It’s an unfortunate, but familiar story for UK childcares.

The Scotsman reports three infants were being treated in hospital following a suspected E coli O157 outbreak linked to the baby unit at a nursery school.

NHS Grampian confirmed that infection control specialists at the health authority are investigating two confirmed cases and four suspected cases of potentially deadly E coli O157 infection in children who attend Rose Lodge Nursery School in Aboyne, Royal Deeside.

The baby unit at the nursery school has been closed while investigations continue to identify the source of the bug. The garden in the grounds of the nursery in the heart of the village has also been declared out of bounds to the children but the nursery remains open.

The three children who have been admitted to hospital were all being cared for in the baby unit. There are a total of 40 children at the nursery, which takes children from six weeks up to the age of five.

NHS Grampian stressed yesterday the investigation to pinpoint a possible source for the bug was not focused solely on the nursery and that other potential sources of infection in the predominantly rural area were also being looked at.

A spokeswoman for NHS Grampian said no orders had been issued to close the Aboyne nursery. “The investigation is not centring on the nursery. We are also investigating other potential sources of exposure. E coli O157 are bacteria that are commonly carried in the gut of a variety of farm animals and their feces.”

NHS Grampian was informed about the first possible case of infection on Sunday night and of two other cases on Tuesday.

New Zealand has a much higher rate of reported campylobacteriosis than the rest of the developed world and it’s because consumers are dumb, not because of high loads of campylobacter entering kitchens. Or that’s what a new paper says; I’ve parsed the abstract, below.

“The two main risk factors identified internationally for campylobacteriosis are, consumption of undercooked chicken and cross-contamination during food preparation.”

With you so far.

“One possible reason is that New Zealanders have poorer home hygiene practices during food preparation than the citizens of other developed countries.”

Why just the home? Isn’t food prepared in a myriad of places like, restaurants, and isn’t the basics of many food safety risk reduction efforts to actually reduce risk: to lower loads of Campylobacter moving from the farm right through to the food service and home kitchen?

“The objective of this study was to investigate cross-contamination during chicken preparation at home as a possible hypothesis to explain the high reported rate of campylobacteriosis.”

That sounds like a great observational study, coupled with microbiological modeling. Except the researcher did this:

“An extensive search of databases of publications concerned with consumer food handling practices or self-reported practices, consumers' knowledge or perception about food safety and consumers' observed practices, was conducted.”

Scream. Relying on other studies of self-reported research is flawed and the conclusions erroneous.

“Personal communication with science groups in New Zealand and the world were also carried out. It was found that in New Zealand there is a lack of data regarding consumer knowledge and studies on handling practices. The few studies conducted in New Zealand were not comprehensive.”

So the data about New Zealand home handlers, already flawed, is worse than usual, yet the researchers write …

“It appears from the findings of this study, that New Zealanders' knowledge of basic food hygiene is lower in comparison to people of other developed countries. For example, New Zealanders scored the lowest in their knowledge about food safety or hygiene.”

That’s not evidence. And awareness doesn’t mean people will actually do it.

“Most of the evidence collected in this study supports the hypothesis that New Zealanders are poorer in home hygiene than people of other developed countries, and this has possibly contributed to New Zealand having the highest rate of campylobacteriosis among developed countries.”

No. It was a foregone conclusion. But that won’t stop politicians and producer/industry groups from citing the work … extensively. And then the researcher will get promoted.

Fox News reports that public restrooms in Beijing must contain no more than two flies per stall, according to a bizarre new directive issued to washroom attendants.

The Beijing Municipal Commission of City Administration and Environment issued the rule Monday as a "new standard for public toilet management," the Beijing News reported.

Xie Guomin, the official in charge of the initiative, told the newspaper that the two-fly rule was not compulsory, but was a new benchmark to improve the Chinese capital's notoriously unpleasant public restrooms.

"We will not actually count fly numbers. The regulation is specific and quantified, but the inspection methodology will be flexible."

Restaurant violations are nothing new. The shocking bits of this story is that there are 100 sushi restaurants in the Tampa area alone; and that sushi is considered “healthy and nutritious.”

The I-Team at ABC Action News reviewed the inspection reports of 100 sushi restaurants in the bay area over the last year and found serious critical violations that could make you or your family sick.

That includes raw tuna at 61 degrees, raw shrimp and fish over cooked tempura, which is a cross contamination issue and restaurants that had to throw out food because they were at hazardous temperatures. We also look at one sushi restaurant that tops the list in critical violations.