Author Archives: Katie Filion

Poop in prison

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I can’t imagine prison is the ideal place to get sick, what with the lack of privacy when it comes to toilet facilities. I’ve experienced the wrath of norovirus, and it involves sitting on a toilet with your head in a garbage can for several hours. I consider myself at least fortunate to have had it happen in the privacy of my own bathroom, and not a shared dorm or prison cell.
 
Inmates at an Idaho prison were not so fortunate, reports The Olympian.

An outbreak of norovirus at the Idaho State Correctional Institution has prompted state officials to keep visitors and volunteers away from the facility.Central Health District officials say four inmates have confirmed cases of the highly contagious disease and at least three more cases are suspected.

In a separate story, Australian prisoners have been on a hunger strike after claiming fellow prisoners put poop in their lunch. From the WAtoday story,

 The general manager of a Sunshine Coast prison has personally guaranteed the safety of prison meals after inmates went on a hunger strike amid claims their food was being laced with human faeces. Inmates were placed into lockdown after refusing to eat anything other than bread and milk following complaints about a tainted Sunday lunch served to them by other prisoners working in the facility’s kitchen on February 22…

Norovirus is common in confined living spaces, like prisons or dorms, as it is easily transmitted by exposure to poop, vomit or blood. Symptoms usually persist for 48 to 72 hours, and in extreme cases can lead to hospitalization from dehydration.

The best way to prevent the spread of norovirus is through proper handwashing, especially after using the washroom. And eating off of a toilet seat likely isn’t the best way to avoid the spread of illness.
 

Food safety information in a snap

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I’ve seen the funky commercials, and heard of its wonders from Ben, but an article in Twist Image is what really opened my eyes to the awesomeness of the iPhone; and how just one of the applications could be used in food safety communication.

 Scan the barcode of any product in any store using your mobile phone and you can find out what people say about it, where you can get it cheapest, or you can even order it online right from your phone.

What kind of technology drives this? It must be some serious photo recognition software? This is all SnapTell says about it on their website:
"SnapTell has created core patent pending proprietary technology for image matching that works with databases of millions of images. Our technology works effectively on pictures taken with any camera phone in the world, including ones that have VGA cameras or relatively low resolution (320×240) cameras. Also, our robust matching engine can handle pictures taken in real life conditions that may have lighting artifacts, focus/motion blur, perspective distortion and partial coverage. The technology works in a wide variety of real life scenarios including print advertisements, outdoor billboards, brand logos, product packaging, branded cans, bottles and wine labels."


Regardless of how it’s done, there is no doubt that this adds many new and fascinating layers both to marketing and the in-store retail experience.

Now that’s cool. But how much cooler would it be if consumers could also receive food safety information regarding a product? During the peanut butter recall, instead of scanning the FDA list of recalled peanut products, what if consumers could have snapped a picture using a cell phone and receive up to date information on whether a certain granola bar was recalled? The iPhone has an application with restaurant take-out options, but what if the SnapTell application allowed users to snap a picture of a restaurant and instantly receive the latest inspection score?

Technology is changing the way consumers send and receive food safety information, from using cell phones to take pictures of mice in grocery stores, to reading barfblog. Using the latest technology to communicate food safety and recall information can benefit everyone. It allows consumers to instantly receive the information they desire, and in the recall example, could allow grocery stores to be certain they have pulled recalled product from store shelves.

Though the SnapTell application is currently only available for iPhone (as far as I know), I’m sure similar functions will appear on other phones soon, and hopefully someone will create an application to satisfy consumer food safety needs.
 

Sickened vacationers sue hotel

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It was reading week (the Canadian equivalent to spring break) a few weeks ago, and through my Facebook creeping I saw that many of my friends traveled south for vacation. Nothing quite evaporates the stress of midterm exams like tanning and over-consuming alcohol.   

Unfortunately for dozens of vacationers at a Cape Verde island resort, fun in the sun was accompanied with stomach cramps and diarrhea, reports the Yorkshire Evening Post.

A group of 40 sunseekers want compensation after a stay at the Riu Garopa and Riu Funana hotels on the Cape Verde islands, off the west African coast, left them seriously ill. A further 70 people who were also affected have sought legal advice. Solicitors at Irwin Mitchell say calls are still coming in and they expect the number of complaints to hit 200.

Some guests who were there between August and October last year claim food at the hotels was undercooked, uneaten meals were re-served, and food was often left uncovered and unprotected from insects.

