The Tasmania Mercury is reporting that at least 27 people in Hobart have been sickened with salmonella after eating contaminated sandwiches at two separate funerals late last week.

The food was provided by a catering business which has been temporarily closed down while the Health Department investigates.

Dr. Roscoe Taylor, Tasmania's Director of Public Health, said,

"We are looking closely at a product containing raw eggs, which was a mayonnaise like ingredient that may have been in the sandwiches and we're waiting on sampling test results on that to come back."

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Harold McGee of the New York Times reports that a new study, to be published later this year in the Journal of Food Safety, is the only one McGee's ever seen to proclaim that it was inspired by an episode of “Seinfeld.”

It was conducted as part of a Clemson University program designed to get undergraduate students involved in scientific research. Prof. Paul L. Dawson, a food microbiologist, proposed it after he saw a rerun of a 1993 “Seinfeld” show in which George Costanza is confronted at a funeral reception by Timmy, his girlfriend’s brother, after dipping the same chip twice.

“Did, did you just double dip that chip?” Timmy asks incredulously, later objecting, “That’s like putting your whole mouth right in the dip!” Finally George retorts, “You dip the way you want to dip, I’ll dip the way I want to dip,” and aims another used chip at the bowl. Timmy tries to take it away, and the scene ends as they wrestle for it.

Peter Mehlman, a veteran “Seinfeld” writer, wrote the episode, and said,

"At the time I was living in Los Angeles, in Venice. There was a party on one of the canals, and apparently someone dipped twice with the same chip. And a woman flipped out. ‘You just dipped twice! How could you do that? Now all your germs are in there!’ I thought, this is just too good not to use on the show.”

The story says that on average, the students found that three to six double dips transferred about 10,000 bacteria from the eater’s mouth to the remaining dip.

Each cracker picked up between one and two grams of dip. That means that sporadic double dipping in a cup of dip would transfer at least 50 to 100 bacteria from one mouth to another with every bite.

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The Toronto Star is reporting that the owners of Ontario's second largest supermarket chain, A&P, have been fined $15,625 after pleading guilty in provincial offences court to a charge of failing to prevent a rodent infestation.

A City of Toronto health inspector laid the charge after finding the A&P warehouse in the west end was overrun with mice last fall.

The warehouse, which serves 250 Dominion, A&P and Food Basics stores in Ontario, was closed for two days in September while the problem was cleared up.

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I'm not talking about the smell, the potential for nasty bites or the general boring-ness of the pet -- they have also been linked to over 100 cases of Salmonella in the past 8 months.  We use the turtle outbreaks as a focus for this week's infosheet, as a reminder to food handlers about the potential for pets to pass on pathogens.

Click here to download the infosheet.

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The White County Health Department is being sued by a restaurant they temporarily closed due to a poor inspection. Owners of Mo's Restaurant in Monticello, Indiana, claim that following inspections of their restaurant, health department employees "negligently and/or intentionally prepar[ed] a false and defamatory Food Inspection Report" on three different occasions.

A story in the town's Herald-Journal says, "The lawsuit seeks a judgment against the defendants in an amount sufficient to compensate Drake and Liebner for their losses, including permanent and temporary damage, loss of value, loss of profits, loss of use, costs of repair and mental and emotional stress, as well as "such further relief as the court deems appropriate."

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The Daily Journal in California reports that 45 of 200 guests at a Redwood City-San Mateo County Chamber of Commerce gathering at the Hotel Sofitel last week may have contracted the highly communicable norovirus.

The chamber was holding its annual dinner and awards recognition banquet, according to the group’s Web site.

Sofitel spokeswoman Janice Maragakis was cited as saying none of the hotel’s other guests or employees came down ill, but that General Manager Didier de La Ferrier belongs to the chamber and also came down ill. He thought it was simply the flu until the first calls came in.

The story notes that the Hotel Sofitel has no prior violations or health complaints on record.

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Christopher Doering of Reuters reports that the U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a report today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's failure to discuss clearly its strategy and the money needed to better protect the country's food supply could make it harder for a plan to succeed.

The GAO report also noted that FDA must better leverage its existing resources "as staffing levels and funding have not kept pace with the agency's growing responsibilities" to oversee the food supply.

GAO noted that even as food imports surge, FDA inspectors of foreign food firms has dropped from 211 in fiscal year 2001 to fewer than 100 in 2007. About 15 percent of the overall U.S. food supply is imported.

