Food safety in schools sorta sucks
Today’s USA Today has a great feature about food safety and school lunches in the U.S.
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Students at Starbuck Middle School stumbled through the halls just after lunch on Oct. 31, 2007, holding their bellies and moaning. When the vomiting began, teachers knew that it wasn't a Halloween prank.
By midafternoon, almost 70 children waited outside the nurse's office at the school near Milwaukee. "There were so many kids there, it was like, 'Holy cow!' " recalls Michael Hannes, then a seventh-grader who felt "like someone kept punching me in the stomach."
During the Racine outbreak, the scene at Starbuck was so striking that photos of a hallway full of sick kids memorialize the day in the school yearbook. In the foreground sit trash barrels; the school ran out of bags to catch the vomit.
Much about the following days typifies what happens after such outbreaks. Worried that a virus might be to blame, officials closed the school and custodians disinfected every surface; meanwhile, health and school officials tried to learn all they could about what the children ate.
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Days would pass before local health officials determined that the tortillas served at Starbuck and four other schools in Racine were to blame for 101 illnesses. An Internet search showed them the stunning particulars: The company that supplied the tortillas had a long history of making children sick.
The feature has lots more details. And is why I always helped pack the kids a lunch.
Welsh government responds to E. coli outbreak report; parents of Mason say it's not enough
After the 2005 E. coli O157 outbreak which killed 5-year-old Mason Jones and sickened 160 schoolchildren in Wales, Professor Hugh Pennington led a public inquiry which revealed the futility of food safety training, government inspection, and pretty much anything to do with the so-called food safety system.
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Yesterday, First Minister Rhodri Morgan announced more of the same in responding to Pennington’s report in the Wales Assembly.
“We know already that the Food Standards Agency is to review the use of equipment such as vacuum-packing machinery for both raw and cooked products.”
Duh. It shouldn’t happen.
“The training of inspectors and their managers is also being examined, with the aim of making this more comprehensive, helping them develop a sixth sense of what is potentially catastrophic.”
So they can see dead people?
“Inspections will be unannounced unless there is a clear requirement otherwise.”
Just make the inspections unannounced.
Sharon Mills and Nathan Jones, the parents of Mason Jones (above, right) said they would like to see Mr Morgan take more direct action and impose measures on the authorities involved, instead of leaving them to correct their own mistakes, with Ms. Mills stating,
“It was a bit disappointing because there was nothing definite about what he said. I thought we were going to get some answers and there still aren’t any. I don’t think we are any further forward than we were before.”
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Somewhere, Prof. Pennington, who also headed the inquiry after the 1996 E. coli O157 outbreak in Scotland that killed 21 and sickened over 400, is wondering how to escape this Groundhog-Day-esque cycle of outbreak-illness-death-report-repeat.
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.
Food fight: Massachusetts school cafeteria inspections suck
Sara Brown, Husna Haq, and Hannah McBride, journalism students at Boston University, got their feature on school cafeteria food safety inspections published in the Boston Globe this morning. They’d been working on it for much of last semester, and I spent some time on the phone with Sara and provided some background. Good for them; glad the Globe is still around to publish such features. Highlights below.
At an elementary school in Billerica, the sewage smell was so strong it forced a nauseated health inspector to leave after 15 minutes. During a five-week period in Framingham, 17 mice were caught in an elementary school's kitchen storage area. And in a Foxborough middle school, a complaint of hair in the food prompted an inquiry by a local health inspector.
School cafeteria inspections in communities throughout Greater Boston last year found problems ranging from expired milk and rotting meat to disposable utensils and a meat slicer stored in employee bathrooms.
But, in many ways, that was the good news.
Those cafeterias were inspected, their problems identified for correction. Cafeterias in 7 percent of private and public elementary and secondary schools across Massachusetts were never inspected at all in the 2007-2008 school year, according to state records. And 38 percent were inspected just once, though federal law requires two health inspections annually.
The Massachusetts data gathered from school districts tell only part of the story.
