Amy and I don’t really disagree about much. But we can each get moody and self-absorbed and go after each other. Especially at the end of 20-hour drives. That’s about how long it takes to go from Manhattan (Kansas) to Guelph (Ontario) and at the end of one epic journey back from Guelph two years ago, tired and driving through Kansas City with a trailer full of my crap that I just had to have in Kansas, Amy decided to entertain herself by asking me, who are you to publish an opinion, or something like that.

I’ve always thought that academic-types had a responsibility to share their knowledge in a compelling manner with the public, rather than just complain about people’s opinions of things scientific and otherwise. But really, who the hell am I? Why should anyone listen? Or care?

I questioned myself for a couple of months and didn’t do much public stuf. Then I got over it. But I still question myself and try to do my homework.

I’m not so sure about Dr. Dave in the video below.

This is from some mommy television show in Canada that Ben sent me. It’s called, The Mom Show. In the clip below, Dr. Dave, appears to have no clue about botulism in babies less than a year old.

Clostridium botulinum can cause sickness in very young children, and infants under the age of 1 years old are most at risk. Honey may contain Clostridium botulinum spores that can grow in the digestive tract of children less than one-year-old because their digestive system is less acidic. The bacteria produces toxin in the body and can cause severe illness. Even pasteurized honey can contain botulism spores and should be not be given to children under the age of 12 months.

The advice is clear: do not give any honey to children less than one-year-old.

But maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about.

 

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In possibly the worst – or most incongruent – press release ever written, the Canadian Partnership for Consumer Food Safety Education, the group with the excessively explanatory name, says they have "issued some simple guidelines to reduce the risk of microbial foodborne illnesses. This is of special interest to Canadians in light of recent coverage of listeriosis.”

So for all the money this group gets from government and industry, they can’t be bothered to say, hey, if you’re pregnant or immunocomprimised, you shouldn’t eat this stuff.

Instead,  just more messages funded by taxpayers telling them to feel good about the food they buy.

This is the same group that wanted to use a Mrs. Doubtfire-inspired food safety spokesthingy to reach out to university students, until the trans-generders in Canada got word and forced the campaign to disappear.

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I did a phone-in interview with Sun TV (Toronto) yesterday which focused on what we can learn from the outbreak and what consumers could do to protect themselves.  Irradiation seems to be coming up a lot in coverage and interviews that we are doing, likely fueled by the FDA's announcement to allow the irradiation of certain ready-to-eat leafy greens and Health Canada's Jeff Farber saying that the government is considering approving the irradiation of meats early next year.  Irradiation has been approved for certain specific single-ingredient meats (like ground beef) in the U.S. since 1997, with the USDA approving it's commercial use in 1999 though it's use in deli meats is not currently approved. Last night I said that irradiation is a tool that can be used to reduce risk and impact public health, but by no means is a magic bullet in pathogen control.

The best part of the interview wasn't the content (YouTube vid below) but was my huge head appearing over Janette Luu's shoulder as if I was going to eat her (right, exactly as shown).  Janette, probably sensing some impending doom appears to be leaning away from my picture as well. 

Below is the original pic where the headshot came from.  I think it is less creepy.

 

 

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U.S. college football kicks off Saturday. Time to put on your favorite school’s colors and brush up on that fight song. Thousands of students and alumni will be heading out to the stadium, tailgating, and firing up those grills. Hamburgers, chicken, ribs, or beans, there will be plenty of food on hand.

Use a food thermometer to make sure you aren’t serving your friends and family undercooked meats. Make sure to cook ground beef to 160°F(1), while chicken needs to reach 165°F(2). That way when your team takes the field, you aren’t puking or stuck on the toilet. And using a thermometer will make you a better cook. People are impressed by this. Good food safety will allow you to fully enjoy the tailgating atmosphere, so you can cheer your school onto victory.

It’s all on video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmyMmjfFo5Y

References

1: Ryan, Suzanne M., Mark Seyfert, Melvin C. Hunt, Richard A. Mancini. Influence of Cooking Rate, Endpoint Temperature, Post-cook Hold Time, and Myoglobin Redox State on Internal Color Development of Cooked Ground Beef Patties. Journal of Food Science. Volume 71 Issue 3 Page C216-C221, April 2006
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2621.2006.tb15620.x?prevSearch=authorsfield%3A%28M.C.+Hunt%29

2: Focus On: Chicken. Food Safety and Inspection Service. United States Department of Agriculture. April 4, 2006. http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/chicken_food_safety_focus/index.asp
 

 

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Maple Leaf president Michael McCain told the media today that,

“I once again wish to express my deepest personal sympathies to those Canadians who have been affected by this tragedy. While this is the most unfortunate of events possible, I absolutely do not believe that this is a failure of the Canadian food safety system or the regulators.

“Certainly knowing that there is a desire to assign blame, I want to reiterate that the buck stops right here.

“As I've said before, Maple Leaf Foods is 23,000 people who live in a culture of food safety. We have an unwavering commitment to keep our food safe, and we have excellent systems and processes in place. But this week it's our best efforts that failed, not the regulators or the Canadian food safety system.”

Good for McCain. He runs a company with world-class aspirations, so he’s not weaseling away from the spotlight.

And he unshackled the company of any political or bureaucratic commentary – which has been fairly hopeless all along.

But if McCain is going to step up, he’s also going to get some questions,

McCain says, “a comprehensive study done at the University of Regina gave Canada one of five superior ratings out of 17 top-tier OECD countries in a world review of food safety. This highlights that Listeria is a particularly challenging bacteria for the entire food industry to manage, including the United States and Europe, simply because it is pervasive."

That study was fairly challenged and has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal. Don’t cite shit.

And you didn’t address any of the tough issues.

Will you release the results of the 3,000 listeria swabs your company takes every year to provide some data, some meaning, to your claims that public health is your top priority?

 Will you back some kind of point-of-sale initiative – warning labels or otherwise – to explicitly warn pregnant women and immunocomprimized Canadians that, as you say, listeria is so widespread in the environment, that vulnerable people should not eat your products.

Michael McCain, you’ve taken some great first steps and gone way beyond what government has done. The sooner you lose them the better; they’re deadweight and not very good hockey players. They don’t lose their jobs, and they don’t lose sleep about falling stock prices. 

Me, Ben, Amy and the rest of our team are here to help you actually implement that culture of food safety you and your folks are so fond of citing. We’ve noticed you liked the pictures of recalled products idea. We’re not just armchair quarterbacks, and we’re just an e-mail away.
 

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My friend Marty will think this is hilarious, but I’m a bit of a fancier of words.

Really.

Except I have a habit of using an apt sounding word that means something totally different from what I was trying to convey. Marty has been making fun of that quirk for 25 years, going back to our university newspaper days. Fortunately, the computer dictionary has helped.

So has Amy. She’s really sharpened my word usage and helped me become a better writer. One of Amy’s greatest pleasures is identifying when people mix up it’s and its.

So when a wire story came out this morning with the lede,

“As Canada grapples with a deadly outbreak of listeriosis, a leading food safety expert says the federal government has not done enough to educate pregnant women and seniors about the potential dangers of eating deli meats.???”

I went a bit nuts.

I would never say that anyone needs to be educated. It’s arrogant. Sure, I’m perceived as arrogant about lots of things, but on this I’m clear: provide information, preferably in a compelling manner, and individuals will decide whether they want to be educated or not. I’m writing a paper about this. I’ve brought students to tears for using the educate people line.

???"Maybe we need warning labels (on the food), because the message isn't getting out there," said Powell, an associate professor of food safety at Kansas State University.???"

