Raw is risky: Squid sperm buries into woman’s tongue

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A 63-year-old woman got a nasty shock when tucking into a seafood dinner.

According to Sophie Roberts of the Daily Star, the South Korean patient sought medical attention after she consumed raw squid.

Doctors discovered that her mouth had been inseminated by the creature’s sperm, which had lodged into her tongue and gums.

A Journal of Parasitology report noted that the woman immediately knew something was wrong with the dish.

Even though she spat out the mouthful, she was still affected by the uncooked seafood.

It explained: “As soon as she put a piece into her mouth, she felt like many ‘bugs’ were biting her oral mucosa.

“She experienced severe sharp pain and spat out the entire portion without swallowing.

“Despite that, she could feel many small squirming white bug-like organisms penetrating her.”

The squid sperm acted as it would during reproduction, leading to it implanting itself into the patient’s mouth.

After seeking medical attention, the woman was believed to make a full recovery.

While this case may seem very out of the ordinary, it isn’t the first time it has happened.

In 2011, a 21-year-old woman fell victim to a similar problem after consuming the sexual organs of a raw squid.

Pathology International reported that she also suffered issues with her gums and tongue.

The study warned: “Consumption of a squid with sperm bags and an active ejaculatory apparatus can lead to unintended ejection of the sperm bag and injury to the oral mucosa.”

This whole process is actually autonomous, meaning that the squid’s sex organ is prone to firing off without any conscious decision by the squid, according to a study in the journal Zoomorphology.

Everyone’s got a camera: Roach video surfaces of popular Atlanta restaurant

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A video of roaches in the kitchen area of a popular metro Atlanta restaurant, The Flying Biscuit Cafe, has people talking. 

In the 30-second video, posted to YouTube on June 5, viewers can see roaches crawling along the walls and on the clean dish rack. Links to the video were shared to Reddit and Twitter.

In an email, Flying Biscuit spokesperson Elisa Suri said “the video in question was filmed last year. Following this incident, we revisited our pest management process to address any potential pest concerns.” Suri went on to say the health of Flying Biscuit customers is the restaurant’s first priority.

The Candler Park location received a 92 on their food service inspection in March and an 89 on their inspection in August of 2017.

YouTube user Katherine Todd uploaded the video and noted in the caption that “part of the server sidework is to literally rinse all the dead roaches out of the espresso machine. They were sometimes found in the uncovered apple butters in the fridge.”

Flying Biscuit said the video was uploaded by a relative of a former employee, but did not elaborate.

Lactalis of France ‘Salmonella was released from inside the buildings’

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The head of the French company at the centre of an international baby milk scandal denied Friday that it was responsible for the contamination that triggered a recall of formula in over 80 countries, calling it “an accident”.

Lactalis, one of the world’s biggest dairy groups, was forced to recall 12 million packages of powdered baby milk in 83 countries in December and January after being linked to an outbreak of salmonella poisoning in children.

French officials began investigating the company after at least 36 infants fell sick from drinking milk sold under the Picot or Milumel brands. Cases of suspected contamination were also reported among children in Spain and Greece.

The outbreak was traced to a Lactalis factory in Craon, western France.

CEO Emmanuel Besnier told a French parliamentary inquiry that a renovation of the plant in early 2017 “released salmonella which was inside the buildings”.

“It was an accident. Nobody inside the factory was responsible,” he told lawmakers.

Lactalis has come in for heavy criticism after it emerged that the company’s own tests found salmonella on a production line but that it did not report the finding because the bacteria was not found in the milk itself.

The company is facing several lawsuits over the outbreak.

GPM brand pea shoots recalled due to Listeria in Canada

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Pea sprouts in some restaurants have replaced mung bean and alfalfa sprouts for those who still want to serve some sort of raw sprout.

I’ve always been suspicious, I wouldn’t touch them, but in the absence of outbreaks, I guess it made sense.

Turns out they can be contaminated with Listeria.

Golden Pearl Mushrooms Ltd. is recalling GPM brand Pea Shoots from the marketplace due to possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination. Consumers should not consume the recalled products described below.

Recalled products

Brand Name  Common Name        Size     Code(s) on Product  UPC

GPM   Sweet Pea Shoots     230 g   11421  6 84469 00008 7

GPM   Pea Shoots     100 g   11421  6 84469 00012 4

GPM   Pea Shoots     455 g   11421  6 84469 00018 6

If you think you became sick from consuming a recalled product, call your doctor.

Check to see if you have recalled products in your home. Recalled products should be thrown out or returned to the store where they were purchased.

