Where is the sustainable supply of higher-standard eggs, meat, and dairy going to come from?
Source: Fast-Food Chains Are Demanding Ethical Products. How Will Farmers Keep Up? – Eater
More and more people are getting sick.
Source: Cucumber-Related Salmonella Outbreak Grows to 30 States – Eater
The child fell ill after eating at the restaurant.
Source: Child Sues Red Lobster Over Salmonella-Tainted Cucumbers – Eater
The shellfish appear to be an important link in the transmission of norovirus among humans, according to research from China.
Source: Oysters May Serve as Link in Transmission of Norovirus – The New York Times
The restaurant closed briefly due to a “staffing shortage.”
Source: More Than 60 People Sickened After Eating at a California Chipotle – Eater
The Food and Drug Administration is banning imports of some fresh cilantro from Puebla, Mexico, after a government investigation found human feces and toilet paper in growing fields there.
The FDA announced the partial ban Monday after cilantro imported from the state of Puebla was linked to 2013 and 2014 outbreaks of stomach illnesses in the United States. The FDA said health authorities in Texas and Wisconsin also suspect cilantro from the region is responsible for more illnesses this year.
Following up on the outbreaks, U.S. and Mexican health authorities investigated 11 farms and packing houses in Puebla over the last three years. The FDA said it discovered “objectionable conditions” at eight of those firms, including five that were linked to the U.S. outbreaks. The FDA said the officials discovered the feces and toilet paper in fields and found that some of the farms had no running water or toilet facilities.
via FDA Bans Some Mexican Cilantro After Human Feces Found In Fields.
Food companies would not have to disclose whether their products include genetically modified ingredients under legislation passed by the House Thursday.
The House bill is backed by the food industry, which has fought mandatory labeling efforts in several states around the country. The legislation, which passed 275-150, would prevent states from requiring package labels to indicate the presence of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs.
via Government Says Food Companies Don’t Have To Disclose GMOs.
E. coli O157:H7 did not burst onto the scene in the early 1990s, as many in the big food business like to think. It slowly crept into our food supply, spreading in the enormous feedlots that began to dot the U.S. landscape during the last century. The bacteria is now endemic and can be found in cows, sheep, and wild animals such as boar, elk, and deer. As few as fifty E. coli O157:H7 bacteria are enough to cause human illness—and as many as 100,000 can fit on the head of a pin.
Once this strain of E. coli makes it into our small intestine, it can damage the intestinal wall, causing severe cramping and bloody diarrhea. In some instances, the toxin that the bacteria releases gets into the bloodstream, damaging red blood cells and causing severe complications like kidney failure, stroke, brain damage, and death.
In “Lucky Peach #13: Holiday,” Peter Meehan wrote about his annual Christmas party—where, among many other things, he makes the lobster rolls from Jasper White’s book Lobster at Home. The front matter of the book, about how to shop for and kill lobsters, is succinct, spot-on, and very useful! We’ve published his rules for purchasing live lobsters below. (And after finishing that, you can check out his recipe for lobster rolls here.)
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