A recent Harris Polls sites that 42% of Americans say they have become sick from something they ate and 69% of those believe they know what made them sick.  They may not be correct, but perception matters–and could be potentially harmful to the food establishment or distributor that sold the food item.  Interestingly, 29% of those who believe they know what made them sick, have removed that food item entirely from their diet.  More than half of those advised others not to eat the item as well.

These numbers make it clear that when consumers become ill from what they believe to be foodborne illness, it can hurt your business.  It’s an issue to which everyone can relate, and people are finally starting stand up and take notice.  After last week’s shocking report that the United States spends $152 billion annually on foodborne illness, some very influential people in the restaurant industry began discussing some ideas on how to move forward.

National chain restaurants understand that too often, food code regulations can change from state-to-state and city-to-city.  It can be impossible to regulate the myriad local laws on a corporate level and yet the need for solid food safety training is more important now than ever.  In an age where bad press can be all over the internet in seconds, the restaurant industry depends on solid food handler education of basic food safety principles.  Juelene Beck of Juelene Beck and Associates (a restaurant-chain consulting firm) stated, “The biggest issue is still around basic training and more of an understanding by the operations people.  Having the servers and the people behind them understand better what the food-safety issues are is where the biggest steps can be made in food safety.”

Many health departments are grateful for the StateFoodSafety.com™ Online Food Handler Training Course because it is fully customizable to add local laws and regulations seamlessly into the course content.  Online training allows managers to ensure high-quality training with each employee–and the training can be done from the comfort of home.  Juelene Beck continues saying, “I have a problem with the business model that says we can’t afford to train people because of high turnover.  It’s so easy to mishandle food.  They need to train everybody who handles food.  Period.”  With more and more health departments approving online training, Ms. Beck’s wish is becoming easier for the food manager to grant.  Employees can be trained quickly and inexpensively online, increasing the number of trained staff in establishments across the nation.

Experts agree that change needs to be made, and most believe that better educated food handlers will increase consumer satisfaction and decrease the numbers of those who become ill. If your health department or food establishment would like to move their food safety training online, please contact us and we will be happy to work with you to ensure this critical matter receives the attention it deserves!

In a report published by the Associated Press, it was discovered that foodborne illnesses cost the United States approximately $152 billion annually!  The U.S. Senate has been debating legislation that would require more frequent government (health department) inspections of food establishments and manufacturers.  According to the debated legislation, the Food and Drug Administration would also have new authority to issue recalls.

Considering that roughly 76 million people become sick from foodborne illness–and about 5,000 die–the cost of researching and treating these cases have become a huge expense for the United States government.  In fact, the $152 billion annual cost determined in a recent study by the Produce Safety Project, was significantly higher than the $35 billion reported by the U.S. Agricultural Department in 1997.  Interestingly, this cost study only focused on research of a handful of specific pathogens.  The actual cost of researching every foodborne illness pathogen that people contract each year could be higher still.  The report also did not include the cost of food recalls to the industries involved.

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn), called the costs “shockingly high . . . If people can’t engage in this issue because of the humanitarian aspect or the public health aspect, maybe they’re willing to listen because of the economic aspect.”

This study identifies yet another reason why food safety training is so important.  The more educated our managers and food handlers become about good food safety practices, the safer the public will be–keeping lives safe, and costs down.

Source:  Associated Press, Shannon Dininny

The US Department of Health and Human Services released an interesting article this morning about animals and their uncanny ability to give people salmonella–specifically birds, frogs,  snakes, turtles, and other amphibians.  Contact with these animals causes about 74,000 cases of salmonella each year in the United States, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC).   Normally, salmonella is considered a foodborne illness, but children tend to handle these animals and then touch their mouths, eyes, and noses without washing their hands.  After the release of the animated film The Princess and the Frog, in 2009, dozens of little girls became ill with salmonella after feeling compelled to kiss frogs.  Even adults can become culprits of spreading salmonella this way when they clean aquariums and fish tanks in the kitchen, thereby contaminating areas where food is prepared.

