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  • Sharing tips, doggie dining and escaping DC; the TGI Friday’s airport version

    Posted: February 9th, 2010 - 1:11pm by Doug Powell

    TGI Friday’s, a standard fare, sit-down restaurant chain found in many U.S. airports, now includes a Sharing Guide, a somewhat feeble attempt to be humorous and encourage consumption of TGI deliciousness – or whatever the food should be called.

    Being the food safety nerd, I initially thought the guide perhaps had some food safety merit. But I soon realized the spinach dip technique actually encouraged the dreaded double-dip. The licking a friend’s fingers thing looked weirdly androgynous.

    Then, while sitting at TGI Friday’s on Monday waiting for the planes to finally start flying again out of Reagan International Airport in Washington, D.C. -- to escape Snowmageddon as the locals were calling the storm – a woman briskly walked into the restaurant carrying a pocket pooch, sat down and ordered food while caressing the dog. The woman also had a dog carrier, but the little fella had to be out and about.

    I guess doggie dining inside establishments is OK in D.C. We’re glad to be home.

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    Food Safety Culture  |  0 Comments
  • 2008 Ontario Harvey’s E. coli outbreak sickened 235; first court date set for Oct. 2010

    Posted: February 9th, 2010 - 1:27am by Doug Powell

    In the fall of 2008, 235 people got sick dining at a Harvey’s fast-food restaurant at a major thoroughfare in North Bay, Ontario, about four hours north of Toronto.

    A report by the North Bay and District Health Unit concluded the outbreak was probably caused by raw Spanish onions and poor cleaning of onion slicing machines.

    The North Bay Nugget reported Monday that a motion has been scheduled for October for a judge to decide whether a civil lawsuit against Harvey's Restaurant will be certified as a class action.

    The story says a judge decides if a lawsuit can proceed as a class action on behalf of a group of people in situations where the case would be too expensive or too complex for one person to sue on his own.
     

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  • The wooden board wins

    Posted: February 8th, 2010 - 3:06pm by Rob Mancini

    Author: 
    Rob Mancini
     
    Food safety experts always recommend using two cutting boards, one strictly for meat and meat products and the other for fruits and vegetables to avoid cross contamination. Great advice, now what type of cutting board will reduce microbial counts after cleaning; plastic, wood, or marble?
     
    Ninemsn reports:
     
    Plastic comes a definite last and that's because bacteria are able to breed in the cuts left by knives.
    Marble came in second because bacteria spread everywhere. Marble also loses points because it's tough on knives.
    In the final wash-up, it was wood that blew the competition out of the water. This is no surprise to Professor Cliver. In many similar experiments, wood's always been a winner.
    Leila: "Why is wood so much better?"
    Professor Cliver: "It's a very porous material and the fluid is drawn into the wood by capillary action and if there are bacteria in the fluid they go in and they never come back alive."
    Leila: "So the wooden boards kill the bacteria?"
    Professor: "Well, they die off slowly. It may take a few hours, but all the same, they aren't in a position to cause any trouble."
    Leila: "So wood's the way to go?"
    Professor: "In my opinion."
    But the professor adds a rider — be sure to choose a tight-grained hardwood board. If the wood's too soft, those pesky bacteria can multiply in deep knife cuts.
     
     
    I had the opportunity to swab a number of cutting boards when shooting the series Kitchen Crimes, both plastic and wooden boards. Microbial counts were consistently high because bacteria will hide in the cracks and crevices of the board rendering cleaning ineffective. It is important to toss or refinish your cutting board if it appears to be heavily grooved to prevent this from occurring.
     
    Here are some tips on how to effectively clean and sanitize your board:
    1. Wash with soap and water using friction.
    2. Rinse with warm water.
    3. Sanitize using a mild solution of bleach to water, approximately 5mL bleach to 500mL water.
    4. Finally allow to air dry for optimum results.
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  • Restaurant inspection and disclosure: struggle for resources, debate about disclosure

    Posted: February 8th, 2010 - 6:57am by Doug Powell

    People like to eat. People like to eat out. People are interested in how their favorite eateries stack up against others.

    It’s a standard story that is being repeated in countries across North America: what restaurants in a region get lousy (and occasionally disgusting) inspections, and what is the best way to make those results available to the public?

