A reader of the Suburban Chicago News Web site asks, "There has been a lot in the news about E. coli in food lately. What is it? How do I know if I have consumed a food product that is infected with E. coli?"
E. coli is a common type of bacteria. It is
KSDK TV in St. Louis reported today on the raw milk debate.
Purchasers and producers of raw milk believe drinking unpasteurized milk enhances their health. Public health officials believe the risks of drinking raw milk and contracting potentially fatal illnesses such as E. coli O157:H7 and Campylobacter infections are too high, and that people should
The Baltimore Channel is reporting that Maryland has confirmed the state’s fifth E. coli O157:H7 illness traced to contaminated spinach.
John Hammond, a spokesman for the state health department, said two more suspected Maryland cases are pending, including that of an elderly resident who died.
The state agency hasn’t identified that person, but family members
The USDA announced today that Omaha Beef Company, a Danbury, Connecticut, firm, is voluntarily recalling approximately 1,680 pounds of ground beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.
E. coli O157:H7 is the same bacterium that was found to be the source of an outbreak among people who ate contaminated spinach in
Recent E. coli outbreaks caused by contaminated produce have caused some tech designers to question how technology might be used to I.D. fruit and vegetables, and provide a clearer trace route for future incidents.
A post at BoingBoing.com highlights the possibility of developing technologies to aid in the trace-back of potentially contamianted fruits and vegetables.
Former Nebraska Chief Medical Officer and current USDA Undersecretary for Food Safety Dr. Richard Raymond proposed a system of "virtual" meat inspections, with a focus on more frequent inspections at meat plants with poor safety records.
Currently, inspectors are assigned to a specific facility or to regularly patrol several smaller plants, according to the Omaha
In a recent opinion piece in the Salt Lake Tribune, Hope Ferdowsian of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine writes about the source of E. coli contamination in fresh produce.
She points out that, "While news coverage has focused on the contamination of spinach and lettuce, not enough attention has been paid to one key
The San Francisco Gate reports that the strain of E. coli O157:H7 isolated from case-patients and bags of spinach during the most recent E. coli outbreak is more virulent than other strains of E. coli O157:H7.
Health officials are working to determine why this particular strain seems to have caused a more severe illness in
The Mexican government has said it will lift its weeks-old ban on lettuce imports from California.
The decision comes after the US Department of Agriculture reported that its tests on California-grown lettuce and the irrigation water used on the state’s lettuce fields for the E. coli bacteria had come back negative, according to the CalTrade
Mea Andrews, a reporter for the Missoulian, recapped an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak that occurred in Missoula, Montana, in 1995 in a recent article.
The culprit was never fully pinned down, but it was most likely leaf lettuce. In fact, the Missoula cases were believed to be the first reported community outbreak of E. coli