The Health Canada response was typically bureaucratic.

"There are a number of food safety tips and fact sheets and a lot of consumer education on this," said Paul Duchesne of Health Canada.

Show me the data. Show anyone the evaluation you’ve done with your big budgets to ensure Canadians at risk are aware. Demonstrate the effectiveness of your fact sheets and consumer education which are best used as a sleep aid.

Even the U.S. Centers for Disease Control has publicly admitted, new strategies are required to reach people about food safety issues. As I said earlier this year,

"The CDC data show existing efforts to reduce fodborne illness have stalled. We need new messages using new media to really create a culture that values microbiologically safe food."

It’s not like this stuff is hard. We wrote a paper on it last year.

Powell, D.A., Surgeoner, B.V., Wilson, S.M. and Chapman, B.J. 2007. The media and the message: Risk analysis and compelling food safety information from farm-to-fork. Aust. J. Dairy Tech. 62(2), 55-59.

Abstract
The potential for stigmatization of food is enormous. Well-publicized outbreaks of foodborne illness through traditional and new media demonstrate the rapid and dependent interactions between science, policy and public perception. Current risk management research indicates that it is essential for risk managers from farm-to-fork to demonstrate they are reducing, mitigating or minimizing a particular foodborne risk. Those responsible must be able to effectively communicate their risk reduction efforts in multiple media and to provide evidence that these efforts are actually reducing levels of risk.

Guess the folks at CFIA didn't get that paper. A well-meaning staffer at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency sent me an e-mail the other day, stating,

“The Media Monitoring Team here at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has been asked by our Director to start monitoring reputable food safety related blogs.
 
“I was wondering if you would happen to have a prepared list of any of these sites, and, if so, if you would be willing to share these with us?”
 
Sure. Always ready to help the government when asked. I told him barfblog.com and marlerblog.com. The other posers just run headlines.

But maybe I’m just a crazy Kansas-type. Jennie Garth, who is reprising her role as Kelly Taylor on a new 90210, enlightened the world as to why the new "90210" is likely to resonate with young viewers.

"It's going to reflect teenagers as they are. It's not going to sugarcoat it. You know teenagers are teenagers no matter if they live in Beverly Hills or if they live in crazy Kansas somewhere. All the kids are the same. They're going through the same elemental issues and problems."
 

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Michael McCain, president and CEO of Maple Leaf Foods, when it comes to the communication and building trust aspects of what must be your listeria nightmare, stay away from government.

Shortly after the first death was announced last Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008, various politicians and bureaucrats said the surveillance system was working. Robert Clarke, the assistant deputy minister of the Public Health Agency of Canada, said Friday that the government's actions in this case were quite rapid and an illustration of success.

I’ve been harping ever since that it’s impossible to tell from the various public statements who became sick when, and whether the system really worked or not. If you’re going to brag about how the system is working, you have to provide dates for onset of illness and deaths.

Today I got some company.

Toronto’s Globe and Mail wrote in an editorial that officials claiming surveillance success, “doth self-praise too much, too soon.

“Did the surveillance system work? No independent voice has said so yet, and it is hard to see why Mr. Clement's or Mr. Clarke's word should be taken at face value. The two-year-old Public Health Agency, which reports to Mr. Clement, has yet to distinguish itself for independence. And everyone - government health officials and the company involved, Maple Leaf Foods Inc. - considered it enough that the first warning of possible contamination went out to distributors, not the public. For four days, the loop was closed. Whether that was the right or the wrong approach, it does not do much for the public's confidence in Canada's food-safety system.”

Columnist Tom Brodbeck of the Winnipeg Sun wrote that,

“Federal Health Minister Tony Clement says the recent tainted meat outbreak that killed six people and caused at least 14 more serious illnesses is a shining example of how well Canada's food inspection system works.

Pardon? …

“If this is what Clement calls a success story, I'd hate to see what he considers a system failure. … I don't think six deaths and 14 serious illnesses is anything to be proud of.”

These comments about success are even more bizarre and appalling now that the confirmed and probable death toll has been raised to 15.

So this afternoon, Dr. David Butler-Jones, MD, Chief Public Health Officer (that’s a lot of capitals), who had previously lauded the success of the surveillance system,  wrote in a press release that,

“As Canada's Chief Public Health Officer, I want to update Canadians on the state of the ongoing listeriosis outbreak.”

He really seems to enjoy that title; and he then proceeded to provide less than no information.

“We are all understandably concerned whenever we hear that something as precious as the food we eat may pose a danger. Years of effort to ensure safe and secure food supplies have allowed us to be confident in what we eat. …

“While not everything is preventable, fortunately there are some simple steps that can be taken to reduce the risk of illness for ourselves and our families. There are the usual things we should always be doing, like washing hands, storing and cooking food properly, washing fruits and vegetables well, and avoiding unpasteurized milk and milk products. …

“Canadians should be confident that the Government of Canada, through the
Public Health Agency of Canada, Health Canada and the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency, is working closely with all provinces, territories, and with Maple Leaf Foods to respond to this outbreak and protect the public's health.

“We can never be completely immune to the risk of contaminations and outbreaks, even with the best food safety system in the world. That is why we operate surveillance and other systems to identify potential outbreaks and do the detective work that helps us to find the cause and stop further problems. And what we learn from each experience helps us to improve the system further.”

As Napoleon Dynamite sorta  said, “That’s like, the worst thing I’ve ever seen.”

Why should Canadians have any confidence when the public servants at all these agencies with their six-figure salaries can’t provide basic information like who got sick when? How arrogant is it to tell someone they should be confident in an alphabet soup of agencies, in the absence of any data or statements that inspire confidence?

Ben sent me a sports headline regarding the Olympics, which also fits for food safety: Canada remains happily mediocre.

That’s me and Ben, above right, not exactly as pictured.

And here's me with a clean shirt talking to CBC News.

 

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The Tulsa World reports that Chad Ingle married the love of his life June 21.

He died just nine weeks later, on Sunday, of what is suspected to be E. coli poisoning. He was 26.

His sister, Laura Claypool, said Ingle ate a meal Sunday Aug. 17 at the Country Cottage in Locust Grove, a popular family-owned buffet-style restaurant.

Ingle fell ill Wednesday night with severe stomach pain and diarrhea and went to Integris Mayes County Medical Center. On Thursday, he began to pass blood.

An ambulance took him to St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa on Friday. He underwent a colonoscopy, and doctors concluded that he had acute colitis, Claypool said.

Ingle felt better Friday evening and urged his parents to return home. But his condition grew worse, and his mother-in-law called Ingle's parents Saturday morning to return to St. Francis.

"By the time Mom and Dad got there, they had called a code blue," Claypool said. Ingle was placed on kidney dialysis, but he died Sunday, she said.

The Oklahoma State Department of Health said it is investigating an outbreak of severe diarrheal illness among residents of several northeastern Oklahoma communities. At least 17 cases have been hospitalized and 40 or more potential cases are under investigation. One person has died.
 

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The coverage of this outbreak isn't really going away as more details came out yesterday.

Earlier in the day, Maple Leaf spokesperson Linda Smith was cited as saying that inspectors failed to detect listeria in this case, but they are constantly swabbing for the bacterium. "Did we find it? Absolutely not. We did not find that listeria," she said. "Did we let people down? Yes. But we were doing the right things."

On CBC's National tonight (clip below), Smith was quoted as saying "We would occasionally find a listeria positive swab, at which case we sanitize that complete area and swab again."

So which is it?

In legal news, and the lead story on Canada AM this morning, is that class action lawsuits in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan have been launched according to Tony Merchant, of the Merchant Law Group LLP, who says residents in each of the provinces have contacted his firm about representation.

