Posted: June 30th, 2010 - 1:35pm by Doug Powell

I rarely golf anymore. Same thing happened when I had young kids before. Although Amy insists it’s no problem for me to disappear for 6 hours to hit a little white ball, it just doesn’t seem cool. And it’s boring. I miss hockey.

But me and Chapman have witnessed some terrible food safety at golf courses over the years.

In August, 2005, during the halfway point of the annual International Association for Food Protection golf tournament in Baltimore, a burley, 50-ish goateed he-man requested his hamburger be cooked, "Bloody … with cheese."

His sidekick piped up, "Me too."

Our golf foursome of food safety types were alternately alarmed and amazed, but ultimately resigned to conclude that much of what passes for food safety advice falls on deaf ears.

I asked the kid flipping burgers if he had a meat thermometer.

He replied, snickering, "Yeah, this is a pretty high-tech operation."

The young woman taking orders glanced about, and then confided that she didn't think there was a meat thermometer anywhere in the kitchen; this, at a fancy golf course catering to weddings and other swanky functions along with grunts on the golf course.

The Cook County Department of Public Health continues to investigate an outbreak of Salmonella enteritidis at the Skokie Country Club in Glencoe, IL. Currently, there are 29 laboratory-confirmed cases including seven hospitalizations associated with this outbreak.

CCDPH officials continue to follow-up on more than 50 additional reports of gastrointestinal illness from individuals who ate at the country club.