The Venus café in Hobart, Tasmania, was the epicenter of a Salmonella outbreak that sickened about 100 people in Feb. 2008.

Seems the owner, Maree Little, didn't know that raw eggs could carry Salmonella. On Feb. 7, 2008, owner Little cried as she spoke of the devastation of knowing food prepared at her Hobart, Tasmania, eatery had made at least 79 people seriously ill, including mourners at funerals which her business had catered for.

She too became ill after eating food from the cafe, which had been made  with raw eggs.

Now, with her business down by 60 per cent, Ms. Little says,

"I would like to have some sort of recognition to our business because we have been caught in all of this, and I would like the government to come out and say we're thinking about you also, but again that hasn't happened. I don't know whether we can demand it but we will, we will consider what appropriate action we need to take, We need to build our business, and that's what's important."

The Tasmanian Greens jumped in, calling on the government to develop new protocols to lessen the impact of Salmonella outbreaks on retail food outlets, which have often been devastated by negative publicity despite not being responsible in any way for an outbreak.

Wow. Not sure Salmonella knows which party to vote for.  But if you're serving food to a bunch of people, don’t use raw eggs.

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Professor Hugh Pennington has become unstuck in time.

More like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, than Billy Pilgrim.

In November 1996, over 400 fell ill and 21 were killed in Scotland by E. coli O157:H7 found in deli meats produced by family butchers John Barr & Son. The Butcher of Scotland, who had been in business for 28 years and who was previously awarded the title of Scottish Butcher of the Year, was using the same knives to handle raw and cooked meat. That's a food safety no-no.

In a 1997 inquiry, Prof. Pennington recommended, among other things, the physical separation, within premises and butcher shops, of raw and cooked meat products using separate counters, equipment and staff.

In the past two weeks, Prof. Pennington has heard in a new inquiry how John Tudor and Son, the Butcher of Wales, used the same machine to vacuum package both raw and cooked meats, leading to an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak beginning in Sept. 2005, which sickened some150 children in 44 schools in southern Wales and killed five-year-old Mason Jones.

How can the good professor awaken from this recurring national nightmare?

The inquiry into the 2005 outbreak, which began in Feb. 2008, is again chaired by Prof. Pennington and has again heard testimony highlighting gross managerial failures and shocking levels of complacency.

So far, the Butcher of Wales has been shown to have:

• encouraged staff suffering from stomach bugs and diarrhea to continue preparing meat for school dinners;
• known of cross-contamination between raw and cooked meats, but did nothing to prevent it;
• used the same packing in which raw meat had been delivered to subsequently store cooked product;
• operated a processing facility that contained a filthy meat slicer, cluttered and dirty chopping areas, and meat more than two years out of date piled in a freezer;
• a cleaning schedule at the factory that one expert called "a joke;"
• falsified crucial health and safety documents and lied about receiving hygiene awards; and,
• supplied schools with meat that was green, smelly and undercooked.

Professor Chris Griffith, head of the food research and consultancy unit at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, told the inquiry the culture at the premises was “dominated by saving money.”
This would explain why Tudor retained his contract to supply schools: because he was the cheapest.

So who allowed Tudor to operate under such conditions?

Government inspectors.

(This is why I get substantially nervous when any food producer, such as California lettuce and spinach growers, says they meet inspection standards.)

Prof. Pennington has heard that Tudor and Son was visited several times in the months leading up to the Sept. 2005 outbreak, that inspectors knew there was only one vac-pac machine being used for both cooked and raw meats but, despite Pennington's 1997 recommendation, inspectors decided the business did not pose "an imminent risk" to human health.

A retired senior Food Standards Agency official, who now works as a freelance food safety consultant, told the inquiry that the use of a single vac-pak for both raw and cooked meat was “like playing Russian Roulette."

The official also chided inspectors for failing to note deficiencies in Tudor's written food safety plan and stated, rather bluntly, "There was a failure in the series of inspections to identify poor hygiene and working practices and a failure to take action."

The inspectors also took on "face value" explanations offered by Tudor and his staff for various food safety failures.

Buyers with the school boards were equally eager to look the other way to save a pound. One supervisor told the inquiry, “You have to have faith in people. You don’t expect them to make up stories about meat.”

Except that inspection and regulatory regimes for meat were created in Southern France in the 12th century precisely because people do make up stories about meat. Europe has almost 1,000 years of regulatory experience with shoddy food suppliers;  that experience was not applied in southern Wales in 2005. As a result, 5-year-old Mason Jones died a painful and unnecessary death. Dozens of kids were hospitalized and will suffer life-long effects.

The official purpose of the inquiry is to provide recommendations designed to prevent a similar outbreak happening again.

As Prof. Pennington knows, that was supposed to happen in 1997.

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WKRG News is reporting that at least 20 of the 300 people who attended the annual "Beast Feast and Wild Game Supper" at the Eastern Shore First Baptist Church in Alabama last weekend got sick and eight of those 20 people were infected with E. coli O157:H7.

Teresa Porter with the Baldwin County Health Department, said,

"Three of the people infected are still in the hospital. And there's an two-to-ten day incubation period for this organism so we've got a couple more days to go."

