Everyone’s got a camera: Maryland bakery with rats edition

Posted on July 16, 2018 by Douglas Powell

Dana Hedgpeth of The Washington Post reports the video depicts a rat crawling over cookies, pastries and pies at a Maryland bakery.

The incident unfolded Friday at Buttercup Bakery at Lexington Market in Baltimore. The bakery was shut down by city health officials, and so was another bakery nearby — Berger’s Bakery, which was closed for a fly infestation after an inspection, according to the Baltimore Sun.

The video has been viewed on Facebook more than 800,000 times. At one point in the video, the rat crawls onto cakes and then gets into a pile of cookies. Customers can be heard shouting. Someone yells, “Just grab him by the neck!”

Some customers of the Lexington Market, an indoor market that has operated since 1782, told the Sun that the area has had a longtime rodent problem.

The Sun said the video was taken by Milton Mitchell, who stopped by Buttercup Bakery on Thursday to buy cookies for his wife. He said he heard a noise as he neared the bakery, and another person pointed to the rat in the display case of desserts and pastries. Mitchell, according to the Sun, took out his phone and recorded it.

He told the Sun, “I never thought it would get this big, but I’m glad it did,” adding that he wanted to “let the public know what kind of situation Lexington Market is in.”

According to WBAL, the Buttercup Bakery general manager said an employee may have left a door open, possibly letting the rat inside.

35 now sick, 9 hosiptalized in South Australian Salmonella outbreak; bakery reopens

Posted on January 4, 2018 by Douglas Powell

Confirmed cases of salmonella, linked to a South Australian bakery, have climbed to 35 with more expected as tests continue.

SA Health says nine people, including two children, have been hospitalised after eating products from the Gawler South bakery, which has two outlets in Gawler, about 40km north of central Adelaide.

The link to the bakery was first revealed late last month.

“We’ve now seen cases in people aged two years to 70 years old and we are anticipating more cases as further test results come through,” SA Health’s director of public health Kevin Buckett said.

The source of the contamination had been linked to sandwiches, wraps, rolls and focaccias with chicken and other fillings.’’

In a statement posted on social media the bakery’s management said it was no longer cooking chicken on the premises and SA Health officials were happy with its food handling processes.

Management also apologised to anyone who had become sick. “We hope this apology is received to be genuine and in good faith,” the statement said.

According to the ABC, the bakery was also struck by a salmonella outbreak in October 2016 which affected eight people.

Everyone’s got a camera Spanish bakery edition: Rats tucking into sandwiches at popular chain

Posted on December 12, 2016 by Douglas Powell

Customers at a Madrid bakery witnessed a rather unexpected – and stomach churning – sight on Friday: four rats tucking into sandwiches in the bakery’s display case.

The rodents were spotted by two men passing by a branch of the Granier bakery chain and were caught on camera helping themselves to food that was left in a glass-fronted display case.

The men can be heard joking “how cute” as they film the two large rats scampering over the fresh food in a video published on social media.

Police confirmed they were called to the bakery at around 1.30pm on Friday and had closed the establishment pending health and safety checks.

Granier, a Spanish chain, has 350 bakeries across Spain as well as in Portugal, Italy and London.

The company confirmed that the bakery, located in the Pueblo Nuevo neighbourhood of Madrid, “was closed and would stay closed”, in a statement released on Friday.

“The company has put itself at the disposal of the appropriate authorities and has opened an internal investigation into these events,” the company said, adding that food safety protocol had been “strictly adhered to” in the establishment.

Granier said that the bakery underwent quarterly inspections, the last having taken place on October 26, when, according to documents released by the company, the branch in question was fumigated.

It was, the company claimed, “an isolated event” and “the 350 Granier establishments in Spain and abroad comply strictly with all food health regulations.”

2 dead, 30 sickened with Salmonella in 2015: Australian bakery will probably never pay fine

Posted on May 3, 2016 by Douglas Powell

Shannon Tonkin of the Illawarra Mercury reports that the defunct Wollongong food company fined more than $60,000 in court last week will most likely never pay the penalty, with financial records obtained by the Mercury showing the business was $144,000 in the red at the time the offences occurred.