    The Ottawa Citizen chipped in with a three-part series that wraps up Monday and found 44 per cent of area restaurants and take-out places were cited for a failure to comply with health regulations in the past year.

    Since April, Ottawa has made its food inspections available online through a searchable database called EatSafe. Users can type in the name or location of the restaurant to see inspection results (ottawa.ca/eatsafe).

    Mike Ziola, president of the Ontario Restaurant Hotel and Motel Association ‘s Ottawa chapter said Ottawa doesn’t need the colour-coded food safety system used in Toronto, where restaurants are required to post a green, yellow or red warning sign based on their most recent inspection, stating,

    “Essentially, a yellow is a red. I don’t know why they even have a yellow.”

    Oh. Oh. I do. When Toronto introduced it’s system the restaurant association made the same argument and the city hired me to write a report for the pending court case – which never went to court. Yes, a yellow is like a red, but it allows the restaurant to stay open. And no one wants a yellow, so the percentage of greens has increased dramatically.

    Same thing in New York. The Times quotes Geoff Kravitz, a spokesman for the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce, as telling the first public hearing Friday considering the city’s proposal to rate restaurant cleanliness with posted letter grades, as saying,

    “Letter grades are nothing more than a scarlet letter that will keep people from eating out.”

    Any evidence to support that opinion? Have letter grades in Los Angeles kept people from eating out?

    The New York State Restaurant Association maintains that letter ratings would encourage bribery and corruption – since the highly public placards would dramatically raise cleanliness ratings’ significance to restaurateurs.

    Always a risk, but the best restaurants will embrace the disclosure system and promote their excellent results.

    The Times story notes that in Los Angeles, the letter system has been in effect for more than a decade. According to a 2007 study by the county’s health department, 91 percent of the populace likes the letter-grading plan. But one speaker, Robin Werteheimer, said that restaurateurs in New York “are not Los Angeles,” adding that “most of their buildings are not 200 years old, and most of them are not next to empty lots with hundreds of rats. It would be nice if the city would clean up those lots.”

    Cleveland has new on-line access to restaurant inspection reports, but some are already demanding information on the door.

    The New Brunswick Health Department makes all restaurant inspection report cards available to the public on the provincial government website. They can be found at www.gnb.ca under Food Premises Inspection Results.

    The province started posting inspection reports on its website in 2007, mainly as a way for restaurant customers to keep an eye on food service establishments.

    In Wisconsin, Nancy Eggleston, Wood County environmental health and communicable disease supervisor, said the state will begin the switch from paper to paperless forms of restaurant inspection records, and counties will have the option of placing the inspections on a Web site to make them easily available to the public.

    And that’s just one weekend worth of stories. People like this stuff. No politician wants to say, “you, citizen, can’t have this information.” The challenge is to provide the disclosure results in a fair and meaningful manner.
     

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  • Lowering loads: food safety starts on the farm

    Posted: February 8th, 2010 - 6:09am by Doug Powell

    Every time some government type says there are more cases of E. coli O157:H7 and other dangerous bacteria in the summertime because people barbeque more, I cringe. It’s one of those blame-the-consumer comments when the reality is more complicated. 

    Most food safety interventions are designed to reduce or eliminate pathogen loads – to lower the number of harmful bugs from farm-to-fork. A piece of highly-contaminated meat can wreck cross-contamination havoc in a food service or home kitchen.

     

    Elizabeth Weise writes in USA Today today that animals carry higher levels of E. coli O157:H7 and friends during the summer months, and summarizes efforts to lower bacterial loads on animals entering slaughter plants.

     

    Jerold Mande, USDA deputy undersecretary for food safety, said last month,

     

    "To take the next big step forward on food safety, we need to do more to have fewer pathogens on food animals when they arrive at the slaughterhouse gate.”

     

    Jim Marsden of Kansas State University said that microbiologically, the biggest "bang for the buck" is cleaning the bacteria off the hide or the carcass to keep it from coming into contact with the meat.

     

    Weise writes that a number of possible interventions are in the works. Each, it is hoped, might take down the incidence of E. coli O157:H7 by a factor of 100. Below is the edited list.

     

    Vaccines: Gut warfare

    Probably the most hopeful are vaccines that lower the amount of O157:H7 in cattle's guts. Two are furthest along, one from a Minnesota company called Epitopix and one by a Canadian company called Bioniche Life Sciences. Epitopix's vaccine has received preliminary approval from the USDA and is being tested in the USA. Bioniche's vaccine was approved in Canada last year and is in the approval process in the USA. In addition, scientists at the USDA's National Animal Disease Center in Ames, Iowa, have developed two more vaccines.

