barfblog

Elbow shake

Amy Hubbell — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:25:23 +0000

Magic glove syndrome, the phenomenon where food service workers think they are immune to cross-contamination because they're wearing protective gloves, is rampant on reality TV. Even our own butcher here in Brisbane touches everything from raw meat to money with his gloves on. It's just one of those things I never would have thought about before I met Doug, but now I find it disgusting.

Tonight I'm catching up on missed episodes of Top Chef Just Desserts and have noticed some glove action going on. First, during a one-handed challenge, an opponent helped Chef Orlando put a sanitary glove on the one hand he was allowed to use. Then I did a happy double-take when I saw Chef Sally Camacho offer her elbow to Judge Hubert Keller at an event the cheftestants catered in L.A. She respected her gloved hands and diners by avoiding bringing potential clients' germs into her dishes.

Fancy food isn’t safe food: Emirates edition

Doug Powell — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 09:57:37 +0000

I’ve got some work in Dubai and inexplicably scored access to the Emirates fancy pants lounge at the Brisbane airport. So I wore shorts. Fabulous beef, fruit, and I’m drinking Veuve Cliquot champagne (which I usually pronounce Verve Cluque) like Dan Aykroyd in the Blues Brothers.

But proving once again that even the fanciest places may not know much about food safety, this delightfully refreshing and crisp prawn salad was tainted with sprouts Raw pea sprouts. Yuck. Besides direct ingestion there is cross-contamination.

A table of sprout-related outbreaks is available at http://bites.ksu.edu/sprouts-associated-outbreaks.

229 sick; norovirus caused cheerleader illness outbreak; don’t barf in public or at least clean it up

Doug Powell — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 06:00:33 +0000

Last week, some 300 staff and students in San Francisco were sickened with norovirus believed to have been transmitted by someone barfing on a door handle.

It now appears a similar mode of transmission sickened 229 cheerleaders and cheeries at a Washington state competition.

JoNel Aleccia of msnbc cites Suzanne Pate, spokeswoman for the Snohomish Health District, as confirming Friday that norovirus was the cause, and the outbreak was likely precipitated by people who were ill in public.

"Somebody arrived at the event sick," said Pate, noting that janitorial crews were called to clean up vomit in a restroom and on an adjacent walkway. Those areas were likely exposure sites for the cheer and dance teams, she said.

Some 229 people were sickened and least 33 people sought medical attention for their illnesses, state health officials said late Friday. That number is expected to grow as the investigation continues.

A Comcast Arena spokeswoman said officials had sanitized the premises in accordance with federal health guidelines before a new event scheduled for Friday night. Tests of the arena's water supply showed no problems, Pate said.

"It's probably the best-scrubbed place in the county," she added.

American Idol Group Night explosive with barf

Doug Powell — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 05:27:49 +0000

I don’t watch American Idol; I saw enough of Steven Tyler performing half-time at the Super Bowl. But I pay attention when my health-type friends tell me, the contestants on American Idol this week suffered from Idol Flu, with many gratuitous vomit shots, lots of hugging and no handwashing in sight.

Amy (Tent Girl) Brumfield earned a new nickname -- Patient Zero. She brought a stomach bug to Hollywood with her, and, soon, practically every group has to carry their own plastic bag with them, just in case somebody loses their dinner.

A few of the more promising singers -- Johnny Keyser, David Leathers Jr. and Deandre Brackensick -- looked like they've got their acts together. But this Group Night show featured as much drama, and as much retching, as it did actual singing.

Maybe it was norovirus; maybe the barfing contestants were forced to watch their own show.

Eat fresh: over 100 sickened with norovirus that ‘bounced in’ to Indiana Subway; ‘hot wash’ report next

Doug Powell — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:42:33 +0000

Most of the 100-plus people infected with norovirus last month had eaten at a local Subway franchise.

The Star Press reports an investigation by the Blackford County Health Department (that’s in Indiana) was unable to determine whether a customer or an employee spread the virus, also known as a stomach bug and food poisoning.

"We don't know how it bounced in there," said Linda Briles, an environmental health specialist at the department. "We may never know. I use the term 'bounced in there,' either www.barfblog.com/blog/152553/12/01/14/eat-fresh-90-sick-norovirus-linked-indiana-subwaywith an employee or a customer, I don't know. But it bounced in and went from there."