As I wrote this post, I saw Michael McCain's Maple Leaf apology on TV three times.

 

 

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Relying on the government is a really bad strategy to rebuild confidence in a consumer brand. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Health Canada and any number of other agencies – 50 per cent of government press release content contains praise for other agencies  -- have provided scant data during the listeria outbreak in Canada. A technical briefing last night was little more than another opportunity for government types to praise … themselves.

When was the first onset of illness? When were the various deaths recorded, and when were they identified as cases of listeriosis? How many pregnant women have been stricken and have there been any miscarriages or stillbirths?

Yesterday, Michael H. McCain, president & CEO of listeria-embattled Maple Leaf said in a press release,

"If there is any question in the consumers' mind about any product from that plant, then the onus is on us, and the CFIA, to act decisively and swiftly to restore consumer confidence. Our actions are guided by putting public health first."

I’d keep CFIA out of it. They test the plants for listeria a few times a year. As Maple Leaf Foods spokesperson Linda Smith told CTV Newsnet Friday, officials at the plant are,

"… constantly looking for it (listeria), constantly swabbing and looking for it."

Smith said the equipment at the plant is sanitized every day and officials take about 3,000 swabs per year. The plant also has a microbiologist on site, she said.

"This plant has an excellent food safety record, excellent inspection record, excellent external auditors. We'll never know exactly how it got here."

But you do have 3,000 samples per year. If Maple Leaf really wants to restore public confidence, release the listeria data. How many positives does the Toronto plant see in a year? Were there positives leading up to the initial Aug. 17, 2008 recall? If there were no positives, why not? What is the protocol when a positive is discovered?

Consumers can handle more, not less information about the food they eat.

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Maple Leaf's CEO Michael McCain says his company has a culture of food safety.  I've written about the food safety culture concept and believe that a big part of it is being ready for outbreaks and recalls.  They happen.  A lot.

I'm not sure what Mr. McCain and his team has done in preparation for this outbreak, but in March  I wrote about Quaker Oats handling of a recall due to Salmonella in some of their Aunt Jemima products:

"Quaker Oats has great information on their website already [less than 4 hours after the recall], with a nice graphic on how to handle the recall.... Especially love that people can sign-up for ongoing info -- good preparation on Quaker Oats' part."

It looked like they were ready for a problem, and already had the resources in place to get information out to their customers.

The thing I liked the most about Quaker Oats' Aunt Jemima situation was that they had pictures of the recalled product. A company with a culture of food safety is ready for a recall, has a website with pictures and consumer-friendly information ready to go in anticipation, like Quaker Oats did.

Maple Leaf has a big list of recalled products (220, check it out here) but they don't have any pictures of them. It's not a superficial request to have some nice pictures to show folks what this stuff looks like, and where you can find the sometimes elusive codes/dates/establishment code.  It's just good communication.  The FDA realized this, and last year started including pictures on their recall notices for products that they have deemed to be high health risks (after the Castleberry's chili sauce recall). 

Sometimes I buy lunch meat.  Sometimes I even get the prepackaged stuff.  I don't always know what brand it is, and I don't know all the intricacies of the food system and get mixed up as to which parent company makes Shopsy's.  The list system is confusing.

The Globe and Mail is reporting tonight that:
Maple Leaf is working with distributors to track down all 220 products from the Toronto site, which Mr. McCain told reporters could be anywhere in Canada. That could take as long as three to five days, he said during a news conference at the firm's Toronto head office.

At about 7:50pm this evening I thought I'd take a look at whether I could find any of these recalled products at the grocery store and get some pictures to demonstrate where the codes can be found.

I found some.

About 2 minutes after entering Ultra Food and Drug in Guelph, I was able to find the recalled Maple Leaf's EZee Sub Dagwood products, with the establishment code (denoted, I assume, by the "EST. 97B" still on the shelves.  That's the bad news.

The good news is that I can use a real example of what one of the recalled products looks like and where the establishment code is.  Something that Maple Leaf hasn't done.

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My friend and OK hockey player Scott Weese seems to be having fun with his Worms and Germs blog. It’s a great resource for pet ownership, especially aspects of zoonotic disease.

Yesterday, Scott asked, are pregnancy and cats compatible? Amy, who’s six months pregnant, and I share our Manhattan home with two dogs and two cats (the cats are from Walkerton, Ontario, and made the trip to Kansas with me). Scott writes, and I didn’t know about the 24-hour infectious bit, that,

“Cats are the only animal species that can spread Toxoplasma in their stool. Shedding rates in cats are quite low, but can be higher in cats that go outside, hunt or are fed raw meat. However, it takes 24 hours or more for Toxoplasma in stool to be infectious (that means that fresh stool cannot spread Toxoplasma). That key point greatly reduces the risk of transmission from cats.”

Sure, if you clean the litter box regularly. That’s Amy with Crystal (right).
 

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Canwest News Service is first out of the block, citing a senior government official as saying Saturday that testing has confirmed that an outbreak of listeriosis that has claimed at least four lives – and probably several more -- across Canada has now been positively linked to processed meats produced at Maple Leaf Consumer Foods.

Earlier Saturday, the Public Health Agency of Canada upped to 21 the number of cases of a deadly listeriosis outbreak that have been confirmed so far in four provinces. The agency said in a statement that 16 of the cases were found in Ontario, three in British Columbia, and one each in Saskatchewan and in Quebec.
Three deaths in Ontario - St. Catharines, Hamilton and Waterloo - have been officially tied to the deadly strain of the food-borne listeria bacterium, and a fourth death on Vancouver Island has also been attributed to the strain.

The public health agency also said a further 30 suspected cases remain under investigation. Of those, 14 are in Ontario, eight are in Quebec, four are in Alberta and two each are in B.C. and Saskatchewan.

So, with the positive ID, will Canadian politicians and bureaucrats keep smugly bragging about their wonderful system for foodborne disease surveillance?

It’s impossible to tell from the various public statements who became sick when, and whether the system really worked or not. If you’re going to brag about how the system is working, you have to provide dates for onset of illness and deaths. Those dates have not been provided. Take a look at the updates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control concerning the Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak and compare that with what comes out of various Canadian agencies. There is no comparison.

Tell the public what you know, what you don’t know, and what you’re doing to find out more.
 

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Depending on what sources are cited, there are now four confirmed deaths in Ontario and one in B.C. from the same strain of listeria. Several more deaths are being investigated, and the number of ill will continue to rise.

The spin that various social actors and politicians are putting on this listeria outbreak is beyond gross – it’s set a new low for unwarranted aggrandizing.

While preparing to do a live interview with CBC NewsWorld on Thurs., the host introduced the program by saying that the first case of listeria was in a 36-year-old pregnant woman in late June. As a pregnant Amy looked on – she’s very supportive of my media activities and viciously edits much of my writing, and vice-versa – I tried not to go, WTF, as the cameras were rolling.

So I’m baffled why various politicians and health types are bragging about how well the system worked to identify this outbreak.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said Friday that it was Ontario that "blew the whistle," stating,

"We've put in place a new system that allows us to detect an outbreak and to see a pattern very early in the game. I'm glad we got hold of it early and now we'll take serious steps working with the feds to put it behind us."

Robert Clarke, the assistant deputy minister of the Public Health Agency of Canada, said Friday that the government's actions in this case were quite rapid and an illustration of success.

"The fact that it actually moved along, got investigated, ended up at CFIA and others finding samples that were positive in the food was actually quite fast in terms of how these things could progress.”

