Bites

2012 already here, here: bites, barfblog and food safety

Posted: December 31st, 2011 - 9:03am by Doug Powell

After whole-wheat banana bread for breakfast along with fruit, and a lunch of grilled lake perch and salad, the New Year was ushered in with something a little heavier – roast duck.

The year of the (temperature verified) duck?

I never know what the future holds but can tell you what we’ve been doing.

bites.ksu.edu and barfblog.com are complimentary and comprehensive resources for those interested in microbial food safety – the things that make people barf.

Too many people get sick each year from the food and water they consume. bites-l and barfblog.com are designed to inform and engage people in dialogue about food-related risks, controls and benefits, from farm-to-fork.

For rapid, relevant and reliable food safety news, subscribe to barfblog.com and follow us on twitter and facebook; for a daily, or twice-daily summary, including barfblog.com posts, subscribe to bites-l at bites.ksu.edu.

In 2011, there were:

• 482 bites-l posts;
• 4,817 bites-l articles posted;
• 6,760 bites-l (direct) subscribers in 61 countries;
• 1,186 barfblog.com posts;
• 279,000 barfblog.com hits (and many more);
• 21 food safety infosheets;
• 1 food safety video; and,
• 17 outbreak tables.

The articles collected have become much more focused due to improved Internet search capabilities, resulting in significant savings in research expenditures. Further, while the number of subscribers has remained steady, there are daily fluctuations in the bites-l list, with approximately 3 subscribers deleted and 3 added. This listserve activity keeps bites-l subscription list current and focused on the international food safety community – in 61 countries.

In 2010, a Food Safety Infosheets rapid review team was created to provide expert comment on factual material and includes: Dr. Trevor Phister (N.C. State), Dr. Don Schaffner (Rutgers University), Dr. Renee Boyer (Virginia Tech) and Dr. Michelle Danyluk (University of Florida).

All inforsheets are currently translated into Spanish (by MPH student Gonzalo Erdozain) and French (by France-based colleague Albert Amgar and Dr. Amy Hubbell).

In 2011, 20 peer-reviewed food safety infosheets were distributed to 455 direct subscribers (including 145 extension agents in 8 states), 6,760 bites listerv subscribers, 723 direct barfblog.com subscribers. Additionally, three direct subscribers were known to send infosheets to all of their organization’s outlets—a total of 1,350 sites and 300 support associates (an estimated 15,000 food handlers would have received these publications.

Video production has declined because of the high resource cost and need to focus activities. bites-l and barfblog.com will continue to focus on content and efficient, rapid, mass-distribution mechanisms.

Publications
1 book chapter
6 papers published
7 papers accepted/in press/submitted

Powell, D.A. 2011. Food safety, genetically engineered foods and perception in Comprehensive Biotechnology, Second Edition, Moo-Young M, (ed.) Elsevier p. 769-773.

Powell, D.A., Jacob, C.J., and Chapman, B.J. 2011. Blogs, infosheets and new media as academic scholarship in food safety research, education, and extension. Innovative Higher Education, published on-line ahead of print, DOI: 10.1007/s10755-011-9207-

Fillion, K., Powell, D. 2011. Designing a national restaurant inspection disclosure system for New Zealand. Journal of Food Protection, 74(11), 1869-1874.

Filion, K., KuKanich, K. S., Chapman, B., Hardigree, M. K., & Powell, D. A. 2011. Observation-based evaluation of hand hygiene practices and the effects of an intervention at a public hospital cafeteria. American Journal of Infection Control, 39(6), 464-470.

Wilson, S., Chapman, B, Powell, D.A. 2011. Understanding food safety information needs: using an information service as a research tool. Food Protection Trends 31:437-445.

Wilson, S.M., Jacob, C.J. and Powell, D.A. 2011. Behavior-change interventions to improve hand hygiene practice: A review. Critical Public Health 21(1): 119-127.

Powell, D.A., Jacob, C.J., and Chapman, B.J. 2011. Enhancing food safety culture to reduce rates of foodborne illness. Food Control, 22(6): 817-822.

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If ya don't get at it when ya get to it,   ya won't get to it to get at it again

Posted: July 31st, 2011 - 5:03pm by Doug Powell

Thoughtful words from Canadian philosopher, poet and plywood enemy, Stompin’ Tom Conners (he also wrote tomes such as Bud the Spud, The Hockey Song, and Sudbury Saturday Night).

The Australians apparently took pity on me and granted me a tourist visa in the absence of Canadian documentation (Canada is hopeless) so I’m headed out to rejoin my family. I will continue teaching by distance – this semester, which winds up today with a flurry of skype presentations by students scattered around the U.S. and elsewhere has been the most satisfying in years – and doing that research, writing, extension professoring thing. Just in a different time zone.

And I’ll be racking up a lot of frequent flier miles.