Two brothers reportedly 10- and 8-years-old sickened in the outbreak remain in fair and good condition today after being transferred from Mobile to Birmingham.

Associate Pastor Ken Wilson at the Eastern Shore Baptist Church said,

"It's affected all of us as a church family. We're doing whatever we can to help the families affected and we're cooperating with the health department."

A table of church-community-potluck style outbreaks is available at http://www.foodsafety.ksu.edu/en/article-details.php?a=2&c=5&sc=25&id=881.

We say, anyone serving food, especially in a public setting, should have some minimal food safety training.

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Received an email from a company running a contest for the Scott Paper and White Cloud toilet paper today asking about a previous barfblog post on dirty bathrooms:

We are running an online contest for Scott Paper and White Cloud toiler paper in an effort to find America’s Worst Bathroom.  We have been notified by several entrants about an entry with a photo that appeared on your blog.  The link to the entry is here. Could you please contact me either via e-mail or; better yet, by phone as soon as possible?  I am trying to find out who owns the copyright for the image in question.  Did you take the photo?  If so, I have to remove this entry and replace it with another.  If not, the entry stays in the contest and I don’t have to make any changes.

Sounds like a serious contest.  I didn't take the original picture, found it somewhere on the interwebs using Google Image Search (like a lot of the barfblog photos).  Go check out the contest and vote for the dirtiest bathroom.

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Dr. Doug Powell discusses on-farm food safety, the stigmatization of food products, and how reducing risk can translate into enhanced consumer confidence.

This film provides a good example of bad hair and shaky camera angles. And sheep.

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A Detroit-area restaurant owner said he believes he has broken the world record for ''largest hamburger commercially available.''

After 12 hours of preparation and baking, the 134-pound burger emerged Saturday at Mallie's Sports Bar and Grill.

The ''Absolutely Ridiculous Burger,'' made with beef, bacon and cheese, was delivered on a 50-pound bun, sells for $350, and orders require 24 hours' notice. Flipping the burger required three men using two steel sheets.

That's all nice, but did they use a thermometer to acquire data for doneness? Regardless of the size, stick it in.

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Health officials said that hundreds of patrons of a posh Manhattan hot spot, including A-list celebrities who attended actor Ashton Kutcher's 30th birthday party there, may have been exposed to hepatitis A.

James Trinko, 29, received a vaccination Saturday and said,

"I just can't believe that in a restaurant as fancy as it was, that they would have this problem. It's kind of a pain in the butt to come out here and deal with this." But "you have to do it."

The story says that hepatitis A virus is found in fecal matter. If someone with the disease doesn't wash his or her hands properly and handles food or drinks, the virus can be spread.

Health department spokeswoman Jessica Scaperotti said the Socialista bartender, whose name was not released, handled glasses and garnishes, and there was no soap behind the bar.

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Here's a letter to the editor I just sent in response to today's editorial in the South Coast Standard-Times. The editorial deals with the denial of a permit for the Men Who Cook fundraiser due to inadequate kitchens.

Community gatherings around food awaken nostalgic feelings of the rural past -- times when an entire town would get together monthly, eat, enjoy company and work together. The Men Who Cook fundraiser seems like it's just that, an event created 20 years ago to promote community building, not spread foodborne illness (OUR VIEW: Taking food safety too far, February 22, 2008).
Despite the sense of kinship and best intentions, there have been at least 37 reported outbreaks of foodborne illness associated with homecooked products and community dinners in North America since 1973 (http://foodsafety.ksu.edu/en/article-details.php?a=3&c=32&sc=419&id=890)
In 1997, two elderly people died, more than 100 made a trip to the emergency room, and 700 more reported feeling ill after an annual church dinner of stuffed ham, turkey and fried oysters at Our Lady of the Wayside Parish in Chaptico, Md., population 100.
Tests showed that salmonella in the ham likely caused the illnesses. The nasty bugs that cause foodborne illness don't distinguish between commercial and charitable food operations.
In September 2004, near Buffalo, N.Y., 28 confirmed cases of salmonella infection were reported following an annual community roast-beef dinner. Volunteers were not trained in food service and "didn't quite understand the importance of maintaining a hot or cold temperature," investigators said. The beef was roasted on spits. The juices, collecting in a 5-gallon bucket at room temperature over the course of the day, was poured over the surface of ready-to-eat beef sandwiches. Scrumptious -- except that the sandwiches were being drenched with salmonella bacteria. Interviews with attendees indicated about 1,500 of the 3,000 present were ill.
Community potluck dinners, where food is prepared behind the closed doors of private homes and church kitchens, can be hazardous. Unlike a restaurant kitchen, which is visited and approved by health inspectors, there's little control over how the food is prepared, stored, handled or transported.
It's possible to produce food safely in homes and non-commercial kitchens to continue these important community-building functions, but a strong (not adversarial) relationship between event organizers, home chefs and the health department is necessary. What is more important than the location of food preparation is knowing that the dedicated volunteers play by the rules when it comes to food safety.

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That's the conclusion from an extensive feature in Men's Health on last year's increase in E. coli O157:H7 in the U.S.

Author Tom Groneberg quotes several folks with their theories for the increase.

