Possible food poisoning outbreak at Florida State sorority
Looks like I picked the wrong week to visit Florida.
Thirty years before Stephen Colbert used the picture of himself in a picture in a picture, Lloyd Bridges was doing it in the movie, Airplane (right).
And tonight, according to WCTV in Tallahassee, rumors are circulating that more than 70 girls in the Phi Mu house at Florida State University have become very ill and some maybe even hospitalized in a possible outbreak of foodborne illness.
“Some members of the Greek community say it is possible that this outbreak is affecting more than one house and the rumors have many other sororities taking precautions to protect their members.”
Kara Beth Yancey, a FSU sorority member, says her house is going to take more precautions to prevent a similar situation.
"We're not going to stop ordering in but we are going to be a little more cautious on what kind of food we're ordering in."
I wonder what kind of food they’re going to limit the ordering in of? Amy, Courtlynn and me, we’re in Venice, Florida, so maybe we can avoid some of that ordered in food.
Casey Jacob, guest barfblogger: The south central Kansas omnivore's dilemma
My husband and I just moved to south central Kansas after I graduated from Kansas State University’s food science program in May and we got married. I’ve talked him into taking me to see Pixar’s Wall-E tonight, but we need some dinner first.
We thought we might try Acapulco Restaurant, a Mexican franchise in town. That is, until I read on FSnet that the restaurant had just been named as the source of a 19-person salmonella outbreak. My new hubby was suddenly not too keen on going.
I, however, reasoned that after gaining some bad press and losing a bit of business, the restaurant’s management would be preaching food safety harder than they ever had before. The chances of an outbreak due to kitchen hygiene issues likely decreased dramatically.
In August 2007, Donna Garren, vice-president of health and safety regulatory affairs for the National Restaurant Association trade group, said outbreaks were leading restaurant chains to “[spend] additional resources outside of the typical food safety domain.”
Donna also admits, however, “There are costs associated with not knowing your suppliers.” If ingredients aren’t sourced from safe suppliers, even that assumedly sparkling-clean kitchen is no guarantee I’ll be served safe food.
Her quote was included in an article that claimed it was statistically safer to eat at fast-food chain restaurants than to cook for yourself at home.
While the title of Biggest Source of Foodborne Illness – home, restaurant, elsewhere -- is still hard to pin down, it can be safely said that both chain restaurants and the household kitchen are still in the running. So who knows where I’ll have dinner tonight… or if I’ll make it out without barfing.
As one Acapulco Restaurant patron confessed, “You compare all the bad to the good, sometimes it's worth the risks.”
Casey Jacob is the married version of former barfblogger Casey Wilkinson, and continues to work with her Kansas friends.
We thought we might try Acapulco Restaurant, a Mexican franchise in town. That is, until I read on FSnet that the restaurant had just been named as the source of a 19-person salmonella outbreak. My new hubby was suddenly not too keen on going.I, however, reasoned that after gaining some bad press and losing a bit of business, the restaurant’s management would be preaching food safety harder than they ever had before. The chances of an outbreak due to kitchen hygiene issues likely decreased dramatically.
In August 2007, Donna Garren, vice-president of health and safety regulatory affairs for the National Restaurant Association trade group, said outbreaks were leading restaurant chains to “[spend] additional resources outside of the typical food safety domain.”
Donna also admits, however, “There are costs associated with not knowing your suppliers.” If ingredients aren’t sourced from safe suppliers, even that assumedly sparkling-clean kitchen is no guarantee I’ll be served safe food.
Her quote was included in an article that claimed it was statistically safer to eat at fast-food chain restaurants than to cook for yourself at home.
While the title of Biggest Source of Foodborne Illness – home, restaurant, elsewhere -- is still hard to pin down, it can be safely said that both chain restaurants and the household kitchen are still in the running. So who knows where I’ll have dinner tonight… or if I’ll make it out without barfing.
As one Acapulco Restaurant patron confessed, “You compare all the bad to the good, sometimes it's worth the risks.”
Casey Jacob is the married version of former barfblogger Casey Wilkinson, and continues to work with her Kansas friends.
Puking Myths: How to tell the difference between foodborne illness and the flu
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During the holidays I heard a couple of barf stories that were attributed to uncertain causes. At the same time, Doug and I were laid up with the flu for about two weeks, neither of us really puking but feeling exhausted, nauseated with chills and muscle aches. One woman said she had the flu, too … that it came on really fast, was coming out both ends, and then she felt better the next day. I asked her, “Are you sure it wasn’t foodborne illness?” “Might’ve been…” she replied thoughtfully, probably going over the list of things she had eaten. Another friend just got back from Chicago – a trip that she said was ruined by her husband puking his guts out. They thought it was the Polish buffet because while he chose some foods, she had others, and she assumed something he ate was off. Might’ve been. But how do you know when it’s food poisoning and when it’s the flu?
The following list of flu symptoms, which I looked up while I was laid up on the couch over break, comes from the CDC :
Flufacts.com suggests you know the FACTS (Fever, Aches, Chills, Tiredness,Influenza usually starts suddenly and may include the following symptoms:
* Fever (usually high)
* Headache
* Tiredness (can be extreme)
* Cough
* Sore throat
* Runny or stuffy nose
* Body aches
* Diarrhea and vomiting (more common among children than adults)
Sudden symptoms)
If you have foodborne illness, the FDA’s Bad Bug Book gives a comprehensive list of suspects by symptom and time of onset. It can be a little more complicated to diagnose as some toxins, such as shellfish toxin, can have an onset of diarrhea and vomiting in under an hour whereas salmonella takes on average 2-4 days to produce possible symptoms of abdominal cramps, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, chills, malaise, nausea, and/or headache.
Foodborne illness is not usually (although sometimes can be) caused by the last thing you ate, and the flu does not usually (but sometimes can) produce vomiting and diarrhea in adults. Next time you’re puking your guts out, if you can manage to concentrate, you might have to make a longer grocery list of items in your diet. Was it what you had three days ago? Might’ve been.
