Archive for August, 2008
Sunday, August 31st, 2008
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of irradiation to make fresh iceberg lettuce and spinach safer and last longer without spoiling, while maintaining their nutritional value.
The FDA says that irradiating the produce will help protect consumers from disease-causing bacteria such as Salmonella and E-coli.
Sometimes termed ‘ionizing radiation’, ...
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Sunday, August 31st, 2008
Welsh Water issued its third warning in three years after a rise in bacteria was detected at a treatment plant.
The company says the warning for customers in Gwynedd and Anglesey will stay in place for at least two weeks.
Diane McCrea, chair of the Consumer Council for Water Wales, said clean ...
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Sunday, August 31st, 2008
Belleville, IL Landshire, Inc. is recalling its American Sub Sandwich because it has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, and organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems, although healthy individuals may suffer ...
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Sunday, August 31st, 2008
Edmonton — Health officials have confirmed Alberta’s first cases of listeriosis linked to a national outbreak.
Kirsten Woboditsch, 36, of Grande Prairie, died Aug. 14 in hospital after she contracted the strain of listeriosis linked to a Maple Leaf Foods recall, the province’s acting chief medical officer of health said in ...
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Sunday, August 31st, 2008
When public health officials in New Mexico first noticed a spike in salmonella cases in May, they quickly issued a public statement warning consumers.
They had no tests confirming the source of the problem, no knowledge of its cause or what food might be responsible only that 19 people across ...
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Sunday, August 31st, 2008
Kirk James Murphy writes we dont have to swallow the lie that irradiation would prevent most cases of food-borne illness greens may carry.
The majority of food-borne illness linked to greens come from viruses, not bacteria. Irradiation wont kill the viruses but it does increase the greens shelf-life. Gee ...
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Sunday, August 31st, 2008
LOCUST GROVE — Residents of this rural Mayes County community are split over an iconic local restaurant that state officials say is the source of a deadly E. coli outbreak in the area.
Some residents are angry at the restaurant over the possibility that it caused the intestinal illness outbreak, which ...
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Sunday, August 31st, 2008
BELLINGHAM, WASHINGTON Trans-Ocean Products, Inc. of Bellingham, Washington is recalling its 4 ounce Cracked Pepper Style Smoked Salmon Lot No 54933-2 because it has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, an organism, which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, ...
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Sunday, August 31st, 2008
The listeria outbreak in Canada goes from bad to worse as authorities announced Sunday afternoon (Aug. 31/08) there are now 11 confirmed and 6 suspected deaths linked to consumption of Maple Leaf deli meats; further, 33 are confirmed ill and another 25 are suspected of being ill with the outbreak ...
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Sunday, August 31st, 2008
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Sunday, August 31st, 2008
An explosion at a fireworks plant killed 15 people and wounded six others in northern China, state media reported Sunday.
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Sunday, August 31st, 2008
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Sunday, August 31st, 2008
The piercing wails from little lungs fill the air at this makeshift relief camp in Bihar’s flood-ravaged Purnia district.
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Sunday, August 31st, 2008
Pakistan will suspend its military offensive against insurgents on Sunday as it observes the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, state media reported.
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Sunday, August 31st, 2008
Gustav gathered strength to become a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 150 mph as its western eye reached the Cuban Isle of Youth Saturday, and thousands of anxious Cubans boarded up their homes and sought safety.
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Sunday, August 31st, 2008
A 6.1 magnitude earthquake hit southwest China Saturday, killing 22 people, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
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Sunday, August 31st, 2008
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Sunday, August 31st, 2008
Gustav gathered strength to become a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 150 mph as its western eye reached the Cuban Isle of Youth Saturday, and thousands of anxious Cubans boarded up their homes and sought safety.
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
Several people have commented that switching from grain to grass feeding could be one of the solutions to the problem with foodborne pathogens in cattle and other livestock. Quotes like these are becoming more common on the Internet and in recent media reports:
Products from grass-fed animals are safer than food ...
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has brought a state-of-the-art mobile laboratory to Salinas to conduct field research.
The microbiology mobile laboratory is in Salinas until Sept. 19 to examine fresh produce for salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 contamination, said FDA spokeswoman Mary Ellen Taylor.
“FDA will review the data and share ...
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
A Nigerian militant group said it killed 29 Nigerian soldiers and lost six of its fighters Saturday in “reprisals” on soldiers for the military’s killings of citizens. The military rejected the claim and said no soldiers were killed.
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
The Winnipeg School Division is sticking to basics with old-fashioned handwashing, deciding to avoid alcohol-based hand sanitizer because it is potentially flammable and toxic, a division nurse says.
The policy, reported this week, means the division’s 77 schools will not be provided with, and cannot order, alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Parents, staff ...
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
Gustav gathered strength to become a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 145 mph as its western eye reached the Cuban Isle of Youth Saturday, and thousands of anxious Cubans boarded up their homes and sought safety.
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
Amy and I dont really disagree about much. But we can each get moody and self-absorbed and go after each other. Especially at the end of 20-hour drives. Thats about how long it takes to go from Manhattan (Kansas) to Guelph (Ontario) and at the end of one epic journey ...
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
About 45,000 people in north Wales have been told to boil their drinking water after an increase in bacteria in reservoirs supplying the area.
The warnings apply to the Bangor, Menai Bridge and Llanfairpwll areas, as well as the village of Capel Curig.
Welsh Water said any tap water used for drinking ...
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
Ten months and 500 cases into a shigella outbreak, health officials are visiting every licensed child-care center in Indianapolis in a new effort to stop the spread of the bacterial infection.
