Latest food quacks peddling dangerous advice

Posted on May 26, 2016 by Douglas Powell

The UK’s newest foodie stars, sisters Melissa and Jasmine Hemsley, purport themselves as healthy food gurus. In fact, one’s a former model, the other has a background in marketing. Following the release of their latest cookbook, experts claim their clean-eating, tongue-scraping advice could actually do more harm than good.

Jasmine, 36, has left her racy modelling past far behind. These days, she and sister Melissa, 30, are the self-styled queens of “clean eating”, a regime that forbids followers from eating sugar, gluten and processed foods, which are said to contain body-harming toxins.

The sisters, who have written two recipe books and set up their own cafe, can be found promoting such food fads as “spiralising”, a healthy eating gadget that turns vegetables into guilt-free “pasta”; bone broth, a collagen-rich soup made from boiling bones; and, just last week on their new UK Channel 4 TV show, astrologically farmed vegetables grown according to the cycles of the moon.

Critics say that by peddling the “clean eating” fad, the Hemsleys and their ilk – including “Deliciously” Ella Woodward – are causing vulnerable schoolgirls to become not only paranoid about food, but frightened of it.

In a society in which more young women than ever have troubled relationships with their bodies – 1.6 million people in Britain suffer from an eating disorder – this is cause for serious concern. Experts say just words such as “clean” and “cleanse” may trigger harmful behaviour.

“Clean eating uses the language of anorexics to describe food,” says Dr Richard Sly, a lecturer in mental health at the University of East Anglia. “When you place a label on such things, you are creating a judgment, one that vulnerable people will buy into.”.

The girls started tapping into Jasmine’s contacts in the TV and film world to find clients for whom they could cook healthy meals. In spring 2010, a well-known actor (whom the sisters refuse to name) asked them to help with his diet.

Before they knew it, they had a waiting list and their business was born. It was so exclusive they took on just six, super-elite clients at a time and were flown round the world as private chefs.

They set up a blog to document their work and, in 2012, it caught the attention of an editor at Vogue, who took them on as food columnists.

The Hemsley & Hemsley brand was co-founded by Jasmine’s boyfriend Nick Hopper, 40, a model and photographer, who took the pictures for their first book, The Art Of Eating Well, which has sold 150,000 copies.

Today, Jasmine and Nick live in a £585,000 flat in South-East London, while Melissa lives nearby with her boyfriend, Henry Relph, 32, a DJ and art collector.

Central to their success is their glamorous appearance and the glitzy social circles in which they move.

However, some of their dishes contain a lot of sugar – their “guilt-free” brownies have 150ml maple syrup, as well as 230g butter.

Even their “healthy” alternatives (honey, maple syrup and agave nectar) contain high levels of fructose, a natural sugar linked to diabetes, obesity and liver disease.

But most concerning of all are health ‘experts’ from whom the Hemsleys get their approach to food.

Last week, it was revealed that they support controversial diet guru Natasha Campbell-McBride, a Russian nutritionist criticised for her “Gut And Psychology Syndrome” (GAPS) doctrine, which claims that a restrictive, gluten-free diet can cure conditions including schizophrenia, autism and epilepsy. Despite not being legally registered to practise medicine in Britain, she bills herself on her UK website as “Doctor Natasha”.

Experts have branded her work “unethical” and “dangerous”, yet the Hemsleys cite her book at the top of a list of five that have “shaped their food philosophy”.

The Weston A Price Foundation, an American non-profit group founded by a dentist, is another inspiration.

Among the unorthodox practices it advocates are eating poached animal brains, feeding newborns raw cows’ milk and ingesting clay, believed to remove toxins from the body.

The sisters insist they “are not advocates of anyone else’s regime.

But leading doctor and Daily Mail columnist Max Pemberton says the doctrines they quote from are “absolute quackery”.

Their star may be on the rise, but maybe it’s time we started seeing the Hemsley sisters for what they really are: glossy beauties with an eye for making money – and not a shred of genuine expertise between them.

So is there any science behind the clean eating cult? We look at some of the most outlandish schools of thought that the Hemsleys support . . .

Biodynamic food

What is it? Based on the teachings of 19th-century Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, it claims the best time to plant crops is two days before a full moon, when there is an increase in the moisture content of the soil, meaning plants “growth forces” are enhanced.

They say: In the latest episode of their cookery series, the sisters buy eggs produced by chickens fed on grain that has been “planted according to the astrological calendar”.

