Tag Archives: new york

Mystical One Juice sucks at safety, FDA goes to court seeking closure

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At the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Justice today filed a complaint for permanent injunction against a Jamaica, N.Y.-based beverage company to prevent it from processing and distributing juice and other products.

Hank J. Hagen and Milton S. Reid and their company, Mystical One LLC (also known as Mystical One Juice LLC), are charged with violating the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by failing to have a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plan for certain juice products, such as the company’s carrot juice products, and by failing to comply with current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP).

The FDA requires all juice processors to prepare and implement HACCP plans that identify and control food hazards associated with their juices, and it requires all food manufacturers to follow cGMP. The FDA is not aware of illnesses associated with Mystical One’s juice products.

Among the violations observed by FDA investigators were failures to:?

• adequately heat low-acid vegetable juices to destroy or prevent growth of dangerous microorganisms;?
• properly clean food-contact surfaces; and?,
• maintain and monitor sanitation conditions at the manufacturing facility to prevent sources of possible food and water contamination.

Failure to identify and control food hazards could lead to the formation of Clostridium botulinum bacteria that can germinate in the carrot juice made by the company. The neurotoxin formed by these bacteria, when ingested in even very small amounts, could cause paralysis, difficulty breathing and death from asphyxiation. In 2006, six cases of botulism in the United States and Canada were linked to refrigerated carrot juice.

The complaint also charges Mystical One, Hagen and Reid with failing to conform to cGMP requirements for making, packing, or holding human food.

Beverage products produced under conditions that do not comply with HACCP or GMP requirements are considered adulterated under the Act.

Violations cited by the FDA involved the following brands:
• Fresh Carrot Juice,
• Magnum Food Drink,
• Pineapple Ginger Drink,
• Sorrel & Ginger,
• Sea Moss, and,
• Peanut Punch.

Who didn’t wash their hands while preparing communion in NY?

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Hepatitis A is one of those human-only diseases that spreads when virus particles are shed in poop, and get into dirty water, or onto hands that are not effectively washed.

Health officials on Long Island say hundreds of people may have been exposed to hepatitis A while receiving communion on Christmas Day.

The Nassau County Health Department said Monday that anyone who received communion at either the 10:30 a.m. or noon Masses at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Massapequa Park on Dec. 25 may have been exposed.

A spokesman declined to provide details, citing privacy concerns.

‘C’-rated restaurants in NY hiding their grades

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The New York Post reports this morning the Health Department has identified the first 15 restaurants branded with a lowly C since the city’s A-B-C grading system was launched more than three months ago — but more than half of those eateries were caught hiding their lousy grades from customers.

A Post survey found only seven of the C restaurants posted the grade as required by law, with managers at the other eateries claiming they didn’t understand the rules or, seemingly, trying to game the system.

At the Bread & Pastry Cafe in Greenwich Village, which earned a C on Sept. 9 after racking up 41 violation points, a "grade pending" sign hung in the window Wednesday. Restaurants are slapped with a C when inspectors issue 28 violation points or more.

"It’s my choice," insisted clerk Mohammed Zaman, explaining that the cafe was due for another hearing at which it would get a higher grade.

When The Post inquired with the department, it sent over an inspector on Friday to demand the C be posted.
 

NY cabby demands $120 after 6-year-old boy barfs in taxi

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In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, author Douglas Adams recommended a towel — always take a towel. I carry a small one in my knapsack along with a spare diaper (not for me), identification documents, an adapter cord to hook my Mac computer up to a projector, computer, and an array of cords.

None of these would help if I was about to barf in a taxi, although a bigger towel may.

The New York Post reports that a Manhattan (not in Kansas) mom became worried sick when her 6-year-old son vomited in the back seat of a taxi — and then even more upset when the crabby cabby called the cops after she refused to pay a whopping $120 cleaning surcharge.

Shamie Cuthbert, 29, said she and son Jacob hopped in the cab near Lincoln Center on Saturday night and were heading home to Washington Heights when the boy said he wasn’t feeling well and threw up.

"I leaned over into the front of the cab and said [to the driver], ‘As soon as we get home, my husband will come down with cleaning products, and I will clean everything up,’ " Cuthbert told The Post.

"I expected [the cabby] to be polite about it. Instead, he went sort of crazy and screamed, ‘This isn’t right! You need to give me $120, or I can’t use my cab! I am going to lose a lot of money today!’ " the stunned mom said.

She said cabby Nahidul Islam, 33, dialed 911 as soon as he pulled up at their building.

As they waited for the cops, Cuthbert began scrubbing the seat with the Seventh Generation cleanser, paper towels and Febreze that her husband had brought down.

"[Islam] was standing there angrily smoking a cigarette while I cleaned the cab," she said. "The mess wasn’t atrocious, and when I was done, it was much cleaner than when we got there."

Police arrived, and an officer informed the driver he could make no demand for $120.

The cabby did not receive a ticket over the incident.

Islam told The Post that Cuthbert merely pushed the mess around and that it would cost $120 to pay a crew of "Mexican cleaners" in Queens who specialize in removing vomit from taxis.