Richard Raymond, M.D., the USDA's undersecretary for food safety, says,

"The amount of product we test that's positive has gone up about 33 percent this year from the past 3 years. I don't think it's that the agency has fallen asleep at the switch. I don't think it's that the industry has gotten sloppy. I think it's the cows."

Specifically, Dr. Raymond cites high corn prices for prompting a switch to cheaper feeds for fattening cattle. "When you change their feed, their intestinal flora change."

T.G. Nagaraja, Ph.D., a professor of microbiology at Kansas State University and the leader of a team of researchers targeting ways to decrease levels of E. coli in cattle before they reach the slaughterhouse, says,

"We found that cattle consuming distiller's grains as 25 percent of their diet had about a twofold higher incidence of E. coli O157:H7. Our observation is preliminary, but we've done three studies that show a positive association between this feed and increased levels of O157."

David Smith, D.V.M., Ph.D., a professor of veterinary and biomedical science at the University of Nebraska, says,

"One factor associated with cattle shedding the E. coli organism is wet and muddy pen conditions. I suspect the slaughterhouses may have had cattle arrive this summer with a higher probability of shedding E. coli, or the cattle had it present on their hides, which led to greater opportunities for ground-beef contamination than during droughts."

Michael Doyle, Ph.D., director of the center for food safety at the University of Georgia and one of the world's leading authorities on E. coli and other foodborne pathogens, says,

"There is often an increase in bacterial contamination when experienced workers on the slaughter line are replaced with less-experienced workers, such as before and after holidays, and raids this year on illegal slaughterhouse workers by the INS led to replacement with less-experienced line workers."

Doug Powell, Ph.D., an associate professor of pathobiology and scientific director of the International Food Safety Network, says,

"You're not going to eliminate E. coli O157:H7. Down-line processors have to be operating under the assumption that they're going to get some E. coli just like we expect consumers to operate under the assumption that they're going to have some in their product, which is why we tell them to cook it."

So cook that burger. And stick that thermometer in it.

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Last week it was a Wegman's supermarket in New York. Last year it was Beyonce at a Wolfgang Puck catered Sports Illustrated party. This time, it's Ashton Kutcher's 30th birthday party on Feb. 7 where A-list celebrities such as Demi Moore, Madonna, Ivanka Trump, Salma Hayek, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Hudson, Bruce Willis, Lucy Liu, Roberto Cavalli and Liv Tyler, who all attended, are now being asked to get immunoglobin shots to ward off hepatitis A.

Apparently a bartender at Socialista, some fancy club where the birthday bash was held, was discovered to be carrying hepatitis A earlier this week, and when city health department officials inspected the bar they discovered that it lacked hand-washing soap.

One story gave a new twist to the oral-fecal route description we usually use:

According to the health department, hepatitis A is a relatively rare disease spread by putting something in one's mouth that has been contaminated with traces of fecal matter.

Don't eat poop.

The day manager who answered the phone at Socialista this afternoon told the Health Blog that the bartender apparently got hepatitis on a recent vacation to Honduras, and just found out he had the bug.

These hepatitis A cases are a weekly occurrence in the U.S. A food worker (bartender) parties in Mexico or the Dominican or in this case, Honduras, where hepatitis A is endemic. Food worker (bartender) comes home, is fine for two weeks, then spends the next two weeks crapping out virus. And unless food worker  (bartender) is really diligent about handwashing, he's spreading virus-containing poop on food -- especially fresh produce or salads. And it's really hard to effectively wash hands without soap. After four weeks, food worker turns yellow and goes to the doctor where a diagnosis is made. Then the clinics start.

Get vaccinated for hepatitis A. And dude, wash your damn hands.

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Brian Curtis, a retired senior Food Standards Agency official, who now works as a freelance food safety consultant, told a public inquiry that the use of a single vacuum packing machine for both raw and cooked meat at E. coli butcher William Tudor’s factory was “like playing Russian Roulette." adding,

"It seems to me, in a crude analysis, it is a bit like playing Russian Roulette. You might get away with it the first time, the second time, the third time, but progressively you have a greater chance the gun will go off and what we are talking about is a nine-month period."

The South Wales Echo also reports that Mr Curtis told the inquiry yesterday that a document produced by Tudor -- his HACCP plan --  "was not a valid plan. It was not a safe plan,"  but that Bridgend council’s environmental health officers, “failed to identify the deficiencies and weaknesses” of the document.

Mr Curtis also said there had been flaws in the way Tudor’s was inspected because there were too many announced visits that allowed him to prepare and that the inspections themselves had not been undertaken thoroughly, stating,

"There was a failure in the series of inspections to identify poor hygiene and working practices and a failure to take action."

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Bill Marler and 35 of his food safety colleagues will be speaking at a packed day-and-a-half Seminar in Seattle, April 11-12, 2008.

From the brochure:

Seattle was the epicenter of the Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak that sickened 600 and killed four 15 years ago. In addition to explaining how our present system works, this program is intended to discuss how changing consumer preferences are affecting the development and distribution of food, examine whether federal, state and industry oversight roles are changing, and discuss how the regulatory and judicial processes can be most efficiently balanced.

