A second state legislative body has passed more legal protection for those who wish to practice animal agriculture in relative secrecy. In a 30-to-20 vote, the Indiana Senate passed Senate Bill (SB)-0373, making it unlawful to photograph or make a video recording or motion picture of agriculture operations without the written consent of the owner. And… Continue Reading
Just before she had to go Laramie for the Wyoming Legislature’s two month session, libertarian Republican Sue Wallis had to bury her husband of 19 years, cowboy poet Rod McQueary. But the Recluse rancher has not slowed her pace. She was one of the most passionate advocates of a domestic partnership bill for the Cowboy… Continue Reading
A class action lawsuit was filed last Friday against the Golden Corral restaurant, charging the buffet-style restaurant was negligent in last December ‘s norovirus outbreak in Casper, WY. Jason Ochs of the Casper-based Ochs Law Firm brought the case with Seattle attorney William Marler as co-counsel. Marler is managing partner of the nationally known food… Continue Reading
The norovirus outbreak that spread like wildfire through Casper, Wyoming last December sickening several hundred people was a restaurant-associated event, meaning the illnesses were not acquired in the community at large. Instead, the virus got a push from 31 sickened food handlers at the restaurant who mostly kept working their normal shifts. Those facts led… Continue Reading
At least 167 residents around Casper, Wyo. have reported suffering from gastrointestinal illnesses in the past week, according to the Casper-Natrona County Health Department. The evidence points to a Norovirus contamination at a buffet-style Golden Corral restaurant in east Casper as the source, health department director Robert Harrington told Food Safety News. Thus far, none of… Continue Reading
Voters in 38 states Tuesday will decide upon 174 statewide ballot measures, and perhaps luckily, none are specifically about food safety. But like California’s highly touted Proposition 37 to require labeling of food made from genetically modified crops, several states are deciding on ballot measures that at least kick around the edges of food safety… Continue Reading
Regulations that will likely result in more people getting sick are the regulations most people want, says Dean Finkenbinder, consumer health services manager for Wyoming’s Agriculture Department. He is referring to language the department plans to send to the Attorney General, making it legal for cow shareowners to acquire the raw milk. It is the… Continue Reading
Proposed changes to the Wyoming Food Safety Rules put the Cowboy State no closer to allowing commercial sales of raw milk, leaving advocates for retail sales disappointed. Wyoming is one of 20 states that bans the commercial sale of raw milk. That position is not changing, according to the state’s Department of Agriculture. Current law… Continue Reading
In the one week since the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last reported on the multistate outbreak of listeriosis-linked “Rocky Ford” cantaloupes from Colorado’s Jensen Farms, the number of infections and deaths have continued to climb. Wyoming is the latest state to lose a resident to the deadly outbreak, it was reported… Continue Reading
Wyoming’s troubling Campylobacter uptick appears to be edging off a bit and is not in any way connected to the other larger campy hotspot on the U.S.-Mexico border at Yuma County, AZ. As of July 22, the number of Campylobacter cases in Wyoming since June 1 had reached 34. “That is still ahead of… Continue Reading
Health authorities in Wyoming and Yuma County, AZ are reporting sharp increases in the number of Campylobacter infections and, in the case of Yuma County, possibly related increases of Guillain-Barr√© syndrome (GBS). Campylobacteriosis is a common diarrheal infection that is caused by ingesting fecal bacteria, often from contaminated food or water but also from exposure… Continue Reading