Yearly Archives: 2015

By Amy Hubbell: Remembering French Algeria: Pieds-Noirs, Identity and Exile 

Posted on by
Reply

A. J. Liebling famously said, “Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.”

doug.cats.jun.14I cited that when I started the other newspaper at the University of Guelph in 1988, and I’ll say it now on my barfblog, as I shamelessly promote my wife and her book, Remembering French Algeria: Pieds-Noirs, Identity and Exile (Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 2015).

“This is a thoughtful and thought-provoking study that contains remarkable insights. Remembering French Algeria makes an important contribution to current scholarship on postcolonial relations between France and Algeria and fills an important gap in that scholarship by focusing specifically on the oft-overlooked category of the community of Pieds-Noirs.”—Alison Rice, author of Time Signatures: Contextualizing Contemporary Francophone Autobiographical Writing from the Maghreb

Colonized by the French in 1830, Algeria was an important French settler colony that, unlike its neighbors, endured a lengthy and brutal war for independence from 1954 to 1962. The nearly one million Pieds-Noirs (literally “black-feet”) were former French citizens of Algeria who suffered a traumatic departure from their homes and discrimination upon arrival in France. In response, the once heterogeneous group unified as a community as it struggled to maintain an identity and keep the memory of colonial Algeria alive.

remembering.french.algeria.may.15Remembering French Algeria examines the written and visual re-creation of Algeria by the former French citizens of Algeria from 1962 to the present. By detailing the preservation and transmission of memory prompted by this traumatic experience, Amy L. Hubbell demonstrates how colonial identity is encountered, reworked, and sustained in Pied-Noir literature and film, with the device of repetition functioning in these literary and visual texts to create a unified and nostalgic version of the past. At the same time, however, the Pieds-Noirs’ compulsion to return compromises these efforts. Taking Albert Camus’s Le Mythe de Sisyphe and his subsequent essays on ruins as a metaphor for Pied-Noir identity, this book studies autobiographical accounts by Marie Cardinal, Jacques Derrida, Hélène Cixous, and Leïla Sebbar, as well as lesser-known Algerian-born French citizens, to analyze movement as a destabilizing and productive approach to the past.

(And yes, our cats are named Jacques – the white one — and Cixous.)

Amy L. Hubbell is a lecturer in French at the University of Queensland. She is the co-editor of Textual and Visual Selves: Photography, Film, and Comic Art in French Autobiography (Nebraska, 2011) and The Unspeakable: Representations of Trauma in Francophone Literature and Art (Cambridge Scholars, 2013).

8 sick in crypto outbreak linked to farm visit in Sweden

Posted on by
Reply

A class that has been on kosläpp where eight out of twenty-three children and a teacher have become ill with severe abdominal pain, vomiting and watery diarrhea, said Deputy County Medical in West Bengal, Eva Lind houses Combos.

crypto.farm.walesThe disease is caused by the parasite Cryptosporidium that five years ago affected tens of thousands of people in Östersund.

According to the infectious disease physician’s theory is that the close encounter with calves that children become infected.

Faith-based food safety? New York church may face eviction after health violations found in food pantry

Posted on by
Reply

A South Bronx church known for its food drives is facing eviction yet again in the wake of a city inspection that found unsanitary conditions in its food pantry.

wordoflife_image_food_pantry-600x450The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene inspected the pantry at Word of Life International Church on April 17 and found evidence of fresh rat droppings, spoiled food and holes in the ceiling where rodents could enter, according to an agency spokesman.

“Despite Word of Life having more than a week to clean their facility in anticipation of an inspection, the DOHMH found that conditions were unsanitary and unsafe,” said Jonathan Stenger, spokesman for The Osborne Association, the church’s landlord. “Osborne has worked as a not-for-profit agency in this community for 25 years and believes that our neighbors deserve safe and hygienic food.”

Osborne has terminated the church’s lease and is proceeding to evict Word of Life as its tenant after the church refused to let Osborne inspect the building’s facilities, going against its lease, Stenger said.


 

Tennessee Harris Teeter closes meat dept. after I-Team investigation

Posted on by
Reply

Harris Teeter grocery stores are soon leaving the Nashville market, but they have completely shut down the meat department at the Brentwood location.

harris-teeter-storeThe Channel 4 I-Team has been investigating allegations of re-labeling and outdated meat and spoiled seafood being sold at the store.

