Food safety should not be faith-based (but often is)

Posted on April 28, 2015 by Douglas Powell

As hundreds pray for the revival of Blue Bell ice cream in Texas, Cross Pointe, Ohio, Free Will Baptist Church Pastor Bill Pitts spoke of the mundane moments in life during his April 19 sermon.

Little did he know that life would soon become anything but mundane as a botulism outbreak was set to strike and kill one church member and sicken others after a potluck lunch.

“There’s always one defining moment in our lifetime,” Pitts said. “And that defining moment will determine the rest of our future and how we handle the rest of our future, if we’re going to trust God or we don’t during that time. So it seems like it was almost a preparation for what was going to happen 15 minutes later.”

The Ohio Department of Health said Monday that home-canned potatoes in a potato salad are the likely cause of the botulism outbreak that led to Kennetha “Kim” Shaw’s death. There are 20 other confirmed cases and 10 suspected cases.

Pitts said there are still church members who are in critical but stable condition, while others are improving and going home.

Pitts said he never imagined something like botulism breaking out in Lancaster or the church, and he said it was unprecedented.

“We have to understand that, since things have happened, I personally believe, according to Scripture, that death came because of sin. So instead of me really questioning God, getting mad at God, I need to get mad at the sin that’s in the world and make the world better, rather than what sin has done to it.”

Death and illness came because of botulism, because someone didn’t know what they were doing, and had nothing to do with sin.

Believe fairytales if you like.

Canned potatoes used in potato salad likely culprit in botulism outbreak

Posted on April 27, 2015 by Ben Chapman

Home canning is not something to mess around with. Low acid foods need to be processed using a pressure canner to inactivate Clostridium botulinum spores – boiling water baths (like what is used for pickles and jams) won’t do it.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, home-canned potatoes used in potato salad are the likely vehicle that caused over 20 illnesses and a death last week in Ohio.

State health officials say this afternoon that potato salad made with home-canned potatoes is the likely source of a deadly botulism outbreak at a Lancaster church potluck.

Last week, the Ohio Department of Health said tests showed that six food samples taken from the April 19th potluck had tested positive for botulism.

Sietske de Fijter, chief of the Bureau of Infectious Diseases for the state, said health officials were able to narrow the likely food culprits by interviewing nearly everyone who became ill – as well as those who didn’t – at the potluck.

Case-control study is the next step to confirm.

No real answers in Ohio botulism outbreak yet

Posted on April 24, 2015 by Ben Chapman

With 20 confirmed cases, nine others showing symptoms, and the tragic death of Kim Shaw, lots of questions remain in the botulism outbreak linked to a potluck dinner at Cross Pointe Free Will Baptist Church. Like what food led to the illnesses? And preliminary analysis, according to the Columbus Dispatch, isn’t conclusive.

Twenty cases of botulism have been confirmed among those who attended the potluck at the Cross Pointe Free Will Baptist Church on Sunday, said Ohio Department of Health spokeswoman Michelle LoParo.

The foods that have preliminarily tested positive for botulism were three samples of potato salad, one sample of potato salad with egg, one sample of spaghetti pasta salad and one sample of macaroni and cheese, LoParo said.

The food samples, however, were taken from trash bags where other food was mixed in, likely resulting in cross-contamination, she said. Investigators will continue to try to pinpoint the source, LoParo said.

The state received more than 20 food-related samples from the Fairfield Department of Health, said Matt Giljahn, a spokesman for the state health department. The foods included home-canned items: beets, vegetable soup and two samples of pears.

Awful: Ohio botulism outbreak up to 24 cases

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Ben Chapman

There still are not a whole lot of details on what went wrong on Sunday at the Cross Pointe Free Will Baptist Church in Lancaster, Ohio. With the death of a 54-year-old woman an additional 23 folks hospitalized and on ventilators, this is a big deal. According to the Columbus Dispatch, a food vehicle has not yet been identified.

The person who died at a church potluck on Sunday in Lancaster has been identified as a 54-year-old woman, a spokeswoman for Fairfield Medical Center said at a noon press conference.

