Npr

  • Nosestretcher alert: CBC (that’s in Canada) sucks at food safety info

    Posted: October 21st, 2010 - 9:59pm by Doug Powell

    I was on a trip with some Kansas Staters earlier this week, and at a dinner, one of them started talking about a report he’d heard on NPR (National Public Radio) earlier that week.

    I said, “State-sponsored jazz.”

    He looked at me like I was special, because, how hard is it to repeat lines from the Colbert Report.

    Satire, like the Intertubes, is lost on some people.

    The Vancouver television section of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) ran a bunch of food safety stories in the run-up to Canadian Thanksgiving on Oct. 11, 2010. An astute reader e-mailed me to say, “You may want to check out their ‘food-safety facts.’” I have no idea where these alleged facts came from, but the BS highlights include:

    2. "Pot luck meals are responsible for a large amount of food poisonings. They are usually caused by poor food temperature controls in egg or meat products."

    4. "Harmful bacteria does not stop multiplying unless refrigerated below 5 degrees. However, most refrigerators are not capable of this temperature."

    7. "Do not eat foods directly from a jar or can. Saliva can contaminate the contents inside."

    8. "Peanut butter needs to be stored in a refrigerator after opening to prevent the fats from going rancid.”

    None of these facts are substantiated, and there is plenty of available evidence to counter these claims. As the reader points out, nothing is mentioned about cross-contamination or handwashing.

    Hate is a strong word, but I hate jazz. Especially state-sponsored jazz. And terrible taxpayer-funded news.
     

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    Cbc, Colbert, food safety, jazz, Kids In The Hall, Npr
  • Food safety surveys are like jazz – they both suck

    Posted: July 28th, 2010 - 6:52am by Doug Powell

    National Public Radio took a break yesterday from seeking out the nation’s most inaccessible jazz (see Colbert, below) to report that Americans worry about the safety of the food supply.

    According to a national survey conducted for NPR by Thomson Reuters and released today, 61 per cent are concerned about contamination of the food supply. Most of them — 51 per cent — worry most about meat.

    In our Thompson Reuters survey, more people said food companies should improve their quality control systems, rather than calling for more inspections, oversight or stiffer penalties.

    Consumers Union, which did its own survey recently, asked 1,000 people whether Congress should pass a law to give the Food and Drug Administration the power to force food companies to recall tainted products; 80 per cent said yes.

    Food safety surveys suck.

    And now back to hateful, free-form jazz.

     

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    Food Safety Culture  |  1 Comment
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  • VP Biden says dumb things about swine flu

    Posted: May 1st, 2009 - 11:39am by Casey Jacob

    While on the road for several hours yesterday after visiting family, I finally settled on National Public Radio. I hear lots of good stuff on NPR when I’m in the mood for it. Just a few miles from home, I heard a story about some bad risk communication from an uninformed political figure. That’s always fun in my line of work…

    According to the NPR story aired yesterday (heard by clicking Listen Now), when asked about the outbreak of swine flu on the Today show, U.S. vice president Joe Biden said he has told his family,

    “I wouldn’t go anywhere in confined places now. It’s not that you’re going to Mexico – it’s that you’re in a confined aircraft and when one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft.”

    Dr. Mark Gendreau, whose research has focused on flying and the spread of diseases, was quoted as saying that a sneeze would only travel about 3 feet. Only people two seats in front or two seats behind a sneezer on an airplane were in danger of contacting infected droplets.

    Dr. Gendreau recommended washing hands often and using alcohol-based hand sanitizers to limit the spread of infection.

    Biden also told the Today show that, if they had another form of transportation, he does not suggest that his family ride the subway.

    In response, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who often rides the subway to work, said,

    “I feel perfectly safe on the subway and taking the subway does not present any more risks than anything else.”

    The text version of the NPR story now available online states that,

    “[T]he vice president's office [later] issued a statement translating Biden-speak into bureaucratese: Biden was merely restating the same advice the Obama administration is giving everyone, to avoid unnecessary travel. The statement also reiterated the now-familiar admonition to cover your face when you cough.”

    That’s not what I heard.
     

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  • Doug Powell appears on National Public Radio

    Posted: June 14th, 2008 - 2:26pm by Andrew Reece


    Yesterday Doug appeared on NPR Science Friday. The topic was the recent outbreak of Salmonella that has now officially sickened 228 persons in 23 states.
    A podcast of the episode is now available online, and can be heard at this location.
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