This recall was triggered by Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) test results. The CFIA is conducting a food safety investigation, which may lead to the recall of other products. If other high-risk products are recalled, the CFIA will notify the public through updated Food Recall Warnings.

There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of these products.

Everyone’s got a camera: Brisbane’s alleged poo jogger resigns from corporate role

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Australia is a special place.

And there are more public bathrooms than I’ve seen anywhere else.

The man outed as Brisbane’s alleged poo jogger has resigned from his corporate role at a leading retirement village.

Andrew Douglas Macintosh, 64, was a senior manager at one of Australia’s leading retirement village operators.

As revealed by The Courier-Mail, Mr Macintosh was charged with public nuisance after allegedly defecating on a unit block pathway in Greenslopes while on his morning run.

The alleged deed was captured on camera by a fed-up resident.

Andrew Douglas Macintosh was charged with public nuisance after Greenslopes residents snapped off a shot of a jogger defecating on their pathway.

Mr Macintosh was a national quality manager with Aveo and a member of Brisbane City Council’s Inclusive Board.

Mr Macintosh faced Holland Park Magistrates Court this week before his charge was downgraded to an infringment notice, resulting in a $378 fine.

This morning Aveo confirmed Mr Macintosh — a former director of the Retirement Village Association of Australia — had now resigned from the company.

The Bachelor’s Tim Robards suffers a bad case of food poisoning in Italy ahead of wedding to Anna Heinrich

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This may make sense to people who watch The Bachelor.

Tim Robards has suffered a bad case of food poisoning ahead of his wedding to Anna Heinrich.

The Bachelor star fell ill while the couple were travelling up and down the coast of Italy this week.

In an Instagram video posted on Wednesday, the 35-year-old revealed he had been sick for ’24 hours’.

A little flat today. Food poisoning knocked me out for 24 hours,’ he informed his fans.

But the buff reality star ensured he was on the mend, feeling better after a dip in the healing ocean with his bride-to-be Anna. 

He took a selfie of the couple soaking up the sun at popular tourist spot Grotta Della Poesia in Roca, writing in the caption ‘slowly coming alive again’.  

Two gorillas at Milwaukee zoo likely died from water contaminated with E. coli

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Two gorillas at the Milwaukee County Zoo likely died after ingesting water contaminated with E. coli, according to zookeepers.

Cassius, an adult male, died on April 12, and Naku, a 17-year-old female western lowland gorilla, died on April 29, the zoo said in a press release.

Autopsy results for the gorillas show that they died of gastrointestinal infections believed to have been caused by E. coli in their water supply, according to the zoo.

The water systems in the gorilla and bonobo areas have been disinfected, the zoo said, adding that the water supply available for consumption by the public was never affected.

Zookeepers are also using new protocols to disinfect produce, which can be another source of E. coli, according to the release.

While all animals, including gorillas and even humans, have healthy E.coli in their gut, some variants of E. coli can cause intestinal damage and disease, the zoo said.

Naku had been euthanized after veterinarians found that a portion of her intestine was no longer functioning, ABC affiliate WISN in Milwaukee reported.

Cassius and Nauku’s 8-month-old baby, Zahra, is now an orphan.

Zahra’s diet has consisted mainly of formula in the absence of her mother’s breast milk, zookeepers wrote on Twitter. She is also eating some produce, sweet potato, red pepper, and beans, the zoo said.

‘Close to 10 children hospitalized for E. coli’ in Tennessee: raw milk, farm animals may be sources

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Kristi Nelson of Knox News reports East Tennessee Children’s Hospital said Tuesday it’s treated “close to 10” children, all younger than 4, for a “serious outbreak” of E. coli-caused illness over the past 10 days. 

The Knox County Health Department has confirmed two likely sources of the outbreak are unpasteurized milk and farm animals.

Most of the ill children are known to have consumed raw milk from a local cow-share dairy, French Broad Farm in Knox County, the health department said in an alert issued Tuesday evening. The health department recommends consumers dispose of all raw milk or other unpasteurized products they may have from this farm.

“People need to be aware that if they choose to drink raw milk, they’re taking a risk,” said Dr. Martha Buchanan, health department director.

The health department is also investigating whether any of the affected children were exposed to E. coli after interacting with farm animals at a local child care facility. The facility, which officials declined to name, is not currently operating, Buchanan said.

Four of the children are in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit with kidney failure, said the hospital’s chief medical officer, Dr. Joe Childs, who is director of the PICU. There have been no fatalities related to the outbreak, hospital staff said, but life-threatening infections can occur when the strain of E. coli releases a toxin, shiga, that harms small blood vessels, of which the kidneys have many. Childs said the damage to the blood vessels is usually “temporary,” but children can get very ill, require surgery to place catheters, and may have nonfunctioning kidneys for weeks. 

