May 2006

Dr. Mallika Marshall for CBS4 Boston reports that for many of us, Memorial Day marks the traditional start of the summer picnic and cookout season.Unfortunately, thousands of Americans become sick from food poisoning every year.
“When you’re at BBQ’s or family events the kids are running around, it’s very easy to get distracted and the other thing is the temperature being warmer in the summer, folks are not conscious of that and they are leaving food out and it’s spoiling faster,” said Michele DeBiasse, a registered dietician.
But the good news is that there are some easy ways to prevent foodborne illness.Continue Reading Simple Ways To Prevent Food Poisoning At Cookouts

Ice-cream sellers could give their customers food poisoning unless they improve their food safety practises, it was claimed today. The long-awaited arrival of summer weather is expected to drive up the sales of ice cream, and the risk to consumers.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) said that while it had few concerns about…

KITV.com (HI) reports that when people complain to the state Department of Health about unhealthy practices at restaurants, the state sends a sanitarian to inspect — sometimes the same day.
In March, a customer filed a complaint against Grace’s Inn in Kaimuki at Market City Shopping Center. The complaint said the female cashier was chewing and spitting tobacco while helping customers at Grace’s plate lunch counter.
An inspector spoke to the person in charge at the restaurant, who said she would counsel the employee who was known to chew tobacco.Continue Reading State inspectors investigate complaints of food illness

Sylvia Carter of Newsday recently wrote about Marion Nestle’s book What to Eat: An Aisle-by-Aisle Guide to Savvy Food Choices and Good Eating. Nestle, the Paulette Goddard professor of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health at New York Univers ity and former chair of that department, has a PhD in molecular biology and a master’s in public health in nutrition, but to research her book, she used common sense as well as science and shopping the aisles.
Continue Reading Dodging grocery aisle health risks

Thana Dharmarajah of The Guelph Mercury reports that scrubbing lettuce won’t get rid of the pathogens hiding in the edges of the leaves or the pores of the vegetable, according to a University of Guelph food microbiologist.
Leafy vegetables such as spinach and cabbage, which tend to be eaten raw, have a higher risk of contamination, said Keith Warriner.
The vegetables can be exposed to contamination in the field through irrigation if the water source is contaminated with sewage, he said.Continue Reading Coming clean on washing vegetables: U of G food scientist, graduate student, have found an effective way to clean your produce

R.J. Ignelzi of the San Diego Union-Tribune reminds the public that warmer weather might be ideal for outdoor feasting, but it also provides the perfect conditions for bacteria in food to multiply rapidly and cause food-borne illness.
“People’s concerns about food safety on picnics and in warm weather are justified,” says Patti Wooten Swanson, nutrition, family and consumer adviser for the University of California Cooperative Extension Service of San Diego County. “At least 76 million people in the United States get food-borne illness each year. And 5,000 die from it a year.”Continue Reading Practice picnic food safety when feasting outdoors

Melinda Rogers of The Forum reports that Clay County has consistently failed to perform inspections on 119 food, beverage and lodging establishments over the past five years.
A Forum investigation into county records dating back to 2002 show the county’s lone food inspector barely grazed the surface of examining dozens of schools, restaurants, nursing homes and other institutions that require regular inspections under Minnesota law.
The Forum in April began reviewing records for 86 Clay County establishments and 33 establishments in Wilkin County that the Clay County inspector is contractually required to examine.
The records don’t include statistics for the city of Moorhead, which handles its own food safety inspections.Continue Reading Food safety checks lapse

Commentary from the Food Safety Network’s Brae Surgeoner
In years past I’ve spent Friday nights under the patio heaters at the Albion Hotel in Guelph, Ontario, drinking gin and tonic, and longing for summer to arrive.
These days I’m more inclined to spend a Friday night counting my pocket change and scanning the classifieds for garage sale notices. At precisely 7:30 Saturday morning my sister will pull into my driveway eager to hit the first sale.
By this time in May we’ve established a route. We’ve trained our eyes to recognize garage sale signs from several street blocks away, and we know (without speaking) what constitutes a drive-by. By 9:30 our stomachs are rumbling and the only sale that’s going to entice us to pullover is a church bazarre — where we’re assured of good conversation and some tasty home baking. But as has been the case so far this year, when there’s no bazarre on the radar, our final stop is the local farmers’ market.Continue Reading Market mayhem

An NBC 5 investigation uncovered a serious flaw in the way most restaurants keep their kitchens and dining areas cleasn. The problem, scientists warn, is the type of cleaning towel restaurants use — standard issue cotton towels. Most restaurants do not know that these towels can be a breeding ground for bacteria.
From restaurant to restaurant, you’ll find most servers cleaning tables with cotton towels. NBC 5 uncovered serious evidence that these so-called industry-standard towels may be one reason why so many people get sick after eating out.
Nationally recognized food safety consultant Dee Clingman was cited as telling NBC 5 most restaurants have no idea cotton towels can put patrons at risk, adding, “You need not to be using cotton or linen towels if you want to sanitize properly.”Continue Reading NBC 5 uncovers restaurant danger