Full conference and registration information is available at http://www.marlerblog.com/Who's%20Minding%20the%20Store.pdf.

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The Indonesian Health Minister has claimed the U.S. is using bird flu samples to produce biological weapons.

The United States has rejected the claims.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, is understood to have ordered the minister, Siti Fadilah Supari, to recall copies of her book on avian influenza, which alleges the US and the WHO are conspiring against developing countries by seizing control of bird flu samples.

A U.S. State Department spokeswoman, Susan Stahl, denied Dr Supari's claim that Indonesian virus samples had been sent to a biological weapons laboratory in Los Alamos. The laboratory possessed no bird flu viruses from Indonesia or elsewhere.

Dr Supari yesterday continued to say virus samples had been sent via the WHO to the laboratory in Los Alamos, adding,

"Whether they use it to make vaccine or develop chemical weapons would depend on the need and interest of the US Government. It is indeed a very dangerous situation for the destiny of humanity."

The WHO's assistant director-general for Health Security, David Heymann,said he was puzzled by the claims, adding,

"I don't understand why they would take this virus to make a biological weapon; it doesn't transmit from human to human. Indonesia needs to spend more time on dealing with infections with chickens and stopping humans from being infected."

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Doug posted the initial story about this eatery last week.  The Toronto Star is reporting today that the "Rat-plagued" Dumpling House at 328 Spadina Ave. is now open again.

The Star reports that the restaurant was closed over the long weekend and management was told it would have to comply with health regulations, including disinfecting the premises and contacting a pest-control operator.

Michael Chu, the manager of the Dumpling House was cited as saying he wanted to deal with the vermin problem, adding,"If the city didn't shut us down, I would have closed." 

The staff reportedly spent the weekend "bleaching" tables, counters, containers and utensils. Chu hired a pest control operator to set traps.
The best part (and not really surprising) of the story to me is this:

While the incident will cost Chu around $10,000 in cleanup and closing costs, he says he's not concerned. Even with a sign outside alerting people to the infestation, he had to turn people away. "I have gotten calls of support all day. It's touching. I just want to cry."

Wonder how much of an effect posting restaurant grades/advisories really has on consumer preferences (especially if it is your favourite spot).

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The undercover investigator behind the biggest beef recall in U.S. history -- who will admit he is a vegan -- told the Los Angeles Times in a telephone interview Monday, that his six weeks at a Chino slaughterhouse that supplied meat to school lunch programs and supermarkets throughout the U.S. provided an abundance of evidence of abuse.

"It was so blatant, so commonplace. It was so in-your-face . . . they were pushing animals we felt never should have qualified for human consumption."

The investigator said most of the animals slaughtered at Hallmark/Westland were former dairy cattle -- many, he added, already weak and emaciated when they were trucked in.

On his first day, a cow collapsed on its way to the slaughter box, and two workers immediately jumped into the chute. One grabbed the cow by its tail and the other shocked it with electrical prods. When that failed, workers killed the cow on the spot, hooked a chain around the animal's neck and dragged it all the way into the slaughter box on its knees.

The undercover said he saw weaker animals being prodded upright, or having water shot into their nostrils before shakily walking to slaughter. Some downer cows were hauled with chains. He said a supervisor would order his men to "get them up! Get them up!" when cows seemed too sick to walk.

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A food safety inspector who visited John Tudor & Son five times in 2005 told the E. coli inquiry in Wales today that although a single vac-pac machine was being used for cooked and raw meat, the business did not pose "an imminent risk" to human health.

Media Wales reported that Angela Coles, a Bridgend Council environmental health officer said she took on "face value" explanations from the company's manager Celyn Williams about training and how the vacuum-packaging machine would be cleaned between being used for cooked and raw meats.

James Eadie, the inquiry's lead counsel, also questioned Amy Lewis, a senior environmental health officer at Bridgend Council, about holding temperatures after cooking gammon, which exceeded Tudor's own HACCP plan, stating,

"Is it inconceivable that you would have asked about temperatures, found out it was non-compliant with a crucial step in the HACCP plan and then made no record or note of it? You didn't pick this up?"

Ms Lewis replied, "I don't recall."

The inquiry also heard that E. coli butcher William Tudor was granted his first butcher's licence despite not possessing a relevant food safety certificate; instead he passed a 26-question test, set by senior Bridgend Council environmental health officers in 2001.

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Napa’s new Whole Foods received an F grade in its first county food facility inspection.

Store manager David Cosper said the market’s sheer size and diversity of offerings may have contributed towards the failing grade, which Whole Foods took steps to fix “immediately."

The major violations included improper handwashing and use of gloves at a hot counter area, improper hot and cold holding temperatures in several food areas and lack of availability of hot or cold water at two sinks. Other violations included improper handling of food and food storage, uncovered containers and missing sneeze guards.

In Virginia, the Daily Press reports that Ford's Colony, a popular gated community in James City County complete with a 200-acre wildlife preserve, a wine cellar with 1,600 labels and three 18-hole golf courses, has also, on occasion, been home to poorly dated food, meat kept at improper temperatures and employees who were caught not washing their hands.

