From the WSJ Health Blog:

The FDA’s recently released letter to Capitol Cake President John Kunkel said agency inspectors found ample evidence of a lack of pest control, including:

[L]ive rodents observed along side a rodent trap, running under pallets containing finished food products and collapsed boxes used by your firm, and a live rodent that you brushed off of your shoulder onto the floor, and then kicked under a pallet holding finished food products

Some other signs of trouble were a bird flying around inside the warehouse, dead rodents on a rack with finished baked goods and “rodent excreta pellets” (REPs to FDA) that seemed to be all over the place.

We called Kunkel at Capitol Cake, and he told us the FDA letter made the situation sound worse than it was. “A mouse did run out over my foot. He didn’t jump off my shoulder,” he said. As for the bird, it “flew in and then out in five minutes,” he said. That wouldn’t usually happen, but “the front garage was open only because we were doing the cleaning” to remedy the rodent situation.

You know, we're going to go ahead and say that we don't care whether the mouse was the dude's shoulder or his foot. Ya know? Anyway, if you enjoy gross things, you can read the FDA's letter here.

Capitol Cake says the pest issues have been taken care of.

Pay No Attention to the Mice Behind the Pallets [Wall Street Journal Health Blog]
(Photo: Getty)

"Taking it seriously" is a phrase companies use over and over again to appear contrite without actually saying or doing anything. Our series of posts documenting recurrences of the phrase attempts to question how seriously they're actually taking it.

(Photo: stirwise )

I went to the window, to have a look. Turns out there were kids letting off more fireworks outside, the parents had let them roam freely. My girlfriend stood behind me to ask what was going on. I told her it was just some kids. We then turned on the lights and to my horror, there were BED BUGS on the bed!

Now he can't get a refund from Hotels.ca because Travelodge says their hotel is bedbug-free, and that Esmond just saw "some dirt kicked up on the bed."

Esmond and his girlfriend packed up and left, but the only person at the front desk to help them was a teenager who told them he only worked there once a week. "He gave me the number of Peggy, the manager, to speak to about the situation."

We're not sure whether Esmond tried calling Peggy or not, but the following Monday he called Travelodge's Customer Relations Center:

Their representative told me that they have to speak to management and get back to me within 48 hours. Well 48 hours went by and no one called me back.. I tried calling again. This time leaving a few messages, but no one called back! Finally, today [July 14th] I spoke to a representative and she told me that I would have to take it up with Hotels.com since I booked it with them and that they would call the management of the hotel to find out what situation is.

Hotels.ca put me on hold for like 7 minutes while they argued with the manager at the Sandusky Travelodge. Turns out the people at the Travelodge hotel wouldn't credit our account because they claimed there were NO Bugs in the hotel at all. They claimed it was merely some dirt kicked up on the bed. Give me a break people! I know what I saw. It didn't help that they were crawling about on my bed. Hotels.ca only wanted to give me $40 in travel coupons to credit my next stay. Please people I merely check into a hotel, sleep 20 minutes in it and i have to pay $100 for it? There were freaking bed bugs in there!

(Photo of dirt: DRB62)

United's spokesperson Robin Urbanski, says the airline found "between one and three" ticks on the flight, and that she wasn't sure what kind they were or how they got there.

"I don't know if we'll be able to find that out," Urbanski said. "When possible, we do try to look into those type of things, and hopefully try to look for its origin."

No ticks were found on passengers.

Ticks on a plane: insects delay United Airlines flight from Denver to Des Moines [Star Tribune]

The Chicago Tribune says:

We have another walk-through tomorrow morning, and obviously we’re working around the clock," Kate Klotz, Whole Foods' Midwest regional public relations specialist, told The Stew on Thursday. Klotz said they hope to have the store re-opened by tomorrow afternoon but that's not definite.

The inspection that resulted in the closing was a follow-up inspection. Inspectors found mouse feces all over the premises as well as a dead mouse on a glueboard trap.