She said the virus could have been spread by a customer who failed to properly wash his or her hands after using the restroom. "A customer could have left it on a door knob," Briles said. "It (transmission) is fecal-oral. Or an employee could have caused it by poor hand washing."

An outbreak investigation report from the state department of health won't be completed for several months, spokeswoman Amanda Turney said. A state epidemiologist will conduct a "hot wash" meeting today with the county health department staff to identify lessons learned from the outbreak.

"I want to do a final hot wash before I release my report (of the investigation to the public)," Briles said. "It should be available after I get down to the state health department and have it checked by the media (relations office)."

Briles said tests showed that more than one Subway employee was infected with the norovirus. "They were sick the same time everyone else was," Briles said. To her knowledge, the infected employees were not sick before the outbreak.

There has been an Indiana administrative code regulating food workers with diagnosed illnesses since 2000, but it wasn't being enforced in Indiana until 2008.

Under the code, any food employee who is diagnosed with one of the following illnesses must be excluded from the food establishment: salmonella, shiga toxin-producing E. coli, shigella, hepatitis A or norovirus.

From company headquarters in Milford, Conn., Subway public relations manager Kevin Kane said, "Upon learning of the norovirus investigation by the Blackford County Health Department, the franchisee in Hartford City voluntarily closed the restaurant and had an independent company come in to thoroughly clean and sanitize the restaurant. This was in addition to the stringent cleaning and sanitizing procedures practiced here on a daily basis.

Despite hiring an independent contractor to sanitize the restaurant, Subway was cited by Briles for mold, dirty floors and other violations after re-opening.

Cheesecake Factory of hepatitis A

Doug Powell — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:24:33 +0000

While assuring the public that there is no evidence of an outbreak, the Central District Health Department is alerting the public that an employee of the Cheesecake Factory on North Milwuakee Road in Boise, Idaho, was infected with the hepatitis A virus, but is no longer infectious.

CDHD is alerting patrons who may have dined at the restaurant between Dec. 13, 2011, and Jan. 22, 2012, that they may have been exposed to hepatitis A. If a person has had a hepatitits A vaccine or have had the illness in the past, the CDHD said they are protected from the infection.

"The risk to the public health is extremely low because the employee was not involved in food preparation," said a statement from CDHD. "Still, there is the possibility that patrons could have been exposed to hepatitis A."

The Cheesecake Factory has fully cooperated with the investigation into the situation. The employee is believed to have practiced good hand hygiene. The risk of exposure is considered very small, but not zero.

Cheerleader toll climbs to 200 after Washington tournament

Doug Powell — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:04:07 +0000

Nearly 200 people across the state have reported illnesses after attending a high school cheer and dance event in Everett earlier this month.

Preliminary survey results show at least 192 reports of illness from participants and adults who attended the event Feb. 4. Students and adults from Columbia River and Skyview high schools in Vancouver attended the event.

The Washington State Department of Health is investigating the cause of the outbreak.

As part of the investigation, questionnaires were sent to participants and their families and stool samples are being collected for testing at the state Public Health Laboratories.

More than 3,000 people attended the event and more than 1,000 competed in the State Cheerleading and Salute to Spirit in cheer and dance/drill.

Another unregistered caterer makes people barf at a wedding in Germany; don’t put flowers in food

Doug Powell — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:52:58 +0000

In a triumph of food porn over food safety, an investigation into an outbreak of salmonellosis in the summer of 2010 after a wedding party in Bavaria, Germany that sickened at least 52 people failed to pinpoint a specific food source but did uncover a number of disturbing food safety practices – such as adding rose petals to food and no temperature checks -- again linked to an unlicensed caterer.

German researchers report in Eurosurveillance this week that in the summer of 2010, a local health office in northern Bavaria, Germany, was informed that approximately half of the 110 guests of a wedding that had taken place the preceding weekend had contracted gastroenteritis. At the wedding party, soup and a late-lunch buffet (served from 3 p.m.) and a cold dinner buffet (served from 10 p.m.) had been provided by an out-of-town caterer. In addition, a wedding cake made by a local bakery and a number of cakes and desserts contributed by different wedding guests were served by the catering staff at 20.00. The food served at the wedding was suspected to be the source of the outbreak. Initial laboratory results of stool samples of some guests who became ill indicated Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis) as the causative pathogen.

