Doug Powell
Dr. Douglas Powell is an associate professor and scientific director of the International Food Safety Network at Kansas State University. Trained in molecular biology, and employed as a journalist, Dr. Powell found that food safety was a discipline where he could meld his interests in science, society and policy -- more formally known as risk analysis. His lab, the International Food Safety Network, seeks innovative ways to compel everyone in the farm-to-fork food safety system -- individual producers, retail employees, and consumers, among others -- to acknowledge and adopt best practices to reduce the risk of foodborne illness. A native of Brantford, Ontario, Doug is passionate about food, has four daughters, and is an OK goaltender in pickup hockey. foodsafety.ksu.edu
Salmonella focus on tomatoes and jalapeno peppers
Jonathan D. Rockoff of The Baltimore Sun reports today that,
Investigators are seeing more signs that the salmonella outbreak blamed on tomatoes might have been caused by tainted jalapeno peppers and have begun collecting samples from restaurants and from the homes of those who have been sickened, according to health officials involved in the probe.
New interviews with those who became infected found that many had eaten jalapeno peppers, often in salsa served with Mexican food, according to two state health officials. So far, none of the jalapenos taken from restaurants and from the homes of those who became ill have tested positive for Salmonella saintpaul. …
The outbreak, which began 12 weeks ago, is believed to be the largest of its kind, and new cases continue to emerge. It has sickened more than 920 people across the country, up from 756 one week ago, and sent more than 110 to the hospital. …
One health official involved in the investigation said "loose ends" are keeping tomatoes under suspicion, but the official said they could be accounted for easily. The official said evidence is "piling up" that indicates that jalapenos are to blame.
"There's certainly no shred of doubt in my mind," the official said.
Another health official was more cautious, saying that the evidence is pointing to peppers but that there is not yet enough information to rule out tomatoes.
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Sandbox safety and poop -- Michelle Mazur
Cats view sandboxes as a giant litterboxes.
Uncovered sandboxes can pose a threat to a child’s health if there is fecal matter in the sand. Dogs, raccoons, and especially cats may use this area as a bathroom space. These animals are known to carry many parasites, such as hookworms, roundworms, whipworms, tapeworms, and coccidia.
If a child puts her fingers in her mouth, she can be infecting herself with the eggs of a parasite. In some cases, the hookworms will penetrate the skin, causing a condition called cutaneous larva migrans. In 2006, a summer camp in Florida reported an outbreak of cutaneous larva migrans involving 18 campers and four staff members. Cat feces in a sandbox was thought to be the source of the infection.
Scott Weese, a veterinarian and publisher of the Worms and Germs blog, said recently,
"There's certainly no indication that children should not go into sandboxes. These are extremely rare diseases that affect a very, very small number of people in North America every year."
But if a child puts a handful of sand in his mouth, that might just be the winning ticket to the parasite lottery.
Some preventative measures to keep the parasites out of the sandbox are:
~ Cover the sandbox when it is not in use. Commercial sandboxes come with covers, or a simple board with a brick on top of it will help to keep wild animals out of the sandbox.
~ Supervise children when they are playing in the sandbox and prevent them from putting their hands in their mouths.
~ Always, always, after coming in from playing outside, wash your hands.
I try not to be a food safety jerk
After telling Misti Crane of The Columbus Dispatch that I feel naked without a thermometer – when cooking – she came back for more, and asked if I would ever take a thermometer to, say, a Fourth of July BBQ at someone else’s place.
Here's what Doug Powell does: He whips out the thermometer he's recently taken to carrying with him.
You might wonder how the food-safety expert finesses such a potentially awkward social situation.
"I go into it very academic, professor-ish like," he said.
"I try not to be a jerk."
… But nobody will eat a burger off his grill that hasn't been stabbed in the side with a tip-sensitive digital thermometer and is cooked to a minimum of 160 degrees.
I’ve taken thermometers while tailgating at Kansas State football games, I’ve stuck them in potpies, and I’ve converted at least one French professor into using a thermometer. I know it’s awkward to ask questions, or listen politely while someone gases on about how safe their food is cause it comes from some dude with a RR address, but really, I try not to be a jerk.
Below are two videos, one tailgating, and one on how to cook hamburgers.
Now, can someone explain the American fascination with fireworks and the desire for students – especially males – to ignite the noisemakers every night, beginning July 1. What are they compensating for?
USDA says Nebraska Beef doesn't know how to manage shit
While Nebraska Beef was busy telling church ladies they didn’t know how to safely prepare food, and telling Americans, including 50 really sick ones, that their meat had never been linked with illness, the U.S. Department of Agriculture was busy telling Nebraska Beef they didn’t know shit.
