I watch movies in the background while I work on the couch.

Great movies can be watched hundreds of times – American Beauty, Starman, High Fidelity, Almost Famous, Wonderboys, The World According to Garp, The Departed – as a comforting narcotic, but only as background.

Bull Durham was on the other day as part of a Kevin Costner marathon, cause I guess they’ve let him make movies again after Waterworld

OK, not fair, Costner had a good turn as the washed up jock in Mike Binder’s underrated 2005 film, The Upside of Anger.

The Bull Durham sports clichés apparently carried over to an interview I did with the L.A. Times yesterday about Salmonella Saintpaul and the performance of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"There's been a bunch of armchair quarterbacks out there who should really think first and walk a mile in the FDA's shoes," said Powell, the food safety expert, in an interview. "FDA has done a good job keeping its eye on the ball and managed to track it down in the face of a lot of barriers."

Maybe I should have added that everyone’s been giving it 110 per cent. And that there is no “I” in team.

At least I didn’t say, as Costner does to pitcher Tim Robbins, who has taken to wearing lingerie to help focus his erratic pitching,

“The rose goes at the front, big guy.”

Oh, and below is almost an exact recreation of the first time I met Amy.

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Amy and I spent a week in Melbourne in July. We ate out a lot. And it was simply dining on faith.

As Jason Dowling reports in Melbourne’s daily paper, The Age,

Dozens of city food businesses, including restaurants and cafes, have been prosecuted for breaching food hygiene laws in the past five years — but Melbourne City Council will not reveal who they are. …

The council's inability to name restaurants with poor hygiene records comes as a "name and shame" food hygiene website in New South Wales had attracted 25,000 visitors in its first month.

The NSW Government has boasted the new website improved consumer information and "provides a powerful incentive for the food industry to boost its performance".

Melbourne City Councillor David Wilson was cited as saying the council did not support wider disclosure of poor hygiene discoveries at restaurants, adding,

"We believe that it is not appropriate for details of prosecutions to be released as restaurants may have changed management since the prosecution or they may not have breached food safety regulations since the initial prosecution and publication of a past prosecution could severely impact the viability of the current business.”

Councillor Wilson, I bet you won’t have the vote of my friend, Melbourne Milton (left, exactly as shown) next election. Milton wants to see the results of restaurant inspections and is so astute he said he knew the results didn't really meant anything, didn’t make the food any safer and were just a snapshot in time, but the public disclosure made people more aware of food safety issues and people talked about it.

Even Durham Region in Ontario, Canada, is going to start with the red, yellow, green system of restaurant inspection disclosure.

Melbourne, figure it out. People who spend money in your restaurants should have access to inspection data if they want. Or they should take their money elsewhere.

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It's fair and festival season.  For the past 25 years, the last weekend of July has marked the Hillside Festival, a weekend-long outdoors concert at Guelph Lake.  I've never been.  I've had lots of friends attend and have often felt like I've missed out on hearing some great bands.  Part of the reason is that I'm not a huge camping fan; it always seems to rain when I camp.  And then I whine to whomever I'm camping with.

Prior to an ultimate frisbee game on Monday night, I was warming up with a friend who attended this year's installment of Hillside.  As we jogged she told me all about the weekend: The bands were great, but the best part of the weekend was the food.  She described a set-up where many local restaurants have temporary booths and were serving up selections of their normal menus to the hungry concert-goers. 

This conversation made me think about last year's Salmonella outbreak linked to the Taste of Chicago.  Temporary kitchens can be problematic for the staff who work in them when it comes to controlling food safety risks.  Equipment may not be readily available, line-ups add to the time pressure, spaces can be cramped and handwashing sinks might be hard to access (or even find).

Coupling my conversation with a link that Doug came across about fair food safety in Wisconsin led to today's infosheet, which can be downloaded here.

After the infosheet was created, Doug sent on another link about a Shigella outbreak in Oregon -- which has been linked to visiting the Oregon County fair.  Depending on the information that follows in the upcoming days, maybe next week's infosheet with focus on that outbreak.

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Neil Rumbaoa, director of communications at the Shangri-La Hotel in Dubai, told The National that hamburgers served anything less than well-done come with a legal waiver.

“We just want to make sure that we serve the best quality food and the safest. And so if it’s rare, obviously there are factors that will contribute to how safe the food is.”

Levent Tekun, the director of marketing at Shangri-La Hotel in Abu Dhabi, said it is a worldwide policy for the hotel chain.

“As a company, globally, when a burger is ordered and a guest is asking for it to be medium or rare or something along those lines, our verbal phrase on that would be that the hotel prefers for the burgers to be well-done. Then it’s down to the guest to choose whether he wants it well-done or rare or whatever.”

In both Abu Dhabi and Dubai, customers who ask to take prepared food away from the hotel premises or use hotel facilities to store food from outside must sign a disclaimer. That practice is used in other hotel restaurants in the UAE, such as the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

It’s all part of the Shangri-La Hotel’s HACCP plan and has been in place for several years. But I wonder, how are rare and medium defined? Are they using meat thermometers and the right ones?

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I am planning on going to Yellowstone Park next weekend. I read this story and got a little worried.

About 30 people came down with symptoms consistent with the norovirus infection at the Tuolumne Meadows Lodge and High Sierra camps in the area, said Shane Sims, a specialist in the safety office at Yosemite National Park…

The hiker camps are particularly vulnerable to the spread of norovirus illness, because people enjoying the outdoors aren't always careful about hygiene, Sims said.

So I decided to put together a few tips on how to keep your hygienic standards from home in the wild - especially if you have children or grandparents around.

1 - Pack one of those hand sanitizer bottles and use it as often as you can – before and after handling food, after bathroom breaks – you know it, whenever you would normally wash your hands with soap.

2 – While you’re at it, take a pack of wipes or moist towels (can probably be found at the baby section) and use it to clean your body (focus on face, underarms, groin, buttocks, and feet). You will not only kill bacteria that could make you sick, you will smell good and feel much better too.

3 – Take a small bottle of isopropyl alcohol and some cotton balls. Soak a cotton ball in alcohol and use it to rub your feet. This eliminates dangerous bacteria that could be forming around blisters or wounds. Change to clean socks.

4 – Quick bathroom tips: when going number one go directly into running water if possible or far away from the camp if not. When going number two go far away from the camp, and bury your poop like cats do. (Remember to use your hand sanitizer afterwards)

5 – Do not handle food if you have open sores on your hands, if you have diarrhea, or if you’re feeling sick in general. This will prevent a spread of infection.