Mice, supermarkets and food safety [Chicago Tribune](Thanks, Dena!)

From the UPI:

Officials said tests revealed the roach found on the take-out meatlovers pizza was cooked alive with the pie.

Yum! brands, the U.S. operator of the Pizza Hut, lost its license for a month and then reopened with "increased cleaning practices," according to the (Australia) Sunday Mail. The Brisbane Magistrates Court ordered the company to pay a fine of $35,000, and Yum! has said it is sorry for the incident. No word on whether the customer who got the cockroach pizza has stopped screaming yet.

Company fined $35,000 for roach problems [UPI]
(Photo: Adam A. Koch )

During an FDA inspection of a PETCO distribution center in April, widespread and active rodent and bird infestation was found. The FDA inspected the facility again in May and found continuing and widespread infestation.

The feds say nobody's reported any pet illnesses so far, but it looks like they're not taking any chances.

"We simply will not allow a company to store foods under filthy and unsanitary conditions that occur as a direct result of the company's failure to adequately control and prevent pests in its facility," said Margaret O'K. Glavin, associate commissioner for regulatory affairs. "Consumers expect that such safeguards will be in place not only for human food, but for pet food as well."

The distribution center in Joliet, Ill., provides pet food products and supplies to PETCO retail stores in 16 states including Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin.

FDA has no reports of pet illness or death associated with consumption of animal food distributed by PETCO, and does not have evidence that the food is unsafe for animals. However, the seized products were in permeable packages and held under conditions that could affect the food's integrity and quality.

As a precaution, consumers who have handled products originating from the PETCO distribution center should thoroughly wash their hands with hot water and soap. Any surfaces that came in contact with the packages should be washed as well. Consumers are further advised as a precaution to thoroughly wash products sold in cans and glass containers from PETCO in the 16 affected states.

If a pet has become ill after eating these food products, pet owners should contact their veterinarian and report illnesses to FDA state consumer complaint coordinators.

"FDA Requests Seizure of Animal Food Products at PETCO Distribution Center" [FDA]
(Photos: Sister72 and Getty)

Select Comfort claims to have addressed the rampant mold problem, a claim that provides little solace to allergy sufferers whose beds are already infested with mold:

Margaret of Stanville KY (04/05/08)
Just found black mold growing under the foam top and on top of both of the air chambers. Purchased in October 2002 and notified Select Comfort today by email. I have allergies to mold and have been to Dr.'s concerning this. My husband has been coughing every night when he lays down in the bed. Just read the comments from others and hope we can reconcile this issue. The foam borders are flimsy as well as the bottom material of the top mattress cover. It has shredded and has holes in it.

Terry of New Lenox IL (05/04/07)
After less than 3 years of sleeping on our select comfort bed, we noticed a very bad odor coming from it. We proceeded to take it apart, piece by piece. The sheets were fine, the mattress pad was fine. But when we got down to the zippered comforter, it smelled terrible. Under the comforter, there is a foam pad, which was full of mold and bacteria. It smelled horrible. We are now sleeping on the floor, because we had to discard most of the bed.

Mold and bacteria cannot be removed from the foam pad, and the zippered comforter would fall apart if it was washed. We got burned badly on this one!

Lana of Brooklyn MI (9/3/03)
The Select Comfort system allows mold and/or mildew to form on the convoluted foam topper and on the air mattresses. Select Comfort's solution 'use a light bleach solution to clean the mattress.' It's impossible to clean the foam. Their product is unhealthy for people like me who have allergies to mold/mildew.

According to the class action:

Purchasers of the beds are being told by Select Comfort to return the beds, often at a significant cost to the purchaser. The Class Action seeks not only to have Select Comfort provide notice to purchasers of its Sleep Number® bed of the potential for mold infestation, but also to have the class members compensated for their losses, including the costs of shipping they have incurred or will incur to return their beds to Select Comfort.

