Peyton Manning, call an audible on the mice at your football field
A worker at Lucas Oil Stadium, home to Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League, told WXIN she’s blowing the whistle on continual food safety issues at the stadium.
"The pictures are actually showing mice droppings in the food pantry, on the floor, on the shelves, on the counters, there's been some on the carts. I brought these pictures forward because I felt people should know where their food's coming from. It's not safe."
Fox59 contacted Centerplate, the caterer for the stadium, but they did not respond.
Centerplate Catering and Lucas Oil Stadium have been cited for food safety violations dating back to 2008. In January 2009, health investigators found dead rodents hadn't been removed from food service areas. In March, investigators found mice feces by coffee urns. In April, a report showed mice running through a Stadium Kitchen. In September, there were violations for improperly storing toxic materials and for "unsafe food" that wasn't being kept cold or hot enough at Lucas Oil.
Australian hepatitis A outbreak still linked to semi-dried tomatoes
Hepatitis A is one of the few causes of foodborne illness that only cycles through humans – and their poop.
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So any outbreak of hepatitis A means human sewage came into contact with the food (which then wasn’t cooked) or someone shedding the virus had a poop, failed to adequately wash their hands, and then prepared an uncooked food.
Either could be happening in this on-going outbreak of hepatitis A in Australia that has sickened about 130 people and appears to be linked to semi-dry tomatoes.
Victorian health authorities revealed a further 23 cases of the infectious disease diagnosed in the past week.
Victoria's chief health officer Dr John Carnie said that so far this year there had been 200 notifications of hepatitis A, compared to 74 at the same time last year.
A study into the increase of cases indicates that more than two thirds of people that have become ill recalled eating semi-dried tomatoes, he said.
Local producers had promised the Department of Human Services they were doing their best to reduce the risk, while importers of the tomatoes had also been instructed to ensure appropriate quality control measures were in place, he said.
Bottled semi-dried tomatoes in supermarkets were pasteurised and considered safe along with any of the cooked product such as in pizzas or quiches.
The greatest risk would appear to be at restaurants and cafes, where semi-dried tomatoes are served in foods such as salads and sandwiches.
Don’t eat poop. Or at least cook it.
How much am I paying that person to poop? Workpoop.com
How much time do you spend on the toilet? With foodborne illness, it could be hours and hours and hours.
Inventorspot reports on workpoop.com, an online calculator that helps answer a pressing question of every employer: how much am I paying that person to poop?
Alicia Silverstone will teach you how to poo
She was great in those Aerosmith videos, cute in Clueless, terrible in 1997’s Batman and Robin, and insufferable as a vegan spokesthingy.
And now she can teach you how to poop.
Alicia Silverstone, who has been a vegan for ten years, has a new book, The Kind Diet: A Simple Guide to Feeling Great, Losing Weight and Saving the Planet.
Some Alicia-isms:
"Remember, dairy was designed to make little baby calves turn into 400-pound cows, so that's what it does to you. …
"Most people aren't pooing. I know two girls in my life who are good friends, who were not pooing, but now they're pooing 'cause I helped them. I taught them how to poo."
UK child's face smeared with fox poop after playing in sandbox at garden center
I have some great memories of my kids growing up, playing in the sandbox, covered in runny snot and saying, Dad, is this cat poop?
Cats view sandboxes as giant litterboxes.
Foxes too.
This Is Gloucestershire reports,
Two-year-old Jasmine Westgate was playing in the sandpit at Highfield Garden World in Whitminster when she put her hands in a pile of fox mess.
Jasmine's father Bruce said,
"It was absolutely vile. Jasmine didn't know what she was doing and ended up with fox mess all over her face. She ingested some of it too which could have had harmful consequences. There are potentially life-ruining diseases linked with coming into contact with animal faeces. The sandpit shouldn't have been left in such a state. It obviously hadn't been cleaned properly by staff.”
Staff at Highfield Garden World, which offers a range of activities for children, said the sandpit was now out of use until further notice.
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Managing director Joan Greenway said,
"We would like to apologise to the Westgates for what happened.”
Geese-poop-pathogens-barfing exorcism style: food safety tip #2
Old man winter is right around the corner and as usual the lovely geese of Manitoba begin their trek south to avoid the ridiculous temperatures of Winnipeg. No I’m not bitter, just a touch cool from my brisk morning rides to work on my scooter. Being jealous of the geese I was reminded this morning about food safety tip number 2. Avoid eating poop. Geese fecal matter or animal fecal matter contain pathogenic organisms such as E. coli and Salmonella. Geese really don’t care where they do their business which means it could be getting into your fruits and vegetables. Studies have also shown that Salmonella can survive in the soil for up 900 days and can also survive in fruits and vegetables (1). Washing your fruits and vegetables at this point will be ineffective.
I remember when I was a young lad in Edmonton, Alberta performing water quality testing for the triathlon games. The athletes were to use a man-made lake for the swimming portion of the event. The lake was consistently bombarded with E.coli due to the overwhelming number of surrounding geese. If poop can get into the water, it can get into your gardens as well. Foodborne illnesses associated with fruits and vegetables have been increasing. This increase is partly due to higher consumption of such products to satisfy a healthy diet, better reporting, and changes in production practices (2). It is important to think about where your food is coming from (farm-to-fork chain) and the potential sources of contamination, one being animal droppings. As a consumer, there is very little one can accomplish in reducing bacterial loads with certain types of vegetables, one being sprouts for instance. Pathogens can exceed10 7 per gram of sprouts without affecting its appearance (3). It is for this reason that the young, old, immunocomprised, and pregnant women should avoid raw sprouts.
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1. Charpentier, Heribert Hirt. The Dark Side of the Salad: Salmonella typhimurium Overcomes the Innate Immune Response of Arabidopsis thaliana and Shows an Endopathogenic Lifestyle
2. Risk Profile on the Microbiological Contamination of Fruits and Vegetables Eaten Raw. Report of the Scientific Committee on Food (adopted on the 24th of April 2002). European Commission, Health and Consumer Protection Directorate- General.
3. Taormina PJ, Beuchat LR, Slusker R. 1999. Infections associated with eating seed sprouts: An international concern. Emerg Infect Dis; 5: 629-634.
Plans and guidelines don't make food safe. People do
That’s what I told the Topeka Capital-Journal last week in a story published today.
Mike Heideman, KDHE spokesman, said the most common food-borne illnesses in Kansas are salmonella and E.coli, both transmitted by eating food contaminated with human or animal feces.
Don’t eat poop.
Lizard droppings may have poisoned Bangladesh students
Lizard droppings or similar contamination may have been the cause for scores of students falling ill after eating at a girls' hostel of Bagerhat Government PC College, civil surgeon Subhash Kumar Saha said on Sunday.
Saha was making an inspection of the hostel's kitchen after 63 students, who had taken lunch there on Saturday, underwent treatment for food poisoning at Bagerhat Sadar Hospital.
Of them, 31 were admitted in critical condition, said doctors, but all were treated and out of danger.
No Reservations' Catherine Zeta-Jones gives good garnish; does she wash her hands?
Catherine Zeta-Jones gives good garnish.
After working undercover for a week at a posh Manhattan restaurant in preparation for an upcoming role, the owner told People magazine that Zeta-Jones was, "a great garnisher. Drizzling oil and balsamic on plates - she does a nice job."
I wrote that two years ago, but now that the movie, No Reservations, is in heavy rotation on the movie channels (always on in the background) I can finish the story.
Two years ago I had my own Manhattan garnish moment -- Manhattan, Kansas.
Amy took me to one of those food porn places, where the presentation of the food is sometimes more important than the basics; the kind of place populated by the Matt Dillon character from Saturday Night Live who wrote a book, How to Order Sushi Like a CEO.
The bathrooms in the place accommodate only one person, so I was left standing outside the door. I heard the toilet flush and the door open; out walked the chef; no handwashing.
