Tag Archives: Poop

Please, wash your hands first

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I was camping out at Yellowstone last weekend, trying hard to synchronize my food safety concerns and the limited resources of a campsite.

We arrived early morning, started setting up the tent and unloading the truck when I popped open a bag of mini rice cakes. The three boys I was camping with (shown at the left) quickly joined to share the treat.

I starred wide-eyed when I saw their dirty hands digging into the food. No offense to the guys but, I knew there wasn’t soap in the bathroom of the campsite, which doesn’t really matter, because they probably went in the woods anyways. In conclusion, there was most likely no hand washing before digging in.

I didn’t want to be a food safety geek, and I wasn’t going to start acting like all of their moms, so I sucked it up, looked the other way, and kept eating.

Luckily we all survived the trip safely.

Today a news story was published about 20 people getting sick at a wedding reception in Minnesota after eating from a bowl of chips. The chips were contaminated with norovirus, possibly spread through poop.

Ok next time, I promised myself, I will be that geeky mom and order everyone around to wash their hands before sticking them into that bowl of chips.

Texas: Crypto suspect in child’s death

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6-year-old Rosemary Stagaman of Richardson died last Tuesday morning in Dallas County.  Health officials believe that the death was due to a cryptosporidium infection, but the medical examiner is still waiting on toxicology tests to determine the exact cause of her death.  Her family says she tested positive for crypto after swimming in the Greenwood Hills Community Pool.

Tests will take 10 days to confirm whether cryptosporidium played a part in the child’s death. If it is related, it would be the first death from the waterborne illness in recent memory.

Since June 2008, Dallas County has confirmed 41 cases of crypto. The crypto outbreak in the area began at Burger’s Lake in Fort Worth.  Tarrant County has reported 81 cases of crypto, with 67 of them coming from Burger’s Lake.

All 30 pools of the YMCA of Metro Dallas, along with the city pools, were temporarily closed and hyperchlorinated in an attempt to wipe out the nasty parasite.

Experts are unsure of why there’s been a spike in outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis in recent years.  It could be due to poor hygiene standards practiced by parents.

The crypto parasite has a thick outer shell, making it resistant to normal levels of chlorine.  Available treatments include hyperchlorination and UV filters.  Crypto enters the pool through fecal matter and the infection is especially dangerous to the young an the elderly, as well as the immunocompromised.  Swimmers should wash their hands with warm soap water and also take a shower before entering the pool and after using the bathroom.

Topeka, KS: Poop in Lake Shawnee

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Lake Shawnee in Topeka, Kansas recently had a code brown: poop in the lake.  Lakes with swimming areas should have a safe policy in place, but two year lifeguard Gray Botswell was told to go into the water and retrieve the fecal matter with his bare hands.  When he refused, he was asked to go home and not to return. Girlfriend Kristen Whithorn who has been a lifeguard at the lake for four years also walked off the job after she was told that she couldn’t speak to media about her boyfriend’s incident.

It sounds like there was no proper policy in place, so the guys in charge decided that the lifeguards would just have to take care of the problem.  However, removing fecal matter with bare hands isn’t ideal. It’s much better to try to protect the hands somehow or to fish out the poop with a scoop.

The director of parks and recs for Shawnee County, John Knight, says that a new policy is in place for lifeguards at Lake Shawnee if poop is found in the lake again.  The lake water has been tested for E. coli but results have not been released.

Public beaches on the coast are often tested for fecal coliforms and E. coli.  Both are indicator organisms of the presence of harmful bacteria in the water.  If the levels of bacteria are too high, the swimming area may be closed for a period of time.  But the same system does not exist for many lakes with swimming areas.

When swimming in lakes, oceans or rivers, children should not drink the water they are swimming in.  There is the possibility of human fecal matter and also wildlife fecal matter in the water.

See and Tell restaurant inspection: Waiter, I see a fly and in soup and I’m telling (and texting)

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Croydon Today in the U.K. reports,

The See and Tell service, launched this month, enables people to text the Croydon Council’s food safety team with concerns about food safety or labelling issues – in restaurants, shops or takeaways.

There are 2,600 food businesses in Croydon, from takeaways to supermarkets.

Brian Griffiths, manager of the council’s food safety team, said,

“There are various levels of action we can take, but in the worst case scenario we can go in and close a place down on the spot. We rely heavily on customers tipping us off and this new text service will make it all the easier. If you find a hair in your soup you can literally text us from the restaurant table and we’ll come and investigating.