Liz Cotton of Orchard Eggs, the Hemsleys’ favourite biodynamic brand, explains: “The yolks are bright yellow and they taste better than organic.”

Experts say: There’s no difference – and certainly no nutritional benefit – in planting crops according to the solar system.

Dietitian Renee McGregor says some eggs are better for you than others, but this has to do with soil quality and farming conditions. “In terms of the moon, that’s a load of mumbo-jumbo,” she adds.

Tongue scraping

What is it? One of the sisters’ weirder obsessions, tongue scraping comes from Ayurvedic medicine, an ancient Indian practice.

It involves running a metal scraper – with padded handles and a sharp, curved middle – up and down your tongue to remove bacteria, fungi and food debris.

They say: “I’d rather go without brushing my teeth in the morning than not doing it,” Jasmine claims. “All your toxins come out on your tongue, so you want to remove them.”

Mindful eating

What is it? This Buddhist-inspired technique is all about taking your time over food, rather than wolfing meals down in minutes.

It encourages “reconnecting” with ingredients by paying attention to their colour, smell and texture.

They say: “If you develop a proper relationship with the food you are about to eat, it will taste better and you will feel fuller more quickly,” Jasmine claims.

They also say chewing food more slowly can “get rid of common digestive complaints”.

Experts say: It’s not complete quackery: taking time over eating can avoid indigestion and heartburn. But Jane Odgen, professor of health psychology at the University of Surrey, says this obsession with chewing “may make people over-focused on food”.

The gaps diet

What is it? Dreamed up by Russian nutritional “guru” Dr Natasha Campbell-McBride, this regime teaches that illnesses including autism, dyslexia, heart disease and epilepsy are caused by an “imbalance of intestinal flora”, which allows particles of food to escape into the blood.

GAPS – which stands for Gut And Psychology Syndrome – encourages followers to combat this by giving up sugar, dairy, starch and gluten.

They say: The Hemsleys, who cite Doctor Natasha as an influence, promote a gluten and refined sugar-free diet and warn against “leaky gut syndrome”.

Food combining

What is it? A naturopathic – in other words, not scientifically proven – theory that claims the order and combination in which you put food into your mouth can affect digestion. Also known as the Hay Diet, invented by American doctor William Howard Hay in the Thirties, it forbids eating protein and carbohydrates on the same plate.

They say: The sisters claim food combining “aids digestion and optimises nutritional absorption from our foods”.

Experts say: “There is absolutely no evidence for this,” says Renee McGregor. “Our body is capable of coping with food all on its own. It doesn’t need us interfering to help it work properly.”

Bone broth

What is it? Otherwise known as plain old stock, “bone broth” is one of the Hemsleys’ go-to recipes, made by boiling animal bones in water with vegetables, peppercorns and bay leaves for 24 hours.

Chipotle outbreak makes Boston College commencement address

Posted on May 23, 2016 by Ben Chapman

Part of our approach on barfblog is to inject surprise and humor, or what some might call shock jockery, into food safety messages to compel folks to employ risk reduction practices.

Sometimes we get it right, sometimes we don’t. Linking a norovirus outbreak with a tragic terrorist event isn’t the best idea. According to Boston.com, United States Secretary of Energy Ernest J. Moniz made the Chipotle/Boston Marathon bombing connection during a Boston College commencement speech.

United States Secretary of Energy Ernest J. Moniz is a native of Fall River, Mass., an alumnus of BC and a professor at MIT, which means he knows very well what it means to be a Bostonian.

But Boston College’s commencement speaker gave a special shout-out to the class of 2016 for being what he called “Boston College strong.”

“You were here for the terrible Boston Marathon terrorism events, the terrible snow storm, and, as I understand, the perils of fast food became also known to this class,” he said.

Those “perils” occurred in December during a norovirus outbreak at the Chipotle in Cleveland Circle. More than 140 Boston College students got sick after eating at the restaurant, including many members of the basketball team.

Everyone has a camera: Food-safety-in-Oman edition

Posted on May 23, 2016 by Douglas Powell

I’ve long been an advocate of electronics and digital monitoring for improving food safety outcomes.

But only with clear objectives and limits.

In Oman, cameras have been installed on a trial basis at different restaurants located at tourist spots, butcher shops and slaughterhouses in a bid to maintain hygiene standards.

“The aim is to keep an online tab on food processing,” the ministry said.

Ahmed bin Abdullah Al Shehhi, Minister of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources, said the project enjoys full confidentiality guaranteed by the laws to all of the information including visual and non-visual data of food establishments.

