Animal House

  • Posted: February 10th, 2012 - 1:04pm by Doug Powell

    Nearly 200 people across the state have reported illnesses after attending a high school cheer and dance event in Everett earlier this month.

    Preliminary survey results show at least 192 reports of illness from participants and adults who attended the event Feb. 4. Students and adults from Columbia River and Skyview high schools in Vancouver attended the event.

    The Washington State Department of Health is investigating the cause of the outbreak.

    As part of the investigation, questionnaires were sent to participants and their families and stool samples are being collected for testing at the state Public Health Laboratories.

    More than 3,000 people attended the event and more than 1,000 competed in the State Cheerleading and Salute to Spirit in cheer and dance/drill.

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  • Posted: January 9th, 2012 - 6:07pm by Doug Powell

    Following last week’s report of a supposed outbreak of foodborne illness last month at the fancy Delfina eatery in San Francisco that was not reported to public health types, Inside Scoop SF reports that Delfina has now provided a statement, complete with dick fingers and exclamation marks.

    This unfortunate incident is an isolated case and happened to a private party. There is no reason for any alarm or panic from our customers or throughout our city. We are confident that this is not a part of an epidemic or outbreak and are still working with the health department. We would like to assure the public that there is no “tainted lettuce” outbreak in San Francisco as reported by SFist and then spread throughout the Internet. Below is our account of the incident:

    A group of fifty rented out the restaurant for a private dinner with a set menu for their holiday party on December 10, approximately one month ago.

    A day-and-a-half later we were informed that approximately half the group reported symptoms consistent with those of food poisoning.

    We believe we narrowed the culprit down to three of the most likely menu items from the private party menu. We contacted the purveyors of the most suspect ingredients to inform them of what happened

    After contacting the Department of Health we decided not to report it since it was a contained isolated incident.

    At the end of the day, and as we expressed to the affected group, we take full responsibility and are truly sorry to be the cause of their discomfort. We are in the business of providing pleasure, not misery!

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  • Posted: July 29th, 2011 - 12:49pm by Doug Powell

    Eater reports that 60-year-old East Austin barbecue legend Sam's BBQ, Willie's Bar-B-Que and La Morenita all had their business licenses revoked as a result of Operation Meat Locker. Austin police had been working with HEB for the past three months to bust meat thieves — it's a "growing crime" in Central Texas.

    Apparently thieves shove meat down their pants to sneak it out of grocery stores and "walk long distances or ride the bus" in order to sell it to restaurants.

    Shockingly, investigators discovered "food safety was not a priority."

    Officers posing as meat thieves approached 25 restaurants with the stolen meat, and only the three listed above went for it. Five arrests have been made. The restaurants can apply to have their permits reinstated but must remain closed until that happens.
     

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  • Posted: March 29th, 2011 - 1:35pm by Doug Powell

    Big tip of the hat to the students at New York’s Pace University and a Colbert wag of the finger to Lackmann Culinary Services, which runs the school cafeteria, and was closed after health inspectors discovered it was a dump.

    DNAinfo.com reports the city shut down Pace's main dining hall, along with the school's coffee kiosk and late-night eatery, last Thursday after observing workers touching food with their bare hands and storing perishable items at unsafe temperatures.

    The 79 violation points also included citations for dirty clothing, no soap in the bathroom and un-sanitized cloths.

    And just like in the UAE, a company spokesthingy had to say, health and safety are the company's top priorities.

    Which is why Lackmann only now plans to hire a full-time sanitarian and has already made changes to better monitor food temperatures. Students said they noticed the staff wearing gloves for the first time.

    They got caught.

    The students are having none of it and have Facebook-planned a boycott of the cafeteria.

    Orlando Olave, 22, a Pace senior who said he knew several people who believe they have gotten food poisoning from the cafeteria, adding,

    "I felt like it was going to happen eventually. [The workers'] aprons are usually dirty, and they wipe their hands on them."

    Ashley Cetinkaya, 19, a Pace freshman who plans to buy her lunch elsewhere from now on, said,

    "It's unacceptable considering the prices they charge us. I'm not going to be eating there again."

    A Pace spokesthingy said the university is meeting with students this week "to discuss their grievances and the university’s plans for addressing them."

    Pace students, take some food safety knowledge with you to the meeting and you’ll know far more than the bureaucrats or the catering firm.
     

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  • Posted: January 13th, 2011 - 6:02pm by Doug Powell

    A deli worker in a Duncan, B.C. Walmart (that’s in Canada) has tested positive for hepatitis A so the local health types are offering hepatitis A immunizations “to eligible members of the general public who have consumed certain deli products from the delicatessen in the Duncan Walmart.

    The Vancouver Island Health Authority recommends members of the public who consumed ready-to-eat food, including sliced meat and cheese, from the delicatessen at the store between December 30, 2010 and January 4, 2011, or consumed meat or cheese sliced at the deli counter from January 5 to January 10, 2011 should receive hepatitis A vaccine as a precaution. Individuals who ate or purchased deli items after this time period are not at risk of contracting the disease.

    This alert DOES NOT (sic) apply to produce or other foods purchased from the grocery department or to foods from the McDonalds restaurant located in the Walmart.

    I don’t know why the press release writers think putting words in all caps will make readers pay double super-secret attention to the warning.
     

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  • Posted: June 23rd, 2009 - 11:13am by Doug Powell

    Cucumbers should be used as vegetables, or even conversation starters like in this scene from the movie, Animal House (right).

    But a Lee County, Florida, Sheriff’s Office report says that during a food giveaway at the Lehigh Christian Church, a 33-year-old woman was struck with a cucumber by another woman after an argument over which free food belonged to which woman.

    The church asked both women to leave.

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