Sampler Platter 12.01.09

by: JayinPortland

Tue Dec 01, 2009 at 05:09:29 AM PST

• Consumer Reports brings us some disturbing news about store-bought chicken. Two-thirds of fresh, whole broilers "harbored salmonella and/or campylobacter".  The amazing thing is that this is actually an improvement over their last survey in 2007.

• It's time for the 2009 Holiday Ale Festival here in Portland!  The event begins tomorrow and goes on through Sunday, Downtown in Pioneer Courthouse Square.  If you come on the right day I might just pour you one myself!  The O brings us a Q&A with one of the event's organizers.

• Go Oakland!  A local blogger writes about a new produce market which recently opened on Telegraph in the city's Temescal neighborhood.

• Staying in Oakland for one more, here's a piece on City Slicker Farms' plans for two small parks in West Oakland.

• Food stamp purchases at New York City's Greenmarkets have increased 125% over the past year.

• Now these are some holiday gift ideas I can support!  "The sweetest gifts of all come from your own kitchen"...

• After massive and high-profile failures in Texas and Indiana, the federal government is warning states not to privatize food stamps.  Now if only they would use their power to do more to dissuade same besides simply writing "strongly worded letters"...

• Are urban hunting clubs the next step in the local foods movement?

• A new video shot by Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife officials confirms the existence of a pack of at least 10 gray wolves in Eastern Oregon.

Food safety bill may not clear Senate this year

by: desmoinesdem

Sat Oct 10, 2009 at 12:52:02 PM PDT

The Senate has been bogged down in the debate over health care reform, and Harkin said his staff is tied up working on other must-pass bills. He said he hoped to have the committee take up the bill in December, but he assured her the issue wouldn't die.

"We're going to get it done," he said.

Recent food scares linked to peanut butter and other products have spurred interest in Congress in increasing the FDA's authority. Michael Taylor, a senior adviser at the FDA, told the victims and their families that the agency was poised to tighten its regulation of foods if Congress would just pass the legislation. "The forces have come together," he said. "Society is finally ready to deal with this problem."

Speaking about food safety legislation last month,

Harkin said he expected the committee's bill to be a modified version of legislation introduced by Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill. Like the House bill, Durbin's legislation would give the Food and Drug Administration more authority over the 80 percent of the food supply - everything but meat and poultry - that the agency regulates. The administration would be required to inspect processors more often, and processors in turn would face new regulations for controlling against pathogens.

But the Durbin bill omits a key feature of the House-passed bill: a $500 fee on processors to offset the cost of increasing the administration's budget.

Scott Faber, a lobbyist for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, told Philip Brasher of the Des Moines Register that he thinks this bill has less than a 50/50 chance of getting through Congress. The Grocery Manufacturers Association supported the food safety bill the House approved in June, but Faber observed, "As we get closer and closer to the [2010] election it makes it harder to move legislation."

Class 1 Beef Recall Due to Antibiotic Resistant Salmonella

by: Jill Richardson

Thu Aug 13, 2009 at 17:20:40 PM PDT

The USDA is supposed to tell us which stores are selling (or have sold) the tainted beef, to make it easy for us to figure out if we've accidentally bought tainted beef so we don't eat it. So far, according to Bill Marler, the USDA has not given us that information. Ummm.... that's kinda important.

UPDATE: Apparently FSIS did let us know where the tainted beef went. That's good news at least.

Obama's Food Safety Working Group's Findings

by: Jill Richardson

Wed Jul 08, 2009 at 04:38:53 AM PDT

Consumers Union put out the statement below.

Food Safety Mini-Sampler Platter

by: JayinPortland

Fri May 01, 2009 at 15:10:00 PM PDT

I've worked in a few warehouses, and I've certainly seen nasty stuff before.  I've never worked in a food distribution or manufacturing facility, though.  I can say, however, that food manufacturing facilities were pretty common to run across during my decade working in environmental remediation back in New Jersey.  If they can't, don't or won't properly handle their wastewater discharges, it's probably a good bet that's not the only sanitary problem with the facility...

A few other recent items:

• Federal "regulators" are warning people to stop using a popular line of "diet supplements", after about 2 dozen reports of "significant adverse health effects" (including one death) in people who used it.  Eye-opening read, that NY Times piece -

  Unlike drugs, whose manufacturers must provide safety and effectiveness data before receiving federal approval to sell the products, dietary supplements do not need prior F.D.A. sanction to go on sale. Manufacturers of dietary supplements are themselves responsible for ensuring and documenting the safety and efficacy claims of their products.

• Families and victims of food poisoning have been in Washington, DC this week to push for updated federal food safety legislation.

• Follow the trail!  Arizona spinach goes to a Wisconsin packer, then heads on to a nationwide distributor who ships the product to Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois.  The spinach tests positive for salmonella, and is recalled.  Interestingly enough, the distributor was notified of the positive test results on April 27, yet no recall was announced until April 29.  Why did it take two days they wait until the third day (thanks, nycstray!) to announce to the public, especially considering that no weekends or holidays were involved?

