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

[helios]

interesting, i didn't know salmonella spp. affect tomatoes?

(e S. spp. is more for raw eggs outbreak)

[helios]

OAK BROOK, Illinois (Associated Press) -- McDonald's says it has stopped serving sliced tomatoes in its restaurants over concerns about Salmonella food poisoning linked to uncooked tomatoes as precautionary measures were taken.

Spokeswoman Danya Proud said Monday the world's largest hamburger chain has stopped serving sliced tomatoes on all of its sandwiches in the United States as a precaution until the source of the salmonella is known.

Proud says McDonald's will continue to serve grape tomatoes in its salads because no problems have been linked to that variety.

The source of the tomatoes responsible for the illnesses in at least 16 states has not been pinpointed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said at least 23 people have been hospitalized, and no deaths have been reported.

[LenaHuat]

Bacteria scare pushes tomatoes off Hong Kong shop shelves

No wonder tomatoes have been staying on the shelves for the last 3 days or so at our supermarts.

[winston]

FDA has tomato Salmonella reports in 17 states
Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:15am EDT By Lisa Baertlein

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. health officials said on Wednesday they are still receiving reports of people falling ill from eating Salmonella-tainted tomatoes and that they now have 167 reported cases from 17 states.

Representatives from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said they are continuing to search for the source of the Salmonella outbreak, which has hit New Mexico and Texas the hardest.

Officials said the earliest reported onset of illness was on April 16 and that the latest was May 27. Of the 167 cases reported, 23 have resulted in hospitalization.

Health officials in Texas investigated the death of a man who had been infected with Salmonella Saintpaul but ruled that the cause of death was cancer, according to the Houston Department of Health and Human Services.

Ian Williams, chief of the CDC's OutbreakNet Team, said one of the interesting features about the scare was that it has not been associated with any specific restaurants or grocery stores.

The outbreak -- linked to raw plum, Roma and round tomatoes -- has hit the $1.28 billion U.S. tomato market hard.

Restaurants and grocery stores have yanked raw tomatoes from menus and store shelves and consumers have sworn off the fruit until the problem is pinpointed.

The FDA said on Tuesday that Northern Florida, which did not yet have tomatoes widely available for consumption at the time people fell ill, had been added to its list of states and countries whose tomatoes were not linked to the outbreak.

States already on that list include Texas and California, the second-largest U.S. tomato producer.

Florida is the largest U.S. tomato grower, producing an annual crop valued at between $500 million to $700 million.

Tomatoes from the central region of Florida remain under investigation, David Acheson, FDA's associate commissioner for food protection, said on a conference call with journalists.

FDA also has not cleared Mexico, which produces 84 percent of the tomatoes imported by the United States.

Salmonella bacteria are frequently responsible for food-borne illnesses. Symptoms of infection include fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain and generally appear within 12 to 72 hours of eating tainted food.

Infants, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems are more likely than others to develop severe illness. The current outbreak is caused by an uncommon type of bacteria known as Salmonella Saintpaul.

Salmonella infections commonly result from eating food that has been contaminated by animal feces. Human food handlers can contaminate food by failing to wash their hands after going to the bathroom.

Since 1990, there have been at least 13 multi-state Salmonella outbreaks linked to different types of tomatoes, according to the CDC's Williams.

Consumers have complained that there seem to be more problems with U.S. food safety than in the past -- something U.S. health officials dispute.

"It is not getting worse," said Acheson, who said health officials were, over the years, able to identify outbreaks sooner and communicate them more efficiently to the public.

David Henkes, a vice president at food industry research and consulting company Technomic, said food safety is a perennial issue in the United States.

"It does seem that these things crop every so often. It's never good news for the industry," said Henkes, who added that regulators are working with limited resources.

"Government agencies are underfunded. It's very difficult for them to monitor every single shipment in every single crop. Henkes said.

[millionairemind]

50: The number of dangerous pesticides found in British food
Independent on Sunday, The, Feb 27, 2005 by Geoffrey Lean Environment Editor

More than 50 dangerous pesticides contaminate Britain's food, official tests reveal. All have been found to be poisonous or are suspected of causing cancer or having "gender bender" effects by international regulatory bodies.

