I enjoy watching House Hunters on HGTV every now and then. I tend to get mad at people on that show because they base their decisions on the dumbest parameters.

Today I witnessed the latest dumb decision made by a couple in Lee’s Summit, MO (where I happened to be yesterday at my roommate’s parents house). They choose a $275,000 house because of the “huge kitchen and amazing garage,” while their two little girls share an 8 x 10 bedroom with two doll-sized closets in it.

As the family settles in, the food safety mistakes make an appearance as they make cookies in said huge kitchen. The two-and-a-half and one-and-a-half year olds help with the baking and eat a spoonful of raw cookie dough. Raw cookie dough contains the risk of Salmonella contamination, which is especially dangerous for the little ones. I admit that I have eaten it before, but not as a child and not after I learned about the risks involved.

The best part? Dad is a doctor.
 

Teaching a recitation class for a General Psychology class is hard work.  It involves choosing appropriate material to cover, presenting that material accurately and grading papers. That’s the easy part.

The hard part is discerning students’ real excuses from made-up ones. I have heard stuff that you probably wouldn’t make up just to get out of class and a lot of stuff that sounds a little unlikely, if not straight out of a high school movie.

One of my fellow recitation teachers got the Contador excuse from a student; “It was the food.”
The student claimed food poisoning prevented her from making it to class – right before class time during tailgating Thursday. The excuse wasn’t entirely unlikely since food during tailgating might be cooked improperly, or cross-contamination might occur. However, alcohol poisoning is not entirely unlikely either.

To believe or not to believe, that is the question. While you can test athletes’ blood for illegal substances, you can’t ask students for stool samples. If it had been my student I would have asked for a doctor’s note, but the excuse worked for her (Contador, it seems, will not be so lucky).
 

The CFIA announced yesterday that Le Belle de Jersey cheese may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. They claim that no illnesses have been reported, but we’ve all heard that one before.

The news release doesn’t include specific information regarding the affected product, like weight, lot number or locations where it was sold; information needed to avoid the tainted product.

Another product, also recalled yesterday, President’s Choice®Decadent Chocolate Chunk Cookies had a very different news release. The company responsible included all the necessary information to identify and avoid the product, which is not tainted with Listeria but contains metal pieces.

The reasons for recalling the products might be different but they both pose a threat to consumer’s health. So why the difference in disclosure of information between these recalls?

The CFIA should require specific information regarding recalled products so that there is no expanded health hazard alert informing how many people have gotten sick since the last health hazard alert release.

Raw chicken is probably the first thing that most people think of when thinking of foodborne illness. You would think chefs would know to use a thermometer to prevent undercooked chicken from ending up on the table.

However, tonight I witnessed a chef on 24 Hour Restaurant Battle (on the Food Network) serve some raw chicken to his diners. Not just to any person at that, but Marcus Samuelsson and Scott Conant, who were judges on the show. At least they got it right, immediately recognizing the risks and spitting it out.

Every person in the vicinity turned around when Samuelsson pointed out: “That is dangerous; that is not undercooked, it’s raw.”

If your restaurant makes people barf, it’s not going to fare so well. Mr. Blumenthal learned that the hard way last year when his restaurant was shut down due to norovirus.
The chef on the show also learned the hard way; the raw chicken cost him the $10, 000 prize.
 

Last night the Associated Press reported three separate recalls due to Listeria contamination.

Distribution of these products ranges from the West Coast to the Midwest to the East Coast, so make sure to check your “Raquel’s” food items, Specialty Farms, LLC sprouts salad, and Pasco Processing, LLC peppers.

More information regarding the recalled products:

“Quong Hop & Co. of South San Francisco, California is voluntarily recalling all "Raquel's" hummus, salads, wraps, sandwiches, and other food items, because they have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes”

 “Specialty-Farms, LLC is recalling its Specialty Farms brand of Organic Alfalfa Sprouts Blend and its Organic Sprout Salad. The voluntary recall of the four-ounce containers with sell-by dates of 7/26/2010 is because they may have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria Monocytogenes.”

“Pasco Processing, LLC, of Pasco Wash., is recalling 2087 cases of 20 lb. bulk packaged Corn and Poblano peppers, because of the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.”

No illnesses have been reported, yet.

Lindsay Lohan has been making headlines lately for the whole drunk driving and defying court thing. I miss the good old “Mean Girls” days. She looked so innocent at the beginning of that movie, when the only place she felt safe eating at was in the toilet stall.

Maybe she was on to something.

"There's more faecal bacteria in your kitchen sink than in your toilet after you flush it. People nuke their bathrooms, but not their kitchens."

The research, from the University of Arizona, also points out that the toilet is also cleaner than cutting boards in the kitchen, computer keyboards in the office and workplaces where there are children.

Ok, so maybe Lindsay did it because it was in the script and it’s not exactly a trend to follow in dining, but the point is sanitation.

Clean kitchen surfaces, use a separate cutting board for meat and wash your and your kids’ hands.
 

I love Jimmy John’s veggie subs. I think the secret ingredient is in the guacamole spread-thingy. I avoid the sprouts though; not just because they’ve been linked to outbreaks, but I find they ruin the whole flavor chemistry.

It appears that now I might have reason to avoid the guacamole spread-thingy as well.

Research from the CDC shows that “nearly 1 out of every 25 restaurant-associated foodborne outbreaks with identified food sources between 1998 and 2008 can be traced back to contaminated salsa or guacamole.”
 

The risks might arise from big batches of the stuff being stored at improper temperatures, or contamination from mishandling the raw ingredients.

Next time I’m at Jimmy John’s, I’ll make sure I ask how their delicious guacamole is prepared and stored so as not to make any rash decisions about completely avoiding it.

There have recently been 2 previous recalls due to pet food. Ok, one of them was dog vitamins but it still counts as a trifecta.

In the latest pet food recall, Feline’s Pride (cat food) is recalling its chicken formula due to salmonella contamination (right, exactly as shown).

The product is packaged in uncoded plastic containers and sold frozen to private consumers nationwide. Once thawed, the pet food has a shelf life of about 1 week. The firm manufactures the pet food by an as-ordered basis. This recall affects only those orders placed and shipped from June 10 through June 17, 2010.

Wash your hands after handling your pet food, especially if its contaminated with salmonella.
 

I have food allergies but they are not life-threatening, I just get hives like Woogie from “There’s Something About Mary.”

However, some people get serious allergic reactions and a waiter shouldn't ignore that or make fun of it. Makes me wonder what else they don’t know about the industry they work in.

In response to a reader's dining experience, FloFab replied  “Obviously that wait person has been badly trained and the restaurant could use a wake-up call.”

It's important for restaurants to properly train their staff members to keep people from getting sick; be it from foodborne pathogens or allergies.