“We are concerned that some of these cases do have exposure to the consumption of raw milk,” or milk sold unpasteurized, Childs said. “Tennessee is a state where that’s legal, to obtain raw milk. … The FDA and the American Academy of Pediatrics strongly discourage the consumption of raw milk and raw milk products because there’s a lot of things that can be in milk and there’s no real good way to decontaminate it other than pasteurizing it.” 

We let our kids explore the world, they get raw milk and barf

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Following a school ski-trip to Austria from 10-18/02/2017, nine of 25 participants of the group from Lower Saxony (Germany) developed gastroenteritis. The students and teachers (17-41 years) shared meals in a hotel. Active case finding revealed further cases among German school groups from North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein, staying at the same hotel in February 2017.

We conducted two retrospective cohort studies using self-administered questionnaires on clinical symptoms and food consumption. We defined a case as a trip participant in February 2017, staying at the aforementioned hotel and developing diarrhoea, vomiting or abdominal pain during or within ten days after the trip and/or who had a stool sample tested positive for STEC within four weeks after the trip. During the outbreak investigation, Austrian authorities detected that unlabeled raw cow milk delivered by a dairy farm had been offered at the hotel for breakfast during January and February 2017. Stool samples of participants, samples of milk served in the hotel and fecal samples of various animals kept at the milk-delivering farm were examined by culture and polymerase chain reaction. STEC isolates were typed using Pulsed-field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE) and Whole-Genome Sequencing (WGS).

All 25 participants from Lower Saxony completed the questionnaire on symptoms and milk consumption; 14 were cases (56%). Thirteen of 20 participants who had consumed cold milk fell ill (risk ratio (RR): 3.25; 95%-confidence interval (CI): 0.55-19.32). Of 159 trip participants from North Rhine-Westphalia, 81 completed the questionnaire (51%), 25 were cases (31%); RR for cold milk was 2.11 (CI: 0.89-5.03). The combined RR for cold milk in both groups was 2.49 (CI: 1.16-5.35). Shiga toxin 1a-gene and eaeA-gene positive STEC O103:H2 were detected in nine of 32 patients’ stool samples and in two of 18 dairy farm cattle. Nine isolates from human stool samples and two isolates from cattle fecal samples yielded the same strain with an almost identical PFGE-pattern and WGS-profile.

Microbiological and epidemiological evidence identified raw cow milk as the vehicle. Results may have been compromised by misclassification of cases due to a recall bias and mild symptoms. As a result of this outbreak investigation, the Austrian authorities enforced Austrian law in the hotel, to provide milk only when pasteurized. We recommend re-emphasizing the risk of raw milk consumption to providers.

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O103:H2 outbreak in Germany after school trip to Austria due to raw cow milk, 2017-The important role of international collaboration for outbreak investigations, 29 May 2018

International Journal of Medical Microbiology

Maren Myliusa, b, c, , , Johannes Dreesmana, , Matthias Pulza, , Gerhard Pallaschd, , Konrad Beyrera, , Katja Claußena, ,  Franz Allerbergere, ,  Angelika Fruthf, ,  Christina Langf,  Rita Pragerf,  Antje Fliegerf,  Sabine Schlagere, ,  Daniela Kalhöferg, ,  Elke Mertensa, 

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmm.2018.05.005

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1438422118301905

From the cross-contamination bad idea files: RI orders Asian supermarket in Providence to stop selling live frogs, turtles

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Madeleine List of the Providence Journal reports Department of Public Health inspectors have ordered the owners of a supermarket on Cadillac Drive to cease the sale of live animals in their store.

Health inspectors responded to a complaint about the Good Fortune Supermarket on Tuesday and found 45 frogs and seven turtles for sale at the establishment, said Joseph Wendelken, spokesman for the Rhode Island Department of Health.

“It’s against Rhode Island food code for there to be live animals in a food establishment,” he said.

The department ordered the owners to stop selling the animals and put up signs at the store to notify the public that the critters were not for sale, Wendelken said.

Health officials will coordinate with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management to determine what to do with the animals, he said. For now, they are still at the store.

Good Fortune, which is described on its website as one of the largest Asian supermarkets in the United States, opened in Providence about two weeks ago, Wendelken said. The market has more than a dozen locations across the U.S., according to its website.

Health officials inspected the establishment before it opened and found no violations, Wendelken said.

“There was no indication at that point that frogs and turtles were going to be sold,” he said.