Amy was looking for something and she may find it in ~~Toronto~~ Brisbane. I hope there’s a Yonge St. like in Toronto.

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13 sick from salmonella in cantaloupe; CDC update; salmonella in cantaloupe chart updated on bites

Posted: March 29th, 2011 - 5:46pm by Doug Powell

As of March 29, 2011, 13 persons infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Panama have been reported from Oregon (5 cases), Washington (4 cases), California (2 cases), Colorado (1 case) and Maryland (1 case). Reported dates of illness onset range from February 5, 2011 to March 4, 2011. Ill persons range in age from less than 1 year old to 68 years old, with a median age of 12 years old. Sixty-two percent are male. Among ill persons, three have been hospitalized and no deaths have been reported.

Collaborative investigative efforts of state, local, and federal public health and regulatory agencies have linked this outbreak to eating cantaloupe. On March 22, 2011, Del Monte Fresh Produce N.A., Inc. voluntarily recalled cantaloupes. Consumer should not eat recalled cantaloupes and restaurant and food service operators should not serve them. The cantaloupes, grown in and shipped from Del Monte Fresh’s farm Asuncion Mita in Guatemala, have a light brown color skin on the exterior with orange flesh. The recalled cartons of cantaloupes are dark brown cardboard with the “Del Monte” logo in red lettering and “cantaloupes” in yellow lettering on a green background. The cantaloupes have the lot codes: 02-15-24-10, 02-15-25-10, 02-15-26-10 and 02-15-28-10. No illness has been linked to cantaloupes from other sources.

An updated table of salmonella-in-cantaloupe outbreaks and recalls is available at:
http://bites.ksu.edu/cantaloupe-related-outbreaks.

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bites, barfblog and food safety

Posted: March 7th, 2011 - 5:14am by Doug Powell

bites.ksu.edu and barfblog.com are complimentary and comprehensive resources for those interested in microbial food safety – the things that make people barf.

Too many people get sick each year from the food and water they consume. bites and barfblog are designed to inform and engage people in dialogue about food-related risks, controls and benefits, from farm-to-fork.

For rapid, relevant and reliable food safety news, subscribe to barfblog.com and follow us on twitter; for a daily, or twice-daily summary, including barfblog.com posts, subscribe to bites-l at bites.ksu.edu.

Dr. Doug Powell of Kansas State University, and associates, provide credible, current, evidence-based information on food safety and make it available through multiple media. Sources of food safety information include government regulatory agencies, international organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), peer-reviewed scientific publications, recognized experts in the field and other sources as appropriate.

barblog.com
barfblog.com is where Drs. Powell, Chapman, Hubbell and assorted food safety friends offer evidence-based opinions on current food safety issues. Opinions must be evidence-based — with references — reliable and relevant. The barfblog authors edit each other, often viciously.

Twitter and Facebook
Breaking food safety news items that eventually appear in bites or barfblog are often posted on Twitter and Facebook for faster public notification.

Infosheets
Food safety infosheets are designed to influence food handler practices by utilizing four attributes culled from education, behavioral science and communication literature:
• surprising and compelling messages;
• putting actions and their consequence in context;
• generating discussion within the target audiences’ environments; and
• using verbal narrative, or storytelling, as a message delivery device.

Food safety infosheets are based on stories about outbreaks of foodborne illness sourced from bites and barfblog and include the following: discussion of a foodborne illness outbreak; discussion of background knowledge of a pathogen (including symptoms, etiology and transmission); food handler control practices; and emerging food safety issues. Food safety infosheets also contain evidence-based prescriptive information to prevent or mitigate foodborne illness related to food handling.

bites-l listserv
The bites.ksu.edu listserv is a web-based mailing list that provides information about current and emerging food safety issues, gathered from journalistic and scientific sources around the world and condensed into short items or stories that make up the daily postings. The listserv has been issued continuously since 1993 and is distributed daily via e-mail to thousands of individuals worldwide in academia, industry, government, the farm community, journalists and the public at large.

The listserv is designed to:
• convey timely and current information for direction of research, diagnostic or investigative activities;
• identify food risk trends and issues for risk management and communication activities; and
• promote awareness of public concerns in scientific and regulatory circles.

The bites listserv functions as a food safety news aggregator, summarizing available information that can be can be useful for risk managers in proactively anticipating trends and reactively address issues. The bites editor, Dr. Powell, does not say whether a story is right or wrong or somewhere in between, but rather that a story is available today for public discussion; barfblog is where contributors express their evidence-based opinions on food safety issues.

Research
Researchers associated with bites and barfblog conduct an array of food safety research, including:
• effectiveness of food safety messages and media in public discussions of food safety issues, such as the risks of listeria to pregnant women, legislation related to raw milk, public availability of restaurant inspection data, and the safety of fresh produce, are evaluated through qualitative and quantitative methods;
• observational research methodologies are used to quantify individual food safety behaviors from farm-to-fork, to enhance handwashing compliance, thermometer use, food packaging information and interventions that can reduce the number of people that get sick from the food and water they consume; and,
• evaluation of food safety policy and alternatives.

