While the human mouth gets to have all the fun of tasting, chewing and eating delicious food in all its various incarnations, it can also be the portal to pain when something isn’t right. In the case of a man who said he broke a partial denture at Pizza Hut, the weapon of destruction came in the form of “excessively hard croutons.” [More]
food safety
Court Awards Pizza Hut Customer $2,400 For Denture Damaged While Eating “Excessively Hard Croutons”
By 3.31.15
Family Suing Publix Claims Boy Allergic To Nuts Died After Eating Cookie Worker Said Was Safe
By 3.26.15
The family of an 11-year-old boy allergic to nuts who died in June 2014 is suing Publix, claiming that his death was caused by a severe allergic reaction after eating a cookie a grocery store worker allegedly deemed safe. [More]
5 Food Prep Tips For Reducing Pesticide Risks
By 3.20.15
When you buy a sack of potatoes with dirt still clinging to the spuds, you know they’ll need a wash before going into your dinner. But those completely clean-looking apples, peaches, and strawberries may carry a less-visible danger in the form of pesticide residues. [More]
Wegmans Recalls Walnut Halves & Pieces Over Possible Salmonella Contamination
By 3.19.15
On the heels of Trader Joe’s recalling walnuts over salmonella concerns, grocery store chain Wegmans is also pulling a product with walnut pieces and halves from the shelves due to possible contamination. [More]
Big Data Is Here To Stay. So Can We Use It To Make Recalls Actually Work?
By 3.16.15
Sometimes products are unsafe. From bacteria-filled food to shrapnel-shooting airbags, on occasion even the most conscientious company will find itself needing to recall a product if it turns out to be harmful to consumers. But recalls are a big pain in the butt all around. One of the biggest issues? Actually letting consumers know that the stuff in their hands or on their shelves has, in fact, actually been recalled. [More]
California Suing Wine Bottle Maker Over Claims That It Uses Glass Containing Toxic Materials
By 3.3.15
While acknowledging that a California glass company isn’t necessarily posing any threat to consumers with its actions, state officials are suing a Modesto business that it says recycles hazardous materials illegally and includes them in new wine bottles. [More]
Foods That Make People Sick With E. Coli: Beef, Plants Grown In Rows
By 2.25.15
There are three different agencies in the federal government that handle different types of foodborne illnesses and separate aspects of those illnesses. While two outbreaks might be caused by the same pathogen, which agency handles them depends on whether the food contains meat or not. This is sort of inefficient. [More]
FDA Warns That Undeclared Peanuts Could Lurk In Food Containing Cumin
By 2.19.15
Life with a severe food allergy can be scary enough, but knowing that sometimes labels are inaccurate and that not all allergens are identified is even scarier. The situation right now where a batch of ground cumin was contaminated with peanuts shows that even spices and spice blends can be dangerous to people with severe enough allergies. [More]
California Slaughterhouse Co-Owner Pleads Guilty To Processing Cattle With Cancer
By 2.19.15
The co-owner of a now defunct California slaughterhouse at the center of a February 2014 recall that involved 8.7 million pounds of beef found “unfit for human food” has pleaded guilty in the federal case, acknowledging that he processed cancerous cattle. [More]
Proposed Bills Would Revamp Food Safety Agencies & Recall Protocols
By 2.6.15
Last year a group of legislators introduced a bill that would have given the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture the legal backbone to get unsafe meat, poultry and eggs off store shelves. While that bill died in Congress, two new measures seek to pick up the pieces, establishing a single, independent federal food-safety agency and providing new recall procedures. [More]
USDA Offers Holiday Food Safety Advice In Case You Don’t Want To Kill Your Family
By 12.23.14
You might be preparing a larger meal this week than you’re used to, or preparing trays of party food, and that means that you run the risk of giving everyone you love a food-borne illness. You can avoid turning your family celebration or classy party into a barfing festival by following a few helpful tips. [More]
Del Monte Recalls Fruit Snack Packs Potentially Contaminated With Listeria
By 12.10.14
Sure, we feel like we’re doing something righteous and healthy when we buy a package of cut fresh fruit for a snack instead of cookies or a candy bar, but there are times when choosing fresh fruit can come back to bite you. That’s the case for some Del Monte fruit snacks sold in grocery and convenience stores. [More]
Cucumbers Were Probably Culprits In E. Coli Outbreak At Jimmy John’s
By 12.9.14
Escherichia coli is a bacterium that’s part of the normal intestinal flora of warm-blooded organisms, including humans. It’s pretty harmless most of the time, but when “fecal contamination” between different organisms occurs, it can result in a very serious illness. It took more than a year, but authorities in Colorado have traced a September 2013 E. coli outbreak to one specific food: cucumbers from Jimmy John’s sandwich shops in three towns in Colorado. [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]
Here’s Why American Stores Refrigerate Eggs While Some Other Countries Don’t
By 9.12.14
At the sight of an egg sitting on an unrefrigerated store shelf, many Americans would shudder and think, “Well, that can’t be very safe because we keep our eggs nice and chilled and America is No. 1.” But are those foreign countries wrong and are we right? How can it be safe to keep eggs either chilled or at room temperature? [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]
Scientists: Recalled Moldy Exploding Chobani Yogurts Could Make Consumers Sick
By 7.8.14
Hey, remember when Chobani recalled a wide variety of yogurts in the fall of 2013 because fungal contamination made them taste terrible and occasionally explode? About that: a new study published today in a journal of the American Society for Microbiology indicates that the fungus found in contaminated yogurt cups was a strain that can make animals, including humans, sick when it’s eaten. [More]
California Repeals Rubber Glove Law For Restaurant, Bar Workers
By 6.27.14
Earlier this year, a new California state law banned restaurant workers from touching food with their bare hands and required that bartenders and cooks wear rubber gloves. But following a backlash from the public and the foodservice industry, the state legislature has voted to repeal the ban, going back to rules that simply ask workers to minimize the touching of customers’ food. [More]