Linda Capewell of the CDC recommends not having birds, snakes, or amphibians in homes with children under 5 years of age.  When children (and adults) handle these animals, they should wash their hands immediately–scrubbing with antibacterial soap for at least 20 seconds in a steady stream of warm water.

It’s not hard to believe however.  The CDC estimates that 76 million cases of foodborne illness occur EACH YEAR in the United States, but when you take into consideration that as few as 1 in 5 cases are ever reported, the number could be much higher.

Did you get the “24-hour flu” this year?  You may be surprise to know that there is no such thing as the “24 hour flu.”  What you probably had was foodborne illness. Even the “stomach flu” is really a foodborne illness called gastroenteritis that results from ingesting contaminated food and water.  It’s doubtful you called the health department about your sickness–and just like that, another case of foodborne illness went unreported.

If you are asking youself, “Ok, then do I need to call my doctor every time I get sick??” then we have the answer for you.  Well, actually the CDC does:

“A health care provider should be consulted for a diarrheal illness if it is accompanied by:

• high fever (temperature over 101.5 F measured orally),
• blood in the stools,
• prolonged vomiting that prevents keeping liquids down (which can lead to dehydration),
• signs of dehydration, including a decrease in urination, a dry mouth and throat, and a dizzy feeling when standing up,
• diarrheal illness that lasts more than three days”

If you do contract “stomach flu”-like symptoms, take care of yourself!  This includes resting, drinking LOTS of clear liquids–especially sports beverages to replace electrolytes, and when possible, attempt to eat foods like popsicles, chicken noodle soup, and gelatin.  You’ll be feeling better soon.

For food handlers, always make sure you’re practicing safe food handling procedures.  Just because you didn’t hear about a case of foodborne illness coming from your establishment, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.

To help us introduce Trichinellosis, we thought we’d use this handy chart:

We had no idea what this chart meant, so we went to the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) website for some clarification.  Trichinellosis is a cycle of disease.  For the patient, it begins when he or she consumes meat of an animal infected with Trichinella cysts.  Trichinella is a parasitic worm that enters the body of its host through ingestion.  The worm’s larvae are in the form of round cysts with a hard outer shell.  When an animal eats infected meat, the cystic shell dissolves in stomach acid and the baby worm is released into the intestinal tract and become mature within 1-2 days.  Once the mature worm mates, it lays its eggs which develop into immature worms.  The young worms then travel through the host’s and are carried into the muscle tissue where they curl up and become cysts.  When the host tissue (i.e. contaminated pork) is consumed, the cycle begins anew.  Gross, right?  Here are some additional facts from the CDC:

• What is Trichinellosis? Trichinellosis, or Trichinosis, is a disease caused by eating undercooked meat of animals infected with the larvae of the worm Trichinella.  Although this is most common in carnivorous (meat-eating) wild animals, Trichinellosis can also be contracted through domestically-raised pigs.
• What are the symptoms? In the first stages of infection (in the majority of cases) fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain are all common.  The second phase of symptoms will often add chills, eye swelling, aching joints, muscle pain, itchy skin, and constipation to the list.  For patients who contract a larger infection labored breathing and coordination problems are possible.  Death is rare, but can occur.  Generally symptoms subside in a few months.
• How soon to symptoms appear? Abdominal symptoms can appear within 1-2 days, whereas other symptoms may take as much as 8 weeks to become apparent after eating infected meat.  Severity of symptoms depends on how many Trichinella worms were ingested.
• Am I at risk for Trichinellosis? Do you eat raw or undercooked meat from wild animals such as bears, pigs, felines (cougars), foxes, dogs, horses, seals, or walruses?  Then yes, you are at risk.
• Is Trichinellosis common in the United States? Trichinellosis used to be very common in the US because of undercooked pork.  Today, however, infection is rare.  Infection in the US has decreased due in part to refrigeration and in part to new regulations making it illegal to feed raw meat to hogs.

