Personal Injury Law

Dairy-free brownies and other sacrifices

Posted on May 31, 2009
It has been almost three months now that my diet has been more or less dairy free. Shortly after Sorenne turned two months old, she became plagued with eczema. Her pediatrician never recommended I change my diet, as he was satisfied that she continued to gain weight, but I couldn't stand watching her turn red and try to scratch herself with little hands that she could barely control...

BC Elementary interschool track meet struck with Noro

Posted on May 31, 2009
From Katie Filion on assignment in New Zealand: I have virtually no athletic capabilities, but during my elementary school days I was quite the track star. OK, maybe not a star, but I was good enough to make the track and field team.  I remember winning a few races, but usually a day at the track resulted in an embarrassing sunburn...

Another 'Bamaburger, no thermometers in sight

Posted on May 29, 2009
U.S. President Obama went to another burger shop in Washington for lunch today, ordering up a cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, jalapeno peppers, and mustard – not the fancy Dijon mustard. He also ordered a cheeseburger for Brian Williams, anchor for NBC...

Children shouldn't play with raw poultry

Posted on May 29, 2009
One of Amy's graduate students sent me the following picture this morning. ‘Nuff said.

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Effective food safety messages for microbial food safety hazards

Posted on May 28, 2009
At some point while endlessly bitching at Chapman to finish his damn thesis and produce some papers, I realized, I wasn't so good at closing the deal myself. I could say I like blogging, being quoted in media, the immediacy of it all, but I also realized I needed the credibility of peer-reviewed publications...

Hockey and triathalons - don't swim in the Oklahoma River

Posted on May 28, 2009
I miss hockey. The closest ice is two hours away. I used to play 4-5 times a week, coached a whole bunch of girls teams, and now I'm in Kansas, watching TV, and I'm fat. Maybe my friend Steve will guilt me into getting back into shape. But Steve doesn't have a six-month-old, and Ben does, and he understands the laziness...

Oregon man calls 911 to protest missing juice box

Posted on May 28, 2009
In keeping with the storyline of idiots who think 911 is their babysitter, a  man who called 911 to complain that McDonald's left a juice box out of his drive-through order was arrested on Monday, Portland television station KPTV reported. Raibin Osman appeared before a Washington County judge Tuesday on a charge of misusing emergency services...

UK baby catches salmonella from pet snake and lizard

Posted on May 28, 2009
The two-month old didn't just catch salmonella from exotic family pets. It wasn't like she chose to cuddle with them. I have a six-month-old and don't let her get intimate with reptiles. The Widnes tot was taken to hospital after environmental health officers found the family's corn snake and bearded dragon lizard were both carrying the deadly bacteria (Salmonella)...

This is how useless single food inspection agencies can be

Posted on May 28, 2009
When to go public remains a difficult question for public health types, but us mere mortals were offered a glimpse yesterday. "To wait until one has evidence beyond doubt . . . is often too late to protect the public," McKeown said. In front of a parliamentary subcommittee Wednesday, the medical health officers for Ontario and the City of Toronto chastised the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for its handling of last summer's listeriosis outbreak...

Restaurant grades on the other side of the world

Posted on May 28, 2009
It's been just over a week since I landed in Wellington, New Zealand. The Kiwis have been friendly, and I've gotten better at understanding the accent (for the most part). As part of my induction into the food safety group on this side of the world, we journeyed up to Palmerston North, about 2 hours from Wellington...

Bye bye, listservs

Posted on May 28, 2009
This is what I sent out to all the previous subscribers of my various listservs over the years. I'm grateful for all the support I received and still pissed that the University of Guelph just scooped up the leftover money for their paper clip fund...

Food producers - speak up

Posted on May 27, 2009
I have a garden. This is the spinach Amy harvested yesterday. Good crop, although I need to get out there and weed (or convince some students that it's part of a local, natural experiment and they should volunteer; happens all the time). I don't think it's sustainable to drive 11,000 miles to brag about it...

Carrot producers sue sheepherders

Posted on May 27, 2009
According to the Bakersfield (CA) Californian, a producer concerned with foodborne illness risks is suing a sheepherding couple (right, not exactly as shown) for crop losses after a flock of sheep were allowed to graze in a carrot field. Grimmway Enterprises Inc...

flushable wipes might not be so flushable

Posted on May 27, 2009
Having a baby around the house has introduced me to a bunch of new life necessities like soothers, gripe water and wipes. I'm not a huge diaper-changing fan, but when it's my turn I try to do everything in a quick, fluid-like step but it doesn't always work out...

Food and Drug Administration leaders say: we're risk communicators in charge

Posted on May 27, 2009
The newly anointed leaders of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration say in a scientific journal this week that, '… one of the greatest challenges facing any public health agency is that of risk communication.' Lots of public health types say that...

This is why we got married at city hall: 29 ill with campylobacter after UK reception

Posted on May 27, 2009
A brewery has been fined £5,100 after guests at a wedding reception were struck down with a serious outbreak of food poising. Young & Co's Brewery plc, who operate the Bull's Head in Chislehurst, admitted to three food hygiene offences that caused 29 guests at a wedding to be ill...