Do you have a Sleep Number bed? Tell us in the comments if your experience was a 0 or a 100.

Select Comfort Sleep Number Bed Class Action Litigation
Select Comfort - Mold [Consumer Affairs]

On Tuesday, April 15, 2008 a Time Warner representative came to our home to install the digital telephone modem which would also provide our internet service.
 
My husband observed an insect walking on the modem box and asked what it was and the employee seemed dazed and confused.

After the installer left, my husband and I saw cockroach after cockroach emerge from the modem. We killed them as quickly as we could. We have never seen roaches in our house before. Our house is free-standing and many yards away from neighbor homes.
 
I called Time Warner insisting that they come to remove the modem. The woman I spoke with insisted that I had to be wrong and that it was impossible for cockroaches to be in the modem. She refused my request that Time Warner come on the following day to remove and replace the offending modem, which housed a swarm of roaches.
 
We wrapped the modem up in plastic and duct tape.
 
On Saturday, April 19, 2008 when the representative came to replace the modem, we had arranged for a witness to be with us. We took the modem to the front porch, removed the plastic bag, and a number of cockroach bodies fell out. The Time Warner worker agreed that modems sometimes came from other people's homes and were reused. He suggested that the modem may have first been used in a contaminated home or that it was possible that the first installer may have had cockroaches in his truck.
 
In the meantime, cockroaches of all sizes and ages are in our study. We try to kill them as we can. We would not have had this infestation were it not for the Time Warner modem.
 
Yours sincerely, Natalie Columbus, OH

I just started reading The Consumerist. I did a search on bedbugs to see if you had any posts, and then thought I'd tell you my own story after reading about the people who found bedbugs in a Santa Monica hotel. In August of last year, I stayed at the Holiday Inn in Santa Monica.

The last night of my stay, I woke up about 2am, got up for a minute, but when I went back to bed, I saw a small bug crawling on my bed. Then I looked at the other bed, and saw another tiny brown bug. Grabbed kleenex, tossed them in the toilet, but every time I walked back to the beds, there were more of them. Most were tiny and brown, a couple of them were larger and a dark black/brown. Didn't know what they were, but I called down and asked the front desk to move me to a different room. Was creeped out, but didn't think anything of it until three mornings after I returned home, I woke up covered in bites. Did some research, and figured out that they were bedbug bites (three bites in a row, that swelled up and were very itchy). The pictures I found matched the bugs I saw on the bed in the hotel room. I had to go back to that hotel the following week (for work, the company booked the room) and I told them that I had found bugs in my home which matched the bugs I found in their hotel. Got a gee, that's too bad response.

Once I confirmed with an exterminator that I did have bedbugs, I called the hotel again. Got another gee, that's too bad response, but they did refund the cost of the stay (about $950). Over the next month and a half ( the time it took to get the exterminator to my apartment and then get the treatment) I spent about $5000 on dry cleaning, storage supplies, the exterminator, and moving out of my apartment during the two-week treatment. I called the hotel again, and asked them to cover those costs. Since then, I've been given the run around, ignored by the hotel manager, passed off to corporate who said gee, that's too bad but it's up to the hotel, and finally given over to a risk management/insurance firm for InterContinental Hotels. This firm has called me a liar, said that I didn't have proof of bedbugs being in my apartment because even though I found them in my apartment and the exterminator confirmed what they were and treated, the exterminator never wrote down specifically that they found bedbugs, that because I didn't go to the doctor and have the doctor confirm that the bites were from bedbugs that I had no proof that they were indeed bedbug bites, and now will not return phone calls. They say that the hotel exterminator checked all the rooms and found no evidence of bedbugs, even though the hotel told me that their exterminator wasn't looking only for bedbugs, just does a bi-weekly sweep for general problems and didn't find anything.

