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Health news keeps you up to date with what's going on in the food
industry.
You should scan through these articles, they are full of important facts
that we should all be aware of.
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Tom Dowling, a six-year-old schoolboy left permanently brain-damaged
after a school visit to a farm and contracting E. coli O157 is,
according to a statement in the High Court cited in this story, likely
to receive "several million pounds" in damages.
The story says that the boy narrowly escaped death after the
bacterium attacked his kidneys and brain and sent him into a 12-day
coma. The farm and Barnet Borough Council both admitted they were 95
per cent responsible for the youngster's condition. Tom's mother,
Tracy, was awarded an interim payment of £200,000 until the Court
decides the full extent of the damages due. The family's solicitor,
Jill Greenfield, was cited as saying the terms had been "very
favourable" and Tom's parents John and Tracy Dowling could expect
an interim payment. In the long-term, between £1.5 million and £2.5
million in damages could be awarded to provide life-time care for Tom.
Ms Greenfield was quoted as saying, "It will be the first case
involving E.coli where a judgement has been obtained. It will be very
important. There are other children who have gone to farms and ended
up suffering to a greater or lesser extent than Tom and no cases have
been brought."
Ms Greenfield was further cited as saying that the purpose of the
present hearing was to establish liability from Bowman's Farms Ltd and
Barnet Council. Tom, who can now only communicate by blinking, was
infected with the E.coli bacteria while on an organised trip to the
farm from London's Edgware Infants' School. He stayed in hospital for
three months and spent a further 18 months in a rehabilitation unit.
Food safety authorities say, according to this story, that
record-breaking numbers of consumers canned food at home for the first
time last year because they feared the new millennium could begin with
a power failure, ruining food in freezers and refrigerators. But food
experts were cited as saying, novice canners may not have followed the
strict procedures‹especially the high temperatures‹ necessary to
kill the pathogens in foods, and they could become ill or die if they
eat the contaminated food. Low-acid foods, including most vegetables,
must be processed at 240 degrees to kill the C. botulinum bacterium
that causes botulism. Experts say novice canners not sure they reached
the necessary temperatures in the process should be warned about
eating any of their preserved foods.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The American Association of Pharmaceutical
Scientists (AAPS) today applauded FDA's announcement to expand
tracking of serious reactions to herbs, vitamins and other dietary
supplements and to set new manufacturing standards for the $13 billion
nutraceutical industry. "AAPS supports FDA's plans to expand its
tracking efforts and calls Congress to provide the FDA with the
funding required to carry out these tasks," said AAPS President
Richard F. Bergstrom, Ph.D. On Dec. 16, 1999, the association formed
the AAPS Dietary Supplement Advisory Board to foster the interchange
of scientific knowledge relevant to the benefits, risks,
standardization and quality of nutraceuticals. Chaired by Immediate
Past-President Larry L. Augsburger, Ph.D., the board has broad
representation with participating groups that include: the American
Pharmaceutical Association's Academy of Pharmaceutical Research and
Science; the American Nutraceutical Association; the Council for
Responsible Nutrition; the Joint Institute of Food Safety and
Nutrition; the United States Pharmacopeial Convention, Inc.; FDA's
Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition; the Consumer &
Health Care Products Association; the American Herbal Products
Association; and others from industry and academia. The board's first
project is to hold the AAPS Dietary Supplements Forum on June 28-30,
2000, at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC, to explore the
science of nutraceuticals. The forum will bring together nutraceutical
companies, government agencies such as the FDA and NIH, scientific
associations, experts in the field, and the general public to discuss
the safety, efficacy, purity, quality control and standardization of
dietary supplements. The public is welcome to attend this forum.
A food safety education program funded by the beef checkoff has
reached as many as 2 million consumers with information on the safe
handling of food.
Designed to reach parents through their preschool children, the
program provided almost 50,000 "Keeping BAC Away"
information packets to rural, suburban and urban child care centers
throughout the United States. Program recipients at child care centers
responded favorably to the materials. About 95 percent of respondents
said they had used the handout tear pad, and 99 percent said they had
used at least one part of the kit. About 97 percent of those
responding said they would use the kit again and 94 percent said they
would recommend it to another child care center. The "Fight BAC"
program, which stands for "fight bacteria," was established
in 1998 by the Partnership for Food Safety Education, a collaborative
effort between industry (including the National Cattlemen's Beef
Association), government and consumer groups. Its goal is to reduce
the incidence of foodborne illness by educating Americans about safe
food handling practices. Among the components of the
recently-distributed kits were a tear pad with information sheets to
be shared with parents, a poster, a news article and letter to
parents. The tear sheets included important information on how
consumers could reduce the incidence of foodborne illnesses through
simple steps of cleaning surfaces and properly separating, cooking and
chilling foods.
Specific information on beef made the program particularly helpful
to parents of young children. Additional checkoff-funded materials
were offered to interested parents. "Most foodborne illnesses are
a result of poor sanitation, handling or preparation practices by
consumers or food preparers," according to Trudy Carey, a beef
producer from Brandon, Fla., and chair of the beef industry's
Education Subcommittee. "We need to do everything we can to make
sure consumers know what to do when it comes to food safety."
Carey says the beef industry not only has an excellent track record
when it comes to the production of safe beef, it is committed to
assuring a safe product all the way to consumption. Part of that
process, she says, involves consumer education. The checkoff has
supported food safety consumer education efforts through the years.
The recent kit mailing followed a similar mailing in 1998 to more than
22,000 suburban and urban child care centers. The response to that
mailing also was excellent, with 97 percent saying they made use of
the tearpads. Combined, the 1998 and 1999 mailings reached most of the
registered child care centers in the United States.
Food safety education programs are funded by the national beef
checkoff, which is administered by the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and
Research Board (Beef Board). This 111-member board is appointed by the
Secretary of Agriculture to oversee the collection of the $1-per-head
checkoff, certify state beef councils, implement the provisions of the
Federal Order establishing the checkoff and evaluate the effectiveness
of checkoff programs. Under a contract with the Beef Board, this beef
checkoff-funded effort is conducted by the National Cattlemen's Beef
Association (NCBA), a trade association of America's cattle ranchers
and farmers, and the marketing organization for the largest segment of
the nation's food and fiber industry. NCBA is producer-directed but
consumer-focused, with offices in Denver, Chicago and Washington, D.C.
Reason: The product is contaminated with ammonia.
Distribution: ID, OR and WA
Reason: Product may contain pieces of wood.
Distribution: KS and MO
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