Canadians - Listeria investigator wants to hear from you, or sell you a Sham-Wow

Posted on May 27, 2009
Sheila Weatherill, Independent Investigator, Listeriosis Investigation, Ottawa, Ont., who apparently has an affinity for upper case, writes in the Times & Transcript this morning, 'Help us to help you! Give me your views on listeriosis.' Oh, OK...

Guelph is no Oxford - but the food hygiene sucks at both

Posted on May 26, 2009
When I began university, staying in an on-campus residence, the occupants had to sign up to a meal plan. That was 1981, and you could buy five pitchers of beer on a $20 meal card in the local dining hall at the University of Guelph. The food was gross, but we always ate in our rooms, saving the meal cards for beer...

Fresh whole chicken leaking bacterial-infested blood onto fresh produce - this is how people get sick

Posted on May 26, 2009
This is my fridge. This is my fridge on Salmonella and Campylobacter. This is how cross-contamination occurs. This is why it is important to lower pathogen loads before foods enter the home or a food service kitchen. Because foods can be a mess. I bought a whole, fresh chicken a couple of days ago, but got some cheap lamb in the discount bin (the best time to go to Dillion's grocery in Manhattan, Kansas, is between 10 and 11 a...

Well water should be tested annually to reduce health risks to children

Posted on May 26, 2009
Private well water should be tested yearly, and in some cases more often, according to new guidance offered by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The recommendations call for annual well testing, especially for nitrate and microorganisms such as coliform bacteria, which can indicate that sewage has contaminated the well...

Do you pee in the pool? Survey says, yes

Posted on May 26, 2009
That's me and Sorenne in the pool in Phoenix last week. And I'm pretty sure one of us, at some point, peed in the pool.And I'm pretty sure all the drunk fashionistas at the afternoon pool parties emptied themselves in the pool. A new study by the Water Quality and Health Council found that nearly one in five adults admits to urinating in a swimming pool instead of using the toilet...

Canada's governor general eats raw seal heart: EU says too bizarre to acknowledge

Posted on May 26, 2009
Canada's governor general Michaelle Jean (below, right), the representative of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II – ‘hellooooo little people ‘ -- ate a slaughtered seal's raw heart today in a show of support to the country's seal hunters. Hundreds of Inuit at a community festival gathered Monday as Jean knelt above a pair of seal carcasses and used a traditional ulu blade to slice the meat off the skin...

Grill It! And make some kind of effort to kill the bacteria. With Bobby Flay

Posted on May 25, 2009
After the successful tip-sensitive thermometer verified 145 F leg of lamb for dinner guests on Saturday, I'm back to basics for Memorial Day. Whole wheat rolls from scratch, spinach and tomato salad from the garden, and a roast chicken stuffed with an enormous load of garlic...

Grocers claim audits reduce foodborne illness; no evidence provided

Posted on May 25, 2009
Two weeks ago, the U.S. Grocery Manufacturers Association came out with a whopper that no one seems to have noticed. In a press release intended to highlight private sector initiatives to bolster food safety – which I'm all for, they make the profit, they should shoulder the burden when they make their customers barf – GMA said, 'Ultimately, wider use of third party certification/audits will reduce the risk of food-borne illnesses...

Memorial Day: Stick It In to verify the burger is cooked

Posted on May 24, 2009
I already caused a mini cow-poop storm when I suggested U.S. President Obama and VP Biden should be ordering their burgers based on a tip-sensitive thermometer verified 160F, and not the vague and meaningless, medium-whatever. But food porn will always trump food safety...

Two heads, seven legs, mutants amongst us

Posted on May 24, 2009
About 25 years ago, my ex was working as a veterinary intern and gave me a call. She said, you have to come see this. A calf had been born with two heads and was at the vet school in Guelph and still alive. The heads were mirror images of each other...

New South Wales, Australia - this is your public health inspector

Posted on May 24, 2009
Every restaurant and cafe in NSW will receive a random health inspection in the next 12 months after Government health bosses were left reeling by the results of their latest food safety crackdown. Health and safety inspectors have issued 160 fines in four weeks...

Canadian Association of Journalists still exists, says CFIA wins secrecy award

Posted on May 24, 2009
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has won the Canadian Association of Journalists' Code of Silence Award for 2008 for its dizzying efforts to stop the public from learning details of fatal failures in food safety. "The judges were sick with awe at the intestinal fortitude the Canadian Food Inspection Agency gatekeepers have shown," said CAJ President Mary Agnes Welch...

Calif. pistachio plant knowingly shipped Salmonella-tainted nuts for 6 months

Posted on May 23, 2009
What is it with nut processors that they seemingly think they can ship out Salmonella-infested shit and no one will notice? First it was Peanut Corporation of America, now Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc. in California knowingly shipped Salmonella-positive nuts for six months...

Food safety culture and marketing go together

Posted on May 22, 2009
I've been writing and talking for a couple of years about the importance of food safety culture from farm-to-fork, and that companies should become more aggressive about marketing their food safety efforts. Turns out, the two ideas can feed each other, in a synergistic manner (Chapman made the pic)...

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