Chinese govt says: No rats or bats (or daffodils) on the menu for New Year

With just a few days to go before the Chinese New Year, which people celebrate with an abundance of food and merrymaking, China’s government has launched a campaign to prevent virus infections caused by eating ‘strange food’ such as rats, snakes and bats.

slaughtered-rats-are-displayed-sale-market-canh-nau-village-west-hanoiAuthorities in charge of food safety urged citizens Friday not to consume ‘wild animals’, and above all, not to ‘go over the top’, as it is common for people in certain parts of the country to come up with astonishing dishes, using animals not commonly found on the dinner table.

In the southern Canton province, for example, people savour preparations made from snakes and rats, which is why the authorities are urging everyone, particularly old people, children and pregnant women, to abstain from what it calls strange dishes.

Flowers not food: Keep daffodils separate, supermarkets warned

Thanks to our Scottish friend for the tip:

UK supermarkets have been urged to keep daffodils away from fruit and vegetable aisles this spring – in case they are mistaken for food.

Daffodils.foodIn a letter to major stores, Public Health England warned the flowers could be confused with onions or Chinese vegetables, and consumption of them was an “emerging risk.”

Daffodils contain toxic alkaloids that can cause severe vomiting, it said.

It noted 27 cases of poisoning linked to daffodils and narcissi last year.

Prof Paul Cosford, director for health protection at Public Health England, wrote a letter to the stores headed “steps to avoid daffodil poisonings this spring”.

He said: “Each spring stores such as yours provide a wide selection of flowers, particularly cut daffodils and daffodil bulbs.

A number of poisoning cases have been linked to the plant

“Unfortunately there are rare occasions when the bulbs are mistaken for onions, and the stems or leaves are mistaken for a type of vegetable popular in China.

“As I’m sure you are aware, daffodils are dangerous if eaten and poisoning can occur as a result.”

He continued: “We are asking you, along with all other major supermarkets, to ensure that daffodils, both the bulbs from which they sprout and the cut variety too, are displayed well away from the produce or fruit and vegetable area.”

170 sick with trichinosis in Argentina

The National Health Service and Food Quality (SENASA) implemented bans and controlled performed tasks for the health operative in response to the outbreak of trichinosis detected in Pehaujó, Buenos Aires.

Trichinella_LifeCycleThere are an estimated 170 people have been affected and 504 pigs sent to slaughter in the area involved.

The origin of the outbreak was due to the consumption of sausages unmarked from a butcher in that city, which was not authorized by local authorities, or hatcheries and farms of which got the pork that marketed the premises.

Before the fact, SENASA authorities acted in conjunction with the Ministry of Land Affairs of the Province and the Municipality of Pehuajó, from the initial seizure of the goods at the butcher until bans and controlled delivery job of confiscated animals. According to the results of diagnostic tests in the cold, many of these animals were positive.

Trichinosis or trichinellosis is a zoonotic disease that may be present in raw or undercooked meat from pigs and certain game animals such as wild boar and pumas. People get sick when they eat raw, sausages or sausage meat without proper sanitary control.

Pigs can get trichinosis when raised in unhygienic conditions with rodents and fed with trash or debris inadequate food. Parasitized pigs have no symptoms and characteristics of their meat is not altered.

Bugs cured by wellness?

Jane Hansen of The Daily Telegraph writeskellogg that the so-called wellness industry has an unhealthy dark side that needs exposing.

Increasingly it is revealed parents are not vaccinating their children, and feeding kids potentially deadly raw milk for the “healthy” bacteria on the advice of their alternative therapist.

While most of the professional bodies for alternative practitioners have now come out with position statements in support of vaccination, in practice many are quietly advising their patients not to vaccinate, fuelling a discredited link to autism, and directing parents to feed their kids raw milk to treat illnesses such as autism.

A good deal of the chiropractic sector does not even believe in germ theory. They believe that as long as you pop along for your “wellness” tinkering every week, you won’t fall prey to infectious diseases.

Some leading chiropractors were members of the anti-vaccination group the AVSN, which once boasted that chiropractors were its greatest financial supporters.

Recent comments by Arizona chiropractor Heather Wolfson about a five-year-old who could not be vaccinated, and who died of chickenpox related complications, shows just how deranged chiropractic thinking can be.

