Consumption of risky foods declines
According to the American Society for Microbiology, Americans are eating safer. The number of people who reported eating one or more foods associated with an increased risk of foodborne disease declined by a third from 1998 to 2002, according to survey results released today at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases.
"Overall we are seeing a decline in risky food consumption and that may be attributable to published media reports of foodborne outbreaks and outreach efforts by the public health community," says Erica Weis of the California Department of Health Services, the lead author on the study.
A recent LA Times OpEd by Al Meyerhoff and Carl Pope said the House of Representatives this month passed the National Uniformity for Foods Act, a measure that would kill or cancel significant parts of 200 food-safety laws in 50 states. This ill-advised bill, supported by millions of food-industry dollars, passed without a single hearing. Now it's in the hands of the Senate. If it passes there, among its many victims would be California's requirement that foods containing harmful chemicals display a warning for consumers.
Suzy Cohen of Newsday.com reports that when you're dealing with food-borne illness, there's no over-the-counter remedy to "head off" the symptoms. If you are certain the food poisoning occurred at that restaurant, you should contact the manager and relate what happened. Other patrons may also have gotten sick. If the owners are decent and reputable, they will pay your medical bills.
The Chicago Tribune reports that by the time the U.S. Food and Drug Administration got around to worrying about how much lead we might be ingesting along with our calcium supplements, most of the manufacturers of those tablets had grudgingly gotten the lead out.
Jane Zhang of the Wall Street Journal reports that a public-health officer in Sydney, Australia, had an urgent question: A consumer found a black, shiny, 1.3-centimeter-long beetle with fine, short antennas and hairy legs in a sandwich. The plastic bag the bread came in "had no holes in it, and I could see the imprint of the beetle within the slice of bread. Would it be possible for the beetle to live through the baking process?"
Tammie Smith of the Times-Dispatch reports that restaurant inspections in Virginia turn up plenty of establishments with violations. Consumers can find out if their favorite breakfast, lunch or dinner spot is a culprit by going to the Virginia Department of Health's restaurant inspection Web site: 
In a Wisconsin State Journal OpEd last week, Brae Surgeoner and Ben Chapman said Wisconsin Assembly recently passed the aptly named Potluck Liberation Act, a law exempting community dinners from health inspection.
Libby Quaid of the Associated Press reports that despite the confirmation of a third case of 
In an OpEd yesterday, Harold Meyerson of the Washington Post discussed that last week, even as Congress with great fanfare was protecting the American people against whatever mischief the harbor barons of Dubai were contemplating, it quietly decided to strip some long-standing protections from the same American people at the behest of our very own food industry. Last Wednesday the House passed the National Uniformity for Food Act, which might better be named the Swallow at Your Own Risk Act.
Per a Food & Water Watch press release, amidst the furor of takeovers of U.S. resources by multinational corporations and media reports about the meat industry's controversial practice of using carbon monoxide to extend shelf life on meat products, a new consumer group has emerged to tackle the growing corporate control and abuse of essential resources. Food & Water Watch today launched its new Web site. It is available at 