Amy spent the rest of the night watching the chef, to see what he would touch next. We haven’t been back.
A little more food safety, a little less food porn.
A cookbook of recipes to move the poop: The Un-Constipated Gourmet
Baby Sorenne is coming up on seven months, and her poop is changing. As more solids are introduced into her diet, her poop has gone from runny brown to sticky to fully formed turds.
Yesterday, she started screaming as loud as she could for about 20 seconds. Sure enough, out popped a poop. That was about the fourth consecutive time it’s happened. Really, who hasn’t wanted to scream during a plugged up poop.
If you’re one of those people, Eat Me Daily reports today on The Un-Constipated Gourmet: Secrets for a Movable Feast, a collection of recipes designed to make you poop by first-time author Danielle Svetcov.
Svetcov's hope is that the book — which promises recipes you can serve to your "uncorked" friends without them realizing that they're specially engineered for your own digestive needs — will deliver "superfoods with an agenda" so that the "potty-challenged" and those with "bathroom envy" will find themselves "called to duty."
Possible poop remnants and Nestle's raw cookie dough
During the evening of Thursday, June 18, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment urged Coloradans not to eat raw Nestle Toll House cookie dough because of possible contamination with E. coli O157:H7.
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The next morning, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned consumers not to eat any varieties of prepackaged Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough due to the risk of contamination with E. coli O157:H7. At the same time, Nestlé announced a voluntary recall of all Toll House refrigerated cookie dough products, “out of an abundance of caution.”
My colleague Evan managed to get some of that recalled cookie dough, I got some other cookie dough, and we made cookies.
In the latest video from the Safe Food Café, I stress that cookie dough is a raw product (although the eggs have been pasteurized in any commercial product) and can therefore cross-contaminate anything in the kitchen, and that the warning labels and safe-handling instructions on packages of raw cookie dough are terrible.
Fresh basil and bird poop
Last year, with Amy’s guidance, was the first year I really started cooking with fresh herbs. Basil and tomato (and formerly cheese, right), fresh pesto, bruschetta, it’s all good.
Except for the bird poop.
Here are a couple of our basil leaves with some semi-fresh bird plops – similar to the ones I washed off the car earlier today. When preparing dishes with fresh herbs, wash thoroughly (which can be difficult) or cook the poop out. Or both.
Antenna in your mocha latte?
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) maintains a list of Food Action Defect Levels in the Code of Federal Regulations "to establish maximum levels of natural or unavoidable defects in foods for human use that present no health hazard." 
A local news station in Michigan got hold of this list and started asking people on the street how they felt about the number of bug parts allowed in their coffee and the amount of rodent "excreta" tolerated in their chocolate.
My local news station in Wichita, Kansas, broadcast their story Tuesday while I shook my head and chuckled. There were a lot of interesting faces as people looked from their cup to the list and back again.
In the end, I got the impression that the public is okay with a few bug parts (and laugh about getting the extra protein), but won't stand for the poop.
We here at barfblog.com continually advocate keeping as much poop out of food as possible, and proudly wear our t-shirts that declare, "don't eat poop" with a message about handwashing on the back.
But I'm not crazy. I realize, like the FDA (not the USDA, as asserted in the story, which primarily regulates only meat and poultry products), that it's virtually impossible to keep the entire (non-meat and -poultry) food supply 100% poop-free. Therefore, I'm glad there are regulations in place to reduce the microbial risks associated with that poop. (The poop that got into the peanuts at the Peanut Corp. of America plant violated those regs.)
I'm just saying... some poop happens. Risks that cannot be eliminated can, and should, be controlled. Responsible, informed producers and consumers do this every day with tools like the FDA Defect Action Level Handbook and tip-sensitive digital meat thermometers.
Do your part: wash your hands and stick it in.
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New study says keep poopy kids out of pools -- swim diapers not best solution
It was about 105 F when Amy and Sorenne and I touched down in Phoenix yesterday afternoon, to visit family and do some work. Pools – and air conditioning – become increasingly popular in Phoenix and elsewhere as the temperatures climb.
So that means the annual increase of cryptosporidium and other bugs related to exposure in swimming pools. Debate has raged over the past couple of years in various communities: what’s the best way to keep poop out of pools, especially with kids in diapers (I have one of those).
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The U.S. National Swimming Pool Foundation marked the emergence of summer by sending out a press release today about some research presented in March by researchers from University of North Carolina-Charlotte that found swim diapers help slow the release of disease-causing germs, but the benefits are short lived.
The researchers measured the amount of microspheres that released from swim diapers worn by children. The microspheres have a similar size (five microns) to that of Crypto. Normal swim trunks, common disposable diapers and reusable diapers with and without vinyl diaper covers were tested. Swimming trunks without a swim diaper of any kind had the poorest performance - almost 90% of the microspheres were released into the water within one minute.
Swim diapers released about 50% of the microspheres within one minute. A vinyl diaper cover placed over a disposable swim diaper slightly improved performance. Still, over 25% were released into the water within two minutes.
"When a fecal accident contains about a billion disease-causing Crypto oocysts, hundreds of millions of oocysts get into the water within minutes," explains Dr. James Amburgey, the lead scientist in the study. "Swimmers only need to ingest about ten Crypto oocysts to become infected."
"This study confirms that parental restraint is the key to preventing Crypto outbreaks - not swim diapers. Swimming with diarrhea is irresponsible because it places other people's health at risk," reinforces Thomas M. Lachocki, Ph.D., CEO of the National Swimming Pool Foundation(R) (NSPF(R)) who funded the research.
Don't eat raccoon poop
CBC News reported last night that parents should be on alert for raccoon roundworm, a rare parasite transmitted through contact with the animal's feces, which has left a New York infant with brain damage and a teenager blind.
Raccoon roundworm or Baylisascaris procyonis is an extremely rare parasitic infection in humans that can cause nausea, nerve damage and even death.
People become infected by swallowing the parasite's eggs that are shed in the feces of infected raccoons.
Parents should supervise children to keep them away from raccoon feces, Sally Slavinski, a spokeswoman for the city's health department, said Monday.
The infant has been hospitalized since suffering seizures and spinal problems last October and now has permanent brain damage.
The infant had a history of eating soil, and swallowing soil contaminated with raccoon feces is the most likely source of infection, the city's alert said. The 17-year-old lost sight in the right eye in January. Both are from Brooklyn.
"Avoiding Baylisascaris means avoiding ingestion of raccoon stool," veterinarian Scott Weese of the University of Guelph wrote in his blog, Worms & Germs, which promotes safe pet ownership.
The first rule of public health? CYA
I say the first rule of public health is, don’t eat poop.
And have fewer sick people.
Bureaucrats say the first rule of public health is, cover your ass (no, not like that) so that the department comes out smelling all pretty and not like poop.
So after 21 people die and a bunch more got sick from listeria in Maple Leaf deli meats, what do Canadian bureaucrats focus on? Covering their asses.
The heads of three federal agencies pivotal to last summer's listeriosis crisis (right, not exactly as shown) want a damning report by Ontario's top public health official "clarified and corrected."
The most senior officials at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the Public Health Agency of Canada and Health Canada demanded the revisions in a recent letter to Dr. David Williams, Ontario's acting chief medical officer of health.
Williams also noted that almost a month elapsed between the first listeriosis death last summer and a widespread recall of suspect Maple Leaf deli meats.
The letter suggests that criticism is unfair.
The he-said-she-said may be mildly entertaining for bureaucrats– in both official languages -- but does nothing to ensure that fewer people barf in the future.
