Archive for April, 2008

IDF kills Islamic Jihad chief, sources say

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

One person was killed and three were wounded Wednesday in Israeli airstrike targeting a metal shop in Rafah, according to Palestinian security and medical sources.

Five killed in Sydney Harbor boat collision

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Five people were killed and nine were injured, two seriously, early Thursday when two boats collided in Sydney Harbor, police said.

ABSTRACT: Epidemiological analysis of Salmonella enterica from beef sampled in the slaughterhouse and retailers in Dakar (Senegal) using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis and antibiotic susceptibility testing - (Journal of Food Microbiology, Volume 123, Issue 3)

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T7K-4RJYV1R-3&_user=10&_coverDate=04%2F30%2F2008&_rdoc=3&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_srch=doc-info(%23toc%235061%232008%23998769996%23687625%23FLA%23display%23Volume)&_cdi=5061&_sort=d&_docanchor=&_ct Seventy-eight isolates of Salmonella spp. isolated from beef sampled from the official city slaughterhouse and from retailers in Dakar, Senegal were analyzed using serotyping, antimicrobial testing and macrorestriction profiling by Pulsed-Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE). These analyses were done to identify clonal relationships and potential transmission routes in beef channel. XbaI ...

ABSTRACT: Effect of storage in juice with or without pulp and/or calcium lactate on the subsequent survival of Escherichia coli O157:H7 in simulated gastric fluid - (Journal of Food Microbiology, Volume 123, Issue 3)

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T7K-4RS43FC-1&_user=10&_coverDate=04%2F30%2F2008&_rdoc=4&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_srch=doc-info(%23toc%235061%232008%23998769996%23687625%23FLA%23display%23Volume)&_cdi=5061&_sort=d&_docanchor=&_ct A study was conducted to evaluate the effect of storing Escherichia coli O157:H7 in fruit or vegetable juices with or without pulp and/or calcium lactate, on the bacterial resistance to a simulated gastric fluid (SGF, pH 1.5). Apple, carrot, orange, and tomato juices containing pulp or freed from pulp by ...

RUSSIA suspends pork imports from four U.S. plants - (Meatingplace.com)

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

http://www.meatingplace.com/MembersOnly/webNews/details.aspx?item=20366 USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said Russia has banned imports of pork from four U.S. processing plants, claiming to have detected an antibiotic in the meat. Russia suspended imports of pork from Tyson Foods Inc.’s Storm Lake, Iowa, and Logansport, Ind., plants and Farmland Foods’ Crete, Neb., and Monmouth, Ill., ...

Outbreak of multidrug-resistant salmonella enterica serotype Newport infections associated with consumption of unpasteurized Mexican-Style aged cheese —Illinois, March 2006–April 2007 - (Center for Disease Control Prevention)

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5716a4.htm?s_cid=mm5716a4_x During March 2006–April 2007, an outbreak of Salmonella enterica serotype Newport infections occurred predominantly among Hispanics in northeastern Illinois. Samples from 85 patients, one sample of Mexican-style aged cheese (cotija) from a local Hispanic grocery store (grocery store A), and milk from a bulk tank on a local dairy farm ...

TORONTO: Education the answer to raw-milk cheese flap - (The Toronto Star)

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

http://www.thestar.com/living/article/419620 Are raw-milk cheeses poison or gustatory pleasure? The debate resurfaced Monday at the Ontario Cheese Society’s annual meeting when U.S. microbiologist and raw-milk advocate Catherine Donnelly said pasteurized milk does not necessarily make safe cheese. Donnelly, co-director of the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese at the University of Vermont, was cited ...

NEW ZEALAND: Recommendations after fatal legionella outbreak - (NZPA)

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4503695a10.html An outbreak of legionella that killed three Christchurch people in the winter of 2005 has, according to this story, prompted a raft of recommendations from a coroner. During an inquest held in Christchurch last year, Southland-Central Otago Coroner Trevor Savage heard evidence from health officials, scientists, building experts, local body officers ...

KANSAS: K-State researchers evaluating tests that protect from pathogens on the battlefield - (Kansas State University)

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

http://www.k-state.edu/media/newsreleases/april08/safefood43008.html MANHATTAN–The U.S. has military personnel stationed around the world, and often those service members eat locally acquired food that may not have been processed the same way food is processed in the U.S. That’s why K-State researchers are working with the U.S. Department of Defense to better protect American troops ...

