Former food safety undersecretary calls BS on media coverage

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Douglas Powell

Dr. Richard Raymond writes in MeatingPlace.com that when it comes to food safety, no wonder it is hard for the public to believe what they hear. Here are four public statements that fell short on honesty and accuracy:

• “Our nations’ food safety system is a hazard to public health.” — President Barack Obama shortly after his inauguration.

• “We are standing on the brink of a public health disaster.” — Congresswoman Slaughter in February, 2014, right after the FDA released its latest National Antibiotic Resistance Monitoring System’s (NARMS) report.

• When farmers use antibiotics, “they do so…under the care of a veterinarian.” — United States Farmers and Ranchers Alliance’s website (USFRA)

• “Salmonella is killed when food is cooked and handled properly. So, people becoming ill from antibiotic resistant foodborne bacteria and not being able to be treated in some manner, is rare if not almost non-existent.” — USFRA website

Number 1 was a good sound bite that played to the media and the change mongers, but totally failed to recognize a food safety system that may have flaws and shortcomings, but for the most part is doing a very good job with the tools given to FDA and USDA to enforce and regulate and it also ignores the dedication of our farmers and ranchers, scientists, trade organizations, packers and processors who toil every day, knowing their work is critical to your and my health.

This was just a shameful slap at tens of thousands of men and women who have chosen a less than glamorous profession, work in harsh conditions at times and try to do it right every day.

Number 2 totally ignored the fact that the latest NARMS report regarding samples of retail meat and poultry for pathogens and antibiotic resistance showed that the drugs of choice for treating foodborne illnesses caused by Salmonella and Campylobacter remain effective with no resistance seen.

It also showed significant declines in resistance in pathogens to flouroquinolones, a class of antibiotic used in human medicine but for all effects and purposes banned from use in animals by the FDA because earlier NARMS reports indicated a rapidly growing resistance that was problematical.

Numbers 3 and 4 mislead and attempt to say “no problem here with antibiotic use in animals.” Two simple facts shoot these quotes down, even as this organization tries to speak positively for those raising our food.

Simply put, there are a lot of antibiotics being administered in feed and water with zero DVM oversight and supervision. We all know that as a fact.

Salmonella is the number one cause of deaths from foodborne illnesses in this country, accounting for 29 percent of the total deaths. If you read the CDC annual reports you know that fact also. Tell the family members of the 452 persons who died in 2012 that those deaths were “non-existent.”

The Salmonella pathogen class also causes over 1 million illnesses per year in the United States. That fact cannot be waived off with a toss of a hand and a web page declaration, especially after the recent Foster Farms related outbreak that sickened over 500.
We have been making steady progress in making our meat and poultry safer, especially since the Jack in the Box E. coli O157:H7 outbreak that caused the entire industry to declare food safety a non-competitive arena.

Headline seekers and grabbers do not help the movement to continue to improve. Using logic, common sense and science as the movers and shakers will produce a safer food supply.

Culture and food safety; Salmonellosis and meat purchased at live-bird and animal-slaughter markets, United States, 2007–2012

Posted on December 16, 2013 by Douglas Powell

Since 2007, state and local health departments and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have investigated multiple salmonellosis outbreaks linked to meat purchased at live-bird markets (LBMs) and live-animal markets (LAMs), where poultry and livestock are sold for onsite slaughter. These markets typically operate in large cities and serve populations of diverse ethnic backgrounds.

In 2007, an outbreak involving 62 case-patients infected with 1 of 3 S. enterica serotype Schwarzengrund strains was investigated in Massachusetts; 61% were children <5 years of age, including 14 (23%) infants <1 year of age, and 96% were Asian. Exposure to poultry purchased at LBMs was reported, and environmental sampling at an implicated LBM identified 6 S. enterica serotypes, including 1 outbreak strain.

Three subsequent investigations of S. enterica serotype Schwarzengrund infections were conducted: a 2009 outbreak of 50 cases in New York, New York; a 2010–2011 multistate outbreak of cases predominantly in New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts; and a 2012 multistate outbreak of cases mostly in Illinois and Michigan. Most case-patients in these outbreaks were of Asian race or Hispanic ethnicity, but 3/5 case-patients in Michigan reported Arab ethnicity; >50% were infants or children <5 years of age.

