Honey on a dummy could have killed tot
The Scots have a way with headlines -- and in this case it’s deadly serious.
Call it what you will, a dummy, pacifier, soother, nuk – that’s Sorenne with one of hers a few weeks ago – they should never be dipped in honey.
A child in Scotland has been in hospital for six weeks fighting for his life with botulism and he could have caught it from sucking a dummy which had been dipped in honey, it emerged last night.
Since 1976, over 1,000 cases of infant botulism have been reported worldwide, most of them in America.
Clostridium botulinum can cause sickness in very young children, and infants under the age of 1 years old are most at risk. Honey may contain Clostridium botulinum spores that can grow in the digestive tract of children less than one-year-old because their digestive system is less acidic. The bacteria produces toxin in the body and can cause severe illness. Even pasteurized honey can contain botulism spores and should be not be given to children under the age of 12 months.
Pet snakes and babies don't mix: 4-month-old hospitalized with Salmonella in UK
I don’t know what it is with parents in the U.K. letting pet snakes hang out with their babies.
For the third time in recent memory, a 4-month-old baby fell seriously ill with salmonella she caught from the family’s pet snake.
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The baby girl was admitted to intensive care at St Thomas Hospital with a fever and high heart rate in August, where hospital tests revealed she was suffering from a strain known as salmonella Arizona, which is commonly associated with snakes.
She has recovered since then and an investigation by environmental health officers at Sutton Council identified the most likely source to be the family’s two royal python snakes, which can carry the infection in their gut and spread it through their droppings.
The council has now issued a hygiene warning to owners of exotic reptiles, saying it is essential for them to wash hands thoroughly after handling a reptile and keep the animal away from anywhere food is prepared.
Burger King outs baby for 'no shoes' rule
No shirt, no shoes, no service, baby!
According to KSHB-TV, the manager of a Burger King near St. Louis, Missouri, told Jennifer Frederich she would have to get her food to go because her daughter, Kaylin, wasn’t wearing any shoes. 
"She doesn’t own shoes. She’s only six months old,” said Frederich after the manager explained that feet without shoes were against the health code, and, no, socks would not suffice.
“She doesn’t walk, so she’s not touching the ground," Frederich continued, "There is no reason for her to have shoes on.”
While the manager's apparent commitment to the health code was admirable, the misplaced emphasis suggests it was not a product of a culture of food safety.
"In fact," the Associated Press later reported, "shoelessness is not a health code violation in St. Louis County."
A statement by Burger King, cited by the AP, says the owner of that particular franchise "apologizes for this guest's experience...The franchisee is retraining his restaurant team on the proper use of the 'no shoes' policy."
The franchise owner also contacted Frederich to apologize in person.
No baby shoes, no service at Burger King
Sorenne turns 8-months-old tomorrow. Being in Florida, Amy bought her some flip-flops. But that’s about it for shoes.
However, a Burger King manager took the no shirt, no shoes, no service policy to some extremes and threatened to call police on a mom because her 6-month-old baby wasn’t wearing shoes in the restaurant.
Seriously, who would want to put a six month old on the floor of a Burger King?
The video below explains:
UK baby catches salmonella from pet snake and lizard
The two-month old didn’t just catch salmonella from exotic family pets.
It wasn’t like she cho
se to cuddle with them.
I have a six-month-old and don’t let her get intimate with reptiles.
The Widnes tot was taken to hospital after environmental health officers found the family’s corn snake and bearded dragon lizard were both carrying the deadly bacteria (Salmonella).
The story also says that pet owners are also being urged to keep the animals away from kitchen sinks and bath tubs, and to even avoid smoking and handling them.
So try not to smoke your lizard. Or let your baby touch it.
CHUCK DODD: Eating dirt can be bad for you
New York Times journalist Jane Brody suggests that eating dirt is an instinctive behavior in humans. In her article, Eating dirt can be good for you - just ask babies, she interviewed researchers who think 
people should eat dirt in order to stimulate their immune system. Brody says that immune system disorders such as asthma and allergies have risen significantly in the United States.
