Maybe Toronto, Calgary and Chicago, unable to settle things at the hockey arena, have some unannounced contest for the title of, "Worst Public Communications about Food Safety Issues" that the rest of us don’t know about.

The City of Toronto has just announced that it is investigating an outbreak of E. coli in 54 people that occurred at a picnic in July.

No further details. No information on what kind of E. coli, when the event occurred, suspect food –, just a blanket warning that, "Food poisoning can cause very serious health problems, including kidney failure from certain types of E. coli infections."

Worse, in a laundry list of generic food safety tips, Toronto recommends,

"Cook ground beef and chicken thoroughly until the juices run clear and the meat is no longer pink."

No mention of a meat thermometer. And, as I’ve been harping recently, color is a lousy indicator of doneness.

But, the public relations geniuses did find it necessary to remind the 54 people barfing away their picnic lunches that,

"Toronto is Canada’s largest city and sixth largest government, and home to
a diverse population of about 2.6 million people. It is the economic engine of
Canada and one of the greenest and most creative cities in North America. In
the past three years Toronto has won more than 50 awards for quality and
innovation in delivering public services. Toronto’s government is dedicated to
prosperity, opportunity and liveability for all its residents."

This follows Calgary’s similar attempt to blame 28 consumers for their E. coli O157:H7 illnesses when a food vehicle has yet to be identified, and the city of Chicago’s reassuring words to the 780 or so sickened by the hummus at a Taste of Chicago booth that,

"In the larger context of having safely served tens of millions of people in recent years, the Taste remains quite possibly the safest food service operation in the city."

Your hockey teams suck. So do your attempts to placate sick people. Herb Tarlek would be ashamed.