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Or at least how to reduce it in Nebraska Beef products.
USDA just announced that Nebraska Beef, Ltd., an Omaha, Neb., establishment is expanding its June 30 recall to include all beef manufacturing trimmings and other products intended for use in raw ground beef produced between May 16 and June 26, totaling approximately 5.3 million pounds, that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.
“FSIS has concluded that the production practices employed by Nebraska Beef, Ltd. are insufficient to effectively control E. coli O157:H7 in their beef products that are intended for grinding. The products subject to recall may have been produced under insanitary conditions.”
That’s insane. Or unsane. And why thermometers and cleanliness are a must at retail, food service and the home, cause companies like Nebraska Beef would rather blame consumers than take care of their own shop.
Fresh salsa focus of Salmonella search
Elizabeth Weise writes in tomorrow’s USA Today that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has asked state and local health officials to focus their investigative efforts on items commonly used in the production of fresh salsa, particularly that made in local restaurants.
Salsas are typically made with tomatoes, onions, jalapeños, garlic and cilantro. They can also include tomatillos and other produce.
The focus does not involve commercially produced salsas. Salsas purchased in cans, jars or plastic containers in the refrigerated section of the supermarket are not being investigated. Fresh-made salsas only, prepared in the home or local restaurants, are the focus.
Tomatoes, originally considered the sole source of the outbreak, remain one of the targeted items, investigators say.
The Food and Drug Administration's suggestion to avoid red round, Roma and plum tomatoes grown in certain areas is still in effect.
The latest figures for the outbreak are 887 sickened nationwide, with an additional 18 newly confirmed cases. At least 108 people were hospitalized.
Tom Nassif, president and chief executive of Western Growers, which represents produce producers in California and Arizona, said if the outbreak ends up not being associated with tomatoes, growers will have taken a tremendous hit for nothing, and if tomatoes are exonerated, Nassif says growers might ask for financial relief from Congress.
Bill Marler, one of the nation's leading food-safety attorneys, said the FDA can't be faulted for acting in the absence of a "smoking tomato" laced with the salmonella bacteria, stating, "Should they have waited until they knew exactly what it was? Well, whose side do they want to come down on: the side of public health and kids or the produce industry?"
I wrote something similar regarding the actions of Ontario government officials after the 1996 cyclospora outbreak (was it California strawberries, no it was Guatemalan raspberries) in the book, Risk and Regulation.
"Once epidemiology identifies a probable link, health officials have to decide whether it makes sense to warn the public. In retrospect, the decision seems straightforward, but there are several possibilities that must be weighed at the time. If the Ontario Ministry of Health decided to warn people that eating imported strawberries might be connected to Cyclospora infection, two outcomes were possible: if it turned out that strawberries are implicated, the ministry has made a smart decision, warning people against something that could hurt them; if strawberries were not implicated, then the ministry has made a bad decision with the result that strawberry growers and sellers will lose money and people will stop eating something that is good for them. If the ministry decides not to warn people, another two outcomes are possible: if strawberries were implicated, then the ministry has made a bad decision and people may get a parasitic infection they would have avoided had they been given the information (lawsuits usually follow); if strawberries were definitely not implicated then nothing happens, the industry does not suffer and the ministry does not get in trouble for not telling people."
I’ll have more to say about this tomorrow.
Chipotle misses the microbiological mark - again
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., famous for telling consumers what isn’t in its foods – antibiotics, hormones – and has had a couple of recent unpleasantries associated with their food – norovirus and hepatitis A – announced it will start buying locally raised produce for its restaurants this summer.
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Under the plan, 25 percent of at least one of its produce items, including romaine lettuce, green bell and jalapeño peppers and red onions, for each of its 730-plus restaurants, will be sourced from small and mid-sized local farms.
I’m all for local food, as long as someone is checking to ensure the microbiological safety of fresh produce. Local does not automatically mean safe.
330 confirmed with Salmonella in Denmark; 30 new cases per day
The Associated Press reports that Danish health officials are checking everything from refrigerators to credit card receipts to find the source of what may be the worst Salmonella outbreak in 15 years.
Kare Moelbak of the Ministry of Health said 330 cases of the relatively rare Salmonella typhimurium U292 have been confirmed and about a quarter of those people have been hospitalized.
Moelbak said he suspects the source is some sort of Danish food product distributed only in Denmark, since neighboring countries have not reported an outbreak. They believe it probably is meat, but they do not know which product.
