August 2005

Janet Helm of the Chicago Tribune reports that each year 76 million Americans suffer from food-borne illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Though most cases are mild – a day or two of stomach upset – it can be serious for children, the elderly, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems.
Take our quiz to test your food safety IQ. Find out if your’e following the most up-to-date advice to prevent foodborne illness, or if your’e making some risky food-safety mistakes.
1. You forgot to take that package of steaks out of the freezer for tonight’s dinner. What’s your best option for safe thawing?
A. Microwave it
B. Run under hot water
C. Leave out on the kitchen counter
2. You’re firing up the grill to make your famous chicken kabobs for an impromptu party. Do you wash the chicken first?Continue Reading What you don’t know could make you sick

Leigh Hopper of the Houston Chronicle reports that Marvin Zindler, the 84-year-old newscaster famous, according to this story, for turning restaurant inspections into a dramatic staple of Channel 13’s evening news is not a fan of the city’s new online reports.
Launched Wednesday, the Web site (www.houstonhealth.org) offers a snapshot of a restaurant’s operations observed during unannounced inspections. And like a snapshot, the image isn’t always flattering.
For example, upscale Tony Mandola’s Gulf Coast Kitchen on West Gray was cited for 12 violations during a May 27 visit. Problems found included “Ice for consumer use being dispensed by the consumer,” “Kitchenware … not washed, rinsed and sanitized” and “Food … not protected from cross-contamination.”
Some phrases for serious restaurant violations that could impact your health, and what they mean:Continue Reading City’s restaurant inspection reports finally online

According to the Mayo Clinic, bacteria, viruses and other infectious organisms live everywhere. You can find them in the air; on food, plants and animals; in the soil and in the water; and on just about every other surface — including your own body. They range in size from microscopic single-cell organisms to parasitic worms that can grow to several feet in length.
Most of these organisms (microbes) won’t harm you. But others can cause infection. Your immune system protects you against an abundance of these infectious agents, and at times, it’s a tough task. Viruses and bacteria are cunning adversaries, constantly seeking new ways to breach your immune system’s defenses.
But you can give your immune system a fighting chance by understanding a little bit about the various kinds of microbes, what you can do to avoid infection and under what circumstances you should seek medical care.Continue Reading From bacteria to parasites: Understanding the germs that cause infection

According to a FSIS News Release, when students pack up for college, they make sure to take along the basics – TV, laptop, MP3 player and cell phone. Many students will also arrive at school with a microwave oven, tabletop grill, mini-fridge and toaster-oven in tow. Most students, however, don’t know there are food safety considerations that need to be taken into account when cooking with these appliances.
“Students face many rigors while studying for a college education and they often eat whenever and wherever it is convenient,” said USDA Under Secretary for Food Safety Dr. Richard Raymond. “But when it comes to safely preparing meals, many college kids simply don’t know what it takes to make the grade in food safety and far too many could end up with a foodborne illness.”
USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service offers tips to students and consumers on how to prevent foodborne illness. The USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline regularly responds to calls from students with questions about how to safely cook and prepare foods while away at school.Continue Reading Food safety 101: USDA offers food safety tips for college students

In a recent CanWest News story, Joe Schwarcz asks “what are you more worried about eating, beef from a hamburger joint or a sandwich made with alfalfa sprouts at your local health food emporium?”
Scientifically, this is a “no contest.” I know what you’re thinking. Eat beef and risk mad cow disease. Or, eat beef and risk E. coli 0157:H7. After all, didn’t 120 or so people die in England from mad cow disease? And what about the four children who died from eating tainted hamburgers in the famous “Jack In The Box” episode in 1993? Yes, both of these are awful numbers. But the chance of any individual being affected is extremely low. In England, two million infected cows ended up in the food stream and that resulted in about 10 deaths a year. In Canada we are talking about one cow that never ended up in the food system. As far as the Jack In The Box episode goes, the meat wasn’t properly cooked. That’s it. Cooking hamburger to an internal temperature of about 70 degrees Celsius eliminates the risk of bacterial contamination.
Now let’s turn to those sprouts that adorn many a salad and sandwich in places that feature so-called health foods. The largest recorded case of E. coli 0157:H7 infection in history had nothing to do with meat. It had to do with radish sprouts. In 1996 in Japan 6,000 people became sick and 17 died from eating raw radish sprouts. Can you imagine the publicity this would have garnered if meat had been involved? And it doesn’t only happen in Japan. In the US since 1995, 15 outbreaks of Salmonella infection and two of E. coli 0157:H7 have been associated with sprouts.Continue Reading The Right Chemistry: Mad cows and sprouts