Everyone at the potluck has been personally contacted by health officials. In addition to the 23 people being treated for symptoms, others are under observation.

The botulism anti-toxin was requested at 10 a.m. yesterday, immediately after the illness was identified, said Dr. Andrew Murry, an infectious-diseases doctor at the Lancaster hospital. It arrived about midnight.

“We feel like it came and was administered in an appropriate time frame,” Murry said.

If administered within four days of infection, the anti-toxin can reduce the symptoms and length of the illness, he said.

Giving it to the dead woman sooner would not have saved her because she was so critically ill, he said.

“These people are really ill, and any time you’re on a ventilator for that amount of time, things could go badly,” he said.

‘It’s a macho thing’ Inspecting the inspectors in Ohio

Posted on March 29, 2015 by Douglas Powell

Friend of the barfblog, Pete Snyder, president of Snyder HACCP, a food safety consulting firm near St. Paul, Minn., told WCPO Cincinnati, “The food code is supposed to be uniform everywhere, but it’s only as uniform as the local inspector.”

Differences in the restaurant population accounts for much of the variation between jurisdictions, but Snyder said some departments are just more aggressive than others.

“There’s always been in the 30 years I’ve been teaching this macho thing. They rate themselves based on how many deficiencies they find.”

When the city of Sharonville shut down its health department at the end of 2014, food inspection scores dramatically improved at Currie’s Indian restaurant on Lebanon Road.

Hamilton County’s Public Health Department, which took over restaurant inspections for Sharonville this year, cited three violations in a Feb. 12 visit to Curries and no violations on Feb. 24. That’s a far cry from the 24 violations cited by Sharonville inspectors Nov. 19. Or the 23 violations that followed in two December visits.

Sharonville inspectors “didn’t like anything,” said Hiral Agrawal, owner of the buffet-style restaurant that has operated in Sharonville Plaza for four years. “They were trying to give me a hard time.”

Sharonville Mayor Kevin Hardman said he wasn’t familiar with Curries’ enforcement history, but he doesn’t recall any complaints about the city’s food inspectors being too aggressive.

Hardman said the dismantling of the city’s health department was “largely a budgetary move” that city council approved Dec. 16. But the performance of the food safety program is one of the factors that made it hard to gain support for the idea.

A WCPO analysis of inspection records from five local health departments shows Agrawal’s account may not be an isolated incident. Inspection results can vary widely by department.

City of Cincinnati inspectors, for example, wrote an average of 1,355 violations in 2014, three times more than those in Warren County. Clermont County inspectors averaged 8.2 violations for every facility they inspected, more than double Warren County’s rate.

This year’s Dirty Dining database has 37,432 violations observed by 42 inspectors at 5,852 food establishments. That’s up from last year’s total of 32,474 violations at 5,579 locations. In 2013, we tracked 33,334 violations at 5,022 facilities.

Goats killed by Listeria in Ohio, family says city water system to blame

Posted on August 19, 2014 by Douglas Powell

A grandmother in Crooksville said two of her grandson’s prized goats were killed by Listeria and she blames the city’s water system for it.

Kim Burkhart said her veterinarian told her the goats came down with the disease from contaminated soil. There’s a Crooksville pump station on the edge of her property. She said the soil samples showed high levels of E coli that she said is coming from a leak at the pump station.

“We hear story upon story upon story and we’re tired of stories,” Burkhart said. “All we want is, if it’s (the city’s) situation, we want it fixed.”

Her grandson was raising the goats as part of a 4H project. The boy had hoped to show one of the goats at the Perry County Fair. “When he actually saw they had died, it was devastating to him,” she said. “We didn’t know what to say to him. We all cried.”

Parents in Ohio say their kids not allowed to wash hands at school

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Douglas Powell

First thing I do when a kid is checked into a new daycare or school is check out the handwashing facilities. Proper handwashing requires access to proper tools: vigorously running water, soap and paper towels.