6 – If you want to be sure about the water you’re drinking, carry with you a water filter or purification tablets like Iodine. Regular unscented liquid chlorine bleach also works. Follow the instructions on the label.  Most water sources are contaminated in North America and may contain guardia or cryptosporidium therefore are not safe to drink.

7 – Drink lots of fluids, rest plenty, and keep warm.

Follow these tips and reduce your chances of getting norovirus like the hikers above, or any other sickness that could ruin a fun trip. Enjoy the wild!

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The produce industry in the U.S. deserves better leadership. Or at least better writers.

At least that’s my take-home message after reading the screed by Bryan Silbermann, president of the Produce Marketing Association, Newark, Del., and Tom Stenzel, president of the United Fresh Produce Association, Washington, D.C., who are preaching the it’s-time-to-change message at least 10 years too late.

The title itself -- We can't go back, so let's charge straight ahead -- suggests a memory of convenience or a preference of forgetfulness.

“Our industry's key focus now should be to exert as much control as possible over our destiny moving forward. We are, after all, in the best position to lead the task at hand.”

Amy, my French literature wife says,

“When a trauma occurs such as the one that just took place in the produce industry with the Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak, people generally take one of two paths, according to psychoanalytic theory. They either dwell in the past, in the time before the rupture occurred, and pretend that the past was perfect, or they focus solely on the future. In either case, they ignore the painful present and the immediate working out of the trauma at hand.”

I’m not so literate. More literal. Literally, shouldn’t the produce industry have taken control of their destiny after any of the 20-some outbreaks in leafy greens or the 12 outbreaks in tomatoes since 1990? What about after all the other outbreaks in fresh produce?

Casey Jacob, Benjamin Chapman and I have a chapter in a book coming out later this year. It goes something like this:

From the October, 1996, E. coli O157:H7 in Odwalla fresh juice outbreak to the Sept. 2006 E. coli O157 in spinach outbreak,

“almost 500 outbreaks of foodborne illness involving fresh produce were documented, publicized and led to some changes within the industry. … (But) at what point did sufficient evidence exist to compel the fresh produce industry to embrace the kind of change the sector has heralded since 2007? And at what point will future evidence be deemed sufficient to initiate change within an industry? …

“A decade of evidence existed highlighting problems with fresh produce, warning letters were written, yet little was seemingly accomplished. The real challenge for food safety professionals, is to garner support for safe food practices in the absence of an outbreak, to create a culture that values microbiologically safe food, from farm-to-fork, at all times, and not just in the glare of the media spotlight.”

The produce leaders also write in their letter that, now, after all these fresh fruit and vegetable outbreaks,

“Working together with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, state departments of agriculture and foreign governments, there must be extensive industry training and education, to help every employee at every company understand the role they play in creating a food safety culture.”

Wow, sounds like something I’d write. Except I’d throw in an evaluation component to see if the training and education actually work. But I see no evidence the industry wants to undertake such work.

I take that back. Lots of individual growers, and I’ve had the privilege of working with several, want to do the basic work and whatever they can to ensure a safe harvest. They want to know if their people know how to wash the shit off of their hands, and how to keep the shit out of fields of fresh produce.

The associations, the industry leaders, have apparently given up, and now “support fair but mandatory produce food safety rules.” They want government to do their job.

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I’ve never been much of a fan of cooking shows.  The chefs talk, they cook, they even sometimes teach poor food safety.  Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has taken the typical format of a cooking show and added an extra twist; audience members witness the killing of the chicken used in the meal.  Animal rights groups and poultry farmers are outraged over his new television show “Jamie’s Fowl Dinners.”

The show serves up a giant dose of shock and awe as chicks are gassed to death and an adult chicken is killed for the meal.  Yet throughout the show Oliver insists that he is trying to raise awareness about how chickens are treated in the poultry industry.

"I don't think it's sensational to show people the reality of how chickens live and die at the moment. It may be upsetting for some people but that's how things are. And if seeing some of the practices helps to change the shopping habits of just 5 per cent of people watching, then it will be worth it.”

Channel 4 factual entertainment boss Andrew Mackenzie said: "Jamie's simple message, in quite an overt way, will be: 'If you know what happens to a chicken before arriving on your plate, would you change the way you think about chicken? Would you still eat it?'"

Oliver had criticized Sainbury’s supermarket over its involvement on his show and has since apologized for it.  It appears that his main goal to is encourage people to purchase free-range and organic chicken raised in less intensive facilities.  However I found that most of the program depicting the slaughter of chickens seems to push people towards vegetarianism rather than purchasing their chickens from another source.  You be the judge.

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Croydon Today in the U.K. reports,

The See and Tell service, launched this month, enables people to text the Croydon Council's food safety team with concerns about food safety or labelling issues - in restaurants, shops or takeaways.

There are 2,600 food businesses in Croydon, from takeaways to supermarkets.

Brian Griffiths, manager of the council's food safety team, said,

“There are various levels of action we can take, but in the worst case scenario we can go in and close a place down on the spot. We rely heavily on customers tipping us off and this new text service will make it all the easier. If you find a hair in your soup you can literally text us from the restaurant table and we'll come and investigating.

“Sometimes I've opened bins at the back of restaurants and seen the meat moving because there were so many maggots on it. And at the moment we're dealing with a mice infestation at a high street store which sells food. It is really important we get to hear from residents about these sorts of things so we can go in and take the appropriate action.”

The move to enlist citizen diners seems like another expansion of social networking – the power’s with the people.

The city of Chicago has started encouraging Chicagoans who believe that a restaurant or any other licensed food establishment is operating in an unsafe manner to call 311 and report it.

Back in Feb. 2005, customers with cameras in South Korea were reported photographing any violation of food safety standards and reporting it to authorities.

The sikparazzi -- a combination of the word sik, meaning food, and paparazzi -- are, however, good news for the authorities.

The Korean Food and Drug Administration said 10,567 food safety violations were reported in the first nine months of 2004, and 74.2 million won ($118,624) paid in rewards, reported the Joong Ang Daily.

So lucrative is it to be a sikparazzi in South Korea that at least one private institute runs courses to train people for the job.

There have also been allegations that the sikparazzi sometimes contaminate the food themselves and then demand compensation, threatening to report it.

Mr Griffiths in Croydon also advised people to go to their GP if they think they have got food poisoning and give a poo sample, stating,

“The proof is in the poop and if people give a sample it can be used as evidence, which helps us wrap things up much easier if we get an allegation of food poisoning.”

Follow the poop. Everything comes down to poo.

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The New York Times reported last week that in 2006,

“the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene inspected restaurants using the sous vide method, in which food is vacuum-sealed in plastic for slow cooking at low temperatures. Because of concerns about bacteria growth in the sealed pouches, restaurants were told to stop using vacuum-sealing machines until they filed plans detailing their processes. … Afterward, restaurants like Blue Hill, Per Se and WD-50 filed sous vide plans that were approved by the city as officials developed formal regulations.

