Three new studies being presented at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases meeting in Atlanta will be dealing with bacterial outbreaks at petting zoos and the simple measures people can take to prevent infection, reports HealthDay News.
All three studies discuss human behavioral patterns and how they affect whether or not they were infected
Got raw milk?
Rachel Bayne interviewed Joyce Snook for the Bellingham Herald about her farm, on which her cows give her raw milk to enjoy. Her farm is one of only six farms in the state of Washington licensed to sell raw milk to the public.
Although raw milk may taste richer and creamier than homogenized, pasteurized milk,
Brasher: Naming grocers on tainted meats
The Department of Agriculture is making a proposal that could ratchet up the pressure on processors, to ensure that the meat and poultry they sell isn’t contaminated with harmful bacteria.
Their suggestion, though, makes Philip Brasher of the Des Moines Register think about the impact it may have on meat producers. They want to start
Common practices at petting zoos put visitors at risk
The American Society for Microbiology informs us that most visitors aren’t aware that simple prevention measures could prevent possible gastrointestinal illnesses from visiting petting zoos.
Simple handwashing after visiting the petting zoo, including lathering with soap and washing hands before eating and after visiting the petting zoo, were found to protect against infection from
Dangers in leafy greens
Robert E. Brackett, director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, sent a worried letter to California vegetable growers over bacterial outbreaks involving products from their farms, including salad vegetables, sprouts, and strawberries.
The California Department of Health Services, Food and Drug Branch, itself presented a report, revealing that sites susceptible to localized
E. coli thriving near big dairy lot
Almost every sample of water from lakes and streams near the 3,600-animal Hartford/Red Arrow Dairy has come back testing positive for E. coli bacteria.
Hartford Township officials have asked the Van Buren County Board of Commissioners for help to assure that streams near the farm are not being polluted by manure from the 5,000-acre
Put me out of business, please.
On March 1, 2006, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued additional Guidelines “for the Safe Production of Fresh-Cut Fruits and Vegetables.” This seems to have been prompted by the August 2005 outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 infections of some thirty people, including children, who ate DOLE bagged, pre-washed lettuce. At least 245,000 bags of lettuce were recalled across the country. In that outbreak alone, eight were hospitalized, and one child developed acute kidney failure, all from eating bagged, “pre-washed” lettuce. However, this is not the first time the FDA has warned this industry, with sales nearing $4 billion annually, to clean up its act.
In 1998 the FDA published a “guide to Minimize Microbial Food Safety Hazards for Fruit and Vegetables.” In 2004 the FDA sent a letter to the lettuce and tomato industry to “make them aware of [FDA’s] concerns regarding continuing outbreaks … and to encourage the industries to review their practices.” All of these concerns by the FDA were prompted by fifty-five outbreaks tied to fresh fruits and vegetables between 1990 and 1998.Continue Reading Put me out of business, please.
It is still a Jungle out there
It has been one hundred years since the publication of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, a book that brought sweeping changes to America’s slaughterhouses. Those changes, in the form of the Federal Meat Inspection Act, were prompted by the public’s disgust for the filth and dangerous working conditions in which our nation’s meat supply was then being produced. A century later, we should celebrate the continued improvements in slaughterhouse operations. However, as improvements were made, risks have increased.
To put risks in perspective, take E. coli O157:H7 (E. coli), a deadly pathogenic bacterium that was discovered in the early 1980s and found primarily in cattle herds. This pathogen lives in the intestines of cattle, and sickens tens of thousands of people in the United States every year when it enters the food supply through fecal contamination during slaughter. According to the CDC, E. coli is responsible for the deaths of between fifty and one hundred Americans — mostly children and seniors — annually. Of those who survive an acute E. coli infection, thousands are left with permanent medical conditions, which range from irritable bowel syndrome to brain damage and kidney failure.Continue Reading It is still a Jungle out there
Gregoire to sign raw-milk legislation
An outbreak of E. coli linked to raw milk from an unlicensed dairy in Woodland in December prompted the measure. Some 18 people in Washington and Oregon become ill, some critically.
And now, the Washington Senate has concurred with the House on a bill that will give state inspectors authority to confiscate raw milk from
State investigating raw milk contracts
According to the Associated Press, the Ohio Department of Agriculture is investigating “herd share” agreements on dairy farms in their state, which an agriculture official says appear to take advantage of a legal loophole.
In a “herd share,” a “shareholder” owns part of a herd of cows. In return for his partial ownership, he gets