One of the sick vacationers, Barry Taylor, who stayed at the Riu Garopa in September with his wife, said,

"I’ve never experienced illness like this before. It was horrendous. It ruined our holiday and we’re still suffering from some of the symptoms today, more than four months after the trip.”

He continued,

"The standards at the Garopa were disgraceful. There was a smell of sewage hanging around the place and there were huge cockroaches everywhere – in the dining room, the bedrooms, down the corridors. My wife managed to get into the town to get medication that a doctor prescribed but because there was so many people ill they had run out."

The cause of illness is believed to be Shigella, often contracted through consumption of contaminated food or water. Fecally contaminated water and unsanitary handling by food handlers are the most common causes of contamination with Shigella. In the past salads (potato, tuna, macaroni), raw vegetables, dairy products and poultry have been implicated as vectors for illness.
 

Increased compliance after posting inspection results

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Restaurant inspection disclosure systems, like the ‘Scores on Doors’ scheme in the UK or online databases available in some states, are ways to display inspection information to consumers. Many jurisdictions are adopting these systems after positive consumer reception, and increase in compliance among restaurants in jurisdictions where disclosure programs have been implemented.

 In the Canadian province of New Brunswick, public posting of restaurant inspection results has resulted in improved compliance, reports Times & Transcript.

One year after the health department started posting inspection reports on its website for everyone to see, officials have seen a definite increase in compliance by restaurants who want to make a good impression.

Nina van der Pluijm, regional director for health protection programs for the New Brunswick Department of Health, says,

"Compliance has gone up and if our inspectors find something, the restaurants want to hurry up and comply. If we give them five days to fix something, they usually say they’ll have it done in two days and want us to come back for the re-inspection."

In New Brunswick restaurants are inspected, unannounced, every one to three years depending on their risk category. Establishments are termed satisfactory, unsatisfactory, minor infraction, major infraction and critical infraction; and respectively color-coded green, yellow, dark yellow, red with warning stripes and critical red, indicating a shutdown.

van der Pluijm indicated the program has gotten good feedback from the public and the food service industry, but like most disclosure systems, there is concern regarding the manner in which grades are presented to the public.

Luc Erjavec, a spokesman for the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association in Halifax, indicated industry generally doesn’t like color-coding schemes since the public may not try to understand it.
 
"They might look and see a yellow and move on without taking the time to see why, and the reports could give a restaurant a bad name for a relatively minor incident."

This may be true, but it may also encourage establishments to strive for a higher level of food safety. During development of the Toronto disclosure system – with green, yellow and red cards – a similar situation was encountered (right, above). Establishments didn’t want to receive yellow cards, and as a result over time yellow cards became nearly non-existent, being replaced by green pass.

There are many ways to communicate inspection results to the public, and each has pros and cons, but these schemes help to increase overall awareness of food safety amongst restaurant staff and the public.

As van der Pluijm said,
 
"The public likes to know what is going on and be able to read a report on a certain restaurant, see the ranking and be able to see what they did to get that ranking."
 

Georgia grocers don’t display grades

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I’ve been known to buy the odd slice of pizza or bucket of fried chicken from the ready-to-eat counter of grocery stores, often a result of shopping on an empty stomach. And truthfully, I’ve never thought much about how these food establishments were inspected, perhaps assuming they fell under the local health department’s umbrella, like most restaurants.

 An article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution indicates my assumptions may not always be correct. The story indicates that in the state of Georgia salad bars and ready-to-eat food counters in grocery stores are not inspected the same way as restaurants, nor are they required to publically display their inspection grade like restaurants in this state.

Local health departments inspect restaurants, and the state requires eateries to post the reports prominently on site, using a clear point system and letter grade.

The state Agriculture Department — the same state agency that was responsible for inspecting the peanut plant linked to the nation’s deadly salmonella outbreak — inspects grocery stores. But it doesn’t issue points or grades, and stores don’t have to post their most recent report.

In Georgia restaurants are required to display an “A” “B” “C” or “U” (for unsatisfactory) letter grade and numerical score near the establishment entrance so that patrons can make an informed dining decision. This includes drive-thru windows and other take-out entrances; unfortunately, since grocery store ready-to-eat counters aren’t inspected by the same department as other food establishments, customers won’t see a letter grade at these counters.

Sarah Klein, of the food safety program at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Science in the Public Interest, said of public posting of restaurant grades,

“Once they know that an inspection report is going to be published, there is an incentive created to make food safety a priority. It is something you have to do because, otherwise, your business … will suffer.”

