FSnet Jan. 31/06 -- II
Poisoning
sends 84 children to hospital
Factory
farms and E. coli
EU rapid
alert detects PSP toxins in live mussels
ALDA
Pharmaceuticals develops powerful new hand sanitizer
Red tape
makes things tough for volunteers
Mad
cow-Japan
how to subscribe
Poisoning
sends 84 children to hospital
January 31, 2006
Sunday Times (SA)
Francois Rank
Eighty-four Port Elizabeth, South Africa, children were treated in hospital
after a severe bout of food poisoning struck down almost an entire school hostel
in the city.
The story says that it is suspected the food poisoning was caused by juice
served to the children at Gelvandale High School hostel on Sunday night.
The pupils, aged between 13 and 18, spent Sunday night and the early hours of
yesterday morning awake because of diarrhoea, stomach pains and vomiting.
They were taken by ambulances to Livingstone Hospital yesterday where they were
placed under observation for half the day and later released. By 4pm all of the
pupils had been discharged and were back at the hostel.
Samples of the concentrated juice, which was served with a snack at 8pm on
Sunday, and samples of the food served to the children, have been handed over to
the Nelson Mandela Bay municipal health department for testing.
Factory
farms and E. coli
January 31, 2006
The News Sentinel (IN)
Ray Wilson of New Middletown, Indiana, writes that he watched a true story on
television recently about a kid who inadvertently ate some raw meat and nearly
died from E. coli poisoning. Thank goodness he lived.
But the story went on to say that 3.5 percent of all meat sold contains deadly
E.coli bacteria. That doesn’t seem like much, but when you consider that 10
billion animals are slaughtered every year, that translates to 350 million
animals with E.coli. The story went on to say that there is no test available to
detect this bacteria, and that’s why the U.S. Department of Agriculture says
restaurants must thoroughly cook all meat, in order to kill this bacteria.
Wilson says, that sounds good, but do you really want to depend on some
minimum-wage teenager, who is under pressure from his or her manager to fill
those orders, to thoroughly cook your burger or chicken?
The story also said that E.coli is the result of fecal contamination, and that
this condition has occurred only in the last 15 to 20 years.
So what has happened?
Wilson says factory farming is what has happened. Factory farming is where
thousands of animals are crowded together in feed lots, pens or buildings, where
they live, eat and sleep in their own manure. It’s the slaughterhouses job to
clean the feces off of the carcasses, but here again, you have production line
processing and they don’t take the time to insure that all the meat is clean.
Sometimes they catch this and that’s when you hear of the meat recalls.
The only way to eat risk-free is to go vegetarian, or, if you must have meat, to
eat only free-range animals.
EU
rapid alert detects PSP toxins in live mussels
January 31, 2006
Fish Update
The EU rapid alert for week 4 has detected Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP)
toxins in live mussels from Spain, notified by Italy, Listeria monocytogenes
were found in herring fillets from Lithuania, notified by Estonia and carbon
monoxide treatment was detected in frozen yellow tuna steaks from Indonesia via
the Netherlands, notified by Belgium.
Consumers can be reassured that products subject to an alert notification have
been withdrawn or are in the process of being withdrawn from the market. The
Member States have their own mechanisms to carry out such actions, including the
provision of detailed information through the media if necessary.
www.fishupdate.com is published by Special Publications. Special Publications
also publish European Fish Trader, Fishing Monthly, Fish Farming Today, Fish
Farmer, the Fish Industry Yearbook, the Scottish Seafood Processors Federation
Diary, the Fish Farmer Handbook and a range of wallplanners.
ALDA
Pharmaceuticals develops powerful new hand sanitizer
January 31, 2006
From a press release
ALDA Pharmaceuticals Corp. has completed the development of a powerful and safe
hand sanitizer based on its patent-pending T(3)6(R) technology. ALDA's infection
control technology has been proven to completely kill all 57 bacteria, viruses
and fungi on which it has been tested, including polio and TB, the two benchmark
micro-organisms that are known to be the most resistant to disinfectants. The
ability to kill polio and TB means that the new hand sanitizer is also
acknowledged to be effective against all bacteria and viruses including Avian
Flu, SARS, Norwalk Virus, HIV, Legionella and Hepatitis. Dr. Terrance Owen,
President and CEO of ALDA Pharmaceuticals Corp., comments, "People are
becoming increasingly aware that many infectious diseases are passed on through
direct hand contact. ALDA is excited to enter this marketplace with a technology
that is effective against so many of these easily transmittable diseases."
Red
tape makes things tough for volunteers
February 1, 2006
The Age
Louise Staley of Willaura, Australia, writes that the announcement by the
Premier of a taskforce to look at the Government's response to the bushfires may
bring some additional support to those who have suffered losses in the bushfires
— but money alone is not the answer in helping communities rebuild.
Staley says that as a start, the food-handling and registered kitchen rules
should be abolished for volunteer groups such as the Red Cross. When I was
helping the local Red Cross make lunches for the firefighters, it all had to be
done in a registered kitchen and a person who had done the food-handling
supervisor's course had to be there at all times. What that means in practice is
nobody is allowed to make a slice or biscuits at home. Moreover, the only person
with the food-handling certificate worked 18-hour days despite her own home
being without power for much of that time. All the old hands told the stories
from the Mallee fires of a few years ago, of food being thrown out because there
was nobody with a food-handling certificate there when the health inspector came
calling.
Allowing people to make a slice at home or abolishing the food-handling
supervisor's role would share the load better. This would let more people be
part of the community effort. After all, nobody has ever presented evidence that
all these rules actually prevented food poisoning. Instead all they do is add
hurdles to getting the job done. Similarly, when the time comes to run stalls
for fund-raisers, it is ridiculous that every jar of jam or cake must have all
the ingredients listed. We can't treat home bakers the same way as Kraft.
Mad
cow-Japan
January 31, 2006
The Associated Press
Libby Quaid
WASHINGTON -- Japanese lawmakers were cited as telling U.S. Agriculture
Secretary Mike Johanns on Tuesday that a shipment of American beef containing
bones prohibited because of the risk of mad cow disease has caused ill will and
deep suspicion among consumers in Japan.
Takashi Shinohara, member of the opposition Democratic Party, was quoted as
saying after meeting with Johanns that, "It was a very heated discussion.
Many, many different consumers distrust the American way of inspection and are
very much disappointed."
Johanns was cited as saying the mistake could have happened even if Japanese
inspectors had visited the plant operated by Atlantic Veal & Lamb in
Brooklyn, N.Y., and that Japan had conducted a painstaking, thorough review of
the safety of American beef, adding, "There is nothing about this process
that was shortchanged.""
The department is still investigating what went wrong with the shipment, Johanns
said.
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