According to the caterer, only the meat dishes were prepared at the caterer’s facilities in advance. All sauces, antipasti and salads were made from commercially produced ingredients and were prepared at the wedding party venue. Food items that required cooling were transported in cooling boxes and stored in cooling units at the venue. At the venue, the lunch buffet was set up for six hours, between 2 p.m. (the buffet was set up one hour before it was available to guests) and 8 p.m. No checks were carried out of holding temperatures of the warm or cold dishes. Salads and other cold dishes were not cooled during this period. Photographs of the buffet showed that a number of the cold dishes were decorated with non-edible flowers (such as roses), which were inserted into the food. The flowers had been purchased at a wholesale retailer. Cakes supplied by a number of wedding guests were stored without cooling until they were served at 20:00. The dishes of the dinner buffet were not cooled. They were first served at 10 p.m. It is unclear for how long the dishes of the dinner buffet were served; however, it is known that the catering personnel departed at 00.30.

Inspection of the catering facilities and interview of the catering staff revealed a number of shortcomings contravening European food hygiene regulations. The facilities used by the caterer were not registered with the local authorities. There were no records of the required staff training on food hygiene. No temperature controls of cooling devices or transport boxes were carried out, nor were temperatures monitored during preparation or serving of warm dishes. There were no records of HACCP concept planning or implementation. The company was banned from catering until proof of changes in their practices had been provided to the local authorities.

The cohort study showed that a variety of dishes were associated with a significantly increased risk of infection: in particular consumption of a group of lunch dishes containing mayonnaise was associated with a high relative risk. Despite the constraint of a two-week delay between the wedding party and the questionnaires being sent out, participants appeared to recollect well which dishes they had consumed.

The isolation of S. Enteritidis from two of the food samples at the wedding party was judged to show that the food served posed a health risk, as all the food items were ready for consumption without requiring further preparation or heating. The isolation of indistinguishable Salmonella strains from the food samples as well as from stool samples of respondents and catering personnel supported the hypothesis that the outbreak was foodborne.

There are several possibilities for the source of the Salmonella contamination in this outbreak. Mayonnaise is a well-recognized vehicle of contamination when raw egg is used as an ingredient. However, in this outbreak all cold dishes and salads were made from commercially prepared ingredients. As commercially produced mayonnaise and sauces are conventionally based on pasteurized ingredients, it is unlikely that they would be the primary source of contamination. Commercial mayonnaise by itself is also not suitable for Salmonella propagation, due to its low pH adjusted by acetic acid. However, addition of mayonnaise to other salad ingredients may alter the overall acetic acid concentration of the mixture, thus providing a suitable base for proliferation once the pathogen has been introduced by secondary contamination.

The environmental investigation revealed a number of infringements of food safety regulations, including a lack of staff training and the absence of records of a food safety concept according to the HACCP principles. Lack of temperature controls for food storage and transport as well as prolonged presentation of buffet dishes at room temperature provided ideal conditions for pathogen proliferation, regardless of the primary source of contamination.

While they do not replace official controls, the HACCP principles are central to the European concept of food safety by helping food business operators to attain a high standard of food safety. Successful implementation of procedures based on the HACCP principles requires the full cooperation and commitment of food business employees. Adequate training of personnel is central to achieving this goal.

The outbreak investigated in this study demonstrates the consequences of lack of staff training and the failure to identify hazards to food safety, as well as failure to implement control measures to mitigate such hazards. The use of flowers as food decoration demonstrated insufficient understanding of the potential for contamination through products that are not intended for food production and therefore not subject to food hygiene regulations.

Intelligently implemented food hygiene concepts not only benefit the consumer but are also very much in the interest of the food business operator, whose business can be threatened by food-borne outbreaks. Initial hygiene and food safety training for food business operators should therefore also explain microbiological principles underlying food safety practices in order to equip the businesses with the required background knowledge and motivation to design and implement an intelligent food safety/HACCP concept, including the consideration and identification of potential sources of contamination. Explicit mention of the dangers of the use of non-edible flowers for decoration should be considered in guides to good practice, which are a valuable instrument to aid food business operators with compliance with food hygiene rules and with the application of the HACCP principles.

The complete paper is available at http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=20076.