A closer look at more than 1,000 schools in 157 communities in Greater Boston reveals a slipshod system of local enforcement with virtually no state or federal oversight. …
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In Massachusetts, school cafeteria inspections fall under the jurisdiction of local boards of health, typically small groups that are either elected or appointed, depending on the community. There are no minimum education or experience requirements to be a health inspector; candidates need only pass a state-approved performance test and a written exam, which can be taken online through the Food and Drug Administration. The state also sets no minimum qualifications for directors of local boards of health.
"The guy who inspects your car has more training" than some health inspectors, said Michael Moore, food safety coordinator at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. …
In August, Lynn health inspector Frank McNulty was called to Lynn English High School to investigate a foul odor. When he opened the cafeteria freezer, a puff of steam reeking of rotting meat gushed out. "I nearly passed out," McNulty said. "I've never dealt with something like that before."
The freezer had shut down, but the condenser was still operating, drawing in hot summer air and cooking hundreds of pounds of meat for weeks. McNulty and food service employees called dozens of cleaning services, but none would take the job. Finally, he contacted a company that cleans up crime scenes.
"They must do dead bodies," he said, "so I figured they'd do this."
From France to Kansas City: foodborne illness in schools
Several headmasters from the Haute-Garonne and Tarn primary schools in France simultaneously informed the health authorities of the occurrence of digestive disorders of low severity among students.
A retrospective cohort study, conducted through self-administered questionnaires among approximately 3,000 students and teachers who had participated in two meals in 36 schools concerned, was initiated to confirm the existence of a foodborne outbreak and its origin. …
This large-scale foodborne outbreak illustrates the main factors that encourage the occurrence of foodborne outbreaks (multiple malfunctions in the preparation of meals), and stresses the importance of associating the epidemiological, veterinary and microbiological investigations in the early management of the alert, as well as the first management measures (eviction of sick personal) to avoid major consequences in collective catering.
Meanwhile in Missouri, two Lee's Summit kindergarten students have been hospitalized with salmonella.
The kids, a boy and a girl, have been enrolled in Richardson Kids Country during the school year. The Health Department has not determined if their illness is related to the school.
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.
Do you know where that finger's been? The risks of potlucks
Yesterday was the departmental Xmas potluck.
I didn’t go.
Not cause of the newborn, I just, on those rare occasions I get invited, avoid potlucks. There’s the ‘Hey, Food Safety Man, would you eat this,’ to which I politely smile and say sure, the biggest risk is not eating at all, cause I’m trying to be publicly polite, and meanwhile I’m not touching the sprout salad, the unpasteurized juices, the raw oysters (a big hit in Kansas) and the beef that’s been sitting at room temperature for 14 hours.
Besides, once I start pontificating, I can’t shut up. Maybe I just like to hear myself talk.
Some middle school students in Birmingham, Alabama, found out the hard way – meaning they barfed a lot – the risks of potlucks.
The Birmingham News reports that nearly half of the students in a Smith Middle School language arts class became ill Friday after tasting meals that students had prepared as part of an assignment.
Birmingham schools spokeswoman Michaelle Chapman said the students were to write about their favorite dish and how it was prepared. The teacher allowed them to make and bring the dish to class if they wished.
Of the 18 students, 16 of them brought in dishes and eight students got sick after tasting them.
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After seeing this story, one colleague wrote his daughter’s principal, asking if there was a policy about bringing food into schools to share with others. I did the same years ago after my daughter was almost exposed to unpasteurized cider as part of a class trip to the farm.
Montana mom brings rabid bat to school, 90 kids to get rabies shots
About 90 children at Stevensville Elementary School in Montana have started a series of six shots of anti-rabies vaccine after a local schoolmom gave show-and-tell-and-touch presentations in five classrooms involving a dead bat.
The bat was subsequently confirmed to be diseased.
School officials say they will use liability insurance to pay up to $70,000 for the exposed children to be vaccinated. The overall cost could surpass $150,000.
The school has since set a policy requiring that anyone visiting the school obtain a visitor pass.
Cockroach sandwich? Calls to name and shame dirty school canteens
The Australians are really getting into restaurant inspection disclosure -- via the name and shame route.Sydneysiders are now saying school canteens should be held to the same standards.
