I have a friend who is very wary of food safety practices at restaurants – religiously checking the sanitation scores of restaurants before going out to eat. New research shows that she’s probably right to be chary. Researchers, including NC State food scientist Ben Chapman, for the first time used video cameras to track food safety behaviors in commercial kitchens, and found that food safety violations happen a lot more often than previously thought.
The Centers for Disease Control estimates that there are approximately 76 million cases of foodborne illness every year in the U.S. – with 325,000 resulting in hospitalization and 5,000 cases resulting in death. All of this is estimated to cost the country more than $150 billion a year.
The Center for the Public Interest released this list of what the organization called the top 10 riskiest foods based on reported cases of illness. Check out the list below and then read on for tips on how to keep your food safe.
LEAFY GREENS: 363 outbreaks involving 13,568 reported cases of illness
EGGS: 352 outbreaks involving 11,163 reported cases of illness
TUNA: 268 outbreaks involving 2341 reported cases of illness
OYSTERS: 132 outbreaks involving 3409 reported cases of illness
POTATOES: 108 outbreaks involving 3659 reported cases of illness
CHEESE: 83 outbreaks involving 2761 reported cases of illness
ICE CREAM: 74 outbreaks involving 2594 reported cases of illness
TOMATOES: 31 outbreaks involving 3292 reported cases of illness
SPROUTS: 31 outbreaks involving 2022 reported cases of illness
BERRIES: 25 outbreaks involving 3397 reported cases of illness
Pow Wow - one of the biggest gallon water delivery companies in the UK have gone bust.Bottled water usage is on the downturn.People are moving away from bottled water and moving towards plumbed in coolers or other options for office filtered water, schools, universities and health clubs both in the UK and in the United States.
Treatment of produced water from oil and gas production need not only be for environmental reasons, but also economic. Rajindar Singh of Integrated Water Technologies explains how filtration techniques can make this happen.
The war for your tap—and shower, ice maker and water bottle—is on.
Manufacturers are pitching a bevy of new products that filter water in the home promising to deliver everything from safer sipping and bathing, to more youthful skin.
Shower filters touting "softer skin & hair in 1 week" are now the biggest seller for Fort Worth, Texas-based Sun Water Systems Inc.'s
The economic downturn has whetted consumers' appetite for tap water. The average per capita consumption of bottled water slipped an estimated 3.5% last year from 2008, according to Beverage Marketing Corp.
CINCINNATI (AP) -- Kroger Co. is recalling two onion soups and dip mixes because of possible salmonella contamination.
The grocer says an ingredient in its Kroger Onion Soup & Dip Mix and Kroger Beefy Onion Soup & Dip Mix may have been contaminated with the bacteria.
The mixes were sold in a number of states and are being recalled from its Kroger, Dillons, Fry's, King Soopers, City Market, Smith's, Food 4 Less, Jay C, Scott's, Owen's, Baker's, Gerbes, Hilander, and Pay Less stores.
No illnesses have been reported in connection with the products.
Kroger says customers who purchased the products should not eat them and return them to the store for a refund or replacement.
The decisions “reduce E.P.A.’s ability to do what the law intends — to protect water quality, the environment and public health,” wrote Peter S. Silva, the E.P.A.’s assistant administrator for the Office of Water, in response to questions.
About 117 million Americans get their drinking water from sources fed by waters that are vulnerable to exclusion from the Clean Water Act, according to E.P.A. reports.
MINNEAPOLIS—Laboratory testing conducted by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) this week provided additional evidence that the Hartmann dairy farm, of Gibbon, Minn., was the source of a strain ofE. coli O157:H7bacteria that sickened at least five Minnesotans after they consumed raw, unpasteurized milk or other dairy products from the farm. MDH reported four cases of illness last week, and a fifth case has subsequently been confirmed in a young child who was not hospitalized.
CHICAGO (AP) — A new federal study finds many same-day surgery centers — where patients get such things as foot operations and pain injections — have serious problems with infection control.
Failure to wash hands, wear gloves and clean blood glucose meters were among the reported breaches. Clinics reused devices meant for one person or dipped into single-dose medicine vials for multiple patients.
The study was prompted by a hepatitis C outbreak in Las Vegas believed to be caused by unsafe injection practices at two now-closed clinics.
It's the first report from a push to more vigorously inspect U.S. outpatient centers, a growing segment of the health care system that annually performs more than 6 million procedures and collects $3 billion from Medicare. Procedures performed at such centers include exams of the esophagus, colonoscopies and plastic surgery.
Baltimore Sun by Meredith Cohn
A state panel charged with health care unveiled its first major initiative Tuesday: an effort to improve hand-washing at Maryland hospitals.
Called the Maryland Hospital Hand Hygiene Collaborative, it's funded by $100,000 in federal stimulus money provided through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It's voluntary, but state officials expect almost all of the 47 acute-care hospitals in Maryland to participate because they want to reduce potentially avoidable infections that have large human and financial costs.
Most already have begun efforts to improve hand-washing by employees - which started before the recent H1N1 flu pandemic but could help control the spread. The main benefits of the new program are creation of a system for officials to share best practices and to uniformly report progress, said Health and Mental Hygiene Secretary John Colmers.
Colmers said he hopes the program becomes a model for other states. Across the nation, there are an estimated 1.7 million hospital-acquired infections annually, 100,000 deaths and $30 billion in additional health care costs, according to estimates from the CDC this year. The state began collecting data about certain infections acquired in hospital intensive-care units only in the last year, and results are not yet available, according to the Maryland Health Care Commission.
