Featured Articles

Google Flu Trends - early warning system for foodborne illness outbreaks?

Doug Powell
November 11, 2008 23:19

Google Flu Trends is a new Web tool that Google.org, the company’s philanthropic unit, unveiled on Tuesday, just as flu season was getting under way in the United States. The N.Y. Times reports that Google Flu Trends is based on the simple idea that people who are feeling sick will probably...

Staff butchering deer leads to closure of Chinese restaurant

Doug Powell
October 27, 2008 16:11

“In general, you can’t have a dead animal in a food services establishment.” That’s the advice from Erie County Health Commissioner Dr. Anthony J. Billittier IV after a dead deer was discovered being butchered in a restaurant. The Buffalo News in New York reports the...

PETA takes on Victorino

Ben Chapman
October 15, 2008 19:29

KITV in Honolulu, HI reports that PETA has asked Shane Victorino, the Philadelphia Phillies star Center Fielder, to stop eating Spam. According to the PETA Files blog, Fox announcer Joe Buck, revealed that Victorino's favourite food is a popular Hawaiian dish, Spam musubi, during a recent...

Recent Articles

Is Diet Coke Plus really a plus?

Michelle Mazur
January 06, 2009 21:35

It’s no secret.  The obesity epidemic is still raging in the United States.  Documentaries such as Super Size Me and TV shows like Big Medicine have helped to bring the public’s attention to the obesity problem in the US, but we still have a long way to go to educate consumers...

Canadian listeria coverage still sucks

Doug Powell
January 06, 2009 18:07

Daughter Braunwynn returned to Ontario last night after a great visit. Her super-sweet 16 is less than two weeks away, so during lunch on Sunday with Amy and Sorenne and Bob, we asked what she might be studying at university (not a fair question cause I still don’t know what I want to do...

Girl almost dies from E. coli after helping dad slaughter deer

Doug Powell
January 06, 2009 14:04

Demonstrating once again that dangerous E. coli like O157:H7 exist in all ruminants, 7-year-old April Lambert of Beckley, West Virginia underwent a horrific yet typical encounter with E. coli as her kidneys shut down and doctors scrambled to save her life. The Charleston Daily Mail reports that...

Avoid sickness this flu season, get a flu shot and wash your hands

Michelle Mazur
January 06, 2009 03:14

Seasonal influenza will probably be on the rise again.  The flu season lasts from approximately October through March, with peak months being January and February.  In all likelihood I’ll probably come down with the flu this season, from a combination of stress and little sleep...

Would having more inspectors really keep Listeria out of RTE meats?

Ben Chapman
January 04, 2009 20:15

Maybe I'm cynical about the whole thing, but I don't see overworked meat inspectors being the most important factor leading to the Maple Leaf/Listeria outbreak. I don't know what more inspectors would have done about Listeria living deep inside a slicer. Bob Kingston, president of the Agriculture...

Bert Mitchell: Canadian listeria controls lacking

Doug Powell
January 04, 2009 19:44

Bert Mitchell saw jim Romahn’s Dec. 22/08 piece about listeria and Maple Leaf Foods in FSnet and barfblog.com, and decided he had to write. Dr. Mitchell’s no lightweight. Among other achievements, he was Director of the Bureau of Veterinary Drugs at Health Canada from 1982-1988,an...

Lobster spared from road kill sold as 2-for-1 dinner special

Doug Powell
January 04, 2009 16:43

Arnold A. Villatico, the owner of Periwinkles & Giorgios Italian Pub and Restaurant in Oxford, Massachusetts, faces criminal charges of larceny over $250, conspiracy, and unlicensed possession of shellfish after dozens of condemned lobsters from an overturned truck allegedly appeared on...