Ford's Colony is hardly the only private club with health violations in Hampton Roads. Country clubs, yacht clubs and golf clubs with exclusive memberships from James City to Suffolk have all recently received critical marks that belie the air of posh living these communities pride themselves on.

It's like Ben and I discovered during the halfway point of a food safety golf tournament in Baltimore in 2005, when 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.

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The National Post reported Friday that Toronto public health authorities shut down one of Chinatown’s most prominent restaurants after a passerby took a photo of rats on a countertop.

Passerby Vivian Hui said rats were visible through a window of the Dumpling House Restaurant yesterday afternoon, adding,

"I noticed what I thought was a cat on the counter inside Dumpling House but it turned out to be four or five rats piled on top of each other eating from a bowl of flour or something."

She e-mailed her boyfriend, Matt Alexander, who alerted health authorities. He also sent the photo to blogto.com, a popular Toronto city blog.

Toronto Public Health said inspectors went to the restaurant immediately, saw evidence of an infestation, and shut the restaurant down.

A manager who answered the phone at the restaurant said they agreed with health inspectors that the restaurant needed to be shut down, adding,

"I fully agree. If there’s a problem, some indication, we have to take it seriously. We have pest control guys working on the case right now. … ‘We have a very good reputation.  That’s why we are taking this very seriously. I think [this shutdown] may affect business for a very short time, but not very much because our cleaning conditions are good."

The manager said he had never seen rats himself in the restaurant, and said any rat problem is not confined to Dumpling House. He said downtown has a rat problem generally, and the city needs to do something about it. Same as New York.

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A public inquiry heard Friday about a string of failures by food safety officers responsible for inspections of William Tudor’s meat plant leading up to the September, 2005 E. coli O157:H7 outbreak.

The South Wales Echo reported that Amy Lewis, an environmental health officer, admitted failing to check Tudor’s claims that his staff had food hygiene certificates – but only after a series of questions by lead counsel to the inquiry James Eadie, including the evidence that Tudor himself had admitted the staff were never trained.

A second officer, Ian Sullivan, who was responsible for advising on a critical food handling plan had only been employed for a few months when he became responsible for supervising Tudor and had never dealt with a business of that size.

A third officer, Joanne Evans, admitted mistakes in filling out forms that affected how often the Bridgend Industrial Estate plant was inspected.

Earlier in the week, Tudor said in a letter read out at the Cardiff inquiry, he followed official hazard analysis guidelines, and the practices used by his firm were supervised by Bridgend Council.

It was also revealed that Tudor, who was sentenced to 12 months in jail for his actions, was released after serving on 12 weeks.

The parents of five-year-old Mason Jones (right), who died during the outbreak, were unaware of Tudor’s early release until the start of this week’s public inquiry and called it a “travesty of justice.”

Garyn Price, 12, who almost died after contracting E.coli during the outbreak, was quoted as saying he was “disgusted” Tudor was allowed out of prison so soon and said,

“I got upset when my mum told me he was out. They should’ve kept him in prison longer. I don’t think he will have learned his lesson.”

There were 157 probable cases of the E.coli O157 strain and 118 confirmed during the outbreak, which was declared on 16 September 2005 and declared over on 20 December that year.

It affected 44 schools across south Wales, making it the largest outbreak of its kind in Wales, and the second biggest in the UK.

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The Times of India reports today that avian influenza may cost India its first grand prix badminton tournament.  The story says:

Bird flu outbreaks in China had made India ban import of all premium goose feathers of Chinese origin to manufacture shuttlecocks.
In a last-minute bid to save India the blushes, BAI president V K Verma has shot off letters to secretaries in the animal husbandry department and the ministries of health and agriculture, as well as to the Sports Authority of India, urging them to review the ban.

Interesting fallout from the animal disease outbreak.

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WGRZ is reporting that the hepatitis A positive Wegmans' employee has led to at least $500,000 being spent on vaccination clinics in upstate New York.

So far, more than 8,300 people have been vaccinated.

Dr. Anthony Billittier said,

"When it comes to protecting the public's health we need to do what we need to do."

Erie County Executive Chris Collins said,

"We've redeployed workers out of the Rath building to go to the ECC clinic. They aren't doing their jobs in the Rath building but we're paying them anyway, so is it a cost for the Hepatitis clinic, yes, because when they come back their work is piling up." And they may have to work overtime to catch up.

It's also costing taxpayers money to rents screen to give patients privacy, for the needles to inject the vaccine, and for the NFTA buses on standby to keep people waiting warm.

These hepatitis A cases are a weekly occurrence in the U.S. A food worker parties in Mexico or the Dominican where hepatitis A is endemic. Food worker comes home, is fine for two weeks, then spends the next two weeks crapping out virus. And unless food worker is really diligent about handwashing, he's spreading virus-containing poop on food -- especially fresh produce or salads. After four weeks, food worker turns yellow and goes to the doctor where a diagnosis is made. Then the clinics start.

Get vaccinated for hepatitis A. And dude, wash your damn hands.

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Colin Houston, deputy head of the enforcement division of the UK Food Standards Agency told a public inquiry yesterday that  E.coli butcher William Tudor (nice tag line) falsified crucial health and safety documents and even lied about receiving hygiene awards.

