Herb

  • Chinese billionaire dies after eating poisoned cat stew: police

    Posted: January 5th, 2012 - 3:27am by Doug Powell

    Chinese billionaire Long Liyuan died after dining on slow-boiled cat meat stew laced with the toxic herb Gelsemium elegans during a business lunch in the Guangdong province.

    The case became an online sensation after the police said they had detained the local official, Huang Guang, who had also been hospitalized with food poisoning after the Dec. 23 lunch, in the city of Yangjiang.

    The police now suspect that Mr. Huang slipped Gelsemium elegans into the stew while eating lunch with Long Liyuan, 49, who ran a forestry company, and another friend. To avoid suspicion, Mr. Huang apparently ate some of the stew himself. All three men were hospitalized, according to the police account, and Mr. Long died almost immediately.

    The police discovered evidence that Mr. Huang had embezzled money from Mr. Long, and detained him on Dec. 30.

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    Wacky and Weird  |  0 Comments
    cat, China, Deliberate, food safety, herb, poison, stew
  • High bacteria levels in bean sprouts

    Posted: March 30th, 2011 - 5:46pm by Doug Powell

    CBC News asked hockey goon and University of British Columbia microbiology type Kevin Allen to test 44 packages of sprouts for bacteria from across the country and he found lots.

    There was no salmonella but Allen found 93 per cent tested positive for bacteria, and in some cases, high levels of enterococci bacteria, which is an indicator of fecal contamination.

    "They [bacteria found] come from our intestinal tract and we don't want the contents of our intestinal tract on our food," he said.

    Sprouts are particularly susceptible to contaminants because they are grown in moist, warm environments, which are ideal for the rapid growth of bacteria, Allen said, adding that washing them before consuming them likely wouldn't help.

    "Personally, I don't consume sprouts and I would not feed them to my children, either," Allen said.

    Allen also tested 106 samples of bagged veggies and found 79 per cent of the herbs and 50 per cent of the spinach had similar bacterial contamination.

    Allens report can be found at http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/includes/pdfs/produce_survey.pdf. We all look forward to the results being published in a peer-reviewed journal before being further bandied about.

    A table of North American raw sprout-related outbreaks is available at http://bites.ksu.edu/sprout-associated-outbreaks-north-america
     

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    Raw Food  |  1 Comment
    bacteria, food safety, herb, kevin allen, Raw, Spinach, Sprout, test
  • Beware the herb; cilantro with salmonella

    Posted: January 28th, 2011 - 8:26pm by Doug Powell

    Several fresh herbs are repeat offenders on the showing up contaminated list, this time cilantro.

    Offcials with the California Department of Public Health said Friday certain fresh cilantro sold in grocery stores may be contaminated with salmonella.

    No illnesses have been reported, but the cilantro is being recalled as a precaution.

    The recalled cilantro was distributed by Tanimura & Antle of Salinas. It was sold in bunches containing a white twist-tie printed with blue lettering starting Jan. 14. The twist-ties contain the words “Produce of USA, Cilantro #4889” and have a blue Tanimura & Antle logo next to the UPC code 33383 80104.
     

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    Salmonella  |  0 Comments
    California, Cilantro, food safety, herb, salmonella, tarlek