Slaughterhouse accused of selling meat from cows with cancer

Posted on February 26, 2014 by Douglas Powell

Rancho Feeding Corp., the Petaluma slaughterhouse that recently recalled 8.7 million pounds of beef, is under criminal investigation by the federal government for killing and selling meat from dairy cows with cancer, according to sources who would only speak on the condition of anonymity.

Stacy Finz and Carolyn Lochhead of the San Francisco Chronicle cite sources as saying Rancho allegedly bought up cows with eye cancer, chopping off their heads so inspectors couldn’t detect the disease and illegally selling the meat.

Although it’s against federal law, experts say eating the meat isn’t likely to make people sick. So far, no one has reported becoming ill from eating the meat.

The criminal investigation hasn’t just affected Rancho. Private cattle producers, who use the company for custom slaughtering, have also been swept up in the recall, leaving the shelves with a dearth of local, natural and high-end beef on the shelves.

Bill Niman, arguably one of the most respected cattlemen in the gourmet meat business and former owner of Niman Ranch company, said he used Rancho to slaughter 427 head of cattle and is complying with the recall. He said it’s causing him to hold back about 100,000 pounds of beef from the market and that he stands to lose as much as $400,000. He said his beef has nothing to do with the alleged tainted meat.

But in an abundance of caution, the U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to make sure none of the cancerous meat co-mingled with healthful beef.

Rancho officials could not be reached for comment; the plant has voluntarily shut down and is in escrow with new buyers.

“Rancho, we’re told, was slaughtering them, somehow after hours or in other ways where the inspector didn’t know about it,” the source said. “Because the carcass looked good, (Rancho) mixed it back in with other beef that it sold under its label.”

James Cullor, professor of population health and reproduction at the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis, said cows suffering from eye cancer aren’t necessarily dangerous to eat, but he doesn’t recommend it. It would be possible that the cancer had spread to other parts of the animal’s body, Cullor said.

“If I’m out on top of Mount Everest and have a cow (with eye cancer) and I’m hungry, I’m going to cook her well and deal with getting down the mountain,” he said. “But if I’m here in this country, I will choose to not consume the animal. I wouldn’t feed the animal to my grandchildren.”

New Zealand council alarm at food stall risk

Posted on February 24, 2014 by Douglas Powell

Food stalls at the Chinese Lantern Festival, Pasifika, Diwali and other major events will be nearly unregulated for food safety under a major law reform, says Auckland Council, which is concerned about the potential for large-scale food poisoning.

Council officials say legislation before Parliament which introduces new food safety regulations would exempt small vendors serving tens of thousands of meals at large events.

They made the comments as submissions resumed on the long-awaited Food Bill, which was first introduced to Parliament in 2010.

The bill stalled amid speculation that it would put an end to sausage sizzles and cake stalls, introduce crippling costs for small horticultural producers, and give multinational corporations more control over New Zealand’s food sources.

The Government amended the bill in 2012 to address some of these problems and ensure that small-scale sellers such as farmers’ markets and fundraising stalls would not be captured by the law change.

Auckland Council said it supported most of the changes, but it was worried small vendors would be exempted from controls on food safety at large events such as the Chinese Lantern Festival, attended by more than 100,000 people.

Environmental health team leader Alan Ahmu told a select committee yesterday that officials were not concerned about school fairs or fund-raisers.

Wait, what? Little kids are one of the more vulnerable populations for foodborne illness.

I spent 16 hours this weekend becoming a level 1 coach for ice hockey in Australia, building on the 32 or so hours in Canada, at least 5 years behind the bench, and decades of experience, all because parents expect the best for their kids.

So why wouldn’t they expect the best for their kids at school?

Instead of moaning about why certain groups or people should be exempt from food safety rules, make it mandatory, and figure out the best way to provide information to people (hint – it won’t be found in government).

If a minimal level of competency is required to coach hockey, a minimal level of competency should be required to make food for other people.