Premier and PHAC dude, two months after the first case is not an early warning system. And while you’re blowing yourselves, how about a little empathy for the sick and dead?

On Friday, Michael McCain, president of Maple Leaf Foods, published  a full-page open letter in major Canadian newspapers, stressing the steps the company has taken, including a voluntary recall of 23 meat products.

In an internal e-mail to Maple Leaf employees Thursday morning, McCain said,

“I'm sure most of you have read the newspapers and listened to the TV or radio reports like I have. This isn't something we should ever want to be in the news about, but we have no reason to hang our heads - we're doing what is the right thing to do in this situation…acting responsibly and with extraordinary precaution.

“The headlines certainly suggest that our product are the cause of the illness and single death reported. It is important to note that:

• Listeria exists all around us in our environment, all the time. 10% of us carry it on us (according to some reports), and it exists in broad types of food in small percentages.
• Listeriosis, caused by Listeria Monocytogenes, occurs regularly (some 60 cases per year in Canada), and is mostly effecting the immune deficient (see previous descriptions), and very sadly people do die from this who are susceptible
• All we know factually is this….we have had three small samples of two items test positive for LM, and that Public Health tell us there is an increase in listeriosis illness all connected to a single DNA pattern, with one related death. We DO NOT have factual linkage that these are related to our product, although we could not say it is impossible, given our own positive (albeit small sample) test result. Again, there is no factual linkage we are aware of.
• That is why we took the dramatic action we did - recall all the product (ALL - not just the products in question) from these lines, and shut down the plant for a "deep clean". These were precautionary measures, all made with the most conservative view in mind - well beyond what the CFIA was asking of us.
• The CFIA and Public Health are continuing their investigation.

Of course the media will extend that, and we expected this.”

Did you expect that more people would die? Did you or do you warn pregnant women about the risks associated with consuming your products?

Also, the Globe and Mail reports in Saturday’s edition that four days before Maple Leaf Foods Inc. warned the public that two varieties of sliced meat may have been contaminated with listeria, the company told its distributors to stop shipping three different products and that federal health authorities were investigating its Toronto plant.

On Aug. 13, Maple Leaf sent a letter to its distributors requesting that, as a precautionary measure, they stop shipping the company's Sure Slice roast beef, corned beef and Black Forest ham because the processing plant in Toronto where the meat was produced was under investigation by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

On Aug. 17, Maple Leaf recalled its Sure Slice roast beef and corned beef after the roast beef tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes, a food-borne bacterium that can cause serious illness in pregnant women and the elderly.

Then on Aug. 20, after being informed that both the Sure Slice roast beef and corned beef tested positive for listeria in later tests, the company recalled more than 20 deli meats and shut down its Toronto plant for sanitization.

CFIA says they may have some DNA fingerprint results Saturday (its not that hard, some kids figured out half the high-scale fish in New York was bogus). This outbreak is not an early warning system working, it’s a mess. At some point, the politicians and bureaucrats may realize that several people died and dozens are sick unnecessarily. The advice to pregnant women in Canada remains shamefully inadequate.
 

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My wife is six months pregnant and she hasn’t had deli meats or smoked salmon or other refrigerated, ready-to-eat foods for six months.

That’s because the bacterium listeria is fairly much everywhere, difficult to control, and grows in the refrigerator. It also causes stillbirths in pregnant women, who are about 20 times more likely to contract the bug than other adults.

The banter in Canada about government or industry taking the lead on food inspection, whether food should be produced in large or small places, is misguided at best and more likely, political opportunism.

There’s a lot of sick people out there and more to be uncovered. Listeria happens, but why did it take the Canadian authorities and industry seven weeks to issue advisories?

It seems part of a pattern of don’t ask, don’t tell, at least until it’s obvious to a whole bunch of others; there are questions about who knew what when.

Epidemiology, the association of something with disease – in this case, deli meats from Maple Leaf – was strong enough for the B.C. Centre For Disease Control to announce a link and a warning, while Ontario stayed mum. Why the difference? These folks are all PhDs in something, what’s going on?

Long before the current outbreak, the advice from the Canadian government about listeria was mushy:

“Although the risk of listeriosis associated with foods from deli counters, such as sliced packaged meat and poultry products, is relatively low, pregnant women and immunosuppressed persons may choose to avoid these foods.”

The advice from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control is clear: Do not eat hot dogs, luncheon meats, or deli meats, unless they are reheated.

It has been documented that many pregnant women are not aware of the risks associated with consuming refrigerated, ready-to-eat foods like cold cuts.

Whatever the outcome of the Canadian listeria outbreak, it’s time for Canadian bureaucrats to stop dancing and provide straight advice to consumers. Other countries do it.

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An editorial in Tuesday’s L.A. Times stated that,

“Retailers have both the clout to compel high standards and better tracking in agriculture and a direct reason to worry about consumers' concerns.”

In response, the Times published this letter from me:

“The Wal-Marts and McDonald's of the world have been requiring enhanced food safety from their suppliers for more than a decade, and, as your editorial notes, they may be the best advocates for consumers. Making customers sick is bad business.

But many of the checks and balances on supplying fresh produce, like the kind involved in this year's salmonella outbreak, are hidden and poorly validated. Any commodity is only as good as its worst grower.

There are too many outbreaks and too many sick people. It's time for retailers and restaurants to market microbial food safety and compete using safety as a selling point. This would introduce a heightened level of accountability throughout the farm-to-fork food safety system and capture the imagination of a public weary of food scares.

The first company that can reliably assure consumers they aren't eating poop on spinach, lettuce, tomatoes and any other fresh produce will make millions and capture markets. May the best food safety system win.

Douglas Powell
Manhattan, Kan.
The writer is an associate professor in food safety at Kansas State University.”

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Amy is 6 months pregnant: An outbreak of listeria in Canada which has killed one and sickened dozens, is exactly why she hasn’t eaten any cold cuts or smoked salmon for the past six months.

It has been thoroughly documented that many pregnant women are not aware of the risks associated with consuming refrigerated, ready-to-eat foods like cold cuts. Nor does the literary dancing from various Canadian spokesthingies inspire confidence.

About 3 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 17/08, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Maple Leaf Consumer Foods issued an advisory warning the public not to serve or consume Sure Slice brand Roast Beef and Corned Beef because these products may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.

The press statement said,

“There have been no confirmed illnesses associated with the consumption of these products.”

Usually, CFIA press releases say there have been no illnesses associated with the product in question, if that is indeed the case. The “confirmed illness” was a wiggle phrase that Canadian media dutifully reported and then went back to sleep.

Then, about 4 a.m. Wednesday Aug. 20/08, another press release arrived from CFIA, this time announcing that Maple Leaf was voluntarily recalling everything from the suspect Toronto plant and that,

“… a number of the affected products … are part of a listeriosis outbreak investigation.”

About the same time, Maple Leaf Foods put out a press release stating,

“A small number of Sure Slice packaged meat products produced at the Company's Bartor Road, Toronto facility, predominantly for foodservice customers, have tested positive to contain low levels of listeria monocytogenes.”

Always good to get someone else to read stuff to catch grammatical errors, but there may not always be time.

And maybe it wasn’t that small of a contamination, because Wednesday afternoon, Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health advised the public that there is an outbreak of Listeriosis in the province.

“In July 2008, routine surveillance conducted by the Ministry detected a marked increase in cases of Listeriosis being reported by Ontario health units.

“As of yesterday, there have been 29 cases associated with the outbreak across 17 health units. Of these, 13 are confirmed cases, and the rest are probable and suspect cases which are under investigation by the local health units. Outbreak associated cases of Listeriosis have also been reported in British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Quebec. Ontario is working with the Public Health Agency of Canada and the other provinces in the investigation.”

