INMATE OUTBREAK

More than 300 of the 1400 inmates at a Santa Rosa County, Florida, jail have been stricken with food poisoning. Authorities are still trying to determine the source. Should be fairly easy to track and test the victims.

CHIPOTLE HEPATITIS CASES AT 18

The number of cases of Hepatitis A linked to the La Mesa, California, Chipotle restaurant has reached 18. Health officials are recommending that anyone who ate at the restaurant from March 1 to April 22 get medically checked out.

SOUND FAMILIAR?– FDA blames Heparin deaths on lack of funds

It’s hardly news that the FDA needs help to do its job, and the way to spell that kind of help is m-o-n-e-y. After the drug Heparin killed more than 80 people, Congress wanted to know what happened. Apparently, the imported ingredients (from, guess which major Asian power) that were contaminated looked just like the good stuff until sophisticated testing uncovered the ruse. Nobody’s saying exactly how much it will cost to protect either the food supply or the drug supply from “foreign” mis-ingredients, but a national consensus needs to take shape fairly quickly that protection of the food supply is a national security issue in the brave new world of globalization.

THE WORD ‘RAW’ MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU?

Mmm! Mmm! Can’t wait!

For some reason, most of us know it when the chicken we bite into is raw. For those who don’t have such discriminating palates, however, federal food-safety officials are trying to figure out what kind of labeling would help keep citizens from eating raw chicken and contracting salmonella.

Apparently stuffed chicken entrees, which look cooked because they’re breaded and “prebrowned” so the breading sticks, have fooled enough people in Minnesota to cause a salmonella outbreak. Even though the chicken has a label that says “uncooked,” that still hasn’t stopped some individuals from diving right in.

I FORGOT I WAS IN A COMA

The sad story of Paul Thurston explains a lot about why companies are so quick to recall products that have ingredients such as eggs or milk when they aren’t listed on the label.

While in jail, Thurston ate a peanut-butter sandwich, to which he is allergic and which killed him in a matter of minutes. The strange thing is that the last time he was in jail he ate a peanut-butter sandwich which sent him into a four-day coma.

So many people are so allergic to peanuts that many school cafeterias ban them, as even the scent can sicken those allergic to them.

Authorities had asked Thurston if he had any allergies when he was being processed. That one must have slipped his mind.

WASH YOUR HANDS OR LOSE THEM! — China imposes new extremely tough food-safety laws

Moved primarily by the drastic drop in its exports to Japan as well as worldwide embarrassment for the frequency of its unsafe food exports, the government of China has overhauled its food-safety regulations.

Superceding any local enforcement variations, the national law imposes harsh financial penalties, life in prison, and even the death penalty for certain infractions.

SALMONELLA CLAIMS ONE ALAMOSA VICTIM

One person has died from the Alamosa salmonella outbreak, according to health officials. They haven’t as yet released the victim’s name. Infecting the town’s drinking water, the salmonella sickened over 400 people. Eighteen people were hospitalized. The water was declared safe on April 11.

OHIO CHIPOTLE REOPENS

After 180 people who ate there got sick last week, a Chipotle restaurant in Ohio was closed. With a thorough sanitizing and a complete switch of its workers, it has been allowed to reopen. Health officials have not determined whether the illnesses were from salmonella poisoning or a norovirus, possibly from one of the workers. When the blood and stool samples return from the lab, a cause will be determined.

WHAT’S SPANISH FOR LEAD? CHACA CHACA!

Chaca Chaca Chacatrozo candy

The California Department of Public Health has issued a warning to consumers not to eat the candy Chaca Chaca Chacatrozo, which is imported from Mexico, because it has been found to contain levels of lead that could cause health problems. Other states have also issued warnings. The product is being recalled.

CONGRESSIONAL RECALL INFO ACT

It’s one of those things that you thought they already did: the Food Safety Recall Information Act was introduced to Congress requiring the USDA to publicize all of the retail stores and school districts that have received food products that have been recalled. Though the Act is in response to the Hallmark downer-meat recall, that actually pales in comparison to the number of recalls of food products every week.