Investigating the potential benefits of on-site food safety training for Folklorama, a temporary food service event

Mancini, Roberto1; Murray, Leigh2; Chapman, Benjamin J.3; Powell, Douglas A.4

Source: Journal of Food Protection®, Volume 75, Number 10, October 2012 , pp. 1829-1834(6)

Abstract:

Folklorama in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is a 14-day temporary food service event that explores the many different cultural realms of food, food preparation, and entertainment. In 2010, the Russian pavilion at Folklorama was implicated in a foodborne outbreak of Escherichia coli O157 that caused 37 illnesses and 18 hospitalizations. The ethnic nature and diversity of foods prepared within each pavilion presents a unique problem for food inspectors, as each culture prepares food in their own very unique way. The Manitoba Department of Health and Folklorama Board of Directors realized a need to implement a food safety information delivery program that would be more effective than a 2-h food safety course delivered via PowerPoint slides. The food operators and event coordinators of five randomly chosen pavilions selling potentially hazardous food were trained on-site, in their work environment, focusing on critical control points specific to their menu. A control group (five pavilions) did not receive on-site food safety training and were assessed concurrently. Public health inspections for all 10 pavilions were performed by Certified Public Health Inspectors employed with Manitoba Health. Critical infractions were assessed by means of standardized food protection inspection reports. The results suggest no statistically significant difference in food inspection scores between the trained and control groups. However, it was found that inspection report results increased for both the control and trained groups from the first inspection to the second, implying that public health inspections are necessary in correcting unsafe food safety practices. The results further show that in this case, the 2-h food safety course delivered via slides was sufficient to pass public health inspections. Further evaluations of alternative food safety training approaches are warranted.

Food safety inspectors shut down Netherlands mussel trader

Posted on February 8, 2014 by Douglas Powell

Food safety inspectors have stopped a shellfish trader in Zeeland from exporting 47 tonnes of mussels after it failed to take action over two food poisoning incidents in England and Switzerland.

A small quantity of the mussels, which were exported to Ireland, are also being recalled, the food safety body NVWA says.

In November, the same company was at the centre of another recall after several people became ill in England after eating mussels containing biotoxins, a poison common in shellfish. Those mussels came from Ireland but had been sold by the Dutch company.

The company was aware of the problem but did not register it with the authorities in time, food safety inspectors say. In December there was a second incident involving mussels in Switzerland.
Those mussels, said at the time to be of Danish origin, turned out to be from the same Irish consignment as in the English food poisoning case.

Food inspectors have now effectively closed down the trader pending a full investigation and possible criminal charges.

U.S. food-safety audit gives Canada low grade, calls for better meat oversight

Posted on January 8, 2014 by Douglas Powell

Despite what some Canadian academics, government and industry types say about the safety of Canadian meat, the U.S thinks it sorta sucks.

This is nothing new.

But does matter to cattle ranchers who rely on trade with the U.S.

According to a report in the Globe and Mail, a U.S. audit of Canada’s food-safety system calls on the federal regulator to strengthen oversight of sanitation and the humane handling of animals at meat-slaughtering plants.

The findings from the tour of seven food-processing facilities, two laboratories and five Canadian Food Inspection Agency offices in the fall of 2012 were kept confidential until recently.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture declined to release the report earlier to The Globe and Mail, which requested it through U.S. access to information law. The findings were published last month on the department’s website.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency received an “adequate” rating, the lowest of three scores that are meted out to countries deemed eligible to export food to the United States. The designation means Canada will be subject to more robust audits and its food exports will undergo more inspections at the U.S. border than those of countries whose food-safety systems were rated “average” or “well-performing.”

Canada’s food-safety system faced heightened scrutiny after 23 people died in an outbreak of listeriosis linked to a Maple Leaf Foods plant in Toronto in 2008, and E. coli contamination in 2012 at the former XL Foods facility near Brooks, Alta., led to the largest meat recall in Canadian history.

The federal government has revamped oversight of the CFIA, transferring responsibility to the Health Minister from the Agriculture Minister in October. The true effect of that change – whether it is substantial or cosmetic – remains unclear.

The U.S. review reveals that auditors found sanitation issues, including flaking paint and rust on pipes and overhead rails, at a pig-slaughter facility in Langley, B.C. Problems were also observed at the former XL cattle-slaughter plant, then temporarily shut down amid the E. coli outbreak in which 18 people fell sick with potentially deadly bacteria.

On their Nov. 2, 2012, visit to XL, auditors noted greasy spots on several conveyor belts in the boning room, which could have led to contamination. Among other issues observed was dust on protective trays under ventilators and blowers, also a contamination concern.

“There are always issues with audits, but overall, the audit findings were very good,” Tom Graham, director of CFIA’s domestic inspection division, said of the 2012 audit.

The CFIA plans to add extra oversight to its inspection program. The agency will establish a permanent inspection verification office in the spring, Mr. Graham said. The new office, which was recommended in an independent review of the XL contamination, will review inspection activities at food plants.

