New research underway seeks to determine how and where bacteria hide in food processing plants so that they can be eliminated, to the benefit of public health and the bottom line of food companies.
The project involves scientists at Texas A&M, Stanford University, and the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service U.S.
Continue Reading Mom was right about not touching slime; researchers looking at pathogens in food facilities
An emerging body of scholarship argues that machine learning and artificial intelligence can solve food safety enforcement. By mining tweets and Yelp reviews, health departments can target inspections more effectively. With much fanfare, health departments in Boston, New York City, Las Vegas and Chicago have experimented with using social
Continue Reading Can Silicon Valley save food safety? Maybe, but not with online reviews alone
A new center at Stanford University has Salmonella in its crosshairs, with a $10 million grant to use against the bacteria that causes more than 100 million infections annually. 
Markus Covert will head the Allen Discovery Center for Multiscale Systems Modeling of Macrophage Infection at Stanford
Continue Reading New Stanford center targets Salmonella with $10M grant
The effort to improve food safety by clearing wild vegetation surrounding crops is not helping and, in some cases, may even backfire, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of California-Berkeley. The findings, reported Monday, Aug. 10, in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of
Continue Reading Clearing Vegetation Around Crops Doesn’t Help Reduce Pathogens on Produce
Despite claims sometimes made about the health benefits of drinking raw milk, evidence does not suggest that drinking raw milk will relieve or lessen the symptoms of lactose intolerance, according to a study conducted by nutritionists at Stanford University and published this week in Annals of Family Medicine. But,
Continue Reading Study Examines Relationship Between Raw Milk and Lactose Intolerance
At least 51 students and employees at Stanford University have been sickened in a suspected norovirus outbreak, according to a spokeswoman for Santa Clara County Public Health. The outbreak appears to have originated in the dining hall of Florence Moore Hall. Students who dine at the hall began complaining of
Continue Reading 51 Ill in Apparent Norovirus Outbreak at Stanford University
A meta-analysis of the health benefits of organic foods was published in The Annals of Internal Medicine on September 4, 2012. A large team of physicians and graduate students affiliated with the prestigious Stanford Medical School carried out the work. The paper’s basic finding was that consuming organic food does
Continue Reading Organic Food and Human Health – Is There a Connection?
In the West, Kroger stores go by the circus-like name of King Soopers in the cities and City Markets in the mountain towns of the Rockies. The “Soopers” closest to me was recently expanded into a massive superstore. And it now has a huge USDA Organic department. It’s just one
Continue Reading Letter From The Editor: Organics