If a New York cab can have video-display advertisements in the back, maybe they can invest in some barf bags – like on airplanes.
 

NYC’s ‘Obama fried chicken’ fails at food safety

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Forget the name: Obama Fried Chicken sucks at food safety.

In 2009, two New York City fast-food joints started calling themselves Obama Fried Chicken, raising concerns about old racial stereotypes. Last week, according to Grub Street, the Harlem Obama Fried Chicken was closed by the Health Department after scoring 115 violation points, almost 100 points past the C grade.

This is how bad a restaurant can do on an inspection:

1) Hot food item not held at or above 140º F.
2) Cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation.
3) Food Protection Certificate not held by supervisor of food operations.
4) Appropriately scaled metal stem-type thermometer or thermocouple not provided or used to evaluate temperatures of potentially hazardous foods during cooking, cooling, reheating and holding.
5) Evidence of rats or live rats present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
6) Live roaches present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.
7) Filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated (FRSA) flies present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas. Filth flies include house flies, little house flies, blow flies, bottle flies and flesh flies. Food/refuse/sewage-associated flies include fruit flies, drain flies and Phorid flies.
8) Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided.
9) Personal cleanliness inadequate. Outer garment soiled with possible contaminant. Effective hair restraint not worn in an area where food is prepared.
10) Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service.
11) Food contact surface not properly washed, rinsed and sanitized after each use and following any activity when contamination may have occurred.
12) Sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored.
13) Facility not vermin proof. Harborage or conditions conducive to attracting vermin to the premises and/or allowing vermin to exist.
14) Covered garbage receptacle not provided or inadequate, except that garbage receptacle may be uncovered during active use. Garbage storage area not properly constructed or maintained; grinder or compactor dirty.
15) Pesticide use not in accordance with label or applicable laws. Prohibited chemical used/stored. Open bait station used.
16) Canned food product observed dented and not segregated from other consumable food items.
17) Non-food contact surface improperly constructed. Unacceptable material used. Non-food contact surface or equipment improperly maintained and/or not properly sealed, raised, spaced or movable to allow accessibility for cleaning on all sides, above and underneath the unit.
18) Food service operation occurring in room used as living or sleeping quarters.
19) Proper sanitization not provided for utensil ware washing operation.
 

Sprouts sicken lots

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Sprouts seem to be making barf in lots of places.

In addition to the 125 confirmed cases in the U.K., both New York and California today issued recalls for poop on sprouts.

The New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets alerted consumers that Essex Farm Inc. located at 120 Essex St. #32 & 33, in New York, New York, is recalling all packages of "Soybean Sprouts" due to the presence of Listeria monocytogenes.

Meanwhile, the California Department of Public Health today warned consumers not to eat Banner Mountain Alfalfa Sprouts because they might be contaminated with salmonella.

Consumers should discard the sprouts or return them to the place of purchase. No illnesses have been associated with the Banner Mountain product at this time, according to the CDPH.

The recalled alfalfa sprouts are packaged in four-ounce, clear, flexible, clamshell plastic containers with green labels containing sell by dates from September 7 to October 8, 2010.
 

Fancy food does not mean safe food, NYC edition

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Grub Street New York reports the city’s No. 1 restaurant, Le Bernardin, featuring celebrity Top Cheferer Eric Ripert (right, not exactly as shown), received 32 demerits (4 points above the C mark) on an inspection last Friday.

General Manager David Mancini says he’s expecting a follow-up on the initial “courtesy inspection” in the next week or two and tells us, “As aggressive as the inspection was, I don’t want to make any comment until they come back and reinspect us, and then I’ll probably have a great deal of comment.”

Failures in the current inspection included:

• cold food item held above 41º F (smoked fish and reduced oxygen packaged foods above 38 ºF) except during necessary preparation;

• raw, cooked or prepared food is adulterated, contaminated, cross-contaminated, or not discarded in accordance with HACCP plan;

• sanitized equipment or utensil, including in-use food dispensing utensil, improperly used or stored; and,

• plumbing not properly installed or maintained, anti-siphonage or backflow prevention device not provided where required; equipment or floor not properly drained, and ssewage disposal system in disrepair or not functioning properly.

Bon appetite.
 

Is it legal to eat a cat in the U.S.?

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Depends on the state, according to Brian Palmer of Slate Magazine.

When police in Western New York pulled over Gary Korkuc for blowing off a stop sign on Sunday, they found a live cat in his trunk, covered in cooking oil, peppers, and salt. Korkuc told authorities that his pet feline was "possessive, greedy, and wasteful" and that he intended to cook and eat it. Korkuc has been charged with animal cruelty. …

Few states have specific laws barring the use of pets for food. The ones that do typically ban the slaughter or sale of dog and cat meat. The state of New York expressly prohibits "any person to slaughter or butcher domesticated dog (canis familiaris) or domesticated cat (felis catus or domesticus) to create food, meat or meat products for human or animal consumption." It’s not clear whether the eating itself is outlawed or only the butchery. If you managed to buy dog or cat flesh from someone else who broke the anti-slaughter law, you might be OK. The law also doesn’t cover ferrets, gerbils, parakeets, or other less familiar pet species. (Although the general anti-cruelty law might protect exotics.)

