Just landed in Norway, and the first thing I read off the plane was Tom Gremillion’s new piece for the Consumer Federation of America, “Food Safety and Corruption.” Read the whole thing. Nobody in Washington connects the dots on food safety better than Tom, and nobody says it more plainly. Thank you, Tom — for the piece, […]
“From both sides of the valley little streams slipped out of the hill canyons and fell into the bed of the Salinas River. In the winter of wet years the streams ran full-freshet, and they swelled the river until sometimes it raged and boiled, bank full, and then it was a destroyer. The river tore […]
E.J. Schultz of the Sacramento Bee Capitol Bureau wrote late last year about “Plans could give spinach seal of approval – After E. coli outbreaks, various proposals seek safer produce handling.” Consumers buying California-grown lettuce and spinach could soon be seeing a safety seal of approval, under an industry-backed proposal formulated in the wake of […]
I’m off to Washington D.C. next week to gauge the interest of the new Congress in taking a hard look at Food Safety, specifically, fresh fruits and vegtables, in light of all the recent E. coli outbreaks. Below is a letter that I had sent to key lawmakers: During the last four months of 2006, […]
My seven year old daughter, Sydney, has been asking for a rodent, any rodent, to go along with her cat, dog and several fish for months. My wife was glad to see the following headline: Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Pet Rodents Hamsters and other rodents kept as pets were linked to about half of human […]
For those who find humor in the pages of the New Yorker, I thought this was good: It says: “I’m not a lawyer, I’m just drafting.” cattlenetwork.com reported in a recent posting that “Rates Of Foodborne Illness Are Decreasing” The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported that rates of foodborne illness and the incidence of […]
It is good to see Dania Akkad (a.k.a “lettuce lady”) back on the E. coli beat. She covered the recent grand jury pronouncements (see full article here) More county money and effort should be spent to detect and prevent potentially fatal strains of E. coli from contaminating local produce, the 2006 Monterey County grand jury […]
Fred Minnick of QSR wrote today in his 2006 “In Review” about banning trans-fats and E. coli litigation – both of which I enjoy, but trans-fats not in as many locations. This was one year that operators didn’t necessarily have control over their own fate. Politicians debated banning trans-fats, spinach was contaminated with E. coli, […]
Linda Johnson, AP writer for New Jersey wrote over the weekend: “Industry, Government Join E. coli Fight” “In light of food poisoning outbreaks involving spinach and lettuce, the government and the produce industry are scrambling to make leafy greens safer before the spring planting season.” In fact, during the last four months of 2006, U.S. […]
Officials say Taco Bell wrapper had human blood Alex Davis of the Louisville Courier-Journal wrote “A small amount of human blood was found on the outside of a food wrapper on a woman’s order from a Taco Bell restaurant on S. Third Street, according to an investigation by the Louisville Metro Health Department.” One must […]
Interestingly I made the Puget Sound Business Journal (PSBJ) as a 2006 “fighter.” The article then made it as a post on the Bremerton Sun’s blog this morning. Making the List Also on the newsmaker list is William Marler, a Bainbridge Island resident and lawyer who has made a name for himself fighting companies over […]
I just saw this headline and excerpt from a Business Wire Press Release: Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and Taco Bell President Greg Creed Meet for Lunch and Tour of Philadelphia Taco Bell (Business Wire)-December 27, 2006 As a further demonstration that its food is completely safe to eat, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell will visit a […]
According to a Press Release from Bioniche Life Sciences Inc. (TSX: BNC), a research-based, technology-driven Canadian biopharmaceutical company, the company last week received authorization from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to distribute its E. coli O157:H7 cattle vaccine to Canadian veterinarians under a Permit to Release Veterinary Biologics as specified in the Canadian Health […]
The FDA has no specific criteria for preventing outbreaks, and experts say it doesn’t have the resources to draft such regulations. A well done article by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, LA Times Staff Writer – important excerpts: Recurring outbreaks of food-borne illness from contaminated produce are “unacceptable” in today’s society, the government says. But when it comes […]
A story that Mr. McLaughlin and Mr. Bailey have been working on over the past months on the DOLE spinach outbreak of last September. The report is the most comprehensive look at the outbreak from farm to fork – then to hospital and courtroom. They do a great job of highlightening, not only the process […]