October 2005

Kati Phillips of The Daily Southtown Star reports that the Cook County Department of Public Health plans to test 14 food items, including chicken tenders, peas and fruit cups that were served Monday at Forest Trail Middle School and 21st Century Preparatory Center. Fruit juice served Oct. 5 that may have triggered illness in 17 middle school students also will be tested.
Health officials expect the tests to rule out pathogens typically associated with food poisoning.
Ceres Food Group, the Chicago-based food management company, also is ordering laboratory tests, and results should be available in a few days, said Park Forest-Chicago Heights School District 163 Supt. Joyce Carmine.
But the school board is taking no chances of a third food poisoning and unanimously voted Monday night to suspend service with Ceres until the health department investigation is complete.Continue Reading Health officials speculate kids ate food tainted by chemicals

A new food vendor supplied pizza, juice boxes and fruit to a suburban Chicago school district Tuesday after children got food poisoning for a second time.
Forty-seven students, mostly at the Forest Trail Middle School in Park Forest, Ill., were sickened after eating lunch Monday in the second incident of suspected food poisoning in Elementary…

The Daily Southtown reports that in the second such incident in two weeks, nearly 50 kids at Forest Trail Middle School and 21st Century Preparatory Center in Park Forest complained of stomachaches and nausea Monday after eating lunches that included pineapple and applesauce cups that some students said smelled and tasted funny.
Earlier in the month, Forest Trail sent 17 students to the hospital with the same symptoms. Fruit juice boxes were suspected then of causing the illnesses.
An investigation by Ceres Food Group, a food management company that services 350 Chicago area schools, indicated some of the juice boxes served Oct. 5 had elevated levels of yeast. Ceres is no longer serving juice from Country Pure Foods, which produced the juice boxes.Continue Reading Kids complain of nausea again

Kati Phillips of The Star reports that yeasty juice may be to blame for an outbreak of stomach cramps and nausea at a Park Forest middle school last week.
Tests ordered by Ceres Food Group indicate mixed fruit juice served to sixth-graders at Forest Trail Middle School in Park Forest/Chicago Heights School District 163 had higher than normal levels of yeast.
The juice tested negative for harmful bacteria such as listeria, E. coli, salmonella, lactic acid and other toxins, said Ceres president John Koubek.
High levels of yeast can result in an upset stomach, but there are no long-term effects from its consumption, he said.Continue Reading Juice that sickened students drank had more yeast than normal

Evelyn Holmes of ABC7 News reports that health investigators will try to determine what made dozens of children ill for the second time in two weeks in Park Forest. Forty-seven children at Forest Trail Junior High were treated at local hospitals for what appears to be food poisoning. All of the students are expected to be OK.
Emergency crews were called to Forest Trail Junior High School, 215 Wilson Street, late Monday morning. The students were taken to six hospitals, including St. Francis Hospital and Health Center in Blue Island and Our Lady of Mercy Hospital in Dyer, Ind.
All of the sick students were able to walk.
Twelve days ago, students at the same school reported feeling nauseous after drinking juice boxes. Since then, school officials said they changed lunch providers.Continue Reading 47 students complain of stomach pains, nausea: Health officials investigate

Jim Welte reports that in the midst of the frenetic breakfast rush at McDonald’s in Strawberry, Kara Skahill had no time for a McGriddle. With workers bustling all around her, Skahill, an inspector with the county’s environmental health services division, scoured the fast-food restaurant’s kitchen, clipboard in hand, hunting for food safety violations.
She got down on her hands and knees on the recently mopped floor, searching every nook and cranny to make sure McDonald’s was following state food safety laws and preventing food contamination. She used a temperature gauge to make sure eggs and meats were being stored at the proper temperatures.
An hour later Skahill emerged, with no red-flag violations to report.Continue Reading Cracking down on food safety violators

Several people have been hospitalised after eating beef from Mascot Hotel owned by the government. Many top officials who took part in the lunch organised by a public sector had to bear this.
It has been reported that the beef was imported from Denmark. Even though chief minister and public works minister attended the function,…

Seventy-two students of Sekolah Menengah Agama Integrasi Batu Rakit here have been admitted to the Kuala Terengganu Hospital for food poisoning. They were among 213 students taken ill after breaking fast at the school canteen on Monday. Outpatient treatment was given to the rest.
The students, aged between 13 and 17, complained of stomach pain…

Mrudu Naik and Adarsh Madhavan report that food poisoning cases are on a high. A three-month (April to June, 2005) Ministry of Health statistics reveal that a total of 127 cases were reported, a top Ministry of Health official told the Times of Oman in a recent interview.
Indeed, a cursory look at last year’s statistics will reveal that more than 500 cases were reported. Last year (excluding January, February and March 2004), a total of 545 cases were reported. The second quarter of last year saw 178 food poisoning cases, which was 51 more than the ones reported for this year in the same period.
“For every food poisoning case that is reported, 10 goes unreported,” Dr Hassan Al Tuhami, head of the surveillance and communicable disease, Ministry of Health, told the Times of Oman/Thursday in a recent interview.Continue Reading Food-poisoning on the rise

Health department officials have confirmed another five cases of salmonella poisoning in Tasmania, boosting the total number of people affected to 57. The food poisoning outbreak is centred on two bakeries – the Trevallyn Gourmet and the Sugar Shack – located in the northern city of Launceston. The bakeries have been shut down since Thursday, and a microbiologist has been hired to assist in the investigation.
Public and Environmental Health Service senior medical adviser Avner Misrachi tonight said all 57 cases appeared to be linked to the bakeries. Of the six people in hospital, three have been discharged and three remain in a stable condition.Continue Reading Food poisioning toll hits 57