An unlikely way to save a species: serve it for dinner - (New York Times)

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/dining/30come.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin Gary Paul Nabhan has, according to this story, spent most of the past four years compiling a list of endangered plants and animals that were once fairly commonplace in American kitchens but are now threatened, endangered or essentially extinct in the marketplace. He has set out to save them, which ...

From cheese might to cheese mites - (National Post)

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theappetizer/archive/2008/04/29/from-cheese-might-to-cheese-mites.aspx Sitting down to five glasses of beer and a tray full of cheese at 10:30 a.m. yesterday, I was reminded why I love my job. At U of T’s Hart House in downtown Toronto, the 4th annual Ontario Cheese Society conference — an event with a ticket price of $175 ...

Pew commission says industrial scale farm animal production poses ‘unacceptable’ risks to public health, environment - (Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production)

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/pew-commission-says-industrial-scale,372338.shtml WASHINGTON — The current industrial farm animal production (IFAP) system often poses unacceptable risks to public health, the environment and the welfare of the animals themselves, according to an extensive 2 1/2-year examination conducted by the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production (PCIFAP), in a study released today. Commissioners have ...

CANADA: Health hazard alert – GD Ground Cumin may contain Salmonella bacteria - (Canadian Food Inspection Agency)

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Ottawa — The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is warning the public not to consume GD Ground Cumin described below because the product may be contaminated with Salmonella. The affected product, GD Ground Cumin, is sold in a 31 g package bearing UPC 6 20383 01038 2. The following lot codes ...

GEORGIA: Restaurant inspections - (The Northeast Georgian)

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

http://www.thenortheastgeorgian.com/articles/2008/04/29/news/business/02business.txt Following are the food service inspections for April 22-23 by the Habersham County Health Department’s Environmental Health Section. A score of 85 and above is considered passing. Food service establishments are required to post their score sheets in public so that customers can review them. For more information about an inspection, contact ...

Bureaucracy hampers an E. coli weapon - (Business Week)

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/apr2008/gb20080428_491230.htm?chan=globalbiz_europe+index+page_top+stories On Mar. 21 French supermarket chains Carrefour (CARR.PA) and Monoprix (CASP.PA) began alerting consumers that more than two tons of ground meat infected with E. coli bacteria had been sold in stores throughout France. One of the country’s top food preparation companies, Socopa, revealed that routine tests run on meat ...

KUWAIT bans local milk - (Kuwait Times)

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTA2OTE4NjM0OA== The Municipality yesterday banned the sale of unpacked fluid milk in the country. The move came following an outbreak of cow tuberculosis. Coops have already begun pulling local milk and beef products from shelves over fears of infection. The ban was decided during a meeting of the Food Safety Committee under ...

300 Inmates in FLORIDA get food poisoning “I wonder why” - (Larry M. Stone Food Safety Advocate)

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

http://bullstone-larrym.blogspot.com/ More than 300 inmates at the Santa Rosa County Correctional Institution fell ill Saturday from what authorities suspect was food poisoning. Of those, 177 required treatment, according to Jo Ellyn Rackleff, public information officer for the Florida Department of Corrections. “The (Santa Rosa) Health Department took stool cultures from a sampling of ...

NEW MEXICO: Restaurant workers diagnosed with hepatitis A - (KOB.com)

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

http://kob.com/article/stories/S428512.shtml?cat=517 Two Albuquerque I-HOP restaurants are under the microscope after two of its workers were diagnosed with hepatitis A. According to the New Mexico Department of Health, the employees work at the I-HOP on Wyoming and Paseo and at the one near Interstate-25 and Montano. Anyone who ate at either restaurant after March ...

Iraq: 925 died in Sadr City battles in April

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

The fighting that erupted in Baghdad’s Sadr City last month has killed 925 people and wounded 2,605, a top government official said Wednesday.

Taliban regaining hold on Afghanistan, U.S. says

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

The Taliban in Afghanistan — whose government was toppled by U.S.-led forces after the September 11 attacks in 2001 — has strengthened its military and technical capabilities even while suffering heavy combat losses, says a State Department report released Wednesday.

