Kyle Wolden, a nine year old boy from Mount Vernon, Washington and the son of a baseball coach at Stanwood High School, got to run the bases at Safeco Field before the Seattle Mariners’ game yesterday.  45,876 fans of Seattle Mariners baseball became even bigger fans of Kyle’s, and now probably have a better understanding of

The Subway restaurant located on Roosevelt Street in Lombard, Illinois that was the site of a major Shigella outbreak has finally reopened.  Eleni Demertzis, of the Lombard Spectator, who has followed the Shigella outbreak since it was first announced by DuPage County Health Department on March 5, reports as follows:

The Lombard Subway reopened today after

This morning, Phyllis Entis of eFoodAlert.com posted an interesting article on the Montefiore Cheese Salmonella recall that has occurred in Austrialia, Tazmania, and New Zealand.  Ms. Entis’s issue with the conduct of the recall seems to be delays in product testing that revealed the contamination, and dissemination of that critical information to the food-consuming public. 

Not exactly fresh out of committee, but out of committee nonetheless, senate bill 510 (a/k/a the Food Safety Modernization Act) makes its way to the senate floor soon, possibly this week.  The full senate debate and subsequent vote is certainly timely, as just today Michael Moss was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his story on Stephanie Smiths E. coli O157:H7 illness and Linda Rivera’s long-awaited emergence from a Nevada hospital where she has spent almost a year after also being infected by E. coli O157:H7.  Stephanie was sickened by a hamburger made by Cargill, and Linda by contaminated cookie dough made by Nestle

The Food Safety Modernization Act is truly an important piece of legislation, in that it affects every citizen of this country, and even some abroad, on a daily basis.  The bill substantially modifies the Federal Food Drug and Cosmetics Act, and generally gives the Food and Drug Administration better authority and ability to monitor the safety of our food supply, and take quicker and more effective action for food companies that don’t adequately protect against foodpoisoning risks. 

Among other, more specific, things, the Food Safety Modernization Act:

Continue Reading Summary of Food Safety Modernization Act (Senate debate pending)

The Boston Globe reported today on a large norovirus outbreak at the Harvard Faculty Club.  The Club is currently closed for deep-cleaning after 100-200 people fell ill shortly after Easter brunches held this past Sunday and Tuesday.   Notably, this was the Club’s second closure in a week due to norovirus concerns.

It appears, however, that more than just the unlucky souls at