     

    Field trials of the Epitopix vaccine showed that 86% of vaccinated cattle stopped shedding O157:H7 bacteria in their feces. Of those that still were shedding bacteria, there was a 98% reduction in the amount, says Daniel Thomson (left, photo from USA Today), a veterinarian and professor of Production Medicine at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan., who has studied the effectiveness of vaccine for the company.

     

    The issue for cattlemen will be the costs of the two or three shots necessary to create immunity and the wear and tear on the cattle caused by bringing them in to be vaccinated. Going through the chute that holds them still while they're given the shot, necessary to safeguard workers, can cause some cattle to become agitated.

     

    Phages: A spray of bacteria fighters

    Cattle walking through a car-wash-like spray of bacteria-eating viruses called phages sounds more science fiction than feedlot, but it's actually in use across the USA. In cattle, a phage that is specific to E. coli O157:H7 is sprayed on the animals one to four hours before they're slaughtered. "They like to have them soak," says Dan Schaefer, director of beef research and development at Cargill in Wichita. Cargill is testing the spray at one of its plants.

     

    Probiotics: 'Exclusion' cultures

    Basically these are bacterial cultures much like those in yogurt, given to cattle in their feed. They're called "competitive exclusion" cultures because they out-compete the bad bacteria and exclude them in the animals' guts. Michael Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia in Griffin, spent years investigating them.

     

    One for E. coli O157:H7 "worked really well for a while and then it stopped working for a while," he says. Doses required are often higher than those claimed by the companies that sell them, he says. Currently these aren't approved by USDA or FDA as E. coli reduction methods, so the companies that market them can't make any specific claims for them.

     

    Sodium chlorate: A 'suicide pill'

    This chemical is used in part to do environmentally safe paper bleaching. But administered in extremely small amounts, it also plays a deadly trick on E. coli O157:H7 and salmonella.

    In the oxygen-free environment of a cow's gut, these bacteria are able to obtain energy from nitrogen. But they can't tell the difference between nitrogen and chlorate, so if there's chlorate present, they try to use that. This turns the chlorate into bleach, killing the bacteria from the inside without harming the animal.

     

    Grain vs. high-quality hay

    Research in Texas, Kansas and Idaho has shown that switching cattle from grain to a more expensive diet of high quality hay before slaughter may lower E. coli O157:H7 rates, though the findings have not always been consistent.

    From an epidemiologic standpoint, it's clear that these pre-slaughter interventions lower the E. coli O157:H7 burden in the cattle, says Guy Loneragan, a professor of animal science and expert in O157:H7 in cattle at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas.

     

    The question is whether investing money on the ranch and feedlot will save money at the packing plant.

     

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  • Capitals win streak set to end at 13, and 13 grossest food stories of all time

    Posted: February 7th, 2010 - 2:00pm by Doug Powell

    The sun is out in Washington, D.C., as the city begins to dig out from record snowfall and even worse television commentary (why do so many people in D.C. apparently own cross-country skis when it rarely snows enough to use them?).

    The Capitals-Pens hockey game was sold out, the teenager was asleep, and after a walk we soon found ourselves in a bar to watch the hyped pre-Super Bowl noontime game showcased on national TV. The Caps 13-game winning streak is in danger with the Pens leading 4-2 after 2 periods. Sorenne in her Ovechkin shirt fell asleep in my arms, although her eyes briefly opened for this pic (right). 

    The Consumerist just published its top 13 grossest food stories of all time – or from the past 4 years or so. I'll just run the headlines here.