Instead, the federal triumverate of see-no-evil, hear-no-evil, speak-no-evil could focus on:
• making listeria test results public in a timely manner;
• providing compelling information to at-risk populations, especially pregnant women and old folks, that maybe they shouldn’t be eating products at risk for listeria contamination (cause Michael McCain says it’s everywhere); and,
• provide clear guidelines on how outbreaks of foodborne illness are investigated and at what point sufficient evidence exists to warn the pubic.
Teacher packs poop in 5-year-old's backpack
A father and mother in Washington state are outraged after their 5-year-old son was sent home from school, allegedly forced to carry a package of human feces along with an embarrassing note from his kindergarten teacher.
"This little turd was on the floor in my room," said the note from Susan Graham, an instructor at Apple Valley Elementary School in Yakima, Wash. (right, exactly as shown).
"I'm still kind of in shock over this, because why would somebody do this? It's disgusting!" said the boy's father, wishing to be identified only as "Jason."
The case has sparked a flood of comments on KOMO's messageboard, including:
* If the teacher still has a job after this, then we as a society get what we deserve. This sub-human does not belong in any place of employment where they have control over children.
* Kudos to this teacher. The parents are responsible for teaching their child basic hygiene and potty training not the school system. Sounds like the parents and the brat don't believe they have any responsibility or know right from wrong. Give this teacher an award for not being politically correct and teaching the parents and the brat a lesson.
* I smell a lawsuit.
Domino's Employees of the Month arrested: mug shot below
Unfunnyman Dane Cook and untalented Jessica Simpson have a better chance of finding future employment in pizza preparation – actually, a ridiculously certain chance -- than the two below.
Police in Conover, North Carolina say two Domino's Pizza workers and home video enthusiasts, 31-year-old Kristy Lynn Hammonds of Taylorsville and 32-year-old Michael Anthony Setzer of Conover (right, not exactly as shown) have each charged with distributing prohibited foods.
The pair (below, exactly as shown when booked) produced some employee training videos for Domino’s Pizza that are available at GoodAsYou, including one of Michael wiping his ass with a sponge and then using it to clean a pan, and another in which Kristy says, "Did you all see that? He just blew a booger on those sandwiches.”
'Fecal material' at N.Y. Applebee's
Actor John Corbett – Chris on Northern Exposure, Carrie’s boyfriend for awhile on Sex and the City, empathetic husband on The United States of Tara – needs to do a new Applebee’s advert (he’s the voice).
Shigella – it only comes from fecal material.
WSYR-TV is reporting the Onondaga County Health Department in New York state has confirmed seven cases of Shigella in people who recently ate at the Applebee’s in Camillus, and that up to 9,000 people may have been exposed to the bacteria
County Health Commissioner Dr. Cynthia Morrow said Shigella is associated with consuming water or food contaminated with fecal matter.
Those who are confirmed ill ate at the restaurant on either Saturday, March 7th or Sunday, March 8th, but the overall window that the Health Department is looking at is between Sunday, March 1st and Friday, March 20th.
The health department waited until Tuesday to announce the illnesses because it had sent stool samples to the lab, and had just gotten the results back.
Health officials are now testing all employees at the restaurant, which remains open.
What's the best way to wash hands?
According to CanWest News, Canadian government officials, based on internal documents, can't agree on how long to scrub.
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Correspondence between senior Ontario and federal bureaucrats obtained under an access to information request reveal disparities in hand washing advice, as discovered by an Ontario health official who surveyed government health websites looking for advice.
The inconsistencies prompted her to muse, "maybe we should have a National consensus meeting on how to wash your hands."
No need to file pondersome information requests. A google search reveals all kinds of differing advice on how best to wash hands. We’ve come up with our own, but are constantly revising as more information becomes available.
The steps in proper handwashing, as concluded from the preponderance of available evidence, are:
• wet hands with water;
• use enough soap to build a good lather;
• scrub hands vigorously, creating friction and reaching all areas of the fingers and hands for at least 10 seconds to loosen pathogens on the fingers and hands;
• rinse hands with thorough amounts of water while continuing to rub hands; and,
• dry hands with paper towel.
Water temperature is not a critical factor -- water hot enough to kill dangerous bacteria and viruses would scald hands -- so use whatever is comfortable.
The friction from rubbing hands with paper towels helps remove additional bacteria and viruses.
Next time you visit a bathroom that is missing soap, water or paper towels, let someone in charge know. And next time you see someone skip out on the suds in the bathroom, look at them and say, “Dude, wash your hands!”
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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.
Bovine super-shedders and E. coli O157:H7
Chuck Dodd, a veterinarian in the U.S. Army, currently disguised as a graduate student in Food Science at Kansas State University who spends a lot of time collecting poop (right below, exactly as shown), writes that researchers have now concluded that some cows present a greater risk for beef contamination by shedding higher concentrations of Escherichia coli O157 in their feces.
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Some food safety researchers, including me, have begun to label these cows as super-shedders. But that may be a witch hunt, or in this case, a super-shedder hunt.
Escherichia coli O157 remains a significant cause of foodborne illness in the United States. From 1982 to 2002, there were 350 reported outbreaks of E. coli O157 in which 8,598 people became ill. Almost 1,500 were hospitalized and 40 died. During this period, 41 percent of food-related E. coli O157 outbreaks were associated with the consumption of contaminated ground beef. Ground beef that came from cattle. Cattle that may have been shedding very high levels of E. coli O157 in their feces.
Cattle do not get sick if they carry E. coli O157 in their feces. A cow with E. coli O157 looks just like any other cow. In order to discriminate, the feces must be tested. Test methods have improved and now the organisms can be detected at lower concentrations in the feces. The numbers of organisms can also be estimated; hence, food safety researchers are able to separate the super-shedders from the low-shedders. Cattle can also be identified that are not carrying E. coli O157.
Studies have shown that E. coli O157 in cattle feces or on cattle hides is correlated with the detectable presence of E. coli O157 on the carcass. Carcass contamination likely occurs during the hide removal and evisceration process; this leads to the contamination of individual beef products sold at retail. In order to mitigate the risk of E. coli O157 contamination in ground beef, the beef industry employs pre- and post-harvest interventions. Yet some bacteria still make it through the harvest process.
Researchers are now scrutinizing cattle because their feces may have a super-sized dose of E. coli O157. Their theory: if the beef industry can detect and mitigate super-shedders, they can mitigate contamination of beef.
But is super-shedding super-bad? Maybe not.
Cattle with higher concentrations of E. coli O157 in their feces probably pose a higher risk for the eventual contamination of beef; however, the fecal shedding of these organisms comes and goes. Fecal shedding may depend upon host immunity and the environment (neither of which are the cow’s fault). What if a super-shedder on Saturday becomes a low-shedder on Sunday? What if a super-shedder is simply having a bad E. coli day? Does a high fecal concentration of E. coli O157 overwhelm the interventions that exist from farm-to-fork?
Researchers have asked whether the variation in fecal shedding “arises from the inherent stochasticity in transmission dynamics or is a signature of underlying heterogeneities in the cattle population.” Translation: are the differences in fecal shedding simply random or is it because cattle are simply different? Apparently, the fecal shedding of E. coli O157 varies by animal and by day.
Admittedly, due to the transience of E. coli O157 in cattle, a steer may shed a lot on the day of harvest. Nevertheless, if transience is real, then some days cattle may pose a high risk, low risk, or negligible risk.
The new super-shedder hunt may lengthen the path in preventing foodborne illness due to E. coli O157. Some cattle carry E. coli O157 and some don’t. There may be some benefit in knowing which cattle are shedding more than 100,000 E. coli O157 per gram in their feces on a given day, but will this knowledge prevent beef contamination? Perhaps, if it is the day of harvest.
It's not raisons, don't eat reindeer poop
Reindeer, like other deer, are ruminants, and like other ruminants, about 10 per cent will carry E. coli O157:H7 and relatives at any particular time.
