Just landed in Norway, and the first thing I read off the plane was Tom Gremillion’s new piece for the Consumer Federation of America, “Food Safety and Corruption.” Read the whole thing. Nobody in Washington connects the dots on food safety better than Tom, and nobody says it more plainly. Thank you, Tom — for the piece, […]
We in the U.S. tend to think about food safety from our perspective. Given that I am involve in cases around the world, I thought I would give my readers a bit broader perspecitive. 1,600, 000 – People get sick due to unsafe food in one day, on average 340 – Children under 5 years […]
Seattle FOX 13 reported last night: BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash. – Thirty years after a deadly E. coli strain linked to meat sold at local Jack in the Box restaurants broke out in Washington, a new Netflix feature about the outbreak will premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on Friday, June 9. “Poisoned: The Dirty Truth about Your Food” is […]
CDC, public health and regulatory officials in several states, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are investigating a multistate outbreak of hepatitis A potentially linked to contaminated fresh organic strawberries reportedly sold as FreshKampo or HEB, purchased in the United States between March 5, 2022, and April 25, 2022. The Public Health Agency of […]
An Introduction to Listeria Listeria (pronounced liss-STEER-ē-uh) is a gram-positive rod-shaped bacterium that can grow under either anaerobic (without oxygen) or aerobic (with oxygen) conditions. [4, 18] Of the six species of Listeria, only L. monocytogenes (pronounced maw-NO-site-aw-JUH-neez) causes disease in humans. [18] These bacteria multiply best at 86-98.6 degrees F (30-37 degrees C), but […]
An Introduction to Salmonella Bacteria Salmonella is a bacterium that causes one of the most common enteric (intestinal) infections in the United States – salmonellosis. [5] The term Salmonella refers to a group or family of bacteria that variously cause illness in humans. Salmonella serotype typhimurium and Salmonella serotype enteritidis are the most common in the United States. [5, 15, 26] Salmonella javiana is the fifth most […]
But, no free hepatitis A vaccines to food service workers? Public Health is currently investigating a report of a person who had hepatitis A infection while detained at Men’s Central Jail (441 Bauchet St, Los Angeles, CA 90012). Hepatitis A is very contagious, and people can even spread the virus before they feel sick. Since […]
As the Texas Department of Health has reported, there is a Shigella Outbreak in Lavaca County that has sickened nearly 100. It appears to be linked to a local food establishment, Los Cabos San Lucas Mexican Grill, in Hallettsville, Texas. Introduction to Shigella Shigella is a species of enteric bacteria that causes disease in humans and other […]
I am off to Tribeca next week for the showing of “Poisoned.” It is odd, and more than a bit humbling, to have a documentary that has so much of my work of the last 30 years. My hope is that viewers listen to all the great people (present company excluded) interviewed and take to […]
Interesting reading in Chemical Research in Toxicology – Is Baikiain in Tara Flour a Causative Agent for the Adverse Events Associated with the Recalled Frozen French Lentil & Leek Crumbles Food Product? – A Working Hypothesis On June 17, 2022, Daily Harvest (New York, NY) issued a voluntary recall of about 28,000 units of their […]
The San Luis Obispo Tribune reports that an outbreak of norovirus stemming from a North County restaurant has sickened close to 100 people, according to the San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department. SLO County Public Health Epidemiologist Jessie Burmester said 97 people have been reported sick as part of a confirmed norovirus outbreak earlier this month. “When […]
Too bad the Taco Bell worker was not already vaccinated. The Snohomish County Health Department has identified a case of hepatitis A that occurred in a food worker who worked at two Taco Bell locations: 2727 Broadway in Everett and 303 91st Ave NE in Lake Stevens. Anyone who ate food from the Everett location […]
The Snohomish County Health Department has identified a case of hepatitis A that occurred in a food worker who worked at two Taco Bell locations: 2727 Broadway in Everett and 303 91st Ave NE in Lake Stevens Anyone who ate food from the Everett location on May 22 or 23 or from the Lake Stevens […]
I must admit, in 30 years of doing food safety, I seldom recall a health department withholding from the public the source of an outbreak – even Norovirus. I am reminded by a story some 10 years ago – After Food Safety News broke the story that Taco Bell was the mysterious “Restaurant Chain A” linked to […]
Boston health inspectors ordered the closure of a Brighton restaurant and suspended the restaurant’s permit to operate after foodborne illnesses were reported and an inspection identified multiple problems this week. Los Amigos Taqueria at 366 Washington St. in Brighton was ordered to close on Thursday. The Boston Public Health Commission confirmed that it is investigating […]
The premiere of the Netflix Documentary, “Poisoned,” is a few weeks away (June 9) at the Tribeca Film Festival. We are thankful that the folks at Netflix are also allowing us to do a premiere night on Bainbridge Island on July 2. The small, historic Lynwood Theatre holds only about 250 people – but they […]