Marijke Schwarz Smith graduated from the University of Washington with a B.S. in Individualized Studies - Public Health and a B.A. in Geography. She is currently a candidate for a Master's in Public Health in Epidemiology at the University of Minnesota. She has a specific interest in how the geography of a location can influence the health of the location's inhabitants. Along with a keen interest in food and cooking, Marijke has a passion for bikes and has raced at the collegiate level.
In a story last summer for Food Safety News, I looked to see if the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) recalls were biased toward any one day of the week. This inquiry followed what seemed to be several late Friday recall announcements, including a nationwide recall of contaminated ground turkey implicated in a multistate outbreak of...
E. coli O157:H7, the culprit in foodborne illness outbreaks linked to everything from ground beef to cookie dough, produces a Shiga-like toxin that damages the filtering part of the kidney and leads to a life-threatening complication, hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), in 2-7 percent of all infections.The pathogen is particularly hard on children; 90 percent of all HUS cases in children...
Last year, after a particularly large recall of tainted meat was announced late one Friday night, marlerblog.com analyzed the recall patterns for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS).The question then was whether there were a preponderance of late Friday or weekend announcements and, if so, whether that timing might decrease public awareness of illnesses connected to contaminated food.But...
Cargill's massive recall of ground turkey products last week was not the first time the industry giant had to call back potentially contaminated meat from the marketplace.Here is a brief list of some of the past recalls and associated outbreaks of foodborne illness involving Cargill, a company that sells food and agriculture products around the globe and whose net profit...
President Obama entered office amid one of the worst times for food safety. January through April of 2009 saw an extraordinary number of recalls and elevated levels of illness due to the hundreds of products that were contaminated with Salmonella-laced peanuts and, to a lesser degree, pistachios. The number of recalls in the first few months of his presidency is...
The number of E. coli O157:H7 infections increases during the summer months in Great Britain and elsewhere, and a paper published this year in the British journal "Environmental Microbiology" examined the links between that summertime spike, the physiology of infection, and geography.The paper reviewed about 100 published works related to this concept to develop a list of possible causes for...
Along with the many environmental problems posed by global climate change, an increase in ambient temperature could have negative effects on food safety everywhere, but particularly in developing countries.That's the message of a 2010 study in "Food Research International," which investigates the varied effects of climate change on the "cold-chain"--a term that refers to the uninterrupted steps in refrigerated storage...
In what was the latest reminder that any nation's food supply can be vulnerable to intentional contamination, CBS News recently reported the sketchy details of a supposed terrorist plot to slip poisons into restaurant and hotel salad bars and buffets.Such an attack has long been considered a remote but theoretical possibility, especially in a country like the United States, where...
To celebrate Thanksgiving here at Food Safety News we're hosting our fourth virtual potluck (we've also held virtual picnics on Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day).We'll be having turkey, of course, and for tips on how to cook a turkey, you can't beat the Food and Drug Administration's Keep Food Safe Blog. For instance, did you procrastinators know...
During October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it's important to consider the dangers posed by contaminated food and water to women undergoing treatment for what is the second-most deadly cancer in U.S. women. Cancer patients receiving chemotherapy have suppressed immune systems, making them part of the 20 percent of the U.S. population at increased risk of foodborne or waterborne illness. The outcome...
The always unpleasant and sometimes devastating effects of foodborne illness are often compounded by the knowledge that the illness could have been prevented. Basic actions in the kitchen during preparation and storage of food can greatly reduce the likelihood of infection. It is hard to imagine a worse feeling that knowing your improperly prepared food led to a family member's...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that more than 76 million incidents of foodborne illness occur in the United States each year. Many of these cases are slight enough to not merit a visit to the doctor and go unreported. However, about 5,000 deaths per year are associated with contaminated food.Knowing the symptoms of foodborne illness can...
Copyright © Marler Clark
Seattle, Washington