Although allergies do appear to be on the rise, the awareness of allergies, the ability to diagnose allergies, and the number of people at risk (the U.S. population) have also risen significantly.
The director of gastroenterology and hepatology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Dr. Joel Weinstock, said in the interview,
"There are very few diseases that people get from worms. Humans have adapted to the presence of most of them. … Children should be allowed to go barefoot in the dirt, play in the dirt, and not have to wash their hands when they come in to eat…let kids have two dogs and a cat, which will expose them to intestinal worms that can promote a healthy immune system.”
Dr. Weinstock, I’m sure glad you aren’t my doctor.
I agree that immune systems are naturally stimulated by various exposures to the environment, and that Americans use too many antibacterial products, but I question Dr. Weinstock’s knowledge of zoonotic diseases. Intestinal parasites from animals that infect humans, since many are not adapted to humans, often leave the intestines and migrate through the body. There are approximately 10,000 human cases of larva migrans in the U.S. each year. Unfortunately, most of these cases are in children, and a few of these kids die.
Eating dirt is an instinct? Not for me. Babies eat dirt because they don’t know better. Some may think that bad behavior is an instinct, but calling bad behavior an instinct doesn’t excuse it. Bad advice shouldn’t be excused either.
Dirt may have poop in it, so don’t eat it.
Watching the trainwreck that is diarrhea
There’s a certain appeal to trainspotting – or watching an impending trainwreck. It’s appalling and compelling at the same time. Ben and I went to a Sloan concert in Guelph several years ago and we wanted to leave they were so bad – and Sloan is usually great – but had to stay and watch where they would descend to next.
It was worth the wait.
Amy the French professor has a similar obsession. There’s some woman who writes a blog about her meaningless life in France and Amy is hooked. Amy finds this woman’s blog posts meaningless, facile and unbelievably stupid. And she reads it every day.
Recently, French blogger’s daughter had, as Ben likes to say, the squirts: diarrhea at daycare. Mom says, “Our daycare is pretty cool about letting her (diarrhea daughter) come.”
Diarrhea in a daycare is not a good thing, but hey, poop happens. Not so sure about the quality control when the kid’s runny poop ends up on the bandage of her finger that mom had accidentally attempted to sever using a bedroom door. Read the blog and it may make sense; or want to kill yourself.
Surprisingly, the newspaper in Pembroke, Ontario, near the Barry’s Bay cottage owned by the parents of my high school girlfriend, has some tips for kids with the squirts.
Prevent the spread of viruses. Clean your hands and your child's hands often, especially after using the toilet or changing a diaper. Use soap and warm water, or hand sanitizer. If hands are dirty, hand sanitizers won't work, you'll need to wash with soap and water first.
Amy and I have been changing a lot of diapers. We wash our hands. And despite some fantastically explosive messes, haven’t gotten baby shit on the kid’s fingers.
Listeria and Mother's Milk
Doug wrote a book called Mad Cows and Mother’s Milk about a decade ago. I still haven’t read it. I feel bad about that, but I don’t think it has the answers to my recent nursing questions.
When we were meeting with the lactation consultant in the hospital (Melanie – you are fabulous, by the way), we asked her if foodborne illness could be passed on to the baby. She said no. She said not to worry about viruses such as flu or colds and that the baby cannot get Listeria or Salmonella from anything I eat. 
Once home from the hospital, I immediately went for the pâté, brie, goat cheese (thank you Graduate Students!), and smoked salmon. Who knew that motherhood could be so delicious?
Sorenne Laura Powell
I can hardly wait to lose the baby weight. Mine. I took sympathetic pregnancy a bit too far and really packed on the pounds.
But now that Sorenne has arrived, this morning, as Amy was going into week 42, I can begin my walk-around-with baby exercise regime. Weighing in at 9 lbs. 9 ounces, she’ll be a good workout. Mother and baby are fine.
Impact of listeria on infants in B.C. documented
A new report shows that of the 78 residents of the Canadian province of British Columbia who contracted listeriosis in the past six years, 10 per cent were pregnant women whose infections put them at high risk of miscarriage or stillbirth.