Among case-patients with available information, exposure to poultry from LBMs was reported by 88% of case-patients in the 2009 New York investigation, 35% in the 2010–2011 multistate investigation, and 50% in the 2012 multistate investigation. In Michigan, the outbreak strain was isolated from chicken purchased at an LBM and collected from households of 2 case-patients.

During 2011–2012, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention investigated a nationwide increase in S. enterica I,4,[5],12:i- infections (pulsed-field gel electrophoresis XbaI restriction enzyme pattern JPXX01.1314). Although no single vehicle was implicated, clusters linked to LAMs were identified. In Minnesota, 14 illnesses were linked to meat from 3 neighboring LAMs. Environmental sampling identified the outbreak strain from an animal-holding pen at 1 of the markets. Seven case-patients were infants <1 year of age, and 10 reported Hmong ethnicity. In California, 10 illnesses likely associated with pork, lamb, and beef purchased at 3 LAMs were identified; case-patients reported Ethiopian and Hmong ethnicity. The outbreak strain was isolated from a pork leg collected from the freezer of a case-patient.

LBMs and LAMs appear to be preferred by certain populations for cultural, culinary, or religious reasons. Exposure to meat from these markets is being increasingly recognized as a potential source of salmonellosis. The cause is uncertain, but one factor may be an increased number of markets: in New York, New York, the number of LBMs nearly doubled from 44 to >80 during 1994–2002 (4). Most case-patients in these outbreaks had minimal direct contact with poultry or livestock at these markets; many case-patients were infants or young children who had not visited the markets or consumed meat. Therefore, one risk factor appears to be living in a household where the meat purchased from these markets is handled or consumed.

Several factors could make meats from these markets more risky for acquiring salmonellosis. Although LBMs and LAMs must meet sanitation requirements and prevent product adulteration (5–7), most are exempt from Food Safety and Inspection Service pathogen reduction performance standards (8,9) and probably do not require suppliers to use pathogen control measures on the farm or during slaughter. Regulatory oversight by state agencies varies. Investigation findings, including environmental sampling, indicate that these markets could be heavily contaminated with S. enterica.

Preliminary results of a Massachusetts study found that fresh-killed chickens from LBMs had higher Salmonella and Campylobacter spp. contamination rates than those for chickens purchased at grocery stores (10; T. Stiles, unpub. data). High-risk cultural preferences identified in these outbreaks included consuming raw or undercooked meat and cooking parts (e.g., feet, intestines) that are more likely to harbor Salmonella spp. Further processing (e.g., de-feathering, butchering) conducted inside homes could lead to cross-contamination in the household environment. Because of language and cultural barriers, existing food safety messages may not have been effective.

The number and type of LBMs and LAMs, the populations these markets serve, and regulatory authority vary considerably by state, and many case-patients and market owners have been reluctant to speak with public health authorities. Therefore, illness prevention requires a local, targeted approach. To strengthen regulations, some states have created guidelines and begun regular inspection of these markets. Educational outreach has included distribution of posters, flyers, and magnets with safe food handling messages in multiple languages; collaboration with community groups; and education of market owners and workers. Given the various communities who use LBMs and LAMs, multifaceted interventions, including collaboration between human and animal health agencies, are needed to reduce disease risk among market patrons and their families.

Food safety: some talk, some do, you’ve got to live and breathe this stuff, day in and day out

Posted on July 6, 2013 by Douglas Powell

“Food safety is only as safe as the weakest link.”

Maybe I said that, but Fresh Plaza says I did to the Produce Marketing Association in Sydney last month. Here’s some other random soundbites:

“Embracing the science behind microbiologically safe food is the first step to creating a safer food environment in all businesses.”

“Food safety is the responsibility of whoever produces the food.”

“You can’t eliminate foodborne illnesses but you can limit it.”

“Have someone in your company who knows about food safety so they can ask the right questions and make sure you use different forms of media to communicate your message to employees.”

“Be the bug” so they can completely understand the microbiological science behind food safety, once this is done business owners must “compel, rather than educate” their employees to introduce a no-nonsense policy towards food safety within their working environment.

“Make food safety a part of your branding… and make your inspections public. Government safety standards are the minimum requirements so
if you can exceed these priorities its win/win for you and your consumer.”

“You’ve got to live and breathe this stuff, day in and day out.”