So when a farmer, or huckster, promoting tourism at his reindeer farm says,
"About the worst that could happen is she could poop on you, but that's not really a problem because they really just poop raisins," he said. Raisins are a favorite part of the reindeer diet at the farm.
"Or she could pee on you, but I wouldn't worry, because I think I've heard something about reindeer pee, Christmas and good luck."
They aren’t poop raisins. Don’t eat poop.
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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.
Reindeer poop ornaments
The folks at Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington, Ill., are making Christmas ornaments out of reindeer poop. Staffers call these things “magical reindeer gem ornaments.” They cost $5 each. …
The poop is dried, clear-coated and rolled in glitter.
Restaurant that served contaminated food to police chief closed
MyFox Austin reports that a Central Texas restaurant has closed its kitchen for good. The decision was made after two cooks there were arrested for serving tainted food to the Burnet Police Chief. Last month, Jaime Perez,23, was arrested on a felony charge of contaminating food.
Police say he and another cook, James Ledesma, rubbed two hamburger buns in inappropriate areas, then spit in the burger and served it to police chief Paul Nelson.
A video report is available at:
http://www.myfoxaustin.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7823308&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.1.1
'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."
The poop thickens: Australian ice cream tests 'inconclusive'
The New South Wales Food Authority says that tests on whether the feces in gelato served to a family at the Coogee Bay Hotel came from an animal or a human have come back inconclusive.
So while further tests will prolong the scandal for another week, webmasters aren’t waiting.
The following is gross, but apt.
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.
Manager served ice cream allegedly containing poop; chef offers his DNA for testing
The gelato caper gripping Australia had several twists and a couple of great soundbites Tuesday morning (Australia time).
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that security camera footage of an incident in which staff at the Coogee Bay Hotel allegedly served a family a cup of gelato laced with human faeces shows the dessert being delivered to the family by the restaurant's manager. …
"She was concerned about the family's experience and she had the idea of offering a complimentary dessert to try and make some amends," said the hotel's general manager, Tony Williams.
Meanwhile, the family's lawyer, Steven Lewis, of Slater & Gordon, also rubbished newspaper reports the family had links to a rival pub as a "Kevin Bacon … six degrees of separation [defence]. My question is: 'Did Kevin Bacon put the faeces in the ice-cream?"'.
Stephen and Jessica Whyte, along with their three young children and another family, were at the hotel to watch the NRL grand final, but after a series of complaints became suspicious when they were given a free bowl of gelato. "The real issue is that we were fed, as a family, shit, at someone's pub," Mr Whyte told 2UE.
Yesterday the NSW Food Authority announced it was investigating, and the hotel's management confirmed it had contacted Maroubra police in preparation for possible criminal charges against anyone who might have tampered with food at the hotel.
Meanwhile, the head chef at the Coogee Bay Hotel, Adam Wood, who had tendered his resignation before the incident and had continued to work at the hotel for several weeks afterwards, offered to put himself up for DNA testing.
Mr Wood's arrival was trumpeted by the hotel's general manager, Tony Williams, in a media statement about the hotel's revamped beer garden this month.
"Executive Chef Adam Wood [was] poached from Japan where he headed up kitchens for the Swissotel, Osaka and Foreign Correspondent's Press Club of Japan in Tokyo and brings extensive five star international and three hat experience with him," the statement read.
Why he resigned only weeks after being heralded as the hotel's most senior chef remains unclear.
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.
Baby barfs on Ben - Wiggles handwashing song to blame
PhD student Ben Chapman excitedly sent me this picture last night of baby barf. First-time parents get excited about things like that, along with the color, frequency and aroma of baby poop.
First-time parent-to-be Amy got excited last night as I got to display my story-telling skills at the last pre-natal class of parents-to-be. The instructor asked for a volunteer, and someone volunteered me as the “most experienced” which meant, “the old guy.”
The book was Robert Munsch’s 1986, Love You Forever, one of the most popular children’s books ever, with some 8 million copies sold (my kids preferred The Paper Bag Princess, while I preferred Good Families Don’t, because it’s about farts).
I gave an animated telling of the story, complete with bad singing, based on years of practice, and because I’d seen Guelph-resident Munsch tell the story a few times. That was 20 years ago, and I was wearing the same hoodie (left)
Seeing as it’s Global Handwashing Day and in keeping with the kiddie theme, I note “United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Ambassadors, The Wiggles, have created a catchy tune to help motivate millions of children worldwide to transform the mundane act of handwashing into an enjoyable habit, thereby improving hygiene and reducing the risk of disease.”
Here’s my parenting approach: kid, wash your damn hands.
Don't eat poop (like those kids at Georgetown); proper handwashing and proper tools
I used to steal toilet paper.
As an undergraduate 25 years ago, and once my girlfriend showed me how to get at the theft-proof rolls in the university centre, the supplies of toilet paper in our household became one less student expense.
My hockey bag is still filled with those little soaps and shampoos from hotel rooms around the globe.
I was the kind of student -- and apparently I'm not alone -- University of Guelph administrators in Canada were worried about when they said that residence students should provide their own handwashing soap.
In 2005, the university switched to sanitizers instead of soap and paper towels in the residence washrooms because soap dispensers, paper towels and garbage cans went missing.
That was before a 2006 norovirus outbreak sickened over 150 students, primarily in one university residence.
The university subsequently returned soap and paper towels to all residences to help control the outbreak.
Students at Georgetown University are now being implored to wash their hands after a norovoirus outbreak linked to the school’s dining hall caused 175 students to vomit their way to the hospital. Said one university official, “Handwashing is going to be our mantra for a very long time around here.”
That’s great. A little late, but better than before. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that up to 25 per cent of the 76 million annual cases of foodborne illness in the U.S. could be eliminated with proper handwashing.
That's a lot fewer sick people.
But, as Jon Stewart quipped in 2002, “If you think the 10 commandments being posted in a school is going to change behavior of children, then you think ‘Employees Must Wash Hands’ is keeping the piss out of your happy meals. It's not.”
So why don't more people wash their hands?
While some practice a Howard Hughes-like paranoia, study after study shows that many are lazy when it comes to handwashing. The proclamations to practice proper handwashing, on restroom posters, in daycare facilities, in media scare stories, will always fail to register with those who are impervious to risk -- that bad things happen to someone else, not me.
But as the Guelph example demonstrates, anything that can even slightly encourage proper handwashing and hygiene in general needs to be encouraged -- and that means ready availability of soap, water and paper towels.
Once available, the facilities have to actually be used, whether in the workplace, the home, the university residence, or, the farm.
The steps in proper handwashing, as concluded from the preponderance of available evidence, are:
• wet hands with water;
• use enough soap to build a good lather;
• scrub hands vigorously, creating friction and reaching all areas of the fingers and hands for at least 10 seconds to loosen pathogens on the fingers and hands;
• rinse hands with thorough amounts of water while continuing to rub hands; and,
• dry hands with paper towel.
Water temperature is not a critical factor -- water hot enough to kill dangerous bacteria and viruses would scald hands -- so use whatever is comfortable.
The friction from rubbing hands with paper towels helps remove additional bacteria and viruses.
The next time you visit a bathroom that is missing soap, water or paper towels, let someone in charge know. And next time you see someone skip out on the suds in the bathroom, look at them and say, “Dude, wash your hands!”
Dane Cook and his pooping dog give up apartment
TMZ reports that Dane Cook has given up his fight to live in what he believes is an apartment that has a supernatural force.
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“Cook was evicted from a West Hollywood apartment last August after a jury decided the "comedian" habitually violated the rules requiring him to pick up his dog's crap.
“As reported yesterday, Cook threw a Hail Mary at the judge, arguing that hizzoner should block the eviction because the apartment building had almost paranormal qualities -- John Belushi and Steve Martin both lived there, and Cook believed if he moved out his creative juices stop flowing and a bad case of writer's block would ruin his career. Did anyone see "Employee of the Month?"