    Customer Claims There Was Human Blood in Her Taco Bell

    This Kmart Bacon Is Excellent, But Could Use Some More Fat

    Applebee's Apple Walnut Chicken Salad, Now With Free Insect Leg

    Reader Says He Found Brains In His KFC

    Dead Bugs Found In Health Valley Soup

    Texas Roadhouse Steak Stuffed With Pubic Hair

    Customer Claims McDonald's Gave Her Mucus-Filled Iced Tea

    Snakehead Found In T.G.I.F. Sandwich

    Pardon Me, But There Is A Mouse In This Can Of Diet Pepsi Good News,That Dead Mouse In Your Diet Pepsi Was Actually A Toad

    Man Claims To Have Found Condom In Soup

    Loaf Of Bread Comes With Baked-In Rodent Goodness

    Walmart Frozen Green Beans Come With Free Frog

    This Weight Watchers Meal Includes A Free Frozen Frog
    (Addendum: I suck at this prediction thing; Caps win 5-4 in OT)

     

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  • Stuck in D.C. snow, watching hockey, hoping for decent hotel food safety standards

    Posted: February 6th, 2010 - 12:05pm by Doug Powell

    With record snowfall in Washington, D.C. why not walk 8 blocks to take in the Washington Capitals-Atlanta Thrashers hockey game Friday night?

     

    With the Caps in first place, the mood was festive on the streets outside the Verizon Center as Amy, Sorenne, 17-year-old daughter Braunwynn -- down from Canada for a visit – and I slogged through the slush to the game. Our hair was so wet by the time we arrived that Braunwynn shaped Sorenne’s hair into a fauxhawk that lasted the entire game. There were many comments. Caps won 5-2 to extend their league-leading 13-game winning streak. Braunwynn has retained her hockey knowledge. That Ovechkin kid has prospects. Now if we can only get tickets for Sunday afternoon’s sold-out game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

     

    That slush is now 20 inches of snow outside our hotel. We’re going to be stuck in D.C. for a few extra days. I’m hoping our hotel has better food safety standards than the headquarters hotel for National Football League employees in Fort Lauderdale for tomorrow’s Super Bowl XLIV.

     

    The Sun Sentinel reports that 25 of those NFL employees got sick from some sort of stomach bug, and that earlier this week, inspectors found a dozen critical food-safety violations in the hotel’s restaurant.

     

    The oceanfront Westin Beach Resort also had failed a restaurant inspection in September, and let its license expire in December by not paying a $457 renewal fee, state officials said Friday.

     

    Health officials were quick to say they did not yet know what caused the outbreak, how the guests got it or whether the hotel bore any blame. Samples were still being tested.

     

    Hotel general manager Amaury Piedra said the hotel was cooperating with the investigation. He does not believe the hotel's food was the cause of the illnesses, saying the symptoms match a virus.

     

    Like maybe norovirus, which could be transmitted from a sick employee, especially one serving food?

     

    An inspection on Wednesday found violations such as open food stored in unclean places, employees handling food with bare hands, lack of handwashing and dirty conditions.

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    Restaurant Inspection  |  0 Comments
  • Who’s better at food safety in the U.S.? Republicans, Democrats and ‘The old Potomac two-step’

    Posted: February 4th, 2010 - 8:27pm by Doug Powell

    I'm sorry, Mr. President, I don't dance.

    "That’s what Jack Ryan as played by Harrison Ford said in the movie, Clear and Present Danger.

    Sorenne couldn’t decide last night at a meeting of food-safety types in D.C.

     

     

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    Food Safety Policy  |  1 Comment
  • Is sex in a bathroom in a restaurant a good public health idea?

    Posted: February 4th, 2010 - 4:25pm by Doug Powell

    A Toronto restaurant is inviting diners to inject some sizzle into their Valentine’s Day dinner by promoting sex in their bathrooms.

     

    Chef/co-owner Donna Dooher of Mildred's Temple Kitchen said,

     

    "We've always had little trysts in our bathrooms. We're taking it to the next level on Valentine's weekend."

     

    The Toronto Star reports that the restaurant's four bathrooms light up outside when occupied. Staff have learned to watch the light flicker twice when two customers enter the same bathroom, usually a few minutes apart.

     

    Jim Chan, manager of the food safety program at Toronto Public Health, said as long as there's no sex in the kitchen and the restaurant keeps its washrooms clean and sanitized, it's not fussed, adding,

     

    "As far as bodily fluids, it's pretty much similar to the other human functions going on in there.”

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    Restaurant Inspection  |  0 Comments
  • Restaurant ratings off the menu in London, Ontario

    Posted: February 4th, 2010 - 1:31am by Doug Powell

    Nearly 16 months after the local health board recommended posting food safety signs, they're still at least a few months away, years after Toronto started with the red, yellow, green signs to advise wary consumers.

