The Tallahoma News
By Belinda Riddle, UT Extension
February 08, 2005
We’ve all read or heard about safe preparation of meats to avoid food poisoning, particularly ground beef, pork and poultry. According to Ann Draughon, co-director of the University of Tennessee Food Safety Center of Excellence, we should be as careful when preparing fresh fruits and vegetables.
“Most people associate food-borne illness with improperly cooked foods of animal origin, but the fact is, the number of people getting sick from eating fruits and vegetables contaminated with pathogens has doubled since 1990,” says Draughon.
According to the congressional General Accounting Office, an estimated 20 to 25 percent of annual food illness cases are caused by vegetables and fruits. Meat, poultry, pork and eggs still cause about 40 to 45 percent of illnesses. Seafood and cheeses also account for a large percentage of food-borne illnesses.
What is food-borne illness? It is caused by consuming foods or beverages contaminated with disease-causing microbes, called pathogens. Pathogens are poisonous chemicals or other harmful substances that can cause illness if they are present in food and consumed.
Pathogens are varied, and those found in fruits and vegetables have included Escherichia coli 0157:H7 in apple juice, Salmonella on vegetables, and Cyclospora and hepatitis A virus on produce.

Continue Reading Cleaned fruits and veggies shouldn’t make you sick

CHRISTINE V. SULAT
Four people in Chemung County have come down with hepatitis A, one a food worker at Maple Lawn Dairy in Ashland and three people who had eaten there.
County Health Department officials are warning people who ate at the restaurant between Sept. 26 and Oct. 10 that they may have been exposed to the virus.
Symptoms include fatigue, fever, poor appetite, abdominal pain, diarrhea, dark urine and yellowing of the skin and eyes.
Anyone showing those symptoms and who may have had contact with someone who has hepatitis A is urged to see their doctor or go to an emergency room for a blood test. If the test results show hepatitis A, the Health Department will be notified, said Robert E. Page, county public health director.

Continue Reading Chemung reports 4 hepatitis cases

Lee Bacalles
WENY TV
If you ate at Elmira’s Maple Lawn Dairy Family Restaurant between September 26th and October 10th, you may want to schedule an appointment with your doctor.
That’s the advice from the Chemung County Health Department. Officials there say a restaurant employee is diagnosed with Hepatitis A. The county’s Environmental Health Director says the worker was removed promptly after the discovery, but at least three additional cases have been identified within the last three days.
Tom kump says Hepatitis A is generally a mild illness that affects the liver with an average incubation period of 28-days. Symptoms include fatigue, fever, poor appetite, abdominal pain, diarrhea, dark urine, and yellowing of the skin and eyes. Kump says recent health inspections at maple lawn dairy showed no further threat for the illness or anything similar.
Once again, the date range you need to keep in mind if you ate at Maple Lawn Dairy Family Restaurant is September 26th to October 10th.

The Leader Staff
ELMIRA | Patrons could be at risk from a food worker at Maple Lawn Dairy Family Restaurant who was recently diagnosed with Hepatitis A.
Anyone who ate at the restaurant, located on Maple Avenue in Elmira, between Sept. 26 and Oct. 10 may have been exposed, the Chemung County Department of Health announced Saturday.
The Heath Department is advising a trip to the doctor for anyone who ate at the restaurant between those dates that is experiencing symptoms such as fatigue, fever, poor appetite, abdominal pain, diarrhea, dark urine or yellowing of skin and eyes.

Continue Reading Health officials warn of Hepatitis

L.I. hall leaves prepaid partyers in lurch
BY LAURA WILLIAMS
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
1/31/2005
It was Villa Leone’s intimate atmosphere that sold her.
“There was just room for one wedding at a time,” Rita Padula, 27, said of the New Hyde Park restaurant and catering hall. “It’s your special day. You don’t want to see other brides.”
Padula, a nursing home social director, knew the food and service were good because she’d eaten dinner there so often, and the owners always made a big fuss over her. So she forked over the $3,000 deposit for her reception, planned for November.
But she couldn’t have predicted that Villa Leone would suddenly shut its doors without warning this month – and keep every cent of her deposit.
“We never even received a phone call,” Padula said. “I was there for dinner a day before they closed. They didn’t say a word. I feel stepped on. Totally stepped on.”
Padula and her fiancÈ weren’t the only ones left in the lurch. Numerous parties planned for weddings, birthdays, communions and other events are in limbo.

Continue Reading Burned by caterer

www.about-hepatitis.com
Hepatitis A is one of five human hepatitis viruses that primarily infect the human liver and cause human illness. (There are many other viruses that can inflame the liver which infect us more generally.) The other known human hepatitis viruses are hepatitis B, C, D, and E. Hepatitis A is relatively unusual in nations with developed sanitation systems such as the United States. Nevertheless, it continues to occur here.
Each year, an estimated 100 persons die as a result of acute liver failure in the United States due to Hepatitis A. Approximately 30 – 50,000 cases occur yearly in the United States and the direct and indirect costs of these cases exceed $300 million. The unfortunate aspect of these statistics is that with 21st century medicine, Hepatitis A is totally preventable, and isolated cases, and especially outbreaks relegated to food consumption, need not occur.
Viral Hepatitis is a major public health concern in the United States, and a source of significant morbidity and mortality. The Hepatitis A virus or “HAV” is heat stable and will survive for up to a month at ambient temperatures in the environment.

www.Amednews.com
Health & Science
The latest edition of The Diagnosis and Management of Foodborne Illness is now available on the American Medical Association Web site (www.ama-assn.org/go/foodborne) for downloading to personal digital assistants. The primer was produced by the AMA in collaboration with several other health professional groups.
The first edition of the primer, released last year, was met with such demand that a PDA edition was created. The primer covers the diagnosis, treatment and reporting of foodborne illness. The latest edition includes sections on hepatitis A, noroviruses, antibiotic-resistant Salmonella, congenital toxoplasmosis and intentional contamination.

Continue Reading Foodborne illness primer downloadable

Hepatitis A is TOTALLY PREVENTABLE. Although outbreaks continue to occur in the United States (see Recent Outbreaks), outbreaks NEED NOT OCCUR if responsible preventive measures are taken.
Responsible restaurant managers will exclude ill food-handlers from work, with pay. Food handlers must also be taught to always wash their hands with soap and water after using the bathroom, changing a diaper, and certainly before preparing food. Cooking to a temperature of 185 degrees F or higher will inactivate Hepatitis A virus.
After a known exposure to the Hepatitis A virus, administration of a shot of Immune Globulin should be considered. If administered within 2 weeks of the exposure, it will usually be effective in preventing or at least ameliorating the disease.