I'm staying after them, but the worst thing I can wish on them is not that I go to court, sue them and they lose - it's that the hotel management and the people from this risk management company all bring home bed bugs and have to go through the sheer hell that is getting rid of them.

Regards,
Sarah

Here's some advice for travelers from Harvard University (PDF):

During travel, before you check into a hotel, check into the mattress. Carefully remove the sheets and examine the head section of the bed, look at the seams of the mattress as well as both sides of the head board. If you see any small insects in either of these locations, they are probably bed bugs.

Bringing your favorite pillow along on your travels may increase the chances of this pillow becoming infested with bed bugs and the transport of these bed bugs back to your home. If you have a favorite pillow, make sure it is encased in a bed bug proof sealed pillow case.

Remember not to place your luggage next to the bed. Find a location as far from the head of the bed as possible, and store your luggage in this location. This same principal applies to portable radios and other items that could conceal bed bugs.

If you do see bed bugs or think you have been bitten by bed bugs during your travel, it is extremely important to report this incident to the hotel management or else other unsuspecting individuals may meet the same fate.

Any readers been through what Sarah is going through? Advice?

(Photo:Getty)

So your charger has a few bite marks on it.... Infinitely less horrifying.

T-Mobile Wipes the Slate Clean in the West Village [Racked]
(Photo:Racked)

PREVIOUSLY: Rat Infested KFC/Taco Bell Closed Forever And Ever

Needham studied the cat flea, or Ctenocephalides felis, the most common type of flea found in households.

"No matter what vacuum a flea gets sucked into, it's probably a one-way trip," Needham said in a statement.

Writing in the journal Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata, Needham suggested that the vacuum brushes wear away a waxy outer layer on insects called the cuticle. Without it, the fleas, larvae and pupae probably dry up and die, he said.

"Got fleas? Get the vacuum" [Reuters]
(Photo: Getty)

The department says that inspectors found hundreds of live cockroaches, mouse droppings, fly infestations, and an improperly functioning sewage system. Delicious!

Department officials tell CBS 2 that both inspections revealed "rodent and fly infestation and conditions conducive to pest infestation, including stagnant water in the basement."

The plumbing was reportedly so out of line that the "sewage disposal system [was] in disrepair or not functioning properly."

On Wednesday night, the store, which has been featured in numerous Hollywood films, apparently kept open its wild zoo of filth for inspectors. The Department says the inspector came upon a live mouse, more than 100 live cockroaches, fruit flies, house flies, and piles of mouse dropping scattered about the restaurant.

Health Dept. Closes Shop Selling $25,000 Sundae [CBS2] (Thanks, Cigar!)
(Photo:scalleja)

So, how worried should you be? First, the scarequote:

A study by the Steritech Group, a commercial and institutional pest management company, found that nearly 25% of the 700 hotels it tracked over a three-and-a-half year period between November, 2002, and April, 2006, required treatment for bedbugs.

For whatever reason, bedbug infestations have been on the rise in homes, apartments, and hotels over the past several years, and don't show any sign of abating—so all those commenters who are about to complain that we're scaremongering, well, we're not! We're simply pointing out that you may want to take some precautions when traveling. Look at sites like this one for information on how to spot signs of bedbug activity and what to do with your luggage if you think you were exposed. It's expensive and time-consuming to get rid of an infestation in your home or apartment, so a little precaution might be worth it.

"The Cost of Bedbugs" [BusinessWeek]

RELATED
www.bed-bugs.co.uk
(Photo: Getty)

We alerted customers about the mice. But today's discovery didn't affect the line that did continue to snake out the door.

"It doesn't look like it was on the food, just on the floor," said one of customers. "But it is still gross."

ABC7 Reports:

We talked to a former manager of Pinkberry, who wanted us to hide his identity, says this problem is much more than a few mice.

"I saw them in broad daylight in Koreatown ... a mouse ran right into the store," said "Jim."

He showed us photos of mice droppings covering food storage bins at the 82nd Street shop. He says when workers complained to supervisors, they were told to put down traps and clean up.