The majority -- nearly 60 per cent -- of pregnant women diagnosed with listeriosis either miscarry or have stillbirths.
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In a case described in the current B.C. Medical Journal, a pregnant woman in her 30s went to a Lower Mainland hospital complaining of a stiff neck, fever, back pain and headache. After arriving, she delivered a stillborn baby at 21 weeks gestation.
The authors wrote,
"Health care providers [want] better information for themselves and resources they could share with pregnant women. … The information provided to pregnant women by health care providers needs to be targeted and clear," and that as a result of the spring survey, BCCDC will start a project to better inform health care providers and their patients about food safety risks during pregnancy.
It’s a national embarrassment that statistics on listeriosis in Canada are either not available or hopelessly unreliable. Further, the call to action probably never would have gotten noticed were it not for the 24 deaths and dozens of illnesses in the Maple Leaf listeria outbreak. Pregnant women and other at-risk populations deserve better.
Maple Leaf listeria plant to re-open, creates new food safety position, questions remain
Three weeks after the Maple Leaf financial dude told the markets the plant would reopen, the Maple Leaf listeria plant is about to reopen and produce deli-meats.
The company has videos, a long list of food safety enhancements they are adopting, and has created the position of 'chief food safety officer.'
Guess I thought a $5 billion a year company would already have one of those. But that’s one of the things I find most challenging – how to compel everyone from maintenance crews to CEOs that food safety matters, especially in the absence of an outbreak. Now there’s an outbreak, 24 suspected or confirmed dead, 56 ill.
"Throughout this incident we have steadfastly placed consumers' interests first" said Michael McCain, president and CEO of Maple Leaf Foods.
That remains to be seen as more is uncovered about why there were delays and lousy notification as news of the outbreak initially trickled out. But yes, once the problem became publicly apparent, the company acted in great fashion.
The Canadian Medical Association Journal yesterday called for a full public inquiry. Not necessary, and a waste of taxpayers money. A few Bill Marler lawsuits would reveal far more about who knew what when.
Or people could do their jobs:
• Maple Leaf in conjunction with the various public authorities should provide a full public accounting of who knew what when and what was done to find out more;
• some sort of warning system about the risk of listeriosis in foods must be developed for at-risk populations – especially pregnant women and the elderly because they are the ones who get sick and die; and,
• make all data of listeria testing in plants public so others in the industry can improve and consumer confidence can be enhanced with data not just words.
Stay away from the Chinese baby formula - dozens of babies sick in China cause of melamine in baby formula
Elizabeth Weise reports in the USA Today today that Chinese newspapers are reporting that infant formula has been linked to kidney problems and kidney stones in babies there because the formula contains melamine — the same industrial contaminant that poisoned and killed thousands of U.S. dogs and cats last year.
No baby formula approved for use in the United States is manufactured in China, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
"We want to reassure the public that there's no contamination in the domestic supply of infant formula," says Janice Oliver, deputy of operations for FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
In addition, no U.S. manufacturers or marketers of infant formula receive ingredients from China. "We contacted all of them,' says Oliver.
"Chinese-manufactured infant formula is illegal in the United States and should not be coming into the United States, and we have controls at the borders to insure that infant formula products don't come in," says Oliver.
However, the agency is concerned that illegal infant formula may be sold in Asian and ethnic markets. That happened once before in 2004, when fake infant formula from China, which killed dozens of babies in that country, was found in at least one U.S. store.
The FDA is working with state officials to make sure that all Chinese, Asian and ethnic markets are aware of the problem, Oliver says. The agency is also alerting the Chinese community to avoid using China-produced formula.
Reports in the Chinese media from several provinces say that as many as 60 babies have been admitted to hospitals with kidney stones and that the illnesses have been linked to use of a specific brand of powdered infant formula.
Melamine is a by-product of plastic manufacturing. It can be used to mimic high-protein additives such as wheat and rice gluten. Adding melamine to ordinary wheat flour, for example, makes it test as if it is the higher protein, higher cost wheat gluten.
Pregnant woman miscarries because of listeria in Quebec cheese
Public health officials in Quebec say a pregnant woman in the province has lost her baby, possibly because of listeriosis.