Source: Zimbabwe needs run-off vote

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Zimbabwe’s opposition has asked the United Nations Security Council to appoint a special envoy to address the country’s deteriorating political and humanitarian crisis, but the council has taken no action, leaving the possible appointment of an envoy to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Doctor tops list of most-wanted Nazis

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Read full story for latest details.

Austrian incest dad holidayed in Thailand

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Josef Fritzl, the man accused of imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and fathering seven of her children, twice holidayed in Thailand while she remained trapped in the cellar below his house, according to media reports.

‘Pakistan militants plotted Karzai ambush’

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Afghan security forces on Wednesday surrounded a house in Kabul and exchanged fire with “anti-government elements” alleged to have ties to Taliban militants who opened fire on President Hamid Karzai and other dignitaries.

Incest family ‘faces years in therapy’

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

In an “astonishing” scene, members of an Austrian family terrorized by decades of incest and imprisonment met for the first time at a clinic where psychiatrists are helping them recover, authorities said.

U.N. refuses to send envoy to Zimbabwe

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Zimbabwe’s opposition has asked the United Nations Security Council to appoint a special envoy to address the country’s deteriorating political and humanitarian crisis, but the council has taken no action, leaving the possible appointment of an envoy to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Huge squid has football-sized eyes

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Scientists studying the carcass of what they call the heaviest squid ever found have discovered it has eyes as big as soccer balls — reportedly the largest in the world.

Prince William makes secret Afghan trip

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Britain’s Prince William, who has faced criticism for misusing military helicopters, made a surprise visit to Afghanistan this week serving as part of an air crew that made the 30-hour trip from England.

Olympic flame arrives in Hong Kong

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

The protest-plagued Olympic torch relay arrived in Hong Kong Wednesday, its first stop on Chinese soil.

India and China shield Asia from slowdown

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Read full story for latest details.

Indian girl thrown on fire for being ‘low class’

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

A man, incensed that a six-year-old girl chose to walk through a path reserved for upper caste villagers, pushed her into burning embers, police in north India said Wednesday. She was seriously burned.

Iran dumps U.S. dollar for oil trades

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Read full story for latest details.

U.N refuses to send envoy to Zimbabwe

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Zimbabwe’s opposition has asked the United Nations Security Council to appoint a special envoy to address the country’s deteriorating political and humanitarian crisis, but the council has taken no action, leaving the possible appointment of an envoy to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Austrian family in incest case reunited

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

In an “astonishing” scene, members of an Austrian family terrorized by decades of incest and imprisonment met for the first time at a clinic where psychiatrists are helping them recover, authorities said.

Militants surrounded in Kabul

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Afghan security forces on Wednesday surrounded a house in Kabul and exchanged fire with “anti-government elements” alleged to have ties to Taliban militants who opened fire on President Hamid Karzai and other dignitaries.

Zimbabwe opposition seeks U.N. envoy

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Zimbabwe’s opposition has asked the United Nations Security Council to appoint a special envoy to address the country’s deteriorating political and humanitarian crisis, but the council has taken no action, leaving the possible appointment of an envoy to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Report: Iraq windfall soars with oil prices

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Iraq’s government is expected to reap a $70 billion windfall from soaring oil prices, about double the previous projections, the U.S. military’s reconstruction watchdog reported Wednesday.

‘Father’ of LSD Albert Hofmann dies at 102

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Read full story for latest details.

‘Father’ of LSD dies at 102

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Read full story for latest details.

Major Colombian drug trafficker killed

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Read full story for latest details.

Widespread power outages in Venezuela

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Widespread power outages struck Venezuela on Tuesday afternoon at an hour of peak demand, an official said.

Zimbabwe opposition pleads at U.N.

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Read full story for latest details.

Ancient war booty finding its way back to Iraq

Wednesday, April 30th, 2008

Stolen by smugglers, and now returned to the cradle of civilization.

