Personal Injury Law

Carolina defeats Jersey with two goals in last minute shocker

Posted on April 29, 2009
I was a Carolina Hurricanes hockey fan even before Chapman moved to NC State in Raleigh. The team is run by former goalie, Detroit Red Wings executive and Beeton, Ontario, native, Jim Rutherford, who's a few years younger than my parents but went to the same high school in Alliston, Ontario...

Obama says - dude, wash hands to contain swine flu

Posted on April 29, 2009
When asked about swine flu – oh, sorry, the H1N1 flu – U.S. President Barack Obama said during his prime-time 100-day press commencement conference that handwashing and staying at home if sick were key to controlling any potential spread of flu...

50 kids sickened by Salmonella in pudding at NH camp; it was the pudding mixer

Posted on April 29, 2009
Health officials say a mixer used to make pudding was the source of salmonella that sickened over 50 children at the Stone Environmental Camp in Madison, N.H., this month. The food for the campers is prepared by Purity Springs, where the camp is located...

Colleges dumping cafeteria trays - what about cross-contamination?

Posted on April 29, 2009
The New York Times reports that scores of colleges and universities across the country are shelving cafeteria trays in hopes of conserving water, cutting food waste, softening the ambience and saving money. The story has lots of the usual fuzzy stuff about sustainability but mentions nothing about sanitation...

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Swine flu? I'll have the oregano oil?

Posted on April 28, 2009
People will pay to protect themselves -- or at least for the positive perception they are protecting themselves. Industry is all too happy to oblige with a variety of products of questionable value. When faced with outbreaks of foodborne illness on fresh produce, sales of veggie washes go up...

Scores on doors or online

Posted on April 28, 2009
Two US counties have recently adopted systems to communicate restaurant inspection results with the public. They aren't the first, likely won't be the last, and demonstrate two different approaches to inspection disclosure. The first is Calhoun county, MI, which has recently began posting inspection results online, reports the Battlecreek Enquirer...

Wolfgang Puck sued for crappy bathroom

Posted on April 28, 2009
Celebrity blog TMZ reports that celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck is being sued over a restaurant bathroom. A woman claims she just wanted to take care of some toilet business during a lunch at Puck's most famous Beverly Hills restaurant, Spago back in 2007...

Wales E. coli O157 parents: All food safety inspections should be unannounced

Posted on April 28, 2009
In his report into the 2005 epidemic that struck down more than 150 people, most of them children, across the South Wales Valleys and claimed the life of Mason Jones, aged five (right), Professor Hugh Pennington found that all of the inspections made at the premises of the butcher responsible in the months before people became ill had been pre-arranged...

America's best restroom

Posted on April 28, 2009
If you ever find yourself in downtown Nashville, TN looking for a place to pee, WBBM780 Chicago recommends using the facilities at the Hermitage Hotel. The hotel's ground-floor men's bathroom has won the award for 'America's Best Restroom'. Janet Kurtz, director of sales and marketing at the hotel, says, "You just can't find anything like it anywhere else...

Swine flu outbreak affecting pork industry

Posted on April 28, 2009
The Associated Press reported yesterday in USA Today that Mexican authorities believe as many as 149 people have died from the current outbreak of swine flu. Also in USA Today, Matt Krantz reported that, 'Shares of pork producers Smithfield Foods (SFD), Tyson Foods (TSN) and Bob Evans Farms (BOBE) dropped 12...

The swine flu problem isn't in the pigs

Posted on April 27, 2009
As easy as it may be to assume, there's no evidence that the swine flu spreading through Mexico and beyond is sickening pigs now. The World Health Organization reports that illnesses in Mexico are climbing close to 1,000 with more than 50 deaths—all of which are human...

bites.ksu.edu: food safety news, and more

Posted on April 27, 2009
The new web site is sorta ready to go. I say sorta because it's a work in progress that can be continuously updated and improved. The beta-version, warts and all, is now available. The fastest way to receive food safety news is to subscribe to barfblog...

Cross-contamination at checkout

Posted on April 27, 2009
Katie and I were craving hamburgers this weekend and Doug decided to indulge us. At the supermarket on Saturday he picked up some ground beef along with our normal cart full of produce and other proteins. As usual, I tried to separate the items in the cart so that the fresh produce was not touching the beef, pork, or salmon filets, even though all the meat was wrapped...

Swine flu prevention Singapore-style: wash hands, win a sports car

Posted on April 27, 2009
Singapore launched its CSI -- clean, safe, infection-free -- handwashing campaign Monday that gives thorough hand-washers the chance to win a sports car, a plasma TV or shopping vouchers. Chng Hiok Hee, a doctor at Tan Tock Seng hospital and the head of the two-month-long campaign said, "Good hand hygiene is crucial in stemming the spread of infections and there is no reason why the public should not learn the seven steps to hand washing practiced by medical professionals...

Broken links in food-safety chain hid peanut plants' risks

Posted on April 27, 2009
Julie Schmit of USA Today has written another excellent overview documenting the multiple failures – bad inspections, bad audits, bad people -- that led to the peanut paste crapola that sickened 700 and killed nine. Below are just a few of the highlights: •Deibel Labs, which ran more than 1,600 salmonella tests for PCA's Blakely plant from 2004 through 2008, found almost 6% positive...