He said, she said: talking about tomatoes
Since April, 869 persons infected with Salmonella Saintpaul with the same genetic fingerprint have been identified in 36 states and the District of Columbia.
On July 1, 2008, Jonathan D. Rockoff of the Baltimore Sun, and many others, reported that investigators probing the salmonella outbreak that mysteriously keeps infecting Americans have expanded their hunt beyond tomatoes and are looking to see whether other produce may be responsible, federal health officials confirmed yesterday.
It was the strongest indication to date by the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that weeks of focus on tomatoes as the culprit may have been a mistake, something that state health officials and other scientists increasingly fear.
"The tomato trail is still hot. It's a question of whether other products are getting hotter.”
Dr. David Acheson, associate FDA commissioner for foods
"If they say it's not tomatoes, then how many other commodities will be affected? We have a lot of reasons to be angry."
Tom Nassif, president, Western Growers Association
"Things definitely have to get better. No one in public health and no one in industry can be satisfied how this outbreak was handled."
Amy Philpott, United Fresh Produce Association
"In a digital age should we still be using paper and pencil to try to figure these things out. It certainly seems illogical at this point that we don't have a more expeditious way to deal with traceability."
FDA’s Acheson, wondering whether pushing the food industry to move to computerized record keeping might speed investigations in the future.
"We might have added every other vegetable in the country. This is crazy, absolutely crazy."
Reggie Brown, executive vice president, Florida Tomato Growers Exchange
"It is like a detective trying to solve a case. We often have to rely on people's memory of things that are not very memorable, such as what they ate last week or the week before. They may not realize or remember that the things they ate have many different ingredients."
Robert Tauxe, Centers for Disease Control
There's a growing misconception in the public that if tomatoes really were to blame, the outbreak would only have lasted six weeks. That's just not true, he said, pointing to farms that rotate harvests so as to keep producing tomatoes for months.
David Acheson, FDA's associate commissioner for foods
"I really think that what Katrina did to FEMA, this salmonella issue is going to do the FDA. They are going to have to learn to be much more prudent in ringing the alarm bell until they determine the source of whatever contamination they may be dealing with.”
Bob Spencer of West Coast Tomato, Florida
Mayonnaise makes food safer
The New York Times reports that, despite its reputation, mayonnaise can reduce food spoilage.
Most commercial brands of mayonnaise contain vinegar and other ingredients that make them acidic — and therefore very likely to protect against spoilage.
When problems occur, they usually result from other contaminated or low-acid ingredients (like chicken and seafood), improper storage and handling, or homemade versions that contain unpasteurized eggs.
One prominent study published in The Journal of Food Protection found, for example, that in the presence of commercial mayonnaise, the growth of salmonella and staphylococcus bacteria in contaminated chicken and ham salad either slowed or stopped altogether. As the amount of mayonnaise increased, the rate of growth decreased. When temperatures rose to those of a hot summer day, the growth increased, but not as much as in samples that did not contain mayonnaise.
Or, as Bill Marler quipped, for his summer picnic, “I’ll just have the bun please.”
Salmonella in tomatoes or something else?
With no end in sight, Elizabeth Weise of USA Today reports that suspicions are mounting that fresh unprocessed tomatoes aren't necessarily causing the salmonella outbreak that has sickened 851 people across the U.S., with the latest case beginning June 20.
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Robert Tauxe, deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s division of foodborne diseases, said CDC launched a new round of interviews over the weekend, adding,
"We're broadening the investigation to be sure it encompasses food items that are commonly consumed with tomatoes.”
Weise reports that if another food is found to be the culprit after tomatoes were recalled nationwide and the produce industry sustained losses of hundreds of millions of dollars, food safety experts say the public's trust in the government's ability to track foodborne illnesses will be shattered.
Michael Osterholm of the National Center for Food Protection and Defense at the University of Minnesota, said,
"It's going to fundamentally rewrite how we do outbreak investigations in this country. We can't let this investigation, however it might turn out, end with just the answer of 'What caused it?' We need to take a very in-depth look at foodborne disease investigation as we do it today."
Jim Prevor, editor of Produce Business magazine, says tomatoes couldn't have caused an outbreak that has stretched from early April to late June.
"There's not a field in the world" that produces that long.
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If not tomatoes, what else? "Something that people find difficult to remember but which is always served with tomatoes," says Tauxe.
That would put salsa, jalapeño peppers, green onions and cilantro at the top of the list of potential culprits, says Doug Powell, director of the International Food Safety Network at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan.
