These groups need to go beyond the consumer-only focus to a true farm-to-fork food safety system, or at least follow the advice of the World Heath Organization which also recommends using safe water and raw materials -- in other words, source food from safe sources.

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No. Prewashed bagged salads should not be washed again at foodservice or at home.

At least that's what a panel of scientists with expertise in microbial safety of fresh produce concluded after reviewing recent research.

A paper published in the current issue of Food Protection Trends, published by the International Association for Food Protection presents guidelines developed by the panel, together with materials reviewed by the panel to develop the guidelines concluded that,

"leafy green salad in sealed bags labeled “washed” or “ready-to-eat” that are produced in a facility inspected by a regulatory authority and operated under cGMPs, does not need additional washing at the time of use unless specifically directed on the label. The panel also advised that additional washing of ready-to-eat green salads is not likely to enhance safety. The risk of cross contamination from food handlers and food contact surfaces used during washing may outweigh any safety benefit that further washing may confer."

Meanwhile, Eurosurveillance reported last week that

"Early in October 2007, an increase in notifications of human cases infected with Shiga toxin (Stx)-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157 was seen in the Netherlands. All cases reported diarrhoea, and most also had bloody diarrhoea. No cases developed haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS). The onset of illness for the first cases was in mid-September.

"STEC O157 strains that contained both stx1 and stx2 genes were isolated from 36 patients. Subtyping of these isolates by pulse-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) showed, for 33 cases, an identical pattern not previously observed in the Netherlands. One further isolate was nearly identical to the 33. The two remaining isolates, which were isolated from the siblings of a confirmed case, have not yet been typed.

:The PFGE pattern was compared to the pattern found in Iceland, which appeared to be identical. The Iceland outbreak of STEC O157 is described in an accompanying article. …

"The Dutch Food and Safety Authority (FSA) is investigating the distribution channels of packed fresh vegetables and the individual ingredients. Samples of lettuce and other raw vegetables are being taken, as well as environmental samples at vegetable growers and shredding plants that may be involved. One shredding company for fresh vegetables also cuts and packs lettuce products for Iceland. …

"Five cases had consumed lettuce packaged and imported from the Netherlands, as verified either by questionnaire (three cases) or by supermarket purchase records (two cases). Intensified surveillance in lettuce with increased sampling began in mid-October and is ongoing. Culture results have so far been negative.

The strain that caused the outbreak in Iceland was identified by the Laboratory of Enteric Pathogens at the Health Protection Agency in the United Kingdom as STEC O157, phagetype 8, carrying the stx1 and stx2 shigatoxin genes. The PFGE pattern of all nine Icelandic isolates was identical to the strain that caused the current STEC O157 outbreak in the Netherlands."

Washing probably wouldn't have done much. When it comes to fresh produce, food safety begins on the farm. And don't eat poop.

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Producers shooting the new Batman movie have, reports The West Australian, been forced to cut one scene involving the caped crusader - played by Christian Bale - jumping out of a plane into Hong Kong's famed Victoria Harbour.

The South China Morning Post was cited as saying producers felt the poor water quality was just too dangerous for the action hero when shooting for part of the film takes place there in the coming week.

A source was quoted as saying, “There was supposed to be a scene where Batman jumps out of the back of a Hercules C-130 and into Victoria Harbour. The plan was for Batman to be seen jumping into the water and then climbing up some bamboo, or something similar, onto a pier. But when they checked a water sample, they found all sorts of things, salmonella and tuberculosis, so it was cancelled. Now the action will cut to inside a building."

A spokeswoman for Hong Kong’s Environmental Protection Department was cited as admitting that harbor water was not suitable for swimming due to untreated sewage.

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