Jersey schools battling norovirus; students not always the best at handwashing

Ben Chapman — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:13:00 +0000

Universities have a tough time with norovirus. Close quarters, not-the-best-personal-hygiene and cafeterias are all factors in spreading the pathogen around. Brae Surgeoner, Doug and I had a paper published in the September 2009 Journal of Environmental Health about some research we conducted in the Winter of 2006. The study came about because a whole bunch of kids in the University of Guelph's residence system started puking from an apparent norovirus outbreak. There were lots of handwashing signs up and we wanted to know whether they changed hygiene behavior (especially if kids were using the tools available when entering the cafeteria). Turns out that the kids weren't doing as good of a job at hand hygiene as they reported to us. According to our study, Observed compliance with prescribed hand hygiene recommendations occurred 17.4% of the time. Despite knowledge of hand hygiene protocols and low compliance, 83.0% of students indicated that they practiced correct hand hygiene during the outbreak.

According to CNN Rider University in New Jersey is dealing with a noro outbreak that has sent students to hospital, which might be connected to repeat offenders Princeton.

About 40 students at a university in New Jersey have been taken to hospitals for treatment after an outbreak of what authorities believe is the norovirus. The Rider University students, at the school's campus in Lawrenceville, were brought to hospitals late Wednesday night, the school said Thursday. The suspected outbreak comes a week after an outbreak began at nearby Princeton University, which is still under way, officials said.

"We are coordinating treatment information with that university. We have also informed neighboring institutions," Rider said on its website.
Some of those taken to hospitals have been discharged and returned to campus.

Below in a food safety infosheet detailing another Princeton-related outbreak from 2008.

I want to buy food from a market vendor who worries about killing their customers

Ben Chapman — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:13:50 +0000

When I was in high school, nerding it up with some other high school kids at the obviously-exciting annual Ontario Model Parliament simulation, I met Hilary Weston. She was the Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario (that's in Canada) and she and Galen, her husband, owned a bunch of huge food businesses including Weston Foods (Canada's largest bakery) and most of food retailer Loblaws.

When I met her I told her I liked her bread.

Hilary and Galen's son Galen Jr, who runs Loblaws now, has pissed some people off in the past couple of days with his (now retracted) comments that farmers' markets are going to kill people.

I want to buy food from someone who is worried about killing people - not someone who says we we've never had a problem. I figure that if they worry about the consequences, they might actually do something about it.

Over the past couple of years one of my graduate students, Allison Smathers, has been working with farmers' markets in North Carolina to develop and evaluate food safety workshops for market vendors and managers. Market managers, vendors and organizers have been part of the process from the start. But creating and delivering this training doesn't mean that practices are impacted. Recognizing the need to measure behavior change (and the limitations of relying on self-reported tests), Allison has enlisted the help of a group of secret shoppers who have collected data on current practices and facilities and provided insight into specific areas to focus on. Stuff the shoppers saw, like improper handwashing, cross-contaminating samples and not monitoring temperatures have been the big focus.

Right now Allison and I are in Lincolnton, NC delivering the material to a bunch of extension agents who will be training market folks soon. The secret shoppers will be back out this summer looking again for food safety practices at markets where vendors and managers have been trained - something Allison can compare to what was seen in previous summers. 2010 data was presented at the 2011 IFT annual meeting (abstract below, poster here).

At the end of the project we'll be able to either show some changes - or not - regardless we'll know how well the training worked and what to work on in the next iteration.

Seems like a much better approach than "trust us."

Smathers, A., Chapman, B and Phister, T.

Evaluation of facilities and food safety practices in the North Carolina farmers market sector.

IFT Annual Meeting (June 12, 2011)