Officials are still awaiting test results to confirm whether the woman who lost her baby was infected with the bacteria, said Dr. Horatio Arruda, Quebec's director of public health protection.
She didn’t lose the baby. It’s not like she misplaced the baby somewhere. The baby died because of listeria. Pregnant women should not eat a whole bunch of refrigerated ready-to-eat foods, but in the rush to promote raw milk cheese and food porn, those in charge forgot to remind those who are vulnerable of the risks.
Max Dubois, the owner of L'Échoppe des Fromages in St. Lambert, wants to know who will compensate him for the $40,000 worth of cheese inspectors seized and destroyed from his store on Saturday.
"Why could they not have organized a voluntary recall, as they do in France. Each cheese would have been sent away for analysis. We would have better been able to trace the spread of the bacteria. But now all the evidence has been destroyed. We'll never know if it was spread through a distributor, or on the paper it was wrapped in, or in some other way."
Uh, France is no better. Here is the latest French cheese recall due to listeria.
Microbiologist Jacques Goulet, a cheese specialist in the food science department at Université Laval, says he, too, believes the government over-reacted.
"Listeria is present everywhere. But for most people, the risk posed by listeriosis is very low. Healthy people are rarely affected by the bacteria," he said, noting that the annual average of listeriosis cases in Quebec is about 50. (The public health department reported 63 cases in 2007 and 49 in 2006.).
Way to cite statistics. The people who got sick are real people who thought they were eating safe food.
Listeria in cheese from Toronto shop sickened pregnant woman
On Aug. 29, 2008, Ping Chiu, owner of Cheese Magic in Kensington Market, had to throw out $1,000 worth of cheese and wasn’t happy about it.
"According to the health inspector, it was listeria. Although I was told by two big cheese suppliers that it can't be listeria."
It was listeria.
“Health officials confirmed Tuesday that product sold at a popular Kensington Market cheese shop was the source of the listeria bacterium that sickened a pregnant customer.
“Cheese Magic at 182 Baldwin St. was closed down last week after a regular customer fell ill after contracting listeriosis. Health inspectors also claim they found cat and mouse droppings in a food area of the store, mould growth inside a walk-in cooler, and products stored at incorrect temperatures.
“The business has since reopened after inspectors found it had met all safety requirements when they revisited the shop.”
For some bizarre reason, Dr. Barbara Yaffe, an Associate Medical Officer of Health for Toronto Public Health, felt it necessary to downplay the risk of listeria, especially for pregnant women, rather than shout it from the rooftops.
“Keep in mind that the risk from listeriosis is low for healthy individuals. Those most at risk of developing serious illness are pregnant women, the elderly, and those with weak immune systems."
Thanks. My pregnant wife will keep that in mind. So will the pregnant woman who got sick. At some point Canadian health types will have an honest discussion with consumers at risk without worrying if they will offend industry.
Seven pregnant women among 14 sickened with listeria from Quebec cheese
In 2004, I spent a week at a cottage with a couple of my children in Eastern Ontario near Sandbanks Provincial Park on Lake Ontario. Lovely spot.
One rainy day, we toured around and ended up at a cheese shop. They produced the cheese in the factory at the back, and had a charming market outlet that seemed to trap tourists like bees on sap.
Upon entering the store, a sign declared, “HACCP – A food safety program; Hazard Analysis Critical Control Pont.” Cool. I asked one of the staff what it meant. She said she didn’t know.
But beside the HACCP proclamation was a sign that read, “Public bathroom is out of order; for your convenience there is a blue Johnny on the spot behind the building (sic).”
And here it is (left). Note the lack of handwashing facilities or sanitizer. I watched people go to the porta potty and then come into the cheese shop and do what people do at quaint cheese shops: stick their unwashed hands into shared samples of curds (that’s one of my daughters looking disgusted in the middle, right, not because of the practice, but because I have to take pictures and be a food safety geek everywhere we go).
HACCP really doesn’t mean much unless there is a culture of food safety amongst the employees and everyone involved in making a product, like cheese or deli meat.
