Poland: 'We want to live in a country that doesn't stink'
Poland’s soccer team may suck, but the co-host of the 2012 UEFA Euro championships wants to make sure the toilets sparkle.
Arkadiusz Choczaj, leader of the so-called "Clean Patrol" campaign, told reporters in Warsaw,
"Our toilets are better prepared for these championships than our football players.”
"Clean Patrols", made up of volunteer inspectors dressed in white overalls, recently sniffed around 200 public toilets in six Polish cities slated as Euro 2012 venues or back-ups. The "Clean Patrol" project was co-sponsored by CWS-boco, a sanitary products supplier.
Public potties were rated on accessibility, hygiene, smell and whether toilet paper, soap and hand towels were available.
Just one toilet scored a perfect 100 points, while a three-quarters majority rated 65 points, the basic acceptable standard.
Loos in airports, hotels, restaurants and cafes were rated the highest by both the patrols and tourists surveyed by the independent TNS OBOP pollsters. Poland's tourist-magnet southern city of Krakow received the highest ratings.
At the bottom of the rankings were a quarter of public restrooms -- in train and bus stations, on trains and in camp grounds -- rated as danger zones by the patrols and foreign tourists alike.
Jan Orgelbrand, head of Poland's Chief Sanitary Inspectorate said,
"Regardless of the Euro finals, we have to improve standards because, let's face it, we want to live in a country that doesn't stink.”
"Not every football fan or tourist will get to the stadium, but all will visit our public lavatories and their standard speaks about Poland as a nation."
N.Y. students suspended for raw-meat hazing
These girls probably failed biology.
The existing members of the girls' varsity soccer team at a high school in Lewiston, New York thought they would say hello and congratulations by hurling raw meat at the new team members and covering their hair in flour and eggs.
Besides being a waste of perfectly good meat, the risks of cross-contamination with E. coli or Salmonella or something is fairly large.
Lewiston is about 25 miles north of Buffalo.
Spanish soccer star Sisi sidelined with hepatitis A
It’s Oscar time and I can’t wait to see which celebrities have to get vaccinated for hepatitis A this year after the parties. But until Sunday, soccer seems to be the source of reminders to get vaccinated against hepatitis A, which is transmitted via human poop.
RC Recreativo de Huelva are set to be without Spain Under-21 midfielder Sisi (right) for at least the next six weeks after the 22-year-old was diagnosed with hepatitis A.
Sisi is not the first U21 international to contract hepatitis A this year. Germany's Ashkan Dejagah was diagnosed with the same condition in early February and his club – VfL Wolfsburg – are resigned to losing him for a "very long time".
Soccer star Dejagah hospitalized with hepatitis A
VfL Wolfsburg's German Under-21 international Ashkan Dejagah is facing a "very long time" on the sidelines after being admitted to a specialist hospital in Hamburg to undergo treatment for hepatitis A.
Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath said,
"It is very unfortunate and he will be sidelined for a very long time. We wish him the swiftest of recoveries."
No word on how the virus was contracted – food, water or otherwise.
New International Food Safety Network Infosheet -- Brazillian soccer club hit with hepatitis A
authorities are linking the outbreak to shared water bottles (they must have been contaminated with some nasty poop).You can download the infosheet here.
I thought it was football?
The bi-annual congress of the South African Association for Food Science and Technology in Durban was told on Wednesday that many of South Africa's food manufacturers are failing to meet basic hygiene standards with the management often scrambling to ensure a spotless factory only when standard certification inspections are imminent.And with the 2010 soccer World Cup just around the corner, it is high time that local food producers improved food safety levels in their factories to avert possible food poisoning disasters.
Rolf Uys, Manager of AIB International, was cited as saying that 45 percent of the factories his company had inspected over the past year had not met basic international food safety requirements, and 70 percent had less than desirable levels of food safety standards, adding,
"Some of the things I have seen this year were live insect activity in seven out of 10 silos inspected; cat droppings in a warehouse; urine in a fruit juice container; slime and psocids (tiny insects ) in water feed; the same buckets used for waste product and cleaning; and rodents blissfully living in warehouse wall panels.
"Factories are being cleaned once every three years just in time for the audit inspection. There is good preparation for the audit, but the attention is not on an entrenched food safety programme. … There is an attitude in the factory of 'we'll clean when we feel like it because the legislation is only providing a guideline', and of 'let's see what we can get away with.' A lot of factories are saying 'we'll just take our chances' and dish out vouchers to customers who complain, but this is not working any more."
If this is what the auditors are willing to say publicly, wonder what they really find?