The association between produce and ready-to-eat foods with foodborne illness prompts concern in the North Carolina farmers’ market sector. Since large amounts of produce are sold at farmers’ markets, there is an increased need to protect the farmers’ market sector from foodborne illness. Considering this potential, we designed a method of assessment to measure the food safety culture and awareness of farmers’ market vendors. The objective of this study was to observe the practices carried out at a farmers’ market in order to assess the need for food safety training and information directed specifically toward the promotion of good food safety practices at farmers’ markets. The study used 20 secret shoppers, trained to observe and collect quantitative and qualitative data through observational surveys. During the 2010 market season, secret shoppers provided information that was neither incriminating nor praiseworthy from 37 farmers’ markets and 168 farmers’ market vendors, representing a large sample of North Carolina markets. The information was provided through observational surveys and results were estimated through analysis of survey data. The survey data was used to create trends and relationships to assess the food safety knowledge and practices carried out at a farmers’ market. Our findings highlight the need for food safety improvement in areas such as cross-contamination, hygiene, sanitation, sampling, claims, and storage. Results provide a need for enhancement of food safety at the farmers’ markets in order to protect the farmers’ market sector from being linked to foodborne illness outbreaks. The overall goal of supporting the growth and health of the North Carolina farmers’ markets will continue to be supported through further assessment and education development.

Food safety culture is more than just training

Ben Chapman — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:52:02 +0000

Most of the stuff I've worked on in the past ten years has something to do with evaluating and supporting food safety culture. bites, barfblog, infosheets and reality-based research are all about providing information to make risk-based decisions and assessing where there might be gaps.
The ultimate goal is less sick people.

But as one of my mentors Gord Surgeoner once told me, businesses wont pay attention to food safety unless it generates revenue or some how keeps them from losing money. Making people sick is bad business. So is spending money on training programs or handwashing signs if there isn't a measurable return on investment.

I've been to lots of talks where smart food safety folks were supposed to present about their food safety culture, but really have only shared their training program requirements. And while maybe they are measuring it, no one talks about their return on investment.

In a paper published in 2011, Doug, Casey Jacob and I wrote:

Maintaining a food safety culture means that operators and staff know the risks associated with the products or meals they produce, know why managing the risks is important, and effectively manage those risks in a demonstrable way. In an organization with a good food safety culture, individuals are expected to enact practices that represent the shared value system and point out where others may fail.
Training is part of it. So is having some sort of verification that staff and supervisors are actually reducing risks. It's pretty easy to point to a poor food safety culture - it's more difficult to define a good one. But one of the indicators is the "dude wash your hands factor" - pointing out where others fail and modeling the right practice.

Conagra, one of the biggest food companies in North America, and source of a few foodborne illness outbreaks in the past few years, is trying to step up their internal assessment of food safety culture, and sharing it publicly.

In the January 2012 issue of Food Technology, the ConAgra food safety crew shared their approach to assessing their food safety culture (at least the self reported values part) and how they used the results to change the way they train and support good practices in their plants.

Administering a survey to all plant personnel—line workers as well as supervisors and management—is the first step in the assessment process. Having all employees take part in the survey is important, as it sets the stage for communicating that everyone contributes to the plant’s food safety culture and that food safety is everyone’s responsibility. The act itself of taking the survey increases awareness of the concept of food safety culture, gets people talking about food safety culture, and ultimately drives toward improvements.

Their main findings support the approach we use with much of our work - tell people about consequences (both positive and negative), help staff learn from past mistakes and appreciate a community with shared values:

1. Employee desire
• Both employees and leaders want food safety held up as an equal to personal safety, with both groups talking about the need to inspire employees around food safety.
• Participants said they specifically wanted to know more about lessons learned from food safety issues and incidents and how they would prevent future problems.
2. Teamwork
• Employees want to be able to rely on one another.
• Employees felt that there needs to be a good balance of supervisor responsibility and their own responsibility, but felt that at the end of the day, they are personally accountable.
3. Recognition
• Employees were proud of the plant’s food safety performance and understood that it deserved recognition. Recognition breeds motivation.
• Suggestions were made to reinstitute food safety and recognition committees to help drive engagement from the floor.

Great stuff, especially the recognition that surveys and focus groups are just the start (people tend to lie), I hope Conagra continues on this path, publishes this stuff in a peer-reviewed journal, shares some of their further assessments and market it to their customers
It would also be nice for others to know what ConAgra's return on investment for food safety culture is.

Hepatitis A alert at Gonzalez restaurant in Dallas

Doug Powell — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:03:35 +0000

If you’ve eaten at Gonzalez Restaurant, 8121 Bruton Road, in Dallas, between January 25-28, you may want to see a doctor.

An employee who was diagnosed with hepatitis A went to work and may have come in contact with customers.

Health-types are working to alert medical care providers to be on the lookout for any customers who may have been infected.