The revelation - in a survey of official testing results - will heighten concern about food contamination, after the withdrawal of more than 400 products contaminated with the prohibited dye Sudan 1 from shops and supermarkets.

Concern over the dye, normally used to colour petrol, oils, waxes and polishes, centres on its suspected role in causing cancer. But some of the pesticides found in British fruit, vegetables, meat and dairy products are internationally classified as even more likely to cause the disease.

The survey - carried out by the UK branch of Pesticide Action Network last December - examined the traces of pesticides found in food in tests carried out by the official Pesticide Residues Committee.

The tests - undertaken in 2002 - found 80 pesticides in food ranging from apples to aubergines, butter to bread, and chocolate to chicken nuggets. The survey concluded that 52 of these "have been designated by international authorities as having harmful effects on health". These included 33 identified by the World Health Organisation as acutely toxic, and 28 listed by the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer, the European Commission and the US Environmental Protection Agency as suspected carcinogens.

Another 12 are suspected by a range of international authorities of disrupting the hormone system, causing "gender bender" effects, cancers and reproductive disorders. Three pesticides - chlorothalonil, lindane and DDT - are identified as more likely to cause cancer than Sudan 1.

The Pesticide Residues Committee says that the levels of pesticides found pose "no safety concerns for consumers" because almost all are beneath the maximum residue levels laid down by law. But it admits these levels are not set to protect health, but to check that farmers are using the pesticides properly.

Many experts believe that there is no safe level for a cancer- causing chemical, and research shows that babies and young children are particularly at risk from low doses of common pesticides.

Meanwhile, Britain has been reprimanded by the European Commission and EU countries for failing to give adequate warnings about the Sudan 1 crisis. They complain that the Food Standards Agency - which has come under attack at home for its slow response to the crisis - flouted an obligation to give full details of the products affected under the EU's rapid alert system for contamination, and merely posted them on its website.

A spokesman for Marcos Kyprianou, the Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, said the countries were concerned that they "were not given sufficient information to allow them to act most effectively" in tracking down contaminated products imported from Britain.

Plus 10 alarming additives in everyday meals

Our diets are crammed with chemical colourings, flavourings and sweeteners, says food writer Joanna Blythman. Although these additives are perfectly legal, their effects can be hair-raising. Here she lists 10 of the worst offenders - along with the foods that contain them.

[helios]

i think: it is a good habit to read e food wrappers, labels/ calories, nutritional facts, b4 u send e foods into your mouth.

do develop e same habit for e daily things u used, like detergents, soaps, shampoos (ie. to know e foaming agents, fragrances, volatiles involved).

for drinkables, need to look at whether e bottles r contained using PE or PP; glass material is e best.

consumers nowsdays r pretty well-informed, so use your rights well.

(NB: sudan is a stainer dye, & we used to stain wormies, parasites for analysis.)

[kennynah]

eat well....and screw well.....balance...

[LenaHuat]

i think: it is a good habit to read e food wrappers, labels/ calories, nutritional facts, b4 u send e foods into your mouth.

do develop e same habit for e daily things u used, like detergents, soaps, shampoos (ie. to know e foaming agents, fragrances, volatiles involved).

for drinkables, need to look at whether e bottles r contained using PE or PP; glass material is e best.

consumers nowsdays r pretty well-informed, so use your rights well.

(NB: sudan is a stainer dye, & we used to stain wormies, parasites for analysis.)

I'm acquiring the habit of reading small prints Regretted eating too much lean meat + century egg porridge in HK & China. Heard unscrupulous dealers used sudan to dye pork (so that it looks fresh) and century eggs to look crimson.

[millionairemind]

Though eating fruit is good for your health, one might want to consider fruit with thicker layers of skin. This is to protect against residual pesticides and herbicides which are being used quite prevalently (at times indiscriminate use) in Asian countries.

I can't seem to find the link now on the web. I have previously read that one should try to choose fruit with a thick outer layer such as banana, orange, watermelon (which is actually classified as a vegetable).

Hope this helps.

Regards,
mm

[iam802]

Durain season now.. Eat durian.

In fact, I brought my wife to curb some cravings on Friday night.

But durian, thick husk ...don't think can consider it as thick skin