Best as I can figure, there is a separate outbreak of listeria in Quebec, in which one has died and 14 have been sickened. Eleven different types of cheese have been recalled, and many of them appear to be raw milk cheese, which the Quebec government recently approved for sale.
While merchants are complaining about the crackdown and lost sales, what seems to have been lost in the coverage is that seven pregnant women – four confirmed, three suspected – have developed listeriosis and three gave birth prematurely.
Sylvie Thibault, a customer sampling some of the free cheeses at La Fromagerie Atwater yesterday, said she's not worried, stating,
"I have started to double-check what cheese I buy. But I won't stop eating the food I love because of a little scare."
Joe Schwarcz, director of McGill University's Office for Science and Society, said,
"We need to put this in perspective," adding it's important "not to have people think every time they bite into a piece of brie, they're risking death."
Wow. I wouldn’t want to be pregnant in Quebec. So, Quebec government (Canada has no real authority in Quebec), given the number of pregnant women who have been sickened, any efforts to highlight the risks of listeria in certain foods to at-risk populations? Or is it just a silly little scare?
The recalled products from Fromagerie Medard are: Le Rang des Iles, Le 14 Arpents, Les Petits Vieux, Le Gedeon, Le Medard, Le Couventine, Le Cabrouet and Les Cailles, all with best-before dates between July 12 and Sept. 6. Products pulled off shelves from Fromagerie Table Ronde are: Le Fleurdelyse, Le Fou de Roi and Le Rassembleu with best-before dates after July 14.
Last week, cheeses manufactured by Fromages La Chaudiere were recalled because of salmonella, blamed for the death of an elderly person in the Chaudiere Appalaches region and 90 illnesses across Quebec.
Maple Leaf identifies likely source of listeria contamination at plant
Maple Leaf Foods continues its textbook risk communication, being the first to publicly provide information about the source of the listeria contamination that has killed 19 and sickened dozens.
But is it enough?
“After careful study of the records, the physical plant and product test results received from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), internal and external experts have concluded that the most likely source was a possible collection point for bacteria located deep inside the mechanical operations of two slicing machines on lines 8 and 9. Rigorous sanitization of this equipment was completed on a daily basis in accordance with or exceeding the equipment manufacturer's recommendations. However, upon full disassembly, areas were found where bacteria may accumulate deep inside the slicing machines and avoid the sanitization process. There were also other environmental factors, not on product contact surfaces, that may have contributed to the contamination.
"We deeply regret this incident and the impact it has had on people's lives," said Michael McCain, President and CEO. "We have the highest food safety standards and we have worked around the clock and left no stone unturned to identify the root cause and eliminate the source of this contamination. Throughout this crisis we have done whatever it takes to place our consumers' interests and public health first. It's now up to us to earn back your confidence."
Concerns with slicing machines are hardly new regarding listeria. The company has taken some good steps, but can do more:
• Release the results of the 3,000 listeria swabs your company takes every year to provide some data, some meaning, to your claims that public health is your top priority?
• Support some kind of point-of-sale initiative – warning labels or otherwise – to explicitly warn pregnant women and immunocomprimized Canadians that, as you say, listeria is so widespread in the environment, that vulnerable people should not eat your products, unless they are heated or some other kill step is employed.
Should deli meats be on the menu for pregnant women and at medical care facilities?
After four kids, I was familiar with the look.
“How long have you been pregnant,” I asked the thirty-something as we filled our plates during the catered lunch at a meeting in 2000 in Ottawa.
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“About six weeks.”
The American media had been filled with coverage of listeria after the 1998-1999 Sara Lee Bil Mar hot dog outbreak in which 80 were sickened, 15 killed and at least 6 pregnant women had miscarriages. Risk assessments had been conducted, people were talking about warning labels, and especially, the risks to pregnant women.
There was no such public discussion in Canada.
So as I watched the pregnant PhD load up on smoked salmon, cold cuts and soft cheese for lunch, I wondered, do I say something?
One of the biggest risks in pregnancy is protein deficiency. What if smoked salmon, cold cuts and soft cheeses were this woman’s biggest source of protein? (Turns out they were.)