The inquiry heard the claims had been made in a document known as a HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) plan which Tudor, as a butcher, was required by law to prepare and implement to help reduce the risk to the public.

Mr Houston told yesterday’s hearing in Cardiff Bay that another of Tudor’s false claims in his HACCP plan had been to suggest that his factory had completely separate areas for the preparation and handling of raw and cooked meat.

Mr Houston told the inquiry he would have expected environmental health officers to check whether this was in fact the case during inspections of the premises on Bridgend Industrial Estate.

I can't wait to hear from the inspectors.

The inquiry also heard from a handwriting expert who found Tudor had falsified vital records detailing the temperature meat was stored at and cleaning records.

"There is conclusive evidence, as she (the handwriting expert) put it, that the logs and cleaning standards forms dated July 2004 onwards, were not completed on a daily/weekly basis, but that the batches of entries were made at one time.”

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On 60 Minutes this week, Hillary Clinton stated:  My two secrets to staying healthy: wash your hands all the time. And, if you can't, use Purell or one of the sanitizers."

Great statement, but should handwashing be a health "secret?"

Wouldn't it be so beneficial to all Americans if our presidential hopefuls spent time concentrating on spreading a campaign message that would really matter - the importance of regular handwashing? After all, isn't handwashing universal healthcare at its most fundamental level?   

And wouldn't it be wonderful if every political debate included statements on how a national handwashing campaign is needed for the protection of all Americans? And if funding of handwashing campaigns was a prime component in every politician's platform?

Hillary's handwashing admission is a start, but it's doubtful anyone will change their hand hygiene behaviors based on one statement by one politician.  In the interim, we all need to keep on spreading our handwashing platform, until the message causes real change around us.   

I'm glad America received a 5-second sound bite on handwashing. However, it is consistent handwashing actions and handwashing messages that speak volumes.  When it comes to public health, I'll always vote for soap.
--
Michéle Samarya-Timm is a Health Educator for the Franklin Township Health Department in New Jersey.

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The Detroit News reports that Pistons guard Rip Hamilton missed Tuesday's morning shoot-around at Philips Arena due to a gastrointestinal illness believed to be food poisoning.

Hamilton is in Atlanta, and the Pistons will re-evaluate his condition before today's 7 p.m. game against the Hawks.

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A couple of Sydney's top chefs have lambasted the Sydney Fish Markets for selling old, damaged seafood that is an "embarrassment".

Greg Doyle, of Pier Restaurant, said reviewers were "just being polite" when they said the markets were among the best in the world, adding,

"This is bullshit. I find the Sydney Fish Market an embarrassment. … You go down to the fish market and there is so much product that's days and days old. They are spraying them with tap water and it can ruin the fish because it absorbs all this water. It's old fish. That's why the place has this stink."

Steve Hodges, of Fish Face is quoted in tomorrow's edition of Time Out magazine as saying the markets are "f---ing terrible."

Grahame Turk, the managing director of Sydney Fish Markets, said he was appalled by the comments, adding,

"It's ridiculous really, because all three of them have been down here buying fish. … look at the inside - I would be quite happy to eat my dinner off the auction room floor."

New South Wales Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said there were  no problems with food safety.

"The New South Wales Government constantly monitors places like the Sydney fish market. The authority undertakes inspections and audits of the wholesale processes at the market. There've been shown to be no systemic problems with food safety."

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The sale of raw milk is currently illegal in the state of New Jersey, but local groups, such as Garden State Raw Milk, are campaigning towards legalization. The Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station is hosting of a seminar series on raw milk to inform the public on this topic.
On February 6th, the seminar series started with a presentation by Mark McAfee, from the organic dairy farm Organic Pastures (California): “Raw Milk, mother nature’s inconvenient truth”. Mr. McAfee discussed the health benefits of raw milk consumption as well as the personal satisfaction and commercial advantages of organic farming.

Throughout the talk, emphasis was put on the safe history of raw milk consumption with respect to pathogen contamination and association with foodborne outbreaks, and on the seemingly overwhelming health benefits of the consumption of raw milk as opposed to FDA-approved pasteurized milk. According to Mr. McAfee, raw milk represents an inconvenient truth to big dairies, pharmaceutical companies, western medicine in general and long-distribution chains. Though all these entities may have a commercial interest in keeping raw milk illegal, the consumer would be the one to benefit from its commercialization. Cases were mentioned of raw milk consumers who recovered from diseases such as allergies, lactose intolerance, Crohn’s disease or asthma which were unable to be cured by western medicine. Western medicine was claimed to only treat the symptoms of disease, whereas exercise and the consumption of unprocessed foods, such as organic raw milk, help prevent disease. The ability of raw milk to enhance the immune system is the most generally claimed reason for its health benefits. According to Mr. McAfee, among the factors that contribute to organic raw milk’s beneficial effects are its high content of animal fat (from grass-fed, not grain-fed cows), enzymes, beneficial bacteria, as well as vitamins and minerals. All of these are of course important components of a healthy diet, which are minimized in the standard American diet (aka  “S.A.D.”).

