From the douchebag files
Some people are lawyers and specialize in rhetoric. It’s that Plato thing.
Some of us submit our opinions to cat scratching peer review, take our lumps and get better.
There’s this bunch of lawyers who say they’re Defending Food Safety.
Probably the worst blog name since Maple Leaf’s “Our Journey to Food Safety Leadership.”
One of them, Shawn Stevens (stevens@gasswebermullins.com) wrote on Oct. 22/09 that each year, American families eat somewhere in the neighborhood of 328.5 Billion safe meals – and countless more safe snacks. While any illness or death linked to the consumption of food is one too many, the fact remains that (at three meals a day) you and I are 20 times more likely to die this year from pneumonia or drowning than from a food-borne illness. Although not perfect, the statistics are quite impressive.
As the Sloan song says
When you find you're a conformer
Take pride and swallow whole
Stevens goes on to say,
As consumers, we are inundated by media “fear-mongering,” and made to believe that with each meal consumed, we draw closer to the precipice of some fathomless tragedy. We are also taught to be suspicious and wary of the people who have dedicated their lives to ensuring that our families are fed, and that our food is wholesome.
You see, food safety is a complicated and dynamic issue. It is easy to be a cynic. It is easy to attack others with the benefit of extended hindsight. It is easy to simplify things to a level that a third grader would find devoid in both substance and fact. The real challenge, however, lies in embracing a reasoned and proactive approach that not only recognizes the limits of technology and science, but, at the same time, within these limits, best reduces the risks most likely to occur to the greatest extent possible.
Dude, you just failed my intro class for most horrible and unsubstantiated metaphors.
But why not reference our paper, Where does foodborne illness happen--in the home, at foodservice, or elsewhere -- and does it matter? Because that would conflict with your world-view?
In any event, for those who continue to ignore science and reason, who contend that food safety is the responsibility of food producers alone, and who wrongly proclaim that food safety is only as simple as “not eating poop,” I say this: given the statistics, what goes into one mouth is often far less harmful than what comes out of another.
I e-mailed the lawyer in question on Friday about the don’t eat poop line, and he decided not to answer. Seriously I don’t want to know what is coming out of his mouth.
I could eat a horse
In the wake of news that some in south Florida are taking to butchering horses, here are some tips from Australia on how to eat horse.
Horse Steaks
The world’s most famous horse steak eaters, the French, have only gained that reputation since the 1789-1799 revolution simply because the horses of aristocrats were an easy source of protein for a country in turmoil. Its popularity was reinforced during food shortages post World War II. Traditionally, horse meat is sold from boucheries chevalines (horse butchers), although now it can also be bought from supermarkets. In French-speaking Quebec, in Canada, horse meat is also popular (above, right, a horse butcher at the Toulouse market, 2007).
Chips Cooked in Horse Fat
Horse with Noodles
Pastissada de Caval
In northern Italy, the traditional horse meat stew from Verona known as Pastissada de caval is made with wine and paprika. Legend has it that the dish originates from the town’s inhabitants marinating the meat from dead horses in the local Valpolicella wine and herbs and spices after a battle between the Ostrogoths and Barbarians in AD489. In Italy, horse - and donkey - meat has traditionally been cured to make bresaola or carpaccio.
The Original Steak Tartare
Needless to say with horses being central to life on the central Asian steppes, so it is central to their diet. For those magnificent horsemen the Tartars, the most famous being Genghis Khan and his army, the horse was also a living meal. They would slice meat from the horses' hindquarters for sustenance, sewing-up the wound, and continuing on their rampage. Another legend has it that the Tartars tenderized their meat under their saddles, the origins of the classic French raw meat beef dish steak tartare.
Alcoholica Mare's Milk
This reliance on the horse on the central steppes also means a reliance on mare’s milk. Fermented, mare’s milk becomes a mildly alcoholic yoghurt-like drink known as Kumis or Airag. When visiting Mongolia in 2005 President Bush was apparently offered Kumis although there is no record as to whether or not he actually consumed it.
Horse Jerky
Commercially produced packets of horse meat jerky is an easy introduction to horse meat for squeamish tourists in Kazakhstan. For the locals though, horse flesh is a real treat and made into sausages including Kazy and the smoked sausage Shuzhuk.
Horse Sashimi
In Japan, barbecued, horse is simply called horse meat: baniku; or skewered horse: bagushi. But raw horse meat is poetic, named after its cherry-red colour and known as sakura (cherry blossom) or sakuraniku (cherry blossom meat). Sakura served sashimi-style with soy sauce and ginger is known as basashi.
Bunny boiler alert: when relationships sour, take care of the pets
In a scene strangely reminiscent of one in the 1988 movie A Fish Called Wanda – the one where a maniacal Kevin Kline starts eating pet-loving Ken’s fish -- a Houston-area woman fried and ate some of the pet goldfish she had bought with her former hubby in happier times.
Pasadena police say it's a civil matter and no charges will be filed.