Betta Maid was convicted of 10 charges under the NSW Food Act in Wollongong Local Court last week and fined a total of $63,000.

The court found the company was responsible for the spread of a rare strain of Salmonella through Illawarra Retirement Trust aged care homes on the South Coast and ACT between January and March 2015, resulting in the death of two residents.

Another 30 fell ill, with unhygienic food preparation surfaces, the presence of rodents (including feces), rusty equipment and unclean utensils to blame.

(I’d still like to know where the Salmnoella bovismorbificans came from. It’s commonly found in cattle and horses – dp).

Betta Maid was put under external management in early April after the matters came to light and has since been placed in the hands of a liquidator to be wound up.

Documents obtained through the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) show the company owed an estimated $212,000 to 34 different companies around the time of the outbreak, including $131,000 in unpaid taxes.

A summary of the business’ financial position, signed by then-director Udo Boschan, estimated the value of the company’s assets at only $68,000, leaving a shortfall of about $144,000.

Local businesses owed money include Hasties Toptaste Meats in Wollongong, radio station Wave Fm, Sydney and South Coast Food in Dapto and Cazmont Computers in Shellharbour.

However, the chance of any creditors recovering what is owed to them appears lost, with a more recent ASIC statement filed by the liquidator saying it did not expect any creditors to receive their money. It is understood this would also apply to the court fines.

Meantime, court documents have revealed Food Authority inspectors carried out a routine inspection of the Betta Maid facility at Unanderra two and a half months before the salmonella outbreak.

Several concerns and contraventions of food handling laws were identified at the time, including rust and significant damage to equipment, some of which was unclean.

The company was given a month to rectify the situation, however the outbreak occurred before a further inspection took place.

Inspections and audits are never enough.

Hawaiian bakery sold food after being ordered to close for food safety violations

Posted on October 18, 2015 by Douglas Powell

A popular Waialua bakery has been fined $22,000 for allegedly selling food after it was ordered to close down by the Health Department and for failing to fix multiple food safety violations.

The state closed down the Paalaa Kai Bakery on Oct. 6, after several inspections found the establishment had failed to fix refrigeration problems.

The Health Department issued a red “closed” placard to the bakery, the first since the state launched a new eatery inspection program last year.

The bakery, located at 66-945 Kaukonahua Rd., might request a hearing to contest the fine. No one answered the phone at the bakery Tuesday.

No public warning, epi pushed aside: 26 sick from Salmonella linked to NZ bakery

Posted on May 3, 2015 by Douglas Powell

A major outbreak of food poisoning affecting 26 people throughout the North Island has been traced back to a Northland bakery.

Ministry for Primary Industries manager of compliance operations Gary Orr said the outbreak started on January 1 and went through to February 10. Of the 26 people who had food poisoning, 16 had eaten at the bakery.

While investigators visited the bakery the day after notification to carry out a review of food handling practices, they were unable to identify the source of the outbreak, he said. As a result MPI declined to name the bakery involved.

“The investigation did not find the definitive source of the Salmonella, so there was no proof that the bakery had done anything wrong,” he said.

Because the investigation did not find the source of the outbreak there was no public warning as there was no way to tell people how to prevent themselves from becoming ill, Mr Orr said. “A number of areas for improvement were identified and follow-up visits by MPI to the bakery confirmed that these improvements had been implemented.”

Once again, epidemiology gets put aside for definitive proof.

2 dead, 31 sick: Same Salmonella strain found in Australian bakery that supplies nursing homes

Posted on March 4, 2015 by Douglas Powell

The strain of Salmonella thought to have killed two nursing home residents and caused dozens of others to fall ill has been found in a Wollongong bakery, tests have confirmed.

To date, 31 cases of confirmed salmonella have been reported from 10 aged care facilities in the Illawarra, south eastern Sydney and ACT.