ABSTRACT: A survey on biotechnological potential and safety of the novel Enterococcus species of dairy origin, E. italicus - (Journal of Food Microbiology, Volume 123, Issue 3)

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T7K-4RS43FC-2&_user=10&_coverDate=04%2F30%2F2008&_rdoc=5&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_srch=doc-info(%23toc%235061%232008%23998769996%23687625%23FLA%23display%23Volume)&_cdi=5061&_sort=d&_docanchor=&_ct The biotechnological and safety properties of the novel enterococcal species of dairy origin, Enterococcus italicus, were investigated. The strains of the species showed technological characteristics related to their use as adjunct cultures in the production of artisanal cheeses. They were susceptible or poorly resistant to several clinical relevant antibiotics. Moreover, ...

ABSTRACT: Modifications in membrane fatty acid composition of Salmonella typhimurium in response to growth conditions and their effect on heat resistance - (Journal of Food Microbiology, Volume 123, Issue 3)

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T7K-4RSRDB1-1&_user=10&_coverDate=04%2F30%2F2008&_rdoc=6&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_srch=doc-info(%23toc%235061%232008%23998769996%23687625%23FLA%23display%23Volume)&_cdi=5061&_sort=d&_docanchor=&_ct The effects of growth temperature (in the range 10–45 °C) and acidification up to pH 4.5 of the culture medium (Brain Heart Infusion, BHI) with different organic acids (acetic, citric and lactic) and hydrochloric acid on membrane fatty acid composition and heat resistance of Salmonella typhimurium CECT 443 were studied. ...

ABSTRACT: Potential antimicrobials to control Listeria monocytogenes in vacuum-packaged cold-smoked salmon pâté and fillets - (Journal of Food Microbiology, Volume 123, Issue 3)

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T7K-4RTBRP8-2&_user=10&_coverDate=04%2F30%2F2008&_rdoc=7&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_srch=doc-info(%23toc%235061%232008%23998769996%23687625%23FLA%23display%23Volume)&_cdi=5061&_sort=d&_docanchor=&_ct In the wake of recent outbreaks associated with Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat foods and an increasing desire for minimally processed foods, there has been a burgeoning interest in the use of natural antimicrobials by the food industry to control this pathogen. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of nisin and salts ...

ABSTRACT: Spoilage of blood sausages morcilla de Burgos treated with high hydrostatic pressure - (Journal of Food Microbiology, Volume 123, Issue 3)

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T7K-4RX06WN-3&_user=10&_coverDate=04%2F30%2F2008&_rdoc=11&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_srch=doc-info(%23toc%235061%232008%23998769996%23687625%23FLA%23display%23Volume)&_cdi=5061&_sort=d&_docanchor=&_c In this study, the microbial ecology of the blood sausage morcilla de Burgos, subjected to high hydrostatic pressure treatment (HPP), was studied by culture-dependent and -independent methods. Morcilla de Burgos is the most traditional and famous blood sausage in Spain. The producers are interested in extending its shelf-life in order ...

ABSTRACT: Processing plant persistent strains of Listeria monocytogenes appear to have a lower virulence potential than clinical strains in selected virulence models - (Journal of Food Microbiology, Volume 123, Issue 3)

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T7K-4RWH85V-3&_user=10&_coverDate=04%2F30%2F2008&_rdoc=12&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_srch=doc-info(%23toc%235061%232008%23998769996%23687625%23FLA%23display%23Volume)&_cdi=5061&_sort=d&_docanchor=&_c Listeria monocytogenes is an important foodborne bacterial pathogen that can colonize food processing equipment. One group of genetically similar L. monocytogenes strains (RAPD type 9) was recently shown to reside in several independent fish processing plants. Persistent strains are likely to contaminate food products, and it is important to determine ...

WASHINGTON: GMA introduces food safety site - (Supermarket News)

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

http://supermarketnews.com/news/food_safety_0429/ WASHINGTON — The Grocery Manufacturers Association here yesterday launched www.keepfoodsafe.org, a new food safety information website for policymakers, the media and consumers. The site features a food safety 101 page, links to food safety stories and a page from which consumers can email their Representative to express their support for ...

ALABAMA: FDA’s Seafood Safety Program - (Food Ingredients First)

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

http://www.foodingredientsfirst.com/newsmaker_article.asp?idNewsMaker=17006&fSite=AO545&next=3 FDA has statutory authority and responsibility for the safety of all food, except for most meats, poultry and processed egg products, which are regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. With respect to seafood, FDA operates a mandatory safety program for all fish and fishery products under the provisions of the ...