Rep. John Dingell, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce committee, said,

"Our constituents are growing weary of these events. They are losing confidence in this agency's ability to protect them from the products they use daily."

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Farmer Jeff, Doug Powell and others provide an overview of 2001 research involving genetically engineered and conventional sweet corn, from seeding through to harvest.

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The Associated Press is reporting an outbreak of norovirus at Villanova University.  Health officials are saying the nasty virus sent 14 people to the emergency room and has sickened close to 100 others. Officials also say that they don't think a common food vehicle is involved as ill students live both on campus and off.  Maybe noro was one of the reasons for the No. 18 team's loss at home to Notre Dame yesterday: no fan support because everybody was on the toilet?

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As the editor of a listserv that is distributed to thousands of people in 75 countries, I get lots of erroneous e-mail. You know, people mistakenly hit reply and send me their shopping list or something like that.

This is no mistake. And is the best I'm-away-automatic-e-mail-response I've ever seen. Ah, to be a bureaucrat in the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

" I have finally been Paroled after 35 yrs with the Federal Government...and as such will not be accessing this email address EVER again."

Best wishes, Mr. former Canadian government employee. You have been unsubscribed from FSnet. Please feel free to sign up from home.

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Fifteen years ago this week, Seattle lawyer Bill Marler and
Kansas State University professor Douglas Powell were drawn into the
food safety arena when the Washington Department of Health announced
that Jack in the Box restaurants were the source of a multi-state
outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections. Now, the two are teaming up to
further promote awareness of food safety.

Marler, who has represented thousands of victims of E. coli and other
foodborne illness outbreaks since representing more than 100 victims of
the Jack in the Box outbreak, has pledged to donate $25,000 to Powell's
group, the International Food Safety Network -- iFSN -- at Kansas State
University. The group, which was formed in 1993 when Powell began
researching the impact and influence of food safety information on
farmers, processors, retailers, consumers and regulators, produces
several electronic mailing lists to disseminate food safety information
across the globe. In addition, Marler has pledged to match all other
donations made to iFSN in 2008, up to $25,000.

In thanking Marler for the donation, Powell said,

"All money donated to iFSN will be used to fund students in developing and carrying out a
variety of projects. These will focus on the use of new media and new
messages to compel individuals from farm-to-fork to take steps to
reduce the incidence of foodborne illness.

"Bill Marler is an outstanding advocate for food safety and understands
that microbiologically safe food just doesn't happen," said Powell.
"Any lawyer can talk the talk. Bill walks the talk."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 76
million Americans get sick and 5,000 die each and every year after
consuming contaminated food and water. The Jack in the Box outbreak in
the Pacific Northwest, which killed four and sickened over 600, was the
tipping point for American public awareness of the risks posed by
dangerous microorganisms in food.

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The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports today that a salmonella outbreak that sickened and resulted in the hospitalization of children in 33 states has been traced back to the illegal sale of tiny pet turtles.

At least 103 cases have been reported since May 2007, and many of those infected were children under the age of 10, the CDC said.

In October 2007, the North Carolina Division of Public Health (NCDPH) notified CDC of human infections caused by Salmonella serotype Paratyphi B L (+) tartrate (+) (Salmonella Paratyphi B var. Java) in several states. Salmonella Paratyphi B var. Java is a nontyphoidal strain of Salmonella that causes gastroenteritis.

This report describes the results of the epidemiologic and laboratory investigation conducted by CDC and state and local health departments during October 2007--January 2008. The findings document an ongoing, multistate outbreak of Salmonella Paratyphi B var. Java infections, with the first reported illness onset occurring on May 4, 2007. Many of these infections have occurred in young children and have been associated with exposure to small turtles. Prohibiting the sale and distribution of small turtles likely remains the most effective public health action to prevent turtle-associated salmonellosis.

You never know what kids will do with turtles.

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Farmer Jeff explains some of the trade-offs involved in growing corn, and raccoon control, and why he didn't have time to get a haircut because of severe weather conditions in 2000 in Ontario.

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Michele Samarya-Timm, a health educator with the Franklin Township Health Department and guest barfblogger, told New Jersey's Home News Tribune,

"We need a national handwashing campaign. We need it on hand towels and billboards. We need to market it on video games and commercials. We need to have rock songs about handwashing."