Australia.com reports that,
Gastro outbreaks, cockroaches in sandwiches and mice droppings in pie ovens are among a number of complaints that have seen 38 Sydney schools targeted by the food safety authority since 2004.
Shadow Education Minister Andrew Stoner said,
“We don’t allow other businesses – takeaways and restaurants – to get away with this. We can’t allow school canteens to do it. … name and shame the schools where canteens are not up to scratch.”
Go for it.
Students clean own school to control staph
Students at one Putnam County high school in West Virginia walked out of school Monday morning and then came back to school after hours -- to clean.One student was cited as telling 13 News Monday morning about 100 students refused to enter Buffalo High School after several confirmed cases of staph infection, including rumors that one student willfully contaminated areas in the building.
Senior Priscilla Blankenship said,
"It irritates me, and I'm outraged that I am a high school student. I come here to learn and I have to come and clean my own school to come into it -- to make it safe enough."
Assistant Schools Superintendent Robert Hull was cited as saying the school board has done all it can to keep students safe and the school clean, adding,
"We'll take whatever precautions are necessary, and we are following at this point every recommended precaution, which is routine cleaning and having children wash their hands and doing any cleaning of special areas if we know of an infected area."
Hull said a letter has been issued to all parents detailing the facts and that he hopes educating the community will calm people's nerves.
When someone says they are going to educate the public, things have really gone of the rails. People can be informed and compelled, but they educate themselves.
Proper handwashing requires proper tools
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The Manhattan -- Kansas, that is -- Mercury today looked into ongoing problems at local schools and the continuing spread of staph infections.The Riley County Health Department found that a couple of schools, including MHS West, lacked soap and paper towels.
So I wrote this to the local paper:
Proper handwashing is the most effective way to control the spread of infectious diseases, including avian influenza, norovirus, and the staphylococcus apparently running through Manhattan High School's west campus (Taking the temperature of problems in the West Campus building, Oct. 14/07
But proper handwashing requires access to the proper tools.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control 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.
Based on the available evidence, proper handwashing consists of:
• wet hands with water;
• use soap;
• lather all over hands by scrubbing vigorously, creating friction, reaching all areas of the hands, wrists and between fingers;
• rinse hands; and,
• dry hands, preferably with paper towel.
Studies have concluded that dangerous bacteria could survive handwashing with soap and water if hands were not dried thoroughly with paper towels. The friction created when drying hands with paper towel removes additional microorganisms.
Last month, the Western Mail in Wales stated that the conditions in some Welsh schools, outlined in the final report of an E. coli O157 outbreak in 2005 that left a five-year-old dead and over 100 sick, would shame the Third World, adding, "It’s time to ensure children are not placed in environments which are breeding grounds for disease … to tolerate a situation where schools do not have toilet rolls, soap or hot water is reprehensible."
Similarly, lack of soap and paper towels exacerbated the effects of a norovirus outbreak that sickened over 150 students at a university residence in Ontario in 2006.
Age and the demands of modern education are no excuse for providing the basic tools for sanitation.
Proper handwashing begins with access to proper tools. That is why soap and paper towels are a necessary requirement for any public bathroom.
That bloody E. coli is popping up everywhere
Six-year-old Sydney fell ill last Wednesday, and though she was diagnosed quickly, has not found relief from the painful cramps and bloody diarrhea the infection has caused. In fact, she may soon be put on dialysis and her platelet count is still low.
Sydney's mother, Marcia Jacobi, sent a letter with a neighbor to the New Albany/Floyd County School Board meeting on Monday describing her heart-wrenching experience as she continued to sit by Sydney's bedside at Kosair Children's Hospital.
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The infection is thought to be caused by a meal at Galena Elementary School, where five other children have fallen ill from the same deadly bacteria.
The Assistant Superintendent, Bill Briscoe, is wary to admit that the bacteria was contracted at the school, or if all six students (and another suspected two) may have gotten the bug from another source.
Sydney's mother, of course, is not at all satisfied with the school district's reaction. "She is sincerely appalled by the way this has been handled," reads her neighbor on Jacobi's behalf, "Parents of both healthy and ill children feel this has been dramatically downplayed."
