If you leave potatoes sitting in in your cupboard for too long, they might sprout or turn green, but it’s not like eating old vegetables is going to kill you or anything. Wait, it can? It can cause symptoms ranging from a tummyache to hallucinations to death? And that’s happened quite a few times throughout history? Well, crap. [More]
Quality & Safety
Crate And Barrel Recalls 19K Hanging Lamps Because No One Wants Fire To Rain From Above
By 10.24.13
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced a Crate and Barrel recall of 19,000 of its hanging lamps. The thing is, it’s great to have light shining down on whatever you’re doing but it’s not so nice when that light is coming from a fiery light fixture hanging above you. [More]
Should An FDA Advisory Committee Chair Be Giving Drug Companies Tips On How To Get Approved?
By 10.24.13
It would be generous to label federal regulatory approval processes as merely byzantine, as some agencies require multiple layers of vetting, along with years of sitting around and waiting. Knowing how to navigate these waters is helpful information for anyone hoping to make it through in a timely fashion. But should those currently working for a federal agency like the FDA be actively giving advice to businesses about the best way to work the approval system? [More]
October Recall Roundup: Never Trust An Ant
By 10.22.13
The federal government shutdown meant that our friends over at the Consumer Products Safety Commission weren’t diligently posting recalls to their website as usual, but that doesn’t mean that there were no dangerous products recalled since our last Roundup in September. Nope. [More]
We Are In The Era Of “Nightmare” Bacteria And Nobody Seems To Care
By 10.22.13 — Updated: 7.17.14
On March 5, 2013, the Centers for Disease Control issued a press released titled “Lethal, Drug Resistant Bacteria Spreading in U.S. Healthcare Facilities.” The warning that followed was dire. Drug-resistant organisms called carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, were not only spreading more rapidly through U.S. hospitals, they were becoming more resistant to so-called “last-resort” antibiotics. “CRE are nightmare bacteria,” said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden. How nightmarish? According to data from the CDC, 1 in 2 patients who contract a bloodstream CRE infection will die. That’s an ominous statistic, but it might not even be the scariest fact about CRE. [More]
Cantaloupe Farmers Plead Guilty To Charges Linked To Listeria Outbreak
By 10.22.13
Despite an earlier plan to plead not guilty in federal court, two Colorado farmers whose cantaloupes were linked to the 2011 listeria outbreak that killed 33 people pleaded guilty today to misdemeanor charges. [Associated Press] [More]
FDA Needs Help Solving Outbreak Linked To Jerky Treats That’s Sickened Thousands Of Pets
By 10.22.13
There’s been a recent spate of pet deaths and illnesses connected to jerky treats made in China in the last few years — with almost 600 pets killed and 3,600 more sickened as of now — but federal animal health officials say they’re puzzled over exactly what’s actually causing the illnesses. [More]
Carve Your Pumpkin, Not Your Hands
By 10.22.13
Halloween is supposed to be a scary holiday and all, but the reason for the terror should not be “I severed an artery while carving the whiskers on my cat o’lantern.” You can create beautiful hollowed-out gourds without harming yourself or your family, whether it’s with the tools you already have in your knife drawer or with a special pumpkin-carving kit. [More]
Was McDonald’s Worker Who Served Up Raw Burger Targeting Cop Or Just Incompetent?
By 10.18.13
A police officer in New Hampshire visited the drive-thru window at his local McDonald’s while working the night shift. He ordered a Quarter Pounder with cheese, and a photo he took shows a gross uncooked or undercooked bottom patty. He says that he became ill a few hours later. Those are the facts that no one is really disputing. The question is: did the worker preparing his burger deliberately give him gross food because he’s a cop? [More]
Why Did California Costco Customers Get Salmonella From Cooked Chicken?
By 10.16.13
Consumers know the drill, or should by now: you can prevent food-borne illnesses by cooking your meat to an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit. So how did a Costco customer end up ill from salmonella after eating a fully-cooked rotisserie chicken? The warehouse chain isn’t sure, but has recalled 40,000 pounds of chicken products sold at a single store in California. [More]
Health Officials Ask Stores To Yank Fat-Burning Supplement Linked To Liver Failure
By 10.9.13
Hawaii health officials are asking stores to stop selling the fat-burning supplment OxyElite Pro after an investigation linked it to cases of liver failure and acute hepatitis in 29 people. Two of those people had to undergo liver transplants and one has died, says the Hawaii State Department of Health. [More]
CDC Calls Back Some Furloughed Staff To Tackle Multi-State Salmonella Outbreak
By 10.9.13
On the heels of a multi-state outbreak of salmonella that has sickened hundreds, some were wondering what would happen with most of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s food-borne illness staff on furlough during the government shutdown. The CDC is now reassuring the public that it has called back many of its workers to handle the outbreak. [More]
Are CDC’s Detectives At Work During Shutdown While Salmonella Outbreak Sickens Hundreds?
By 10.8.13 — Updated: 10.9.13
Often when we hear news of a food-borne disease, the worst has passed and the government works to educate consumers on which products have been recalled. However with 278 people in 18 states sickened by a salmonella outbreak linked to raw chicken products from California, no recall has been announced and the United States Department of Agriculture says “the outbreak is continuing.” But are any of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s elite food detectives at work during the government shutdown to trace track down the source of the contamination? [More]
Why Is The USDA Hiding Its Safety & Recall Information?
By 10.4.13
Here’s the thing: We know why the United States Department of Agriculture took its site down — like many other agencies during the government shutdown, it’s closed for business. But while other agencies have opted to simply stop updating their sites and keep information available, the USDA is making it awfully hard to find any of its information on safety and recalls. [More]
Is Anything Being Done To Prevent Exploding E-Cigarettes?
By 10.3.13
While concerns about health effects and youth-targeted marketing have the attorneys general of 37 states asking the FDA to regulate e-cigarettes much like the agency regulates the sale of tobacco, there are numerous reports of the devices “exploding” or catching fire, which can be significantly more dangerous than simply inhaling nicotine. [More]
September Food And Supplement Recall Roundup – 40 Garlic Cloves, 2 Undeclared Allergens
By 10.1.13
Our monthly Recall Roundups have grown so expansive that we’ve had to separate them into two separate roundups: one for consumer goods, and one for consumables. [More]
USDA Investigating Food Giant Sysco After Report Claimed It Kept Meat, Dairy In Dirty Sheds
By 10.1.13 — Updated: 10.31.13
Where do you keep your raw meats, dairy and produce at home? In an old, dirty, rusted and unrefrigerated container? No, you put them in a properly cooled refrigerator, which is more than what food giant Sysco was doing, claimed a San Francisco news station’s investigation back in July. Now the United States Department of Agriculture is looking into Sysco after it received a complaint from a local meat trade association. [More]
FDA Approves First Pre-Surgical Breast Cancer Drug
By 9.30.13
While many of the hundreds of thousands of people who are diagnosed each year with breast cancer go through radiation or chemotherapy before surgery, until now drugs aimed at treating breast cancer were not FDA-approved for use in the pre-surgery stage. [More]