“In March the Board of Health approved those regulations. They require restaurants that cook sous vide to have an approved Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point plan. …

“Some chefs say the health department is overzealous in its regulation of sous vide, which is safe when properly practiced. But others agreed with officials who said it was important that correct procedures were clearly followed, because anaerobic bacteria can thrive in the airless environment of a vacuum bag if techniques are not done properly.

“Sous vide, which means ‘under vacuum’ in French, refers to a technique where foods are vacuum-sealed to carefully calibrated degrees of pressure so they can be suffused with flavors in a marinade or submerged in temperature-controlled water baths. …

“Bruno Goussault, the chief scientist at Cuisine Solutions, an industrial sous vide company, was one of the developers of sous vide and has trained many famous chefs in the technique. He said that he understood the need for health department oversight and that he consulted with the city to help draft the regulations. …

“It’s very easy to work with the top chefs, but when you are making regulations you need to take care of all the chefs, not just the top chefs,” Mr. Goussault said. “Perhaps sometimes it’s excessive, too much regulation for the top chefs, but I think it’s necessary.”

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The American Veterinary Medical Association announced last week that they had passed a groundbreaking policy on veal calf housing that promotes both animal health and welfare. The resolution passed by a landslide 88.7 percent vote.

The new policy states "that the AVMA supports a change in veal husbandry practices that severely restrict movement, to housing systems that allow for greater freedom of movement without compromising health or welfare."

The former policy consisted of only a few points on living conditions, including that the area the calves are kept in permits them to stretch, stand, and lie down comfortably.

"This is encouraging on two levels," explains Dr. Ron DeHaven, AVMA chief executive officer. "First, we are proactively seeking to improve the welfare of veal calves, and second, the resolution still affords the AVMA Animal Welfare Committee the opportunity to do a comprehensive analysis of the science and to consider all relevant perspectives of veal calf production."

The confinement of veal calves and other farm animals is one of many issues that animal activists are passionate about.  Currently the Human Society of the United States is leading a campaign in California to pass legislation know as Proposition 2.  Prop 2 is aimed mostly towards egg-laying hens, pregnant sows, and calves raised for veal in order to improve their living conditions.  Perhaps the steps taken by the AVMA with new veal calf policies will help to continue their campaign.

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Amy’s originally from Minnesota. A French professor from Minnesota. That’s part of our shared humor.

So last December during break, we drove to Minnesota, with the dogs, and hung out with some of her extended family.

We also hung out with Team Diarrhea.

That would be the crack investigative unit at the Minnesota Dept of Heath, getting much praise in the past few days over their handling of the Salmonella in whatever-it-is outbreak.

“In less than two weeks, Minnesota Department of Health investigators traced the source of a mysterious salmonella outbreak that had stumped federal health officials for two months and sickened more than 1,200 people in 43 states and Canada.

The culprit: jalapeno peppers.

Federal officials had focused on tomatoes as the source of the salmonella, causing restaurants and stores to pull tomatoes and severely hurting tomato farmers in suspect areas.

While tomatoes haven't been entirely cleared by federal authorities, attention has now turned to the peppers in what federal officials said was a major break in the case. The story says that a gee-whiz state lab, investigators dubbed "Team Diarrhea" and a unique approach to sleuthing illness contributed to the breakthrough.”

I gave them some Don’t Eat Poop shirts back in December, Hedberg took us to lunch, I came away  thinking, what a great model to do foodborne illness investigations, and to get students doing cool stuff. Guess the rest of the country is now appreciating the insights of Northerners.

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I’m not going to the annual meeting of the International Association for Food Protection this year. Maybe it’s me, maybe it’s the meeting, maybe I got other things going on.

Sarah DeDonder, a PhD student at Kansas State, is going, and will be presenting some work we did last summer.

The abstract for the presentation is below. Yesterday, Sarah shared the results of her latest shopping adventure. Food safety is so simple, yet I find myself further confused.

Sarah writes:

I recently moved from Manhattan to a small town north of Topeka.  Moving to Topeka has given me access to a whole new array of grocery stores not available in Manhattan. Yesterday I decided to venture out to the local Hyvee. 

My research focuses on frozen, uncooked, breaded chicken entrees.  It has become habit for me, once I enter a grocery store, to head to the frozen food section to see what products the store has available to their customers.  My trip to Hyvee was no different.  While roaming the aisles I came across the frozen food section containing the breaded chicken entrees.  I couldn’t help but examine how the products were placed and I intensely examined most, if not all, of the product labels on the uncooked breaded chicken entrees available to the consumer.  I quickly noted the product placement—fully cooked products were shelved directly next to uncooked products.  Also, stuffed chicken entrees still contained microwavable instructions.  I had hit the jackpot at this store.                 

Over the last ten years there have been a variety of outbreaks of salmonellosis linked to raw breaded chicken entrées such as chicken strips, nuggets, and stuffed chicken entrees.  Most of the cases implicated in the outbreaks prepared the entrees in the microwave. It is a quick and easy way to cook a product, but it isn’t the safest route to take in cooking a breaded chicken entree.  As a result of the outbreaks processors were encouraged to remove microwavable instructions from product packaging.  Most did, so it isn’t very often that one finds microwavable instructions still on the package.  Does this mean that consumers no longer cook these products in the microwave because the label states not to?  On yet another of my outings to the grocery store, my friend and I found the answer.  We were looking at the products available when a girl walked up.  We asked her, when she had the product in hand and the cooking instructions side up, how she would cook the product. She responded, quite confidently, just put it in the microwave. She then went on to explain to us it isn’t as crisp as cooking it in the oven, but it is quicker.  The product label in bold lettering stated, “DO NOT MICROWAVE.” 

Product labels are provided on product packing to provide guidance to the consumers.  Labels should contain concise cooking instructions and clearly convey to the consumer that a food thermometer should be used to check the final internal temperature of the entree.

In August, at IAFP, I will be presenting the findings from a study completed last summer where we observed and documented kitchen preparation practices of consumers using uncooked, frozen, breaded chicken products.  So if you are there and are interested you should come check it out.

Dedonder, S., Powell, D.A., Wilkinson, C., Surgeoner, B., Chapman, B., and Phebus, R. 2008. Beyond Intent -- Direct Observation Of Meal Preparation Procedures In A Home Kitchen Setting.

Abstract

Purpose – This study used a novel video capture system to observe the
food preparation practices of 41 consumers – 21 primary meal preparers
and 20 adolescents – in a mock domestic kitchen using uncooked, frozen,
breaded chicken products, and to determine if differences exist between
consumers’ reported safe food handling practices and actual food
handling behavior as prescribed on current product labels.

