No Warning Required On Raw Milk Sold At Portland Farmers Markets
Raw milk sold at farmers markets in Portland, Maine will not be required to carry a warning, the city council decided last night.
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The city’s health department had recommended that warnings citing the health risks of raw milk be posted on placards or handouts where raw milk was sold, but the council voted against the proposed measure calling it “unfair and arbitrary.”
Raw, or unpasteurized, milk can carry dangerous pathogens such as Salmonella, E.coli, Campylobacter and Listeria, which is why many medical and scientific organizations including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Veterinary Medical Association, the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians, all recommend that milk intended for human consumption be pasteurized.
The CDC reports that raw milk accounts for the bulk of dairy-associated foodborne illness outbreaks and estimates that raw milk causes an average of eight foodborne illness outbreaks every year.
So far this year, an ongoing multistate outbreak linked to raw milk produced on a Pennsylvania farm has sickened at least 43 people with Campylobacter infections, according to state health officials. From 2009 through 2011, there were 29 foodborne illness outbreaks linked to raw milk or raw cheese. And between 1998 and 2009, there were 93 reported outbreaks of foodborne illness linked to raw milk and raw milk products, according to the CDC. Those outbreaks sickened a total of 1,837 people, hospitalizing 195 and killing two.
If you have legal questions about an illness or hospitalization associated with raw milk, contact the food safety lawyers at PritzkerOlsen P.A. for a free consultation.
Actually, what you get is
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“Most pregnant women don't think of themselves as being at greater risk for foodborne illness during pregnancy. But, because they are naturally immune-suppressed, they are more at risk for foodborne illnesses than other adults,” Lydia Medeiros, a food safety specialist with Ohio State University Extension and one of the project's principal investigators said in a statement.
Fruits and vegetables are the foundation of a healthy diet, but, like all foods, they carry a risk of foodborne illness. Harmful bacteria in the soil or water can contaminate produce where it grows. Or, fresh produce may become contaminated after it is harvested, during packing, storage or preparation. Eating contaminated produce can cause serious illness as Lindsay Schuessler, a 25-year-old elementary school teacher, discovered this week.
An antibiotic-resistant strain of 
Yamaya USA Inc. of Torrance Calif. is recalling 2-pound plastic containers of Masago (Capelin Roe) because of potential contamination with 
Parker Ag Services vice president Mike Shearp told state investigators that his company applied biosolids to a field “directly across from a Jensen Farms field" several years ago, according to the story. Jensen Farms told 7NEWS that it does not use biosolids..jpg)
Pregnant women, young children and people who have weak immune systems are at highest risk of contracting listeriosis. While a Listeria infection may cause only a mild illness in a pregnant woman, consequences for the baby may include, miscarriage, stillbirth, premature birth or a potentially fatal infection after birth, according the Mayo Clinic..jpg)
On Monday, sixty students at Cesar Chavez Elementary School in Coachella, California, got sick. Riverside County health officials are investigating the outbreak and are looking at .jpg)
In essence, study authors make a case for regulators to focus food safety oversight on the 10 riskiest pairs of bacteria and food. It found that the 10 combinations cost the economy $8 billion a year and 37,000 Quality-Adjusted Life Years, a measure of disease burden that factors in pain, suffering and a disease's impact on normal activities..jpg)
She told the newspaper that nine of 18 case patients were confirmed to be sickened from the same strain of Salmonella, via stool sample. The breakfast at Trinity United Church of Christ was held March 5. The sausage and meat pudding were produced by a group of 4-H members in Frederick, Maryland..jpg)
Salmonella can lead to reactive arthritis, or
The recall by L&M Companies Inc., which was published by the Food and Drug Administration, covers bulk cartons shipped between March 30 and April 7. The recalled cartons are marked Nature's Delight and contain the Lot # PL-RID-002990 on the side of the carton. The nationwide recall Friday came after FDA inspectors in mid-April found Salmonella on a randomly selected sample of cucumbers in a cooler at Four Seasons Produce of Central Florida..gif)
The report, obtained by .jpg)
The study covered 2,228 E. coli O157:H7 infections and found that secondary cases of infection are just as prone to result in life-threatening .jpg)
Raw milk is a nationally recognized public health threat that leads to outbreaks of .jpg)