Yet, as reported by Canwest News Service, health officials in Ontario would not confirm a link between the cases and the recall. Dr. Eleni Galanis with the B.C. Centre For Disease Control said officials in that province had interviewed the two confirmed cases and were satisfied there was sufficient evidence to show a link.

"First, they have the same strain as the outbreak strain that has been identified in Ontario and second they have been exposed to the foods that are under recall. It does seem that they are linked."

Galanis, who said B.C. is also reviewing three more suspected cases, said she was particularly concerned for people with compromised immune systems and pregnant women.

"In pregnant women it could result in still birth," she said.

Despite the words of Dr. Galanis, the story has spun into political nonsense, with the two major political parties throwing barbs at each other, and one University of Guelph type defending small agriculture by saying,

“That's not to say that a small butcher can't make mistakes, but at best, he's going to kill off a few of his neighbours. When you take that same mistake and you put it into a plant that serves millions, the risk is vastly expanded.”

Wow. There’s a whole bunch of sick people out there. That’s where the focus should be. And then, journos should ask, at what point did health authorities make an epidemiological link to Maple Leaf cold cuts? Would some illnesses have been prevented if the warning Sunday morning had been expanded? What is the process used to decide when to issue public warnings? How much evidence is enough?

Oh, and the CFIA advice if you are pregnant or have a weakened immune system?

“Although the risk of listeriosis associated with foods from deli counters, such as sliced packaged meat and poultry products, is relatively low, pregnant women and immunosuppressed persons may choose to avoid these foods.”

Here’s the advice from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control for persons at high risk, such as pregnant women and persons with weakened immune systems:

• Do not eat hot dogs, luncheon meats, or deli meats, unless they are reheated until steaming hot.???-Avoid getting fluid from hot dog packages on other foods, utensils, and food preparation surfaces, and wash hands after handling hot dogs, luncheon meats, and deli meats.???

• Do not eat soft cheeses such as feta, Brie, and Camembert, blue-veined cheeses, or Mexican-style cheeses such as queso blanco, queso fresco, and Panela, unless they have labels that clearly state they are made from pastuerized milk.???

• Do not eat refrigerated pâtés or meat spreads. Canned or shelf-stable pâtés and meat spreads may be eaten.???-Do not eat refrigerated smoked seafood, unless it is contained in a cooked dish, such as a casserole. Refrigerated smoked seafood, such as salmon, trout, whitefish, cod, tuna or mackerel, is most often labeled as "nova-style," "lox," "kippered," "smoked," or "jerky." The fish is found in the refrigerator section or sold at deli counters of grocery stores and delicatessens. Canned or shelf-stable smoked seafood may be eaten.

The USDA risk assessment for listeria is ready-to-eat foods is available here

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FRPubs/97-013F/ListeriaReport.pdf

and one from the World Health Organization is here

http://www.who.int/foodsafety/publications/micro/mra_listeria/en/index.html
 

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The Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control said Tuesday that a two-year-old girl has died in Sweden after contracting the lethal enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) bacteria, although no source had been identified.

The girl had fallen ill during a visit to Mora in central Sweden on June 29 and had died a few days later at a hospital in Stockholm, the Dagens Nyheter daily reported.

While most strains of E. coli are harmless, EHEC bacteria can produce nausea, diarrhoea and potentially lethal kidney problems, particularly threatening people with weak immune systems such as the elderly and small children.
 

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The first salmon Amy cooked for me – she caught me a delicious salmon – was damn near raw. Now, we cook it to about 125 F, checked using a tip-sensitive digital thermometer, and it warms up to 130-140 F in the minutes from grill to gullet.

Apparently that didn’t happen for Anthony Franz, who is suing the parent company of Shaw’s Crab House for causing him to become “violently ill” after eating undercooked salmon at the trendy River North restaurant.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the suit, filed Monday in Cook County Circuit Court, claims Franz ate periodically at Shaw’s between May and August 2006 as part of a healthier diet.

For several days, Franz became violently ill and eventually passed a nine-foot long tapeworm, the suit said.

A suburban doctor he visited in late August said he got the tapeworm from eating undercooked fish. …

He claims in the two-count suit that the restaurant failed to supervise employees in safe food handling and allowed customers to eat food that was not safe to consume.

Raw and undercooked seafood continues to present risks. The N.Y. Times covered the issue of tapeworms in seafood in a 1981 article.

Stick it in.
 

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Found this on youtube. Apparently it’s a promotion for “growth hormone free beef” by NaturalMarket.com and won the 2006 Young Directors Award.

For everyone who says consumers need to be educated about things like growth hormones, or raw milk, or food safety, this is an example of the competing image. The video below is marketing food safety.

Retailers and manufacturers need to get beyond old-school thinking about food safety and start marketing directly to consumers.
 

 

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Looks like I picked the wrong week to come to Florida.

Actually we didn’t. Our most excellent holiday has been extended thanks to Tropical Storm or Hurricane Fay, which is scheduled to hit us in Florida first thing tomorrow morning. Everything has been canceled, including all flights out of Tampa.

So we’re riding it out.

Amy has been here a couple of times with friends, and my grandfather had a place in nearby Englewood, Florida, for decades. So we are both used to escaping Kansas heat by going to Florida in Aug. when it is completely dead. And Venice – founded as a retirement community by the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers in the 1920s – is about as quiet as it gets.

As part of our hurricane preparation, Courtlynn, Amy and I went to the Sarasota aquarium today. After petting the stingrays and others in the fish petting zoo, Amy and Courtlynn dutifully washed their hands in the politically correct handwashing station, which has a sign that says,

“Dryers are provided for an environmentally-conscious choice.”

Handwashing needs soap, running water and paper towel. Save the guilt.

Next was some lunch in St. Armand’s circle on Lido Key, a favorite spot for Amy and me. Shortly after we sat down, Amy asked, “Do you know why there is hand sanitizer on the patio tables and not inside? I bet this is a doggie-friendly restaurant.”

Sure enough, ChaCha Coconuts Tropical Bar and Grill was an approved doggie-friendly dining establishment. Our server said there hadn’t been any problems, most of the dogs in the St. Armand area were tiny, but it was problematic when owners insisted their dogs sit in a chair at the table. She said,

“I have a dog. It sits on the floor. So do these dogs.”

Not everyone in the Tampa area is happy with the doggy dining regs. Richard Bond, owner of Yeoman's Road Pub on Davis Islands, told the Tampa Tribune on Friday that he put up a sign at his restaurant saying that because of the "unreasonable nature" of the pet ordinance, the pub would no longer allow pets on the patio.

"There's a money issue. You have to have a sanitary station. It's too much for me to be dog-friendly. When I got it I said, 'Just another thing for the city of Tampa to try to make a couple of extra bucks.' "

The server at ChaCha’s said being doggy friendly gave them an edge, especially during the economic downturn and the off-season.

There’s media noise. And there’s reality. It’s been strangely bizarre listening to the media histrionics on the Weather Channel and CNN about the approaching Fay, compared with the low-key, been-there-done-that response of the locals.

We’ll get home eventually. Courtlynn is pumped about the manatees and dolphins off the pier … and the new season of the Hills starting tonight.
 

 

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From Canada to Wales, if you’re racing mountain bikes, try not to swallow the mud – apparently there’s a lot of shit in mud.

In June 2007, hundreds were stricken and 18 tested positive for campylobacter during the annual Test of Metal mountain bike race in Squamish, B.C.