Design/methodology/approach – A convenience sample was utilized and all
participants were video-recorded preparing food in one-of-two model
kitchens at Kansas State University. Participants were asked to complete
a survey reporting food handling behaviors that would be typical of
their own home kitchen.

Findings – Differences between self-reported and observed food safety
behaviors were seen across both groups of consumers. Many participants
reported owning a food thermometer (73 per cent) and indicated using one
when cooking raw, breaded chicken entrées (19.5 per cent); however, only
five participants were observed measuring the final internal temperature
with a food thermometer despite instructions on the product packaging to
do so; only three used the thermometer correctly.

Significance – Data collected through direct observation more accurately
reflects consumer food handling behaviors than data collected through
self-reported surveys, and label instructions are rarely followed.

Originality/value – This study contributes to the overall understanding
of consumer behaviors associated with consumers’ intentions and actual
behaviors while preparing meat and poultry products, such as frozen,
uncooked, breaded chicken products.

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On Dr. Phil’s “Ask the Doctor” segment today(1), a team of medical professionals talked with a woman who is seriously afraid of germs. Jennifer, who washes her hands so much that they are constantly cracked and bleeding—including after opening the mail or putting in a rented movie— said this fear developed after seeing what grew from a swab of her own skin in a microbiology class.

There were multiple specimens alive and well in Jennifer’s house (as with most any house), according to swabs by microbiologist Carolyn Jacobs, who sampled several frequently contacted surfaces, such as light switches and the TV remote. In the kitchen, she targeted the sink and what she felt was one of the dirtiest areas in the home: the can opener.

The show’s M.D. identified bacillus and staphylococcus strains in samples from the can opener, but claimed they were “completely benign and can’t hurt you at all.” To prove his point, he grabbed a spoonful of the red stuff in the dish in front of him and smiled as he took a bite. Fortunately, it was only red Jell-O.

However, he reasoned, human immune systems serve a purpose and are meant to encounter microbes in everyday life. Jennifer admits, “I have this huge fear of my (six-month-old) daughter getting sick and dying,” from the bacteria and viruses she knows are everywhere.

The M.D. is right in saying that human bodies are built to deal with microorganisms—both harmful and benign. However, as in the case of consuming raw milk, some members of society are better equipped for them than others, and children may not be as well prepared to fight off tough pathogens.

Jennifer is right to worry… a little.

That attitude of compulsive cleanliness could do a lot of good for food handlers in the farm-to-fork distribution chain that lie beyond mom’s kitchen: fry cooks, butchers, servers, fruit pickers, slaughterhouse managers, and even even cheerleaders at lemonade stands. Something to think about.

Casey Jacob is the married version of former barfblogger Casey Wilkinson, and continues to work with Doug in various capacities.

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Yesterday I enjoyed an aperitif at Houlihan’s with my friend Angélique. Although the conversation was excellent, ordering was complicated for me. I wasn’t supposed to eat at least half of the items offered, and another third of them didn’t sound good to me.

Pregnancy food safety guidelines combined with changing tastes and sensitivity to smells make ordering very difficult. On our trip home from Australia on Sunday, for example, I wanted to grab a sandwich at LAX, and because we were at a deli, that left only one choice for me: a chicken Panini. Everything else had unheated deli meat – known to put me at risk for listeria.

At Houlihan’s, I used to enjoy the tuna wontons, but the tuna is only seared and I don’t trust raw fish right now. I couldn’t eat the very appetizing brie starter because the waitress didn’t think it was heated, and the bruschetta that we did share was a big question mark for me. It had goat’s cheese together with the tomato mix. We now know that tomatoes are all supposedly safe from Salmonella, but how safe was the cheese? I take at least a little comfort in knowing that I’ve been fully vaccinated against Hepatitis A thanks to my past wild travels. Angélique and I also shared a spinach and artichoke dip that came with fresh cilantro and scallions sprinkled all over the chips. I grow my own cilantro at home and know how hard it is to keep it clean and out of the snails’ reach …

Finally, very hungry, I just ate and tried to ignore the smaller risk factors. I did my best but I still didn’t feel confident that my food was safe. Who knows or can control what was happening in the kitchen?

For those who want to tell me, and every pregnant woman, how simple it is to eat safely during pregnancy, I beg to differ. See “Listeria warning for pregnant women” for example. Dr. Paul McKeown says, “Simple measures such as ensuring that the fridge is in good working order with the temperature between two and five degrees Celsius, eating food that is well within its use-by date so that harmful bugs will not have had time to grow and practising good general food hygiene will reduce the risk of listeriosis.”

We, as consumers, can reduce some of the risks but we cannot eliminate them. And I find that the more I know about food safety, the more complicated all of this becomes. When you’re hungry and the airline offers you a roll with cheddar and pastrami … and you ask your food safety expert partner, “if I pick off the pastrami, is the sandwich safe to eat and how much cross contamination might have taken place?” and he shrugs … sometimes you have to decide for yourself.

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I followed Doug’s suggestion to flesh out consumer reactions to the latest Salmonella outbreak and visited the farmers market in Idaho while visiting my boyfriend.

I read the results of a poll published by the Associated Press, concluding that half of Americans are changing their buying behavior because of the most recent salmonella outbreak.

I was surprised at the market when all the people who I managed to grab for a short interview (shoppers busy shopping) replied they weren’t afraid of getting sick from the food they were buying.
 
But they weren’t feeling completely safe either.

I guess getting diarrhea once in a while is just part of life. And things can get out of control for farmers, large and small, unless you are controlling, of course. 

“I’m buying tomatoes now,” she said. “Nothing is safe unless it comes from your own backyard and you have full control and knowledge over how you grow the produce.”

One woman even said that the salmonella outbreak was simply fake. She understood it as some sort of scam of the government to get people to believe in something to act a certain way and that it’s destroying people’s lives.

Wow.

Didn’t quote her in my article.

But this was the general reaction I got:

“Everything is locally grown and I want to support local, including a friend who works at a farm,” she said. “I don’t think it’s safer though.”

I agree with the conclusion of this shopper:

“With rising oil prices, people have been concerned about other things too,” he said. “They are more concerned about sustainability and the environment, and they think coming to the market supports the cause.”

Mayra Rivarola is a journalism student at Kansas State University hoping to graduate in 2010 when she plans to return to her native Paraguay.  She loves traveling, cooking, and watching TV commercials. Mayra is also addicted to the Internet and is eternally thankful for Google.