FSIS releases final mechanically tenderized beef labeling rule

Posted on May 18, 2016 by Ben Chapman

I don’t order steaks at restaurants very often; it’s not for safety reasons, it’s because I can buy good ribeye or fillet and grill it at home. china_use_2

About once a week I make a spinach salad with pears, blue cheese and toasted walnuts served with sliced steak. I like to sear the outside to about 220F – and keep the inside around 130F. Something I can do with little risk if my meat is fully intact.

I don’t buy mechanically tenderized meat.

At least I don’t think I do. As a consumer, up until now I’ve been at the mercy of the butcher/meat counter. I ask questions. Folks tell me it’s not tenderized.

Soon, I’ll be able to look for a label. According to Meating Place, USDA FSIS’s final rule on mechanically tenderized beef labeling was just released.

The rule was two years in the making and requires that the product names of the affected products include the descriptive designation “mechanically tenderized,” “blade tenderized” or “needle tenderized.” Raw products that are destined for foodservice or home cooking have to include cooking instructions that recommend that mechanically tenderized beef be cooked to a minimum internal temperature of 145 degrees followed by a three-minute rest time.

The new rule is intended to address issues with the blades or needles used to mechanically tenderized meat cuts, which can introduce pathogens from the surface of the meat into the interior. If not fully cooked, then, the pathogens could make diners sick the same way a rare or medium rare burger can.
Consumers have been getting messages about fully cooking their burgers, however, whereas they are more likely to cook mechanically tenderized steak on the rare side, the same they way would with an intact cut.

About 11 percent, or 2.6 billion pounds, of beef products sold in the U.S. have been mechanically tenderized, according to USDA data. Deputy Undersecretary Al Almanza said the new rule comes in response to six outbreaks of illnesses linked to bacterial contamination in mechanically tenderized meat since 2000.

Don’t like your inspection result? Change your restaurant’s ownership

Posted on May 18, 2016 by Ben Chapman

It seems like a lot of work but NBC Bay Area reports there is a loophole in erasing inspection history – good and bad – change the ownership.

But a name change alone doesn’t change how the managers and staff address food safety.

“It’s not for me to make sense of it, it is what the law requires us to do,” said Stephanie Cushing, who heads the city’s restaurant inspection process as the Director of the San Francisco’s Department of Environmental Health.

Cushing’s team of 30 field inspectors make daily checks at restaurants across the city to ensure they comply with health and safety codes, but she acknowledges those inspection reports are promptly removed from the city’s website once a restaurant files paperwork to indicate changes in ownership of the business, even if managers and employees remains largely the same.

Cushing’s team of inspectors are no strangers to a Chinese restaurant at 5238 Diamond Heights Boulevard. Even though the sign on the building says All Season, don’t expect to find that name anywhere on the city’s online database of restaurant inspection reports. A

ccording to city records, the business changed its name to Harbor Villa last year, as well as a change in ownership, which required the city to remove the inspection history for All Season restaurant from the city’s website.

While the restaurant listed new company officers in 2014, the Investigative Unit discovered that ownership was still under the same corporation.

Last year, the restaurant filed another change of ownership, and listed a new corporate name, but the two officers of that corporation stayed the same.

Even after the restaurant name change, Harbor Villa was forced to close on two more times for serious health and safety violations, including a cockroach infestation.

I dunno how many places go through the process and the paperwork of changing company officers and names, but it seems like managing food safety risks is probably easier. And better for business.

Food Safety Talk 101: The Dalmatian episode

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Ben Chapman

Food Safety Talk, a bi-weekly podcast for food safety nerds, by food safety nerds. The podcast is hosted by Ben Chapman and barfblog contributor Don Schaffner, Extension Specialist in Food Science and Professor at Rutgers University. Every two weeks or so, Ben and Don get together virtually and talk for about an hour. dalmatiansf6

They talk about what’s on their minds or in the news regarding food safety, and popular culture. They strive to be relevant, funny and informative — sometimes they succeed. You can download the audio recordings right from the website, or subscribe using iTunes.

Episode 101 can be found here and on iTunes.

Show notes so you can follow along at home.

PA farmers markets not worried about new regs

Posted on May 5, 2016 by Ben Chapman

When our group started working with farmers markets a few years ago we created a strong partnership with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Together, with funding from the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund, we developed best practices and engage directly with market managers and vendors through workshops and on-site visits. Since 2010 the curriculum we developed has been delivered to over 1000 managers and vendors and we’ve got some data that shows it led to some infrastructure and practice changes.