Don’t keep doing the same inspection, crazy to expect different result

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Douglas Powell

None of them get food safety.

Politicians, inspectors, unions, bureaucrats, organizations and companies.

There are many individuals who do, and contribute tremendously to making fewer people barf each day, but they operate in a climate of institutional indifference.

It’s not like there’s a lack of evidence.

Canadians are wondering how that indifference by both XL Foods and Canadian Food Inspection Agency inspectors could be so prominent just five years after the Maple Leaf listeria outbreak killed 23.

It’s easy: no knowledge, no hard questions, protecting turf, and a minister of agriculture who is still inexplicably minister.

Today’s New York Times editorializes there are some 8,600 federal meat inspectors in the U.S. working in 6,300 packing and processing plants and cites a report from USDA’s inspector general which concludes at least the pig inspectors may sorta suck at it.

But it’s like reading the XL report out of Canada, or the two Prof. Pennington reports from the UK on outbreaks in Scotland (1996) and Wales (2005): serial violators of health standards were allowed to keep operating.

The Times says, “Even in the presence of government investigators, some inspectors failed to condemn contaminated meat. Nor were the inspectors vigilant enough when it came to flagging violations of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, which specifies a minimum standard for the treatment of animals being led to slaughter.

“The good news is that the Agriculture Department is inspecting its inspection system. The bad news is that the inspector general’s office merely urges inspectors to conform more fully to existing laws and directives, when what is needed is more and better-trained inspectors.”

Nope, the problem is far more systemic and far more rooted in human behavior than anything more training is going to fix.

The definition of crazy is doing the same thing and expecting a different result.

Time for something different.

Food safety culture for produce in Australia

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Douglas Powell

In public ways, Australia is 20 years in the food safety past, and so is my fashion.

One friend(?) says Amy or Sorenne need to dress me before I go out.

Looks aside, Amy says I give good talk, but we’re both American–something and not sure it goes over so well out in the colonies that are still British-esque.

FreshFruitPortal.com covered my chat with produce marketing folks in Sydney last week, where I stressed the importance of creating a food safety culture, rather than relying on regulation and government policies to provide businesses with secure and safe produce.

“Having lived here [Australia] for over (almost – dp) two years, I don’t see that public culture of food safety. There were 140 people sick in Canberra, because they were using raw eggs in mayo and yet there was no media coverage about it.

“The thing I hear most in food safety, whether it’s produce or anything else is – ‘We’ve always done it this way and I’ve never made anyone sick’. What it probably means is that you don’t have the surveillance systems to pick it up.

“This is a reality – there will be outbreaks, like with rockmelon and peanuts in Australia and you as an industry have a chance to come together and get proactive, or wait until the next outbreak.”

Produce, food safety culture and Brad Pitt

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Douglas Powell

Brad Pitt toured Sydney Harbour and tried Vegemite, first time for the Missouri native.

I got to hang out at Darling Harbor in Sydney and chat with some Australian produce folks; some wanted to talk more, some wanted to throw me in the Harbour with concrete shoes.

Amy, my lovely and loving partner, quipped, “a typical Powell talk. Now get Sorenne ready and let’s go” or something like that.

(She’s actually a great counselor for my whines, anxieties and insecurities.)

I was speaking at the Australian Produce Marketing Association gabfest about food safety culture stuff.

I asked the delegates if they enjoyed the raw sprouts on their salad the night before, stated how many times I go to food safety things and get served raw sprouts (even in my own university) and suggested why that may not be a great idea.

(30 minutes after I was done talking, yet another sprout recall, this time Salmonella in Canada.)

I told them how we took the kid out to get some chips along Darling Harbor, and since they were served with aioli, I asked the server if the aioli was made with raw eggs (because Australia has a raw egg problem, most recently 140 sick in Canberra). She didn’t know but asked the chef, and the answer was yes.

I asked for tomato sauce instead (ketchup).

I complimented the Expo Center for having paper towels in the bathrooms, a rarity in Australia, but that the water flow was almost non-existent and two-out-of-three sinks did not respond to the hand activation (vigorous water flow, rubbing and the friction of drying with paper towel are the key components of good handwashing).

I told them about a whole bunch of outbreaks, and one grower said I used scare tactics, and I said 33 people dying from eating rock melon (cantaloupe) wasn’t really a scare tactic, just what’s out there.