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Franklin County and Columbus, Ohio are currently suffering from a shigellosis outbreak.  Since June 1, the city and Franklin County health departments have recorded 100 cases of infection with Shigella, which causes diarrhea and is easily spread from person to person.  This is in stark contrast to the 13 cases reported in 2007.

The source of the infection is still unknown, but Columbus Public Health workers are focusing on day-care centers where the disease might be spreading.

Shigellosis can cause diarrhea, which may be bloody, as well as severe dehydration and stomach cramps.  The bacteria is typically most severe in the immunocompromised, such as infants and the elderly

Shigella is usually passed from stools to fingers, or through poor hand washing habits. Food handlers who failed to wash their hands can also transmit it through infected food.  Shigella also has been known to contaminate pools, so people should avoid swimming if suffering from diarrhea.  The best way to avoid shigellosis is through good hand washing practices.

Columbus and Franklin County’s health commissioners, advise the following practices to limit the spread of this infection:
* Wash hands with soap carefully and frequently, especially after going to the bathroom, after changing diapers, and before preparing foods or beverages.
* Do not swim or prepare food for others while ill with diarrhea.
* Dispose of soiled diapers properly and disinfect diaper changing areas after using them.

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The Seoul City Administration has announced that many of the dog meat restaurants in Seoul area were found to contain unhygenic kitchens filled with cockroaches.

From July 15 to 18, 2008 Seoul City has conducted a four-day intensive inspection on the restaurants selling dog meat.

The inspection by the city was done for the first time since 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics when most dog meat restaurants in the capital were forced to close or to move out of the city.

The spokesperson of the Seoul city, however, said that the control over the dog meat restaurant is far from approval of dog meat.

Koreans are known to enjoy dog meats particularly during the sweltering summer days. In Seoul area alone there are some 6,000 restaurants selling dog meat.

Annually 2 million dogs are butchered for the human consumption in South Korea.

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This week's iFSN infosheet focuses on an outbreak of E. coli O157 in Moultrie, Georgia at the Barbecue Pit Steak and Seafood restaurant.  Twelve cases of E. coli (including four hospitalizations) O157 have been linked to the restaurant.  This outbreak appears to be linked to the Nebraska Beef recall which has been connected to an additional 45 confirmed cases in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Utah  and New York.

The food safety infosheet targeting food handler food safety practices can be downloaded here.

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The N.Y. Times reports that after spending $5 million on its five automated public toilets, Seattle put the units up for sale Wednesday afternoon on eBay, with a starting bid set by the city at $89,000 apiece.

In the end, the restrooms, installed in early 2004, had become so filthy, so overrun with drug abusers and prostitutes, that although use was free of charge, even some of the city’s most destitute people refused to step inside them.

The dismal outcome coincides with plans by New York, Los Angeles and Boston, among other cities, to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for expansion this fall in their installation of automated toilets — stand-alone structures with metal doors that open at the press of a button and stay closed for up to 20 minutes. The units clean themselves after each use, disinfecting the seats and power-washing the floors.

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Half of the Galveston County Jail in Texas has fallen sick, many of them vomiting and experiencing diarrhea and stomach cramps.  Prisoners began complaining of stomach cramps and other symptoms at about 5 p.m. last Wednesday, and county health officials were called to test food for contamination and help identify the cause.

At one point at least 543 prisoners were experiencing signs of illness.  Jail staff suspected that the illness may have been caused by an earlier meal, and officials quarantined numerous food items.  Bologna sandwiches and food served with them were being examined for contamination.

Test results from the sampled food have not yet been released.

Possible suspects could be norovirus, Salmonella or E. coli, among others.  In an outbreak such as the one in the Galveston County Jail, the close proximity of the prisoners to one another can increase the severity of an outbreak. 

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A police officer and his family in Sidney, a town of about 6,000 in western Nebraska, have won $40,000 in their lawsuit against a a KFC/Taco Bell that had served them food tainted by an employee's spit and urine in October 2005.

The employee accused of urinating and spitting in the family's food pleaded guilty last year to violating the Nebraska Pure Food Act and fined $100, according to court records.

A jury on Friday found the restaurant negligent. The family's attorney said of the restaurant owner,

"I'd advise them to get a better class of employees."

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When it comes to the safety of the food supply, I generally ignore the chatter from Washington. If a proposal does emerge, such as the creation of a single food inspection agency, I ask, Will it actually make food safer? Will fewer people get sick?

Much is being made this morning about a new report from the U.S. General Accounting Office, and how the U.S. is lagging behind other countries – countries that have single food inspection systems. The Chicago Tribune says, On food safety, U.S. not No. 1, while the L.A. Times  offers an editorial, U.S. lags on food regulation.

So I spent the end of another stellar day in Melbourne, and the beginning of a new day back home, by reading the report and comparing it to some of the Washington chatter.

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said,

"Today's GAO report shows that America ranked eighth out of eight countries -- dead last -- in terms of national food safety systems.”

There was no such ranking in the report. There was no ranking at all in the report.

Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (CT-3) said,

“This GAO report highlights how effectively a single food safety agency could protect our food supply. … By focusing on the entire food supply chain, placing primary responsibility for food safety on producers, and ensuring that food imports meet equivalent safety standards. …”

The U.S. system already does that. And the report says nothing about how a single food inspection agency could better accomplish such tasks.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest says,

“The GAO report also shows that creating a unified food safety program is technologically and economically feasible, and most important, effective in helping to reduce foodborne illness.”

There were no measures of effectiveness for any of the single food inspection agencies, other than whether public opinion or confidence in the shiny, happy new agencies increased over time based on self-reported surveys. A few advertisements could have accomplished that.

There was certainly no mention of any agency reducing the incidence of foodborne illness. The seven countries studied – Canada, UK, New Zealand, Ireland, Denmark, Germany and The Netherlands – said they reorganized their food inspection agencies to improve effectiveness and efficiency; not one said to improve public health and have fewer sick people.

The GAO report -- Selected Countries’ Systems Can Offer Insights into Ensuring Import Safety and Responding to Foodborne Illness – did say:

“The burden for food safety in most of the selected countries lies primarily with food producers, rather than with inspectors, although inspectors play an active role in overseeing compliance. This principle applies to both domestic and imported products.”

That’s good.

“None of the selected countries had comprehensively evaluated its reorganized food safety system … Most of the selected countries use proxy measures, such as public opinion surveys, to assess their effectiveness. Public opinion in several countries has improved in recent years.”

That’s bad.

In Canada, “At the consumer end of the spectrum, the food safety agency educates Canadians about safe food-handling practices and various food safety risks through its Web site, food safety fact sheets, and the Canadian Partnership for Consumer Food Safety Education, a group of industry, consumer, and government organizations that jointly develop and implement a national program to educate consumers on how to safely handle food.”