FDA issues warning after 31 sick with Salmonella linked to sprouts

Posted on April 26, 2009
Maybe the folks at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are busy with swine flu, but the timing of the latest raw sprouts advisory is a bit wonky. Oh, and I'm to stress that it is only alfalfa sprouts making people barf, or at least that's what industry told the FDA during a conference call yesterday afternoon...

Hepatitis A at Newmarket, Ontario Tim Hortons

Posted on April 26, 2009
The Toronto Star reports that a health alert was issued today after it was discovered that two employees of a Newmarket Tim Hortons were found infected with Hepatitis A. York Region Public Health was notified of a case of hepatitis A at the Tim Hortons at 16545 Yonge St...

Courtlynn Powell: Swine flu's making me nervous

Posted on April 25, 2009
Daughter and would-be blogger Courtlynn (below right, exactly as shown) writes that, 'Coming home from school this afternoon, a rush of fear and anxiety seemed to linger. 20 people died in Mexico. 500 nurses in Mexico have this, as well as people returning from Canada, in the past week...

Are disposable gloves necessary to prepare meat in a home kitchen?

Posted on April 25, 2009
Food is marketed as 21st century snake oil -- a veritable sideshow of hucksters and buskers, flogging their wares to the highest bidder or at least the most fashionable. And never underestimate the ability of American industry to make a buck off a trend...

Escaped bull shops for produce

Posted on April 24, 2009
No one was hurt when a bull escaped the clutches of its owner and ran into Cummins' Super-Valu in Ballinrobe, Co Mayo, Ireland. Independent.ie reports the bull had been at the local mart a few hundred yards away when it made its great escape. Was it shopping for steaks? By the time the bull was eventually recaptured by its owner, a local farmer, the only damage done was to fruit and vegetable stands...

Salmonella outbreak in N. Ontario may be linked to melons

Posted on April 24, 2009
When I think Thunder Bay, Ontario in January, I think melons. Ripe, juicy melons, like cantaloupe. The Thunder Bay District Health Unit is investigating an increased number of Salmonella cases in Thunder Bay and District. Twenty-three cases of Salmonella have been reported since January of this year...

Salt Lake county launches inspection disclosure website

Posted on April 24, 2009
Diners in Salt Lake county Utah can now view restaurant inspection scores online, reports the Salt Lake Tribune. In its first morning online, Utahns flocked the restaurant site. Around noon, just a few hours after its launch, the link had already received 68,000 hits… Patti Rasmussen, co-owner of Sandy's Tin Roof Grill, whose restaurant received a three-star rank during the latest inspection, said, "I'm a big believer in letting people know...

I buy my eggs at a new-age store so they're safe; Barry's got my back

Posted on April 24, 2009
One of the few pleasures in watching the movie, Baby Mama, is Steve Martin's turn as Barry, the narcissistic, new-age genius who runs a Whole Foods-like organic supermarket chain, seen here transferring his success to v.p. and mama-to-be Tina Fey. Stores like Whole Foods are easy to poke fun at because of their earnest idiocracy...

Jay Leno cancels 'Tonight Show' taping over possible foodborne illness

Posted on April 23, 2009
Jay Leno had to cancel today's taping of 'The Tonight Show With Jay Leno' because of illness, Access Hollywood has learned. Rumors have surfaced the (un)funnyman may be suffering from food poisoning, however that has not been confirmed.

The first rule of public health? CYA

Posted on April 23, 2009
I say the first rule of public health is, don't eat poop. And have fewer sick people. Bureaucrats say the first rule of public health is, cover your ass (no, not like that) so that the department comes out smelling all pretty and not like poop. So after 21 people die and a bunch more got sick from listeria in Maple Leaf deli meats, what do Canadian bureaucrats focus on? Covering their asses...

Teacher packs poop in 5-year-old's backpack

Posted on April 23, 2009
A father and mother in Washington state are outraged after their 5-year-old son was sent home from school, allegedly forced to carry a package of human feces along with an embarrassing note from his kindergarten teacher. "This little turd was on the floor in my room," said the note from Susan Graham, an instructor at Apple Valley Elementary School in Yakima, Wash...

Michigan salmonella outbreak tied to alfalfa sprouts

Posted on April 23, 2009
This is Amy making a face in Guelph in 2005 after being served raw pea sprouts when she specifically said, no sprouts. At a local Manhattan (Kansas) restaurant, we're known as the ‘no sprouts' people. And now, sprouts are in the news again for making people barf...

90210: Pregnant and hungry for a hamburger

Posted on April 22, 2009
Last night on 90210, Adriana, the drug-addict turned mother-to-be, was out dining with her boyfriend and ordered a hamburger, medium rare. Pregnant Adriana could learn some things from Barfblog. Medium rare does not mean the burger is safe to eat – rather a hamburger needs to be cooked to 160F, by someone who knows how to use a meat thermometer properly, to be safe...

Suspected norovirus at south Sioux City, Nebraska, restaurant

Posted on April 22, 2009
A restaurant/bar in South Sioux City has closed down voluntarily to disinfect its premises after dozens of people became ill after eating there, according to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. The restaurant/bar at the Marina Inn has closed temporarily on the advice of health officials...

Selling home-baking banned in Urbana

Posted on April 22, 2009
It's springtime so bring on variable interpretation of health code rules, the plight of home bakers and outraged local politicians. "I will not stay silent. Most people who go to the farmers' market know it's not made in a commercial-grade kitchen...

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