Couldn't agree more. Wash your hands. And if a restroom doesn't have the proper tools -- soap, water, paper towel -- be sure to let someone know. Proper handwashing requires access to proper tools.

Don't eat poop. Wash your hands.

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Last week a few subscribers emailed us a story about inappropriate acts in a St. John's, NFLD Dairy Queen.   Seems that while managers weren't around staff were mooning, grabbing their body parts and then going back to food handling without washing up.  Sounded like a perfect infosheet to us, so here it is.

If you have any stories that you think need infosheet attention, please send them on to bchapman@uoguelph.ca.

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Steph came across this really odd story from boingboing.net about a mini cloaca gadget which, I guess sits in your office, living room, or or on your desk and makes shit from food.

The story says that this gadget is from artist Wim Delvoye, and is his latest installation of his Cloaca series.

This model is called the "Mini Cloaca." Delvoye's machines take food, grind it up, add it to a slurry of digestive juices, and make—more or less—shit. While previous models were almost industrial-sized, the Mini consumes about as much food as a breakfast meal. 

Delvoye's wiki entry says that The first Cloaca machine was exhibited at the MuHKA (Museum of Contemporary Art in Antwerp) in 2000.

The machine was "fed" an exquisite meal twice a day, the feces coming out at the other end of the processing unit as a result of the "digestion" of the food.

There are several Cloaca set-ups: the original setup is that of a series of containers in glass on a long table, while the more modern ones are comparatively shorter, digesting food through what looks like a series of washing machines.

The logo and other promotional art work of the Cloaca project are a parody of the logos of Coca-Cola, Ford, Mr. Clean, and other brands. The feces produced by the Cloaca machines are sold vacuum-packed in translucent boxes.

Check out his website at www.cloaca.be

mmm.

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Apparently it's International Green Week in Berlin, described as an Exhibition for the Food Industry, Agriculture and Horticulture, from Jan. 18 -- 27 (that seems longer than a week).

Food News reports that the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) is presenting its work so consumers can find out more about the risks lurking in their kitchens.

The story says,

around 200,000 food infections are reported every year in Germany. Experts believe that the actual number is far higher since by no means everyone who is affected goes to see a doctor. Most of the infections with Salmonella, Campylobacter or other germs are not contracted in canteens or restaurants but in the home.

BfR President Professor Dr. Andreas Hensel said,

"Many consumers have never learned how to store and cook food properly in the home. By following simple rules it is possible to avoid unpleasant food infections."

Like Bill Marler wrote about the Chinese this morning, maybe the Germans are on to something as well.

I'll stick with a farm-to-fork approach to food safety. There are outbreaks everywhere. Stop blaming consumers.

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Back in 2000, Farmer Jeff Wilson and I thought we'd try and figure out if the consuming public wanted genetically engineered crops or not. As Jeff would say, if people aren't going to buy it, why would I grow it?

I recently discovered some of that old video. This was way before youtube, but the idea was, for those who couldn't visit the farm, we would bring the farm to them. The original press release can be found at http://www.foodsafety.ksu.edu/en/news-details.php?a=3&c=29&sc=220&id=46895.

We'll be releasing a bunch of Farmer Jeff videos on youtube over the next couple of months, to provide some insights into the food production trade-offs that farmers face every day.

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The Canadian province of Alberta will spend $16 million to promote handwashing.

Calgary Herald columnist Don Braid says your mother always told you to wash your hands, but she never tried to charge you $16 million for the advice.

Braid adds that the recipients of this advice will be the province's many thousands of health-care employees. Didn't they listen to their mothers?

Asked what all that money would buy, Health Minister Dave Hancock shrugged, sort of, and said, "sinks."

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N.Y. Times columnist Maureen Dowd refers to President Bush dismissively, by his middle initial, and has been vastly less than impressed by his efforts in the Middle East.

Nevertheless, White House aides and medical staff leaped to help Dowd when she fell ill during Bush's eight-day swing through the Middle East.

Once she arrived in Jerusalem Jan. 8, Dowd fell sick — and started second-guessing her decision to leave the campaign trail for the presidential bubble abroad. She was suffering some kind of stomach bug that left her nauseated, weak and feeling feverish.

Dowd was quoted as saying, "I'm not sure it was a New Hampshire fever or Jerusalem food poisoning." The story notes that  Presidential aides, including press secretary Dana Perino, made clear early on that Dowd could see Richard Tubb, the Air Force brigadier general who oversees the White House medical office and takes care of the president at home and abroad.