That’s awful.

To summarize: no rankings, no measures of effectiveness, and not much fact-checking.

Should there be a single food inspection agency in the U.S.? Maybe. But will it enhance the safety of the food supply? Will it mean fewer sick people?

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Amy watched all of hockey’s Stanley Cup finals this year. After 6 years at the University of Michigan she became something of a Detroit Red Wings fan. We had the games on in background for most of our Quebec trip earlier this year – although fell asleep before the start of the third overtime in game 5.


The Stanley Cup is awarded to the victor of each National Hockey League season, and is the only trophy in professional sports that has the name of the winning players, coaches, management, and club staff engraved on it. Red Wings forward Kris Draper has now added to the tales surrounding the travels of Lord Stanley’s Cup.

His daughter pooped in the Stanley Cup.

While visiting his native Toronto last month, Draper’s diaperless baby, Kamryn, did a number (2) in the Cup.

"A week after we won it, I had my newborn daughter in there, and she pooped in the Cup. That was something. We had a pretty good laugh. I still drank out of it that night, so no worries."

Don’t drink poop.

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Experts investigating the contamination of Northampton's water supply with cryptosporidium have discovered the root of the problem - a small rabbit that found its way into a tank.

Just a harmless little bunny rabbit, like in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (right).

A spokesman for Anglian Water said,

"Following extensive investigations, we can now confirm that the source of the cryptosporidium in the water has been linked to a small rabbit, which gained access to the treatment process via a remote ancillary tank shortly before cryptosporidia were detected. More scientific work will be undertaken to understand the unusual type of cryptosporidium found in this case."

Homewoners could be set for a cash rebate of up to £30 to compensate for the loss of water, with residents forced to endure days of having to boil water for drinking and cooking.

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"Dear Valued Customers,

As you already know, the Health Department closed our store after finding that we did not fully comply with a few concerns they had, including evidence of mice."

The Chicago Tribune reports that a Whole Foods on North Avenue, in one of Chicago's wealthiest neighborhoods, was found with mouse feces in the back room and a dead mouse in a glue trap.

Some expressed themselves on the Tribune's Web site:

•"This is what happens when grocery stores are run by hippies who don't believe in pesticide."

•"Why can't mice have an organic experience too? I am shocked that an attorney has not filed a class suit because Whole Foods did not provide adequate bathroom facilities for the mice."

•"Sadly, if Whole Foods packaged [the droppings] nicely as a topping for toast points and charged $10.99 per ounce, the lemming snobs would probably buy it."

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Wellington, New Zealand, may be home to Peter Jackson and the Ring things, may be where Bret and Jemaine from Flight of the Conchords met at school and were “formerly New Zealand's fourth most popular guitar-based digi-bongo acapella-rap-funk-comedy folk duo,” but I prefer to think of Wellington as home to the New Zealand Food Safety Authority.

So after a week of work in Wellington, it was time for leisurely lunches, lamb and All Blacks rugby.




Phillippa and her husband (left) graciously picked up Amy and I and took us out of the city to do what I love to do wherever I go – grocery shopping – followed by a fabulous lunch at their home in Porirua.




Saturday evening, NZFSA chief executive Andrew McKenzie (right) and his wife shared their home and their spectacular view of Wellington for dinner and an evening of All Blacks rugby against South Africa.

Sunday, after we checked out of the hotel, we decided to grab a bite at 3C, a restaurant we had visited with the NZFSA gang earlier in the week. The meal was slow in arriving, but we didn’t really care as we summed up our week in Wellington. Doug the manager cared, and said lunch was on him. Doug even knew the difference between a University of Kansas Jayhawk and a Kansas State Wildcat due to years spent in the U.S.

So here’s to all things Wellington, and here’s Flight of the Conchords, celebrating all things French and food, with their hit single that Amy actually uses in her French classes, Foux Da Fa Fa.

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An old friend from Kitchener, Ontario, e-mailed me with the news:

"How cool are you? Saw you quoted in article about tomatoes in this week’s People magazine."

I’m not as cool as the CDC’s Bob Tauxe, and cool may not be the word when talking about food safety nerds. But it was fun talking to the reporter, who thought the celebrity barf section of barfblog was particularly apt.

There’s been lots of media as the Salmonella saga continues to unwind: 1090 sick in 42 states and Canada. As part of enhanced testing at the U.S.-Mexican border, FDA found a different Salmonella in a shipment of basil. More poop in produce.

Sysco has stopped distributing fresh jalapeño peppers, food fear fatigue is settling in, farmers are losing money, government agencies are losing credibility, and, as I keep reminding journalists who want to blame someone, there are a lot of sick people out there.

"If they (FDA) go too slow, they're criticized. If they go too fast, they're criticized," says Douglas Powell, scientific director of the International Food Safety Network at Kansas State University. "The investigation is still ongoing. The time for finger-pointing isn't there yet."

Jeffrey Weiss of The Dallas Morning News was one of my favorite interviews.

As Dr. Douglas Powell, scientific director of the International Food Safety Network, puts it: "Follow the poop. … A lot of eating fresh vegetables," Dr. Powell said, "is an act of faith."

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Cryptosporidium and norovirus continue to be problems in public swimming pools, but many other kinds of illnesses can also be contracted from contaminated pool water. Including giardia, E. coli, and Shigella; collectively, all these diseases are known as recreational water illnesses (RWIs).  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines RWIs as illnesses that are spread by swallowing, breathing, or having contact with contaminated water from swimming pools, spas, lakes, rivers, or oceans.  The main culprit for RWIs is poop in the pool.

Poop needs to be removed as soon as it’s spotted in the pool.  If it’s formed stool, swimmers should exit the pool and the poop must be fished out of the pool without breaking it apart.  Breaking the stool apart will release any harmful bacteria within it.  Bacteria can still leech out of formed stool, but the sooner it’s removed the less likely that bacteria will escape.  The pool must be properly treated before any swimmers can be allowed back into the pool.  The CDC recommends raising the chlorine content of the water to 2.0 ppm (parts per million) for 30 minutes.

Diarrhea is a much more severe problem.  Diarrheal accidents are much more likely than formed stool to contain germs.  In this case, swimmers must exit the pool while the pool is treated.  As much as possible of the fecal matter should be removed using a net or scoop.  The chlorine will need to be raised to 20 ppm for 13 hours or 10 ppm for 26 hours.  In most cases of diarrhea, the pool must be closed for an extended period of time.

Of course poop in the pool is a problem in private pools as well as commercial pools.  Parents soon forget that their kiddie pool in the backyard must be treated in a similar manner when there is poop in the pool.  In the case of small pools in the backyards, most do not have filters, so the entire pool must be emptied and scrubbed out with a strong bleach detergent.