Dr. Paul Martiquet, the chief medical officer for Vancouver Coastal Health, said,

"This was an outbreak with a high attack rate. Our future advice to the race organizers is to inspect the route prior to the race to ensure it is not littered with animal feces, and not end the race at the horse ring. If there is any horse poop, they have to remove it."

Now, a preliminary report by the National Public Health Service for Wales estimates that up to 160 people who attended the Merida Bikes mountain bike Marathon July 5-6, 2008, based on Builth Wells, fell ill, and 10 of the riders tested positive for campylobacter.

The report described the course as,

“very muddy and contaminated with sheep slurry in certain areas, leading to significant amounts of mud splashing over participants and their equipment. … The most statistically significant risk was the inadvertent ingestion of mud. The nature of this sport means that riding through muddy, agricultural land is unavoidable. The risk of infection from zoonotic organisms such as campylobacter will therefore always be present. Clearly the weather conditions on the day of this event compounded the problem by making contamination by mud inevitable.”

 

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Dr. Dean Cliver writes in this satirical contribution that:

My supermarket charges a 34% premium for "cage-free" eggs, compared to conventional eggs of the same brand, size, and grade.  Cage-free eggs, with additional features, get as much as a 124% surcharge.  Some say that eggs from cage-free chickens have more flavor because the chickens eat bugs; it would probably be cheaper to raise insects and feed them to layers in conventional cages, although the chicken would be denied the thrill of the chase. 

I suspect that most people who pay extra for cage-free eggs would not be able to detect the difference in taste, which suggests that flavor is not what they are really paying for.  More likely, the premium is paid out of respect for the hens' freer lifestyle.  If respect for chickens adds value to their eggs, there are certainly further commercial possibilities based on enhancing the life of the chicken.

I suggest that, if laying hens are to be treated with the dignity they deserve, premium egg ranches give every chicken her own name.  As each egg was produced, its shell would be imprinted with the donor's name.  In the interest of marketing eggs as fresh as possible, no two eggs in a one-dozen carton would bear the same name; the names might also be embellished with colors and distinctive logos. 

Hens typically proclaim their egg production with the characteristic, triumphant cackle -- it should be possible to build this into each egg carton (as is now done in greeting cards and other devices), so that the purchaser would hear it each time the carton was opened.  Value might be further enhanced by adding some scratch-and-sniff barnyard aroma (bacteria-free, of course), to give the consumer an even greater feeling of being close to Nature.

 

How much value would be added by these measures could be determined by market research.  If the prognosis was sufficiently favorable, there should be little difficulty capitalizing the required egg ranch and processing facility.  Hens that "graduated" from such a ranch might also have added gastronomic value, or they might simply be enrolled in an alumnae association for life.

 

Dr. Cliver officially retired October 1, 2007 and is winding down from 46 years in academia, battling infectious agents in food and water.  His research career has led him to see the world as if peering outward through the anal orifice: this "reverse proctoscopy" confers a unique viewpoint.
 

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I didn’t know French people had discovered enchiladas, and much less those you can buy in the grocery store. That’s one food I often crave when traveling for an extended period in France, and it’s my standby order at my first visit to any Mexican restaurant. But obviously someone in France is buying enchiladas because two people are now reported in serious but stable condition in a French hospital after eating Companeros brand chicken enchiladas. Several of the national ministries have issued a recall of all enchilada and fajita products from Companeros, regardless of the expiration date. Apparently the source of the Clostridium botulinum bacteria is not yet completely identified as the recall requests that people do not discard the meals. Instead, they should be returned to the store so that further analysis can take place.

In case you’re paranoid, like I am, about getting botulism or other illnesses, there are a few facts you should know…
 

• Symptoms occur on average between 6 and 36 hours (and not more than 15 days) after consumption of the contaminated food
• Botulism can cause serious complications such as paralysis and death
• Common symptoms include difficulty swallowing or speaking, facial weakness, double vision, trouble breathing, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and paralysis 
• Botulism commonly grows at room temperature in an anaerobic environment – that means when food is deprived of air. Risky foods include potatoes left in aluminum foil at room temperature
• In 2006, 7 people were stricken due to botulism in bottled carrot juice
• Botulism cannot be transmitted between humans

Check out the FDA’s Bad Bug Book for more detailed botulism information.
 

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I still own a house in Guelph, Canada, that I rent to students. Last time Amy and I were in Guelph retrieving vestiges of my past – like milk cartons full of vinyl record albums, or Johnny Bower vintage goalie equipment, both of which stayed in Guelph and were donated to others – we noticed the double garage had been converted into a ping pong playing and viewing space, complete with an elevated chair for the referee.

Same with our student neighbors in Manhattan (Kansas). The living room contains a ping pong table.

When not trying to do their best Forrest Gump, these students are probably fans of beer pong, featured in the 2007 movie, Beerfest (below).

According to some UCLA publication,

Last month, CO-ED Magazine reported that there has been an increase of orally-transmitted herpes due to the not-so-sanitary game of beer pong. …

When playing beer pong, you have a possibility of getting any type of disease transferable via saliva.

The story has some stuff about throat gonorrhea which could possibly be transmitted or mono. Doubtful. The last tip, however, caught my eye:

“If you and your friends are the type to play practical jokes on each other (say light each other’s crotches on fire), I’d keep an eye out for them in beer pong. Their next brilliant idea may be to use toilet water to fill the ball-rinsing cup. If so, you could find yourself in a state of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and fever—due to feces-contaminated water. Let’s hope you’re up-to-date with your Hepatitis A vaccination.”

 

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A new Youtube addition from Armstrong and Miller makes fun of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsey and his propensity for yelling. The best lines are in the end, though. Watch, and you’ll see. And can you spot any mistakes?

 

 

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Why is synchronized diving an Olympic sport?

I don’t know either, but it caught the attention of my dining companions, each with their own food safety story to share.

Philippa Ross-James, Program Manager Communications, with the New Zealand Food Safety Authority, gave a great talk Monday morning at Kansas State University, sharing the agency’s experience promoting food safety practices in culturally acceptable ways with New Zealand's indigenous people -- Maori, and New Zealand's Pacific peoples.

The take home messages: build trust, get out of the office, and be in it for the long term. That’s Philippa (right), with Curtis Kastner, director of Kansas State’s Food Science Institute, me, Philippa, and Lisa Freeman, associate dean for research at K-State’s vet college, and a v.p. at K-State’s new Olathe innovation campus.

My youngest daughter, Courtlynn, is back from camp and spending some time in Manhattan (Kansas). She told me on the last day of camp, the chicken that was served was still cold in the middle. A camp counselor came around and told the kids, don’t eat the chicken, it’s not cooked.

If you’re making food for 300 or so kids, have some standard operating procedures, and use a damn thermomter.

Finally, during the synchro swimming display last night, pregnant Amy inquired about the bruschetta with goat cheese. It was a soft cheese and there is a risk of post-processing contamination – the soft cheese can support listeria growth if contaminated with a knife or someone’s dirty hand – so she didn’t order it, but I had to ask, “Is the goat cheese made from raw or pasteurized milk.”

The waiter didn’t have a clue, but did offer to ask, returned from the kitchen, and said it was made from pasteurized milk, and someone had asked the chef the same question last week.

Consumers can ask questions.

Philippa left for the 30-something hour trek back to Wellington this morning.

Courtlynn, Amy and I are heading to Florida for some much needed beach time.
 

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An Ohio man is in hot water for taking a hot bath in a Burger King bathtub. The video shows a man sitting in the sink, while other employees look on laughing. At one point the employee with the camera goes to ask the manager if she wants to come watch. The manager declines, but also fails to take any action. The video was then posted on Myspace. The fast food restaurant has fired all employees involved. They added that the sink was sanitized twice and all utensils were thrown out. Health officials are working with prosecutors to see if charges will be filed. However the health department has declined to issue any fines. If bathing in a kitchen sink isn’t worth a fine, what is?