     

    Jonathan Sher of the London Free Press (that’s in Ontario, Canada, not the U.K.) cited Jim Reffle, the director of environmental health at the London Middlesex Health Unit, as blaming the delay on a shuffling of bodies at city hall.

     

    Reffle defended what, for Londoners, has been a decade-long wait to get the same protections offered in Toronto, a sign system that officials there linked to a 30% reduction in foodborne illness.

     

    While Reffle first proposed a restaurant-inspection disclosure system in 2006, it took two years for he and the health board to agree on its details.

     

    Many cities already disclose restaurant inspections, said Dr. Douglas Powell, associate professor of food safety at Kansas State University, who taught at the University of Guelph and published work on the issue in the Journal of Food Service.

     

    In cities that post inspection findings, diners often use them to select where to eat and restaurants strive for better compliance, he found.

     

    You might think that would reduce foodborne illness, but the research in that area is inconclusive, he said.’

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    Restaurant Inspection  |  1 Comment
  • Food safety, D.C. style; hold the pea sprouts

    Posted: February 4th, 2010 - 1:08am by Doug Powell

    Sorenne got to play with Marian Nestle’s hair while waiting to go to dinner, Amy talked to some dude from Switzerland and maybe arranged a trip to one of her favorite previous countries to live in, and I apparently pissed off everyone during my talk to 600-or-so delegates at the Global Food Safety Initiative meeting in Washington today.

    Food safety auditors can sometimes suck. And I said so, with suggestions on how to make things better.

    Dinner was served with pea sprouts (right, color isn’t great but they’re on top of the chicken), which I scraped to the side, as did Amy, and then the two people sitting on either side of us. Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes, especially at food safety meetings.

    But we had fun, and I was grateful for the invitation.

     

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    Food Safety Policy  |  2 Comments
  • Melamine strikes again

    Posted: February 2nd, 2010 - 12:45pm by Rob Mancini

    Author: 
    Rob Mancini
    The AFP reports,
     
     China has launched a probe into food safety after the new discovery of products laced with melamine, a chemical blamed for the deaths of six babies in a huge scandal in 2008, state media said Tuesday.
    In the latest cases, some companies were found to have made products using melamine-contaminated milk powder that was recalled after the scandal but found its way back on to the market, the official People's Daily reported.
    At a weekend meeting on food safety issues hosted by Health Minister Chen Zhu, officials decided to launch and inspection campaign "to thoroughly check potential problems in food safety," the newspaper said.
    "There are still some businesses and individuals that ignore the safety and health of the public and are blinded by greed," it added.
    According to the report, the companies involved in the fresh melamine scandal were based in several parts of China, including Shanghai and the northeastern province of Liaoning.
    In the latest reported case, authorities in the southwestern province of Guizhou found that some products contained levels of the industrial chemical above allowable limits.
     
    Melamine is a nitrogen rich compound (66% nitrogen) that is specifically used to increase the protein content of food products, namely milk. Upon doing so, one can dilute their product with water thereby increasing profits, essentially food adulteration for economic gain. The problem however, is when melamine combines with cyanuric acid causing crystallization in the kidneys ultimately leading to kidney failure and death.1
    In 2008, adulteration of infant formula lead to the deaths of six children in China and sickened nearly 300,000 others. Melamine is not approved for direct addition to human or animal foods2 and should therefore be kept out of the food chain.
     
     
    1. 1. U.S. Food And Drug Administration. Melamine Contamination in China. Januuary 5, 2009. http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/PublicHealthFocus/ucm179005.html.
    2. 2. Mermelstein, N. Analyzing for Melamine. Journal of Food Technology. February, 2009.
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  • Novo Folheto de Segurança Alimentar: O centro de prevenção e controle de doenças do EUA (CDC) Investiga epidemia de Salmonela Montevidéu em multiplos estados; mais de 180 doentes

    Posted: February 2nd, 2010 - 6:55am by Doug Powell

    port.infosheet.1.2810.jpg

    Traduzido por: Manoelita Warkentien

    http://www.bites.ksu.edu/sites/default/files/foodsafetyinfosheet-1-25-10.pdf

    O mais novo folheto de Segurança Alimentar,

    Uma página gráfica de histórias relacionadas a segurança alimentar – direcionadas para manipuladores de alimentos, está agora disponível em

    www.foodsafetyinfosheets.com

    Destaques do novo folheto:

    - Salame encoberto por Pimenta da marca Daniele foi recolhido após ser ligado a epidemia.