Like the 99 now sick from Hepatitis A in organic frozen berries.

I talked about food safety culture, tools like infosheets, repeated, rapid, reliable and relevant messages, about Frank and Chris and Ben and Amy and how they had all influenced my thoughts on the topic, but that to really seal the culture deal, growers and retailers had to brag about it.

I talked about the cantaloupe growers in California who have adopted some mandatory audit-inspection things, and all the problems and outbreaks that happen with places that have audits and inspections, and that big boys and girls take care of their own problems and get help when they need it.

I said how disappointed I was that as a consumer, there will be no label on these inspected cantaloupe, so as a consumer, I have no way of knowing whether a particular grower had even thought about microbiological food safety or was any good at it.

I tried to be triumphant and said, this isn’t a crisis, it’s an opportunity, for all you good Australian growers to get ahead of the curve, put in place the data collection and risk management efforts, the food safety culture, and go brag about it.

All the usual stuff.

And largely, the usual response.

I’m thankful for the opportunity to chat with growers and retailers – I always liked that – and thankful for the opportunity to clarify in my cobwebs a few things about what I should be doing.

But I’m no Brad Pitt.

I don’t want to be.

And get your finger out of the Vegemite. You don’t know where that finger’s been.

Hepatitis A in Italy? We’ll see

Posted on June 8, 2013 by Douglas Powell

Food safety friend of the blog, Luca Bucchini, offers an Italian perspective on the ongoing Hepatitis A outbreaks:

You are responsible for the control of infectious diseases in the Italian Region of Trentino-Alto Adige.

In your position you know that Hepatitis A is a highly infectious disease, due to a small picornavirus RNA, often asymptomatic in children under 5 years, but which causes in older individuals jaundice, fever, weakness, and abdominal pain. The symptoms last for a week or two, sometimes months. In 15% of cases, the symptoms last more than a year.

In adults over 50 years (and in those who have liver problems) the risk of death is important (to 1.8%). It is often transmitted by foods (strawberries, shellfish, etc.), or water, given the resistance of the virus in the environment, via the classic fecal-oral route (which means eating foods which has come in contact with contaminated feces). You also know that an epidemiological difficulty is the long incubation period (28-30 days).

Back to your office. No cases have been reported in 2011 and even in 2012 from the entire Trentino. But, between January and April 2013, reports for 15 cases have come in. May’s not over, and a further 11 cases have been reported. Because you know that for every case reported to your attention, there are may be 10 unreported cases (if you can apply in Italy CDC’s estimate for underreporting of hepatits A http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/statistics/2009surveillance/Commentary.htm), the cases could be many more.

So, reasonably you suspect that there is a problem and work to uncover what is making people form Trentino ill with hepatitis A.

You ask the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Italy’s National Institute of Health, whether the problem concerns Trentino, or also other parts of Italy. A surveillance system, SEIEVA http://www.iss.it/seieva/?lang=1&id=37&tipo=4 collects this type of data. It is not know what the Institute told you, but we can assume that they may have told you that, of the 16 regions (out of 20) that have sent updated data, comparing the period September 2012-April 2013 to the corresponding period one year earlier, cases of Hepatitis A shot to 417 cases (from 167 a year earlier), an increase of 70%.

There is probably a significant ongoing epidemic of hepatitis A in Italy, potentially with hundreds of cases.

Is this an aggressive epidemiological investigation? We do not know what Trentinian and Italian authorities did till May 2013; no action is documented in the report of the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/supporting/doc/439e.pdf .

On May 8, however, Germany, through the systems dedicated to these epidemic alerts, reported seven cases of hepatitis A in Germans who had been skiing in Trentino and had probably contracted the virus there in mid-March. Following this report, the Netherlands and Poland also reported similar cases, for a total of 15: after the winter holiday in Trentino, they had returned home and became ill with hepatitis A.

According to the European document, only then Italy took notice of the situation in Trentino and of the 70% increase nationwide.

On May 23, the Ministry of Health finally alerted all regions, asking the notification of cases within 48 hours, instead of the usual and cumbersome passive system.

Is the conclusion that, in order to find out that in Northern Italy there is an outbreak of hepatitis A, Italians need to wait for a few Germans skiing here, get hepatitis A and then seek advice from their own health care system?