The Daily American reports that Pennsylvania farmers markets will soon be required to address food safety more stringently.

Producers selling at farmers’ markets will soon have to abide by some extra rules. Officials from the local farmers markets do not seem to think it will present much of a problem, because local producers already are very safety conscious when growing and handling their product. They sell directly to their buyer and want to provide a safe quality product, to insure customer satisfaction and repeat sales.

“The regulations shouldn’t be that big of deal for our market,” Larry Cogan, president of the Somerset County Farmers’ Market said. “The producers are already doing a good job of properly growing and handling the produce to prevent contamination of E. coli (and other stuff? -ben). The chain is very short from producer to consumer and easy to trace if there was a problem. Our market is a ‘producers only’ market, meaning that the products are marketed by the people who have grown or produced it.”

Short distribution chains might make tracing easier – but don’t really mean much when it comes to keeping pathogens off of food in the first place.

Cogan felt that the new rules would be more of a problem for larger commercial produce growers where produce is shipped to many different locations and then is resold to other markets. At farmers’ markets, producers sell directly to the consumer. Also, in commercial markets the number of people handling produce is greater, and all employees would have to be trained about proper washing of vegetables, personal hygiene and hand washing prior to handling the produce.

“It is mostly just using common sense about washing produce, and hand washing after using the restroom,” Cogan said. “Our food system in the United States is great! It’s the safest food supply around.”

“It’s the responsibility of the market vendors to follow all rules and regulations regarding the products that they sell here,” Jim Green, market manager of the Springs Farmers’ Market, said. “Such as making sure that meats and cheeses are kept in coolers or having kitchens inspected. The vendors do a good job of handling their foods safely. Many of the vendors are aware of new rules and regulations as soon as they are announced.”

Throughout our project, former graduate student Allison Smathers saw some risky practices when it came to providing samples – stuff like dirty equipment and a lack of hand washing. And using untreated water for handwashing.

Eleven private wells in Kewaunee County that were being tested as part of a DNR-funded study showed the presence of salmonella and/or rotavirus, the Department of Natural Resources announced late Monday.

The samples were taken April 18, according to Mark Borchardt of the USDA Agricultural Service, who is conducting tests as part of a larger DNR study of the county’s wells. The 11 wells were among 30 that were randomly selected from 110 wells that were found to be contaminated in samples taken last November, Borchardt said.

All the farmers’ market food safety stuff we have can be found here.

Storytelling engages the brain; even in podcasts

Posted on May 3, 2016 by Ben Chapman

Every couple of weeks Schaffner and I fire up our old time voice recorder machines (a combination of Skype and a recording app) and talk nerdy to each other about food safety stuff.

And what we’re watching on Netflix. Or Acorn.

And other stuff.

Last week we recorded and posted our 100th episode.

According to the New York Times coverage of a Nature paper, maybe we’re doing more than providing each other with a rant outlet.

We’re creating narratives that fire the brain up, and engage the audience to layer the experience.

Or something like that.

Listening to music may make the daily commute tolerable, but streaming a story through the headphones can make it disappear. You were home; now you’re at your desk: What happened?

Storytelling happened, and now scientists have mapped the experience of listening to podcasts, specifically “The Moth Radio Hour,” using a scanner to track brain activity. Widely dispersed sensory, emotional and memory networks were humming, across both hemispheres of the brain; no story was “contained” in any one part of the brain, as some textbooks have suggested.

Using novel computational methods, the group broke down the stories into units of meaning: social elements, for example, like friends and parties, as well as locations and emotions . They found that these concepts fell into 12 categories that tended to cause activation in the same parts of people’s brains at the same points throughout the stories.

They then retested that model by seeing how it predicted M.R.I. activity while the volunteers listened to another Moth story. Would related words like mother and father, or times, dates and numbers trigger the same parts of people’s brains? The answer was yes.

And so it goes, for each word and concept as it is added to the narrative flow, as the brain adds and alters layers of networks: A living internal reality takes over the brain. That kaleidoscope of activation certainly feels intuitively right to anyone who’s been utterly lost listening to a good yarn. It also helps explain the proliferation of ear-budded zombies walking the streets, riding buses and subways, fixing the world with their blank stares.