Cook has apparently abandoned the appeal.
Dog poop contains common pathogens such as tapeworms, roundworms, cryptosporidium, salmonella, E.coli, and many others. Owners, clean up after your dogs and wash your damn hands.
It’s gotten so bad that the Israeli city of Petah Tikva, a suburb of Tel Aviv, has started a six-month trial program where it is matching the DNA of dog poop, either in special containers or found on the street, to a database of registered dogs and their owners.
“Owners who scoop up their dogs' droppings and place them in specially marked bins on Petah Tikva's streets will be eligible for rewards of pet food coupons and dog toys.
“But droppings found underfoot in the street and matched through the DNA database to a registered pet could earn its owner a municipal fine.”
Geese poop a lot
The parents of my high school girlfriend had a cottage in Barry’s Bay, Ontario. Lovely place, including memories of dive-bombing geese and the darkest night skies ever.
Nearby Pembroke, Ontario, also has a problem with geese – specifically their poop -- like many other communities.
The Daily Observer reports that Pembroke’s Riverside Beach was closed last month due to high E. coli levels, primarily from geese poop.
Deputy Mayor Les Scott said,
"This matter has gotten to the point where this animal is contributing negatively to the health and safety of our citizens.”
What annoys him is if the city is found to be the cause of elevated E. coli, the province would be on them in a minute. When it is geese, nothing happens.
The shit that is listeria in Canada
The first time I met Amy, at a Canadian studies club meeting at Kansas State, I told Amy the French professor that French food was overrated and that sleeping with her cocker spaniel was a microbiological hazard.
She asked me out anyway.
Today we walked up to school and Sadie, the dog that saved our relationship, had a dump. And then there was this worm-like turd hanging out of her ass.
I thought and hoped and prayed it would go away.
It didn’t.
So I grabbed a stick and tried to knock the poop off her ass.
No luck.
So Amy gave me a tissue and I pulled the hanging turd out of her ass and there was another six inches of stick that came out.
Gross. Like when my daughter Courtlynn hurled as the plane landed in Atlanta – those airplane barf bags are fairly solid and I got it in time.
I really just needed a break from writing about the shit that is listeria in Canada.
Poop on Mushrooms? Sara Snow on Jon and Kate Plus 8
While I was working with the TV on this afternoon, I heard Sara Snow, Television host and Green Goddess, telling Kate Gosselin of Jon and Kate Plus 8 that mushrooms should not be washed. Kate, who is raising her family on organic food believing it will make her young twins and sextuplets healthier and stronger, was clearly put off by Sara’s advice. She said the family doesn’t normally eat mushrooms, but she was willing to follow directions. Sara told her to just wipe off the mushrooms with a damp paper towel.While the stir fry cooked, the dialog was enlightening:
Sara to Kate: “In my opinion, if there’s a little bit of dirt left on there, it’s fine. It’s not gonna hurt anyone.”
Kate to camera: “She taught me how to clean them, which was a little disturbing to me.”
Jon in Kate’s ear: “Fungi!”
Kate to Jon: “There was dirt on them. Active dirt. And she said you don’t wash mushrooms.”
Jon to Kate: “It’s not dirt.”
Kate: “I know that.”
Jon grins: “Poopadoop.”
Kate: “I know. You see. That’s why he doesn’t eat them, he claims.”
Kate to Sara: “I don’t know if I like to eat dirt, Sara.”
Kate to camera: “I was essentially merely just wiping the poop off of them and that concerned me that I didn’t get every last speck.”
Sara responds to Kate: “I let all sorts of things fall into my food and I’m not worried about it.”
Is Sara crazy? Is Kate right? Sara concludes, “By the time it all cooks down you won’t even notice it’s there. I’ll cover it up nicely.”
That’s the point, really. If you’re cooking your mushrooms, you can kill the nasty microbiological matter. But would you pop them in your mouth raw? Neither Sara nor Kate visibly ran to the sink to wash with soap and water after touching the Poopadoop Mushrooms. In the next scene everyone was heading to the table to eat.
Please, wash your hands first
We arrived early morning, started setting up the tent and unloading the truck when I popped open a bag of mini rice cakes. The three boys I was camping with (shown at the left) quickly joined to share the treat. I starred wide-eyed when I saw their dirty hands digging into the food. No offense to the guys but, I knew there wasn’t soap in the bathroom of the campsite, which doesn’t really matter, because they probably went in the woods anyways. In conclusion, there was most likely no hand washing before digging in.
I didn’t want to be a food safety geek, and I wasn’t going to start acting like all of their moms, so I sucked it up, looked the other way, and kept eating.
Luckily we all survived the trip safely.
Today a news story was published about 20 people getting sick at a wedding reception in Minnesota after eating from a bowl of chips. The chips were contaminated with norovirus, possibly spread through poop.
Ok next time, I promised myself, I will be that geeky mom and order everyone around to wash their hands before sticking them into that bowl of chips.
Texas: Crypto suspect in child's death
6-year-old Rosemary Stagaman of Richardson died last Tuesday morning in Dallas County. Health officials believe that the death was due to a cryptosporidium infection, but the medical examiner is still waiting on toxicology tests to determine the exact cause of her death. Her family says she tested positive for crypto after swimming in the Greenwood Hills Community Pool. Tests will take 10 days to confirm whether cryptosporidium played a part in the child’s death. If it is related, it would be the first death from the waterborne illness in recent memory.
Since June 2008, Dallas County has confirmed 41 cases of crypto. The crypto outbreak in the area began at Burger’s Lake in Fort Worth. Tarrant County has reported 81 cases of crypto, with 67 of them coming from Burger’s Lake.
All 30 pools of the YMCA of Metro Dallas, along with the city pools, were temporarily closed and hyperchlorinated in an attempt to wipe out the nasty parasite.
Experts are unsure of why there’s been a spike in outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis in recent years. It could be due to poor hygiene standards practiced by parents.
The crypto parasite has a thick outer shell, making it resistant to normal levels of chlorine. Available treatments include hyperchlorination and UV filters. Crypto enters the pool through fecal matter and the infection is especially dangerous to the young an the elderly, as well as the immunocompromised. Swimmers should wash their hands with warm soap water and also take a shower before entering the pool and after using the bathroom.
Topeka, KS: Poop in Lake Shawnee
e lake for four years also walked off the job after she was told that she couldn’t speak to media about her boyfriend’s incident.It sounds like there was no proper policy in place, so the guys in charge decided that the lifeguards would just have to take care of the problem. However, removing fecal matter with bare hands isn’t ideal. It’s much better to try to protect the hands somehow or to fish out the poop with a scoop.
The director of parks and recs for Shawnee County, John Knight, says that a new policy is in place for lifeguards at Lake Shawnee if poop is found in the lake again. The lake water has been tested for E. coli but results have not been released.
Public beaches on the coast are often tested for fecal coliforms and E. coli. Both are indicator organisms of the presence of harmful bacteria in the water. If the levels of bacteria are too high, the swimming area may be closed for a period of time. But the same system does not exist for many lakes with swimming areas.
When swimming in lakes, oceans or rivers, children should not drink the water they are swimming in. There is the possibility of human fecal matter and also wildlife fecal matter in the water.
See and Tell restaurant inspection: Waiter, I see a fly and in soup and I'm telling (and texting)
Croydon Today in the U.K. reports,
The See and Tell service, launched this month, enables people to text the Croydon Council's food safety team with concerns about food safety or labelling issues - in restaurants, shops or takeaways.
There are 2,600 food businesses in Croydon, from takeaways to supermarkets.
Brian Griffiths, manager of the council's food safety team, said,
“There are various levels of action we can take, but in the worst case scenario we can go in and close a place down on the spot. We rely heavily on customers tipping us off and this new text service will make it all the easier. If you find a hair in your soup you can literally text us from the restaurant table and we'll come and investigating.
