In Louisiana ‘drop bombs in bathroom’ means poop

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TMZ reports a New Orleans man was arrested at a Willie’s Chicken Shack after allegedly claiming he was going to “blow the bathroom up.”

Problem is … the guy claims he was talking about butt bombs — not actual explosives.

The man in the mug shot is 30-year-old Arthur Posey — who hit up the Canal Street restaurant at night on Nov. 13. 

Employees told police Posey made a violent threat against the place — allegedly saying, “Y’all about to close right now because I’m going to get a bomb and blow this place up.”

When cops tracked down Posey, he claimed it was a giant misunderstanding — explaining he told staffers he was going to “blow the bathroom up” … meaning, he was gonna poop his brains out. 

Cops didn’t buy what Posey was selling and arrested him. He’s now facing 2 counts of communicating false information of planned arson.

He’s due back in court later this month — where he’ll try to convince a judge the allegations are just a bunch of crap.  

No Diva jeans required for this dude, as endorsed by new U.S. attorney-general Matt Whitaker.

 

 

CDC’s Romaine clapback

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Maybe it’s Californian Romaine, maybe not, but there looks to be some contradiction between messages from FDA’s Scott Gottlieb and CDC’s Director, Robert Redfield.

Redfield announced this after Gottlieb’s tweets indicating that the source of illnesses is likely California.

CDC continues to investigate a multistate outbreak of E. coli O157 infections linked to romaine lettuce. We understand this outbreak is of concern to many Americans – especially with so many gathering for meals this Thanksgiving week. CDC’s disease detectives are working with federal regulatory partners to investigate and determine the source of contamination as quickly as possible. We will continue to provide more information as it becomes available. The good news is we were able to detect and identify the outbreak quickly through our disease surveillance system, which can prevent further illness.

However, until we know more, it’s crucial that Americans continue to follow the guidance that CDC issued. There are no exceptions – all romaine lettuce must be discarded, regardless of brand, type, or if it is in a mixture. We also continue to urge people to follow our tips to help prevent E. coli illness. In addition, we remind clinicians that antibiotics are not recommended for patients in whom E. coli O157 is suspected until diagnostic testing rules out this infection.

FDA’s Gottlieb says Romaine likely came from California (other regions might be off the hook)

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Scott Gottlieb, FDA Commissioner took to the Twitter this morning while many were buying TVs and Himalayan salt lamps to talk about the Romaine-linked E. coli O157 outbreak.

I imagine there’s lots of pressure out there to lift the blanket statement from CDC to avoid all Romaine. Especially if the dates of harvest/transition from one location to another make it so it’s not likely that lettuce from certain regions would be linked to the outbreak.

Some sort of identification is great – because how would a consumer know what to ask about or how to figure out the source without it.

 

 

Flour power: NEJM paper on 2016 outbreak

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A couple of weeks ago Duncan Hines brand cake mixes were recalled because of Salmonella. Maybe it was the flour. Flour comes from dried wheat that’s milled and not heat treated (because it messes with the gluten). As the Salmonella dries out it gets hardier and survives for months (or longer).

In 2016 pathogenic E. coli (both O121 and O26 serogroups) was the culprit in another raw flour outbreak. The good folks involved with that investigation (Crowe and colleagues) published their findings this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The outbreak began in December 2015 and lasted through to September 2016. Fifty-six cases in 22 states were identified.

The biggest takeaway for me was this (such a great explanation of how an investigation works):

Open-ended telephone interviews then were conducted with 10 patients, all of whom stated that they baked frequently or regularly consumed home-baked foods. Five of the patients recalled baking during the week before illness onset, and 3 others reported thatthey might have baked during that period. Of the 5 case patients who remembered baking, 4 reported eating or tasting homemade batter or dough, 3 of whom used brand A flour. The fourth used either brand A or another brand. Two of the patients (a resident of Colorado and a resident of Washington) still had the bags of brand A flour that they had used in the week before illness onset.

Shortly thereafter, state investigators identified 3 ill children who had been exposed to raw flour at restaurants in Maryland, Virginia, and Texas. Restaurant staff had given them raw dough to play with while they waited for their food to be served.

Folks in the media or the hockey arena often ask how these outbreaks get solved. This is how – lots of interviewing, hypothesis generating and then a case-case or case-control analysis. It’s part detective work, part statistics and all science. Sometimes the interviews are messy but this one shows what happens when it works.

