Food Illness Archive

Court of Public Opinion: Dunkin Donuts Coffee Lawsuit is B.S.

June 6th, 2011. By AbiK

Have you ever gotten food at a QSR and not gotten exactly what you ordered? QSR, for those who don’t give much thought to restaurant classifications, stands for “Quick Serve Restaurant” and includes such fine establishments as McDonald’s, Subway, Burger King, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, Starbucks and…Dunkin Donuts, which we’ll get to in a minute.

My guess is that you have. It’s the type of industry that makes process improvement experts giddy with glee—so much opportunity to play hero. After all, the ‘defects per million opportunities’ (DPMO) are seemingly countless.

The reason I bring this up is that, given that tidbit of knowledge or supposition, you go into a QSR—or drive thru one—expecting a less than 100% delivery on your expectations. Not that you can’t be satisfied with what you’ve ordered—it just may not be exactly what you ordered. Lettuce is limp. Ketchup’s missing. You said “French” dressing and got “Ranch”. So it’s like the saying goes, “forewarned is forearmed”.

You do things like checking your takeout bag before leaving the place. Count the number of straws. Repeat the order back to the order taker. Say that it’s the orange-colored dressing, not the white one. You’re on guard. And that’s for you or me—the average Joe without any medical condition that might otherwise have us on super high alert when ordering fast food.

Now, back to Dunkin Donuts. So Danielle Jordan—who by now everyone knows is 47 and lives Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Coffee lawsuit, Crescentville, Danielle Jordan, Diabetes, Diabetic Shock, Dunkin Donuts, Dunkin Donuts lawsuit, Sweet Coffee
Posted in Defective Products, Food Illness, lawsuits | 1 Comment »

Food Safety Alert: The Problem With Meat Glue

April 21st, 2011. By Hunter West

Oh, you haven’t heard of meat glue? The food industry loves the stuff—and for good reason. Anything that would allow the morphing of a bucket of meat bits, like stewing beef for example, into what looks like a Grade A steak and commands a Grade A price at the counter, is akin to manna from heaven. 

To the untrained eye (meaning, you and me), it’s impossible to tell the difference. It looks like a steak. It grills like a steak. It tastes like a steak. But it’s not a steak, but rather chunks of meat that in a previous era would have been sold as stewing beef for a lot less than the kind of price a steak commands. But mix in some meat glue, roll it up and after six hours in the refrigerator, out comes a gelled roll that can be sliced into a series of lovely-looking, boneless steaks. 

The potential for fraud is obvious. Beyond the deception, however, why did the European Union ban meat glue last year? 

First, the back-story of what meat glue is. In fact, meat glue is actually an enzyme derived from thrombin and fibrogen, which is obtained from the blood plasma of swine and cattle. This is the stuff that causes blood to clot—and it also does a spiffy job, it turns out, of knitting small bits of meat together to appear like more expensive-looking steaks. 

Is meat glue harmful? Well, the European Food Safety Authority gave meat glue a positive safety opinion in 2005, only to ban it five years later. And a butcher participating in a story Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: EU, fibrogen, Food Poisoning, meat additive, meat glue, thrombin
Posted in Defective Products, Drugs/Medical, Food Illness | 2 Comments »

In Flight Dining Menu: Chicken Cordon Bleu with Fecal Matter?

June 30th, 2010. By LucyC

An interesting item on the wire this week—airline food—sorry—airline meals—(yes, there is a difference, as one (meals) may not necessarily involve the other (food)) are a possible health threat. Well! You could have bowled me over with a feather! Seriously? How can that be when the airlines aren’t serving food anymore? 

Oh wait—that’s in coach. Meals—and I use the term loosely—are still served in first class on most major airlines. And if you’re flying Trans-Atlantic—or international long haul—no matter where you’re sitting. Great. Then you can possibly enjoy food poisoning and jet lag together. That’s always fun. You spend the first three days of your trip realizing that water really does go down the drain in the opposite direction in the Southern hemisphere… 

Apparently, reports obtained by USA Today via the Freedom of Information Act, state that some of the kitchens used to prepare the meals are not clean, employ food handlers that practice poor personal hygiene (I don’t even want to go there), and the food may not be stored at correct temperatures. 

And, of course, it gets worse. Some kitchens ‘were littered with dead cockroaches, flies, and rodent feces’ CBS News reported, which presumably are included in the Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Airline Food, Airlines, American, Continental, Delta, Flying Food Group, Gourmet, LSG Sky Chefs, United, US Airways
Posted in Food Illness | No Comments »

Sick of Being Green

June 29th, 2010. By AbiK

Perhaps literally.