For more information about Trichinellosis, visit the CDC website.

We just finished reading what may go down is history as one of the most disgusting food safety articles of all time.  A reporter for ABC 13 in Las Vegas, NV decided to investigate the local restaurants who failed their health inspections and find out whether or not they had cleaned up their act.   As the article mentions, the goal was not to ruin anyone’s business, but to keep the consumer public informed about potentially hazardous health violations in their area.  We suggest every food worker should read it–kind of a list of what NOT to do.  Here are some of the highlights:

• The Health inspector found pork being stored in the mechanical room of one Las Vegas Mexican restaurant.  It was inside an open, dirty cardboard box.
• The same Mexican restaurant was keeping ice for beverages in a garbage can.
• At an Asian restaurant located on the Strip in Las Vegas, they found lemons so moldy it was almost impossible to tell what they were.
• That same location had kitchen tongs hanging in the bathroom next to an open toilet.
• An Indian restaurant had ants crawling in their condiments and a bloated can of evaporated milk still in use.
• A cafe’ had expired milk in the fridge and cheese stored in the temperature danger zone.  The owners response?  “Can anybody die from that?”

For the full article (and a video) click here.

Colts?  Saints?  Not sure what we’re talking about?  Whether you’re a Super Bowl fan or not, you’re probably one of the millions of Americans that will be gathering together this Sunday to party.

The most important element to any respectable Super Bowl party–second only to the game itself–is the food.  Wings, veggies, and chips (the most popular party fare) are often simply vehicles for transporting salsa and cheese from the bowl to the mouth, which left us wondering:  How bad IS double-dipping?

"Did you just double-dip?"

You’ve heard of it, the social faux-pas made famous by George Costanza in a famous episode of “Seinfeld.”  The double-dip occurs when a food item is dipped into a communal bowl of dip (read salsa, cheese, ranch, cool whip, etc.), enters the mouth, and the RE-enters the dip.  Is is often said that once you double-dip, the communal salsa becomes as dirty as the inside of your mouth.  But is it true?

That’s what students at Clemson University set out to discover.  Using wheat crackers and a bowl of dip.  They each bit a cracker and then placed it in the dip for three seconds.  The process was repeated several times per student with new crackers and new bowls of dip.  After analyzing the dips, the students concluded that three to six “double-dips” transferred close to 10,000 bacteria from the eater’s mouth to the dip.  Now imagine that, multiplied by everyone at your party.

Food microbiologist Paul Dawson told the New York Times, “Before you double-dip at a party, look around and ask yourself ‘would I be willing to kiss everyone here?’  Because you don’t know who might be double-dipping and those who are sharing their saliva with you.”

Moral: Be a team player and keep it to a single-dip.

Woah.

West Missouri Beef, LLC is recalling approximately 14,000 lbs of boneless beef that is suspected to be contaminated with E.Coli.  Fortunately, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has received no reports of illness, but if you suspect you MAY be ill, contact a physician and your health department immediately.

Yep, you read it right.  We’re reporting on a nation-wide recall of salmonella tainted salami–roughly 1.25 million pounds of it.  It’s never easy to pinpoint cases of foodborne illness to a specific food item but the hard working health department officials in Oregon the shopping receipts compared of persons who had fallen ill and there was one connecting culprit:  Salami.

There have been a total of 184 people in 38 states who have gotten sick from tainted salami, although it’s unknown whether it is the spices or the meat itself that contains the bacteria.

Bottom line:  stick to the BLT for a while.

Don't eat this floor--it's made of Salami!

Photo Credit: www.wimdelvoye.be

Nothing says romance like a stuffed bacterium (or fungus in the case of athlete’s foot).  If you’re stumped on how to say those three simple words, let a Giant Microbe do it for you.  These little guys are too cute to pass up.

If foodborne illness is your thing, then check out the adorable E.Coli with his fuzzy dangling tendrils.  Anyway you look at it, these cuties are a great gift.  Or you could just send flowers.

GIANTmicrobes