http://www.ourmidland.com/story_prep...-5ed6-b2dd-6c5
62ff2671f.html

CDC: Food poisoning from salmonella up in United States

ATLANTA (AP) -- More Americans got food poisoning last year, with
salmonella cases driving the increase, the government reported Tuesday.
Illness rates for the most common serious type of E. coli fell last
year. There was a rise in cases caused by other strains of the bacteria,
although that bump may just reflect more testing was done for them, the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

An unusually aggressive strain of E. coli is behind the current large
outbreak of food poisoning in Europe, mostly in Germany. That strain has
never caused an outbreak in the U.S.

The CDC estimates that 50 million Americans each year get sick from
foodborne illnesses, including about 3,000 who die.

The report released Tuesday is based on foodborne infections in only 10
states, or about 15 percent of the American population. But it has
information that other databases lack and is believed to be a good
indicator of food poisoning trends.

More than 19,000 cases of food poisoning were reported in those states
last year. That was up from 17,500 cases in 2009, and about 18,500 in
2008.

Last year, there were 4,200 hospitalizations and 68 deaths in those
states.
(cont.)

Salmonella means poop in the food.

We want a smaller government with fewer food inspectors, right?
--
- Billy

Mad dog Republicans to the right. Democratic spider webs to the left. True conservatives, and liberals not to be found anywhere in the phantasmagoria
of the American political landscape.

America is not broke. The country is awash in wealth and cash.
It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the
greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks
and the portfolios of the uber-rich.
http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/.../michael-moore
/michael-moore-says-400-americans-have-more-wealth-/

Billy wrote:
....
Salmonella means poop in the food.

anyone who knows much about salmonella knows
that it has multiple causes.

it may mean poop in the food. it may also
mean bad eggs in the food. someone who messed
around with an infected turtle. etc.


We want a smaller government with fewer food inspectors, right?

we do want smaller government with fewer
food inspectors because it seems like a waste
of money to hire people to tell us the food
is as contaminated as we already know it is.

put the money into safe food handling
research and education.

reactive food prep surfaces and
gadgets. so that when contaminated
food touches it it changes color
immediately. if your food prep
gloves turned neon orange when you
touched contaminated food then at
least that gives immediate feedback
instead of delayed.


songbird

In article ,
Frank wrote:

On 6/13/2011 1:07 PM, Billy wrote:
In ,
wrote:

On 6/13/2011 2:02 AM, Billy wrote:
http://www.ourmidland.com/story_prep...-5ed6-b2dd-6c5
62ff2671f.html

CDC: Food poisoning from salmonella up in United States

ATLANTA (AP) -- More Americans got food poisoning last year, with
salmonella cases driving the increase, the government reported Tuesday.
Illness rates for the most common serious type of E. coli fell last
year. There was a rise in cases caused by other strains of the bacteria,
although that bump may just reflect more testing was done for them, the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

An unusually aggressive strain of E. coli is behind the current large
outbreak of food poisoning in Europe, mostly in Germany. That strain has
never caused an outbreak in the U.S.

The CDC estimates that 50 million Americans each year get sick from
foodborne illnesses, including about 3,000 who die.

The report released Tuesday is based on foodborne infections in only 10
states, or about 15 percent of the American population. But it has
information that other databases lack and is believed to be a good
indicator of food poisoning trends.

More than 19,000 cases of food poisoning were reported in those states
last year. That was up from 17,500 cases in 2009, and about 18,500 in
2008.

Last year, there were 4,200 hospitalizations and 68 deaths in those
states.
(cont.)

Salmonella means poop in the food.

We want a smaller government with fewer food inspectors, right?

I want a smaller government where important jobs are covered and this is
one.
How about economic inspectors?

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has halted development of a
technology program used to flag suspicious trading because of an $11
million cut in its technology budget, increasing rancor within the small
agency about how it should spend its money.

The tensions offer a taste of spending battles to come at the CFTC and
Securities and Exchange Commission if, as seems increasingly likely,
Congress refuses to increase the agencies' funding to deal with new
mandates created by the Dodd-Frank financial-reform act.

These squabbles have a long history, and often involve budget-process
bluffing and gamesmanship between Congress and regulators. The
regulators say it's different this time because of the extensive new
responsibilities they have been handed under last year's Dodd-Frank
legislation. The two agencies say they need another 1,200 staff in total
to implement and enforce the sweeping financial overhaul.
http://www.marke****ch.com/story/rif...-cftc-2011-02-
24

We had a bout of food poisoning earlier this year but could not trace to
anything.

Washing and cooking food by consumer is important.
The German problem was apparently with sprouts from an organic farm.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15148222,00.html
German authorities announced Saturday that they located the source of
the bacteria. The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) confirmed
test results announced on Friday that identified bean sprouts in the
northern village of Bienenbüttel as carrying the virulent E. coli strain
EHEC-0104.

Health officials have given the green light on vegetables
"These results are an important step in the chain of evidence," said BfR
director Andreas Hensel.

Officials investigating an organic farm in northern Germany said on
Saturday they do not expect to take legal action against it for causing
an E.coli outbreak.

"Everything we have looked into until now shows the farm was flawless,"
said Gert Hahne, spokesman for the consumer protection office of Lower
Saxony state, where Bienenbüttel is located. "It is hygienic and
followed all the regulations."
----

It appears that the E. coli may have been on the seeds before they were
sprouted.