US Marshals Raid New Jersey Peanut Distributor

by: JayinPortland

Wed Apr 08, 2009 at 14:00:00 PM PDT

A federal official said Moradi [Westco/Westcott] "ran away and hid" when government inspectors showed up at his plant. Moradi acknowledged hiding from FDA inspectors but said it was because they had repeatedly visited him and staked out his plant, and he was frightened.

The company is Westco Fruit & Nut, operating out of a Coit Street location in Irvington, NJ.  The company sent out mixed nut products and trail mix containing peanuts from PCA's Blakely, Georgia plant up until February 2009, and FDA is warning people to dispose of all products containing peanuts they may have from Westco/Westcott Fruit & Nut Company.

Westco/Westcott refused to cooperate with FDA in the recall attempt or provide any information to federal investigators, so today US marshals raided their building -

At the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Marshals today executed an inspection warrant at Westco Fruit and Nuts Inc. (Westco/Westcott), an Irvington, N.J.-based company. Westco/Westcott did not provide access to distribution documents and declined to recall products after an FDA request.

There's that 'voluntary' recall system in action.  I guess the 'honor system' doesn't work when some companies are still willing to put profits before health, even if it risks potentially killing people...

Tropical Tuesday Sampler Platter

by: JayinPortland

Tue Apr 07, 2009 at 14:30:00 PM PDT

• A new (old) cookbook being revised for Oregon's sesquicentennial will be based upon one Southern Oregon family's culinary roots going back 150 years.  The pioneer sour cream pear pie sounds interesting.  Generations of family poetry will also be included, like this gem from Bessie Venable Smith Johnston on a trip to an early-day supermarket - "Foods with additives, preserved to delay the rot; the more I looked, the less hungry I got."  I like her poetry. :)

• A great blog post on the urgent need to improve hospital food.  I spent 5 weeks in a New Jersey hospital ten years ago recovering from meningitis, and the 'food' was probably one of the worst experiences I can remember from that.  It isn't rocket science - better (real, whole) food is one of the keys to better health.  You'd think hospitals would be a natural place to make that connection...

• Marion Nestle offers 3 great suggestions to restaurants, on making it easier for customers to make healthier choices.

• The new trend in food marketing strategies - stressing simplicity.  Which of course in no way makes Fritos or Snapple any 'healthier'.

• In the Washington Post, Jennifer Huget asks what can eaters do as packaged food recalls spread?

• A cool link from TreeHugger on a Scottish sustainable development charity building greenhouses from recycled soda bottles.

• It's the season for snacking on maple syrup on snow in Vermont these days...

• Another article on the loopholes contained in country-of-origin labeling, this one from Tampa Bay.

• The National WWII Museum is seeking your stories and memories about food, recipes, Victory Gardens and rationing at home during the war.

• An article from Australia on organic baby food and the rapid growth of other "eco-baby" products.

Cockroaches and Rat Poop Found In Second Setton Nut Plant

by: JayinPortland

Fri Apr 03, 2009 at 06:00:00 AM PDT

"Last month, New York agricultural authorities discovered nearly two dozen dead cockroaches, rodent droppings and one live cockroach on an ingredient rolling rack inside the Commack plant. It failed its state health inspection.... State inspectors went back for a visit Wednesday to swab the plant and take food samples to be tested for salmonella and other pathogens as part of the pistachio recall,... The test results are pending."

This Commack, New York plant is now the second Setton plant under investigation, along with Setton's Terra Bella, California plant from which the earlier recall was issued.  A separate recall of products from the Commack plant will be coming soon -

The Commack company said in a statement last night it plans a voluntary recall soon, related to the pistachios issue. It has engaged at least three outside public relations representatives since news of the California salmonella scare broke.

And the similarities don't end there - these guys are certified organic, too.  I wouldn't suggest ordering anything from that page, of course...

Is Salmonella Winning?

by: Jill Richardson

Thu Apr 02, 2009 at 13:02:08 PM PDT

Salmonella Pistachios, Pepper, Peanuts, Sprouts, Eggs and Mayonnaise in Last Three Months

As a friend recently said: "You could almost make a sandwich."  A nasty one at that.

Just to recap - I think we all know about the peanuts. And then there's the pistachios, the mayo, white pepper, the sprouts... I must have missed the eggs. What's the score? Humans 0; Salmonella 6?

Despite all of the different stories, it appears that the pistachios are getting all of the attention. The LA Times says that the plant that sold the pistachios to Kraft says that the salmonella didn't come from them. Meanwhile, the FDA has added a new pistachio page to its site. Marion Nestle thinks that the pistachio case shows that HACCP for all foods is a good idea.

Pistachios from California plant recalled due to salmonella

by: DarrellNC

Tue Mar 31, 2009 at 06:00:47 AM PDT

Got any pistachios at home?  Don't eat them--but don't throw them away either.  The FDA is issuing this advisory after a Central Valley plant issued a recall.

A California food processing plant is voluntarily recalling up to 1 million pounds of roasted pistachio products that may have been contaminated with salmonella, the Food and Drug Administration announced Monday.