Political rally in Mexico ends with 650 barfing

Doug Powell — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 07:52:42 +0000

Officials of a Mexican political party are apologizing to 650 indigenous people who suffered food poisoning after attending a campaign rally in southern Mexico.

Authorities in the indigenous town of Chilapa had to open an auditorium on Wednesday to treat people who became sick after eating rice tacos and eggs handed out by former mayor Sergio Dolores, who is running for congress.

Guerrero state civil protection officials said adults and children were fainting, throwing up and suffering from diarrhea.

Farmer’s markets or superstores: it’s all a question of food safety

Doug Powell — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:26:39 +0000

I didn’t write the headline, but this is now running in the Toronto Star, regarding the article, Low blow from Loblaw boss gets farmers’ goat, Feb. 8.

It’s not that a grocery mogul told the Canadian Food Summit that “one day, (farmers’ markets) are going to kill some people,” it’s that no one in the farmers’ market community responded with any kind of microbiological food safety comment, resorting instead to: trust us and we’re inspected.

Robert Chorney, the executive director of Farmers' Markets Ontario, promoted a few food safety myths of his own, saying that markets are regularly inspected and food is easily traceable because consumers know who they're buying from.

Inspections don’t mean much. And just because someone drives to the Food Terminal in Toronto to load up on produce at 3 a.m. and then sell it at a premium at the local market adds nothing to traceability.

Pointing to surveys showing consumers think food at farmers’ markets is safer means nothing regarding the actual microbiological safety of any food. And surveys suck.

When I go to a farmer’s market or a megalomarket run by the Westons, I ask questions about the quality of irrigation water, what kind of soil amendments are used, and employee handwashing programs. I ask about microbial test strategies and results as verification that the farmer, whether she bought it from the Food Terminal or grew it herself, has a clue about dangerous micro-organisms.

Most answer with variations of trust me. There’s already enough faith-based food safety out there.

I don’t care if it’s a farmers’ market or Loblaws: provide evidence that the food you’re flogging is microbiologically safe. The best producers and retailers will market food safety at retail.

Regardless of size, production method or retail experience, providers either know about microbial food safety risks and take serious steps to control those risks — or they don’t.

Dr. Douglas Powell, professor, food safety, Kansas State University

Peer-review has a purpose: Canadian food safety study long on rhetoric, short on data

Doug Powell — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:13:15 +0000

A new report says Canadians suffer more foodborne illness than Americans, that most of it happens with restaurant meals, and that consumers are sorta dumb too.

Unfortunately, the report relies heavily on other reports that are not peer-reviewed, assumptions, and suffers from highly selective referencing to make a point – and I have no idea what that point is.

The report, Improving Food Safety in Canada: Toward a More Risk Responsive System, released by the Conference Board of Canada to coincide with their food safety conference and upstaged by Galen Weston Jr.’s comments that farmer’s markets were going to kill someone, says half or more of all cases of foodborne illnesses in Canada are picked up in restaurants or from other food service providers.

Daniel Munro, Principal Research Associate, said, “It is commonly assumed that farms and food processing companies hold the most responsibility for ensuring safe food, and their role is critical. But most foodborne illnesses are associated with the preparation and storage practices of restaurants, food service operations, and consumers themselves.”

I’m not sure who makes that assumption. It is estimated there are 6.8 million cases of food-borne illness annually in Canada.

Part of the problem can be traced to restaurant inspection systems that are seen as too sporadic to have an impact on restaurants’ day-to-day food safety practices.

Garth Whyte, president and CEO of the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association dismissed the report describing it as "shockingly short on facts."

"This study did not even bother contacting us about what we are doing, and if they had, they would know that there are three government recognized food safety training programs that train tens of thousands food handlers per year," Whyte said.

Except training alone doesn’t do much for food safety behavior.

The report provides a number of recommendations to improve Canada’s food safety system including providing restaurants and other food service providers with timely information and advice on how they can minimize food safety risks.

We call them infosheets.

It also urges governments to build on current consumer awareness initiatives by engaging consumers directly in discussions about food safety in their households.

The report offers no advice on how to do that.

Ag dept. delays start for additional E. coli testing

Doug Powell — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:58:46 +0000

The U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service announced on Feb. 8 it is extending the implementation date for routine sampling of six additional shiga-toxin producing E. coli serogroups (O26, O45, O103, O111, O121 and O145) for 90 days, according to the North American Meat Processors Association. The date was extended from March 5 to June 4.

