Posted by Ed Levine, May 7, 2007 at 7:50 AM
According to yesterday's New York Times, workers in California have been stricken by a horrible lung disease, bronchiolitis obliteran, after being exposed to a yellow-colored flavoring called diacetyl, best known for giving microwave popcorn its buttery taste. The effects of the disease are not pretty: "The airways to the lung have been eaten up," said Barbera Materna, the chief of the occupational health branch in the California Department of Health Services. "They can't work anymore, and they can't walk a short distance without severe shortness of breath." In a typical state regulatory agency-industry trade group pissing match that has ensued since this controversy began, the industry is talking about better ventilation, employee health testing, and new safety and educational programs." One California legislator, Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, has a better idea: "It's not like we're talking about a potential flaw in the polio vaccine. We are talking about a potentially devastating disease caused by buttering flavor. And there are other alternatives out there. Including butter." Now there's a radical concept, using butter to flavor butter-flavored microwave popcorn.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, April 6, 2007 at 10:16 AM
Eggs are getting safer, says Goody Solomon of the Washington Post: "In 2002, the last year for which numbers are available, 10 percent of reported Salmonella enteritidis outbreaks in the United States were related to eggs, compared with a spike of 80 percent in 2001, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These days, according to the CDC, salmonella outbreaks are more likely to be caused by other foods: juices, salsa, meat, sprouts, fruits, and salads."
Posted by Lia Bulaong, March 16, 2007 at 3:24 PM
eGullet's Steven Shaw has a strong op-ed in the New York Times today arguing for a more rational response to rats in restaurants than the current hysteria:
Rats move freely from building to building: adult rats can, like the superhero Plastic Man, compress themselves to fit through spaces as narrow as half an inch. Their mobility makes them as easy to miss as they are to find. A rat-free city is no more possible than a germ-free or risk-free society. We can hope to manage rodents, roaches and other intruders down to an acceptable level, but they’ve always accompanied, and may outlast, human civilization.
Rats in restaurants, while distasteful, are more a distraction than a disaster for public health. As reported in this newspaper, flies — each one a potential airborne disease carrier — are a more dire threat. So are cows, sheep and pigs, whose excrement can contaminate food at its source with E. coli, as was recently believed to be the case with California spinach and with vegetables served at Taco Bell. And to echo the punch line of many a nature documentary, the greatest threat to restaurant sanitation is man: salmonella, for example, is typically initiated or spread through improper hand-washing, food handling or cooking.
Posted by Lia Bulaong, March 7, 2007 at 6:38 PM
The Denver Post recently posted an excellent primer on celiac disease and how to deal with it by Ellen Sweets:
For some, being unable to eat fried catfish, macaroni and cheese, pastrami on rye or chicken barley soup borders on truly bad news. For millions of Americans, however, eating those foods is actually dangerous. They are living with celiac (pronounced "SEAL-ee-ack") disease, which means that anything with gluten - wheat, barley, rye or oats - wreaks havoc with the body. Ingesting gluten jump-starts a reaction that causes certain immune system cells to attack the intestine, leaving the gluten-intolerant unable to properly absorb nutrients.
Celiac disease affects about one in every 133 people and has been described as "the most common genetic disease" in the US, so even if you've never heard of it until today chances are pretty good you know someone who suffers from it. If you'd like to find out more about celiac disease, two of the most informative sites on eating for celiac disease sufferers are blogs, CeliacChicks and Gluten-Free Girl.
Posted by Nathalie Jordi, January 25, 2007 at 4:37 PM
Let the speculation begin: Japan has confirmed an H5 bird flu outbreak at a poultry farm in Miyazaki. They're not yet sure whether it's H5N1, but 1,000 birds have already died. Thankfully, as yet no people.