Abstract of the original paper is below:

Natural speech reveals the semantic maps that tile human cerebral cortex
28.apr.16
Nature
Page 532, 453–458
Alexander G. Huth, Wendy A. de Heer, Thomas L. Griffiths, Frédéric E. Theunissen & Jack L. Gallant
The meaning of language is represented in regions of the cerebral cortex collectively known as the ‘semantic system’. However, little of the semantic system has been mapped comprehensively, and the semantic selectivity of most regions is unknown. Here we systematically map semantic selectivity across the cortex using voxel-wise modelling of functional MRI (fMRI) data collected while subjects listened to hours of narrative stories. We show that the semantic system is organized into intricate patterns that seem to be consistent across individuals. We then use a novel generative model to create a detailed semantic atlas. Our results suggest that most areas within the semantic system represent information about specific semantic domains, or groups of related concepts, and our atlas shows which domains are represented in each area. This study demonstrates that data-driven methods—commonplace in studies of human neuroanatomy and functional connectivity—provide a powerful and efficient means for mapping functional representations in the brain.

Saying the wrong thing, celebrity chefs more than others

Posted on May 2, 2016 by Douglas Powell

In grade 12, I ran for high school president (we had grade 13 back then, and that’s me, right, exactly as shown).

There were two assemblies, one for the juniors followed by one for the seniors, in which my opponent and I laid out our vision for the next school year.

I had been one of the entertainment co-ordinators on the previous council, and somehow exceled at bringing in bands and making money (a little).

There was this thing called live music back then.

Our high school, I’m told, hosted early versions of Rush and Max Webster, and I brought in local stalwarts, Goddo, and, the best named band in the area, Teenage Head.

My worthy opponent spoke first at the junior assembly, and I followed with my band-a-month pitch, and a proposal to paint the school logo over the centre of the basketball court.

The senior assembly began with the same speaking order, and I was stunned – flummoxed – when my competition lifted the school-logo idea.

I mumbled something in my pitch about how she had lifted the idea, and quickly realized no one cared.

It didn’t matter who was first, it mattered that the idea was out there (I won, barely).

So I’ve watched with mild bemusement as the various outlets fall over themselves to claim they broke the Dole-knew-about-Listeria-in-its-lettuce-plant story.

No one cares, just that it’s out there.

What matters more is what Dole is going to do about it.

And they’re not talking (I’ll have some suggestions this week).

In a similar vein, researchers have updated our 2004 Spot-the-Mistake study about the food safety foibles of celebrity chefs.

That’s 14 years after we did the original work and 12 years after we published the results.

Now that it’s out there, I can say the new analysis fails for two reasons: The researchers cite dubious references about how the majority of foodborne illness happens in the home; and they use FightBac’s severely limited cook-clean-chill-separate mantra as a tool for scoring, ignoring the World Health Organization’s extra warning of source food from safe sources.

Anyone who has ever watched a TV or web-based cooking show knows that most of the content consists of a host gassing on about the small, sustainable, organic, natural, dolphin-free farm where the ingredients were acquired.

Food safety behaviors observed in celebrity chefs across a variety of programs

Curtis Maughan, Edgar Chambers IV, Sandria Godwin,

J Public Health, doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdw026

http://jpubhealth.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/04/08/pubmed.fdw026.abstract

Background Consumers obtain information about foodborne illness prevention from many sources, including television media. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a variety of cooking shows with celebrity chefs to understand their modeling of food safety behaviors.

Methods Cooking shows (100 episodes) were watched from 24 celebrity chefs preparing meat dishes. A tabulation of food safety behaviors was made for each show using a checklist.

Results Proper modeling of food safety behaviors was limited, with many incidences of errors. For example, although all chefs washed their hands at the beginning of cooking at least one dish, 88% did not wash (or were not shown washing) their hands after handling uncooked meat. This was compounded with many chefs who added food with their hands (79%) or ate while cooking (50%). Other poor behaviors included not using a thermometer (75%), using the same cutting board to prepare ready-to-eat items and uncooked meat (25%), and other hygiene issues such as touching hair (21%) or licking fingers (21%).

Conclusions This study suggests that there is a need for improvement in demonstrated and communicated food safety behaviors among professional chefs. It also suggests that public health professionals must work to mitigate the impact of poorly modeled behaviors.

And the original.

Mathiasen, L.A., Chapman, B.J., Lacroix, B.J. and Powell, D.A. 2004. Spot the mistake: Television cooking shows as a source of food safety information, Food Protection Trends 24(5): 328-334.

