Investigative journalists still required for food safety - even if newspapers disappear
Toronto city councillor Brian Ashton said yesterday,
"I was stunned that the Toronto Star was able to – for the second time – expose a problem that the Board of Health seemed to be unaware of," referring to the newspaper's "Dirty Dining" series in 2000, which prompted public health to release restaurant inspection records. "The Toronto Star is becoming more like a board of health than the Board of Health."
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Food safety stories are increasingly the fodder of investigative journalists, regardless of media. We all eat, so we’re all interested to a point, although not everyone wants to go politico with every bite – sometimes it’s enough to not barf.
The recent Toronto Star series on the filth of soft-serve ice cream machines is an example of media setting the public health agenda.
Toronto Public Health is cracking down on more than 100 ice cream vendors after a Star investigation revealed hazardous levels of bacteria in soft-serve cones across the city.
Consumers can do the same thing – with pictures and video that can readily be captured by most cell phones. Send it to your local health unit.
Otherwise, D-listers like Tori Spelling (above, right, exactly as shown) set the agenda.
Soft-serve sucks in Belgium
Not just a problem for Toronto or Tori Spelling, Belgium also apparently has some issues with soft-serve and regular ice cream.
Albert sent along a link to a recent report by Test-Achats, a Belgian-based consumer group that anonymously sent researchers to 69 points of sale for ice cream and soft-serve in Belgium during the summer of 2008. Amy translated, and highlights of the report are below.
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“Attention was essentially directed towards touristic sites like the Côte, the Ardennes, and various country towns. They bought ice cream cones and soft-serve. While making the purchases, they took the opportunity to evaluate the hygiene at the point of sale as well as of the personnel, the place where the counter or the soft-serve dispenser was located, the conditions for rinsing the ice cream scoop, etc. Immediately after the purchase, and in appropriate sterile and temperature conditions, the ice cream was taken to the laboratory to undergo detailed bacteriological testing. …
Apparent cleanliness was rarely noted during our visits: only 18 points of sale received a good or very good score for this category. In 8 cases, general hygiene at the point of sale was simply unacceptable… and added to that was a serious lack in the staff’s personal hygiene. A serious problem that was already underscored by Test Achats: the ice cream scoop. It was only rinsed under running water in 6 of the points of sale. This is however fundamental for serving ice cream in good hygienic conditions. Too often, the scoop was left resting in obviously unclean water or it wasn’t, in any case, cleaned before service. Finally, it is unacceptable that the ice cream counter or the soft-serve machine be located in full sunlight, exposed to outside air or that the ice cream be accessible to or touched by clients. However, this was the case in 11 locations.
The testing of 5 specific bacteriological parameters as well as the number of total germs gives a realistic image of the hygienic quality of the 70 samples analyzed. Fortunately the presence of Salmonella and Listeria was never detected, on the other hand, Escherichia coli (which can provoke enteritis or diarrhea) was detected in three cases. In two cases, staphylococcus was present, proof of a lack of the personnel’s hygiene. …
Throughout the years and through successive studies, the results are obvious: the hygienic quality of ice cream is getting worse: 35% of ice cream cones and 61% of soft-serve are bad to mediocre. This is a completely unacceptable situation."
Poland: Dozens poisoned with salmonella in ice cream
Twenty-four people have been poisoned with salmonella in the south-eastern city of Przemysl following consumption of ice cream; three have been hospitalized.
Adam Sidor from the Sanitary Inspectorate in Przemysl, said,
“The shop which sold poisoned ice-cream has been closed and the staff is under observation.”
The silence of the poop
If a so-called public relations expert says the only way your hotel and restaurant would recover from a PR disaster is to get “a makeover from celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay,” just go ahead and pack it in.
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The Sydney Morning Herald reports that final tests on the gelato at the centre of the Coogee Bay Hotel poop scandal have come back inconclusive, with the DNA trace too weak to identify the person responsible for the murky affair.
The NSW Food Authority has declared "case closed" after completing testing on a sample of gelato served to the Whyte family at the hotel on October 5, and which was found to contain faeces.
The DNA trace was too weak to link to any one person, Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald said.
The hotel and the family reached a settlement last month, with the family being paid compensation believed to be about $60,000. Both parties have declined to discuss the matter in the wake of the settlement.
'I'm now known as the woman who ate the poo'
The Coogee Bay Hotel in Sydney has reportedly paid compensation of somewhere between $60,000 and $200,000 to the family served poop-laden ice cream.
An agreed statement was released which said: "The owners and management acknowledge that Steven and Jessica Whyte or any of the people dining with them on the evening had no involvement in contaminating the ice-cream.
"The hotel acknowledges that the Whyte family (right, photo from Sydney Morning Herald) did not at any stage attempt to extort money from the hotel arising from the incident. The hotel regrets the hurt and distress suffered … as a result of statements that they acted improperly."
While the clarification and settlement ends a nightmare month for the family, Mrs Whyte has expressed fears she may forever be remembered. "Everywhere I go, I'm now known as the woman who ate the poo," she said. "It happens when I'm shopping, when I'm walking down the street and when I'm on the sideline watching my son at Little Athletics on a Saturday morning. I feel obliged to speak about it when people ask because everyone in the community has been so supportive."
Don't serve poop - it's on candid camera
While awaiting DNA test results on the poop in the Australian ice cream, Sydney’s Coogee Bay Hotel has announced it will install six new security cameras, with the food preparation area to be under constant surveillance.
