Beware & Protect Yourself 01 (May 08 - Dec 08)

[winston]

If this can happen at a well-run meat plant in a First World Country, what do you think will happen at the smaller meat plants in a Third World Country ? It is 1.30 pm. Do you know what you are eating ?

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CEO says listeria in Toronto meat plant no surprise

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Maple Leaf Foods Inc Chief Executive Michael McCain said on Thursday it was not surprising to find listeria bacteria lingering in a Maple Leaf meat plant in Toronto whose products have been linked to at least 20 deaths in a food-poisoning outbreak.

"Listeria exists in 100 percent of all (meat) plants, and it is impossible to eliminate it," McCain told reporters, noting the company sanitizes its plants for six to eight hours a day to reduce the risk of the bacteria contaminating food at levels high enough to cause illness or death.

Maple Leaf, one of Canada's largest meat processors, and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced late on Wednesday that four samples of meat products at the plant had tested positive for the bacteria.

Earlier this summer, contaminated meat from the same plant caused an outbreak of listeriosis.

The company said two slicers in the plant were behind the outbreak, which prompted one of the largest meat recalls in Canada's history.

"What occurred a month ago was not about the existence of listeria in the plant," McCain said. "It was about a harborage point ... deep inside a slicer that avoided our sanitation process."

Maple Leaf shares have plunged more than 30 percent since the outbreak, and were down 43 Canadian cents at C$7.31 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday.

The plant resumed processing three weeks ago and has been running at 30 percent capacity as government officials rigorously test meats produced there, all of which are being held in warehouses.
Maple Leaf has not been permitted to distribute any meat products from the plant as government officials try to make sure it has eliminated the source of the outbreak.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is evaluating the findings, and a senior official declined to speculate on what impact they would have on the decision on when to allow meat from the plant to be sold to the public.

"What we want to understand is, in terms of the plant and its environment and its production, if the issues that may have contributed to the original contamination event have been addressed," said CFIA official Paul Mayers.

The four new findings were "somewhat routine," McCain said, One to 10 percent of all ready-to-eat foods contain the bacteria, and most people do not get sick from consuming it, he said.

Officials are taking 60 samples from each production line every day, which is one sample every 8 to 12 minutes, McCain said, or a total of 3,850 tests.

"We understood the day that we opened the door that this plant was going to be a fishbowl," McCain said.

The new findings are within accepted limits for meat processing plants in Canada and the United States, said Mansel Griffiths, a food scientist with the University of Guelph.

[winston]

It's Good to Know: The Cleanest Clean

It may seem obvious, but one fact bears repeating: Expensive doesn't necessarily mean "best," and cheap doesn't necessarily mean "worst." In fact, there is often little or no difference between best and worst... other than a name and fancy packaging.

A test of facial cleansers conducted by Consumer Reports demonstrated this once again. The top two winners had nearly identical scores - but one (La Prairie) costs $70 and the other one (Estee Lauder) costs only $19.

Actually, all the cleansers tested were rated as very good or excellent, except two. Both were big brand-name busts: Biore's daily cleansing cloths and Pond's cold cream.

(Source: Consumer Reports)

[winston]

It was just one little keystroke mistake, made in a hospital in a Portland, Oregon – the kind of simple mistake that happens every day. Most go undetected, while some may cause chaos, even tragedy. But some are just enough off the mark to make a guy wonder if he's really getting the best medical care.

A seventy-one-year-old grandfather was treated for acute abdominal pain and released with this notation on his discharge paperwork: "Based on your visit today, we know you are pregnant."

He was also given painkillers, which raises the question: Is this how they treat pregnancy in Oregon? With painkillers?

I wonder if somewhere in Oregon there's a pregnant woman who's just been informed she has a hernia and an enlarged prostate.

[winston]

The False Power of Authority By Jason Holland

In the sixties, there was a black and white TV show about a talking horse. Recently, a friend told me she read that the horse - Mr. Ed - was really played by a zebra.

I told my friend it couldn't possibly be true. I pointed out to her that unless they covered the horse in makeup, the stripes would still show up on black and white TV.

Her reply: "But I read it on Snopes, so it must be true!"

Uh-oh.

I love Snopes as much as the next person, but I recognize a dangerous statement when I hear one. If you don't know, Snopes.com is a site that debunks myths and popular legends. Because of its stance as a truth-seeking resource, it is fact-based and considered trustworthy.

I thanked my friend for the call, and said I'd get back to her later. I had to get online and see for myself.

At the Snopes site, I found the "Mr. Ed was a zebra" story under "Popular Myths." As I read it, I started to get a cold chill. Had Snopes been untrustworthy all along? Because this story was definitely bogus.

At the end of the story, there was a link to "Additional Information About This Page." And there I got a big surprise ... and breathed a sigh of relief.

It seems Snopes published an entire section of false stories to prove a point. They all link to an article explaining the False Power of Authority. In other words, just because Snopes is a "trusted" news source, you still shouldn't blindly trust the information they provide. You should always be thinking critically. And that goes for everything you hear or read in the media.

As Michael Masterson says: "When the rational answers are in, you must compare them to your gut instinct."