But Dowd declined. With no medication, she tried to soldier on by grabbing whatever rest she could in her hotel room. Dowd finally decided to take up the White House on its offer.

A young press aide, Carlton Carroll, helped arrange for Dowd to visit Tubb at the Emirates Palace, the $3 billion luxury hotel where the president and his aides were staying. The hotel is so vast that Dowd and her escorts got lost twice in the marble and gold hallways.

Tubb gave her a few tablets of Cipro and some Pepto-Bismol and told her to check back with him the next day. She turned down Tubb's offer of an IV (so there was no chance of an "accidental" poisoning, she joked).

On Sunday, when the entourage flew from Bahrain to the United Arab Emirates, Dowd was supposed to be flying on the press charter, without access to Tubb. But the White House made room for her aboard Air Force One, where she visited the doctor once again in his office near the president's.

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The Daily Mail is reporting that actor Johnny Depp has secretly been giving back to the hospital that saved his little Lily-Rose, after the 8-year-old contracted E. coli and her kidneys failed last year.

Apparently, Depp gave the hospital £1 million ($2 million) of his own money. He also invited 5 doctors to see the London premiere of his most recent movie, Sweeney Todd.

And on November 29, unknown to the public, Depp spent four hours at the hospital telling bedtime stories to patients dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow after having his Pirates Of The Caribbean costume flown over from Los Angeles.

Sounds like an ideal candidate for a public service announcement (PSA) on foodborne illness.

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Golfer Kenneth Ferrie, the Englishman best known for playing in the final group in the U.S. Open at Winged Foot, had to withdraw from Saturday's tournament because of food poisoning.

As a result, he received less money than 18 guys who finished behind him, even though he qualified for the weekend and they didn't.

Under tour regulations, anyone who withdraws or is disqualified for any reason after making the cut is paid last place, unofficial prize money. Ferrie was given $8,798, but it will not be applied to the money list, and he received no FedEx Cup points.

Fan favorite John Daly was quoted as saying, "It's a stupid rule, I'm sorry."

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Misti Crane of the Columbus Dispatch wrote yesterday that as part of an overhaul of food safety regulation in the city of Columbus (coincidentally, the site for the International Association for Food Protection annual meeting this year), a record number of restaurants have been brought before the city's Board of Health.  Crane reports that beginning in 2005 the board took action (including probation, suspended operations or revoking licenses) against restaurants 82 times; in the previous 7 years there had been only 10 cases.  The more interesting part of the story to me is how the health department has addressed the sometimes-difficult barrier of interacting with different cultures as a regulator.

Crane writes about a city inspector relating an anecdote about cultural and language issues in a new restaurant:

After seeing some food-safety problems at Fiesta Time, a new Mexican restaurant in Clintonville, a city inspector realized he was facing a language barrier, came back to the office and talked to co-worker Vince Fasone.
Fasone, known as "Vicente" to Spanish-speaking restaurant owners and workers, paid a visit to Fiesta Time. In Spanish, which he speaks fluently after four years living in Mexico City, he explained the violations.
Then he scheduled an early-morning visit last week for staff training.
Fiesta Time co-owner Wendy Hernandez said she and her partner, Jose Bravo, don't want to break rules and certainly don't want to find themselves before the Board of Health.
Sometimes, the instructions a manager gives employees sink in better once they're delivered by an outsider, especially one who speaks their language, Bravo said.

Working with food handlers of differing cultural and ethnic backgrounds can be a barrier in implementing food safety programs and practices.  Not being able to relate what to do, how to do it and most importantly why to do it, makes food safety training ineffective. Understanding different cultures and being able to put food safety in context for a variety of food handlers can differentiate good communication from bad communication.

Many health departments across North America have inspectors and program coordinators who are adept at adjusting their activities to different cultures, but some I have talked to have related that it is sometimes difficult to convince health boards and local politicians of this need.

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An employee at the Kansas State College of Veterinary Medicine brought me a present the other day: a bag of salad that apparently had a big wad of mud in it. Or was it poop? Smelled like mud.

She wasnt sickened by the food, but if you think a specific food has made you sick, here's what to do:

• go to the doctor if necessary;

• keep the food, in the fridge or freezer if necessary; and,

• contact your local health department.

Bill Marler's got some more specific guidelines here.