Don't eat poop cupcakes and more
Things are winding down at Kansas State University for the year – at least on the teaching side. In the past, Amy and I have planned some exotic trip to France or Canada to get out of Kansas for the summer, but this year, we’re staying fairly put, with baby Sorenne. Maybe she’ll get acclimated to the heat.
On Friday, for the second year now, Amy hosted the Modern Languages departmental end-of-semester soiree, where all the language professors get together in a Tower of Babel sorta thing. Good fun, good food. And in a food porn moment, Katie made language-based cupcakes. What’s your favorite?
(Oh, and the A-Goo cupcake was in honor of baby Sorenne, cause she says that a lot.)
Jennifer Aniston eats dog biscuit - Salmonella risk?
Dlisted reports that Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson were on Germany's Wetten Dass... to promote that movie about a dead dog when they had to eat a doggy biscuit after losing a bet.
People magazine says that the bet was that a woman claimed she could correctly identity her team of Husky dogs just from listening to them drink soup. Jennifer and Owen and the host all indulged. People magazine even asked readers, “Have you ever tried your pet’s food?”
This is a bad idea. Salmonella has been routinely found in dried dog food and doggy treats. People worried about barfing should wash their hands after handling either – dog food or treats, Jennifer or Owen.
Looking out for the farmers of the "safest food in the world"
This summer at the Kansas State Fair, I felt like I was getting a lot of strange looks. I tried to brush it off, telling myself that it was no crime to have never slopped a pig or stolen eggs from under a roosting a hen—I should still be welcome at the fair.
I was positive there were other non-farm girls there. Probably even some that grew up in the city; I, at least, shared a property line with a cow pasture. But people just kept staring.
I really got embarrassed when a representative from the Farm Bureau Federation started to laugh out loud and point at me.
When it finally donned on me that I was wearing my Don’t Eat Poop t-shirt that day, I turned to let him read the back: Wash Your Hands.
I explained that I worked for an organization that wants to turn the public’s attention to food safety.
He seemed to think that particular method was effective. “But do you make farmers look bad?” he asked while raising one eyebrow.
I told him we felt it was important that everyone does their part, from the farm to the fork.
He smiled, but I think he remained skeptical.
I raised my eyebrow today at a press release in which the director of congressional relations in the California Farm Bureau National Affairs and Research Division, Josh Rolph, was quoted as saying,
"Congress and the new administration will be sure to consider changes to the way the government oversees the safety of food production. We want to make sure that any changes don't prove to be burdensome to farmers, who are growing the safest food supply in the world."
I wish I could meet this guy and stare strangely at him. If anyone’s going to claim to grow the safest food in the world, they’re going to have to take some pains to prove it.
(1).jpg)
“The nation's farming community understands the need to improve food safety, Rolph said, but the farm-level impact to producers must be considered in any new food safety proposals.”
Salinas vegetable farmer Dirk Giannini referred to the surge in food safety action plans following the outbreak of E. coli from spinach in 2006, and explained that a frenzy of “non-scientific ideas” were putting farmers out.
"And don't get me wrong,” said Giannini, “The farmers do not want to jeopardize anyone's health or life—we have the safest food supply in the world. But the scientific-based decisions are the ones that we need to move forward."
Of course any actions to increase the safety of the food supply should be backed by scientific evidence, but public claims of safety should have the same foundation.
To the farmers who grow the food I appreciate every day: In your products and in your claims, Don’t Sell Poop.
Are petting zoos safe for kids?
Last week, an E.coli outbreak involving at least 17 kids and 3 adults was linked to a Denver cattle show.
In light of that, a reporter for the San Antonio Express-News spent a day at the petting zoo at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo asking parents if they were worried about the "germs" their kids were being exposed to.
Some said yes; many others were confident in the precautions they were taking.
The stepfather of a three-year-old wasn't worried. "We wash his hands," he said.
One mother said of her thumb-sucking two-year-old,
“I can’t keep her in a bubble. [But] it’s definitely something I think about every day with her.”
One of the largest petting zoo outbreaks of E.coli O157:H7 to date was linked to the North Carolina State Fair in 2004. A study of the outbreak by Goode and colleagues found,
Persons became infected after contact with manure and engaging in hand-to-mouth behaviors in a 
petting zoo having substantial E coli O157:H7 contamination.
Use of alcohol-based hand-sanitizing gels was not protective [against infection with E.coli O157:H7], although knowledge of the risk for zoonotic infection was protective.
Are petting zoos safe for kids? Maybe, if you're aware of the risks and make sure they don't eat any poop. But that might be easier said than done.
In the San Antonio article, Bill Marler was quoted as saying the threat of exposure to new and dangerous pathogens was too high for him to risk taking a small child or anyone with a compromised immune system to a petting zoo.
It's your call.
I might be movin' to Montana soon ...
Just to raise me up a crop of Dental Floss.
Frank Zappa (right, exactly as shown) came to mind as I read this morning why children shouldn’t eat snow. I ate lots of Ontario snow, Amy ate lots of Montana snow, but we both avoided that yellow snow.