"I call this the low-hanging fruit," said Colmers about hand-washing. "It's one of those things that we know the evidence suggests ought to be done and is not being done consistently."
The state and federal governments have other plans in place to decrease the occurrence of hospital-acquired infections. Maryland, for example, is considering financial incentives for hospitals.
http://www.Science Daily Reports Canada’s Food Safety System Fails International Comparison Expert Argues.com/releases/2010/01/100125123225.htm#
Foodborne illness surveillance is needed to ensure safety from gastrointestinal infections caused by bacteria such as toxigenic E.coli, Salmonella, Campylobacter and Listeria. As there is no national foodborne illness surveillance program in Canada, the estimated 11 million cases of foodborne illness every year are based on surveys of self-reported gastrointestinal illness. More accurate data are needed to execute meaningful intervention.
What is VeriPure Water? VeriPure is carbon filtered water plus Mother Nature's very own disinfectant. VeriPure is beyond filtered water, it is pure water plus with the ability to deliver a natural disinfectant with cool clean water safely without any residual waste. The only residual is oxygen. Imagine water that reduces bacteria! That is benefit of VeriPure. Imagine a water that rinses bacteria from your fruits and vegetables so completely clean that your fresh fruits and vegetables actually last longer?! Imagine being able to wash down your kitchen table and counter tops with a cool water that delivers a sanitizing rinse far quicker than chlorine?! That is what the VeriPure® system can deliver safely and conveniently to your home faucet. All this and yet VeriPure even makes great coffee because it retains the minerals.
Ozone water is a wonderful addition to the home, however, it frustrates me that there is so much misinformation permeating the internet. In this brief article, I hope to dispel the myths and clarify what this great new product can do for families. Myth #1 Ozone Water Can Cure - Absolutely False. I have been following ozonated water for an extended period of time. During this time, I am greatly dismayed at the unsubstantiated claims about “cures”; especially claims that ozone cures cancer. I have spoken with various manufacturers, watched educational videos and read the weekly alerts I receive. Ozonated water can be utilized as a disinfectant. Ozonated water can prolong the life of vegetables and fruit because it kills bacteria. Ozonated water can help somewhat with digestive problems and sinuses because it serves as an antioxidant. However, Ozonated water is not a cure. Reputable manufacturers here in the United States, such as VeriPure®, do not oversell ozone water and they provide research to back up any claims. They tell the story, the true story. Why is this important to me? Because I lost my husband to pancreatic cancer. I feel the pain of the family members desperately seeking a cure or grasping for a solution. Ozonated water is wonderful. It is pure. it can be a disinfectant for up to 30 minutes but it is not a cure.
MRSA kills. MRSA is not spread by blood or bodily fluid. MRSA is the number one reason you MUST sanitize your hands. MRSA is not visual to the human eye. MRSA can live in chlorinated water! MRSA is difficult to combat. For the sake of your health and the sake of your family's health, you must learn about this deadly disease. This deadly disease that once was only known to exist in the hospitals is now also being reported in what the experts have termed "community-associated MRSA". For more details, read what the Mayo Clinic Staff report about MRSA. Anti-bacteria soap, hand sanitizers and ozone water will effectively kill MRSA and E. coli. New Technology - Safe Ozone Water - The "low level ozone" technology patented and developed by VeriPure has been clinically proven to kill MRSA. This is exciting new technology that is completely green - no off-gas, no residual water, and yet the strength and sustainability issues have been solved with smart technology from semi-conductor industry. And the lights and the warning noises on the VeriPure point of use (POU) units prevent the users from not changing the filters. Layered Ozonated Water Ozone water has been in existence since thunderstorms. The earth is said to be in excess of 4.5 billion years old. The existence of thunderstorms probably dates back to this same time frame. However, human knowledge of ozone water only recently began in the 1840's. And only in 2010 is a new and highly sophisticated ozone water best described as a "layered ozone system" is now available thanks to complicated technology of microprocessors and better chemical filter knowledge.
A layered ozonated water system is both ozone water (see homemade ozonated water below) and a sophisticated water filter. VeriPure is the innovator behind this new compact and yet very effective technology. It is a tapestry of events that pulls together the team member of ozone who serves to explode the chemicals into pieces and the filter who takes those pieces and shifts through them as if mining for gold - leaving some particles if the filter chooses or is designed to or removing all particles if the filter was created to do so.
Layered ozonated water – the smell – I personally love It – Others?....well....they share a different opinion. Let me share with you a balanced viewpoint. I love the smell of layered ozonated water but, surprisingly, opinions are varied. Men and Children & the Smell of Layered Ozonated Water I have met a number of men who have stated openly they like the smell of layered ozonated water. And many say their teenage children, including females, enjoy the smell because they like the fresh, spring aroma and are disappointed when the aroma quickly dissipates.
The 35-year-old federal law regulating tap water is so out of date that the water Americans drink can pose what scientists say are serious health risks — and still be legal. Examine whether contaminants in your water supply met two standards: the legal limits established by the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the typically stricter health guidelines. What’s in Your Water The data was collected by an advocacy organization, the Environmental Working Group, who shared it with The Times. Only 91 contaminants are regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act, yet more than 60,000 chemicals are used within the United States, according to Environmental Protection Agency estimates. Government and independent scientists have scrutinized thousands of those chemicals in recent decades, and identified hundreds associated with a risk of cancer and other diseases at small concentrations in drinking water, according to an analysis of government records by The New York Times.
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Innovators of Low Level Ozone Technology® Ozone Sustainability Technology™