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We've blogged about kosher in Canada; how kosher in the U.K. sorta sucked.  Now, U.S. News & World Report cites Mintel, a Chicago-based market research firm, as saying that "kosher" has become the most popular claim on new food products, trouncing "organic" and "no additives or preservatives."

The report said,

"4,719 new kosher items were launched in the United States last year—nearly double the number of new "all natural" products, which placed second in the report."

Marcia Mogelonsky, a senior research analyst at Mintel, said,

"It's the belief among all consumers that kosher food is safer, a critical thing right now with worries about the integrity of the food supply."

I really dislike people who speak on behalf of all other people. It usually means they know shit.

Moshe Elefant, a rabbi and chief operating officer of the Orthodox Union KOSHER, a kosher certification organization based in New York, said,

"Jews aren't allowed to ingest bugs, so produce must go through a thorough washing and checking to ensure that no bugs are found within the leaves or on the surface of the fruit or vegetable."

Remarkably, the story notes that bacteria can remain even after this type of washing, so consumers can't assume they're less likely to get food poisoning with bagged spinach marked kosher than with a conventional bag.

I understand there are religious reasons for choosing kosher, halal or anything else. For me, I'll focus on microbiologically safe food.

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Greetings! I am a Freshman at Kansas State, majoring in Food Science and Industry, with an emphasis on Pre-Medicine, and a minor in Leadership Studies.

I must admit, when I began with iFSN I was a little apprehensive: my boss was wearing shirts about poop and barf, and I was finding articles about poop and barf. Yet now, a month into this endeavor, I realize it is about much more than that. It’s about keeping people safe, and making it fun and interesting along the way. Therefore, I spent my winter break bragging about my great job and how interesting it is.

The thing is, I really want to keep my job. More than that, however, is the urge we feel to keep people informed; it’s a passion we intend to keep moving. With your kindness and donations, you can keep me working and keep yourself from barfing.

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This week's food safety infosheet is all about being appropriate in the kitchen, especially when it comes to food safety.  We used a couple of stories for this sheet: one from Texas about a post-complaint inspection where and inspector saw some inappropriate scratching by the staff, and another about a Salmonella outbreak in Pennsylvania.  You can download the sheet here.

We hear that some companies build their food safety training around the infosheets, and we are in the midst of evaluating their impact on changing practices with food handlers.  As we wrote last week, (and today's sheet is a good example) through iFSN's infosheets, we try to put a compelling spin on food safety information, attempting to draw in even the laziest, creepiest and stonedest of food handlers.

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Today's New York Times has a great article on viruses, inspired by writer Natalie Angier's post-New Year's Eve norovirus encounter.

In it she writes that viruses are:

infectious parasitic agents tiny enough to pass through a microfilter that would trap bacteria and other microbes, tiny enough to fit millions on board a single fleck of spit. All viruses have at their core compact genetic instructions for making more viruses, some of the booklets written in DNA, others in the related nucleic language of RNA. Our cells have the means to read either code, whether they ought to or not. Encasing the terse viral genomes are capsids, protective coats constructed of interlocking protein modules and decorated with some sort of docking device, a pleat of just the right shape to infiltrate a particular cell. Rhinoviruses dock onto receptors projecting from the cells of our nasal passages, while hepatitis viruses are shaped to exploit portholes on liver cells.

I've been a big fan of viruses for a long time.  I read a book in high school (Level 4: Virus Hunters of the CDC) which led me into molecular biology and genetics, where virology became my favourite undergraduate course. Angier succinctly summarizes why I think viruses are so cool:

They depend on our cells to manufacture every detail of their offspring, to print up new copies of the core instruction booklets, to fabricate the capsid jackets and to deliver those geometrically tidy newborn virions to fresh host shores. Through us, viruses can transcend mere chemistry and lay claim to biology.

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The BBC reports today that defending Australian Open champion Roger Federer has been forced to withdraw from the Kooyong Classic in Melbourne after coming down with a stomach illness.  Maybe Federer has been fraternizing with one of the estimated hundreds of thousands of Brits who have Norovirus.

I think I had noro back in November.

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The good microorganisms out-compete the bad, so no one will get ever get sick.

I've heard variations of that from a lot of organic growers over the past decade -- yet there is no evidence that such claims are true.

But there is lots of evidence that people get sick from fresh produce -- organic, conventional, or otherwise.

It's all about the bugs.