“Sometimes I've opened bins at the back of restaurants and seen the meat moving because there were so many maggots on it. And at the moment we're dealing with a mice infestation at a high street store which sells food. It is really important we get to hear from residents about these sorts of things so we can go in and take the appropriate action.”
The move to enlist citizen diners seems like another expansion of social networking – the power’s with the people.
The city of Chicago has started encouraging Chicagoans who believe that a restaurant or any other licensed food establishment is operating in an unsafe manner to call 311 and report it.
Back in Feb. 2005, customers with cameras in South Korea were reported photographing any violation of food safety standards and reporting it to authorities.
The sikparazzi -- a combination of the word sik, meaning food, and paparazzi -- are, however, good news for the authorities.
The Korean Food and Drug Administration said 10,567 food safety violations were reported in the first nine months of 2004, and 74.2 million won ($118,624) paid in rewards, reported the Joong Ang Daily.
So lucrative is it to be a sikparazzi in South Korea that at least one private institute runs courses to train people for the job.
There have also been allegations that the sikparazzi sometimes contaminate the food themselves and then demand compensation, threatening to report it.
Mr Griffiths in Croydon also advised people to go to their GP if they think they have got food poisoning and give a poo sample, stating,
“The proof is in the poop and if people give a sample it can be used as evidence, which helps us wrap things up much easier if we get an allegation of food poisoning.”
Follow the poop. Everything comes down to poo.
Give these cows some dried prunes
I was visiting a close friend about a week ago and he sent me to the store to get some “poop pills” – a bag of dried prunes. He eats about 4 or 5 each morning while reading the paper.
His mother is another constipation victim of the family. She was telling me she cannot afford to skip her daily “poopy shake”– a mixture of 8 different types of fiber that she mixes with orange juice. She eats a ton of fruits and vegetables, and has a wide variety of natural laxatives in the medicine cabinet. This is the most impressive one here (in Spanish, sorry)
Maybe these cows could call my friend or his mom for some advice.
Read the story at: the times news
Arizona: Phoenix pool closures due to Cryptosporidium
Phoenix city officials have announced that all city pools will be closed after reports of 35 people who swam at Starlight Pool, including 14 from the pool staff, developing symptoms of cryptosporidium.The city of Phoenix says that while the water at all of its pools has been tested and "has continued to meet all water quality standards," it is taking extra precautions. To treat the pools, parks staff is super-chlorinating all of the pools to a level of 40 parts per million of chlorine and maintaining that level of chlorine for 40 hours. The Centers for Disease Control recommends 20 parts per million, but the City of Phoenix is using 40 parts per million to be safe.
Last summer Utah suffered an outbreak of cryptosporidium. Colorado has also suffered outbreaks. Hopefully this summer’s outbreak will be quickly contained and taken care of to avoid large numbers of sickness.
And of course, when using the bathroom at the pool, always wash your hands.
Draper's diaperless daughter poops in Stanley Cup
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The Stanley Cup is awarded to the victor of each National Hockey League season, and is the only trophy in professional sports that has the name of the winning players, coaches, management, and club staff engraved on it. Red Wings forward Kris Draper has now added to the tales surrounding the travels of Lord Stanley’s Cup.
His daughter pooped in the Stanley Cup.
While visiting his native Toronto last month, Draper’s diaperless baby, Kamryn, did a number (2) in the Cup."A week after we won it, I had my newborn daughter in there, and she pooped in the Cup. That was something. We had a pretty good laugh. I still drank out of it that night, so no worries."
Don’t drink poop.
Dane Cook in trouble for dog poop
Dane Cook recently spent time in a Beverly Hills courthouse fighting allegations that his mini-Pinscher, named Beast, poops all over his apartment complex. The management of La Fontaine in West Hollywood took the comedian to court to have him evicted on grounds that he was not properly cleaning up after his dog."Neither he nor his girlfriend pick up after the dog," said a source. "They've sent him three notices so far over the last year warning him he'll be evicted, and they have video. The neighbors all hate him."
Cook’s rep, Ina Treciokas, told the press in April: “Dane vigorously denies the allegations in the complaint and is looking forward to complete vindication through the legal proceedings.”
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On Tuesday, the building manager took the stand and told the court that the actor is a serial offender, despite the signs in the gardens warning against animals pooping on the lawn. He also said he noticed "recurring small black poop being left behind in the backyard." The manager is alleged to have video footage of Cook's pooch committing the offense.Cook faced a trial by jury and he was found guilty 11-1. His landlord can now officially evict him.
Dog poop contains common pathogens such as tapeworms, roundworms, cryptosporidium, salmonella, e.coli, and many others. The owners should always and after picking up dog poop hands should always be washed.
Scooping Poop
“Pick up your dogs’ droppings.” I’ve seen the street signs for years, but I always thought it was the yuck factor. As I’ve grown up and gone through high school biology, I’ve learned that it’s not just the yuck factor, it’s also the sick factor. Dog waste on the sidewalk is a significant contributing factor to the spread many disease, bacteria and protozoa. Some of the common pathogens are tapeworms, roundworms, cryptosporidium, salmonella, e.coli, parvovirus and many others.
One of the worst culprits is the tapeworm. They are the single most common infection transmitted by discarded dog poop in United States.
Tapeworms are caused by the ingestion of flea larvae, but also can be caused if an owner tracks flea larvae-contaminated dog poo into the house and a pet is exposed. In the veterinary clinic I work at during the summers, tapeworms are commonly referred to as rice worms. They’re easily treated with flea preventative and tapeworm treatment, but even more easily prevented by properly disposing of animal poop.
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Doggie doo is also an environmental pollutant. If the waste is not picked up it will run into the sewers with the rain. This leads to contaminated streams and seawater.
According to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, Americans owned 68 million dogs in 2000, and 40% of these dogs were large dogs over 40 pounds. This adds up to a large mess if owners don’t clean up after their pets.
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Pet poop is a problem, but what’s the solution? Many cities have laws concerning scooping poo. Most states will issue a ticket ranging from $25 to $200 for leaving a dog’s business on the sidewalk. Australia has even gone so far as to have their own plain clothes poop police approaching irresponsible owners to change their behavior.How do we take care of it? Common recommendations are to carry a “doggie doo-doo” sack along when taking a pet out for a walk. Using flea preventative will help prevent a pet from developing tapeworms from ingesting any flea larvae on their own skin, but they are still susceptible to flea larvae in the environment. Annual distemper/parovirus vaccinations from a licensed veterinarian will help protect dogs from parvovirus, which is spread through fecal material.
Most importantly, wash your hands after picking up animal waste. Otherwise get ready for those tapeworms.
Michelle Mazur: Punching the clock to go poop at work
No matter what method or etiquette is used, it simply must be done during the workday. That leaves many wondering, how much time and money is spent doing your business in the bathroom? Workpoop.com is a website that offers a handy calculator to help calculate a person’s annual earnings from pooping at work.But not everyone is on board with being paid to poop. Recently, Brown Brothers, a meat company based in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, has received quite a bit of bad press about their new bathroom policy. The meat company supplying Tesco has been accused of "Dickensian employment practices" by making workers clock off when they go the toilet.
The Unite union is now calling on Tesco to intervene to stamp out the practice at Brown Brothers. The company insists anyone wanting to be excused from the system has to provide medical evidence, the union added.
BBC reports the policy was part of a special pay deal agreed with workers and unions to ensure production ran smoothly. Staff received extra money as part of the pay deal which was aimed at focusing toilet breaks at set times of the day.
But employees are less than thrilled. “We have to clock out, take off our wellies, overalls and hairnets, we have to run up stairs, have to come back in get dressed again,” one employee told the BBC.