Keith Warriner, a food-science professor at the University of Guelph, thinks additional oversight of inspectors is a good idea. He said the XL recall and the listeriosis outbreak highlighted weaknesses.

“The common feature of those [cases] is that the CFIA weren’t applying the rules. They were turning a blind eye, and that was more so in the case of XL Foods,” Dr. Warriner said. “You need to have this [new] inspection service to make sure the inspectors are applying the regulations.”

Followup after recalls a problem for Canadian food inspection agency, auditor finds

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Douglas Powell

It’s sortofa repetitious Canadian thing: a bunch of people get sick and some die, an investigation is carried out, problems are noted, the bureaucrats say they’ve already fixed things and everyone goes back to sleep until the next outbreak.

So it’s not surprising the auditor general says the largest meat recall in Canada’s history – that would be the E. coli O157 outbreak last year linked to the former XL Foods in Alberta — exposed serious shortcomings at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

The latest report from auditor general Michael Ferguson says the food inspection agency struggles to follow up on routine recalls and to manage major files, such as the one last year at XL Foods.

Ferguson’s team found widespread confusion among agency officials during emergencies.

During the XL Foods recall, for example, the company received multiple calls from agency officials who apparently didn’t know that their responsibilities shifted during the emergency.

The report says all those calls created confusion and added to the company’s already considerable workload during the crisis.

There was further confusion after the agency ordered one distributor to recall products from a date that was not part of the recall.

So why not make food producers publicly accountable, rather than to a bloated agency, and market food safety at retail that can be verified.

Schools in Scotland fail food hygiene standards

Posted on October 8, 2013 by Douglas Powell

Thousands of children have been served meals from school kitchens that have failed to meet food hygiene standards.

Five schools have been told to improve or face further action from the Food Standards Agency in Scotland.

They are among 30 establishments in the Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley area which have just been named and shamed online for their poor hygiene standards.

The five schools are:

* Kilmarnock Academy

* Loudoun Academy

* Stewarton Academy

* Hillhead Primary School

* Crosshouse Primary School

Kitchens at Onthank Community Centre and Hurlford Community Centre have also failed.

The council-run sites have been published on the Internet under a new scheme to allow members of the public to see if the places they are eating are safe.

Other commercial facilities which haven’t met legal standards include take-aways, cafés, hotels and national chains.

Log onto www.eac.eu/foodhygiene or www.food.gov.uk/ratings to see full details of every pass and fail in East Ayrshire.

Fancy food ain’t safe food: esteemed New York markets fined for failing safety inspections

Posted on October 2, 2013 by Douglas Powell

Foodies may hail Whole Foods in White Plains and H Mart in Hartsdale, but last year state inspectors failed both, giving them the region’s biggest fines for food safety violations.

The specialty markets, beloved by some shoppers for their vast aisles of organic and ethnic foods, were cited last year for improperly cleaned meat grinders and excessively scored cutting boards — critical violations that contributed to each store receiving fines of $3,000, state records obtained by The Journal News show.

The stores are among 1,495 establishments in Putnam, Rockland and Westchester visited over the past five years by inspectors from the state Department of Agriculture & Markets, the agency that regulates retailers selling and preparing food.

No matter how clean a store might appear to shoppers, state inspection records show that most venues end up with some kind of violation, usually for minor issues. State law requires that supermarkets be inspected annually.

“Ninety-seven percent of the larger supermarkets in (the) three-county area have passed our most recent inspection, which means there were no critical deficiencies,” said Steve Stich, director of food safety and inspection at the Department of Agriculture & Markets.

The state agency has about 95 inspectors who conduct more than 30,000 annual inspections statewide at all the food establishments and wholesale food manufacturers that hold state permits. The Journal News obtained dataon five years of inspections through a Freedom of Information Law request.

Fancy food ain’t safe food, Brazil edition

Posted on September 16, 2013 by Douglas Powell

Tucked on a leafy street in Leblon, the seaside bastion of Rio De Janeiro elite, Antiquarius ranks among Brazil’s most exclusive restaurants. Well-heeled regulars frequent Antiquarius, which is decorated in faux-farmhouse style with landscape paintings and porcelain vases, and charges $68 for a stew of codfish in coconut-tomato sauce.

But while Antiquarius’s prices have long shocked many people here, the restaurant is now gaining notoriety for another reason. Inspectors raided it in Aug., finding more than 50 pounds of expired food like ham, endive and beef tripe in its kitchen, including more than 10 pounds of snails with an expiration date of July 2012.