Ian Davidson of BioLogic Systems LLC writes in the San Francisco Chronicle this morning that there is,

"a microbial force field around the plant that is naked to the human eye. By inoculating plants with these beneficial organisms, it is virtually impossible for pathogenic organisims to even touch the plant, because the beneficial aerobic organisms are in such dominance. These beneficial organisms can easily eliminate the pathogen, or simply outcompete it for food resources."

One of my students heard the same thing back in 2000. I sent her on a day long workshop to learn how to be an organic inspector. Microbial food safety was never mentioned, until my student brought it up at the end of the day, and was told, no worries, the good bugs keep the bad bugs at bay.

Yet fresh produce remains the single biggest source of foodborne illness today.

Sure, soil microbiology is complex, but until our knowledge increases, I'll side with the victims of foodborne illness. And there's a lot of them,

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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.

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Do you like pictures of celebrities vomiting, people picking their noses, kids on the toilet, poop, puke, barf, vomit, diarrhea and the squirts? We do, and, we've found that many food handlers do as well.

Through iFSN's infosheets, we try to put a compelling spin on food safety information, attempting to draw in even the laziest, creepiest and stonedest of food handlers. That's why we use skulls sometimes.

The infosheets are received by 300 direct e-mail subscribers, over 7,000 FSnet subscribers, and are distributed by many public health inspectors and environmental health officers during inspections and food handler courses (if you want to subscribe to receive infosheets directly, e-mail bchapman@uoguelph.ca).

Each sheet contains information about a recent outbreak coupled with recommendations on how a food handler or operator can avoid the same problems in their business. Some of the largest food service, retail and food processors in the world use our infosheets on a weekly basis and the feedback we've received has been awesome. One company said they changed their food safety training to all-infosheets, and they knew it was working when they overheard employees talking about the stories during lunch breaks. That contributes to a culture of safe food.

Still, we need your help to keep going. Each week the guts of the infosheets are generated by fabulous undergraduate and graduate students who pull news and find great stories, search out gross (and sometimes disturbing) pictures, and help create the framework for the sheets.

And as one of our biggest fans, an environmental health officer, wrote in response to this infosheet:

“Now that's some funny stuff! Those folks at iFSN have a great sense of humor. This is obviously no dry and boring government info.”

If our funding goes away, we'll be forced to start making cheaper infosheets that contain dry and boring government info. Please help us avoid that; there's already too many bureaucrats in the world. Send money.

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During the holidays I heard a couple of barf stories that were attributed to uncertain causes. At the same time, Doug and I were laid up with the flu for about two weeks, neither of us really puking but feeling exhausted, nauseated with chills and muscle aches. One woman said she had the flu, too … that it came on really fast, was coming out both ends, and then she felt better the next day. I asked her, “Are you sure it wasn’t foodborne illness?” “Might’ve been…” she replied thoughtfully, probably going over the list of things she had eaten. Another friend just got back from Chicago – a trip that she said was ruined by her husband puking his guts out. They thought it was the Polish buffet because while he chose some foods, she had others, and she assumed something he ate was off. Might’ve been. But how do you know when it’s food poisoning and when it’s the flu?

The following list of flu symptoms, which I looked up while I was laid up on the couch over break, comes from the CDC :

Influenza usually starts suddenly and may include the following symptoms:

    * Fever (usually high)
    * Headache
    * Tiredness (can be extreme)
    * Cough
    * Sore throat
    * Runny or stuffy nose
    * Body aches
    * Diarrhea and vomiting (more common among children than adults)

Flufacts.com suggests you know the FACTS (Fever, Aches, Chills, Tiredness,
Sudden symptoms)

If you have foodborne illness, the FDA’s Bad Bug Book gives a comprehensive list of suspects by symptom and time of onset. It can be a little more complicated to diagnose as some toxins, such as shellfish toxin, can have an onset of diarrhea and vomiting in under an hour whereas salmonella takes on average 2-4 days to produce possible symptoms of abdominal cramps, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, chills, malaise, nausea, and/or headache.

Foodborne illness is not usually (although sometimes can be) caused by the last thing you ate, and the flu does not usually (but sometimes can) produce vomiting and diarrhea in adults. Next time you’re puking your guts out, if you can manage to concentrate, you might have to make a longer grocery list of items in your diet. Was it what you had three days ago? Might’ve been.

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I’m a senior in Marketing and Spanish at KSU.

When I’m not fighting in the trenches of Hale Library jacked up on coffee, I pull news for iFSN.