Poop in the pool is a major health hazard.  Luckily there are proven ways for pool managers to combat RWIs.  Preventative measures include asking people suffering from diarrhea or infants with diapers to refrain from using the pool.  Have a safe summer and help keep poop out of the pool.

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The U.S. Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak was discussed on one of my least favorite (but often watched) shows, The View, today.  I do enjoy (note sarcasm here) a discussion of hot topics on the show, and sandwiched between Joy's kidnapped blackberry and the Christie Brinkley divorce settlement was a discussion about Elisabeth's fear of tomatoes.  She shared with the audience that she hasn't eaten tomatoes since the start of the outbreak. 

Elisabeth (you may remember her from Survivor: Australia Outback) was quoted as saying "I haven't had a tomato, and I love them, I miss them, but now apparently they are trying to pass the blame onto cilantro."

She went on to say that she thinks that is unfair, and that "the tomato should step up and take responsibility for what they are doing."

Elisabeth, what about the jalapeno?

Check out The View's video page, click on Hot Topics 7/10: Tomatoes.

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Many pet owners are unwilling to let go of their elderly pets, even once the pet has passed away.  Now they don’t have to.

BioArts International is behind a project called Best Friends Again where they’ve developed a commercial method to clone dogs.  They’ve launched a “Golden Clone Giveaway,” in which owners send in a 500-word essay about why their dog would be the best dog to be cloned.  The winner will be chosen June 30th, and their pet will be cloned for free.

I work at a local vet clinic in Wichita, Kansas, and most clients I talk with say they would be delighted to have the chance to clone their beloved dog.  Not me. Cloned pets can come with a ton of medical problems, and there’s a pretty good chance that they won’t have the same personality at the original dog.  There’s no guarantee that cloned Fluffy will be as good as original Fluffy, and may leave an even larger hole in the owner’s heart.  I can’t imagine going through the heartbreak of cloning my dog, Joey.  Yes, I said heartbreak.

Joey is a six-year-old West Highland white terrier.  This breed is well known for being prone to allergies, however Joey is completely without.  He is incredibly healthy and happy; I really couldn’t ask for a better dog.  But once he passes away, I plan to act like a normal person and cope with my grief.  Coping will not include sending a DNA sample to Best Friends Again in California.  Most likely, I would be sent a rambunctious little devil that bears no similarities to Joey, other than physical appearance.  This terror dog will quickly ruin any memories of Joey that I had.

I can’t imagine a more perfect dog to be cloned than Joey, but I’ll save my money and tears and instead adopt one of the many thousands of dogs at animals shelters all across the nation.

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Elizabeth Weise of USA Today has just reported that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said this afternoon that fresh, raw jalapeño peppers have been linked to the salmonella saintpaul outbreak and the young, the old and those with impaired immune systems should avoid eating them.

Robert Tauxe, CDC's deputy director of the CDC's division of food borne diseases said,

"persons who want to reduce their risk of salmonella infection should take similar precautions.”

The number of ill people crossed the 1,000 mark today as well, with 1,017 confirmed cases, of which 203 were hospitalized, Tauxe says, making it the worst outbreak in years.

The CDC is also still advising the public to avoid the tomato types grown in regions not yet cleared by FDA, because the initial research showed a clear link between tomatoes and illness. However that includes only a very small number of tomato growing states at this point.

But a second investigation found a strong link between the consumption of fresh peppers.

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A two-year-old girl from Stockholm has died after becoming infected with the EHEC bacteria.

The girl fell ill during a visit to Mora in central Sweden last Sunday. She died a few days later. The source of the infection is not yet known.

Enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) is an intestinal bacterium primarily found in the saliva and bodily waste of cattle, sheep and goats but infections can also be transmitted from person to person and via food.

The Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control (Smittskyddsinstitutet) said it had received around 100 reports of EHEC infections so far this year, which it said was a normal figure. Infections are most common during the summer.

The last time a person died in Sweden after being infected with the bacteria was in 2005. That too was an isolated case that did not result in an epidemic, said Smittskyddsinstitutet in a statement.

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Hot dogs, hamburgers, fries, pretzels with cheese, popcorn, and peanuts are all a part of the classic ballpark menu.  But as the baseball industry grows, new additions to the menu include peppery clam chowder served in a bread bowl dotted through with tender bits of clam; a fried catfish sandwich in a crisp, Cajun-accented crust; and a homey bowl of jerk chicken over rice, with a healthy dash of jalapeño hot sauce.  Peter Meehan recently completed a trek across the country to 10 American cities, visiting 12 major league ballparks to sample the cuisine that was offered.

Even the hot dogs have evolved. How about a -->

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A correspondent in France has provided a July 2, 2008, document published by the French Ministry of Agriculture regarding meat food safety.

From cooking ”a hamburger to the center” (page 21) to “well-cooked” (page 12), the document is short on specifics, and absolutely wrong when speaking to an audience I particularly care about these days – pregnant women.

“For sensitive consumers (pregnant women, children, the elderly…) eat any meat (beef, poultry, pork) “well done” (that is to say at 65°C = disappearance of pink color), and avoid the consumption of raw meat, of some cold cuts (charcuterie) or tripe product.” (p. 15)

The temperature – 65 C or 149 F – is too low for any ground meat or poultry, and simply does not equal the disappearance of pink.

Color is a lousy indicator of doneness. So is well-cooked, cooked to the center, and, as the Brits prefer, piping hot. Use a tip-sensitive digital thermometer. And stick it in.

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CDC is collaborating with public health officials in many states, the Indian Health Service, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate an ongoing multi-state outbreak of human Salmonella serotype Saintpaul infections. An initial epidemiologic investigation comparing foods eaten by ill and well persons identified consumption of raw tomatoes as strongly linked to illness.

Recently, many clusters of illnesses have been identified in several states among persons who ate at restaurants. These clusters led us to broaden the investigation to be sure that it encompasses food items that are commonly consumed with tomatoes. Fresh tomatoes, fresh hot chili peppers such as jalapeños, and fresh cilantro are the lead hypotheses. However, at this point in the investigation, we can neither directly implicate one of these ingredients as the single source, nor discard any as a possible source. ...

Among the 693 persons with information available, illnesses began between April 10 and June 26, 2008, including 258 who became ill on June 1 or later. Many steps must occur between a person becoming ill and the determination that the illness was caused by the outbreak strain of Salmonella; these steps take an average of 2-3 weeks. Therefore, an illness reported today may have begun 2-3 weeks ago. Patients range in age from <1 to 99 years; 48% are female.