The inspection in August was, according to the New York Times, one of several raids this year by officials seeking to improve the city’s restaurant standards as more visitors flock to Rio ahead of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, both of which will be held here.

“Some restaurants think they will never be inspected, just because they are so chic and expensive,” said Cidinha Campos, director of Rio’s consumer protection agency, singling out an item on Antiquarius’s menu, grilled slipper lobster in beurre d’escargots, which costs about $78. The restaurant’s snail butter used in the recipe was also found to have expired, she said.

“Well,” Ms. Campos said, “even Antiquarius is not above the law.” She added that the restaurant, which serves dishes largely inspired by the cuisine of Portugal, Brazil’s former colonial ruler, could face a fine from about $200 all the way up to $3 million, depending on its explanation of its kitchen practices and the size of its revenues.

Fancy food ain’t safe food – Nevada golf course edition

Posted on August 17, 2013 by Douglas Powell

“Bloody … with cheese.”

That’s how the burley, 50-ish goateed he-man requested his hamburger be cooked at a golf course in Baltimore in 2005.

His sidekick piped up, “Me too.”

Our foursome of food safety types were alternately alarmed and amazed, but ultimately resigned to conclude that much of what passes for food safety advice falls on deaf ears.

I asked the kid flipping burgers if he had a meat thermometer.

He replied, snickering, “Yeah, this is a pretty high-tech operation.”

The young woman taking orders glanced about, and then confided that she didn’t think there was a meat thermometer anywhere in the kitchen; this, at a fancy golf course catering to weddings and other swanky functions.

Darcy Spears of KTNV in Nevada reports that the 19th Hole Supper Club in Mesquite got a 35 demerit C grade on its July 29 inspections. Due to poor inspection history their management was told to schedule a supervisory conference with the Health District before they’re allowed to be reinspected.

Their violations were for things like expired food, improperly cooled gravy and fresh garlic in butter left sitting out at room temperature. Inspectors found multiple prepared foods in the walk-in fridge that were more than seven days old and they were using whipped cream that was more than a month expired.

When Chief Investigator Darcy Spears showed up asking for the person in charge, she was sent to a bartender who said the person in charge was Armando.

The bartender said Armando wouldn’t talk to us.

“What we got in trouble for not our fault,” explained the bartender.

“The stuff in the health report is not your fault?” asked Darcy.

“Well, the cooler was down and it had just gotten repaired. And they were moving stuff out of it but it didn’t matter,” said the bartender.

The health inspector did note that neither the fridge nor the salad prep area were holding a safe temperature.

“I do know there was stuff like month old whipped cream and that is not a broken cooler when you’re serving month old whipped cream at least according to the health report that was happening. Improper hand washing,” explained Darcy.

“I don’t know nothing about any of that,” said the bartender.

Todd Peterson owns the 19th Hole. He sent a written statement saying his restaurant has been providing good and safe food for over 18 years. Most of the issues were corrected while the Health District was on the property. The rest have since been corrected and he said they’re positive their good rating will be returned.

Fancy food ain’t safe food – cruise ship edition

Posted on July 23, 2013 by Douglas Powell

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released a report documenting the unsanitary conditions that led to one of the world’s most luxurious cruise ships failing a health inspection last month.

The report on the surprise inspection of Silversea Cruises’ 382-passenger Silver Shadow says inspectors found raw, cooked and ready-to-eat foods improperly stored under the cabin beds of crew members who worked in the ship’s galley.

Food also was stored on the floors of crew cabins, as was equipment used to prepare food for passengers such as a meat slicer and serving trays, the report says.

The report suggests crew members of the ship had sought to hide the food items and equipment from inspectors after they boarded the ship.

“An organized effort was made to physically remove over 15 full trolleys of dry foods, spices, canned foods, cooked foods, milk, raw meats, pasteurized eggs, cheeses of all types, baking goods, raw fruits, raw vegetables, and a variety of both hand held and counter model food equipment, pans, dishware and utensils to over 10 individual cabins shared by two or three galley crew members in order to avoid inspection,” the report notes.

In what is a rare occurrence for modern day vessels, the CDC gave the ship — an all-suite icon of luxury cruising that boasts rooms for two starting at over $1,000 a night — a failing score of 82 out of 100.

The report also listed a number of cases of crew members suffering from diarrhea that were not properly reported, and errors in the cooling process for the walk-in refrigeration of the La Terraza restaurant that suggests food may have been improperly stored.

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