At pretty well every conference or meeting I went to in 2008 and 2009 I was given a reusable grocery bag. A decent registration gift to hold programs, promotional materials and goodies – that served some post-meeting utility as well. Not a bad replacement for the laptop bags that were ubiquitous in the five years before. Lately meeting organizers have been giving out aluminum water bottles, another usable item. We’ve collected 6 or 7 reusable grocery bags and they are now in rotation for our weekly shops. .jpg)
A couple of weeks ago a press release about a study looking at the handling and microbiological content of a select group of bags was released. What I wrote then was:
The study, when and if it is published will provide some nice baseline results on what people say they do, demonstrates the effect of washing, and doesn’t like some try to point out really say that plastic bags are any safer (there was no comparison) but there are a couple of things missing that could really have been useful. Two big questions still need to be answered:
– Generic E. coli is floating around in bags, recoverable in the Gerba study in 12 % of those tested, but can it be (or is it likely) to be transferred to any ready-to-eat foods, or somehow to food contact surfaces in the home?
– What effect does drying have on the bags, if at any? According to Gerba et al., washing works, no one reports doing it; but what about flipping them inside out and drying bags for a few days after use?
After that post, a local TV station called about the study and conclusions and wanted to know a bit more about potential risks what people could do in their homes to reduce the chance of foodborne illness. My tips were what we do in our house: Wrap raw meats in a secondary plastic bag to create a barrier and catch any dripping juices; washing our bags every couple of weeks to remove anything that might be floating around and dedicating a reusauable bag as the “meat bag” and washing it more often, usually after every shop.
Breast milk is for babies, not food porn.
Sharon Peters writes in today’s The USA Today 
owners every summer Sunday. Plastic kiddie pools are filled with water, tables are arranged to maximize romp-around room, and off-leash dogs frolic dog-park style, sniffing up each other (and the humans), sampling treats from the bags of doggie goodies presented free to each diner accompanied by a dog, and coaxing each other into splash-fests.
Some researchers from Canberra report in the current issue of 
The Arizona Daily Star reports that Wednesday night’s show was nearly sold out with about 8,800 tickets purchased. Organizers say the British rocker will perform Thursday night instead.
Worrall Thompson said
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They received 49 demerits when the health district came in, shutting them down. The inspection report noted no soap or paper towels near the sinks, shellfish stored unmarked in a plastic bag and dried-up, crusted food debris caking the slicer.
n a standard food porn piece, .jpg)
“This is not about currying favor, it is about developing a relationship. In this business, it’s about the handshake — looking them in the eye.” 
Powell, an associate professor of food safety, is the co-author of "Coverage of organic agriculture in North American newspapers: Media — linking food safety, the environment, human health and organic agriculture," just published in the British Food Journal.
"Food safety was the least important in the media discussion of organic agriculture," Powell said. "The finding that 50 percent of food safety-themed statements in news articles were positive with respect to organic agriculture, while 81 percent of health-themed statements and 90 percent of environment-themed statements were positive toward organic food, indicates an uncritical press."