"They were asked to clean with bleach to cover the mouse area ... it was a huge problem and they just couldn't handle it," he said.

Ew! —MEGHANN MARCO

Mice on the loose in frozen yogurt store [ABC7 New York]
(Photo: ABC7 New York]

RELATED: Rat Infested KFC/Taco Bell Closed Forever And Ever
No Yogurt In Pinkberry "Frozen Yogurt"

Health inspectors closed a Pizza Hut restaurant in east Raleigh after a worker found live mice inside it. The employee who notified the health department about the mice says she was fired for reporting the problem.

She called the health department to report the mice and the inspector ordered the restaurant to be closed. The worker says she was fired for reporting the live mice. That's comforting. We'll sleep better at night knowing that workers who report outrageously vermin-infested Pizza Huts will be fired.—MEGHANN MARCO

Worker Fired After Reporting Mice At Pizza Hut [WFMY]
(Photo: a2gemma)

Since the incident, this KFC-Taco Bell restaurant has been closed for business, and it will not reopen.

Godspeed little vermin. There will be a next time. —MEGHANN MARCO

FIRST QUARTER - 2007 EARNINGS INFORMATION (05.01.07) - UPDATES ON INCIDENTS AFFECTING U.S. BUSINESS [YUM! Brands]
(Photo: Adam Lawrence)

PREVIOUSLY:Yum! Brands Shuts Down Rat-Infested Franchisee After More Failed Inspections

Rat Infested KFC Passed Health Inspection The Day Before

KFC/Taco Bell Rats Gone Wild: Raw Video Footage

Massive Pound-And-A-Half Rats Infest KFC/Taco Bell In The West Village

From Newsday:

After a thorough investigation, DOI found a disturbing lack of diligence on the part of the public health sanitarian who inspected the restaurant as well as a breakdown in the supervision of the inspector," DOI Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn said.

The DOI said the inspector, Cemone Thomas, "underreported the rodent-related findings and failed to take proper action ... which constituted a 'gross dereliction' of her duties."

On Feb. 22, Thomas documented only 87 rat droppings and didn't cite an additional 20, which would have caused the restaurant to fail the inspection and could have forced it to close immediately, the DOI said.

The DOI said evidence in the case suggested that Thomas simply couldn't be bothered to do a more comprehensive report because she might have been trying to "avoid the additional time it would have taken for further enforcement steps."

PREVIOUSLY: KFC Taco Bell Rats Gone Wild: Raw Video Footage
Massive Pound-And-A-Half Rats Infest KFC/Taco Bell In The West Village

A health inspector said he found mouse droppings at a Valley Wal-Mart on Monday after shoppers reported seeing rodents in a bakery case.

Three customers at the Wal-Mart near 16th Avenue and Bethany Home Road said they saw at least three mice scurrying around inside a doughnut case.

Ashley Seeba snapped a picture of one rodent with her cell phone.

"It made me sick. I could have gotten physically ill and it is just disturbing to know that a large corporation like Wal-Mart doesn't even have high enough standards to keep rats out of their building," Seeba said.

The shoppers who witnessed the rats said the Walmart manager would not let them file a complaint. Walmart has responded to the report via a statement sent to CBS 5 News:

"Food safety is a top priority for us, and we take this allegation quite seriously and are thoroughly investigating it."

"In an abundance of caution we have sanitized and cleaned the bakery area and have scheduled additional pest control. We also immediately discarded all bakery product in the case in question"

Mouse Droppings Found in Wal-Mart Bakery [KTAR](Thanks, Dan!)

The city spends $8 million a year on rodent control and has a team of more than 100 inspectors who close about 500 restaurants each year.

"We can always use more to address the problem. It's a big problem," says Deputy Health Commissioner Jessica Leighton.

Leighton points out rats are a quality of life issue, not a health risk.