    - 184 Doenças foram relatadas em 38 estados desde 1 de julho de 2009.

    - Os relatórios sugerem que pimenta usada no produto pode ser a fonte das doenças.

    -Pimenta e outros temperos secos foram ligados a contaminação de salmonela no passado.

    -Lista de produtos recolhidos e etiquetas também estão disponíveis.

    Folhetos de Segurança Alimentar são criados semanalmente e são colocados em restaurantes, atacados, fazendas e usados em treinamentos por todo o mundo. Se você quiser solicitar qualquer tópico para o próximo folheto ou foto, por favor, contatar  Ben Chapman em Benjamin_chapman@ncsu.edu . Você pode seguir as histórias dos folhetos de segurança alimentar e barfblog em twitter @benjaminchapman e @barfblog.

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    Salmonella  |  0 Comments
  • Don’t kiss frogs or turtles: Disney film Princess and the Frog leads to 50 sick kids

    Posted: February 1st, 2010 - 2:24pm by Doug Powell

    The U.K. Daily Express reports that 50 U.S. children have become sick with Salmonella after emulating the heroine in Disney’s latest film, The Princess And The Frog.

    Doctors blamed the cases in 25 US states on youngsters kissing frogs after seeing the film. Most were under 10, with half being girls.

    Experts in the US and UK urged parents not to allow their youngsters to copy Princess Tiana after seeing the animated film, which is out on Friday. Trevor Beebee, president of the British Herpetological Society, said: “Kissing frogs is not hygienic and they also have various toxic things on their skin, which are unpleasant.”

    The Health Protection Agency advises against kissing any reptiles, saying: “All should be presumed to carry salmonella in their gut, even if they do not show any signs of infection.”

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  • New South Wales says get crackin' but heat it up first

    Posted: February 1st, 2010 - 11:55am by Ben Chapman

    Author: 
    Ben Chapman

    An updated version of the classic kids game Clue might now have a food safety bent on it: the home chef did it, in the retail store, with the aioli. Following an investigation into a recent aoili/Salmonella-linked outbreak which caused over 130 illnesses, NSW (Australia) Primary Industries Minister Steve Whan was cited as saying in a press release:

    'Eggs are a delicious and nutritious food that can be enjoyed as part of a healthy, balanced diet but it is vital people are aware of how to prepare them safely.

    'Eggs can sometimes carry Salmonella bacteria and eating raw egg product, like any raw foods from animals can present a risk of food poisoning.

    'The risk does tend to increase when restaurants and cafes prepare large batches of raw egg deserts such as mousses or tiramisu, or sauces such as aioli, hollandaise and mayonnaise,' Minister Whan said.

    'It is important for business to understand the risk of these products and be extra careful when preparing them.'

    The NSW Food Authority strongly recommends businesses:

    • offer safer alternatives such as commercially manufactured mayonnaises and sauces,or
    • use pasteurised egg products for preparation of such foods as an alternative to raw egg.

     

    Raw eggs have been linked to outbreaks in mayonnaise, Caesar salad dressing, hollandaise, mousses, icings and homemade ice cream. Check out our raw egg food safety infosheet here.

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  • Nosestretcher alert: After 9 dead, 700 sick from PCA Salmonella, CEO Parnell’s lawyer says ‘I never intentionally harmed anyone’ Victim says ‘I don’t want no peanut butter in my house’

    Posted: January 31st, 2010 - 4:33pm by Doug Powell

    Producers, companies, food service, they are all responsible to serve safe food. Or they’ll get sued.

    The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports today that a year after peanut butter crackers nearly killed him, Claude Ivester still has not fully recovered, and the food safety net remains largely unchanged.

    The 74-year-old feels weaker than he did before he contracted salmonella food poisoning. He forgets more. He’s quit his job at a recycling plant. He can’t look at a jar of peanut butter without getting angry.

    “I don’t want no peanut butter in my house.”

    In Washington, food safety legislation is stuck in Congress, pushed to the Senate back burner by health care.

    Meanwhile, criminal investigations into bankrupt Peanut Corp. of America, owner of the plant, and its top executives have produced no charges.

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  • Kentucky Fried cockroach in Ontario?