California’s anti-pet-eating law has a broader reach. It bars possession of the carcass, so having bought your cat steaks from someone else wouldn’t be a useful alibi. The California law also protects "any animal traditionally or commonly kept as a pet or companion," rather than just Fido and Fluffy. The statute is somewhat untested, though, so no one really knows which animals are included.

Pigs are not, even though they are commonly kept as pets, because they are farm animals. Horses are specifically covered by a different section of the code. There’s no precedent on iguanas, goldfish, or boa constrictors. …

Authorities won’t have any trouble prosecuting Korkuc, the Western New Yorker who was marinating his cat in the trunk. Whether or not he really intended to eat his feline, keeping a companion animal in a motor vehicle without proper ventilation is illegal. Rubbing the cat with chili-infused oil, while not specifically addressed, is also a violation of the state’s general cruelty law, which prohibits torture.
 

New York celebrity hot spot La Esquina shut down, again

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Celebrities are a terrible source of information about all things food, and worse when it comes to food safety.

DNAinfo reports the New York City Department of Health closed down taco hot spot La Esquina after a Monday restaurant inspection, marking the celeb-frequented eatery’s second shutdown since May.

La Esquina’s "critical" violations included inadequate refrigeration and holding large amounts of food above maximum temperatures.

In total, the restaurant racked up 64 violation points — well above the 28 necessary to earn a "C" letter grade under the department’s new system.

DNAinfo says that La Esquina’s “secret” underground passageway and cellar level restaurant have helped it earn big name fans including George Clooney, Kate Hudson and Julia Roberts.

But “combustible ceilings and inadequate egress” in those same area’s provoked the Department of Building’s spring shutdown.
 

Industry speaks: Restaurant letter grades are misleading

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Rich Stytzer, state board member and immediate past president of the Westchester/Rockland Chapter of the New York Restaurant Association and vice president of Antun’s of Westchester Catering in Elmsford made the following points in Westfair Online. My comments follow.

“The New York State Restaurant Association (NYSRA) and its members believe food safety is of the utmost importance and take steps every day to educate members and workers about proper food handling techniques. NYSRA holds ServSafe training classes throughout the state to educate members, offers products and materials to train employees and has even lobbied in favor of mandatory foodhandler certifications to better protect its members, the industry and the customers.”

ServSafe is nice but does it really work? Is it as effective as those signs that say, ‘Employees Must Wash Hands?’ And if the industry wanted mandatory foodhandler certifications, it would already exist – for everyone, not just a manager.

“NYSRA’s concerns about this letter-grading legislation lie with the assumption that letter grades are associated with improved compliance by restaurants and will lead to a decline in foodborne illness.”

Those assumptions are full of holes. That’s why I argue restaurant inspection disclosure is really about improving the microbial food safety culture and awareness among patrons and staff. Citizens also have a right to information collected through the tax dollars.

“NYSRA believes educating operators, rather than fining or publicly humiliating them, is a better course of action.”

How, where and when will this ‘better education’ happen?

“The idea of using letter grades for restaurant inspections is not widely accepted as a means to improve cleanliness or as an inspection method at all. In 1993, the Food and Drug Administration removed scoring from the model food code citing problems with the system.”

No one said letter grades is an inspection method, and if they did, they were wrong. Grades are a tool to promote food safety issues and awareness.

“As recently as 2008, the FDA was asking for research to evaluate and assess scoring methodologies. The national trend among the majority of public health professionals generally has been to avoid the use of scores or grades, which are considered to be misleading and inaccurate.”

We’ve been doing the research. Got a reference for that statement about the majority of public health types, or are you just speaking on their behalf?

“In a 2004 study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it was concluded after studying more than 167,000 restaurant inspection reports, that there was no difference in average letter grades given to restaurants experiencing outbreaks compared to those that were not.”

Like any study, there were limitations. Restaurant inspection disclosure is about enhancing the food safety conversation throughout the public and with food service staff. Our own research (in press) has found embarrassment to be a powerful motivator among restaurant managers.

For those still wondering, here’s a review paper discussing the pros and cons of disclosure systems.

Filion, K. and Powell, D.A. 2009. The use of restaurant inspection disclosure systems as a means of communicating food safety information. Journal of Foodservice 20: 287-297.

Abstract??The World Health Organization estimates that up to 30% of individuals in developed countries become ill from food or water each year. Up to 70% of these illnesses are estimated to be linked to food prepared at foodservice establishments. Consumer confidence in the safety of food prepared in restaurants is fragile, varying significantly from year to year, with many consumers attributing foodborne illness to foodservice. One of the key drivers of restaurant choice is consumer perception of the hygiene of a restaurant. Restaurant hygiene information is something consumers desire, and when available, may use to make dining decisions.