About 10 years ago, eldest daughter Madelynn got a job at a local supermarket.

I asked her if she got any food safety training.

“Yeah, we watched a video for 20 minutes, but we all forget that.”

If the daughter of a food safety nerd had such contempt for food safety training, I thought, maybe we should look at what works and what doesn’t.

We’ve reviewed various training packages over the years, and have a paper about a specific training approach coming out, but haven’t done the kind of observational research I’d like to. No one has.

But that doesn’t stop groups from trumpeting the glories of training.

The U.S. National Restaurant Association has offered the food safety training program, ServSafe, for almost 40 years and has now certified 5 million people.

I say some training is better than none, if only for introducing awareness that food safety is an issue. To coach a travel team in little girls’ ice hockey requires 32 or so hours of training; most people serve food with none.

But the more important question is what training or information works and what doesn’t. And collecting meaningful evidence to verify claims.

How should retailers market cantaloupe after last year’s listeria outbreak killed at least 33 and sickened at least another 146?

Armand Lobato, who works for the Idaho Potato Commission, has some ideas, which he shared in The Packer.

“As a produce manager, I would build a display appropriate for a generations-old relationship, not only between the bonafide, reputable growers and our chain but considering what the shipper brands and the Rocky Ford name have come to mean to our customers.

“I would make sure the display is placed prominently in the produce department, with a hearty spillover, as neatly well-stocked and rotated as any other display.

“I would also provide information for customers who wanted more information about the melons (as I’m sure the chain would provide anyhow). I would post this on the back of my large easel-sized sign and include what steps have been taken since last season. If I was the produce manager I would make sure that my crew knew every detail so they could answer customers’ questions, face-to-face.”

Sounds like marketing food safety at retail. I’m a fan of that. When Maple Leaf deli meats killed 23 Canadians in 2008, there were no such displays at retail. There was lots of talk, but to really regain trust, be completely transparent – and that includes safety data available to those who want it.

In sports, fans and especially parents can get excited about a bad call by the referee/umpire/line judge whatever. As a coach, I would tell kids, let it go, one call does not make the difference; it’s the whole game or season.

So when a restaurant lawyer whines, why can losing one point on a restaurant inspection in New York City, say for a small crack in the ceiling, make the difference between a B and an A grade, I say, it doesn’t; the grade is reflective of cumulative performance.

Students make similarly useless arguments, something like, “I just need that extra point to get an A.”

“Maybe you should have completed the assignments throughout the semester.”

The Atlantic has a piece on competing opinions about restaurant inspection grades in New York City, laid out as a duopoly between arbitrary health inspections and restaurant victims.

Restaurant inspection is subjective; every inspector is different, everyone has their own values and biases. But reading the restaurant owners in this piece verifies my preference for disclosure.

Iggy's, a pizzeria in New York City's East Village, is well-priced, homey, and remarkably clean on the inside. The floors are spotless, the pizza display case is free of smudges, and the steel counters glisten.

"Anyone can walk into my restaurant and see it's clean," says Ignatius Sono, the
owner of Iggy's.

But clean doesn’t mean safe, as noted on the inspection report.

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOH) says Iggy's is far from being perfectly clean and was given a B grade for infractions that include "Hot food item not held at or above 140º F," and "Food worker does not use proper utensil to eliminate bare hand contact with food that will not receive adequate additional heat treatment."

The story has the usual unsubstantiated claims from Mayor Bloomberg about reductions in Salmonella because of grades, and the usual whines from restaurant types about how unfair the whole thing is.

The best restaurants will stop whining and start marketing food safety.

Health Canada has a habit of issuing food safety reminders about the same time an outbreak comes to public attention. The latest example was a completely useless reminder to wash produce after an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in New Brunswick linked to Romaine lettuce from California, and just before another NB E. coli outbreak was announced.

Today, HC is “reminding Canadians that raw or undercooked sprouts should not be eaten by young children, older adults, pregnant women or those with weakened immune systems.”

Between 1995 and 2011, approximately 1,000 cases of sprout-borne illness were reported in eight outbreaks from five provinces across Canada. The largest outbreak in Canada was in 2005, when more than 648 cases of Salmonella were reported in Ontario.

Health Canada says children younger than five, older adults, pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems are particularly vulnerable and should not eat raw sprouts at all. They should also avoid eating cooked sprouts unless the sprouts have been cooked thoroughly.

This advice does not account for the risks of cross-contamination.

At least 30 people from a party of some 200 were sickened with Salmonella after a private function at a Helsinki restaurant.

YLE reports the environmental centre of the City of Helsinki has examined the incident by means of a questionnaire together with the help of samples taken by the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). However, no food with the offending salmonella bacteria has been detected.

Final results will be ready next month when the questionnaire data is finally known.

A salmonella outbreak was last reported in Helsinki at the end of last year when over 10 people fell ill after eating at the same luncheon diner.

Another chick outbreak; they’ve always been there, but people of all professions may be more attuned to the chick link.

Idaho now joins the club as the source of the fifth Salmonella outbreak linked to mail-order chicks and ducklings to surface since 2011.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reports 37 people infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Hadar have been reported from 11 states.

Eight ill persons have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported.

And, unfortunately, once again a high proportion of the sick are children 10 years of age or younger (37%).

Epidemiologic, laboratory and traceback findings have linked this outbreak of human Salmonella infections to contact with live poultry from Hatchery B in Idaho.