The nuts came from Setton Farms in Terra Bella, California, about 75 miles south of Fresno. They were largely distributed in 2,000-pound containers to food wholesalers who would then package them for resale or incorporate them as ingredients in other products, such as ice cream and trail mix.

Unlike the Peanut Corporation of America affair, an outbreak didn't trigger this recall.  Rather, the recall came after Kraft found strains of salmonella during routine testing.

This could have a massive ripple effect--Setton is the second-biggest pistachio processor in the nation.

Monday Evening Sampler Platter

by: JayinPortland

Mon Mar 23, 2009 at 16:00:00 PM PDT

• A new restaurant near the University of Texas at Arlington, which uses locally grown, organic ingredients as much as possible, has a no-set-price policy, and asks customers to discreetly pay (in an envelope) afterwards for what they thought the meal was worth.  The idea is based upon an existing Salt Lake City non-profit community kitchen's model.  Can it work for a commercial establishment?  So far, the restaurant is coming up just short, although it's only two months old and the business itself is always a rough one.

• The City of Berkeley, CA may soon transform all of its parks and open spaces into habitats for bees, in an effort to reverse the recent global decline of pollinators.

• If you're in Kansas, you can vote for the best food in the state from now until March 31.  Unfortunately, restaurants must be at least a decade old in order to be considered, so that rules out Lawrence's Local Burger for at least the next 7 years.  I'm sure there's something else worth considering in Lawrence, though...

• USDA will update its Plant Hardiness Zone Map later this year, for the first time since 1990, to reflect the climate-change induced shifts of planting zones northward.

More below the fold...

Today's House Salmonella Hearing

by: Jill Richardson

Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 17:08:43 PM PDT

Opening statements, written testimony, and documents for the hearing can be found here.

Marler Op-ed - Peanut Recall: Many Unhappy Returns - $1 Billion in Losses

by: bmarler

Sat Mar 07, 2009 at 16:31:51 PM PST

At the same time, we brace ourselves for the familiar rant: We are the blood-sucking ambulance chasers who impose crippling legal costs on honest companies that have made innocent mistakes trying to feed the nation. So be it. Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly, Beck, Dobbs and friends can bash us all day and all night for our efforts to make companies pay the personal costs associated with their mistakes. If somebody knows a better way to get justice and compensation for injured people, I want to hear about it. But, for the record, trial lawyers like me are not the reason that screw-up companies like Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) go bankrupt. We are not the reason our Government has failed to protect its citizens.

Remember PCA?

by: JayinPortland

Fri Mar 06, 2009 at 16:15:17 PM PST

* A dead mouse stuck to a glue trap. "The mouse appeared to have died recently," the report reads.

* "What appeared to be rodent excreta pellets too numerous to count were observed in the cabinet under the sink in the south most kitchen."

* "In the cabinet north of the dishwasher ... I counted approximately 27 rodent excreta pellets."

* "Another dead mouse was found just outside the south most doorway of the kitchen. ... This mouse also appeared to have recently died."

* "What appeared to be a bird's nest was observed in the wall/ceiling metal support beam at southwest corner of the mezzanine area."

* Processing machines had buildup of "gooey" peanut paste.

* Numerous roof leaks.

In an ironic twist, it turns out that a Texas State Health Inspector regularly drove past the Plainview, TX PCA plant that the state didn't know existed on his way to other jobs -

A state inspector drove by the Plainview plant regularly on his way to other jobs, but he never entered the facility.

"I find it inconceivable that an inspector could pass the plant and not know food was processed there," Estes said. "We need a mechanism where people are aware of what's happening in their communities."

Also, an AP article from yesterday notes how easy it was for PCA to fool inspectors into believing it was licensed -

Jack McCasland, environmental inspector for the Plainview-Hale County Health Department, said plant officials led him to believe the licensing process was under way when he visited the facility before it opened.

"To be honest, I never really thought to follow up on it," McCasland said. "It just never occurred to me that they wouldn't be (licensed)."

PCA Update: VA Plant Had Long History of Rodents, Mold on Peanuts

by: JayinPortland

Wed Feb 25, 2009 at 03:29:35 AM PST

In Virginia, tests for salmonella have come back negative. But inspection reports revealed evidence of rodents and other unsanitary conditions at the Peanut Corp. plant in Suffolk. State inspectors repeatedly found evidence of rodents at the plant since Peanut Corp. bought it in 2000, according to inspection reports.

As recently as October, a Virginia inspector found "an accumulation of black, green and yellow mold" on blanched peanuts and 43 containers each holding 2,000-pounds of peanuts. The plant manager told the inspector after the discovery that those peanuts would be destroyed if not used for animal feed and oil stock.

That must be the new Rainbow Mold flavor.

Also, following up on the news from a week and a half ago of the new salmonella find at PCA's Texas plant, salmonella poisoning cases linked to products from PCA's Texas plant have moved beyond just Colorado, and on into Oregon -

Oregon health officials have confirmed a new case of salmonella infection, and for the first time peanuts sold in bins are the likely culprit. The peanuts came from the Peanut Corp. of America's Plainview, Texas, plant, which has been linked to a salmonella outbreak.

The recall continues to expand, and more below the fold...