Teaching
• A graduate program in food safety risk analysis – including food safety, language, culture and policy -- is being developed and will include distance-education.
• Courses are currently taught in food safety risk analysis, and food safety reporting.

Information
• Dr. Powell is the publisher and editor of bites and barfblog. Dr. Ben Chapman of North Carolina State University is the assistant editor.
• bites and barfblog are produced by a diverse team of secondary, undergraduate and graduate students as well as professionals who create multilingual and multicultural food safety and security information, including weekly food safety information sheets, and multimedia resources.
• Research, educational and journalistic opportunities are available for secondary, undergraduate and graduate students through bites.ksu.edu and barfblog.com.

Dr. Powell, a professor of food safety at Kansas State University, is the author of 42 peer-reviewed journal articles, 10 peer-reviewed book chapters and 1 peer-reviewed book. His cv is available at http://bites.ksu.edu/powell_cv.

Links
bites and barfblog may include links to other sites, which are provided as a convenience and as an additional access to the information contained therein. bites and barfblog are not responsible for the content of any other sites or any products or services that may be offered through other sites.

Accuracy, Completeness and Timeliness of Information on the Site
The bites and barfblog folks strive to provide accurate, complete and current information. The materials on this site are provided for general information only, and any reliance upon the material found on this site will be at your own risk. We reserve the right to modify the contents of the site at any time.

For more information, please contact us.

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barfblog, bites and food safety

Posted: November 3rd, 2010 - 6:40am by Doug Powell

There’s no shortage of food safety press releases, repeated and regurgitated using funky new media tools; there is a shortage of evidence-based, incisive approaches that challenge food safety norms and may eventually lead to fewer sick people.

barfblog.com is the fastest way to stay current on food safety issues. Powell, Chapman and assorted food safety friends offer evidence-based opinions on current food safety issues. Opinions must be reliable – with references -- rapid and relevant.

Anyone can subscribe directly to barfblog.com and receive an e-mail immediately when something new is posted. Go to barfblog.com and click on the ‘subscribe’ button on the right side of the page.

Food safety infosheets are designed to influence food handler practices by utilizing four attributes culled from education, behavioral science and communication literature:
• surprising and compelling messages;
• putting actions and their consequence in context;
• generating discussion within the target audiences’ environments; and
• using verbal narrative, or storytelling, as a message delivery device.

Food safety infosheets are based on stories about outbreaks of foodborne illness. Four criteria are used to select the story: discussion of a foodborne illness outbreak; discussion of background knowledge of a pathogen (including symptoms, etiology and transmission); food handler control practices; and emerging food safety issues. Food safety infosheets also contain evidence-based prescriptive information to prevent or mitigate foodborne illness related to food handling. They are available in several languages.

The bites.ksu.edu listserv is a free web-based mailing list where information about current and emerging food safety issues is provided, gathered from journalistic and scientific sources around the world and condensed into short items or stories that make up the daily postings. The listserv has been issued continuously since 1994 and is distributed daily via e-mail to thousands of individuals worldwide from academia, industry, government, the farm community, journalists and the public at large.

The listserv is designed to:
• convey timely and current information for direction of research, diagnostic or investigative activities;
• identify food risk trends and issues for risk management and communication activities; and
• promote awareness of public concerns in scientific and regulatory circles.

The bites listserv functions as a food safety news aggregator, summarizing available information that can be can be useful for risk managers in proactively anticipating trends and reactively address issues. The bites editor (me – dp) does not say whether a story is right or wrong or somewhere in between, but rather that a specific story is available today for public discussion.

If you only want to receive specific news, use RSS feeds.

RSS (Rich Site Summary, or Really Simple Syndication) is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. Many news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers syndicate their content as an RSS Feed to whoever wants it.

If you only want stories about food safety policy, or norovirus, go to bites.ksu.edu and click on that section. Then click on the RSS symbol, and add to your reader. barfblog.com is also available as a RSS feed.

Breaking food safety news items that eventually appear in bites-l or barfblog.com are often posted on Twitter (under barfblog or benjaminchapman) for faster public notification.

These are the various information products we deliver daily, in addition to research, training and outreach. Sponsorship opportunities are available for bites.ksu.edu, barfblog.com, and the bites-l listserv.

Any money is used to support the on-going expenses of the news-gathering and distribution activities, and to develop the next generation of high school, undergraduate and graduate students who will integrate science and communication skills to deliver compelling food safety messages using a variety of media. Research, training and outreach are all connected in our food safety world.

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Tags: Barfblog, bites, Chapman, food safety, kansas state, Powell