Two patients have died as a result of the outbreak.

The nursing homes involved are either run by Illawarra Retirement Trust or supplied catering by IRT.

Last month testing conducted by the New South Wales Food Authority at Bettamaid wholesale bakery in Unanderra came back positive for Salmonella.

The Food Authority then carried out further testing on environmental swabs and food samples taken from the bakery.

A test on an environmental swab has returned positive to the strain of Salmonella detected in sick residents, Salmonella bovismorbificans.

A spokeswoman said food samples supplied by the bakery to affected facilities also tested positive for Salmonella, but the strain was still being typed.

There were no reports of illness in the broader community related to consumption of food from the bakery, which supplies a number of shops and school canteens.

What kind of synthetic drug? Initial tests for 3 Kings bakery

Posted on January 10, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Preliminary laboratory results were released on Friday in a foodborne illness investigation of a Santa Ana Bakery that distributed tainted bread.

According to the Orange County Health Care Agency, the results indicated the presence of a synthetic drug, which was used in making Rosca de Reyes bread at Cholula’s Bakery.

Officials explained more than 30 people reported experiencing dizziness, palpitations and numbness after eating the bread on Jan. 5 and 6.

The bakery will remain closed as part of the investigation until the business can show professional restaurant grade cleaning, disposal of all opened food and all ingredients used to make the bread, and mandatory food safety training for all staff.

Over 30 sick ill after eating Three Kings bread from cockroach-infested Calif. bakery

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Douglas Powell

More than 30 people are sick after eating Rosca de Reyes bread, also known as Three Kings bread, distributed by Cholula’s Bakery in Santa Ana, the Orange County Health Agency said in a statement.

The agency closed the bakery after an investigation revealed traces of cockroach infestation.

The cake, which is typically eaten on Jan. 6 to celebrate Three Kings Day, was distributed to stores around Orange County. It is unclear whether the infestation directly caused the illnesses.

Those who reported illnesses experienced multiple symptoms, including dizziness, numbness, stomach aches and palpitations.

Stores who have the Three Kings bread from Cholula’s are being asked to remove it from their shelves, and those who purchased the bread are being advised to discard it.

‘Assuming the ingredients were really wheat, salt, eggs … hallucinations would not be common’ Three Kings Day bread linked to illnesses

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Ben Chapman

There was a guy I went to high school with who often would take acid before biology class.

He didn’t do so well.

Last year Walmart was linked to an odd case of LSD-laced steak which reportedly caused a family of four (including a pregnant mom) to be hospitalized with hallucinations. According to the Orange County Register, over 30 people have experienced hallucinations this week after eating cake made by Cholula’s Bakery in Santa Ana (CA).

Bakery cashier Fidelina Gutierrez ate some of the sweet bread being sold at La Bodega Ranch market in Orange in celebration of Three Kings Day.

It made her sick – but not with the symptoms most commonly associated with food poisoning.

“It felt as if I was in another dimension,” Gutierrez said. “I could feel it closing my throat. It was bad, bad, bad.”

On Thursday, health officials were still working to determine why the cake sickened Gutierrez and nearly 40 others earlier this week with heart palpitations, dizziness, numbness and hallucinatory thoughts – symptoms not typically induced by bacteria, a common trigger of food poisoning.

“Assuming the ingredients were really wheat, salt, eggs, that sort of stuff, hallucinations would not be common. If you put LSD into something, you might see some of these symptoms,” said Dr. Carl Schultz, a professor of emergency medicine at UC Irvine.

Made with sweet bread, candied fruits and a small baby Jesus figurine inside, rosca de reyes cake is eaten on Jan. 6 to celebrate the Latin American holiday Three Kings Day, honoring the arrival of the three Wise Men.

Jeff Nelken, a Woodland Hills-based food safety consultant, speculated that chemicals on the Jesus figurine might have leeched into the cake. Either that, he said, or it was laced or an employee accidentally mistook a cleaning product or some other chemical for an ingredient.

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