I agree. Restaurant disclosure systems can be an incentive for those within foodservice to increase compliance with regulations, while providing the public with inspection results to make an informed decision. If other Georgia foodservice establishments are required to put the score on their door, why not the fried chicken counter in the grocery store?
 

UK takeaway pays hefty fine for unsafe kitchen conditions

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Chester’s Chicken & Pizza in Blackburn was fined £27,000 after a March 2008 inspection found disgusting conditions in the takeaway’s kitchen. According to the Lanchester Telegraph,

On Wednesday Blackburn magistrates court was told the inspection last March found:
* Two dead cockroaches stuck to the door seal of the fridge, and more scuttling around the floor;
* Lettuce stored under raw meat, posing a “very high” risk of food poisoning;
* Staff did not have food hygiene training and had no facilities to wash their hands;
* Food was stored in unsuitable containers;
* There was no food safety management plan in place.

Executive member for regeneration and environment, Coun Alan Cottam, said of the establishment,

 “This takeaway was a serious illness waiting to happen and magistrates have reflected that in this very stiff penalty.”

A quick glance at Scores on Doors, a website in the UK to disclose inspection results to the public, indicates that Chester’s Chicken & Pizza received two poor inspections in Oct. 2006 and March 2008. The image, right, is a snapshot of the posting for Chester’s Chicken & Pizza, and indicates the establishment had poor hygiene, safety and structural compliance, with little confidence in management. Furthermore, the establishment received zero out of five possible “hygiene stars”, giving this establishment one of the poorest possible hygiene standards.
 

Dirty dining in the UK

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During my high school days I was a proud sandwich artist at the local sub shop, a job I got mainly to socialize with friends who also worked there. Though my days in foodservice are over now, I often think back to them when reading about restaurant inspection. I remember all too well the intense cleaning done the week before an inspector was scheduled to visit, or the mad dash to the hand-washing sink when he/she arrived. Inspection, as I remember it, was not an accurate indication of how things were run in that sub shop most of the time.

Today Times Online has an article about a day with an environmental health officer, Sara Robinson, in the UK.

Every time Sara Robinson calls she is greeted by a look of barely suppressed fright. Caught off guard, the waiters’ emotions are always betrayed by their eyes, flicking to the kitchen. They are trying to remember what kind of state they left it in, before the environmental health officer gets a look.

The second thing that happens, moments later, is what Ms Robinson calls “a mad cleaning panic”.

When she arrived at her first stop, a traditional “caff” near Paddington station, the waiter nipped into the tiny kitchen, no bigger than a bathroom. By the time Ms Robinson had donned her white coat and followed, the scrubbing and mopping were in full swing. “It makes them feel better, but doesn’t make a huge amount of difference — they can’t do enough to hide the serious problems.”

Though inspections in Westminster are surprise, much of the reported employee reactions reminded me of how I acted when the inspector arrived. Even with scheduled visits it was easy to slip up on proper hygiene when the inspector was poking around. Sure the floors were mopped and the pop machine sparkling, but the sub shop still had violations. And after the inspection report was released our manager would discuss where things went wrong, and how to fix them. Sometimes we were even offered incentives (like free subs) for following proper procedures.

Restaurant inspections, scheduled or surprise, have limitations, and though they may not represent the conditions of an establishment at all times, they can get restaurant management and staff talking about food safety.
 

University in Indiana doesn’t inspect campus cafeterias regularly

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Ball State University has a dining blog, seen here, to “allow the BSU community to interact and stay up-to-date with dining.” The blog, which includes a note on how to make a giant pancake, doesn’t mention that campus dinning halls are long over due for state food inspection.

The Star Press in Indiana is reporting BSU has not been inspecting its food establishments as often as recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Indiana State Department of Health.

According to the story,
 
The dining services at two residence halls went nearly six years without an inspection for compliance with state sanitation requirements. The Atrium, a 400-seat food court, the Alumni Center and Noyer residence hall’s dining services were not inspected for more than three years, while LaFollette residence hall’s dining facilities did not get inspected for more than two years.

Scott Gilliam, director of the Indiana State Department of Health’s food protection program said,

“BSU’s residence halls and food courts should be inspected twice a year, possibly three times a year. They’re not following the recommended protocols to meet FDA standards. They’re not in violation of the law; they’re just not following what’s recommended by the feds and the state."

During my undergrad at the University of Guelph there was an outbreak E. coli O157:H7 linked to one of the campus food service outlets that sickened at least 5 students. In January 58 students and staff members at UC Santa Cruz were sickened with Norovirus after eating at the campus cafeteria.