NAMP says the extension was granted to give extra time to establishments so they could validate their test methods and detect these pathogens prior to entering the commerce stream.

Initially, FSIS plans to sample raw beef manufacturing trimmings and other raw ground beef product components both imported and produced domestically, plus test the serogroups’ samples.

Norovirus rampant in Wisconsin

Doug Powell — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:02:47 +0000

Norovirus is making the rounds in Madison, Wisconsin, with five food-related outbreaks since last November.

Dane County health officials are still waiting for test results from the most recent outbreak. It took place Jan. 29 when at least 16 people had vomiting and diarrhea after eating sandwiches and other food at the Mandrake Road Church of Christ in Madison.

Also last month, 28 people got sick after eating at Erin’s Snug Irish Pub in Madison. The other outbreaks took place at a drama-filming session at Madison West High School, the Pyle Center at U W Madison, and a Madison art show.

Health department epidemiologist Amanda Kita-Yarbro says the five outbreaks in a three-month period are a first for her agency. She said it could have been spurred either by food workers or people attending the various events.

#FS2012 Canadian supermarket mogul says farmers' markets could kill people

Doug Powell — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:44:50 +0000

It’s not that a grocery mogul told a supposed food safety conference that “one day, (farmers’ markets) are going to kill somebody;” it’s that no one in the farmer’s market community responded with any kind of microbiological food safety comment, resorting instead to, trust us and we’re inspected.

The Toronto Star reports mega-billionaire Galen-hey-now-Weston (right, exactly as shown), head of Canadian mega-grocer Loblaws, with over 1,000 stores, told the Canadian Food Summit yesterday, "Farmers' markets are great … One day they're going to kill some people, though. I'm just saying that to be dramatic, though.”

Robert Chorney, the executive director of Farmers' Markets Ontario, responded, "We strenuously object" to Weston's remark. That was awful."

Ontario's 175 farmers' markets do more than $700 million in sales every year. Chorney promoted a few food safety myths of his own, saying that markets are regularly inspected and food is easily traceable because consumers know who they're buying from.

“The association said that four surveys since 1998 have shown that 83 per cent of respondents feel market food is as safe or safer than supermarket food.”

Surveys suck; people’s perceptions often have no basis in reality.

"A question for Galen Weston Jr: Have you ever been to a farmers' market?" tweeted Gail Gordon Oliver, publisher and editor of Edible Toronto. "Have you ever REALLY spoken to a farmer?"

I have. And I ask questions. Like quality of irrigation water, what kind of ~~shit~~ soil amendments are used, and employee handwashing programs. I ask about microbial test strategies and results as verification that the farmer, whether she bought it from the Food Terminal or grew it herself, has a clue about dangerous microorganisms. Most answer with variations of, trust me.

There’s already enough faith-based food safety out there.

“Some delegates whispered among themselves on coffee breaks that supermarkets sell most of the food that's recalled by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).”

That's because supermarkets sell most of the food that is consumed in Canada.

“Farmers' Markets Ontario works with Ontario's 36 public health units, each of which has a champion responsible for markets. It has a food safety manual on its website.”

A manual? Awesome, my faith is restored.

I don’t care if it’s a farmer’s market or the Loblaws megalomart: provide evidence that the food you’re flogging is microbiologically safe. The best producers and retailers will market food safety at retail. People want it, that’s one reason they go to markets and buy all sorts of weird categories of food, but it’s not safer; it’s hucksterism.

And being a big company like Maple Leaf of 2008 listeria-in-cold-cuts fame that killed 23 Canadians is no guarantee or even hint that microbiological food safety matters. Regardless of size, or production method, or retail experience, providers either know about microbial food safety risks and take serious steps to control those risks – or they don’t.

In the 1990s as outbreaks were increasingly associated with unpasteurized apple cider, I would ask my cider provider at the Guelph local market (that’s in Canada) what he was doing to ensure the microbiological safety of his product. He could recite a variety of measures taken on the farm, and even set up a modest micro lab on the farm for testing. I bought his cider.