“Sometimes I’ve opened bins at the back of restaurants and seen the meat moving because there were so many maggots on it. And at the moment we’re dealing with a mice infestation at a high street store which sells food. It is really important we get to hear from residents about these sorts of things so we can go in and take the appropriate action.”

The move to enlist citizen diners seems like another expansion of social networking – the power’s with the people.

The city of Chicago has started encouraging Chicagoans who believe that a restaurant or any other licensed food establishment is operating in an unsafe manner to call 311 and report it.

Back in Feb. 2005, customers with cameras in South Korea were reported photographing any violation of food safety standards and reporting it to authorities.

The sikparazzi — a combination of the word sik, meaning food, and paparazzi — are, however, good news for the authorities.

The Korean Food and Drug Administration said 10,567 food safety violations were reported in the first nine months of 2004, and 74.2 million won ($118,624) paid in rewards, reported the Joong Ang Daily.

So lucrative is it to be a sikparazzi in South Korea that at least one private institute runs courses to train people for the job.

There have also been allegations that the sikparazzi sometimes contaminate the food themselves and then demand compensation, threatening to report it.

Mr Griffiths in Croydon also advised people to go to their GP if they think they have got food poisoning and give a poo sample, stating,

“The proof is in the poop and if people give a sample it can be used as evidence, which helps us wrap things up much easier if we get an allegation of food poisoning.”

Follow the poop. Everything comes down to poo.

Give these cows some dried prunes

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Cow patty bingo, an American Red Cross fundraiser, had to be rescheduled to August 16 after two cows failed to poop. The cows wandered the bingo grid behind the third-base bleachers for 2 1/2 hours, but didn’t leave any patties behind, said Suzanne Phillips, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross in Burlington.

I was visiting a close friend about a week ago and he sent me to the store to get some “poop pills” – a bag of dried prunes. He eats about 4 or 5 each morning while reading the paper. 

His mother is another constipation victim of the family. She was telling me she cannot afford to skip her daily “poopy shake”– a mixture of 8 different types of fiber that she mixes with orange juice. She eats a ton of fruits and vegetables, and has a wide variety of natural laxatives in the medicine cabinet. This is the most impressive one here (in Spanish, sorry)


Maybe these cows could call my friend or his mom for some advice.

Read the story at: the times news

Arizona: Phoenix pool closures due to Cryptosporidium

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Phoenix city officials have announced that all city pools will be closed after reports of 35 people who swam at Starlight Pool, including 14 from the pool staff, developing symptoms of cryptosporidium.

The city of Phoenix says that while the water at all of its pools has been tested and "has continued to meet all water quality standards," it is taking extra precautions.  To treat the pools, parks staff is super-chlorinating all of the pools to a level of 40 parts per million of chlorine and maintaining that level of chlorine for 40 hours. The Centers for Disease Control recommends 20 parts per million, but the City of Phoenix is using 40 parts per million to be safe.

Last summer Utah suffered an outbreak of cryptosporidium.  Colorado has also suffered outbreaks.  Hopefully this summer’s outbreak will be quickly contained and taken care of to avoid large numbers of sickness.

And of course, when using the bathroom at the pool, always wash your hands.

Draper’s diaperless daughter poops in Stanley Cup

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Amy watched all of hockey’s Stanley Cup finals this year. After 6 years at the University of Michigan she became something of a Detroit Red Wings fan. We had the games on in background for most of our Quebec trip earlier this year – although fell asleep before the start of the third overtime in game 5.

The Stanley Cup is awarded to the victor of each National Hockey League season, and is the only trophy in professional sports that has the name of the winning players, coaches, management, and club staff engraved on it. Red Wings forward Kris Draper has now added to the tales surrounding the travels of Lord Stanley’s Cup.

His daughter pooped in the Stanley Cup.

While visiting his native Toronto last month, Draper’s diaperless baby, Kamryn, did a number (2) in the Cup.

"A week after we won it, I had my newborn daughter in there, and she pooped in the Cup. That was something. We had a pretty good laugh. I still drank out of it that night, so no worries."

Don’t drink poop.

Dane Cook in trouble for dog poop

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Dane Cook recently spent time in a Beverly Hills courthouse fighting allegations that his mini-Pinscher, named Beast, poops all over his apartment complex.  The management of La Fontaine in West Hollywood took the comedian to court to have him evicted on grounds that he was not properly cleaning up after his dog.

"Neither he nor his girlfriend pick up after the dog," said a source.  "They’ve sent him three notices so far over the last year warning him he’ll be evicted, and they have video. The neighbors all hate him."

Cook’s rep, Ina Treciokas, told the press in April: “Dane vigorously denies the allegations in the complaint and is looking forward to complete vindication through the legal proceedings.”

On Tuesday, the building manager took the stand and told the court that the actor is a serial offender, despite the signs in the gardens warning against animals pooping on the lawn.  He also said he noticed "recurring small black poop being left behind in the backyard."  The manager is alleged to have video footage of Cook’s pooch committing the offense.
 
Cook faced a trial by jury and he was found guilty 11-1.  His landlord can now officially evict him.

Dog poop contains common pathogens such as tapeworms, roundworms, cryptosporidium, salmonella, e.coli, and many others.  The owners should always  and after picking up dog poop hands should always be washed.

Scooping Poop

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“Pick up your dogs’ droppings.”

I’ve seen the street signs for years, but I always thought it was the yuck factor.   As I’ve grown up and gone through high school biology, I’ve learned that it’s not just the yuck factor, it’s also the sick factor.  Dog waste on the sidewalk is a significant contributing factor to the spread many disease, bacteria and protozoa.  Some of the common pathogens are tapeworms, roundworms, cryptosporidium, salmonella, e.coli, parvovirus and many others.

One of the worst culprits is the tapeworm.  They are the single most common infection transmitted by discarded dog poop in United States.
Tapeworms are caused by the ingestion of flea larvae, but also can be caused if an owner tracks flea larvae-contaminated dog poo into the house and a pet is exposed.  In the veterinary clinic I work at during the summers, tapeworms are commonly referred to as rice worms.  They’re easily treated with flea preventative and tapeworm treatment, but even more easily prevented by properly disposing of animal poop.

Doggie doo is also an environmental pollutant.  If the waste is not picked up it will run into the sewers with the rain.  This leads to contaminated streams and seawater.

According to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, Americans owned 68 million dogs in 2000, and 40% of these dogs were large dogs over 40 pounds.  This adds up to a large mess if owners don’t clean up after their pets.

Pet poop is a problem, but what’s the solution?  Many cities have laws concerning scooping poo.  Most states will issue a ticket ranging from $25 to $200 for leaving a dog’s business on the sidewalk.  Australia has even gone so far as to have their own plain clothes poop police approaching irresponsible owners to change their behavior.

How do we take care of it?  Common recommendations are to carry a “doggie doo-doo” sack along when taking a pet out for a walk.  Using flea preventative will help prevent a pet from developing tapeworms from ingesting any flea larvae on their own skin, but they are still susceptible to flea larvae in the environment.  Annual distemper/parovirus vaccinations from a licensed veterinarian will help protect dogs from parvovirus, which is spread through fecal material.

Most importantly, wash your hands after picking up animal waste.  Otherwise get ready for those tapeworms.

Michelle Mazur: Punching the clock to go poop at work

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Pooping is a natural phenomenon, but what happens when you have to go at work?  I was quite surprised that many people on the Internet seem to have strong options about this issue.  For example, a humorous email forward has been circulating around the Internet for a few years concerning how to poop at work.  There are also quite a few YouTube opinions about the issue.

No matter what method or etiquette is used, it simply must be done during the workday.  That leaves many wondering, how much time and money is spent doing your business in the bathroom?  Workpoop.com is a website that offers a handy calculator to help calculate a person’s annual earnings from pooping at work.

But not everyone is on board with being paid to poop.  Recently, Brown Brothers, a meat company based in Dumfriesshire, Scotland, has received quite a bit of bad press about their new bathroom policy.  The meat company supplying Tesco has been accused of "Dickensian employment practices" by making workers clock off when they go the toilet.

The Unite union is now calling on Tesco to intervene to stamp out the practice at Brown Brothers.  The company insists anyone wanting to be excused from the system has to provide medical evidence, the union added.

BBC reports the policy was part of a special pay deal agreed with workers and unions to ensure production ran smoothly. Staff received extra money as part of the pay deal which was aimed at focusing toilet breaks at set times of the day.

But employees are less than thrilled.  “We have to clock out, take off our wellies, overalls and hairnets, we have to run up stairs, have to come back in get dressed again,” one employee told the BBC.

One organization seems to be doing the exact opposite; they’ll pay people to poop.  The Environmental Studies Program at Oberlin College held an event last fall entitled the “Low on Cash, High in Fiber Bash.”  Participants earned 25 cents for every time they “donated” to the cause.

Paid to poop or otherwise, wash your hands.