The mail-order hatchery has not been named at the request of state authorities. Public health investigators are using the PulseNet system to identify cases of illness that may be part of these outbreaks.

Live poultry were purchased from agricultural feed stores or direct from the mail-order hatchery. Ill persons reported purchasing live poultry for backyard flocks to produce eggs or meat, or to keep as pets. Seventeen (85%) of 20 ill persons with available purchase information reported purchasing live poultry from various locations of 13 different agricultural feed store companies in multiple states. Because the potential for Salmonella infection exists wherever these live poultry are sold, and not just at one feed store, CDC’s recommendations apply wherever these poultry are sold.

Findings of multiple traceback investigations of live poultry from homes of ill persons have identified Hatchery B in Idaho as the source of chicks and other live poultry. The owners of the mail-order hatchery are working closely with public health and agriculture officials to address this outbreak. Hatchery B is a participant in the USDA-National Poultry Improvement Plan which is a program to eliminate Salmonella pullorum and Salmonella typhoid from breeder flocks but does not certify freedom from other strains of Salmonella in birds. Because the hatching season has ended for this year, Hatchery B is not currently producing live poultry for sale. Live poultry infected with Salmonella can appear healthy and clean, but still shed Salmonella germs that can make people sick.

The E. coli O157 outbreak associated with a picnic in Germantown, Ohio has now sickened at least 75 people with 14 in hospital.

A 4-year old female, a 14-year old male, and a 73-year old male have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and are in serious medical condition.

Estimates are that as many as 300 people may have attended an annual customer appreciation picnic held by Neff’s Lawn Care, 9400 Ekhart Road, on July 3. Of the ill, 18 have been confirmed as being infected by E. coli O157.

Public Health - Dayton & Montgomery County officials are asking anyone who got sick after attending the picnic to call (937) 225-4460 to report their illness.

At least 33 people have been sickened with Salmonella Enteritidis linked to ground beef from a Cargill plant in Pennsylvania.

Although the onset of illness happened during the week of June 6, 2012, it took six weeks of sleuthing to link illnesses in five case-patients to the ground beef products produced at this establishment based on epidemiologic and traceback investigations, as well as in-store reviews.

Two of the five case-patients were hospitalized. Leftover product with no packaging information collected during the course of this investigation by the Vermont Department of Health tested positive for the outbreak strain of Salmonella Enteritidis. This outbreak strain of Salmonella Enteritidis is drug sensitive, meaning antibiotics can be effective in treating patients who need them

"Foodborne illnesses are unfortunate and we are sorry for anyone who became sick from eating ground beef we may have produced," stated John Keating, Cargill Beef president. "Ensuring our beef products are safe is our highest priority and an investigation is underway to determine the source of Salmonella in the animals we purchased for harvest and any actions necessary to prevent this from recurring."

Cargill Beef, a business unit of Wichita-based Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation, announced the Class I voluntary recall of approximately 29,339 pounds of 85-percent-lean, fresh, ground beef produced at the company's Wyalusing, Penn., facility on May 25, 2012, due to possible contamination with Salmonella Enteritidis.

The products subject to recall, sold wholesale and for further processing:
• 14 pound chub packages of "Grnd Beef Fine 85/15", packed 3 chubs to approximate 42-pound cases.

The ground beef involved was repackaged for sale to consumers by Cargill's customers. For a list of packages associated with this recall, consumers should refer to the USDA recall website at:www.fsis.usda.gov/FSIS_Recalls/index.asp.

I'm in Providence for the International Association for Food Protection's annual meeting. It's sort of like Comicon for the food safety nerds. I left for the conference yesterday and missed out on my neighborhood's yearly block party. Dani told me that there was a bunch of great side dishes and a 130lb pig that was slow cooked overnight. And not a lot of temperature control.

Festivals, community dinners and temporary events have had their share of outbreaks  (Taste of Chicago in 2007, Folklorama in 2010 and numerous fundraisers and community dinners). With community dinners there usually a bunch of well-meaning folks who may not always know or follow best practices.

Often at festivals and other events there are folks at booths who are not full-time food handlers, dealing with lineups, makeshift heat sources and poor access to handwashing facilities. Sometimes folks get sick as a result.

According The New Mexican, health officials are investigating a cluster of illnesses associated with eating at the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market.

Department of Health epidemiologist Joan Baumach said Thursday that the department has received reports of stomach illness from about 11 people, all of whom said they ate at the market. Baumach said Health Department staff are trying to determine if the illness was caused by a bacteria or virus while the Environment Department is trying to pinpoint the source.

Market organizers and several of those affected have said the sickness — the symptoms of which are diarrhea, stomach cramps and fever — is thought to have come from the Almaz Ethiopian Kitchen food booth.

“This booth was inspected,” said the market’s executive director, Charlene Cerny. “And [an employee] said he ate the thing that made people sick in the morning, so we are trying to figure out what happened. It’s really, sadly enough, a labor of love for the owner [Almaz Tesffimichal]. This is the only event she does all year.”

Frank Fiore, acting chief of the Environment Department Health Bureau, said all 23 of the booths that sold food or drinks at the market were inspected Saturday morning before the market opened.

A copy of the inspection report related to the Ethiopian Kitchen shows no violations. In fact, the sheet notes that the temperatures of the food at that time were all above 160 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature at which, Fiore said, most pathogens die. The sheet did contain the note “test strips needed.”

Baumach said her staff is analyzing stool samples and conducting laboratory tests for things such as salmonella or e.coli. The results of those tests should be ready in a day or two, she said."