Monthly Archives: April 2012

Salmonella in sushi may have sickened 90

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I don’t eat sushi. I have and it tastes like barf.

Word from JoNel Aleccia of msnbc that health tyes are investigating a growing outbreak of salmonella food poisoning possibly tied to restaurant sushi that has sickened at least 90 people in 19 states and the District of Columbia.

The outbreak of Salmonella Bareilly that has sent seven people to the hospital is mostly clustered on the eastern seaboard and the Gulf Coast, although cases have been reported as far west as Missouri and Texas, said Curtis Allen, a spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration. No deaths have been reported.

The FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are investigating the outbreak, which appears to be ongoing and expanding rapidly, according to an internal FDA email. There may be a lag of more than a month from the time people ate tainted food to the time they reported it.

Allen said the outbreak appears to be tied to seafood, and possibly sushi, but it’s still far too early to identify the actual cause.

The email identified spicy tuna roll sushi as “highly suspect,” but Allen emphasized that that is a preliminary speculation that may be proved wrong later.

The federal agencies are focusing on six restaurant clusters in Texas, Wisconsin, Maryland and Connecticut, according to the email, which was distributed outside the agency.

Salmonella Bareilly is a strain sometimes associated with bean sprouts.

Reclaim the name: say it now and say it proud pink slime

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I was flattered that Stephen Colbert repeated my advice to American beef processors to reclaim, rather than shun, pink slime.

“We’re here, it’s steer, technically.

“Forget ‘Dude, it’s beef’ from now on it’s ‘Bro, it’s slime.’”

Video here, but not in all countries http://eater.com/archives/2012/04/03/stephen-colbert-on-the-beefstate-governors-pink-slime.php.

GE pigs, pink slime gone; what’s next?

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A friend in grad school used to get pigs off.

He needed their semen for genetics research and, that was how to get it (with props, the mount-equivalent of lingerie, I guess).

That was 1986, and I would soon drop out of grad school to pursue Hunter-S-Thompson-esq journalist escapades, but not nearly as interesting.

The grad student worked with John Phillips, a prof in molecular biology at the University of Guelph, an excellent teacher (the rest of the department? not so much) and my occasional squash partner. After one match, I commented, with the arrogance of youth, you’re putting on a few pounds.

He said, when you’re this age, it will look pretty good.

Was he ever right.

Dr. John teamed up with a microbiology prof and in the 1990s they developed the Enviropig, a genetically engineered pig that could reduce phosphate contamination into the environment. Enviropigs digest feed more efficiently than naturally bred pigs, resulting in waste that may cause less environmental damage to lakes and rivers.

The project has sat in regulatory limbo for over a decade.

The project has produced eight generations of Enviropigs, including the current herd of 16 animals. But they may be the last of their kind, after Ontario Pork yanked their funding last month.

Self-proclaimed enviro-types claimed victory, but again, there were no winners.

Unlike pink slime, there were no politicians grandstanding the cause, no media reacting to media about sensationalist coverage, no talking heads about the excellence of science.

Nothing.

But why not, if the science is sound and the cause just?

There will be another pink slime, sooner rather than later – and those same self-proclaimed environmental activists have already taken ownership of pink slime as a catchphrase for things hidden. Food and Water Watch proclaims that doo doo chicken is the new pink slime.

Meanwhile, AFA Foods, based in King of Prussia, Pa., which processes 500 million pounds of ground beef products a year, declared bankruptcy yesterday, after the public outcry over pink slime derailed its efforts to save its already struggling business.

A meat manager for a major New York supermarket chain told Advertising Age, "The morning after the reports came out, ground-beef sales dropped. We ended up throwing chopped meat away. We don’t even use pink slime and we had to put signs up everywhere saying that. People wouldn’t even touch it."

All of this is a culture where food science is nothing compared to food porn (see below).

Bragging in Brisbane: restaurant proud of stars

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Restaurant inspection disclosure in Brisbane (that’s in Australia) sucks because it’s voluntary: only two stars out of five? No need to post.

The South Bank parklands on the river is a 10-minute-train-ride away, or a 25-minute bike ride. It’s a fairly awesome gathering point with beach, playgrounds, and street markets. The girls and I went there to chill on Sunday morning and grabbed a bite at one of the many cafes.

The particular place was not only displaying its 4-out-of-5 star rating on the door, but had it written in letters on a large display within the restaurant. The Aqua Café was proud of its rating and wanted to make sure customers knew; above and beyond what government required.

Salmonella in raw milk leads to Pennsylvania recall

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The Pennsylvania departments of Agriculture and Health Monday advised consumers and retailers who purchased raw milk and raw milk cheese from Norman Z. and Edith B. Sauder in Kutztown, Berks County, to discard or return the products immediately. Raw milk and raw milk cheese are products that have not been pasteurized.

On April 1, an independent lab confirmed the products tested positive for Salmonella. It was found in raw milk sold in a plastic bottle and raw milk cheese with a date code of March 25, 2012.

To date, the Department of Health is not aware of any illnesses related to these products.

Julia Roberts covered in bird poop

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I do not like the actress Julia Roberts.

Her movies suck, and she wasted a marriage to real talent, Lyle Lovett, back in the 1990s (but it did help Lyle create great art).

Julia now says it was "torture" being covered in bird poo for her latest role in Mirror Mirror.

“All that ‘beauty’ stuff was so disgusting.”