Consumers receive information on food preparation from a variety of sources. Numerous studies conducted over the past six years demonstrate that television is one of the primary sources for North Americans. This research reports on an examination and categorization of messages that television food and cooking programs provide to viewers about preparing food safely. During June 2002 and 2003, television food and cooking programs were recorded and reviewed, using a defined list of food safety practices based on criteria established by Food Safety Network researchers. Most surveyed programs were shown on Food Network Canada, a specialty cable channel. On average, 30 percent of the programs viewed were produced in Canada, with the remainder produced in the United States or United Kingdom. Sixty hours of content analysis revealed that the programs contained a total of 916 poor food-handling incidents. When negative food handling behaviors were compared to positive food handling behaviors, it was found that for each positive food handling behavior observed, 13 negative behaviors were observed. Common food safety errors included a lack of hand washing, cross-contamination and time-temperature violations. While television food and cooking programs are an entertainment source, there is an opportunity to improve their content so as to promote safe food handling.

John Cerveny: 1933-2016

Posted on May 1, 2016 by Douglas Powell

I first met John Cerveny at the 1996 International Association for Food Protection meeting in Seattle in 1996.

I was a newly minted PhD, venturing out to the food safety world, and John quickly made himself known, and was quick with a quip and encouragement.

Two years later, I took the four daughters and wife to IAFP in Nashville. The kids become a recurring feature at IAFP for a few years, and John always greeted them with a big smile and often a toy Oscar Mayer wienermobile.

John Gerald Cerveny passed away on April 10, 2016.

He was born on June 23, 1933, in Racine, Wis., and was raised there with his sister, Jean, by his loving parents, John and Thelma. Following graduation from high school, John spent two years at the UW before he was drafted into the U.S. Army and eventually served for 16 months in Korea. After his military service, he returned to the University of Wisconsin in Madison obtaining a degree in Microbiology in 1958. Upon completion, John joined Oscar Mayer as a food quality and safety microbiologist. While at OM, he met Miriam (McKee) and they were married in the fall of 1960.

During John’s distinguished 37-year career at Oscar Mayer, he was instrumental in protecting the processed meat industry against food safety problems. During that time, he co-authored many significant publications and is acknowledged on three significant patents. After his official “retirement” in 1996, and during his time as an industry Food Safety Consultant, he remained actively involved in issues relating to food safety and was recognized as one of the country’s leading food microbiologists. Additionally, he had long standing relationships with many professional organizations including the International Association of Food Protection, the International Life Sciences Institute, the Institute of Food Technologists and the UW-Madison-Food Research Institute. Because of his lifetime of knowledge and experience in the area of meat and food safety, and many years of informally mentoring friends he met along the way, each of these organizations thoughtfully recognized his many contributions over the years.

John’s deeply modest nature once led him to remark that his greatest satisfaction was sleeping well at night knowing he had made a small contribution to improving food safety. His many friends and colleagues would say that his contribution and impact went well beyond his career.

Away from work, John enjoyed gardening, listening to a wide variety of music, reading, and people watching on the Union Terrace with popcorn and a local beer. John’s greatest joy was his family, and his fondest memories were family vacations to Wisconsin lakes and to the family farm in Iowa. More recently, he very much enjoyed visits to the West Coast and a variety of travel adventures with his kids and grandkids.

He is survived by his son, John (Raquel) and daughter, Sarah Grimm (Art); Miriam, his former wife and friend of many years; his sister, Jean Brackett; and his four beloved grandchildren who were the light of his life, Cayman, Cate Molly, Catalina and Kellan. He took particular interest in each child’s activities and was never surprised at their accomplishments, often stating that it was “in the genes”, with a twinkle in his eyes.

John was a tireless volunteer and enthusiastically jumped in wherever he could. Some of his favorites were local literacy programs, a variety of activities at St. Luke’s Lutheran, and helping sell flowers with friends at the farmer’s market on the square. He will be greatly missed for his tremendous energy, bright smile, warm humor, generous spirit, insatiable curiosity, and the always predictable, “Say, I have a question for you…”.

John was a recipient for the IAFP Harold Barnum Industry Awards, the Harry Haverland Citation Award and Honorary Life Membership Award. On May 5, 2016, he was to be inducted in the Wisconsin Meat Industry Hall of Fame.

John was a great friend and mentor to many in the food safety world, an excellent scientist, very humble, and led by example. He always encouraged others to make a positive impact being actively involved and taking a leadership role in their professional organizations and at work.

That Oscar Mayer toy wienermobile? It’s still around..

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