The Associated Press reports that “Aedin’s Law,” a bill to set stricter sanitation requirements for petting zoos, awaits North Carolina Governor Mike Easley’s signature after winning final approval by the Legislature.
The legislation was prompted by an E. coli outbreak that struck 108 visitors to petting zoos at the North Carolina State Fair last fall.
Outbreak of Shiga toxin producing E. coli (STEC) infections associated with a petting zoo at the North Carolina Sate Fair – Raleigh, North Carolina
On November 1, 2004, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Division of Public Health reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 15 cases of culture- confirmed E. coli O157:H7 infections, including four patients diagnosed with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).
Many of those reporting illness had a history of
E. coli O157:H7
An estimated 73,000 cases of infection and 61 deaths occur in the United States each year from E. coli O157:H7.
Most illness has been associated with eating undercooked, contaminated ground beef. Infection can also occur after drinking raw milk and after swimming in or drinking sewage-contaminated water, as well as through person-to-person contact.
Consumers
You can’t judge a burger by its color
Use a food thermometer to make sure food is safe.
Most people think they can check the doneness of burgers, pork chops and chicken breasts just by “eyeballing it.” They look at it and judge the doneness by its appearance. They trust their experience. Experience is good, but it might be misleading.
According to a recent USDA study, one out of every four hamburgers turns brown in the middle before it has reached a safe internal temperature.
Eating undercooked meats or poultry increases the risk of food-borne illness. Many pathogens live naturally in the intestinal tracts of food animals.
Surveys of meat sold in retail food stores indicate that between one-fourth and three-fourths of all meat and poultry cuts sold in 1999 might have been contaminated with food-borne pathogens.
Bacteria most commonly associated with undercooked meats are campylobacter, salmonella and E. coli O157:H7.Continue Reading You can’t judge a burger by its color
A Taste of Food Poisoning
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that there are 76 million cases of food-borne illness a year in the United States. The problem sends nearly 325,000 people a year to the hospital; 5,000 a year die from it. The young, the old and the immune-compromised are hit hardest.
One of the main
Bill Strengthens Meat and Poultry Safety Rules
Wisconsin Ag News reports that Wisconsin Senators Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold joined Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa in co-sponsoring legislation to strengthen rules against microbial pathogens in meat and poultry.
“Kevin’s Law” was named after Kevin Kowalcyk of Mount Horeb, who died in 2001 at the age of two from E. coli infection.
“Kevin’s
Ground Beef Still the Main Source
A new review by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta shows that ground beef continues to be the main consumed food contaminated by E. coli.
Approximately 52 percent of all E. coli outbreaks during the 20-year period were caused by food sources, and of these, 41 per cent resulted from ground