    Posted: January 31st, 2010 - 4:11pm by Doug Powell

    The Toronto Sun reports that a KFC in Maple, Ontario, is being probed by health officials after a Richmond Hill man said he found a roach embedded in the bottom of a sandwich he ordered Friday night.

    Appropriately enough the sandwich was the Big Crunch.

    Michael McNamara, 28, its unlucky recipient, was big-time bugged by the nasty find.

    “I didn’t see on the underside that there’s a cockroach mashed into the bun. Basically I ordered the food and once I saw it I immediately yelled at my buddy, ‘don’t eat here, stop what you’re doing!’”

    York Region Community and Health Services spokesman Monica Bryce confirmed a health inspector had paid a visit to the KFC restaurant Saturday after McNamara’s complaint.

    “We didn’t find any evidence that warranted closing the restaurant, but we did find one infraction,” Bryce said, adding inspectors found one pest-control trap with a dead roach in it.

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  • Better than Viagra? China may ban dog and cat meat

    Posted: January 31st, 2010 - 4:01pm by Doug Powell

    China's National People's Congress is expected to consider banning a centuries-old culinary tradition: the consumption of dog and cat meat.

    The Times of London reports that a proposed law calls for imposing fines, jail time or both for anyone caught eating or selling dog or cat meat. Dog meat is also known as “fragrant meat” and is thought to boost energy and male virility. It’s also a delicacy.

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  • Food tube: Coverage of food safety issues through video

    Posted: January 31st, 2010 - 7:01am by Doug Powell

    A couple of ag journalism types from Nebraska and Ohio State have the right idea -- although I’m not sure it’s completely executed -- in a new paper examining the role of YouTube videos in food safety.

    Emily Rhoades and Jason D. Ellis write in the Journal of Food Safety that food safety in restaurants is an increasing concern among consumers. A primary population segment working in foodservice is receiving food safety information through new media channels such as video social network websites. This research used content analysis to examine the purpose and messages of food safety-related videos posted to YouTube. A usable sample of 76 videos was identified using “food safety” in the YouTube search function. Results indicate that videos must be artfully developed to attract YouTube users while conveying a credible and educational message. Communicators must also monitor new media for competing messages being viewed by target audiences and devise strategies to counter such messages. This one-time snapshot of how food safety was portrayed on YouTube suggests that the intended purpose of videos, whether educational or entertainment, is not as relevant as the perceived purpose and the message being received by viewers.

    I have no idea what this means. There’s a lot of BS in the paper about where foodborne illness happens and how consumers are motivated and the authors seem hopelessly stuck in the educational framework. But at least they are looking at different media. Too bad the message sucks.

    Marshall McLuhan had it right when he said that those who try to distinguish between entertainment and education don’t know the first thing about either.

     

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  • Is Heston ‘Noroboy’ Blumenthal worried? Top chefs ditch molecules and embrace producers

    Posted: January 30th, 2010 - 3:39pm by Doug Powell

    AFP reports that after years of enthusiasm for molecular gastronomy, with its battery of gels and emulsions, many leading chefs are turning back to focus on ingredients and where they come from.

    A number of Michelin-starred chefs at this week's Madrid Fusion, an annual gastronomy fair in the Spanish capital, said they were now looking to take more care in sourcing their ingredients -- by getting to know the producers, for example.

    Michel Troisgros, the owner of the Maison Troisgros restaurant in Roanne, central France, told AFP,

    "In traditional cooking too, there were obsessions, techniques, ways of presenting the food, stupidities, mistakes, excesses, ignorance."

    Troisgros believes more care should be taken over ingredients, saying he recently went to meet caviar producers in Granada, southern Spain.

    "It was the first time I'd ever seen sturgeons being farmed or watched the caviar being taken from the fish," he said, calling the experience "wonderful."

    It may do wonderful things for food safety, if the chefs ask the right questions of their suppliers. Things like water quality, soil amendments, and human hygiene.

    "Now when I make endives with caviar, I know where the caviar came from, I know it is organic and I know the endives came from my local producer -- I know the people and I know the product.”

    Sigh. Local does not make the product microbiologically safe. I’m sure the producer is a wonderful person – but show me that data.

    Alain Ducasse, the head of an international empire with a total of nine Michelin stars for his restaurants in London, Paris and Monaco said chefs have a role to play in leading opinion in this field, “… talking about ingredients, producers, sustainable development, the planet -- things I have supported for a long time."

    Try not to make your customers barf.

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