The video contains some not safe for work language.
 

 

Burger King Employee Takes Bath In Sink - Watch more free videos

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Amanda Rials sends along this joke:

A woman went up to the bar in a quiet rural pub. She gestured alluringly to the bartender who approached her immediately. She seductively signaled that he should bring his face closer to hers. As he did, she gently caressed his full beard.

'Are you the manager?' she asked, softly stroking his face with both hands. 'Actually, no,' he replied.

'Can you get him for me? I need to speak to him,' she said, running her hands beyond his beard and into his hair.

'I'm afraid I can't,' breathed the bartender.. 'Is there anything I can do?'

'Yes, I need you to give him a message,' she continued, running her forefinger across the bartender's lip and slyly popping a couple of her fingers into his mouth and allowing him to suck them gently.

'What should I tell him?' the bartender managed to say.

'Tell him,' she whispered, 'there's no toilet paper, hand soap, or paper towels in the ladies room.'

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While I was working with the TV on this afternoon, I heard Sara Snow, Television host and Green Goddess, telling Kate Gosselin of Jon and Kate Plus 8 that mushrooms should not be washed. Kate, who is raising her family on organic food believing it will make her young twins and sextuplets healthier and stronger, was clearly put off by Sara’s advice. She said the family doesn’t normally eat mushrooms, but she was willing to follow directions. Sara told her to just wipe off the mushrooms with a damp paper towel.

While the stir fry cooked, the dialog was enlightening:

Sara to Kate: “In my opinion, if there’s a little bit of dirt left on there, it’s fine. It’s not gonna hurt anyone.”

Kate to camera: “She taught me how to clean them, which was a little disturbing to me.”

Jon in Kate’s ear: “Fungi!”

Kate to Jon: “There was dirt on them. Active dirt. And she said you don’t wash mushrooms.”

Jon to Kate: “It’s not dirt.”

Kate: “I know that.”

Jon grins: “Poopadoop.”

Kate: “I know. You see. That’s why he doesn’t eat them, he claims.”

Kate to Sara: “I don’t know if I like to eat dirt, Sara.”

Kate to camera: “I was essentially merely just wiping the poop off of them and that concerned me that I didn’t get every last speck.”

Sara responds to Kate: “I let all sorts of things fall into my food and I’m not worried about it.”


Is Sara crazy? Is Kate right? Sara concludes, “By the time it all cooks down you won’t even notice it’s there. I’ll cover it up nicely.”

That’s the point, really. If you’re cooking your mushrooms, you can kill the nasty microbiological matter. But would you pop them in your mouth raw? Neither Sara nor Kate visibly ran to the sink to wash with soap and water after touching the Poopadoop Mushrooms. In the next scene everyone was heading to the table to eat.

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She had Amy and me to her house in New Zealand. She ran the 5K race at the Ohio State Fair. And now she’s coming to rock Manhattan (Kansas).

Philippa Ross-James, Program Manager Communications, with the New Zealand Food Safety Authority, will share her experience promoting food safety practices in culturally acceptable ways with New Zealand's indigenous people -- Maori, and New Zealand's Pacific peoples.

Philippa began her career as a food technologist in the dairy industry. After taking a break to raise children, Philippa retrained in communications and now works in the corporate communications group of the New Zealand Food Safety Authority.

Her talk will happen at Kansas State University’s Student Union, room 206
10-11 a.m., on Monday, Aug, 11, 2008.

For more information, contact Doug Powell, dpowell@ksu.edu

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Flying just isn’t that fun anymore. Everyone’s grumpy, things are crowded and, with airlines now charging for pillows and blankets, will they soon start charging for toilets?

And how to go under the door if you don’t have a quarter?

A frequent flying food safety friend and barfblog reader sends along her latest observations from the friendly skies:

• No offense against your species, but about 90 per cent of the men did not shut the door upon exit; reached over and closed it a couple times, but became hopeless over time.

• Repeatedly, folks of both species came out with toilet paper on their shoes that scraped off on the carpet next to my seat or just in front/behind it.  The stewardess did discrete rounds and picked the paper scraps up in a swift arc from the floor to a plastic bag attached (also discretely) next to the lavatory door.  Handwashing didn't appear to be part of the toilet paper pick-up protocol - so far as I could tell.

• People are way bigger slobs and poop a lot more on planes than I ever imagined, pew.

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The UK Food Standards Agency continues to set new lows for communicating about food safety issues with the public that pays them to communicate with them.

And the Brits seem to have this obsession with how food safety is simple.

There is an outbreak of Salmonella Agona in the UK and Ireland that has sickened about 80 people of all ages, but predominantly young adults.

In the FSA release, the government agency says, “the source of the outbreak is not yet known” and that “when the Agency has further information or useful advice for consumers in relation to this outbreak it will publish it immediately.”

Fair enough. But FSA then feels it necessary, in some weird paternalistic way, to tell Brits that,

“In the meantime, there are simple measures you can take to reduce the risk of food poisoning … Always follow the manufacturers cooking instructions for food intended to be eaten hot and make sure it is piping hot throughout.”

What if the instructions suck, like with pot pies?

“When eating out, always make sure the hot food you have ordered is served piping hot throughout – don’t be afraid to ask for it to be re-heated."

If food safety is so simple, why are there all these sick people and no identified source? Piping hot is too subjective. And since when does anyone have to ask a Brit to be more assertive? Go to a football match.

Seriously, for the millions of dollars spent on risk communication and food safety, this is the best FSA can do?

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Shit happens.

Often on someone’s hands or food. Follow the poop.

And when shit happens, begin by saying sorry.

Dr. Nicola Mercer, acting medical officer of health for Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph, said that five cases of E. coli O157:H7 have been confirmed and another 15 suspected in people who ate at University of Guelph food service outlets.

Mercer said, but it's believed to have started with improper handwashing by an ill food-services employee.

No justification is offered for that statement.

Chuck Cunningham, the U of G's director of communication and public affairs, said University Food Services has stayed open over the weekend, adding,

"There was no reason to close anything down. Staff took all necessary precautions. The university is well-known for its food-safety expertise.”

I’m sure that is comforting to the people on the toilet. The university is well known for its press releases proclaiming expertise in food safety.

Apparently UoG in Canada has learned nothing from a 2006 norovirus outbreak when spokesthingies blamed students for stealing soap, or from a 2007 outbreak of Salmonella down the road at the University of Western Ontario where spokesthingies were eventually forced to apologize after sickening 20 patrons at one of its food service outlets. Or from the 2007 Taste of Chicago outbreak where some 800 were sickened and repeatedly told they were dining at one of the safest  places ever in the history of the universe.

This ain’t rocket surgery. If a bunch of people get sick, start by saying you’re sorry. And then fix the problem.

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In 2002, Jon Stewart quipped while hosting Saturday Night Live,

“If you think the 10 commandments being posted in a school is going to change behavior of children, then you think “Employees Must Wash Hands” is keeping the piss out of your happy meals. It's not.”

That’s sorta become my handwashing mantra, and was certainly behind the, “Dude, wash your hands” effort. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland has invoked peer pressure, so have I, and so has this dude at a Wendy’s.

As reported by The Consumerist,

“There I am going pee in Wendy's by my office when a Wendy's employee comes into the bathroom and goes into the stall to pee. I wash my hands, dry them and exit as I hear a flush. I get about 3 seconds out of the bathroom and guess who comes out of the bathroom! I'm in gross shock at this point but I think "Ok maybe he's going on break and he will wash after he smokes ones..."WRONG! He not only went behind the counter he started handling fries! So what do I do? "Excuse me, I would like to see your manager.

