How do you keep contaminated food from reaching consumers? The Food and Drug Administration recently set out on a project to test fresh foods that are often the subject of recalls, hoping to learn how common bacterial contamination is and how to prevent these foods from making people sick. This week, it released its report on sprouts, a fresh salad topping that makes people sick surprisingly often. [More]
bacteria
Here’s Why Scientists Are Launching Bacteria-Laden Balloons During The Solar Eclipse
By 8.21.17
While people stand at the ready around the country today with special glasses and pinhole projectors to view the solar eclipse, a group of NASA scientists will be at work launching balloons in an effort to learn a bit more about life on another planet. [More]
Season’s Choice Frozen Sweet Peas Sold At Aldi Recalled For Possible Listeria Contamination
By 4.6.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
Time to check your freezer, Aldi shoppers: The grocery chain is recalling frozen peas that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, a foodborne bacteria that can survive freezing temperatures. [More]
Deadly Bacterial Infection Linked To Machine Used During Heart Surgeries
By 10.13.16
Non-tuberculosis mycobacteria are among the germs that just are just sort of everywhere and don’t do much harm to people. The exception, though, is when they gain access to a person’s chest cavity or an artificial heart valve, and can be deadly. The bacteria get there by hitching a ride from a piece of surgical equipment, and patients generally aren’t warned that this is a risk during operations involving the heater-cooler machine. [More]
Millions Of Bottles Of Craft Paint Sold At Hobby Lobby, Walmart Recalled For Bacteria Contamination
By 10.5.16
When you think of all the items that can recalled for being tainted by bacteria, “craft paint” is probably pretty low on that list. But if you’ve got some tempera paint sitting around the house or schoolroom for craft time, you’ll want to check to make sure it’s not included in a new, massive recall.
[More]
Woman Says She Was Treated Unfairly At Subway Because She’s Pregnant
By 4.11.16
An Iowa woman says she was belittled and treated unfairly at a Subway restaurant because she’s pregnant, when a worker told her he was too busy to accommodate her request to heat the deli meat on her sandwich. [More]
Health Authorities: Raw Milk From PA Dairy Linked To Fatal Case Of Listeriosis
By 3.21.16
While you can’t just buy raw milk anywhere, there are some ways consumers can get their hands on the product, nonetheless, despite warnings from health officials that the unpasteurized product can carry dangerous bacteria. That risk proved fatal in one of two recent listeriosis cases that health authorities say are linked to a Pennsylvania dairy. [More]
Reminder: Do Not Run To The Doctor Demanding Antiobiotics If You Have A Cold
By 1.25.16
If you have or are getting over a cold, we hope that you feel better soon. However, our colleagues down the hall at Consumer Reports hope that you do not run to your doctor’s office and demand antibiotics unless test results show that your have strep throat, or you show symptoms of pneumonia. Antbiotics are life-saving when you need them, but taking them when you don’t can contribute to antibiotic resistance in the community. [Consumer Reports] [More]
How Can I Avoid Getting Sick From Listeria-Contaminated Food?
By 6.5.15
Listeria-contaminated food has been in the news lately due to massive ice cream recalls from regional companies Blue Bell and Jeni’s. Ice cream isn’t usually where you find listeria, but it’s possible to contract listeriosis from frozen treats because the bacteria can survive below-freezing temperatures, and you don’t cook ice cream. How can you avoid illness from listeria? There are no guaranteed ways to eradicate it from the food supply, but there are precautions that you can take. [More]
Man Sues Blue Bell Claiming He Contracted Listeria-Induced Meningitis After Eating Contaminated Ice Cream
By 5.20.15
Investigator are still working to determine what caused the current Blue Bell Creameries listeria outbreak that has been linked to three deaths and at least 10 illness in four states dating back at least five years. But that hasn’t stopped a former Texas man from filing a lawsuit against the company alleging that he contracted listeria-related meningitis after eating the company’s products two years ago. [More]
CDC Investigators Link Current Blue Bell Listeria Outbreak To Illness From 2010
By 4.22.15
For the past two months, Blue Bell Creameries has grappled with an outbreak of listeria that has been linked to three deaths and at least 10 illness in four states. While the source of the contamination has yet to be determined, federal investigators now believe the issue has been ongoing for at least five years. [More]
Blue Bell Expands Recall Again After Tests Find Listeria Bacteria In Additional Products
By 4.8.15
It appears that grocers who removed all Blue Bell Creameries’ products from their shelves earlier this week may have had the right idea, as the ice cream company once again expanded the scope of its recall after further testing found a link between additional products and an outbreak of listeriosis. [More]
Several Brands Of Baby Wipes Recalled For Possible Bacterial Contamination
By 10.27.14
Consumers use baby wipes for any number of reasons, but they all revolve around the same purpose: cleansing. While the wipes manufactured by a Pennsylvania company will probably remove that smudge of chocolate from your child’s cheek, it might also leave behind bacteria. [More]
Thieves Steal 1.4 Tons Of Cheese Contaminated With Listeria
By 9.17.14
Listen, if there’s anyone out there who understands the lure of wheel upon wheel of beautiful cheese, it’s me. Cheese is my significant other, so I get it. But thieves in Liechtenstein are barking up a very dangerous tree by swiping 1.4 tons of cheese contaminated with harmful bacteria. That cheese is sadly, meant for no one. [More]
Your Wrapped Meat Leaks Bacteria-Laden Juice Everywhere
By 8.11.14
The poultry that you buy at the grocery store is securely wrapped up specifically so consumers don’t spread traces of chicken juice on everything that they touch, right? Well… about that. For a new study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the government agency in charge of making sure that our meat doesn’t kill us, scientists followed shoppers around and checked surfaces that they touched for poultry proteins. Guess what they found? [More]
Quit Washing Your Chicken: It Just Sprays Germs Everywhere
By 8.26.13 — Updated: 8.11.14
Generations of American cooks are wrong. They learned their wrongity wrongity wrong habits from their parents, or from public television’s Julia Child. Their terrible, filthy habit is rinsing poultry before cooking. Public health experts estimate that as many as 90% of Americans do it, and they want us to cut it out. [More]
Report: Ice Cubes At Beijing KFC Have 13 Times The Bacteria Of Toilet Water
By 7.23.13
Customers at KFC restaurants in China might be ready to go with iceless drinks, after a new report found that the cubes at Beijing locations are apparently filled with 13 times more bacteria than toilet water. Other fast food outlets also underwent testing, including McDonald’s and a Chinese chain, but KFC had the worst results of the bunch. [More]
Your Warm Little Smartphone Makes A Perfectly Cozy Incubator For Bacteria
By 10.23.12
Ladies and germs, you can wash your hands and refuse to touch the bathroom handle at work without a paper towel as often as you want, but you might be cradling a veritable incubator of bacteria right up to your face all day long anyway. Those warm little constant companions of ours, smartphones, could be spreading bugs nobody wants. [More]
