E COLI UPDATE

Purses could be cause of foodborne illnesses.

According to “nationally recognized microbiologist” Dr. Chuck Gerba, purses could be a primary source of bacteria that makes us sick. When ABC News and Gerba ran a test on women’s purses, they found fecal bacteria and bacteria that can cause skin infections, primarily on the bottom of the purses.

Half of the purses tested positive for bacteria that had the possible presence of human or animal waste. The concern for restaurants is where those purses end up, whether it is on the counter or on the table.

A company called SecureKlip thinks it has the answer, with plastic devices that fit under tables or on chairs, where women could hang their purses out of the way. They are introducing the device at the Western Fooodservices convention in L.A. in August.

Meanwhile, Gerba did not mention whether leather purses made from calfskin or cowhide were more susceptible to the bacteria — in summer or in winter.

I’M WITH YOU THROUGH THICK AND THICKER

Study shows your obesity is the fault of your friends.

“Jack Sprat could eat no fat. His wife could eat no lean.” Remember that nursery rhyme? Well, forget it. Jack is well on his way to becoming obese. Or possibly his wife could become thin. Stranger things have happened.

According to a study published in yesterday’s New England Journal of Medicine, our tendency to gain weight, or lose it, is affected greatly by our social networks. If our friends are overweight, the study of 12,000 reports, we think it’s okay for us to gain weight. Sort of When in Rome, have another plate of pasta” variation on conformity.

So, what’s the trick to staying with the third of all Americans who aren’t overweight? Literally, stay with them! Hang out with your thin friends, the study suggests, and you will start to emulate their eating habits, or exercising habits, or whatever it is that keeps them thin.

Just try not to eat everything they leave on their plates.

FOODBORNE ILLNESS UPDATE

There have been some major recalls of meat products over the weekend and the list has been expanded as of yesterday.

After four people from Texas and Indiana were hospitalized with suspected botulism poisoning from eating contaminated chili-dog sauce, the FDA ordered a recall of many Castleberry products.

Castleberry’s Food Company, owned by Bumble Bee Foods, is voluntarily expanding its recall of canned meat products from 10 to over 80. Besides Castleberry’s brand, the brands of dog food, chili, corned beef hash and beef stew include: Austex, Big Y, Bryan, Bunker Hill, Firefighter, Goldstar, Kroger, Lowes, Meijer, Piggly Wiggly and others. The list can be found on Castleberry’s, the USDA’s and the FDA’s websites.

According to a spokesman for the Center for Disease Control, botulism from commercially canned foods is quite rare, the last incident occurring in the U.S. in the 1970s. Most botulism cases are caused by home-canned foods.

Separately, a Michigan meatpacker, Abbott’s Meats is recalling over 26,000 pounds of ground-beef products that may be contaminated with E. coli. Distributed to Michigan hotels, restaurants and institutions, the beef is all under Abbott’s brand. Michiganders may well be advised to go vegetarian for a few days.

Meanwhile, the number of people who reported illness from eating at the Persian food booth at Taste of Chicago rose to 678. Twenty-five have been hospitalized.

BREAKING CHINA

Americans voting for safe over cheap

Remember the days when the Good Housekeeping seal of approval or an endorsement by the American Dental Association meant something? Well, those days may be returning. According to a recent article in Business Week, some businesses are reassuring customers of the quality of their products merely by stating that they are not made in China.

After the China melamine scandal, in which tainted foods not only killed thousands of pets but made its way well into various foods in trace amounts, American consumers are growing in their mistrust of any “Red” foods.

Other companies are stepping up their own efforts to monitor all of the ingredients that go into their products. Besides IBM, there is a relatively new company with a name like a spy agency — Intertek. Based in London, the company’s services sound more like the FDA than the CIA, though. They are ensuring quality all along the supply chain, across 110 countries.

Analysts predict that the fear could reverse years of increased reliance on China for foods and/or ingredients. Sure, the price will go up, but who doesn’t want that Intertek Seal of Approval?

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_31/b4044060.htm

FOOD FIGHT

Congressional subcommittee going after FDA

After the whole agency was declared inadequate by the General Accounting Office, the upcoming Congressional subcommittee hearing on the FDA seems a little too little — especially in light of the recent China Connection that led to poisoned pet food.

Congress, it seems, is especially worried about the FDA’s minimal efforts at correcting its problems and that some of those “corrections” are seen as making things worse. The Congressional Democrats, too, want to see if they can start a food fight, laying responsibility for a lack of food safety on the White House.

Like most stories in the Wall Street Journal (and pretty much everywhere else to a lesser degree), the problems come down to lack of money. Hence, only one percent of imported foods are inspected, and even those are rushed. The FDA also suffers from a lack of enforcement muscle with food processors, and the generally impossible task of finding tainted foods before they reach our tables.