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One organization seems to be doing the exact opposite; they’ll pay people to poop. The Environmental Studies Program at Oberlin College held an event last fall entitled the “Low on Cash, High in Fiber Bash.” Participants earned 25 cents for every time they “donated” to the cause.Paid to poop or otherwise, wash your hands.
More children wearing diapers to Australian schools
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The problem has become so widespread that Education Queensland is drawing up a toilet-training fact sheet amid calls from teachers' groups that nappy-wearing children be banned from attending school. …
State School Principals Association president Norm Hart has written to Education Queensland, citing concerns that the problem could result in litigation - with teachers possibly accused of molestation.
"Toilet training is a parental responsibility and not something that should be taught at school.”
Tellruide, Colorado, has a problem with poop.
Dog poop.A local biologist, Ramona Gaylord, told city council that the impact of waste produced by 100 dogs located within a 20-mile radius of a watershed draining to a small coastal bay would contribute enough bacteria and nutrients to temporarily close it to swimming and shell fishing after two to three days, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
A new form from the Marshal’s Office is due to come into circulation soon. It will enable passersby to document occasions on which they witness owners neglecting their doodie duties. By signing the form the complainant agrees to be called as a witness if a ticket is issued and the matter goes to trial.
So pick up your poop.
And if you find some old poop, send it to University of Oregon archeologist Dennis Jenkins. Jenkins found 14 feces, or coprolites, in the Paisley caves in south-central Oregon. He reported in Science on Friday that the oldest piece of crap in the collection was 14,300 years old.
Eske Willerslev, a Danish expert in ancient DNA and one of the authors of the paper, said genetic material found in the ancient poop suggests the earliest known North Americans came from Asia and Siberia, and were the ancestors of modern native peoples
As they sing on Scrubs, Check the Poo.
Babies won't be banned from public pools -- yet
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But, their parents may be required to buy special swim diapers that do a better job of containing diarrhea than widely available but ineffectual diapers like Huggies' Little Swimmers.And if there is another outbreak, tots in diapers will likely be banned.
Utah had one of 2007's largest crypto outbreaks in the nation, with 1,949 crypto cases reported. To try to stem the illness, spread through fecal-oral contact, pools in most of the state barred children under 5 from late August to late September. Children in diapers were banned through mid-November.
State epidemiologist Robert Rolfs was quoted as saying,
"Children should be able to go swimming. Most of the children aren't causing any trouble."
The suggested state rule would require waterproof pants and/or swim diapers that fit around the legs and waist for children 3 or younger, those who aren't potty-trained, and anyone without control of bodily functions.
Taco John's E. coli lettuce grown next to Calif. dairy farm
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The report does not definitively state how the lettuce was contaminated but said water contaminated by manure from two nearby dairies could be a possible source.Wegis Ranch uses manure water to irrigate some fields where animal feed is grown, according to the report. It said lettuce linked to the E. coli outbreak was grown directly across from two of those fields.
In addition, the ranch’s irrigation system may have allowed manure water to taint freshwater used to irrigate fields where lettuce was grown, the report concluded.
E.coli samples from the ranch and dairies genetically matched the strain found in the tainted lettuce. The dairies were Maya and West Star North.
The next day, Bloomberg News reported that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had published guidelines that suggested employees of fresh-cut fruit and vegetable processors wash their hands to help stop the spread of contamination.
Yes., handwashing is important. So is not growing fresh product in cow shit.
Don't eat poop.
Cat poop coffee
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat/2008/01/05/mi.cat.poo.coffee.beans.wzzm
Cat poop coffee, or kopi luwak -- otherwise known as the most expensive coffee in the world -- is, according to wiki, coffee made from coffee berries which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus). The civets eat the berries but the beans inside pass through their system undigested. This process takes place on the islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago, and in the Philippines (where the product is called Kape Alamid). Vietnam has a similar type of coffee, called weasel coffee which are coffee berries which have been defecated by local weasels. In actuality the "weasel" is just the local version of the Asian Palm Civet.Lots has been written about cat poop coffee, but here's a more graphic representation from a few months ago.
And don't eat poop.
Don't let your dog poop on this lawn
And it gets better. Mentalfloss reports on what it calls a rather aggressive warning sign for dog walkers in Sarasota and the potential risks of crapping on this particular lawn.Top 10 movie poop scenes
Below is the list of movies. You can visit propellor.com for pics and descriptions. And I've seen all the movies except the last one, Friday.
It's hard to argue with the classic simplicity of Caddyshack -- a Baby Ruth chocolate bar in the swimming pool -- but I'll go with Harold and Kumar.Don't eat poop.
1. Dumb & Dumber
2. Along Came Polly
3. American Pie
4. Van Wilder
5. Austin Powers - International Man of Mystery
6. Caddyshack
7. Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
8. Not Another Teen Movie
9. KingPin
10. Friday
Pigeon poop payoff
Fifty-six-year-old Shelton Stewart, a former New York doorman who slipped on a pile of pigeon droppings on a subway station's stairs in 1998, has been awarded $6 million in compensation.The New York Post reports that the trial took three weeks, but the jury took less than a day to award Stewart $7.67 million in damages. He'll get only 80 percent of that, or $6.13 million, because he was found 20 percent liable for failing to avoid the poop pile the second time around.
New York City Transit has indicated that it planned to appeal.
Stewart was planning to use his windfall to buy a house and take his two daughters and grandchild to Disney World in Florida.
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.
Don't eat cow poop
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The Billings Gazette reported that Kelly Weidenbach, a Wyoming Department of Health epidemiologist, said that the outbreak was probably caused by residents unknowingly ingesting feces from a sick calf.Weidenbach also said that stool samples from some residents and one calf from the ranch tested positive for the same strain of campylobacter, making it likely that a calf with a diarrheal illness was the source of the outbreak, and that tracking the source of the outbreak was "complicated by the fact that boys help prepare food for one another, and they were also working with cattle."
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She said there was no evidence that the bacteria was food-borne, and water tests came back negative.Don't eat poop.
Tiffany Eversley, guest barfblogger: Dry lips? Try some Chicken Poop
The label reads “100% free range chicken poop lip junk “ however despite the name, there is no fecal matter listed in the ingredients. In fact, the natural ingredients include all natural 100% pure non-GMO soy, jojoba, sweet orange, lavender, and bees wax.
I was relieved to find out that consumers weren’t actually putting shit on their lips. Chicken feces are often a vector of salmonella- a serious bacteria that can cause sever diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps.
Chicken poop lip junk originated when its creator, Jamie Faith Tabor Schmidt, heard her grandfather say, "I know how to fix those chapped lips, I'll rub some chicken poop on `em so you won't be lickin` 'em."
Along with the ambiguous Chicken poop lip chap, The Simone Chickenbone™ Natural Put-Ons™ line also includes “Good gravy”, a moisturizing hair pomade, and “Kill It Dead”, a natural vegan spray deodorant- great stocking stuffers for the 2007 holiday season.
--
Tiffany Eversley is an fourth year food science student at the University of Guelph
Is vomiting a symptom of bird flu?
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Crew on the flight, from South Korea via Australia, alerted airport authorities when the woman began vomiting and showing other possible bird flu symptoms, sparking a lockdown on the tarmac as the plane landed, said Norman Upjohn, an ambulance duty manager.
The 223 people aboard the Boeing 747 were held for about an hour under ''full quarantine procedure'' while a paramedic in protective clothing examined the woman, Upjohn said.
South Korea declared itself bird flu free in June, after reporting no new cases of the H5N1 strain of bird flu -- in birds or humans -- for three months.
I sure hope that no one with a bit of vomit or diarrhea flies to NZ from the UK this week.
'Mr. Toilet' and his latest creation
Today's the, The USA Today, reports that in South Korea, Sim Jae-duck has earned the moniker "Mr. Toilet" for his work in beautifying public restrooms.
Now, though, he's taken his work to a whole new level.