The rate of illness is highest among persons 20 to 29 years old; the rate of illness is lowest in children 10 to 19 years old and in persons 80 or more years old. At least 189 persons were hospitalized. One death in a man in Texas in his eighties has been associated with this outbreak. In addition, a man in his sixties who died in Texas from cancer had an infection with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Saintpaul at the time of his death; the infection may have contributed to his death.

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Pooping is a natural phenomenon, but what happens when you have to go at work?  I was quite surprised that many people on the Internet seem to have strong options about this issue.  For example, a humorous email forward has been circulating around the Internet for a few years concerning how to poop at work.  There are also quite a few YouTube opinions about the issue.

No matter what method or etiquette is used, it simply must be done during the workday.  That leaves many wondering, how much time and money is spent doing your business in the bathroom?  Workpoop.com is a website that offers a handy calculator to help calculate a person’s annual earnings from pooping at work.

But not everyone is on board with being paid to poop.  Recently, Brown Brothers, a meat company based in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, has received quite a bit of bad press about their new bathroom policy.  The meat company supplying Tesco has been accused of "Dickensian employment practices" by making workers clock off when they go the toilet.

The Unite union is now calling on Tesco to intervene to stamp out the practice at Brown Brothers.  The company insists anyone wanting to be excused from the system has to provide medical evidence, the union added.

BBC reports the policy was part of a special pay deal agreed with workers and unions to ensure production ran smoothly. Staff received extra money as part of the pay deal which was aimed at focusing toilet breaks at set times of the day.

But employees are less than thrilled.  “We have to clock out, take off our wellies, overalls and hairnets, we have to run up stairs, have to come back in get dressed again,” one employee told the BBC.

One organization seems to be doing the exact opposite; they’ll pay people to poop.  The Environmental Studies Program at Oberlin College held an event last fall entitled the “Low on Cash, High in Fiber Bash.”  Participants earned 25 cents for every time they “donated” to the cause.

Paid to poop or otherwise, wash your hands.

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“Do you normally part your hair to the left?”

“I don’t part my hair.”

“Then get your wife to fix it.”

That’s essentially how the interview I did with CNN last Thursday went. I said lots of insightful things about fresh produce and marketing food safety and consumers, all of which the TV folks chose not to use. (the video is available at: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2008/07/02/ldt.schiavone.failing.fda.cnn).

No worries. I’ll write it up. My stylist and partner said I did good. So she’s taking me to Australia.

After two years of me trying to take Amy to Australia, she takes me. We’re already on various planes, arriving in Wellington, New Zealand for a week beginning July 7. Then it’s of to Melbourne, Australia for a travel writing conference.

So news will be slow and random yet unrelenting as always.

Today, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control upped the number of Salmonella sickies to 943 with at least 130 hospitalizations since mid-April. And the Wall Street Journal cited Glen Nowak, a CDC spokesperson, as saying tomatoes no longer are the leading suspect, though,

"Tomatoes are one of the primary things we are looking at."

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Jonathan D. Rockoff of The Baltimore Sun reports today that,

Investigators are seeing more signs that the salmonella outbreak blamed on tomatoes might have been caused by tainted jalapeno peppers and have begun collecting samples from restaurants and from the homes of those who have been sickened, according to health officials involved in the probe.

New interviews with those who became infected found that many had eaten jalapeno peppers, often in salsa served with Mexican food, according to two state health officials. So far, none of the jalapenos taken from restaurants and from the homes of those who became ill have tested positive for Salmonella saintpaul. …

The outbreak, which began 12 weeks ago, is believed to be the largest of its kind, and new cases continue to emerge. It has sickened more than 920 people across the country, up from 756 one week ago, and sent more than 110 to the hospital. …

One health official involved in the investigation said "loose ends" are keeping tomatoes under suspicion, but the official said they could be accounted for easily. The official said evidence is "piling up" that indicates that jalapenos are to blame.

"There's certainly no shred of doubt in my mind," the official said.

Another health official was more cautious, saying that the evidence is pointing to peppers but that there is not yet enough information to rule out tomatoes.

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After telling Misti Crane of The Columbus Dispatch that I feel naked without a thermometer – when cooking – she came back for more, and asked if I would ever take a thermometer to, say, a Fourth of July BBQ at someone else’s place.

Here's what Doug Powell does: He whips out the thermometer he's recently taken to carrying with him.

You might wonder how the food-safety expert finesses such a potentially awkward social situation.

"I go into it very academic, professor-ish like," he said.

"I try not to be a jerk."

… But nobody will eat a burger off his grill that hasn't been stabbed in the side with a tip-sensitive digital thermometer and is cooked to a minimum of 160 degrees.

I’ve taken thermometers while tailgating at Kansas State football games, I’ve stuck them in potpies, and I’ve converted at least one French professor into using a thermometer. I know it’s awkward to ask questions, or listen politely while someone gases on about how safe their food is cause it comes from some dude with a RR address, but really, I try not to be a jerk.

Below are two videos, one tailgating, and one on how to cook hamburgers.

Now, can someone explain the American fascination with fireworks and the desire for students – especially males – to  ignite the noisemakers every night, beginning July 1. What are they compensating for?

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While Nebraska Beef was busy telling church ladies they didn’t know how to safely prepare food, and telling Americans, including 50 really sick ones, that their meat had never been linked with illness, the U.S. Department of Agriculture was busy telling Nebraska Beef they didn’t know shit.

Or at least how to reduce it in Nebraska Beef products.

USDA just announced that Nebraska Beef, Ltd., an Omaha, Neb., establishment is expanding its June 30 recall to include all beef manufacturing trimmings and other products intended for use in raw ground beef produced between May 16 and June 26, totaling approximately 5.3 million pounds, that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.

“FSIS has concluded that the production practices employed by Nebraska Beef, Ltd. are insufficient to effectively control E. coli O157:H7 in their beef products that are intended for grinding. The products subject to recall may have been produced under insanitary conditions.”

That’s insane. Or unsane. And why thermometers and cleanliness are a must at retail, food service and the home, cause companies like Nebraska Beef would rather blame consumers than take care of their own shop.

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Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., famous for telling consumers what isn’t in its foods – antibiotics, hormones – and has had a couple of recent unpleasantries associated with their food – norovirus and hepatitis A – announced it will start buying locally raised produce for its restaurants this summer.

Under the plan, 25 percent of at least one of its produce items, including romaine lettuce, green bell and jalapeño peppers and red onions, for each of its 730-plus restaurants, will be sourced from small and mid-sized local farms.

I’m all for local food, as long as someone is checking to ensure the microbiological safety of fresh produce. Local does not automatically mean safe.

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