THE CURSE OF THE FOIE GRAS LOVERS

120 ill from Chicago food festival

What’s amazing is that it hasn’t happened before. The Taste of Chicago is one of the largest outdoor food festivals in the country, and it has never had an outbreak of food poisoning in at least twenty years.

But due to the curse of the foie gras lovers, aka liverphiliacs, that all changed. Over 120 people who ate at a Persian restaurant’s stand became ill and ten of them have been hospitalized. Nine have been confirmed with salmonella poisoning.

Health officials are still trying to figure out the source of the salmonella.

MONSTER WEEDS

USDA criticized for insufficient regulation of genetically modified crops.

At first, it sounds a bit like the townspeople are trying to break down the door of Farmer Frankenstein’s barn. Various environmental and other groups are demanding more oversight of genetically modified crops by the USDA.  

Even though the history of agriculture is the history of modifying plants, according to a Washington Post article there may be good reason to be concerned. The USDA isn’t worried about crops that are made more resistant to insects. They are more concerned about organisms that “have the potential to become noxious weeds.” (It’s not clear whether the redundancy is the Post’s or the feds, but it is a good bet it’s the latter.)

Apparently, it’s a real fear that the genetically modified crops could break loose, mix with other crops and create monster weeds. The USDA has been criticized by the courts for their lack of such oversight, and recently a U.S. judge upheld a ban on Monsanto’s genetically modified alfalfa. (Next is genetically modified Buckwheat and then Spanky and Darla.)   

AN UPSTREAM BATTLE

NYC trying to sell its citizens on free water

Now that New York officials have banned trans fats, they are going after another staple of the modern diet — water. Bottled water, that is, according to The New York Times. Somehow it fits that they are spending taxpayer dollars to convince people to drink something that is basically free.

And, the funny thing is, supposedly NYC water is quite tasty. In fact, it is probably the cleanest thing in the city, though that isn’t saying much. The city’s water is up there with that of clean cities like San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Oregon.  

Of course, it’s an upstream battle. Bottled water is the fastest growing beverage segment outside of sports drinks. Ironically, the very thing that compels consumers to drink bottled water (the convenience is a convenient myth) may be the thing that can turn the tide against it (or at least have it served in glass instead of plastic).

Even though it is documented that much bottled water is no cleaner than tap water, fear of pollutants started the category and continues to drive it. Consumers still believe that it must be more environmentally safe than what is coming through the faucet. However, environmental groups are betting that Americans’ growing concern over global warming will translate eventually to distaste for the waste of millions of plastic bottles that aren’t being recycled.

It will be interesting to see what change of course, if any, that brings about. Don’t look for Americans to revert to the free stuff, though. That’s passe, after all — water under the bridge.   

FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH E. COLI UPDATE

Friday, the thirteenth, seems like a good time to give an E. coli update. There have been two recent breakouts of E. coli, infecting a combined total of more than 100 unlucky victims.

In Huntsville, Alabama, 18 people have been infected by lettuce served at Little Rosie’s Taqueria in late June. Two of those victims, a five-year-old boy and a 48-year-old woman are still in the hospital. The restaurant has been given the all-clear by health officials, since all of the tainted lettuce would have been either eaten or thrown away by now.

InColorado, over 70 inmates of the Jefferson County jail have reported symptoms related to E. coli poisoning, including cramping, diarrhea, vomiting and a low-grade fever. Nine of them have been sent to the hospital, and 37 others remain sick. They have not yet discovered the source of the E. coli, but public officials say they are getting closer. Of course, they always say that.

The New York Daily News reported today that sales at area Taco Bell restaurants remain down after the E. coli epidemic there last year. They also attributed the slump to a rat infestation in February, forcing the closing of many restaurants. But since then all the rats have been arrested for eating trans fats. It is not clear at this point who ratted them out.   

WOULD YOU LIKE A BURGER WITH YOUR “RATATOUILLE”?

Cinema-eateries providing customers with both the movie and the dinner.

It is hard to imagine how such an idea could be growing in popularity, but apparently cinema-eateries are the next big thing.

Of course, dinner and a movie go together like hams and eggs but, come on, not at the same time. Has our hurry-up society gone so far as to sandwich in two of the three best things in the world (not counting live theatre)? Apparently so, and with the nice couches at some of the cinema-eateries, one could check off the third thing with probably even less interruption of one’s fellow cine-food-aphiles.

On the plus side, it must appeal to those whose babysitting funds are limited, or who don’t really want to have a pleasant conversation over dinner, or perhaps are embarrassed over their table manners. What a perfect first date: you don’t have to talk or even look at each other!

So, if your average movie theatre charges five dollars for a one-dollar drink, how much do they charge for a hamburger? The cinema-eatery folks say that they rack up ten to fifteen dollars per person on food orders. That’s all? You would think that the six-dollar popcorn would provide a better margin. Of course, that’s still cheaper than two hours of babysitter.