[winston]

Vietnam finds melamine in Indonesian biscuit

JAKARTA: Vietnam has complained to Indonesia of possible melamine contamination in Indonesian-made biscuits, a report said Tuesday.

Vietnamese authorities informed Indonesia's embassy in Hanoi that Indonesian-made Khong Guan biscuits could be tainted with the chemical, Trade Ministry Director Subagyo was quoted as saying by the Antara news agency.

Indonesia's food and drug monitoring agency has been ordered to probe the issue, Subagyo said.

"Based on the results of our own tests the product is not contaminated with melamine," food and drug agency chairman Husniah Rubiana Thamrin Akib was quoted as saying.

Khong Guan biscuits had already been tested in Indonesian and Vietnamese laboratories and had come up negative for melamine, usually used in making plastics, she said.

"Our products are safe because we import milk from Europe, Australia and New Zealand," Akib said.

Indonesia ordered food producers to avoid using Chinese-made milk products in September after four Chinese children died and at least 53,000 fell ill from drinking milk or milk products laced with melamine.

Some manufacturers had been using the chemical to make watered-down milk appear to have a higher protein content.

A range of China-made foods and drinks have been removed from store shelves around the world since the contamination first came to light last month.

- AFP/yb

[winston]

EU warns youth: turn your MP3 players down!

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Millions of youngsters across Europe could suffer permanent hearing loss after five years if they listen to MP3 players at too high a volume for more than five hours a week, EU scientists warned Monday.

The scientists' study, requested by the European Commission, attacked the concept of "leisure noise," saying children and teenagers should be protected from increasingly high sound levels -- with loud mobile phones also coming in for criticism.

"There has been increasing concern about exposure from the new generation of personal music players which can reproduce sounds at very high volumes without loss of quality," the Commission, the EU's executive arm, said in a statement.

"Risk for hearing damage depends on sound level and exposure time," it said. More and more young people were exposed to the significant threat that leisure noise posed to hearing, it said.

Commission experts estimate that between 50 and 100 million people listen to portable music players on a daily basis.

If they listened for only five hours a week at more than 89 decibels, they would already exceed EU limits for noise allowed in the workplace, they said. But if they listened for longer periods, they risked permanent hearing loss after five years.

The scientists calculated the number of people in that risk category at between five and 10 percent of listeners, meaning up to 10 million people in the European Union.

Sales of personal music players have soared in EU countries in recent years, particularly of MP3 players.

Commission experts estimate unit sales between 184 and 246 million for all portable audio devices just over the last four years, of which MP3 players range between 124 and 165 million.

Mobile phones used at excessive volume also came under fire from Meglena Kuneva, the EU's consumer affairs commissioner.

"I am concerned that so many young people ... who are frequent users of personal music players and mobile phones at high acoustic levels, may be unknowingly damaging their hearing irrevocably," she said in the statement.

[winston]

Two more fall ill in Japan from Chinese beans

Two more people have fallen ill in Japan from eating frozen green beans imported from China, a health official said.

Two people who said they ate the beans in Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo, told authorities they felt nausea and numbness in the mouth, a prefectural health official said.

They did not require hospital care.

Earlier, the health ministry said that a woman fell ill from eating the beans in Tokyo which had 34,500 times the legal limit of pesticide.

The beans were manufactured by Yantai Beihai Foodstuff in Shandong province, which said it did not believe the firm was responsible.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

[winston]

Looks like Melanine is not a China problem only...

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Melamine found in Thai condensed milk

High levels of the industrial chemical melamine have been found in condensed milk produced in Thailand, the public health ministry said.

''Mali'' has already been ordered off the shelves, it said, in the wake of a melamine scandal in China that has killed four children and sickened thousands.

''According to the Food and Drug Administration, yesterday tests showed there was a very high concentration of melamine found in a sample of Mali condensed milk made with palm oil,'' Deputy Public Health Minister Wicharn Meenchainan said in a statement.

''Consumers and operators should not use such product for it may be harmful to the body,'' the statement said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

[winston]

Another piece of news that shows that melanine is not a China problem only...

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Tainted Sri Lanka biscuits not from China

Melamine has been found in a band of Sri Lankan biscuit that sources milk from Australia, Canada and Holland.

Our correspondent, Claire Mackay, reports that Sri Lanka's main biscuit company Ceylon Biscuits Limited has ordered a recall of a biscuit called Munchee Lemon Puff after Swiss authorities found melamine traces in the product.

The biscuit company says it does not use milk from China and its biscuits only contain milk products from Australia, Holland and Canada.

Chinese milk tainted with traces of melamine has been at the centre of an international health scare.

At least four children have died and 53,000 became sick around the world after drinking the milk from China.

Melamine is a poisonous substance used in the manufacture of plastic.

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/news/s ... m?tab=asia

[winston]

Recalled milk sold to students

Dairy products that were recalled in southern China to be tested for the deadly chemical melamine were instead dumped at universities and sold to students at a discount, state media reported.

The milk products were sold in supermarkets and student dormitories in Guangzhou, the Xinhua News Agency said, citing a local newspaper.

In one university supermarket, bulk boxes of Mengniu milk and Yili yogurt were sold for about half the original price, the report said.

Most of the products sold to students were made before September 14 and should not have been on offer unless they were tested and labeled as safe, the newspaper said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE