Frogs in frozen food and on Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga’s outfits are getting wonkier and wonkier. This week’s creation involved a disturbing violation of Kermit the Frog (pictured, right). Equally as wonky, a Texas woman found a dead frog (or most of it, pictured below) in a bag of frozen vegetables, reports KLTV 7.

Chasity Erbaugh was heating up a Great Value brand of steamable green beans – making lunch for her kids when she discovered a nasty surprise.

Erabaugh explained,

"Thank goodness I had put butter in the bottom of the bowl. I went to stir it and there’s this brown clump."

After a close examination, Erbaugh was sick to her stomach at what she discovered. The "brown clump" was part of a frog… She found the whole front end of a frog, with the spinal cord and everything attached, in her green beans. The frog’s tongue was even hanging out.

Shocked, she said,
 
"That’s a frog! Or worse than that, it’s part of a frog – 75% of it. They didn’t even give me the frog legs with it."

Chasity bought the beans from the Walmart on Troup Highway. We gave the lot numbers to the health department, and Monday afternoon, they had the store pull the rest of the bags from that lot.

Brenda Elrod with the Northeast Texas Public Health District, said,

"What we try to do is coordinate with the manufacturer inspectors to make sure we can track it from our store back to the factory where it was made and back to the lot.”

Since being made aware of the incident, a Food and Drug officer is now sending the complaint up to the FDA.

"When you’re washing field vegetables, you’re going to get certain little pieces and parts, but we certainly don’t want something so large you can identify what it is."

As for Erbaugh, she says from now on, it’s fresh veggies only.

 

Snails, cilantro and Salmonella

Look kids, the snails are back.

And with the rain in Kansas this year, they haven’t really left.

Amy took this picture of our cilantro yesterday afternoon in between thunderstorms. And snails can carry any number of diseases and pathogens.

That’s probably not what’s going on with the cilantro distributed by Sweet Superior Fruit LTD of McAllen, Texas, that was recalled on the weekend after U.S. Food and Drug Administration testing found Salmonella in cilantro sold from July 13 to 16 in 15-pound black plastic crates.

Initially announced Saturday night, company types weren’t answering the phone on Monday.

The Monitor reports that while the source of the cilantro has not been disclosed, the produce was most likely grown in Mexico. A sign above the company‘s facility advertises Mexican-grown products.

Just where the 104 15-pound crates of cilantro ended up remains unclear. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Monday that it could not provide a list of what restaurants or retailers might have bought the leafy green because most of the purchases at Sweet Superior Fruit LTD. were made with cash. It also did not say how much of the produce had been sold.
 

Cilantro recalled after Salmonella test; no one sick

Fresh herbs are particularly prone to bacterial contamination: parsley, basil, and especially cilantro.

Sweet Superior Fruit Co, based in McAllen, Texas, announced Saturday it is recalling 104 crates of fresh cilantro over concerns of possible salmonella contamination discovered through testing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The company says no illnesses have been reported.

The company said the potentially contaminated cilantro was sold July 13-16 at its McAllen facility. Sweet Superior Fruit said it may have been sold again by retail outlets in the McAllen area or used to manufacture additional products.

Sweet Superior Fruit is urging companies to try to recall the product and telling consumers to return it or throw it away.
 

The Little Couple sanitizes their hands

On last night’s episode of the Little Couple, Tuesday nights on TLC, Dr. Jennifer Arnold and her husband, Bill Klein, showed the world clips of their every day lives: honey-do lists, visiting another little person, and giving speeches. The most interesting moments, in my opinion, were the hand hygiene opportunities.

Dr. Arnold works at Texas Children’s hospital as the Medical Director of Pediatric Simulation Center and Neonatologist in Texas Children’s Newborn Center. After seeing a patient, who was prematurely born, Dr. Arnold used an alcohol based hand sanitizer to clean her hands. I was very proud that TLC did not edit this content out. It is important for healthcare workers to wash/sanitize their hands before and after patient contact.

The next scene was of Bill cleaning up dog urine; I like to believe TLC chose to edit his handwashing out. Handwashing is necessary after bathroom use and after cleaning up others’ (including dogs) bathroom mess.

Texas peanut plant closed after Salmonella possibly found

"It is clear that Peanut Corp. of America is not a producer that companies could — or can — rely on for a safe product.”

That’s what Seattle lawyer Bill Marler said after private lab tests show there may have been salmonella at a second plant operated by PCA in Plainview, Texas.

The Texas Department of Health said in a statement the plant temporarily closed Monday night at the request of health officials after the tests found "the possible presence of salmonella" in some of its products.

The Texas closing comes a day after the FBI raided the company’s plant in Georgia, hauling off boxes and other material. Agents executed search warrants at both the plant and at Peanut Corp.’s headquarters in Lynchburg, Va., according to a senior congressional aide with knowledge of the raids.

Also today, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control upped the sick form Salmonella numbers to 600 in 44 states, along with at least eight deaths.
 

Restaurant that served contaminated food to police chief closed

MyFox Austin reports that a Central Texas restaurant has closed its kitchen for good. The decision was made after two cooks there were arrested for serving tainted food to the Burnet Police Chief. Last month, Jaime Perez,23, was arrested on a felony charge of contaminating food.

Police say he and another cook, James Ledesma, rubbed two hamburger buns in inappropriate areas, then spit in the burger and served it to police chief Paul Nelson.

 A video report is available at:
http://www.myfoxaustin.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7823308&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.1.1
 

Safest food in the world alert: Texas edition

Todd Staples, the Agriculture Commissioner for the great state of Texas, has decided to alienate 488 Texas voters suffering from Salmonella Saintpaul inspired diarrhea that,

“Texans can be assured that we continue to enjoy the safest food supply in the world.”

Staples also finds it necessary to remind Texans that,

“Consumers should always properly wash and prepare all food items, as this is a basic part of family food safety.”

Except this outbreak, from all available evidence, is not a consumer issue, unless people in 43 states are all mishandling produce in the same manner.

Praise the Lord and pass the guacamole

WFAA-TV reports that La Calle Doce, a restaurant in Dallas, don’t need no stinking FDA advisory.

“Despite the FDA advisory, the restaurant has not stopped serving tomatoes.
Jesus Sanchez, the restaurant’s owner, said, "We’re making sure that everything we serve is thoroughly washed.” …

Anita Bivens, another diner at the restaurant, said,

"As a Christian, you just pray over your food and you just trust that God is going to provide and take care of you.”

Individuals should be free to believe and do what they want – with caveats about harming others.

But not a restaurant.

Shiga toxin kills child, sickens five others in Texas

Health officials are reporting that shiga toxin — and that often means E. coli O157:H7 but that has not been confirmed in this case — has sickened at least six people in Texas. Three of the cases were children and one of those children died.

Most of the cases were reported in Bastrop County.

Doug McBride, spokesperson for the Texas Department of State Health Services, said,

"The bacteria that can produce this shiga toxin typically live in the intestines of animals, so the origin is usually going to be related to fecal matter from animal waste. … What’s unusual about this is to have six cases within a few days and in a relatively small geographical area."

Health official are awaiting the results of lab tests to identify a specific bacteria.