The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today approved Cyanokit (containing the drug hydroxocobalamin, intravenous tubing and a sterile spike for reconstituting the drug product with saline) for the treatment of known or suspected cyanide poisoning. The approval, which is based on evidence of the drug’s effectiveness when tested in animals, improves the nation’s ability to
December 2006
Connecticut Doing Its Share To Keep Food Supplies Safe
Eating, like the rest of life, can be a risky enterprise. TheDay.com reports the proof of that came in the recent spate of food contamination scares around the country, scares that have affected consumers as well as farmers.
“It’s going to keep coming up,” said Rick Holmberg, who grows apples and other fruits on his…
FDA Reminds Consumers to Practice Egg Safety this Holiday Season
The U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reminds consumers to pay special attention to the handling of eggs and preparation of foods that contain eggs during this holiday season. Some holiday favorites, such as cookie dough, homemade eggnog, and some types of stuffing, may contain eggs that are raw or undercooked.
Eggs sometimes contain…
USDA Provides Food Safety Recommendations for Holiday Gatherings
As it says in the song Home for the Holidays, you can’t beat home sweet home for celebrating an important feast with family and friends. However, holiday meals — often prepared by several cooks, can take a turn for the worse if food safety isn’t a key ingredient in handling and cooking the food.
The…
Fed Up With Bad Food
In a recent article at TomPaine.com, Caroline Smith DeWaal says Americans should be eating more fresh fruits and vegetables, not less. That’s why the recent food poisoning outbreaks linked to fresh produce contaminated with E. coli O157:H7 are so troubling. This month’s outbreak at Taco Bell—shredded lettuce is the suspected culprit—and September’s outbreak linked to…
Put food safety at the top of the menu
TampaBay.com reports that like a plot from a horror movie, the thing that is supposed to make people healthy instead sickens and kills them. Only it’s really happening in the United States in the form of foodborne illness, increasingly from fresh vegetables.
That’s what killed a 2-year-old in Idaho earlier this year when his mother…
Eat your vegetables — at your own risk
SouthCoastToday.com reports that vegetables are nearly as dangerous as under-cooked meat when it comes to transmitting deadly food illnesses like E. coli, salmonella and hepatitis, according to a study of federal outbreak records by Scripps Howard News Service.
Fresh raw vegetables like lettuce, spinach, tomatoes and green onions were responsible for the illness or deaths…
Reckless with food safety
InsideBayArea.com reports that the linkage is troubling. There are sharp cuts in the budget and staff for the federal agency charged with keeping the nations supply of fresh produce safe — and soon we are faced with repeated cases of food poisoning from vegetables and fruits.
Two outbreaks of bacterial poisoning from fresh produce over…
Senators Lautenberg, Durbin, Schumer, Clinton and Menendez Call for Investigation into E. Coli Outbreaks
Today, United States Senators Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.), Dick Durbin (D–Ill.), Chuck Schumer (D–N.Y.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D–N.Y.) and Robert Menendez (D–N.J.) sent a letter to the heads of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to call for the…
Are fast-food restaurants safe to eat at these days?
The Orange Bulletin reports that once again, consumers are suffering from an outbreak of foodborne illness. As of Dec. 8, 63 individuals from six -states have developed E. coli 0157:H7 infections from a presumed exposure at the fast food chain, Taco Bell.
There are a number of suspected cases being evaluated in numerous other states…