"They are not what causes food borne disease; they are not what causes poor health conditions," says Leighton.
...
"For certain communities, the reasons that they have high rodent problems will be different than in other communities and we are trying to address the underlying factors," says Leighton.

Health Commissioner: Rats Are Not A Health Risk [NY1]

PREVIOUSLY: Massive Pound-And-A-Half Rats Infest KFC/Taco Bell In The West Village
KFC Taco Bell Rats Gone Wild: Raw Video Footage

I was just at Au Bon Pain on 38th & 3rd, and when I stepped outside with my coffee, a NYPost reporter and photographer stopped me to talk about the recent spate of rat sightings in that particular ABP, and their poor grades on recent health inspections. He said a story will run in tomorrow's Post (headline: French Rats Invade! (?)). We stood on the corner and chatted about the recent KFC thing, and he agreed that if he could get them on video, it could be another front-page 'scandal'. I had previously seen a little mouse in the ABP on 39th & Madison, (which they said they'd check out) but these guys said large rats were spotted this time. He asked me if I was still going to drink the coffee, and I shrugged and said 'I went to Manhattan College, so rats in the eating area isn't a huge deal to me.' He smiled and said look in tomorrow's News section.

The health inspector - whose name was not released - was "removed from restaurant inspection duty," while the city's health department reviews other inspections the staffer performed since being put on the job in June 2006, officials said.

"Our February 22 inspection of the KFC/Taco Bell was clearly not up to standard," said Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden. "We are redoubling our efforts to ensure all inspections are conducted effectively."

PREVIOUSLY: KFC/Taco Bell Rat Apologist Comments On Vincent Ferrari's Blog
Rat Infested KFC Passed Health Inspection The Day Before
KFC Taco Bell Rats Gone Wild: Raw Video Footage
Massive Pound-And-A-Half Rats Infest KFC/Taco Bell In The West Village

We agree that the situation at the Greenwich Village restaurant is totally unacceptable and, as you may know, the restaurant has been closed until further notice. Some construction in the building's basement last Thursday temporarily escalated the situation, and we are correcting that. Everyone at KFC and Taco Bell is working hard to take care of the issues at this restaurant.

"Temporarily escalated the situation..." Translation: "There was a whole bunch of rat nests in the walls that we broke open during the construction and the all the rats were like hell yeah, KFC." — BEN POPKEN

PREVIOUSLY:
Rat Infested KFC Passed Health Inspection The Day Before
KFC Taco Bell Rats Gone Wild: Raw Video Footage
Massive Pound-And-A-Half Rats Infest KFC/Taco Bell In The West Village

"It doesn't look like the inspection that was done Thursday met our standards," said Geoffrey Cowley, a health department spokesman. "I don't want to prejudge that. We're concerned and we're going to carefully reevaluate that inspection."

Officials To Review Rat-Infested KFC Inspection [WCBS]

PREVIOUSLY: KFC Taco Bell Rats Gone Wild: Raw Video Footage

So where are the bed bugs coming from?

Naturally, the mattress manufacturers blame used mattresses. "The International Sleep Products Association, the trade association for mattress manufacturers, said yesterday that it supported a ban on the sale of reconditioned mattresses. "The filth from the used mattress that lies just beneath the new fabric cover of a reconditioned product can be astounding," said Ryan Trainer, a lawyer for the association."

"Exterminators have been grappling with how to suppress the infestations. Several of them testified yesterday, and Cindy Mannes, of the National Pest Management Association, said in a telephone interview that it recorded a 71 percent increase from 2000 to 2005 in the number of exterminators who had received calls about bedbugs.

Councilman Leroy G. Comrie Jr. of Queens, who presided over the hearing, said that residents often blame themselves for infestations. The insects easily crawl between homes through walls, floors and ceilings."

Yuck, Yuck, Yuck, Yuck, Yuck, Yuck. Oh, god. Yuck.

Via The New York Times.
and The New York Sun