It has also invited NSW health authorities to do monthly inspections of the kitchen, and customers will be able to have their say about the hotel via its website, to be launched soon.
Australian ice cream positive for poop - but whose poop is it?
The New South Wales Food Authority announced a few hours ago that a sample of the gelato allegedly served to a family at the Coogee Bay Hotel in Sydney, Australia, has tested positive for fecal matter.
The sample, a small residual amount of gelato and faecal matter on a tissue, was provided by Stephen and Jessica Whyte this week.
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The NSW Food Authority began an investigation yesterday and carried out a brief test that confirmed the nature of the provided sample.
It will now perform a more detailed DNA-based test that will determine if the fecal matter is animal or human, and the sex of the "provider."
The results of that test will not be known for up to a week. However, because of the length of time since the incident, it was unclear whether the tests could provide a clear outcome in the murky matter.
Meanwhile, the lawyer for the Whytes, the family who say they found the brown stuf, said the DNA testing of staff was a distraction.
The hotel also released a statement late yesterday that said the three-litre container from which the scoops of gelato had come had been cleared of any contamination.
Kitchen Confessional: What happens in restaurant kitchens
I hear stories about what happens in kitchens. We even started a blog on it, Kitchen Confessional, but it was difficult to sustain and it got merged with barfblog.
Matthew Evans has heard a lot of stories. Evans, who was the chief restaurant reviewer for the Herald for five years and whose autobiography, Never Order Chicken On A Monday, includes a sometimes-frightening look inside restaurant kitchens, writes in the Sydney Morning Herald that with poop allegedly being served in ice cream at the Coogee Bay Hotel, everyone in Australia is talking.
Evans says most Sydney food is great, cooked well and served with care. But a tiny minority of restaurants are incredibly dangerous.
“Some of the milder things that go on in NSW restaurants include chefs visiting the dunnies in their aprons. Or dipping odiferous chicken breasts in a mild bleach solution to whiten them and eliminate the smell. But when I went on Sydney radio to talk about these kinds of things last year, the comments turned even the hairs on my neck.
"Seeing the chef sitting on the toilet as they peeled prawns, perhaps? The slightly dodgy drip tray from the pub being used in the beer batter? The chef wiping the steak inside their Y-fronts or running it around the rim of the toilet because the customer had complained that their medium-cooked steak was still pink? It has happened.
"As an apprentice I've been asked to take leathery-skinned pre-opened oysters, too old and whiffy to offer as natural, and top them with mornay sauce and sell them. I've been witness to steaks stamped on with heavy boots and retrieved from the bins, and met people who've dipped food in the toilet before serving it, but I've never seen someone pick their nose and put it in food.
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"Of course I've seen chefs over-season food because it was off, using it in curries and the like," says one Sydney chef I spoke to who did not want to be named.
"But the worst thing I've ever seen with my own eyes was in England. This guy always came in late. He'd order sea bass every night right on last orders at 11.30pm and then send it back and ask for it to be recooked.
"One day [the chef] did a huge hock and put a great big greenie under it. The customer reckoned it was the best sea bass ever."
If the ice cream's free, don't have the chocolate
That story about the Whytes who found some brown in their ice cream at the Coogee Bay Hotel in Sydney, Australia will lead to a formal complaint and subsequent investigation by the New South Wales Food Authority.
To tackle the poopy publicity, the hotel hosted a press conference yesterday, and offered free ice cream to patrons.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports Monday morning that yesterday – they’re 14 hours ahead or something -- in the beer garden was just another sunny Sunday afternoon.
“Bevan Read, at lunch with his wife and three daughters, unknowingly took advantage of the free ice-cream offer. As the girls sat down to their bowls of vanilla ice-cream, a flash of horror passed across their mother's face as she heard the news. But after careful inspection, the girls were allowed to continue to eat.
Mr Read said, "We're pretty impressed they're putting on free ice-cream for the kids," before adding jokingly, "I'm just glad that I'm not having any."
Eddie and Lynne Sulkowicz had brought their granddaughters, Claudia and Alexia Karam, for a meal. They said they would probably still eat there but the girls' mother said they would not be having ice-cream. "At least not chocolate, anyway," Mr Sulkowicz added.
Casey Jacob, guest barfblogger: PETA wants human breast milk in Ben & Jerry's ice cream
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent a letter to Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, cofounders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc., urging them to replace cow's milk used in their ice cream products with human breast milk.
"The fact that human adults consume huge quantities of dairy products made from milk that was meant for a baby cow just doesn't make sense," said PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman in a press release. "Everyone knows that 'the breast is best,' so Ben & Jerry's could do consumers and cows a big favor by making the switch to breast milk."
Whatever floats your boat, I guess… as long as it’s pasteurized for the kiddos. And, yes, evidence suggests that Ben and Jerry are fans of pasteurization.
A blog post in The PETA Files explains the inspiration behind their request. “Storchen, a (very innovative) restaurant in Switzerland, has just announced that they will be unveiling a new menu that includes soups, stews, and sauces made with at least 75 percent human breast milk,” blogged Carrie Ann Harris. “Some folks might think that drinking human breast milk is strange … but really, what's even stranger is that humans are the only species on the planet that drinks the milk of another species.”
Ben and Jerry’s responded by saying, “We applaud PETA's novel approach to bringing attention to an issue, but we believe a mother's milk is best used for her child.”