Was it sterilized bird poop? Otherwise Salmonella and Campylobacter. Don’t follow the cooking or food advice of a celebrity wearing bird poop.

Cheerleaders and apologists; beef folks need neither

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The last thing the beef industry needs right now is apologists and cheerleaders.

Blaming consumers doesn’t help much either.

Alexander Hrycko wrote the Toronto Star about the creepy crawly recall of beef produced in Saskatchewan because of E. coli O157:H7 to say that “once again the beef industry in Canada is being unfairly targeted.

“Over the past 10 years, hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent by the beef industry on food safety and the introduction of cleaner processing methods. The results speak for themselves as data from the CDC reveal that in North America, E. coli O157:H7 infections as a result of ground beef have declined 72 per cent from 2000 to 2010 … if consumers were to cook their beef thoroughly then there would be no risk of infection."

Since this Canadian author quotes U.S. statistics (oh, the Alanis irony) he should know the U.S. Department of Agriculture decided in 1994 to stop blaming consumers for E. coli O157:H7 infections; cooking beef thoroughly means using a tip-sensitive digital thermometer; and exquisite care is required to minimize cross-contamination.

The author concludes that “another article instilling fear into consumers is not what the fragile Canadian beef industry needs at this time. This is a fight that the beef-processing industry cannot win despite the fact it continues to better its effort at keeping consumers safe.”

Making people barf is bad for business. Killing them is worse.

On the run: sheep suspected with scrapie missing in Canada

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The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is working with provincial police to locate sheep that have been removed from a farm currently under a quarantine order. The sheep were quarantined as part of an ongoing scrapie investigation at a farm in Eastern Ontario.

"The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is committed to protecting livestock health, and takes the management of animal diseases very seriously," said Dr. Brian Evans, Chief Veterinary Officer for Canada. "While we recognize that disease control activities can be difficult on producers, the eradication of animal diseases, such as scrapie, is critical to ensuring the long-term sustainability of the sheep industry."

The sheep are suspected of having scrapie, a fatal disease that affects sheep and goats. While there is no human health risk associated with scrapie, it has serious impacts on sheep and the CFIA aims to eradicate it from Canada. Canada’s approach to confirmed or suspected cases of scrapie is based on internationally accepted science and seeks to minimize disruptions to producers.

Quarantine breaches may put the livestock industry and the economy at risk. Any person who breaches a quarantine may be subject to criminal prosecution under the Health of Animals Act.

Because these animals may pose a risk for scrapie, premises that receive them may be subject to a quarantine and further regulatory action.

"Our organization supports the eradication of scrapie," said Dr. Paula Menzies, representing the Small Ruminant Veterinarians of Ontario. "Although we sympathize with owners of affected flocks, Canada must deal effectively with this disease."

Eggs in Toronto: When local goes public and health types step in

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Alysa Golden didn’t want to become an egg mogul. She just wanted a good egg – farm fresh, free from hormones, laid by chickens raised in a cruelty free environment.

Her quest for the perfect egg led her to a Mennonite community in Southwestern Ontario. The farm delivered them to her front door.

"The eggs were wonderful, full and thick and rich," says Golden. Two months ago Golden started ordering eggs for her east end Toronto neighbours. She leaves the eggs on her porch and her neighbours pick them up, cross their name off a clipboard and stuff a cheque in a box.

It’s based on an honor system. And she hasn’t lost a dime.

According to the Toronto Star, Golden’s venture spoke to the untapped need of many consumers to get back to basics and to understand where their food is from at the most elemental level.

The locavore movement is not new, of course. Buying food from nearby farms makes sense, both from a health and carbon footprint standpoint, although Toronto Public Health warns consumers against purchasing eggs outside normal channels.

Many high-end restaurants exploit the farm fresh movement in their marketing. But this wasn’t about eating a fancy dinner. It was about city parents, tired of stuffing processed food into their kids, wanting to introduce their children to a "real" egg, says Golden.

Buoyed by her success, Golden started distributing eggs from her company, which she called Eggy Weggs. The other "depots" included a couple of health food stores in Toronto and most recently the popular Lazy Daisy Café in the Leslieville neighbourhood.

Chapman doesn’t make a profit off the sales. Her café is simply a pick up station. And like Golden’s home, the honor system is in effect, with egg buyers picking up their trays and crossing their name off the clipboard.

The eggs cost $6.50 per dozen, which is about a buck and a half below what comparable products might sell for, says Golden.

But Jim Chan, manager of healthy environments for Toronto Public Health, says shoppers should ask if the eggs have been graded and are legal. "Just because it says farm fresh, that’s not good enough. Everything’s farm fresh, it’s not like the guy got them out of his basement," says Chan.

Chan’s staff cracked down on egg vendors in February and March. Six vendors were notified they will be charged for having ungraded eggs. By law, eggs must be sorted, washed, and inspected to be free of leaks and cracks. Only Canada Grade A eggs are allowed for human consumption.

"If there is a hairline crack you could get salmonella or bacteria inside the shell which can lead to real health problems," says Chan.

Last February, Toronto Public Health charged six other vendors. Farm Fresh Supermarket at Sheppard Ave. E was fined $10,000 on egg-related charges.

Golden says her eggs are from farms that have their produce graded at the Green Meadow Eggs grading station in Southwestern Ontario.

An official from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency contacted by the Star said Green Meadows is a certified grader.