Additional lab tests on the meat and seafood the I-Team purchased have turned up some unusual findings.

Experts said overall, the samples had 100 to 1,000 times more bacteria than typically seen on meat or fish offered for sale.

Last week, the I-Team went behind the scenes at the Brentwood grocery store and spoke to a concerned butcher who had marked packages of outdated meat to track in case it ended up on store shelves again.

The meat was re-tagged and sold against store policy.

The I-Team’s source said he also had longstanding concerns, shared with his managers, about what goes into the glass cases without any sort of date tag.

Harris Teeter would not answer the I-Team’s questions about its record keeping on meat and fish, throwing away dated boxes, the kinds of bacteria found on the products we purchased, or how we managed to buy a piece of meat that had apparently sat in storage two months past the sell-by date.
WSMV Channel 4

It was the pint-filling machine at Jeni’s that lead to Listeria recall

Posted on by
Reply

The listeria found at Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams’ plant was on the spout of one of its pint-filling machines.

listeria4The company plans to spend at least $200,000 to rework its manufacturing line at its Michigan Avenue plant to ensure listeria never visits again, according to a press release.

“We will spend whatever it takes,” said CEO John Lowe, in a statement today.

Jeni’s recalled all of its products and shut down all 21 scoop shops on April 23 after a pint of Dark Chocolate ice cream bought at a Whole Foods in Lincoln, Neb., tested positive for listeria. The test was part of a random sampling of food conducted by the Nebraska Department of Agriculture.
Jeni’s tested other pints and its production kitchen. Listeria was found in at least one other flavor and at the plant. The machine on which the listeria was found is used only to fill pints, not the large bins, known as buckets, used at scoop shops.

The shops will remain closed, though, while Jeni’s works through its plant revisions.

The company has estimated that in all, it will destroy about 535,000 pounds of product. The recall will cost more than $2.5 million, Lowe said.
The biggest change at the production kitchen announced today is that fresh produce and vegetables, a hallmark of Jeni’s flavors, will be processed at a separate location. Jeni’s did not say where.
The company will also use a new testing regime that includes periodic swabbing of the plant to actively search for contaminants. The protocol is similar to one used by Smith Dairy, of Orrville, which supplies Jeni’s ice cream base. Smith Dairy swabs its facilities twice a month to check for listeria and other contaminants, according to Nate Schmid, chief operating officer.

Jeni’s will also test and hold all of its products prior to shipment in order to ensure their safety, Lowe said in today’s statement.

5 sick with E. coli O157, UK nursery closed

Posted on by
Reply

Two children from a Teesdale nursery have been taken to hospital after contracting E.coli.

e.coli.uk.nurseryExperts are currently investigating a total of four cases at Kirklands Day Nursery, in Barnard Castle, as two other children are being cared for at home.

A spokeswoman for Public Health England also confirmed a fifth child with recent symptoms is awaiting test results. The children fell ill at about the same time between April 25 and April 27.

The nursery, in Bede Road, has been closed while the organisation, along with Durham County Council, investigates the cause of the infection.

The spokeswoman said: “Experts from Public Health England and Durham County Council can confirm they are investigating four cases of E. coli O157 infection in children who attend Kirklands Day Nursery in Barnard Castle.

“Two of the affected children are currently in hospital and the other two are being looked after at home.

“There is also a fifth child with recent symptoms who is awaiting test results.”

8 sick: Suspected outbreak of cryptosporidium hits thousands of homes in Ireland

Posted on by
Reply

Almost 6,500 homes in Westport have been placed on a boil water notice after a suspected outbreak of cryptosporidium.

crypto_enlargedThe precautionary notice was issued by Irish Water to a large number of customers in the town and to those on nearby group water schemes this evening.

It will affect thousands of homes and businesses in the busy tourist town.

Irish Water says the HSE has issued the precautionary boil notice, after eight people in the Westport area reported symptoms of crytosporidium.

They say no crytosporidium had been detected in ongoing water samples, however, as a precaution they are urging customers to boil water before using it for drinking, preparing food and baby food or brushing teeth.