Cheerleaders and those cheering are barfing after competition

Doug Powell — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:28:00 +0000

Dozens of cheerleaders are suffering from vomiting and diarrhea after attending a Washington-state tournament in Everett last week.

The cause and source of the illness are unknown, officials said. So is the total number of people affected. However, the Washington State Department of Health has received calls from 19 cheerleading squads all reporting at least one person sick. More than 1,000 cheerleaders competed in the event at Everett's Comcast Arena and more than 3,000 spectators attended.

The investigation being conducted jointly by the Washington State Department of Health and the Snohomish Health District. So far, it has included collecting samples for testing at a laboratory, and sending a questionnaire to participants.

People who attended the event and have severe symptoms are advised to contact a health care provider.

Super Bowl leads to super food safety stories

Ben Chapman — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:09:36 +0000

Like many folks, Dani and I used to get together with a bunch of friends each year to watch the Super Bowl. And the event rarely lived up to the hype. While it was fun to hang out and exchange snarky comments about the half-time show, I never really ended up watching the game. Now I prefer to stay home, quietly watch (which I remind Dani is the last football game for 6+ months) in my recliner and make snarky comments about the halftime show online.

On the menu at our house this year was baby back ribs, baked potatoes and jalapeno poppers. Unhealthy eating and the Super Bowl go hand-in-hand.

In an attempt to exploit every possible Super Bowl storyline, ESPN rehashed one of their favorite investigative journalism methods and ran a profile on food safety at Indianapolis host site Lucas Oil Stadium.

Outside the Lines'" The File recently acquired 2011 Marion County health department inspection records for the 181 food and beverage outlets inspected at Lucas Oil Stadium and found that 25, or 14 percent, of the locations had critical violations that showed up during routine inspections. A 2010 "Outside the Lines" piece that examined food safety at all professional sports stadiums showed that about 7 percent of the vendors at Lucas Oil Stadium had racked up critical violations -- problems that could lead to illness.
Among the violations found in the stadium were expired tomatoes and onions, a chef who didn't wash his hands, a microwave covered in gunk, gnats in an onion bin and hamburger patties toiling in a steamer at lukewarm temperatures -- a situation ripe for bacteria.
Expired tomatoes and onions? What does that mean?

Handwashing problems and not-so-hot-holding of cooked burgers are problems. Both actions have led to illnesses recently.
In a predictable turn, coverage went from the risky to yuck factor:
Lucas Oil Stadium first came under scrutiny over food practices in 2009, when a local TV station reported 42 critical food safety violations, including several that cited examples of dead mice or mice droppings near food and meal-preparation surfaces -- even in an oven -- and live mice running through a loge-level kitchen. The head of the county's food safety program at the time said there was a "widespread rodent problem."

Not to be left out of the discussion, International Business Times also ran a story about food safety - this one about an illness that MVP Eli Manning's had a couple of weeks ago. Although reported at the flu, a New York State MD, Dr. Gerald Deas thought that it was more likely that Eli was suffering from an E. coli infection.

The quarterback may be getting ready to run his team's offense Sunday in the 2012 Super Bowl, but in the days running up to the Giants' 20-17 win in San Francisco on Jan. 23, he likely had E. Coli, according to Dr. Gerald W. Dean of New York.

The medical doctor wrote in a Feb. 1 column in Frost Illustrated, a local Indianapolis-area newspaper, that his professional opinion was that was sick with E. Coli, despite the fact that it was reported that he had the flu.

"A few days prior to the battle of the Giants with the San Francisco 49ers, Eli Manning was struck in his gut with a bacteria known as E. coli. It was reported in the press thathe had had a bout with the flu, which I doubted," Dr. Dean wrote Feb. 1 in Frost Illustrated. "It was further reported that he missed practice for the big game due to running back and forth to relieve himself, which could have been diarrhea."
Dr. Dean goes on to say that as he examined press photographs and videos of Eli Manning in the days leading up to the NFC Championship "it was obvious that he was washed out and looked totally dehydrated, which diarrhea can cause."

"Personally, I think all superstars, whether they be man or animals should be carefully monitored for drugs, diet and drinking habits before championship games or races," Dr. Dean wrote. "Millions of dollars are being bet on the outcome of a particular event and something like a simple bacteria such as E. coli can change the outcome of a sporting event and its participants."

Uh, yeah, that's some nice detective work there. Could have been noro as well.