My wife thinks our problem may have came from some olives she picked up
for a salad at a salad bar at the Acme, our local supermarket. Acme
said they were not aware of any problem but it has scared us away from
salad bars which could be contaminated by customers.

Once saw a Federal Register article from the FDA that talked about
incidence of food poisoning from various meats/fishes. Don't recall
specifics but pork and beef were safest with most incidents from poultry
and seafood. For me, the latter must be thoroughly cooked.

Not trying to argue with you Frank. I just think it's a valuable
discussion.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/op...r=1&ref=nichol
asdkristof
Every year in the United States, 325,000 people are hospitalized because
of food-borne illnesses and 5,000 die, according to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. That¹s right: food kills one person
every two hours.

One of the most common antibiotic-resistant pathogens is MRSA, which now
kills more Americans annually than AIDS and adds hugely to America¹s
medical costs. MRSA has many variants, and one of the more benign forms
now is widespread in hog barns and among people who deal with hogs. An
article this year in a journal called Applied and Environmental
Microbiology reported that MRSA was found in 70 percent of hogs on one
farm.
--
- Billy

Mad dog Republicans to the right. Democratic spider webs to the left. True conservatives, and liberals not to be found anywhere in the phantasmagoria
of the American political landscape.

America is not broke. The country is awash in wealth and cash.
It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the
greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks
and the portfolios of the uber-rich.
http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/.../michael-moore
/michael-moore-says-400-americans-have-more-wealth-/

On 6/13/2011 4:52 PM, Billy wrote:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/op...r=1&ref=nichol
asdkristof

Not arguing. I agree with you. Editorial in C&E News just mentioned
the stupidity of using antibiotics to help fatten up farm animals.

I had a lot of dealings with food packaging issues when doing regulatory
consulting in plastics. There were a lot of issues but the fact is that
people are killed by stuff in food, not the packaging.

In article ,
Frank wrote:

On 6/13/2011 4:52 PM, Billy wrote:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/op...r=1&ref=nichol
asdkristof

Not arguing. I agree with you. Editorial in C&E News just mentioned
the stupidity of using antibiotics to help fatten up farm animals.

I had a lot of dealings with food packaging issues when doing regulatory
consulting in plastics. There were a lot of issues but the fact is that
people are killed by stuff in food, not the packaging.

Yeah, but there is acute toxicity, and chronic toxicity. Not every
poison strikes you down like a bolt of lightening.
--
- Billy

Mad dog Republicans to the right. Democratic spider webs to the left. True conservatives, and liberals not to be found anywhere in the phantasmagoria
of the American political landscape.

America is not broke. The country is awash in wealth and cash.
It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the
greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks
and the portfolios of the uber-rich.
http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/.../michael-moore
/michael-moore-says-400-americans-have-more-wealth-/

On 6/13/2011 8:00 PM, Billy wrote:
In ,
wrote:

On 6/13/2011 4:52 PM, Billy wrote:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/op...r=1&ref=nichol
asdkristof

Not arguing. I agree with you. Editorial in C&E News just mentioned
the stupidity of using antibiotics to help fatten up farm animals.

I had a lot of dealings with food packaging issues when doing regulatory
consulting in plastics. There were a lot of issues but the fact is that
people are killed by stuff in food, not the packaging.

Yeah, but there is acute toxicity, and chronic toxicity. Not every
poison strikes you down like a bolt of lightening.

All considered when evaluating toxicity. Some long term tests like
carcinogenicity cost millions to run. I've seen non-food contact
materials dropped from the market because testing costs exceeded any
potential profit.

In article ,
Frank wrote:

On 6/13/2011 8:00 PM, Billy wrote:
In ,
wrote:

On 6/13/2011 4:52 PM, Billy wrote:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/op...r=1&ref=nichol
asdkristof

Not arguing. I agree with you. Editorial in C&E News just mentioned
the stupidity of using antibiotics to help fatten up farm animals.

I had a lot of dealings with food packaging issues when doing regulatory
consulting in plastics. There were a lot of issues but the fact is that
people are killed by stuff in food, not the packaging.

Yeah, but there is acute toxicity, and chronic toxicity. Not every
poison strikes you down like a bolt of lightening.

All considered when evaluating toxicity. Some long term tests like
carcinogenicity cost millions to run. I've seen non-food contact
materials dropped from the market because testing costs exceeded any
potential profit.

So were back to arguing human cost over financial profit?

It should not be forgotten that review articles written by authors with
affiliations to the tobacco industry have been found to be 88 times more
likely to conclude that passive smoking is not harmful than if the
article is written by authors with no connection to the tobacco industry
(Wise, J. (1998) BMJ. 316)
--
- Billy

Mad dog Republicans to the right. Democratic spider webs to the left. True conservatives, and liberals not to be found anywhere in the phantasmagoria
of the American political landscape.

America is not broke. The country is awash in wealth and cash.
It's just that it's not in your hands. It has been transferred, in the
greatest heist in history, from the workers and consumers to the banks
and the portfolios of the uber-rich.
http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/.../michael-moore
/michael-moore-says-400-americans-have-more-wealth-/