Food Safety NewsGretchen is a Seattle-based reporter covering issues ranging from child nutrition to local agriculture to foodborne illness outbreaks and global food safety issues. In June of 2011 she reported from Hamburg on the European E. coli outbreak. Gretchen graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in English and French before moving to the pacific northwest. She delved into the world of food safety after being a lifelong foodie in order to find out what issues compromise the security of her favorite pastime – eating, and what can be done about them. Gretchen is excited to be part of the diverse and passionate Food Safety News team.
Earlier this month, the food pyramid officially became old news as the government rolled out a new image to promote healthy eating: a plate depicting the five food groups and how much space they should occupy at mealtime. Now the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which has been developing this initiative over the past several years, is putting significant effort behind...
The gradually diminishing E. coli outbreak in Europe - the deadliest in recorded history - has subjected Germany to a hailstorm of criticism from the EU and abroad for taking too long to identify its likely source -- bean and seed sprouts.But the real concern, many experts say, is the fact that such dangerous bacteria were present on fresh produce...
The German E. coli outbreak that has now claimed 37 lives and damaged fresh produce markets across Europe finally seems to be abating; but the question of how the suspect sprouts became contaminated remains unanswered.Investigators are looking closely at whether the problem originated with sprout seeds.After 5 workers on an organic farm in Bienenbüttel, Lower Saxony were confirmed to have...
German officials Wednesday expressed some optimism that Europe's E. coli outbreak is finally ebbing. But they also acknowledged two more food poisoning deaths, and warned that more deaths are likely. As of Thursday, the grim toll from the five-week-old crisis included 27 dead and more than 2,800 ill, 720 of them with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), the serious complication of E....
In what is becoming a haunting refrain of statistics connected to the E. coli outbreak in Germany, here are Tuesday's updated figures: 24 dead (up 2 from the day before), more than 2,400 sick and 642 case patients with hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a deadly complication of E. coli poisoning. Germany reported 94 new patients on Tuesday alone, according to...
Almost two weeks after the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) announced that cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes were the most likely sources of the deadly E. coli O104:H4 bacteria outbreak in Northern Germany, the list of suspect foods remains virtually the same, with the addition of sprouts this weekend. Sunday night, Lower Saxony's Minister of Agriculture said evidence pointed to a possible connection...
Update: On Monday officials with the Lower-Saxony state agriculture said 23 of 40 samples from the suspect sprout farm tested negative for the outbreak strain of E. coli. More tests are under way. Some German health officials think they may have found the seed of the E. coli O104:H4 outbreak now sickening thousands of Europeans. The possible culprit? Sprouts. Sunday...
HAMBURG, Germany -- Officials at the University Hospital in Gronigen, Netherlands got a call Tuesday from the Bremen hospital -- just over the border in Germany -- asking if they'd be willing to take on extra patients in the event Bremen cannot accommodate its growing number of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) patients, those suffering the most serious effects of E....
HAMBURG, Germany -- To those hoping to know the cause of Europe's mysterious E. coli epidemic, Tuesday brought only baffling news as German health officials announced that Spanish cucumbers were not the source of the outbreak.A few days ago, epidemiologists thought they had a promising lead when most of those sickened by enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC ) had reported eating...
HAMBURG, Germany -- Here at the epicenter of an E. coli earthquake that has sent tremors through this country, as well as the rest of Europe, confusion is rampant as locals struggle to understand the nature of the pathogen, and just how dangerous it is. Already, the numbers in this outbreak of enterohaemorrhagic E.coli, also known as EHEC, are...
Minnesota's "Cheeseburger Bill," which would have prevented obese consumers from suing food companies for causing them to gain weight, is officially toast.The Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act was vetoed Friday by Governor Mark Dayton, who said the law granted too much leeway to manufacturers. The act, introduced by Rep. Dean Urdahl, was intended to make consumers accountable for their nutritional...
HAMBURG, Germany -- The E. coli outbreak in northern Germany that has taken the lives of 14 people -- and captured the attention of health officials around the world -- does not appear to be causing concern everywhere in Europe. Cucumbers were still a regular part of the fresh vegetable selection on French food stands this weekend, despite an announcement Saturday...
In January, Pfizer Animal Health began marketing a new vaccine with the power to reduce the prevalence of E. coli O157:H7 in beef cows by 85 percent. One would think that such a miracle drug would be quickly and widely adopted by the meat industry, but so far only a handful of cattle farms are using it. So what's stopping...
"And how would you like your burger -- medium, medium-well, or well-done?" The cooked end of the spectrum is the only option at restaurants in North Carolina, where rare burgers have been banned by state health code since the mid-90s, when an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 from Jack in the Box hamburgers called national attention to the potential dangers...
"After you touch your ducklings or chicks, wash your hands so you don't get sick!" So reads the beginning of a new pamphlet designed to educate the public on how to properly handle live poultry in order to avoid Salmonella poisoning. The brochure, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA),...
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