Getting the squirts isn’t something students pay for in tuition, but in the past few years many universities have been linked to foodborne illness outbreaks. And though regular restaurant inspection doesn’t necessarily reduce the incidence of foodborne illness, it does get food service personnel talking about food safety.
 

Restaurant sued after staph intoxication linked to death

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72-year old David Maupin, right, passed away after contracting Staphylococcus aureus intoxication from an Easter dinner he ate at a Louisville restaurant, according to Wave 33 TV.

On March 23, 2008, Maupin, his wife, brother, and sister-in-law all ate Easter Dinner at the Claudia Sanders Dinner House. Two days later he died.

The restaurant was closed for three days. After an investigation by the North Central Public Health Department, it was determined that hams being served that day were contaminated with the Staphylococcus aureus. Toxins produced when the bacteria grows causes food poisoning, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Bob Silverthorn, Jr., the Maupin family’s Attornery, said,

"[Y]ou just don’t expect to go to your Easter Dinner or whatever and then the next couple of days somebody is gone because of something they ate. “

He continued,

“You know when you do an autopsy, stool sample, death certificate, FDA examination of food products, it all ties this together. I think [the restaurant] is going to have a very difficult time in light of all the scientific data that we have and will be presenting."

Food handlers are usually the main source of food contamination in outbreaks, however equipment and environmental surfaces can also be sources of contamination with Staphylococcus aureus.

Often foods that are not kept at proper temperatures, not kept hot enough (60°C, 140°F, or above) or cold enough (7.2°C, 45°F, or below), provide a good environment for certain strains of Staphylococcus aureus to produce enterotoxins, which in turn cause intoxication if this food is ingested by humans.

The most common symptoms of staphylococcal food poisoning include nausea, vomiting and abdominal cramps. The onset of symptoms is rapid, and usually runs a short course, however on rare occasions death from staphylococcal food poisoning has occurred.
 

Valentines Day – Give love, not Salmonella

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I love Valentine’s Day. It’s not that I’m a romantic, but that most years it was an excuse to get drunk, and last year a dude even ran through my Calculus class in nothing but a diaper and wings. Valentine’s Day is always a hoot.

This year I’ve spent time in candy aisles rather than calculus lectures, scanning for recalled Valentine’s chocolate linked to the current Salmonella outbreak. As I wrote in bites,

    With over 600 ill and 9 deaths linked to peanut paste produced by the Peanut Corp. of America, consumers may opt to give flowers rather than sweets on February 14. Of the 2000 peanut products recalled, over 670 contain chocolate. The popular peanut-chocolate combination is found in chocolate trays, bars, snack mixes, cookies, pies, and more, all examples of recalled products, and all popular Valentine’s gifts. 

The Walgreens pharmacy and Wal-Mart superstore in Manhattan, Kansas, both featured prominent Valentine’s Day displays during the past week. Aisle after aisle was stocked with pink and red packaged peanut-chocolate treats, but nowhere was there mention to the safety of these items. A concerned consumer wishing to purchase these must either scan the 68 pages of chocolate products recalled on the FDA website, or trust that potentially contaminated products have been removed from store shelves. But with the recall list growing daily, consumers may find it difficult to assume the chocolate-covered peanuts that are safe today won’t be added to the recall list tomorrow. 

Keith Warriner, a food microbiologist at the University of Guelph in Canada, explained last week via email, the concerns associated with Salmonella in chocolate products. “Because chocolate is high in fat it protects Salmonella from environmental stress and stomach acid,” said Dr. Warriner. “So in effect, if chocolate does become contaminated, Salmonella survives longer and only needs to be present in low numbers to survive passage through the stomach.”

Chocolate is a not uncommon vector for Salmonella. In 2006 both Cadbury and Hershey brand chocolate products were associated with separate Salmonella contamination. Cadbury recalled over 1 million chocolate bars in the UK after more than 40 consumers were sickened, and 3 were hospitalized due to Salmonella contamination from poor plant sanitation. A few months later, Hershey Canada recalled candy products due to possible Salmonella contamination, and though there were no reported illnesses, some of this recalled Hershey product re-entered the marketplace two years later.

Though I didn’t see any of the recalled products while shopping, it’s hard to be certain none were missed with over 670 products being recalled. I also didn’t see any signs informing consumers about the safety of the sweets in these aisles. If a store is confident recalled peanut-products have been removed from shelves, a way to help out consumers is putting up some signs in the aisles.