Debra Goldschmidt of CNN reports that more than 2,000 people in 24 New York counties have shown symptoms of a gastrointestinal illness traced to a water attraction at the Seneca Lake State Park in upstate New York, state health officials said Monday.
State and private laboratories have confirmed 39 cases of cryptosporidiosis, a diarrheal disease caused by the parasite cryptosporidium, said Robert Kenny, spokesman for the New York State Department of Health. Reports were still coming in, and health officials are focusing on trying to stop the outbreak from spreading, he said.
Health investigators have linked the cases to the park’s sprayground — an 11,000 square-foot play area with water jets that visitors can walk or run through to get relief from the summer heat.
The state parks department closed the sprayground August 15 after the health department notified managers that they had linked reports of illness to the attraction.Continue Reading Illness traced to New York waterpark

According to an I-Newswire report, many living things, from fruit flies to people, naturally produce disease-fighting chemicals, called antimicrobial peptides, to kill harmful bacteria. In a counter move, some disease-causing bacteria have evolved antimicrobial detectors. The bacteria sense the presence of antimicrobial peptides as a warning signal. This alarm sets off a reaction inside the bacteria to avoid destruction.
University of Washington ( UW ) and McGill University researchers have revealed a molecular mechanism whereby bacteria can recognize tiny antimicrobial peptide molecules, then respond by becoming more virulent. Their studies were done on the bacterium Salmonella typhimurium. The findings were published in the Aug. 12 edition of Cell.
Salmonella typhimurium can contaminate meats such as beef, pork, chicken, as well as cereals and other foods, and cause severe intestinal illness. Certain strains of the bacteria are difficult to treat, and are behind the increase of salmonellosis in people. Some food science institutes anticipate that virulent strains of salmonella will become more common throughout the food chain. Learning how this sometimes deadly organism fights back against the immune system may lead to treatments that get around bacterial resistance.Continue Reading Bacteria recognize antimicrobials, respond with counter-defenses

Brian McNeill reports that Fairfax County health code inspectors closed the Outback Steakhouse restaurant on Braddock Road in Fairfax on Aug. 8 because its walk-in refrigerator was not functioning properly, causing food to be stored at unsafe temperatures and leading to an infestation of fruit flies.
The restaurant was reopened the following day, after the refrigerator was fixed. The refridgerator had been malfunctioning for the previous three weeks, according to the inspection report.
The health inspection was sparked by a complaint from a customer who suspected they caught a gastrointestinal illness from a dish served at the restaurant, said Kimberly Cordero, the Fairfax County Health Department’s spokesperson.Continue Reading Health Inspectors Close Outback Steakhouse

Jack Jones of the Democrat and Chronicle reports that the number of people sickened after visiting The Spraypark water sports playground at Seneca Lake State Park has risen to 746 in an eight-county area.
The park has been closed since Monday as a precaution after health officials identified it as the possible link between a suspected bacterial infection that has caused gastrointestinal illness in people who had visited the park, said Wendy Gibson, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
The possible contamination was reported by an unidentified day care center after at least one child fell ill following a field trip to the park. The cases, by county, are as follows: Ontario, 309; Seneca, 130; Wayne, 97; Monroe, 75; Cayuga, 56; Livingston, 50; Onondaga, 24; and Tompkins, 5.Continue Reading 746 fall ill after visit to fun spot

The Herald Sun reports that North Carolina health officials caution consumers about undercooking beef products like steaks and roasts. The precaution comes after two recent outbreaks of E coli in other states prompted federal officials to issue a notice to industry regarding beef products that have been injected with marinade or mechanically tenderized.
The state’s…