Personal Injury Law

Health inspectors at Taste of Chicago

Posted on June 29, 2009
Two years ago a salmonella outbreak traced to hummus made 700-plus people sick at the Taste of Chicago outdoor food festival in Chicago, IL. The annual festival lasts for 10 days, and millions of people attend. This year 60 health inspectors will be patrolling the venue attempting to prevent another outbreak, reports Chi-Town Daily News...

NYC: Apps in the Big Apple

Posted on June 29, 2009
Robert Pattinson, the dude from Twilight, is in NYC filming his latest flick and tweens from all over are flocking to the city to stalk him. Meanwhile, NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced the start of 311-Online, a one-stop web portal for NYC services, and the Big App competition, reports the New York Times blog...

Smoking gun' found in cookie dough E. coli scare

Posted on June 29, 2009
Brian Hartman of ABC News appears to be first off the block reporting that U.S. Food and Drug Administration investigators today found E. coli in an unopened package of raw chocolate chip cookie dough at the plant in Danville, VA where Nestle makes Toll House cookie dough...

Oregon. man upset by McDonald's order repeatedly calls 911

Posted on June 29, 2009
Oregon appears to be an emerging state for 911 wackos – rivaling Florida and Texas – after a 23-year-old called 911 Friday to complain about his order at a McDonald's in Clackamas, Ore. Last month, a fellow Oregonian was arrested after calling 911 to complain about a juice box missing from his McDonald's order...

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A cookbook of recipes to move the poop: The Un-Constipated Gourmet

Posted on June 29, 2009
Baby Sorenne is coming up on seven months, and her poop is changing. As more solids are introduced into her diet, her poop has gone from runny brown to sticky to fully formed turds. Yesterday, she started screaming as loud as she could for about 20 seconds...

Three kids stricken with E. coli O157:H7 linked to London, Ontario Halal store

Posted on June 28, 2009
The London Free Press – that's London, Ontario, in Canada – reports that after three children were diagnosed with E coli O157:H7 infections within five days, the Middlesex-London Health Unit advised the public today to avoid eating any ground beef or spiced ground beef (kofta) purchased from Westmount Halal Food Store located at 490 Wonderland Road South...

New Zealand: Traffic light approach to food labelling a no-go

Posted on June 28, 2009
I've been in New Zealand for over a month now, in which time I have become accustomed to the accent, picked up some slang, and sampled many a new food. Although Marmite has not grown on me, I do enjoy a warm cup of Milo, a chocolaty malt drink, not quite as sweet as hot chocolate...

Winnipeg: Health inspectors need to crack down on dodgy diners

Posted on June 28, 2009
About a month ago Winnipeg citizens were horrified when a couple dining at Sizzling Wok found a dead baby rodent in their stir-fry. Over the weekend the Winnipeg Free Press reported that restaurant inspections in the city are too slack. In the last four years, five city eateries accounted for close to 20 per cent of all health-code violations, ranging from rodent infestations to serving chicken that wasn't inspected or registered under the Meat Inspection Act...

Soft-serve sucks in France

Posted on June 28, 2009
Not just a problem for Toronto or Tori Spelling, France also apparently has some issues with soft-serve and regular ice cream. Albert sent along a link to a recent report by Test-Achats, a Belgian-based consumer group that anonymously sent researchers to 69 points of sale for ice cream and soft-serve in France during the summer of 2008...

18 sick with E. coli O157:H7 linked to Swift Beef

Posted on June 28, 2009
Sigh. Another E. coli O157:H7 outbreak, with at least 18 suspected cases in the U.S. linked to beef produced by JBS Swift Beef Company, a Greeley, Colo., establishment that is voluntarily expanding its June 24 recall to include approximately 380,000 pounds of assorted beef primal products...

Soft-serve sucks in Belgium

Posted on June 28, 2009
Not just a problem for Toronto or Tori Spelling, Belgium also apparently has some issues with soft-serve and regular ice cream. Albert sent along a link to a recent report by Test-Achats, a Belgian-based consumer group that anonymously sent researchers to 69 points of sale for ice cream and soft-serve in Belgium during the summer of 2008...

Soft-serve safety redux

Posted on June 27, 2009
In part two of the Toronto Star's investigation of soft-serve ice cream safety reporters have stumbled upon a snack bar with an extraordinary amount of coliform in the treats. The biggest offender found during the blitz was the Kew Gardens snack bar (with coliform above 1000000 cfu/gram)...

Shigella from sugar peas in Scandinavia

Posted on June 27, 2009
The peas apparently came from Kenya. But that wouldn't fit the alliteration. Eurosurveillance reports that in Norway, shigellosis is a mandatorily notifiable disease, and all isolates are submitted to the NIPH for verification and typing. Around 150 cases of shigellosis are confirmed per year, the majority caused by Shigella sonnei...

India: Red hot chillis to be used in hand grenades

Posted on June 26, 2009
India's security forces are planning to mix one of the world's hottest chilli powders in hand grenades to control riots and during insurgency operations in the remote northeast. India's defense scientists say they will replace explosives in small hand grenades with a certain variety of red chilli to immobilize a person without killing him...

Health Canada make some suggestions on reusable cloth bags: Wash 'em

Posted on June 26, 2009
A month after posting about it on barfblog, Health Canada has some new suggestions about reusing cloth grocery bags: When using cloth bags, make sure to wash them frequently, especially after carrying fresh produce, meat, poultry or fish. Reusable grocery bags may not all be machine washable...

