Tag: public safety (Page 5 of 6)

USDA Makes Effort To Prevent Food-Borne Illness

May 5, 2012 / Staff

With summertime quickly approaching, picnics and barbecue’s offer prime opportunities for food-borne illnesses to surface.

Preventing outbreaks will be a huge shift from past strategies which offer response tactics.

Consumers can choose meats last and keep the packages away from other foods.

Avoid putting your hands in your mouth or rubbing your eyes before thoroughly washing your hands.

It is also recommended to carrying an alcohol-based gel or wipes containing a small amount of bleach to clean yourself up after handling a package.

The new direction, which focuses on prevention and faster response times, is a huge improvement over past USDA practices, says Philip M. Tierno Jr., PhD, director of clinical microbiology at NYU Langone Medical Center and clinical professor at the NYU School of Medicine.
“We will likely see a reduction in unnecessary illnesses and possibly the prevention of a [death] or two,” says Tierno, author of The Secret Life of Germs.
Washington, D.C.-based consumer advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest also supports the USDA’s shift in priorities.

Quality Control, Wellness

consumer safety e-coli food safety food-borne illness public safety salmonella salmonella poisoning USDA

Is There More To Mad Cow Disease Than The U.S Department Of Agriculture Is Telling?

May 2, 2012 / Staff

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Factory farming in the U.S. engages in practices which compromises the safety of the food supply.

The British and European outbreaks of BSE ignited because the industry turned cattle — natural vegetarians — into cannibals, feeding them the remains of cattle and other animals. U.S. farmers did the same, but Britain had a huge incidence of a related disease in sheep called scrapie, and many scientists believe that was the source of the massive cattle outbreak. Although experiments showed that BSE could infect monkeys and other animals, it was not until the first human infections that anyone realized the threat it poses to people. The human form of the disease, first discovered in Britain in the 1980s, has been blamed for the deaths of at least 280 people worldwide, with 175 in the UK alone.
How could the California cow have been infected with feed? Following the British outbreak, ranchers in the U.S. and most of the rest of the world stopped feeding cattle the remains of cattle, sheep and other mammals. But a farmer’s feed still could get contaminated by other means. The USDA still allows chickens to consume the remains of cattle. Chicken litter, containing urine and feces, is fed to cows. That could theoretically transmit the infection to cattle.

Quality Control, Research

animal safety factory farms food supply mad cow disease public safety slaughterhouse U.S. Department of Agriculture

Is It Necessary To Wash Pre-Washed Greens?

April 20, 2012 / Staff

The debate roils; wash or don’t wash pre-washed lettuce?

You know the stuff; pre-washed, pre-cut, bagged up and ready to use.

Is it necessary to wash it yet again for safe eating?

Indeed, many (though not all) food safety specialists advise against washing bagged lettuce or spinach. Why? First, because there’s a good chance that if bacteria managed to survive commercial-scale washing with chlorinated water in the processing plant, a lot of them will survive your home washing, too.
Disease-causing E. coli O157:H7 can get trapped just below the surface of a lettuce leaf, and they’re tough to dislodge or kill. Second, there’s a real risk that you’ll end up adding bacteria to greens that were perfectly clean to start with: Your sink or cutting board may be dirtier than the lettuce.

It looks like the only way to truly insure that you are eating the safest lettuce possible would be to cook it!

Nutrition, Quality Control, Wellness

e-coli food safety pre-washed lettuce public health public safety washing pre=washed lettuce washing produce

Beef Recall Raises New Concerns

April 13, 2012 / Staff

Tenderized beef is at the center of recall.

Is it now necessary to label meat which has been through the tenderizing process?

Because of an increased risk of bacterial contamination, some say the meat should be labeled.

E. Coli contamination was at the center of the recall which included more than a ton of beef.

Connecticut Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro said that the Wednesday recall involving some 2,057 pounds of ground and texturized beef from Town & Country Foods Inc. of Greene, Maine, underscores why consumers should be told when meat has been mechanically pierced with needles or blades.

Quality Control, Wellness

beef recall e-coli E. Coli bacteria factory farms food safety public health public safety tenderized meat

Generic Or Not Generic?

March 26, 2012 / Staff

Whether choosing generics because of cost or availability you would think that their safety and efficacy would be guaranteed by the maker, much like brand name products.

It seems like this is not the case.

Across the country, dozens of lawsuits against generic pharmaceutical companies are being dismissed because of a Supreme Court decision last year that said the companies did not have control over what their labels said and therefore could not be sued for failing to alert patients about the risks of taking their drugs.
Now, what once seemed like a trivial detail — whether to take a generic or brand-name drug — has become the deciding factor in whether a patient can seek legal recourse from a drug company. The cases range from that of Ms. Schork, who wasn’t told which type of drug she had been given when she visited the hospital, to people like Camille Baruch, who developed a gastrointestinal disease after taking a generic form of the drug Accutane, as required by her health care plan.

Health Insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, Quality Control, Research, Resources, Wellness

generic drugs pharmaceuticals public safety safety of generic drugs