By Julie Larson Bricher
November 11, 2004
Among the food safety programs used by today’s food companies, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) is clearly the star of the show. As a systematic, science-based method for identifying and correcting microbiological, chemical and physical hazards that can exist within food manufacturing and handling operations, HACCP is universally recognized by industry as an essential element in assuring food safety. Its marquee status stems from the fact that the HACCP approach is proactive rather than reactive, emphasizing food hazard prevention rather than the detection of harmful defects in finished food products.
The latter scenario sets the stage for certain tribulation, says consulting food scientist Rick Stier, who develops HACCP plans and conducts HACCP audits of food processing facilities worldwide. “If you’ve detected contamination post-processing, your company faces a costly recall, a negative sales impact on the product and/or entire brand, and the legal and ethical liabilities associated with making people ill or causing death. This is why HACCP, in conjunction with the prerequisite programs that support it, constitutes good business. When properly applied, HACCP can significantly reduce the possibility that contamination exists in finished product.”

Continue Reading Lights, Camera, HACCP!

By Peter Curson
November 11, 2004
Most of us have experienced a bout of food poisoning: an episode of stomach pain or upset often associated with diarrhoea and in some cases vomiting. Such encounters are usually inconsequential, of limited duration and rarely do we think to bother our general practitioner with them. Most of us assume it’s something we have eaten or drunk, shrug it off and get on with our lives. Minor bouts of upset stomachs have become so common as to be something we all expect to experience sooner or later, and we rarely question their origin.
Imagine the following scenario:
It’s lunchtime and three customers enter an Australian restaurant. The first eats some meat and has a very severe reaction four days later from a virulent form of salmonella. The second eats chicken and three days later comes down with a bad bout of campylobacteriosis, with diarrhoea, fever and vomiting. The third only eats imported cheese and nearly dies a few days later of meningitis. Far-fetched? Not at all. Food poisoning is rampant in Australia, as it is in all developed countries, and it’s increasing at an alarming rate.
And the problem is not confined to fast foods
Potentially lethal bacteria are turning up daily in a wide variety of foods. According to European surveys, Salmonella now inhabits up to 75 per cent of chickens, Listeria up to 15 per cent of soft cheeses and Yersinia up to 50 per cent of raw milk.
Salmonella has also been found in other products such as fruit juices, bread and even chocolate.

Continue Reading Who Ordered the Food Poisoning?

November 11, 2004
SEATTLE – The hepatitis A outbreak linked to an infected foodservice worker at a Chemung County restaurant provides further support for case in favor of mandatory hepatitis A vaccinations for all such workers. The Chemung County Health Department warned this week that at least three consumers contracted hepatitis A after eating at the Maple Lawn Dairy in Elmira between September 26 and October 10.
The average incubation period for hepatitis A infection is thirty days, but can be as long as fifty days. Preventive measures are only available for the two weeks after exposure to the virus; therefore, those patrons who ate at the Maple Lawn Dairy between September 26 and October 10 and were exposed to the virus should now be on the look-out for signs of hepatitis A infection.
“It seems that a month hardly passes without a warning from a health department somewhere that an infected food handler is the source of a potential hepatitis A outbreak,” said attorney William Marler, managing partner of Marler Clark. “The restaurant industry should act now, and require vaccination of its employees.”

Continue Reading Attorneys Call for Mandatory Hepatitis A Vaccinations for all Foodservice Workers

By Mike Belt, Journal-World
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
A food service employee at a Kansas University residence hall has been diagnosed with hepatitis A, but health officials said there was no reason for students or staff to panic.
As a precaution, the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department vaccinated 17 co-workers of the employee at Gertrude Sellards Pearson Hall Monday night, the university said.
University officials said the ill employee, who wasn’t identified, was recovering away from work and was on sick leave the week before the diagnosis.
The chance of students contracting the disease is very low, said Kim Ens, the health department’s disease control program director.

Continue Reading Hepatitis A diagnosed in cafeteria employee

“They say that time heals all wounds, but it will be a long time before this is healed. I’ll never really recover.” — Richard Miller
Sunday, November 07, 2004
By Christopher Snowbeck, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
On that fateful Sunday, it was a coupon that took Richard and Linda Miller to the Beaver Valley Mall Chi-Chi’s — a coupon that turned out to be invalid for the lunch they planned on sharing.
Not a regular at the restaurant, Linda Miller raised the possibility of going elsewhere to eat on Oct. 12, 2003, but Richard thought they might as well stay.
The Millers went on to become two of the 660 people sickened with hepatitis A in the largest outbreak of its kind in U.S. history. Four Chi-Chi’s patrons died from the disease and, short of those cases, Richard Miller’s sickness might have been the worst. Hepatitis A forced him to undergo a liver transplant, and the Beaver County man continues to struggle with a host of health problems to this day.

Continue Reading Hepatitis still hurts

Associated Press
November 9, 2004
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Health officials said it is unlikely that students will catch hepatitis A after a food service employee at the University of Kansas was diagnosed with the infection.
The Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department gave 17 co-workers of the employee at the Gertrude Sellards Pearson Residence Hall vaccine shots Monday night as a precautionary measure, the school said.
University officials said the ill employee is recovering away from work and was on sick leave the week before the diagnosis.

Continue Reading Food service employee at Univ. of Kansas diagnosed with hepatitis A

CHRISTINE V. SULAT
November 9, 2004
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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
November 9, 2004
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.

Continue Reading Hepatitis A In Elmira