In particular, the example of pasteurized milk was used to describe the “harmful” effects of commercial processing. Apart from the destruction of enzymes and probiotic bacteria, it was implied that pasteurization covers for unsanitary processing practices, and that pasteurized product is an easy target for pathogens such as L. monocytogenes. Furthermore, the prevalence in recent times of immune system diseases was correlated with the consumption of processed food products. Unfortunately, scientific evidence is not abundant due to the limited number of research grants available and the implications of doing research against the interests of official agencies.

A number of benefits of organic farming were also mentioned, and from an economic point of view it was emphasized that a market exists for raw milk products, in which a consumer is willing to pay ~$5 per half gallon of organic raw milk.

My personal conclusion of this presentation is that although organic raw milk may represent a more wholesome alternative to pasteurized milk, and has traditionally been consumed raw for centuries, the current state of technology is able to produce microbiologically-safe, nutritious milk readily available to large, wide-spread populations in a cost-efficient manner. The presence of raw milk in the market may be a rightful and, if properly produced, safe alternative to consumers and farmers.
--
Silvia is a Graduate Assistant at Rutgers University and is looking forward to the upcoming seminars! ("Raw Milk Wars, Government's Attempt to Dictate What Foods We Can Consume" on 2/20, and “Raw Milk, A Microbiology Primer” on 4/3).

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People on street corners around San Antonio sell candy apples, but now, the health department is, according to KENS 5 Eyewitness News, putting out the word that those apples could make you sick.

Metro Health Sanitation Manager Stephen Barscewski said,

“Hepatitis A, noro virus that have a fecal, oral route to them, so they're practicing poor hygienic practices when they’re producing those apples. That's always a threat. … Candy apples are being made in houses and garages around the city that certainly aren't regulated by the city or the state."

The health department says most of the vendors are not licensed, and there’s no control over how or where the candy apples are made.

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Kentucky State Rep. Charles Siler is sponsoring legislation to make KFC's ''finger lickin' good'' chicken Kentucky's official picnic food.

Siler said the fried chicken, first served by Colonel Harland Sanders in 1940, deserves the title because of the worldwide attention and economic benefit it has brought to the state.

Bruce Friedrich, vice president at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, responded,

"If the state legislature moves forward with this one, then they should change Kentucky's state bird from the cardinal to the debeaked, crippled, scalded, diseased, dead chicken."

Two years ago, PETA launched an initiative to have a bust of the bespectacled Colonel Sanders removed from the Kentucky Capitol. Sanders, with his white goatee and black string tie, became recognizable worldwide by marketing his fried chicken.

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Olympic food has come a long way since the little chocolate donuts favored by John Belushi.

The N.Y. Times reports that in preparing to take a delegation of more than 600 athletes to the Summer Games in Beijing this year, the United States Olympic Committee faces numerous food issues. In recent years, some foods in China have been found to be tainted with insecticides and illegal veterinary drugs, and the standards applied to meat there are lower than those in the United States, raising fears of food-borne illnesses.

USOC has made arrangements with sponsors like Kellogg’s and Tyson Foods, which will ship 25,000 pounds of lean protein to China about two months before the opening ceremony, but will hire local vendors and importers to secure other foods and cooking equipment at the Games.

Why? Frank Puleo, a caterer from Staten Island who has traveled to China to handle food-related issues, went to a supermarket in China last year, and encountered a piece of chicken — half of a breast — that measured 14 inches.

"Enough to feed a family of eight. We had it tested and it was so full of steroids that we never could have given it to athletes. They all would have tested positive.”

The protein from Tyson is one of the few food products that will be shipped from the United States. Kellogg’s has been asked to supply cereals like Frosted Flakes and Mini-Wheats, as well as Nutri-Grain bars, because those products are not readily available in China.

Frosted Flakes and little chocolate donuts. Breakfast of champions.

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Choyce Products of Hawaii voluntarily recalled 11,000 pounds of previously frozen yellowfin tuna yesterday that tested positive for salmonella.

The Hawaii Star-Bulletin reports that the state Department of Health has been investigating an outbreak of a rare strain of salmonella, Paratyphi B, confirmed in 33 cases since October but seen in only three cases last month.

The Health Department believes the illnesses are related to previously frozen ahi which was imported to Hawaii and eaten raw.

It is not yet clear if the salmonella strain found at Choyce's is the Paratyphi B strain.

Edmund Choy, owner of Choyce Products, said,

"Our main concern is safety. We immediately issued a voluntary recall on that shipment and confirmed that our customers do not have any ahi from that parcel in our inventory."

Choyce is one of about 40 seafood distributors on Oahu.

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This week's infosheet is a companion to Doug's video and press release post.  Having front-line staff practice proper handwashing (and at the right times) can be problematic.  We think that our infosheets can help out with that.  Download it here.

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A 66-year-old Hobart man who has been hospitalised for almost a fortnight -- and remains in hospital -- with salmonella has told of his horror and called for a public apology from the Venus cafe at Rosny Park that served him infected food.

The Tasmania Mercury reports that the man said there had been at least nine other patients suffering from salmonella in recent days and many blamed food from Venus.

They are among 75 Tasmanians who have reported having gastro symptoms after eating contaminated food last month. Most of those were infected after eating at funerals at Millingtons in Mornington, which has food supplied by a local catering company.