The problem is related to lack of resources; also, and there are details that are not known and which may explain delays. But certainly there is also a cultural problem.

The Americans may have reported the news differently. There is a similar ongoing Hepatitis A otubreak in the U.S

(http://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/Outbreaks/2013/A1b-03-31/index.html ) and they may be connected through a common source for ingredients in frozen berries https://barfblog.com/2013/06/30-sick-hepatitis-a-outbreak-linked-to-frozen-berries-in-us-same-source-as-eu-outbreaks/):

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state and local officials are Investigating a multi-state outbreak of Hepatitis A illnesses potentially associated with a frozen food blend. We are moving quickly to learn as much as possible and prevent additional people from becoming ill. We recognize that people will be concerned about this outbreak, and we will continue to provide updates and advice.

The full text is here http://www.fda.gov/Food/RecallsOutbreaksEmergencies/Outbreaks/ucm354698.htm. Let’s focus on the part that in bold.

The urgency is evident: we know that there is a cause (a contaminated food), we must identify it (and have done so already in fact), remove it from the market and tell consumers to throw it away if they have it in their homes, so nobody’s going to get ill anymore. We know that you are worried, but you should know that we are moving at top speed.

Too much adrenaline? It’s the American approach.

Instead let’s hear the Italian bell:

In April 2013 two international outbreaks of Hepatitis A have been reported, the first involving patients in the North-European countries (clusters allegedly linked to the consumption of frozen berries from extra-EU countries), the second of tourists returning from Egypt . In recent months, moreover, a significant increase compared to previous years of cases of hepatitis A in Italy was noted. In light of the increase of cases in our country and of the two epidemics that are involving other European countries, the Ministry of Health has prepared the Circular 23 May 2013 (http://www.trovanorme.salute.gov.it/renderNormsanPdf?anno=0&codLeg=46074&parte=1%20&serie=) to strengthen surveillance of hepatitis A virus and initiate investigations aimed at identifying both the existence of possible autochthonous cases related to the outbreak and, where appropriate, the potential sources of infection.

The Germans warned Italy in early May. On the 23th, Italy is strengthening the surveillance system. We, Italians, wonder if there are “possible” related cases in Italy (which sounds a little like saying that in Trentino they have served contaminated products exclusively to German, Polish and Dutch tourists). If there are really Italian cases related to the outbreaks, we might then ask “where appropriate”, of course, if a cause – potentially – exists. Caution prevails, perhaps resignation or, if you will, a wise detachment.

As the Ecclesiastes say, “the sun rises and the sun goes down” (or, if you will, hepatitis A comes and goes again) “Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new?”

In short, no urgency, a cause still to be found to prevent diseases, but above all prudence.

Potentially, possibly, maybe, and even if.

In reality, however, there seems to be a point of concern. Authorities know about the suspected foods (frozen berries, known to spread viruses if not fully cooked, and in 2013 this is not new) including lots and brands. Italy has sent an alert about these products to the EU, making clear (https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/portal/index.cfm?event=notificationDetail&NOTIF_REFERENCE=2013.0756): mix frozen berries from Italy, with raw material from Canada, Serbia, Bulgaria and Poland, via Switzerland that is, it may well be a product made in Italy by an Italian company, but it is not our good Italian food. Same goes for the other alert (to use the words of the Ministry, “extra-EU imports”).

As Americans and northern Europeans import contaminated fruit from countries, where agricultural workers have no access to proper sanitation facilities (and thus, for example, collect the fruit with unwashed hands after using the bathroom), and get sometimes sick, now it’s up to us. Stigmatizing extra-EU imports is however in line with the current anti-import attitude.

Probably, however, the ordinary citizen would like to know the brand of the suspected products, so she, while keeping the brand in mind for future purchases, an throw away the product before eating it, and potentially getting sick.

On this point, as it is customary, in a strange game of different actors (blaming an individual official is superficial), the silence is absolute (NB: update June 6th at 13:26. I was informed that the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, on its site http://www.provincia.bz.it/usp/service/321.asp?archiv_action=4&archiv_article_id=427075 – I do not know how often visited by consumers across Italy – reported on May 31 the details of the suspected food. Well done to the Province, but what about the rest of the Italians? ilfattoalimentare reports from that a cheesecake and a third product sold at Coop may be involved http://www.ilfattoalimentare.it/allerta-alimentare-frutti-di-bosco-surgelati-contaminati-da-virus-epatite-a-ritirati-dal-mercato.html).