Trace-back investigation of the two bags of brand A flour collected from patients in Colorado andWashington revealed that the flour from Colorado was unbleached all-purpose flour manufactured on November 14, 2015, and the flour from Washington was bleached all-purpose flour manufactured on November 15, 2015. The two bags were produced in the same facility. The flour that was used in the raw dough given to the children exposed in the Maryland, Virginia, and Texas restaurants also was from this facility, as was flour from three additional bags collected from case patients residing in Arizona, Califor- nia, and Oklahoma.

Romaine again: leafy green linked to illnesses in Canada and US

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I’m not really a salad fan. I know it’s not cool to admit that, but I love lots of other types veggies (so don’t email me about my nutrition)>

One of the salads I can handle (although it’s not my favorite) is Caesar – Romaine with a yogurt-based garlic, lemon and olive oil mixture with some asiago and bacon is doable.

Caesar and Romaine is off the menu right now after E. coli O157 has been linked to 18 cases in Canada and 32 cases in the U.S. 

Fascinating part of this one is (as PHAC states), 

Laboratory analysis indicates that the illnesses reported in this outbreak are genetically related to illnesses reported in a previous E. coli outbreak from December 2017 that affected consumers in both Canada and the U.S. This tells us that the same strain of E. coli is causing illness in Canada and the US as was seen in 2017 and it suggests there may be a reoccurring source of contamination. Investigators are using evidence collected in both outbreaks to help identify the possible cause of the contamination in these events.

CDC notes that this outbreak is not linked to the one that was traced to Yuma.

Public health investigators are using the PulseNet system to identify illnesses that may be part of this outbreak. PulseNet is the national subtyping network of public health and food regulatory agency laboratories coordinated by CDC. DNA fingerprinting is performed on E. coli bacteria isolated from ill people by using techniques called pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and whole genome sequencing (WGS). CDC PulseNet manages a national database of these DNA fingerprints to identify possible outbreaks. WGS gives a more detailed DNA fingerprint than PFGE. WGS performed on E. coli bacteria from ill people in this outbreak showed that the strains were closely related genetically. This means that the ill people were more likely to share a common source of infection.

As of November 20, 2018, 32 people infected with the outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 have been reported from 11 states. A list of the states and the number of cases in each can be found on the Map of Reported Cases page.

Illnesses started on dates ranging from October 8, 2018 to October 31, 2018. Ill people range in age from 7 to 84 years, with a median age of 24. Sixty-six percent of ill people are female. Of 26 people with information available, 13 (50%) were hospitalized, including one person who developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a type of kidney failure. No deaths have been reported.

Illnesses that occurred after October 30, 2018, might not yet be reported due to the time it takes between when a person becomes ill with E. coli infection and when the illness is reported. This takes an average of two to three weeks.

Ongoing outbreak and reoccurring source makes a recall (and no Romaine consumption) a good idea for now.

Over 80 outbreaks linked to leafy greens since 1995 – is pretty good justification.

Norovirus is hard to get rid of, especially in a shelter

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I’m still here, just like norovirus.

I can’t really imagine what it’s like to have your community and homes destroyed by fire. I really struggle to find the words or feelings to describe what residents of California are going through. Viewing the social media posts and videos of folks fleeing the flames is emotional.

A few years ago an outbreak linked to a Denver homeless shelter made it into the barfblog new and notable category. Forty folks who depended on the emergency food were affected by violent foodborne illness symptoms after eating donated turkey. Fourteen ambulances showed up and took those most affected to area hospitals.

Getting into a shelter or temporary housing because of the fires and then acquiring norovirus is a terrible situation.

Butte County Public Health Department says that over 140 individuals housed in a Camp Fire shelters likely have norovirus. 

Since the shelters opened to house Camp Fire evacuees, 145 people have been sick with vomiting and/or diarrhea. As of Wednesday evening, there were 41 people experiencing symptoms at the following shelters:

Neighborhood Church: 179 total evacuees at the shelter, 21 currently experiencing illness

Oroville Nazarene Church: 352 total evacuees at the shelter, 10 currently experiencing illness

Butte County Fairgrounds: 142 total evacuees at the shelter, 9 currently experiencing illness

East Avenue Church: 200 total evacuees at the shelter, 1 currently experiencing illness

The number of sick people is increasing every day. Twenty-five people have been to the hospital for medical support. Staff serving the shelters have also been sick.

Norovirus can quickly go through a food shelter with many people living in close quarters. Once the virus is there, it is hard to get rid of.

As one friend of the blog posted on social media, having norovirus and using a public bathroom to deal with the symptoms must be particularly degrading.