“If this mother would have sought out chiropractic care, gave just two simple vitamins A and C, she would have never developed pneumonia … This little girl is dead, not from chickenpox, but from chemicals and poor nutrition.”

I would like to see those chiropractors who don’t believe in germ theory to head to ebola-stricken Africa to put their craft to the test.

kellogg.bibiologicThe wellness industry lives by the mantra “food is medicine”, a term deeply embedded in the anti-vax movement.

Amid its advice is to drink raw milk. As naturopath Helen Goodwin wrote, this is the only way it should be drunk, “as the beneficial bacteria lactobacillus acidophilus is still alive”.

But Goodwin acknowledges the potential for harmful bacteria is the reason why it is illegal to sell raw milk for consumption in Australia.

It contains listeria and E.coli and other pathogens which recently caused the death of a Victorian toddler.

UK pilot contracts Salmonella at Egyptian resort, unable to work for four weeks

A holidaymaker has launched legal action after his family getaway to Egypt turned into a nightmare when he contracted salmonella.

When he returned to the UK, Alex Comley’s illness was allegedly deemed so severe he was unable to return to work as a pilot for EasyJet.

salm.egypt.resortComley, 33, from Bracknell, Berks, booked a 10-day break to Sonesta Beach Resort in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt in July with tour operator Thomson Holidays with his wife Louise, 36, and two-year-old son Sebastian.

However, the all-inclusive trip, which cost nearly £2,000, was ruined only four days after they arrived when Alex was struck down by the bug at their four-star resort.

He claims his illness became so serious that after returning home he needed medical treatment and was unable to return to work for EasyJet for more than a month.

Couple kicked out of Wisconsin McDonald’s for bringing in kangaroo

On Friday, Diana and Larry Moyer brought one of their five pet kangaroos to a McDonald’s in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, prompting a customer to call the police, reports WISN.

kangaroo-800“He’s just a little guy, but you can touch him and pet him,” Larry says of Jimmy the kangaroo.

The couple often brings the smaller marsupial with them on errands to keep Diana, who is battling cancer, company. Jimmy isn’t a licensed service animal, but the kangaroo is a therapy pet.

The Moyers – who’ve owned kangaroos for five years – say the animals often turn heads in public, but rarely do they cause problems, so the couple was shocked when a customer at McDonald’s felt the need to call the police and complain.

Since kangaroos are not protected by disability laws, the Moyers and Jimmy were asked to leave by the restaurant. The group left without incident at the same time authorities arrived at the scene.

Sprouts again: Korean Food Co. of Texas recalls soybean sprouts because of possible Listeria risk

Korean Food Co. of Irving Texas is recalling 8 boxes of (20 bag in each box) Go-Hang Soybean sprouts in 1 lb. and 2 lb. bags distributed Jan 30, 2015 – Feb 6, 2015 because they have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

soybean.sproutsThe soybean sprouts were distributed to KO-MART in Dallas and H-MART in Plano and Carrollton retail stores in Texas.

1LB SOYBEAN SPROUT BAR CODE- 4205312100

2LB SOYBEAN SPROUT BAR CODE- 42053-13650

No illnesses that have been reported to date.

The recall was the result of a routine sampling program by the FDA which revealed that the finished products contained the bacteria. The company has ceased the production and distribution of the product as FDA and the company continues their investigation as to what caused the problem.

Consumers who have purchased Korean Food Co. Soybean Sprouts in 1lb. and 2lb. in plastic bags are urged to return it to the place of purchase for a full refund.

Consumers with questions may contact the company at 213-500-1893 Sun-Sat. 24 hours a day.

Jersey officials plan database of restaurant health inspection reports, higher fines for violations

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Spurred on by the outbreak of Hepatitis A linked to a food server at Rosa’s Restaurant and Catering, Hamilton Township in New Jersey is taking steps to ensure that every consumer knows just how safe — or unsafe — food establishments are, with an online database of food inspection reports scheduled to go live within the next few months.

jon.stewart.handwashing.2002“Accountability is everything,” township health officer Jeff Plunkett said on Friday. He said a new ordinance is also being drafted to increase fines for health code violations.

The new database will allow customers to simply search for the name of a restaurant to view its health inspection reports, Mayor Kelly Yaede said Friday.

