AP’s Mike Stobbe has a story about another reason to pay attention at petting zoos and fairs – Pig Flu. As Mike wrote – It’s the season for state and county fairs, and health officials are reminding fairgoers to be careful around pigs because of a new flu spreading from the animals to people. Officials […]
What started out as a recall of Gills Onions – then expanded – after Gills was notified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that a random sample of diced yellow onions taken at retail tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes – has expanded into something that is getting harder to follow. Below are Gills two recall […]
I loved this piece by Gustavo Arellano of the OC Weekly: Indigestion: The OC Restaurant Where Customers Got Sick With E. coli in April–And That OC Health Care Officials Don’t Want You to Know About Some time in April, nine customers at a restaurant in Orange County got sick with E. coli that was in […]
Andrew Zajac reported today that Cass Sunstein, the chief regulator for President Barack Obama, said today he will resign, leaving behind a record criticized by both political opponents and White House allies. Sunstein, 57, will return to Harvard Law School later this month after three years at the White House Office of Information and Regulatory […]
Several years ago I started following the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR). It used to come weekly in the mail (perhaps it still does), but it is a bit easier to see it online and it can be quickly downloaded. Given my profession, I tend to quickly pass over some of the other […]
Prompted by the threatened Microbiological Data Program (MDP), Burch Equipment and the FDA recalled 580 cases of Athena cantaloupe. Now the recall has been expanded because once the FDA got to the Burch Equipment facility it found “unsanitary conditions.” Burch Equipment LLC, North Carolina is expanding their recall that was initiated on July 28th, 2012. […]
AP reports that a New Jersey cheesemaker that made ricotta cheese from tainted milk has been fined $200,000 and put on four years of probation. Lebanon Cheese Co. of Lebanon, N.J., and its president, Joseph G. Lotito, have been sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor shipping charge. Lotito will pay a $10,000 fine […]
A total of 76 persons infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Montevideo have been reported from 22 states. The number of ill persons identified in each state is as follows: Alaska (1), California (2), Colorado (1), Florida (1), Georgia (1), Illinois (2), Indiana (9), Iowa (2), Kansas (10), Kentucky (1), Massachusetts (2), Missouri (24), […]
On Saturday, Burch Farms of North Carolina announced a recall of Athena cantaloupes because the product may contain listeria monocytogenes. No illnesses have been associated with this recall, according to Burch Farms. Hannaford, including both Bedford locations, is advising customers because its stores had carried Burch Farms Athena cantaloupes. The product has been removed. Athena […]
The Washington Post’s Dina ElBoghdady must not have had a busy social calendar this Summer weekend if she was stalking the pages of FoodNet for the latest in foodborne illness trends. Her story, “Food-borne illnesses not diminishing” which ran this morning on the Post’s website, I caught while sneaking a peak on my forbidden iPhone […]
Earlier this week Food Safety News reported that the CDC had increased the numbers of those considered to be culture-confirmed cases from the 2011 cantaloupe Listeria outbreak from 146 to 147 and confirmed that the death toll now stands at 33[1]. Of course, the death toll is in fact much larger – likely as high […]
The CDC just released its final report on this ongoing outbreak. A total of 425 persons infected with the outbreak strains of Salmonella Bareilly (410 persons) or Salmonella Nchanga (15 persons) were reported from 28 states and the District of Columbia. 55 ill persons were hospitalized, and no deaths were reported. Collaborative investigation efforts of […]
David Theno, former VP of Food Safety at Jack in the Box and I were the keynote speakers at the Beef Industry Safety Summit. Our topic was the 20 year post the Jack in the Box E. coli Outbreak. For those who want to read the book read Poisoned at www.poisoned.com. Here is the video […]
Peggy O’Farrell of the Dayton Daily News has become the latest in two decades of reporters who are thrust into the middle of yet another E. coli outbreak. This one, as she reports today, “claimed its first fatality Tuesday, a longtime area school superintendent known for his dedication to children. Lowell Draffen, 73, of Germantown, […]
According to the CDC today, the number of ill linked to ground beef produced by Cargill held steady. A total of 33 persons infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Enteritidis have been reported from 7 states. The number of ill persons identified in each state is as follows: Maine (1), Massachusetts (3), New Hampshire […]