The Marion County Health Department hasn’t had much success, despite asking doctors to test for shigella even when they don’t ...
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
New Zealand cheese brand Mainland is recalling its 200g Feta Crumble from Coles and independent supermarkets and its 500g Feta Crumble from cafes and restaurants.
Marnie Flanagan, cheese category marketing manager for Mainland, which is part of diary giant Fonterra, says the recall is a precautionary health measure.
She says the company’s ...
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
MONTREAL — A salmonella outbreak in Quebec has left one person dead and 87 others sick, prompting the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to recall three cheeses manufactured by Fromages La Chaudiere Inc.
Blocks of hard cheese, as well as cheese curds labelled La Chaudiere, Polo and Tradition, manufactured between ...
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
President and CEO Michael McCain’s public acceptance of accountability, along with his apologies to victims, their families and the general public in the wake of the listeriosis outbreak almost undoubtedly increases Maple Leaf’s exposure to class-action lawsuits.
But legal liabilities aside, contriteness may be this company’s only hope of regaining customer ...
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
Susan Bourette, a Toronto journalist who spent a week working undercover at Maple Leaf Pork’s Brandon plant in 2004 and wrote about that experience in her book, Carnivore Chic: From Pasture to Plate, a Search for the Perfect Meat, published by Penguin Canada this past spring, writes that the recent ...
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
OTTAWA — A mousetrap plugged with discarded pieces of meat and animal fat turned up in a May, 2007, inspection of Maple Leaf’s meat plant in Brandon.
The observation wasn’t made by Canadian officials, but by Alam Khan, a senior auditor with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Mr. Khan said in ...
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
Workers at the Maple Leaf Foods plant linked to a fatal, nationwide listeria outbreak cut corners when they cleaned food processing machines, a longtime employee claims.
“They haven’t cleaned some of the machines’ (interiors) in four, five years,” said the worker, who asked to remain anonymous.
Machines used to process meat at ...
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
Rick Holley, a food-safety expert at the University of Manitoba, long suspected that the frozen chicken nuggets sold at his local grocery store might be contaminated with salmonella.
So he spent three years testing a variety of brands. His findings: One in four nuggets was tainted. But consumers could avoid salmonella ...
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
In possibly the worst or most incongruent press release ever written, the Canadian Partnership for Consumer Food Safety Education, the group with the excessively explanatory name, says they have. issued some simple guidelines to reduce the risk of microbial foodborne illnesses. This is of special interest to Canadians ...
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
Iraq has signed its first major oil deal with a foreign company since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, a spokesman for the Iraqi Oil Ministry said Saturday.
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
Authorities along the U.S. Gulf Coast are scrambling to prepare for the landfall of a major hurricane over the next few days with Category 3 storm Gustav continuing to gather pace Saturday as it moves across the Caribbean towards the western tip of Cuba.
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
An alleged terrorist leader suspected of plotting the bombing of a Philippine superferry more than four years ago, killing at least 116 people, has arrived in Manila after his arrest in Bahrain, a Philippine justice official said Saturday.
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
A bomb hidden in an apple vendor’s stall in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo exploded Saturday, wounding at least 45 people, police said.
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
Gustav’s top winds increased to 100 mph (155 km/hr) Saturday, making it a Category 2 storm as it approaches the western tip of Cuba, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida.
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
The grinding misery triggered by the massive floods in a downtrodden part of northeastern India and across the border in Nepal persisted Friday, with government and aid agencies swinging into action to help the 2 million-plus people fleeing high-rising, fast-moving waters.
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
TORONTO — Spinach, lettuce, sandwich meat — the list of recalled foods continues to grow, and so does the debate on how to ensure the safety of what we eat. Last week, U.S. regulators turned the spotlight on a radiation treatment for food that turned the volume on the debate ...
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Saturday, August 30th, 2008
The Canadian minister of agriculture and agri-food held a news conference yesterday to assure Canadians “our food safety system is the best in the world” and that work will continue to improve it.
Gerry Ritz said it was too early in the investigation to say what lessons have been learned in ...
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Friday, August 29th, 2008
Excerpts from an eight-page Canadian Food Inspection Agency document prepared in advance of an April 7, 2006, meeting with the board of directors of the Canadian Meat Council (CMC):
Regarding an inspection process called Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP)
“The industry is concerned that it is taking on new responsibilities which ...
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Friday, August 29th, 2008
TORONTO AND OTTAWA — Canadian meat headed for the United States is subject to more requirements than products remaining in Canada, officials from Maple Leaf, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and the Canadian Meat Council confirmed yesterday (thats been known for a long time; way to go Canda dp). ...
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Friday, August 29th, 2008
OTTAWA — The Canadian government strongly opposed tougher U.S. rules to prevent listeria and lobbied the United States to accept Canada’s more lenient standards, internal documents reveal.
Briefing notes prepared by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for an April 7, 2006, meeting with the board of directors of the Canadian Meat ...
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Friday, August 29th, 2008
One person is dead and 87 others are known to have been sickened by a salmonella outbreak traced to three types of cheese in Quebec.
“Our investigation has pointed to three cheeses - La Chaudiere cheese, Le Polo and La Tradition - because they’ve come from a common source,” Dr. Horatio ...
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Friday, August 29th, 2008
An estimated 2 billion people get sick by poisonous or unhealthy food on yearly basis, according to a joint report by World Health Organization (WHO) and Food Agriculture Organization (FAO).
The report says food borne diseases (FBDs) that cause mortality hit every country across the world. The report underlines the need ...
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