Rosemary Parker of the Kalamazoo Gazette has stepped into the middle of the “raw milk wars” with her story yesterday – “FDA joins investigation of illnesses possibly linked to unpasteurized milk distributed by Vandalia, MI., farm.”
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The FDA is collaborating with the Michigan Department of Community Health, the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Indiana
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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is working with state health officials from Mississippi and Louisiana to notify consumers, food service operators and retailers nationwide about an outbreak of norovirus associated with oysters recently harvested from an area near Port Sulphur, La. known as Area 7. The oysters were sold or distributed nationwide.
Public health
Yesterday, Montana Senator Jon Tester introduced a bill to amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA) to require the USDA to conduct traceback investigations whenever a pathogen (called an "adulterant" under the FMIA) is found in meat distributed, or intended for distribtuion, in interstate commerce.
(Incidentally, in case anybody ever wondered about the significance of "interstate
The Subway restaurant in Lombard, Illinois that is the site of a shigella outbreak that has sickened hundreds of people remains closed. In the beginning of March, the restaurant first ceased operations and closed its doors to the public, pending an investigation by the Dupage County Health Department. It is now known that sick employees
In the summer of 2008 over 1,400 persons were confirmed ill with Salmonella, eventually traced to jalapeno peppers grown in Mexico. In the early stages of the investigation, FDA and other health 
officials raised concerns that the implicated product might instead be tomatoes. As a result, U.S. tomato growers, particularly in Florida, were hard
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The FDA announced Tuesday that, as a result of a recall of using salmonella-contaminated black pepper from Mincing Overseas Spice Company in its products, Blue Line Foodservice Distribution of Farmington Hills, MI is voluntarily recalling Little Caesars Spice Paks. The Spice Paks are small white packets, approximately 1.5” X 2.5” that contain black pepper and other
The Billings Gazette reported today that Montana senator Jon Tester plans to introduce a bill in Congress to Modify the Federal Meat Inspection Act. Interestingly, Senator Tester is not new to the beef slaughtering business. He operated a small-scale slaughtering establishment on his family farm–he took over his father’s business–until he began his first senate
The comments posted on line following most news stories related to "raw milk" are both voluminous, and fairly predictable. Raw milk supporters are nothing if not committed and vocal, and it seems they miss few opportunities to have themselves heard. This recent article, including a quote from Bill Marler, is no different.
The continuing
The large outbreak of Shigella linked to the Subway restaurant in Lombard, Illinois now counts 116 confirmed (i.e. stool sample positive) cases. As reported by Eleni Demertzis of the Lombard Spectator:
The number continues to grow as more and more people are coming forward to report shigella infections after eating at a Lombard Subway.
Dave
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) announced today the results of a study on the current state-by-state surveillance system for foodborne illness detection. The results reveal a very fractured system, with nearly half of the states in need of improvements in their surveillance and reporting systems.
“State and local health departments are