The man had lunch at Venus with his wife where he ate a prawn and asparagus baguette with aioli dressing before being sick.

The man said he wanted Venus to be held accountable.

"Their business was reopened within a couple of days and everything was forgotten, but we're all still sick. It makes me really angry. I just want an open apology."

Director of Public Health Roscoe Taylor said tartare sauce containing raw egg had been confirmed as one cause but would not confirm if Venus was responsible, saying the department did not name businesses in outbreaks, adding,

"I can understand that people would want to seek retribution but our business is not the blame game, our interest is to protect the public."

But if food service is knowingly serving raw egg-based dishes to lots of people, including those at funerals in Hobart, where is the public protection?

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The U.S. Department of Agriculture has shut down a meat processing company after concluding workers committed egregious acts of animal cruelty.

The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reports that the move came nearly a week after the Humane Society of the United States released video showing employees of the Westland Meat Co. tormenting cows that were too injured or weak to stand.

The original video is available at https://community.hsus.org/campaign/CA_2008_investigation?qp_source=gaba89.

A related news video is below.

When the video was released last week, the USDA suspended business with the company, sent a team of investigators to the Chino plant and ordered schools across the country to stop serving beef from the company to children.

An employee of the Humane Society of the United States worked undercover inside the company for about six weeks in the fall, secretly recording what went on.

His video shows what appear to be crippled cows dragged with forklifts, sprayed in the face with a high-pressure water hose and poked in the eye with a stick.

The images sparked concern not only from animal-welfare advocates, but from food-safety experts, who feared the company might have used the tactic to prod sick animals to slaughter in violation of state and federal regulations.

So-called "downer" cows, or those that are not able to get up, are more likely to produce beef contaminated with foodborne illnesses such as mad cow disease, E. coli and salmonella.

Dr. Richard Raymond, USDA's Under Secretary for Food Safety, said last night,

"We maintain an inspection system that safeguards the safety and wholesomeness of our food supply. USDA will take appropriate action based on the findings of the investigation."

Maybe, but USDA may need to adopt some new inspection and investigative techniques if the HSUS can so easily document such grotesquely poor treatment of animals.

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Healthinspections.com is reporting that Swiss researchers have found that flu germs can live on paper money up to 17 days.

Past research at the University of Georgia discovered that dangerous E.coli bacteria can easily survive on the loose change in your pocket: anywhere from seven to eleven days on pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.

Chirag Bhatt, former director of health inspections for the city of Houston and current food safety director for Healthinspections.com, said,

"When a food worker touches money, then touches food, there is a clear danger of spreading germs. … For the average person, this is just another reminder of how important it is to wash our hands frequently to safeguard our health."

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The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that cruise passengers got a break last year, as serious cases of gastrointestinal illness at sea fell sharply after setting a record in 2006.

Last year, there were 16 confirmed outbreaks of norovirus on ships monitored by the CDC, down from 29 outbreaks the year before.

Federal ship regulators say cruise lines have become the model for fighting outbreaks of norovirus, which spreads easily and causes flu-like symptoms for 48 to 72 hours.

Capt. Jaret Ames, head of the vessel sanitation program at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, said,

"They're much better at it today than they were in 2002."

Last year, 12.6 million people took a cruise worldwide. The cruise Web site cruisejunkie.com calculates that at least 4,159 passengers fell ill with norovirus.

Steps to avoid norovirus on a cruise:

Don't touch door handles, handrails or other communal surfaces and then touch your mouth or nose. Wash your hands often.

Make use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers, especially in food-service areas.

Before booking a cruise, compare health inspection reports of vessels and cruise lines.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site — http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/pub/CruisingTips/cruisingtips.htm — provides inspection scores. Any score below 85 is considered unsatisfactory.

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Far from the Carnival balls, parades and raucous crowds of New Orleans, Cajuns in St. Martinville held their last ''bon temps'' before Lent in a far different fashion: with a grand boucherie, or slaughtering of a pig.

Associated Press reports that hundreds of people watched at least part of the ritual Saturday, though most have seen it before. The pig's skin was being shaved for cracklins, a Cajun snack, while the carcass was being prepared for transport to a butcher shop.

Every year, Catholic Cajuns in this community about 140 miles west of New Orleans hold ''La Grande Boucherie des Cajuns'' the weekend before Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent.

Stephen Hardy, 38, who leads the group organizing the event, said,

"This is a celebration that was started out of necessity. Before refrigeration, they had to share the slaughter. One family could not consume a whole hog before it would go bad. They would have family and friends over to help, and everyone would leave with something."

With meat readily available at any grocery store today, the boucherie is simply a celebration of an old tradition, bringing family and friends together once a year for one last hoorah before the Catholic season of fasting begins.

Federal health code regulations prevent attendees from eating what is slaughtered during the celebration, Hardy said. So the butcher, after showing what is done traditionally, will take the carcass and byproducts to his shop to finish preparing the meat.

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Goofy theatrics, big hair, an abundance of earnestness? Video was new to us back then, but we shot some anyway. And now that youtube exists, we can share those movies with you.

So enjoy.

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