Thermometers, cats and the UK Food Standards Agency: Piping hot for the world?

I watched our veterinarian stick a thermometer into the ass of our cat(s) the other day while they were getting vaccinated for feline immunodeficiency virus (because they’ve now become outside roaming cats).

They didn’t care.

The UK Food Standards Agency is bragging that one of its own, Steve Wearne, got elected to the Codex Alimentarius Commission as vice-chair.

That’s an impressive bureaucratic achievement.

UK Food Minister George Eustice bubbled that, “The appointment of Steve Wearne to this important leadership role is testament to the strength and reputation of the UK’s food quality and safety standards. 

“This is a great opportunity to bring the UK’s renowned expertise to the table as the committee continues to pioneer global policy for food safety – increasing consumer confidence in the food we eat around the world.”

Heather Hancock, Chairman of the FSA said: ‘Steve’s appointment is a real vote of confidence in the UK’s leadership in modern, accountable food regulation. I’m delighted that he and the FSA will be taking such a significant role in setting the standards for food globally.’

I’m not.

This is an agency that ignores science and continues to tell consumers to cook things until they are piping hot, apparently because consumers are too low on the British caste system to understand how a thermometer works.

My cats know how thermometers work.

Top 10 list of foodborne parasites released

A Top 10 list identifying the foodborne parasites of greatest global concern has been released today, and new guidelines are being developed to control them.

parasiteThe parasites affect the health of millions of people every year, infecting muscle tissues and organs, causing epilepsy, anaphylactic shock, amoebic dysentery and other problems. Some can live on in our bodies for decades.

Despite their huge social costs and global impacts, information is generally lacking regarding just where these parasites come from, how they live in the human body, and – most importantly – how they make us sick.

As a first step in tackling the problem, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) are initially focusing on the ten food borne parasites with the greatest global impact. The rankings contained in today’s FAO-WHO report, Multicriteria-based ranking for risk management of food-borne parasites, are based on the parasites’ burden on human health and other factors, and includes information on where they can be found.

The top ten are:

Taenia solium (pork tapeworm): In pork

Echinococcus granulosus (hydatid worm or dog tapeworm): In fresh produce

Echinococcus multilocularis (a type of tapeworm): In fresh produce

Toxoplasma gondii (protozoa): In meat from small ruminants, pork, beef, game meat (red meat and organs)

Cryptosporidium spp.(protozoa): In fresh produce, fruit juice, milk

Entamoeba histolytica (protozoa): In fresh produce

Trichinella spiralis (pork worm): In pork

Opisthorchiidae (family of flatworms): In freshwater fish

Ascaris spp. (small intestinal roundworms): In fresh produce

Trypanosoma cruzi (protozoa): In fruit juices

small_reportcover.gifThe list and supporting report were developed following a request by the global food standards body, the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), for FAO and WHO to review the current status of knowledge on parasites in food and their public health and trade impacts.

The Codex Committee on Food Hygiene is now developing new guidelines for the control of these parasites. FAO and WHO are supporting the process by providing scientific and technical information.

The aim is to develop new standards for the global food trade that will help countries control the presence of these parasites in the food chain.