No, it’s not easy being green. Kermit had it right all along. Not that being green doesn’t have it’s pluses—you know, for things like the air we breathe, the landfills we fill, the fossil fuel extraction we continue to rely on…but I bet you that, in addition to folks who compost, recycle and are driving a Prius, a lot of you are carrying around those “green” shopping bags. You’ve gotten them “free with purchase!” from Target. You’ve succumbed to the need to feel chicly green and snagged the Sephora reusable black bag. You’ve even got various canvas (think L.L. Bean, Land’s End…or sans label at the dollar store) bags that serve as catch-alls for everything imaginable. But now as you’ve proudly made a ritual out of toting your reusable sacks to the grocery store, this news comes out: you may be toting around harmful bacteria.

Huh?

That’s right. A new study out from the University of Arizona revealed that those “green” bags may be housing more than just your groceries. According to the study—as reported on over at azcentral.com—researchers tested 84 bags that they’d collected from shoppers in Tuscon, LA, and the San Francisco Bay area. And guess what? They found that a little more than half of them were contaminated with “potentially harmful bacteria“—and twelve percent of them contained E. coli.

Cross-contamination’s the issue. Think about all the times you’ve picked up a package of chicken breasts—even put it in a “protective” plastic bag (yes, the ones you go from end to end pinching and prying to open up)—only to find that pinkish gooey liquid streaming out somehow when you got home? Ordinarily, you’d just throw the bag out. Not so if you’ve bought into green living—it would defeat the purpose, of course. Then, imagine where you store those reusable bags—most people I know leave them in their cars so they remember them. But as Charles Gerba, UA professor and co-author of the study points out, your car, especially in summer, is a hot breeding ground.

Now, the simple answer to this is to wash your reusable bags after use—particularly after they’ve held raw meats (and hopefully your bags are made to withstand multiple washings).

The study did not compare, by the way, the impact of repeatedly washing recyclable bags vs. the impact of throwing out plastic bags. And, to be fair, some have claimed the study is “junk science” as it was funded by the American Chemistry Council—translation: the folks who represent plastics manufacturers.

That’s fine, but I don’t think—even without a study—that anyone would argue the likelihood of microscopic contaminants being left behind in a woven bag after perishable food had been lying in it. It’s just common sense. And, as such, it’s just common sense to ensure you’re washing those bags…

Tags: Environmental, Green, Plastic Bags, Reusable Bags
Posted in Emerging Issues, Food Illness | No Comments »

What the heck is HVP? Demand better food labeling!

March 10th, 2010. By janem

Dollars to donuts, you’ve consumed Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HVP) and didn’t even know it because nobody informed you–it isn’t required on food labels–which makes this latest enormous recall a call to action.  As if we don’t have enough to worry about with foodborne illness in the news just about daily, in the past few weeks the FDA has recalled thousands of products containing HVP–from beef and bacon to chips and dip to veggie burgers (so much for thinking processed vegetarian food is healthy) –that may be contaminated with Salmonella.

HVP, also known as acid-hydrolyzed vegetable protein,  is a soy-based food “filler” used to make countless processed food products. It is used as a flavor-enhancer after the food has been processed, and after it has been safety-checked. You likely never see HVP added to the ingredients list on a food label because it is usually part of a flavor mix. HVP is added so that your food tastes better, which means you will buy it again and that translates to profits for food companies such as Nestle, Trader Joe’s, Safeway, McCormick and many other companies. It is a chemical that we can do without!

Here is a list of recalled products.

According to Wikipedia, acid-hydrolyzed vegetable protein is produced by boiling cereals or legumes in hydrochloric acid and then neutralizing the solution with sodium hydroxide. Next time I bite into chips with dip, I’ll be wondering how much hydrochloric acid is in my body. Wait a minute, what am I thinking? There isn’t gonna be a next time, unless the FDA does something about it. And judging from their history regarding food additives (remember aspartame?) I’ll be spending more time cooking from scratch and will likely lose a few pounds due to avoiding convenience foods.  Because the FDA freaks out about bacteria, not the chemicals that are dumped into processed foods.

All of us need to petition the FDA and demand that chemicals such as HVP (god only knows what nasty side effects it can cause) are clearly listed on all food labels.

Meanwhile, health officials advise that you cook/heat the heck out of any processed food to avoid any risks of Salmonella. And if you can’t cook it, throw it out. Even better, return it to the food manufacturers. I wonder if they eat HVP-laced products?

Tags: food chemicals, food labelling, HVP, Salmonella
Posted in Food Illness | 4 Comments »