Another big risk factor is stress. I didn’t want to freak her out. Besides, who the hell am I to say anything?
We sat together during lunch and chatted about babies, her aspirations and how she was feeling. Eventually I introduced the subject of listeria by talking about a risk assessment that had recently been published by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and that maybe she would be interested in looking at the results. I felt sorta goofy.
Eight years later, I don’t feel so goofy. Instead I’m frustrated at the lack of awareness, not only amongst pregnant women but amongst the elderly, other immunocompromised individuals, and the institutions and professionals that are supposed to look out for others.
Most of the now 12 confirmed and 6 suspected deaths related to Maple Leaf deli meats were consumed in places like nursing homes.
The Ontario Association of Non-Profit Homes and Services for Seniors, an umbrella group, was unaware of the recommendation that immunocompromised avoid deli meats to reduce the risk of listeria, unless they are thoroughly heated.
Association executive director Donna Rubin said,
"We've contacted dietitians that have long-standing experience in our homes and they've never been warned about listeriosis or deli meats being a huge issue or that they should be avoided.”
An Ontario Health Ministry spokesman said it has no specific policy against serving sliced meats in nursing homes, and Health Canada officials said banning certain foods from seniors homes is not in its jurisdiction. Health Canada has never recommended health facilities stop serving deli meats, noting that hospitals are a provincial responsibility.
In Calgary, two nursing home operators, Carewest and Bethany Care Society, confirmed some of their facilities serve cold meats.
Janice Kennedy, a Bethany spokeswoman, said,
"If public health says not to serve cold cuts to seniors, then we wouldn't. We're still meeting requirements."
It all sounds bureaucratic to me, as the death toll increases.
And the pregnant woman? When I saw her at another meeting a couple of months later, she thanked me for providing her with information about listeria and risky foods for pregnant mothers.
Setting Boundaries: Pets and your newborn baby
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My ex mother-in-law once told me that if I had a baby I would have to get rid of my cats. I replied, “No cats, no baby.” My step-brother's cats mysteriously disappeared once his firstborn was old enough to crawl. Doug and I have two cats and two dogs and no intention of giving them up or sending them outdoors once the baby arrives. Sure, there’s dog hair all over the floors and it’s going to be a hassle learning to manage new and old responsibilities – and much more difficult to keep pet hair out of the baby’s mouth once she’s mobile. But we committed to the pets long ago and have been working on teaching them their order in the home. The Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan, recommends that the dogs not even be allowed near the baby’s belongings at first to teach them that Baby is Alpha. Let them sniff at a distance until they know their place. When the dogs go for a walk, it should be behind the stroller, and they shouldn’t get unsupervised visitation, if they are allowed at all, in the baby’s room. It’s all about setting boundaries.
The Worms and Germs Blog by Doug’s ex-hockey buddy Scott Weese (he’s still a buddy but no hockey for Doug in Manhattan) recommends in “Old pet, new baby...new problems?” that we visit our veterinarian and the humane society to get advice on introducing the dogs and cats to the baby. Scott provides relevant downloadable pamphlets from the Calgary Humane Society in his blog post.
We want all four pets and the three of us to survive the transition without nips, scratches, or territory marking. We get enough of that from our friends and colleagues.
Baby gets salmonella from snake
Amanda Vry found out from research on the Internet that her daughter Gabriella could have contracted Salmonella from reptiles and is now looking for a new home for Reg, a Colombian Rainbow Boa.
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Reg was bought as a present for her son's ninth birthday and the family carried out research on keeping reptiles beforehand as Ms Vry was heavily pregnant at the time.Apparently they didn't use the Salmonella search term, and it's unlikely most purveyors of reptilian pets talk about the Salmonella issue.
Ms Vry told BBC News,
"When they said it was salmonella I just did not know how she could have caught it. I went to the hospital's information centre and typed in 'salmonella' and it said it can be caught quite easily from reptiles. We were all shocked after we had carried out the research before. If I had been given this information before we bought it, we would never have bought it and my daughter would never have been ill and my family would not have gone through this."
As Samuel L. would say, "Get those mother***ing snakes away from those mother***ing babies."