When you hear that in America or in Germany there is an outbreak with hundreds of people sick, and so you think you have the luxury to get concerned about the theoretical risks of GMOs, do not console yourself thinking that those things do not happen to us Italians. Perhaps media and risk communicators just let you free not to worry about foodborne disease.

PS: it should be clear that I hold in great esteem many officials from the local health authorities, of the Ministry of Health, and of ISS, particulary knowing the conditions in which they have to operate. This article is not addressed to them, the problem is political and cultural.

Food safety frontlines fruit and veggies edition; baby steps in marketing food safety?

Posted on May 26, 2013 by Douglas Powell

Produce accounts for 46% of the estimated 48 million foodborne illnesses reported annually by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Leafy greens account are estimated to account for 41% of the produce-related illnesses.

With piles of fresh strawberries beckoning consumers at markets and stores this season, an alliance of a retailer, fruit growers and farm workers has begun a program to promote healthy produce and improve working conditions.

Stephanie Strom and Steven Greenhouse of the New York Times report under Oxfam America’s Equitable Food Initiative, unfolding along neatly planted rows of berries at the Andrew & Williamson Fresh Produce’s Sierra Farm in Moss Landing, Calif., is an effort to prevent the types of bacterial outbreaks of salmonella, listeria or E. coli that have sickened consumers who ate contaminated cantaloupes, spinach or other produce.

One of the workers, Valentin Esteban, is on the front lines of the new effort, having gone through a training program that helps him avoid practices that lead to possible bacterial contamination that could undermine the safety and quality of the strawberries he picks.

In exchange, Andrew & Williamson is providing Mr. Esteban better pay and working conditions than many migrant farmworkers receive, a base pay of $9.05 an hour versus the $8 average in the area.

With Andrew & Williamson the first grower to participate, berries sold under the label “Limited Edition,” would carry certification to inform consumers that food safety protocols had been followed and that the workers who harvested the crop were treated fairly.

With Andrew & Williamson paying higher wages than almost all its competitors, the participants in the program hope that the promise of better-quality, safer fruit and better conditions for workers will entice distributors, retailers and consumers to pay a little more, too.

Costco has agreed to play a major part and pay a little extra for the berries once they are certified.

“Who is it that’s delivering the result — safer, higher-quality berries? Those workers,” said Jeff Lyons, the company’s senior vice president for fresh foods. “So yes, I’m willing to pay more, so long as the certification really means something.”

Ernie Farley, a partner of Andrew & Williamson, pointed to the important role that farm workers play. “This program means that instead of one auditor
coming around once in a while to check on things, we have 400 auditors on the job all the time.”

In the past, workers had little incentive to report safety problems. They were paid at a piece rate, seeking to fill their boxes as fast as they could, and taking even 10 minutes to report a safety problem would in effect reduce their pay. One manager said that if workers spotted animal feces in an area where ripe strawberries were ready to be plucked, they might have still simply picked those berries.

Pedro Sanchez, a farmworker, said he liked that the program encouraged pickers to tell supervisors about any safety issues in the fields. And now they know their above-average pay is also tied to the success of this food safety initiative.

Before the initiative, “we didn’t have any system for dealing with things like when we found deer droppings in the field,” said Jorge Piseno, one of the farm workers’ representatives who is part of the project’s worker-management leadership. “Now I know if we find a dead animal or animal waste, we should put up a six-foot perimeter to quarantine the area.”

Alex Malone, director quality assurance for Yum Brand’s Taco Bell Corp., Irvine, Calif., has, according to Jody Shee of The Packer, taken Taco Bell beyond industry standards in order to mitigate risk, which he said begins with frequent, repetitive training that includes senior management, supervisors, crew leads, irrigation workers and harvest crew.

In the past few years, Taco Bell has increased standard field testing from the required 60 samples per 10 acres to 60 samples per acre, and in a more thorough zigzag pattern than the standard “Z” pattern, which assures
greater field coverage and that the high-risk four borders are sampled at all times, he said.

Rather than just sample one lettuce leaf, per normal procedures, Taco Bell now requires sampling of the inner, outer and wrapper lettuce leaves.