"Um Larry, this guy wants you!... I don't know he wants a manager!" Larry the manager comes to the counter and about 5 employees are eyes glued! Including Mr. Dirty Hands Fry-man. "Yeah that guy right there working the fries with the mustache, he was just in the bathroom at the same time I was and he left without washing his hands."

The room fell SILENT!

About 6 people were standing at the counter waiting for their food, plus 10 people sitting close enough to hear this, plus the onlooking employees, INCLUDING Mr. Dirty Hands Fry-man.Now Mr. Dirty Hands Fry-man had this look on his face that can only be explained as a look that said "YOU SON OF A !!!" Without actually saying a word. Fearing he might come over the counter or throw something at my head I bid them farewell. "I'll just go to Burger King." I watched over my shoulder the whole way and I am pleased to say that I saw a couple of familiar faces at Burger King a few minutes later.

Chalk one up for customers!”

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The UK Health Protection Agency has sent an advisory to health service organizations and partners, including needle exchanges, to warn of the new Clostridium contamination in batches of heroin.

In 2001, there were a total of 108 cases - 60 in Scotland, including 50 in Glasgow, 26 in England and 22 in Dublin, including 43 deaths.

Extensive microbiological investigations led to the identification of Clostridium novyi Type A from 13 cases in Scotland, two in Dublin and two in England.
C novyi is most commonly associated with infection in farm animals and human battlefield victims.

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I like to think of myself as being quite conscious of food safety, but I have learned so much since starting my work with the International Food Safety Network six months ago.  Not only do I think more about washing my hands and cleaning food properly, I’ve told my family members about it as well.

My mom has become a regular reader of BarfBlog and we’ve also discussed a few of the articles at the dinner table.  When we’re out doing things and we see someone doing something unsafe with food (like picking food up off the floor and eating it) one of our favorite things to do is say, “Doug wouldn’t like that.”

It turns out that there are a few things in the lives of the Mazurs that “Doug wouldn’t like.”  A prime example is one of our favorite restaurants on the East side of Wichita.  They serve traditional Indian food, buffet style.  The restaurant is family owned, and as far as I know they have a relatively clean restaurant up to code according to the city.  But during my interview for my job with Doug, we discussed this restaurant and I distinctly remember him telling me it wasn’t a good idea to eat at a buffet.  The food sits out for hours and so many people go up and contaminate it, even with a sneeze guard.

He’s right, buffet style is a food safety nightmare , but unfortunately it hasn’t stopped our family from eating there once every two weeks.  I have yet to get sick from the buffet, so I continue to play the game of Russian roulette with the possible pathogens in the Indian food.  Each time we sit down at that restaurant we all say, “Doug sure wouldn’t approve of this.

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I keep hundreds of bureaucrats occupied.

They just aren’t that into me.

Which is fine.

I know this because I used to play hockey with a bunch of them. Also, I see how many are subscribed to the listservs. And I get a lot of requests, and messages sent in error about some particular e-mail, or hooking up with a co-worker after work.

Seriously, run a listserv that goes to a few hundred thousand people, and someone’s going to hit reply to the wrong address now and then; there’s some bored bureaucrats out there.

This whole Food Safety Network thing started out of my basement back in 1993. Some folks from Health Canada, which evolved into the Public Health Agency of Canada, were there from the beginning, and we wrote a paper about early listserv experiences.

A couple of years ago, Health Canada decided to stop offering any financial support – in this case, a few grand a year. The reason: I may have made a quip about a Health Canada minister or policy and someone got huffy.

Of course, no one from Health Canada or PHAC unsubscribed from the listservs. They just complained that Doug was a “loose canon.”

Yes, science and democracy is all about sitting quietly and listening to propaganda. A similar dig at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, rumor has it, led the University of Guelph and its former vp research to cut off any contact with me. Oh, and confiscate all the money that was left. It’s pathetic that a bunch of Guelph people still walk around and proclaim, with straight faces, their excellence in food safety risk analysis, especially the communication part; on the dime that I raised.

Then I got this request last Thursday from PHAC in Guelph:

“I've been given the task to review keywords to search for media articles connected to our program areas (foodborne, environment and zoonotic diseases) from our agencies (sic) global media monitoring program - Global Public Health Intelligence Network.   As many of our staff find the daily FSNET emails useful, I was wondering if you could share with us your process and the keywords you use to search media headlines to ensure you are inclusive of all relevant sources for your listserv.   Please let me know if this request is feasible.”

Set up Google alerts. Use keywords like food safety and vomit. Anything else I can help you with?

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Barack Obama is generating lots of interest in the U.S. Presidential process. Especially about whether he is too thin to be voted President by fat Americans.

I can’t even vote but, like Tom Hanks, share an interest in presidential history.

On Friday, Obama introduced the “Improving Food-borne Illness Surveillance and Response Act of 2008, which would improve information sharing and collaboration between public and private agencies and other organizations to effectively address food safety challenges. …

“The Obama food safety legislation would strengthen and expand food-borne illness surveillance in order to better inform and evaluate efforts to prevent these illnesses. This bill would also enhance the identification and investigation of food-borne illness outbreaks, which would assist officials to respond appropriately. In anticipation of future challenges, this bill would require a survey of state health departments to determine critical needs as well as the development of strategic plans. …”

Sorry, I must have dozed off there.

Sure Obama is offering up more than McCain. But Obama is creating expectations. Hopefully they are not too unrealistic; he’s already fallen into the safest food in the world rhetoric.

And it’s spelled foodborne, not food-borne.

This sorta reminds me of Les Nessman advising station manager and local council candidate, Arthur Carlson, on how to answer tough questions during an episode of WKRP. Something like:

(Food safety) is an important issue for all Americans. I take this issue seriously and will be appointing a blue-ribbon fact-finding commission, to issue a position paper on (food safety) very soon.

And since there’s not much on youtube about WKRP, I’ll leave you with, The Dungarees versus the Suits.

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My youngest daughter – although 13 seems fairly grown up -- just came back from camp, and is going to be joining Amy and me in Kansas in a week.

She went to camp for the first time when she was 7. At the time I wrote,

Looks like I picked the wrong week to send my kids to camp.??? From sea to diarrheal sea, North Americans have been stricken by illnesses ???most likely transmitted in food.??? Two years ago, Canada was just beginning to have some myths shattered about??? Canadian clean water as reports trickled out regarding an outbreak of E.???coli O157:H7 in Walkerton, Ont. In the end, 2,300 were sickened and seven??? killed, all in a town of 5,000.???

Now, 29 attendees at a cheerleading camp in Washington State have been ???stricken with the same bug, including a teenager whose kidneys were so ???damaged that she is on dialysis. Sleuthing by health investigators sparked a ???U.S.-wide recall of a brand of Romaine lettuce on Monday, which was clearly ???implicated in the outbreak.

This morning, I could only sigh and be thankful my youngest returned without diarrheal incident.
Health officials have confirmed that at least 13 boys, all but one from Northern Virginia, contracted E. coli bacterial infections while attending a popular Scout camp in Goshen, Va. …

Since the outbreak, Scout officials have taken steps to reduce the risk of further contamination by temporarily removing ground beef -- a common source of E. coli -- from camp menus; distributing hand sanitizers; and encouraging hand-washing and proper hygiene.

At some point people may realize E. coli O157:H7 is present in the environment and could be in lots of foods and water – not just ground beef.

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