Ron Paul, libertarian congressman from Texas, has introduced a bill (HR 1830) to legalize the sale of raw milk across state lines–i.e. in interstate commerce. Below is his statement about the bill. First, check your facts about raw milk at www.realrawmilkfacts.com; see a listing of raw dairy outbreaks and recalls from last year
Deli meat recall due to listeria contamination
Rose & Shore Meat Co., a Vernon, Calif., establishment, is recalling approximately 15,900 pounds of ready-to-eat deli meat products that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.
The products subject to recall include:
- 40 to 50 pound boxes containing packages of “OLYMPIC
13 Confirmed With Salmonella in Illinois Linked to Portillo’s Restaurant in St. Charles
The Kane County Health Department announced today that the number of outbreak victims in northeast Illinois with genetically indistinguishable Salmonella Typhimurium infections linked to a Portillo’s restaurant has risen to 13. 9 of the 13 reported eating at the Portillo’s restaurant in St. Charles during the month of April.
Of the 13, 7 are
FDA to revisit hazelnut safety in wake of outbreak
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is reviewing the Oregon hazelnut industry’s food safety practice. This action is occuring in the wake of the E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in late 2010, linked to Oregon hazelnuts.
According to a report by Capitol Press, “The agency held a teleconference May 10 with several hazelnut packers and
Hepatitis A Litigation
Public Health Seattle King County has announced a hepatitis A outbreak that has sickened at least 6 people, all adults, in the Snoqualmie Valley. Although there is no official word about the source yet, a prime suspect in any cluster of hepatitis A illness is that it was caused by contaminated food.
If so, lawsuits
Snoqualmie Valley Hepatitis A Outbreak
SEATTLE–An outbreak of Hepatitis A in the Snoqualmie Valley has county health authorities asking people to get vaccinated. Matias Valenzuela, public education coordinator with the county’s public health department, said his office has responded to six confirmed cases in the Valley, all in adults. No word yet on the source of the outbreak.
Hepatitis A
MRSA in your meat? Probably not as often as other bad bugs
On the heels of the Marler Clark retail chicken study, researchers from Wayne State University will publish an article in the June edition of Emerging Infectious Disease on contamination of retail meat. In this study, investigators sampled retail meat in and around Detroit:
We collected 289 raw meat samples (156 beef, 76 chicken, and 57 turkey) from
Of Recycled Buns, Food Safety in China, and the Jabberwocky of Political Debate
From the pen of Denis Stearns:
“I am no longer eating steamed buns, a 65-year-old Shanghai man who gave his last name as Chen, declared in front of a supermarket window emblazoned with the motto “No fake goods in Hualian.”
“None of them are reliable,” he spat. “They really have no morals. They will do anything for money.”[1] — New York Times, May 7, 2011
Today Bill Marler forwarded a link to me that led to an article in the People Daily’s Online on the ongoing food quality and safety challenges in the Chinese market for food.[2] Reading the article, one section quickly stood out for me, particularly in its use of an interesting metaphor for unsafe food:
Tainted melamine milk powder, salted duck eggs containing cancer- causing dyes, artificial honey, fake wine, donkey-hide gelatin, waste oil, sulfur steamed ginseng, plaster tofu, dyed bread … the list goes on.
Sadly, many people estimate that the list will get longer. Every day we worry about the next food time bomb exploding, we just do not know where the site of the blast will be.
I had never before imagined adulterated food as a kind of bomb waiting to explode as soon as someone buys the food and eats it, and consumers as casualties of a kind of economic warfare in which profit motives are controlling. But what an apt metaphor it is, especially in describing the vulnerability of the consumer to the financial motives of food sellers who, as the article puts it, “have individual rationalizations, if the illegal gains exceed the costs, it will be worth it.” The article continues, concluding as follows:Continue Reading Of Recycled Buns, Food Safety in China, and the Jabberwocky of Political Debate
Chives Recalled Due to Listeria Contamination
Goodness Gardens, Inc., a company based in New Hampton, New York, announced today that it is voluntarily recalling chives Lot # 0201111 due to a risk of Listeria monocytogenes contamination. A routine sampling program by the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection revealed that the product lot contained the Listeria bacteria.
According to the company’s
Memorable Illinois Salmonella Outbreaks
Today’s announcement of a cluster of matching Salmonella illnesses in Illinois residents, and from other areas, requires reflection on a few very memorable Salmonella outbreaks that have occurred there in the last few years:
- Tiny Greens sproutbreak sickens at least 70 with Salmonella
- Illinois Subway restaurants sicken over 100 with Salmonella Hvittingfoss
- Skokie Country