Sorenne says at her kindergarten (prep here) she always washes her hands, uses soap, but because there is only blow driers she often dries her hands on her clothes (blow driers suck, the friction from wiping with paper towel provides an extra level of safety).

Too often, hypocrites preach about the importance of handwashing without checking to ensure the tools are available.

Two parents of students attending separate Toledo Public elementary schools in Ohio say their children are not being allowed to wash their hands after using the restroom, an allegation the school district denies.

Holly, who has two kids that attend East Broadway Elementary School, said she was surprised when her children told her that they couldn’t wash their hands while at school. “They told me they are only allowed to put hand sanitizer on twice a day after we use the bathroom,” said Holly.

The mother shared the information with her sister, Heather, who has a fourth grader enrolled at Burroughs Elementary.

Heather’s son told her that while at school he had witnessed another boy walk to the sink to wash his hands after using the restroom. The boy was stopped by a school staff member who called him over, squirted hand sanitizer in his hand, and walked away, according to Heather’s son.

When asked if they were sure of what their children were alleging, the women said that their kids have always been honest about what goes on at school.

Toledo Public Schools denies that students are prohibited from washing their hands. In an email to WNWO, TPS spokesperson Patty Mazur wrote, “Teachers take students to the bathroom as a class and then watch as students exit the restroom and wash their hands. If a student didn’t wash their hands properly, they are asked by their teacher to re-wash.”

Despite the response from TPS, Heather remains convinced that her son is not allowed to wash his hands while at school. “It needs to be addressed, ” she said. “This is disgusting. It makes me wonder if this is why my child has been sick so much this year.”
TPS said it holds hand-washing classes for elementary school students at the beginning of the year. Signs are posted in the restrooms reminding students to wash their hands after they use the bathroom.

Dozens hit by illness at health worker convention

Posted on September 19, 2013 by Douglas Powell

I can’t count the number of times I’ve been served raw sprouts at some food safety function. Or departmental meeting involving science types who should know better.

Preaching and practice are different things, I guess.

Erie County Health Department officials in Ohio are still running tests and going through questionnaires in an effort to learn what made dozens of people sick at a conference of health workers last week at Sawmill Creek Resort in Huron.

At last count, 44 people reported becoming sick during a Creative Health Care Management convention that drew about 300 people Tuesday through Friday to Sawmill Creek.

The sudden onset of the illnesses led to the theory that the illness might have been caused by a norovirus, health officials said.

79 sick, 1 dead from E. coli in Ohio; no idea where it came from

Posted on August 25, 2012 by Douglas Powell

Several factors hampered investigators’ efforts to determine where the E. coli O157 outbreak originated, said Bill Wharton, spokesman for Public Health – Dayton & Montgomery County. The investigation is finished, he said.

“This was an extensive investigation that involved many segments of our department,” Wharton said. “It was as thorough and as complete an investigation as we’ve ever done.”

The outbreak was linked to a July 3 customer appreciation picnic at Neff’s Lawn Care in German Twp. More than 300 people attended the event, and many carried in food to share.

A statistical analysis of data from 117 interviews of people who attended and ate at the picnic did not conclusively link any of the meat items served to the outbreak, investigators said.

Burger King fires Ohio employee in lettuce photo posted online

Posted on July 18, 2012 by Douglas Powell

The employee at an Ohio Burger King who posted a photo of him/herself standing in tubs of lettuce to anonymous Internet playground 4chan with the caption "This is the lettuce you eat at Burger King," has been fired.

Burger King’s Manager of Global Communications, Denise Wilson, sent Fox 8 News the following statement:

“Burger King Corp. has recently been made aware of a photo posted on a social networking site that allegedly shows a Burger King® restaurant employee violating the company’s stringent food handling procedures. Food safety is a top priority at all Burger King® restaurants and the company maintains a zero-tolerance policy against any violations such as the one in question.

“The restaurant where this photo was allegedly taken is independently-owned and operated by a Burger King® franchisee. The franchisee has taken swift action to investigate this matter and terminated the employee involved in this incident.”

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