Jae-duck is building a toilet-shaped house (complete with a luxury lavatory) just in time for the World Toilet Association conference this month in Seoul, South Korea.
Poop in the field
Monterey County, California's, Agricultural Field Toilet Inspection Program requires clean toilets, hand-washing stations and drinking water for Monterey County's workers, enforcing long-standing state laws with new resolve.The increased inspections are meant to encourage good hygiene among workers and to prevent crops from being contaminated.
Lourdes Bosquez, Salinas office supervisor of Consumer Health Protection Services, said,
"We used to do this in the '80s and '90s. Now, with the E. coli outbreaks, we thought it was important that we brought the program back."
Farmers will need Health Department permits for their field toilets by Jan. 1.
Our video for Poop in the Field is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL8iXUbTqgI.
Poop is sometimes OK?
Clostridium difficile is a particular problem among patients who have been prescribed strong antibiotics as they also wipe out the so-called 'friendly' disease-fighting bacteria in the intestine. Faecal 'transplants', as they are known, are believed to restore the bacteria to levels at which they help the recovery process.
Doctors involved in the trials admit there are "obvious aesthetic problems" in the treatment, which involves patients ingesting a liquidised sample of faeces from a partner or close relative.
Despite the positive results, doctors stress that they still regard the faecal transplant as a "last resort" because it is cumbersome and the idea of is unpleasant.
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.
Vanilla made from cow poop: demand slow
Mayu Yamamoto, exactly as shown, left, accepts her Ig Nobel prize for research that "cannot or should not be reproduced," Thursday night.Ms. Yamamoto, of the International Medical Centre of Japan, won the chemistry prize in the annual spoofs of the real Nobel awards for discovering that vanillin, the main ingredient of vanilla essence, can be synthesized from a wide variety of herbivore animal dung -- from cows, goats, horses and even pandas. It cannot be made, however, from tiger excrement.
Although the production cost using dung is less than a half of making vanillin out of vanilla beans, Yamamoto found that her work was ignored by multinational corporations.
Fine for making unpasteurized cider below bird nests
While some may argue that bird poop is natural, others may argue that bird poop is an excellent source of salmonella, campylobacter and others.On September 4, 2007, Dennis Wasylyszyn, an employee of Aberdeen Farm Market in Coldstream, B.C., pled guilty in provincial court to one count of violating s.4(e) of the Food and Drugs Act by selling an article of food which was manufactured or prepared under unsanitary conditions. Mr. Wasylyszyn was fined $2000 for this violation.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency explains that Mr. Wasylyszyn was preparing fresh, unpasteurized apple juice with a machine that was protected only by an open-raftered roof supported by four beams. The processing area was open to the air and there were indications birds were roosting in the rafters above the machine.
There was no evidence of illness related to consumption of the juice.
Goat poop bingo
I really can't come up with a better title.Boring, Oregon's cousin town of Boreing, Ky. is known for its goat poop bingo.
The story says that guessing where Buckwheat the Goat will leave his droppings in order to win prizes (including a $50 gift certificate from Bi-Mart) is a popular pastime at the daylong event, but there’s more to this celebration than just animal dung.
“This is a family event showcasing our community,” said Deby Olson, another organizer, who says in its third year, the celebration will be “bigger and better than ever.”
Panda poop products
The Asia Times reports this morning that the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Base in China boasted a record 12 newborn animals in 2006, all of which survived.The story notes that 12 captive pandas were born in all of China in 2005 and only nine in 2000.
But success breeds its own problems -- too much poop.
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Each panda generates an average of 20-30 kilograms of waste every day, largely consisting of undigested bamboo, which the breeding center is recycling into panda-poop paper, photo frames, and other uniquely crafted souvenirs.
Don't eat poop ... and if you're going to, cook it
Steve Gustafson, program manager for a California county’s Division of Environmental Health, shared some frank words wth the Eureka Reporter about poop:"Most people like their beef and steaks undercooked. It’s a delicacy. For a whole cut, that may be OK. But, ground meat — beef or poultry — is suspect because it’s been handled. It could have bacteria and must be cooked to safe temperatures to kill the bugs and waste produce. … Eating cooked feces can’t hurt you. That’s our joke and it’s true."
Don't eat poop. Either keep it out or cook it.
Gonzo
I've been traveling for over 25 hours now on my return from Melbourne, and I don't know what it is about Dallas, where I'm currently parked, but I've had five different people within a 10 minute span say, hey, great shirt, in response to my English Don't Eat Poop T-shirt (left, not exactly as pictured) I've been stinking up all day.The T-shirts are still available at donteatpoop.com, and that website will be receiving an overhaul in the next few weeks. And we'll be introducing on-line payment (finally).
We've also designed a barfblog T-shirt but haven't printed them just yet.
For those who have traveled lately and know the frustrations, here's a thorough overview from the current Business Week, appropriately titled Fear and Loathing at the Airport, which reminds me …
While I have enjoyed Anthony Bourdain's A Cook's Tour during the flights and delays, does anyone else thinks he reads a little like Hunter S. Thompson-lite?
The scoop on poop
Swansea Council in Wales has bought 600,000 specially designed poop scoop bags which pet owners can use to dispose of their pet's waste when out walking.The Council says dog owners are more than welcome to use designated beaches all along the peninsula but they want them to use the scoops and help keep beaches clean for everyone.
Dog owners risk fines of up to a thousand pounds if they fail to clear up after their pet.
Brewing coffee from cat poop
According to ITN and Yahoo! News:
"Makers claim they gather undigested seeds from ripe coffee cherries, that have passed through the stomachs of civet cats and use them to make the drink.
It has been suggested enzymes in the animal's stomach break down the proteins in the seeds and give them a bitter taste that enhances the flavour."
They may be right about the poop seeds affecting the flavor, but the safety risk of this practice is high. The filth that these seeds come from could contain E. coli or other fecal coliforms that can lead to health issues. We'll keep an eye on this practice, but I wouldn't be surprised if we hear about a few people getting sick off of this practice. Read the full article here.
Wash your hands ... and don't serve poop
Researchers from the University of Michigan report in the Sept. 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases that washing hands with an antibacterial soap was no more effective at reducing bacterial levels or preventing illness than washing with ordinary soap, and that those soaps containing the antimicrobial triclosan, produced worrisome antibiotic cross-resistance among different species of bacteria.So wash your hands, and don't eat -- or serve -- poop.
Weeds
This program brought two things to my attention. The French think that the dangerous side of food is sexy, but there’s more to food safety than avoiding inherently toxic foods. At no point did anyone discuss the conditions in which the herbs were grown. As Doug and I wrote in our doggy-dining article … there is dog poop all over Paris and the rest of France. If there’s a patch of grass somewhere, it’s very likely that a cat or dog (or human) is also using this spot for relief. That’s quite a lot less sexy to think about than the perils of eating such refined foods as weeds. One aspiring chef said that everyone made fun of her … everyone asked her the same questions about knowing if the weeds were dangerous or not. She never mentioned if she thought that dog, cat, mouse, bird, or turtle poop might be on the herbs she’s putting primarily into fresh salads and uncooked sauces.
Airplane Diarrhea
Greece: diarrhea outbreak on charter flight
10.apr.07
Pravda
http://english.pravda.ru/news/world/10-04-2007/89446-diarrhea-0
An Easter holiday became a disaster for 60 Greek tourists flying home from Egypt. They were affected by a mass diarrhea outbreak on a charter plane, the officials said Tuesday.
Three women were briefly hospitalized with high temperatures after the Egypt Air flight landed at Thessaloniki airport early Tuesday, officials said. They were discharged soon afterward.
The plane was carrying 120 Greek holidaymakers returning from Cairo to Thessaloniki.
Doctors said the outbreak was due to food-poisoning, from a meal consumed before the sufferers boarded the plane.