Said Taylor: "The recruitment of a chief medical officer and director of outbreaks here is part of an effort to really transform the way we think about and manage and learn from outbreaks in our effort to build a prevention-oriented food safety program.'' The food safety official told CIDRAP that FDA is putting together a permanent team to work on foodborne outbreaks of .gif)
The findings were published this week in Science Express and summarized by the university's public relations department. Salmonella is a leading cause of food poisoning in the United States -- the No. 1 cause of food poisoning hospitalizations and deaths. .jpg)
Paul Chang, who leads the traceability initiative at IBM, said the company is basically taking the tracking system it uses for the pharmaceutical industry and adopting it to the food business. HarvestMark, based in California, has developed a two-dimensional bar code sticker that can be placed on individual fruits and vegetables or packaging. Shoppers can scan the sticker with a smartphone or go to the HarvestMark website and enter the number from the sticker to learn the path the food has taken and other information the farmer chooses to share, such as the harvest date. You can click a button and tell the farmer what you think of the produce, if you like..jpg)
Estrella of Montesano, Washington, has had several cheese recalls this year due to Listeria. Again in August, the FDA found additional Listeria contamination and warned consumers about recalled Estrella cheese. Media reports said the raid was ordered after Estrella declined to destroy inventories of potentially contaminated cheese..gif)
Be aware that infections of 
Osterholm was interviewed outside Pritzker Olsen's downtown Minneapolis offices by WCCO news anchor Frank Vascellero in a report about the ESPN investigation of stadium vendors at all 107 major league baseball, basketball, hockey and football arenas in the United States and Canada.
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Diane Bosovich, assistant director of nursing for the health department, told the Kenosha News that testing of employees for Salmonella cleared the restaurant for reopening. She said health investigators were not able to pinpoint the source of the infections..gif)
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The first patient is a 58-year-old female from Castle County who contracted .jpg)
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The 
The Butte County Public Health Department says there is no laboratory confirmation yet that the Mix-Off was the cause, but attendance at the May 8 social event was common among all who reported illnesses to the Public Health Department.
Dr. David Holcombe, medical director for Region 6 of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals' Office of Public Health, told TheTownTalk.com that an epidemiological study implicated chicken salad as the agent..gif)
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Noroviruses are a group of viruses that cause the “stomach flu.” Noroviruses are very contagious. They usually are found in contaminated food or drinks, but they also can live on surfaces or be spread through contact with an infected person..jpg)
The young woman from Ashtabula, Ohio, suffered .gif)
Nellie, who had just recently celebrated her 80th birthday, was one of nine people who died in the 
Now, because there is no U.S. limit for copper and other harmful residues in beef, the USDA had no grounds for blocking the beef's producer from reselling the rejected meat in the United States.
The test engineered by an ARS research unit in Albany, New York, has a two-in-one component that will replace the need currently for separate tests on the E. coli O157:H7 organism and the Shiga-toxin it produces. The bug and the toxin can be found in food separately..jpg)
When FDA discovered the situation at Basic Food Flavors Inc., a recall was issued of Basic Food Flavors HVP flavor enhancer that has touched off a sweeping domino pattern of food recalls by users of the ingredient. No
The move, confirmed in a story by the 
On average, food poisoning costs $1,850 per case nationwide, or $152 billion annually.
The January 27 letter arrived after the Georgia Department of Agriculture found 
A county press release says the virus currently affects 122 people ranging in age from Pre-Kindergarten to adult. Although lab tests have not yet confirmed norovirus, the illness and how it spread is consistent with a norovirus outbreak. .gif)
The two main pathogens targeted in the baseline study are .gif)
As of Friday, investigators had identified 184 individuals in 38 states infected by the same strain of 
According to a copy of a warning letter obtained by national food safety law firm .gif)
By Fred Pritzker.jpg)
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Steve Ingham, head of the division, said the evidence is "compelling'' linking the raw milk Campylobacter illnesses to the farm. All 35 individuals had consumed raw milk and 30 identified Zinniker Family Farm as the source.
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