In the processing plant, the company has upgraded chlorination requirements to include continuous measurement of chlorine levels and auto-inject from multiple injection points. An auto-stop is required if the chlorine amount falls below a certain level, and full submersion of all produce in the flume is required to assure 100% chlorination.

All this requires working with suppliers.

“This is essential. If we don’t work together, people are going to get sick,” Malone said, noting he encourages company officials to join him in looking at these and other higher standards as an insurance policy.

Food safety or hockey, language goes a long way; a Punjabi broadcast draws in new hockey fans

Posted on April 28, 2013 by Douglas Powell

While packing up endless stuf to bring to Brisbane tomorrow, I had the Rangers and Devils on in the background this afternoon, and now have Canadians-Leafs on the computer, exchanging text barbs with daughter Braunwynn who does not yet know the sorrow of a Toronto Maple Leafs fan, and packing more.

Harnarayan Singh and Bhola Chauhan are the voice of the National Hockey League in an animated stream of Punjabi, punctuated with English words like “linesman,” “icing” and “face-off.”

The New York Times reports Singh spoke at great volume as Toronto scored its first goal, crediting wing Joffrey Lupul for what translates to “picking up the wood,” a traditional Punjabi battle cry akin to bringing the house down.

“Chak de phatte goooaaalll Joffrey Lupul! Torrronto Maple Putayyy!”

A few minutes later, Winnipeg’s Chris Thorburn and Toronto’s Colton Orr dropped their gloves and began pounding on each other, and Singh rose in his chair to animate each blow. As the players were led to the penalty box, Chauhan, an Indian-born draftsman, writer and taxi driver wearing a cream-colored turban, read a fighting poem he had written based on a Punjabi style of verse.

The guy who is winning has a punch like a lion, and takes over the fight.

He hits like a sledgehammer.

They’re rivals, and he’s hung the other out to dry, not letting him go.

The weekly Punjabi broadcast of “Hockey Night in Canada,” as venerated an institution for Canadians as “Monday Night Football” is for Americans, is the only N.H.L. game called in a language other than English or French.

The broadcast marries Canada’s national pastime with the sounds and flavors of the Indian subcontinent, providing a glimpse into the changing face of ice hockey.

Singh, 28, has developed a signature style tailored for his audience. A puck can be described as an “aloo tikki,” a potato pancake his mother makes especially well. When a team comes back in the second period with renewed energy, Singh might say what translates to “someone must have made them a good cup of chai in the intermission.” A player who celebrates after a big goal will “dance bhangra moves.”

The number of children playing ice hockey in Canada has remained stagnant, said Paul Carson, vice president for hockey development with Hockey Canada.

“Growth in this country is coming from immigration from a lot of non-hockey-playing countries,” he said. “They’re coming from the Mideast, Africa, East and South Asia.”

The members of Singh’s family, like most of Canada’s 1.1 million Punjabi speakers (almost twice as many as in the United States), are Sikhs. The religion is centered in the Punjab region, which straddles northwestern India and Pakistan. Sikhs have been in Canada since the late 19th century.

Singh’s parents, Santokh and Surjit, were born in India and moved to Canada in the late 1960s, to work as teachers in Brooks, a small town in Alberta. Singh, the youngest of their four children, was born in 1984, months after Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers won their first Stanley Cup.

So far, the best way to generate new fans seems to be having a successful home team. The Washington Capitals have broadened their appeal among young Hispanics and other minorities because of the star power of Alexander Ovechkin.

“Now there’s an explosion of interest in that community because they all want to play hockey,” said Peter Robinson, a Capitals official who oversees amateur hockey development. Local rinks are adding classes every week to keep up with demand, he said. “Their parents and grandparents didn’t pay attention to hockey, but now hockey’s everywhere.”

Sorta like food safety.

Food safety culture – Alberta style

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Douglas Powell

Chapman and I made a pilgrimage to Calgary on Wed. to chat with the Alberta Food Processors Association about food safety culture and making fewer people sick.

I spoke from Australia in the early morning hours, while Benji bonded with son Jack and hung out with family in Calgary.

Our slidesets are available below, and my talk is on youtube.

food.safe.alberta.mar

AFPA-talk-3-20-13 copy 2

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safe food from farm to fork

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