“This is an initiative we’ve been working on for a year,” Yaede said, attributing the concept to one proposed by San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee at the 2014 U.S. Conference of Mayors.

“The number one goal of our health office is to maintain the public safety of our residents,” Yaede said. “This tool makes these restaurant inspection reports more readily available to individuals when they’re making a choice of whether they’re going to patronize a restaurant.”

It isn’t clear whether a restaurant’s entire history or recent history of inspection reports will be available, Yaede said.

“As much information as we have that’s accessible will be released to the public,” Yaede said.

The software will hopefully provide an incentive for restaurants to maintain clean bills of health: It could provide a sales boost for the cleanliest establishments and motivation for less cleanly restaurants to fix problems, Yaede said.

“It would be a positive tool for a majority of restaurants in Hamilton to help them promote their business,” Yaede said.

“And if you don’t have a good report? There’s more of a bite in it for enforcement,” Plunkett said.

7 dead, 34 sick from Listeria: US apple industry works to limit recall damage

The Listeria outbreak that lead Bidart Bros. to recall of all of its granny smiths and galas spurred industry representatives to travel to Washington D.C. for damage control meetings recently, writes Coral Beach of The Packer.

apples-granny-smith-165384Alex Ott, executive director of the California Apple Commission, said he and officials from other apple organizations met with members of Congress the last week of January. They also met with people at the Food and Drug Administration, Commerce Department, U.S. Trade Representative office and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

One concern Ott said they discussed with FDA officials is how the agency shares — and does not share — information after a recall is announced.

“They are quick to send out initial information,” Ott said, “but they aren’t so quick with the follow ups.”

Ott said the FDA’s “no comment” policy during investigations fans the flames of media hysteria like that seen in Malaysia and other Asian countries, which have enacted restrictions on U.S. apples not included in the recall.

FDA spokesman Doug Karas said the agency has made it clear the recall related to the listeria outbreak involves only galas and granny smiths from Bidart Bros., Shafter, Calif. Seven people who were infected with the outbreak strains of listeria have died.

The outbreak has sickened 32 people in 11 states, with 31 of them requiring hospitalization, according to the most recent update from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Jan. 10. Canadian officials report two people there have been confirmed with the outbreak strains of Listeria monocytogenes.

Jim Bair, president and CEO of the U.S. Apple Association, Vienna, Va., said the organization is looking forward while waiting on final reports from FDA and CDC.

gala.apples“(We have) already begun looking forward to next steps and what our industry can do to prevent further instances,” Bair said. “We are considering what measures we can take to best serve the industry in providing relevant information to prevent future concerns.”

Officials with apple organizations in New York and Michigan either declined comment or did not respond to requests for comment.

Duty to tell: ‘We should have been told about Norovirus outbreak’

A man who fell violently ill after contracting Norovirus at a UK seaside hotel says he should have been warned of an outbreak before his stay.

norovirus.elderly womanLeslie Yeaman, 70, took his wife Pauline, 71, to The Grand Hotel in Scarborough for a five- day break earlier this month on a National Holidays trip.

Mrs Yeaman suffers from a low immune system after suffering from cancer three times.

She uses a wheelchair and was also diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in July.

Mr Yeaman, who fell ill two days into his stay, says the virus could have had potentially fatal consequences for his wife, who also fell ill after they returned to their Kingswood home.

He said: “I lost my sister before Christmas and it was a really traumatic time. We cancelled Christmas and I told Pauline I would take her for a short break.”

The couple checked into the hotel on Monday, January 5, but by Wednesday, Mr Yeaman had become violently ill with sickness and diarrhoea.

He said: “I am a carer for my wife and I couldn’t do anything for her. The next day, we decided to cut our losses.”

He said he endured an agonising drive back to Hull, whereby he spent the next 34 hours in bed ill.

His wife then also became poorly.

Public Health England, which investigated cases of the infection at the hotel, has told the Mail the outbreak was investigated from December 23 until January 19, when it was declared over.

Mr Yeaman says National Holidays should have had a duty of care to inform him and his wife of the outbreak.

He said: “The chemotherapy has destroyed Pauline’s immune system. We never had the chance to cancel. They never said to us there was a virus in the hotel.

“Six other people went home when we did.”