Ensure that ‘the bread we break is safe to share’

Posted on by
Reply

Lisa Abraham of the Columbus Dispatch writes in a column about the tragic potluck dinner at Cross Pointe Free Will Baptist Church that social aspects and community building of potluck dinners are important – but safety should rise above fellowship.

People often ask me why I prefer to write about food.breaking-bread_650x366

My answer is always the same: Food unites us.

It is our common denominator; we all need nourishment.

They were “breaking bread together,” church pastor Bill Pitts recently told The Dispatch.
Many of us have taken part in similar events.

The end-of-the-year potluck is the highlight of the gatherings of my church book club. I look forward to trying the different dishes that club members bring, and we convince one another that it’s rude not to sample every dessert (wouldn’t want to offend the person who made it).

I have a few friends who are squeamish about eating at potlucks; they worry about the conditions under which the food was prepared.

I understand their concerns, and the Lancaster case certainly gives them credence.
Instead of making us more wary of others’ food, though, I hope that the incident makes us more cautious when preparing food.

I thought about the jars of home-canned jelly, relish and other foods that friends have shared with me through the years. As long as the seal was tight, I didn’t ask about the canning method used.

Let’s learn a lesson from Lancaster — by ensuring that the bread we break is safe to share.

Nosestretcher alert: when washing hands, hot water necessary to inactivate viruses

Posted on by
1

A specific water temperature is not necessary for handwashing – it’s a matter of preference. I like to wash my hands in sorta cool water. I’ve been told that folks in Dubai like this too. Some people prefer warm water.

According to WTSP, in a behind-the-scenes at a restaurant, a Tampa food safety consultant says that hot handwashing water is necessary to kill pathogens.Screen-Shot-2014-02-16-at-2.19.42-PM-222x300

Uh, no.

“As the public you don’t have the opportunity to go behind the counter,” said former health inspector Louayy Bayyat. “We trust there is somebody inspecting for us.”

Bayyat retired from the state as a district supervisor and now runs his own restaurant food safety consulting firm. He recently took us along for a mock inspection inside a Bay area sushi restaurant to show us what really happens on an inspection.

Our first stop was the employee hand sink when Bayyat immediately reached for soap and paper towels, beginning the inspection by washing his hands.

It was at the hand washing sink where we discovered our first problem.

“We don’t use hot water,” said the owner referencing a sink next to the sushi bar.

Bayyat informed the owner hot water was required and important to kill viruses on employee hands.

Hot water (at least 100F) is required by the Food Code, for preference, but it would be pretty uncomfortable to wash your hands in water hot enough to kill bacteria and inactivate viruses. I just tested my comfort limit in my kitchen sink, and 120F is too hot for me.

Barry Michaels published some excellent stuff over a decade ago showing that water temperature isn’t a factor in pathogen removal.

Listeria likes processing lines; Jeni’s pint filler tests positive for Listeria

Posted on by
Reply

Earlier today, in a talk about Listeria and produce, my friend Sophia Kathariou told folks at the NC Food Safety and Defense Task Force annual meeting that processing or packing facilities, not production, looks s to be a common link in outbreaks. Processing and packing lines are full of hard to reach places where Listeria can establish a niche.

Like a nozzle or hose on an ice cream pint filler.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, that’s where Jeni’s believes their Listeria issue arose.The listeria found at Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams’ plant was on the spout of one of its pint-filling machines.Jenis-Splendid-Ice-Creams-recalls-all-products-closes-shops-over-listeria-fears

The company plans to spend at least $200,000 to rework its manufacturing line at its Michigan Avenue plant to ensure listeria never visits again, according to a press release.

“We will spend whatever it takes,” said CEO John Lowe, in a statement today.

Jeni’s tested other pints and its production kitchen. Listeria was found in at least one other flavor and at the plant. The machine on which the listeria was found is used only to fill pints, not the large bins, known as buckets, used at scoop shops.

The shops will remain closed, though, while Jeni’s works through its plant revisions.

The company has estimated that in all, it will destroy about 535,000 pounds of product. The recall will cost more than $2.5 million, Lowe said.

The biggest change at the production kitchen announced today is that fresh produce and vegetables, a hallmark of Jeni’s flavors, will be processed at a separate location. Jeni’s did not say where.

The company’s entire production staff is training this week on new safety procedures. The company plans to go above state and federal requirements for food safety, Lowe said. Jeni’s still doesn’t know when it will reopen.