I was taking my 10-year-old niece to see a movie the other night, and after she got into my car, we had an interesting conversation. “Zoe, please buckle your seat belt,” I said. “We’re only going downtown, do I have to?” she asked. “Of course you do,” I said. “Safety first.” “But I’ve never been…
Raw Milk: A Mother’s Story
My interest in health and nutrition began some 30 years ago. At 19 I quit smoking and for the first time in my life put on some extra pounds. (I’m sure it had something to do with the Hershey chocolate bars I consumed to ward off each and every cigarette craving.) Anyway, these extra pounds…
Cancer Patients, Pregnant Woman at High Risk for Listeriosis
Pregnant women and people with leukemia and several other types of cancer are as much as 1,000 times more susceptible to Listeria infections, French researchers report.
Doctors at the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (Institut de Veille Sanitaire) summarized the results of a major study of French listeriosis patients, concluding that pregnant women and …
Hold the Raw Sprouts, Please
Outbreaks caused by eating contaminated sprouts — “sproutbreaks” — have occurred every year in the United States since at least 1995. These episodes have taught us that sprouts are a risky food to eat.
Sprouts were found to be the cause of a devastating outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing E coli infections in Europe this summer. …
Study: Consumers Will Pay for Safer Food
American shoppers are willing to pay more money for verifiably safer food, but their willingness to pay does not rise proportionately with increases in the potential severity of the illness.
That is the conclusion of a study published in the September 2011 issue of the journal Risk Analysis, conducted by Harvard University health economists and …
NPR Poll: Concern About Food Safety Ebbs
Fewer Americans are concerned about food safety now than they were a year ago, according to a survey done for National Public Radio.
In the poll by Thomson Reuters and NPR, 57 percent of the respondents said they were concerned about the safety of their food, compared with 61 percent in an identical survey …
Raw Milk Dangers, Myths and Misperceptions
Not so long ago, milk was this country’s number 1 food safety concern. Before milk was routinely pasteurized beginning in the 1920s, it regularly caused large outbreaks of deadly diseases. Now in 2011, raw, unpasteurized milk has made its way back into some Americans’ diets and is once again causing outbreaks of disease.
Hello, I’m …
Chick Safety 101: A New Guide to Handling Poultry
“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 …
FDA, FSIS Seek Input on Listeria Assessment
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) are reevaluating the health risks of Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat (RTE) foods. The agencies have opened a period for public comment on the topic.
In 2003, FDA and FSIS conducted a quantitative assessment of the relative health risks of Listeria in …
Putting the Latest BPA Study in Perspective
Recently a peer-reviewed study appeared in Environmental Health Perspectives that suggested a significant drop in levels of bisphenol A when the study participants consumed a diet that avoided contact with BPA.
This study reflects what a number of recent studies have already proven: BPA is rapidly excreted from the body and therefore reduces any risk…