Urban Hens promotes chicken poop for kids' gardens in Colorado

Posted on June 25, 2009
A public health student at Kansas State passed along this story from 9NEWS.com about Urban Hens, a Boulder, Colorado-based group that is working with the Children, Youth and Environments Center for Research Design at CU and a private grant to supposedly help teach sustainability to children by placing chickens near neighborhood and school gardens...

Hamburger ads go skanky

Posted on June 25, 2009
Daughter Courtlynn graduated from elementary school last night and begins the teenage angst of secondary school in September (that's grade 9, freshman for Americans) As a 14-year-old who outgrew the nonsense of the TV show, The Hill's about 6 months ago, Courtlynn's miles ahead of the marketing geniuses at Carl's Jr...

Australian judge: 'If you cannot offer food that is safe for consumption, you ought not to '

Posted on June 25, 2009
A North Melbourne bakery riddled with cockroaches and mouse droppings that failed to comply with an order to clean the shop has been fined $7,000. After an inspection in April last year that found a live mouse, cockroaches, moths, mouse droppings and dirty shelving and work benches, Queensberry Hot Bread's owner Dino Primitivo did not comply with an order to clean the shop or deter pests, the Melbourne Magistrates Court heard yesterday...

Salmonella not your fault? Prove it

Posted on June 25, 2009
The Associated Press reports that certain packages of Kowalke Organics alfalfa spouts are being recalled due to possible salmonella contamination. The California Department of Public Health said the packages were mostly distributed at Gelson's and Whole Foods grocery stores in Southern California...

Poisoned Deviled Eggs

Posted on June 25, 2009
Yesterday on Days of Our Lives, Kate tried to poison Daniel and Chloe with an undetectable substance that she put on a tray of deviled eggs. When she caught her son, Lucas, trying to snatch an egg, she freaked out. As recounted by Prevuze: Lucas opens his mouth (something he's very experienced at) and prepares to snack on the delectable poison egg...

Travel agents: if people are barfing at a resort, don't keep sending more tourists

Posted on June 25, 2009
A 48-year-old teaching assistant from Crayford, and a family from Broadstairs are among more than 500 British tourists who won compensation for a nightmare Caribbean holiday at the Bahia Principe Hotel in the Dominican Republic (below, left) in 2007. According to media accounts, the holiday companies continued sending guests to the hotel despite a major outbreak of Shigella and Salmonella which lasted for months...

Furry marmot joins diners at Wash. restaurant

Posted on June 25, 2009
Diners at a restaurant in Prosser, Wash., were startled Monday when a furry marmot wandered through the front door and settled into a corner. City Administrator Charlie Bush told the Tri-City Herald the big rodents have long been a problem in the central Washington wine town, adding, "I know there's a lot of marmots in Prosser, there's no question...

You can have whatever you like, including a gastrointestinal virus

Posted on June 24, 2009
Visitation at Federal Correctional Complex-Forrest City (FCC-FC), Arkansas, has temporarily been suspended, according to the Times-Herald, due to inmates sickened with a 'suspected gastrointestinal virus.' R.D. Weeks, executive assistant at FCC-FC explains, 'The institution's medical staff is evaluating and appropriately treating the inmates for the symptoms that appear to dissipate after 48-72 hours...

UK toddler's relative dies of E. coli O157

Posted on June 23, 2009
A relative of a north-east Fife toddler who contracted E. coli O157 has died of the infection. The Courier reports that the child, who became ill around a month ago, was treated at home. NHS Fife, whose public health department was investigating the case, confirmed that no one outside the family had contracted the illness and that a woman—an older relative of the child—had died in Ninewells...

Washington's Breadline sandwich shop has food safety issues

Posted on June 23, 2009
barfblog.com fan Jessica said I should do something on famed Washington, D.C. sandwich shop, Breadline. I checked it out, and yeah, a number of D.C. outlets reported on the establishment's closing, but the detailed inspection reports in the Washington City Paper were the best...

County fair urges handwashing

Posted on June 23, 2009
The Mighty Howard County Fair in Cresco, IA, will provide handwashing stations around livestock. Fairgoers are asked to wash their hands before and after visiting the livestock areas. Livestock at the fair include: rabbits, goats, sheep, lamas, chickens, horses, dairy cattle, bee cattle, dogs and pigs...

Microbiologically safe produce - local or otherwise

Posted on June 23, 2009
The Obama's – meaning Michelle – have started a gardening craze. Robert Kenner, the director of Food Inc., told Vanity Fair the solution to so-called industrial food issues was 'to go to a farmers' market whenever possible … it kind of feels like a religious experience...

Florida woman assaulted at church with cucumber

Posted on June 23, 2009
Cucumbers should be used as vegetables, or even conversation starters like in this scene from the movie, Animal House (right). But a Lee County, Florida, Sheriff's Office report says that during a food giveaway at the Lehigh Christian Church, a 33-year-old woman was struck with a cucumber by another woman after an argument over which free food belonged to which woman...

NEHA 2009 Annual Educational Conference training showcase materials

Posted on June 23, 2009
I'm in Atlanta for the National Environmental Health Association's Educational Conference. At 1pm today I'll be presenting during the Food Safety Training Showcase (Courtland Rm at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta for those of you who are in town). You can find the materials I'll be presenting at bites...

If you're happy and you know it, wash your hands

Posted on June 23, 2009
If you have kids, know kids, or consider yourself a kid, singing songs may help increase handwashing. For pre-schoolers, a handwashing song, performed by the Wiggles, to the tune of 'Are you sleeping' may help. Although in their music video, the Wiggles use a bowl of water to clean their hands...

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