English pub slapped with zero rating after 60 people got food poisoning turned around to get five stars

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Heather Pickstock of Bristol Live reports the Old Farmhouse in Nailsea is now under new management and has been issued with a five start rating for its food hygiene.

A pub where dozens of diners suffered food poisoning after eating there on Mothering Sunday has been issued with a five star

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food hygiene rating.

More than 60 people fell ill, suffering from sickness and diarrhoea in March this year after eating at the Old Farmhouse in Nailsea.

The kitchens at the pub, off Trendlewood Way, were temporarily closed while officials from Public Health England and North Somerset Council launched an investigation into the cause. It was given a zero food hygiene rating after an inspection.

Stick it in: Australians urged to buy accurate thermometers

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Me and Ben, my hetero lifemate, broke up.

He was worried about a blog post I wrote, with university types to answer to, I  disagreed, so the barfblog.com is now totally mine.

It’s expensive for an unemployed ex-prof, but I understand.

Ben can still post when he likes, but it’s about 5 per cent of the content.

And the offending post will soon be up again, and if someone wants to sue, go ahead.

I know what happened.

Sometime in 2004 I went to the Gold Coast in Australia with my soon-to-be-stalker girlfriend.

I went on one of the morning shows, and was going to talk about the importance of thermometers, and the government food agency type said, you can’t do that, Australians just use their fridges to keep beer cold.

The chef at the restaurant we filmed the piece in had a tip-sensitive digital thermometer in his front pocket and said he wouldn’t cook without one.

Eighteen years later, the Australian government, as part of Food Safety Week – shouldn’t it be every day – has endorsed the use of thermometers, rather than the British standard of piping hot.

Testing by Choice has found a number of meat thermometers on sale in Australia were out by 2°C. Food Safety Information Council is urging people to pick up an accurate meat thermometer, using Choice’s survey as a buying guide, after their own research found 75% of Australians surveyed reported that there wasn’t a meat thermometer in their household and only 44% of those with a thermometer reported using is over the previous month.

AI and food

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Chris Mahon of Outer Places writes that despite the frightening implications, most people aren’t surprised anymore when it’s announced that China has a new virtual news anchor powered by AI, or that companies are programming artificial intelligence to recognize when people are lying at airports. We’ve pretty much resigned ourselves that a dystopian future is on its way, but at least we’ll have extremely smart toilets, according to Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra. In fact, he says we may be able to phase out regular doctor visits in favor of an artificially intelligent commode that analyzes our urine and stool.
Speaking at the recent Techonomy conference in San Francisco, Mehrota claimed: “Medicine is going toward precision medicine and precision health. Imagine smart toilets in the future that will be analyzing human waste in real time every day. You don’t need to be going to visit a physician every six months. If any sign of disease starts showing up, you’ll be able to catch it much faster because of urine analysis and stool analysis.”

He certainly has some interest in this becoming a reality—Micron is one of the world’s leading producers of memory chips and related hardware, which would be necessary to create something like an AI toilet. Artificial intelligence has already proven itself capable of diagnosing medical issues—in fact, a combination of AI methods has proven itself even more effective at spotting breast cancer than humans. The only question is whether the data gained from smart toilets will be private…or monetized like your browser and purchase history.

Wait a second, doesn’t all this sound strangely familiar? It does! That’s because Adult Swim made a surprisingly in-depth parody of this idea with their faux “Smart Pipe” infomercial, which envisioned a company installing a pipe attachment to your toilet that would collect data about your diet and waste. Despite some exaggeration (and a bizarre detour into some darker territory), Smart Pipe might be closer to reality that anyone expected. 

This one is weird, 21 boxes: Salmonella causes limited Cap’n Crunch cereal recall

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I’ve seen a lot of recalls, this is the first time I remember seeing only 21 boxes distributed to five specific stores. I’d like to know the back story on this one (maybe some avid barfblog readers can help).

The Quaker Oats Company, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, Inc., today announced a voluntary recall of a small quantity of Cap’n Crunch’s Peanut Butter Crunch cereal due to the potential presence of Salmonella. While the potentially affected product only reached five specific Target stores and is limited to 21 boxes of one variety with two Best Before Dates, Quaker is initiating the voluntary recall to protect public health.

The recall was initiated as the result of a routine sampling program by the company, which revealed the finished product may contain bacteria.

The product being recalled was distributed in limited quantities only to the five Target stores listed below. This recall only includes 21 outstanding boxes purchased after Nov 5.

This is some Willy Wonka golden ticket type stuff. I wonder if this was a market withdrawal that happened, except all but 21 boxes were pulled before sales. On the shelf quick, than off the shelf. Except for 21.