Being a business major, the world of food safety was quite foreign to me until I joined the network. Now you can find me patrolling the local bathrooms lecturing on the importance of proper handwashing. I am also the marketing coordinator for the KSU Student Union and one of the tasks I have incorporated into my position is writing articles regarding food safety in the K-State student newspaper, the Collegian.

Expanding our knowledge about food safety is key to making this network grow and prosper. Through donations and other helpful contributions to the network we can make this food-addicted country safer, one bite at a time.

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Doug is going broke.  Not personally, but iFSN is beginning to hurt for money.  Over my years as an undergraduate news puller and graduate student I've benefitted from you, our generous readership, and I figure it's time to try and generate some cash and replenish the reserves for the next generation of iFSN.  Here's my message: Please continue to give.

We do good work, always trying to chase down the most up-to-date food risk information from around the world, provide our pithy commentary and conduct reality-based research.  We've posed as shoppers in grocery stores, watched hundreds of hours of celebrity chefs, watched consumers prepare food and now have cameras up in kitchens to evaluate training interventions.  We really do care about this stuff.

Being around iFSN for as long as I have has given me an appreciation for all the behind-the-scenes labour that goes into our activities, and since Doug's move to Kansas State we've attracted another fantastic crop of undergraduate and graduate students to help carry it out. iFSN is all about developing keen, creative and passionate students who are committed to reducing the risks of foodborne illness.  Past members of the iFSN family have gone on to be faculty members, industry leaders, and yes, surprisingly, some even work as regulators. So your support of the iFSN has a reach far beyond just our group.

Oh, and Doug gets grumpy when money gets low, so donations make our lives easier (and we can focus all the cool things we do).

We can't offer you any DVDs of British comedies or Ken Burns documentaries like they do on PBS, but we can offer a very cool Don't Eat Poop or barfblog tshirt in exchange for your support.  They are really stylish as well, so not only will you be helping iFSN, you'll be dressing better (and I've met many of you, you need all the help you can get).  So please continue to give.

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ConAgra announced Nov. 14, 2007, that it was starting to manufacture Banquet pot pies again, and by early December they were available for purchase.

On Oct. 11, 2007, ConAgra announced it was recalling all of its frozen pot pies to fix some label discrepancies. This was two days after an outbreak of Salmonella was linked to Banquet pot pies and the company reassuringly told consumers that getting sick was their own fault and they should be more careful and cook pot pies thoroughly.

In the end, at least 272 people in 35 states had trouble simply cooking the pot pies and got sick with salmonella.

As I documented before, the instructions on the pot pies weren't so great.

The old labels had statements about how easy it was to cook in the microwave. The new labels are much more explicit, saying the pot pies need to be cooked in at least a 1100 Watt microwave and that a meat thermometer should be used in several places to ensure that an endpoint temperature of 165 F has been reached.

I bought some of the new and improved pot pies and did the same cooking experiment, following what ConAgra called " redesigned easy-to-follow cooking instructions … to help eliminate any potential confusion regarding cooking times."

After four minutes in a 1150 Watt microwave, the interior of the pot pie registered at about 50F. After letting it sit for an additional three minutes -- as per label instructions - the temperature varied anywhere from 75 - 190 F.

I decided to cook an additional two minutes.

After six minutes of cooking, and the previous three minutes of resting, the pot pie had tremendous variation in temperature: anywhere from 200F down to 100F.  165 F is required to kill Salmonella.
I wouldn't want my kids popping these in the microwave after school.

ConAgra has never come clean on which various ingredients may have been the source of the Salmonella. Was it the poultry? How about the vegetables? The pie crust? ConAgra won't say.

Further, were the new labels tested with consumers? There is a lack of research examining whether safe food handling labels perceived as effective translate into actual safe food handling behavior, including the use of proper thawing and cooking techniques, the use of measures to minimize cross-contamination, and the use of meat thermometers to confirm doneness.

If I was a multi-million dollar corporation like ConAgra headed to a dance with food safety lawyer Bill Marler cause my product made people barf, I'd want some evidence that pot pie fans where actually following the instructions on the labels. I would have tested the new labels with at least 100 teenagers -- those afflicted with hormones and horniness -- before introducing it to the mass market.
Maybe they did. But that's up to ConAgra to prove.

And until they do, all products that claim to be safe in the microwave should contain nothing but fully cooked ingredients.

That's the only way to get the poop out.

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