Julie Deardorff writes in the Chicago Tribune that,
"University of Toronto environmental chemist Frank Wania reports that the atmosphere is exceedingly efficient at transporting pollutants—so efficient, in fact, that industrial pollutants released into the atmosphere in India could be found in snow in northern Canada only five days later.
"Argonne National Laboratory's Dr. Jeff Gaffney is more specific. He says snowflakes can contain anything that floats in the air: the chemicals that fall in acid rain, bacteria, sulfates, nitrates and even lead from areas in the world that still burn leaded gasoline."
Chinese poop turns heads in Lawrence (Kansas)
Bryan Severns, a new food science student at Kansas State and a former chef, writes about the discussion prompted by his Chinese language Don’t Eat Poop shirt, and general hygiene at the Lawrence market:
On a beautiful sunny Saturday in Lawrence, the handwashing word was spread from the Farmers market, through the fabric store, to the Merc. The combination of Chinese characters and the Don’t Eat Poop web address were enough to spark conversations in food safety and educational techniques. The most common initial reaction is wide eyed disbelief that anyone would say that in public, but upon further explanation most people have stories of their own to relate, and the conversation is off and rolling.
In related news, it was nice to see a complete handwashing station set up at the Farmer’s Market. Actually saw it in action, very cool. I’m a total supporter of local producer markets, but quite often the sanitation is left up to individual participants, and most seem to barely get their product out on display, let alone take care of the clean up details. Big points to the Market Manager and city of Lawrence.
On a more general note, after spending three weeks and 3000 miles to get to KSU from Vermont, my wife and I are glad to be here and have a great time learning about the area. Thanks to all who have been friendly and helpful, Manhattan is a very welcoming city.
That’s me with the beard visiting our son at Coast Guard Station Fire Island, New York (below).
Why burn poop on a doorstep when you can cook it in a 7-Eleven microwave
Earlier this week, police released surveillance video of three teens who walked into the convenience store near 2200 East and 9400 South, took out a one-gallon plastic bag with human feces inside and put it into the microwave while the clerk wasn't looking.The boys left the store, and the clerk figured out what had happened when a foul stench filled the building. The store had to be closed temporarily because of the odor.
Sandy police Sgt. Victor Quezada said the surveillance video was broadcast by local news stations, investigators received numerous tips from callers, and that on Wednesday morning, five high school students were greeted by police as they arrived for school in the morning. Two of the boys eventually were released, while the other three, two aged 16 and a 17-year-old, were arrested for investigation of third-degree felony criminal mischief.
The 7-Eleven figured out the video surveillance thing, but USDA says it's too complicated for slaughterhouses.
Don't Eat Poop
The shirt's in the mail, Doug.
Tell me your best Don't Eat Poop story and I'll send you a shirt too.
Or you can give to the International Food Safety Network.
Give large. Give small. It's all on-line at
https://one.found.ksu.edu/ccon/new_gift.do?action=newGift&CCN_FUND_ID=3894&SCENARIO=SELECTFUND
Any problems, just e-mail me, dpowell@ksu.edu.
And if you benefit from our services, then we're continuing with our payment model that alt.music darlings Radiohead stole from us: pay what you want.
How much poop can humans safely eat?
Kent Sepkowitz, a physician in New York City who writes about medicine, writes in Slate.com that,"… one year ago, the now-famous E. coli outbreak arising from contaminated spinach rattled the natural-food industry and gave carnivores a moment of schadenfreude. The story had the heartbreaking elements we have come to dread: A young child eats something mundane and dies a horrid death. Boom, gone. I have (unsuccessfully) treated one such case and rate it as perhaps the most chilling moment of my career.
"With every outbreak, the same question sounds: Why can't we keep the food chain clean? … The best response to E. coli and the other pathogens that cause food poisoning is to recognize, humbly, that we can get the food supply almost perfectly clean, but never completely. There's just too much crap out there: human crap, horse crap, cow crap, pig crap. In the feces of these and other animals are trillions of infectious agents (bacteria, viruses, fungi, worms, and everything else that upsets the stomach). Try as we may to contain the mess, we can never win. Pig dung fouls rivers; cow crap seeps into water tables; human shit kicks back every time heavy rains overwhelm a sewage system's filtration capacity. …
"Rather than frantically throwing money at new ways to eradicate the pathogens that reside in shit, we should fund the boring scientists who focus on untangling the intricacies of the gut's immune system. Labs, answer this: How much shit can we safely eat and, as importantly, how much must we eat to remain healthy?"
While there is some truth in the doctor's comments, humans just aren't smart enough to figure out who is genetically susceptible to the various nasties out there. Maybe the population's immunity can be increased by exposure to some cryptosporidium or salmonella or whatever, but individuals are gonna die. We're gonna lose a few. And we don't know who those few are.
So while we're figuring that out, we have a responsibility to use the science we know to reduce the number of people who get sick from the food and water they consume. And don't eat poop.
