Tag Archives: Barf

Who needs to be barfing because of raw eggs? Powell’s approach to raw egg dishes

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CNBC reports that experts have some simple advice when it comes to eating runny eggs these days: Run away.

With salmonella concerns triggering the recall of more than a half-billion eggs in more than a dozen states, warnings are becoming more dire every day against eating undercooked yolks and translucent egg whites.

But what’s a home cook to do, especially when hit by cravings for eggs Benedict, pasta carbonara, homemade Caesar dressing or other dishes that call for raw or only slightly cooked eggs?

Drinking raw eggs for a protein boost? Even worse idea, given the risk of salmonella and its violent nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and temporary residency in the bathroom.

"We’ve got enough issues. Who needs to be barfing because of raw eggs?" asked Douglas Powell, an associate professor of food safety at Kansas State University and author of BarfBlog.com, which highlights food-handling problems in the news and in popular culture.

He advises cooks to use a food thermometer in their frittatas, quiches and other egg dishes — and, in fact, when preparing meat or anything that poses dangers when undercooked.

Paul Stern, who cooks for the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, an Ashford, Conn., camp for seriously ill children, many with compromised immune systems, said this year, the camp switched (before the recall) to pasteurized liquid egg product.

"I wouldn’t be consuming or serving raw eggs any more than I’d be eating or serving raw chicken."
 

Glamazon Aussie model says I’m skinny because I barfed

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The Aussies have a way with words, as the Herald Sun proclaims this morning that Miss Universe 2004 and “glamazon Jennifer Hawkins has revealed a bout of food poisoning was the cause of her extra-skinny appearance at the Myer Summer Collection launch this month.”

Hawkins has told New Idea magazine she dropped weight quickly after falling ill while on holidays with her boyfriend, Jake Wall, adding,

"I had a severe case of food poisoning while I was in Europe recently and it took its toll on me. I knew I was smaller than usual, but there was nothing I could do. I ate lots of healthy food before the parade and my mum even came to Sydney to cook Jake and me a yummy meal. I do maintain a healthy lifestyle and love to exercise and eat well, but things like getting sick happen. I am only human."

Food safety surveys still suck; someone’s making money off crap

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In the latest ridiculously expensive survey of Canadians, 77 per cent of Canadians said they were either "very" or "somewhat" concerned with the safety of the food they eat, up from 66 per cent in 2007,

The Ipsos Reid poll conducted for Postmedia News found 87 per cent agree that they trust food that comes from Canada more than food that comes from abroad, with 85 per cent of respondents saying they make an effort to buy locally-grown and produced food.

So, Canadians trust Maple Leaf and their listeria-laden cold cuts more than stuff from other places?

Debbie Field, executive director of the Toronto-based food advocacy group FoodShare, said,

"Even though it seems silly and a bit utopian to imagine small producers being safer, what people like me believe is that it’s true. You’ll always have some problem, you’ll always have contamination, you’ll always have some airborne illness. But if it’s kept local, its impact is much smaller.”

The only way to verify such claims is to assess

Barfing, Berkeley and Brisbane

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As director Kevin Smith would say, Brisbane, Australia, I’m inside you.
(Smith was inside Sydney last week as part of his touring standup Q&A sessions that get turned into fairly entertaining movies.)

Other than torturing Sorenne for 36 hours of transportation from Manhattan to Brisbane, the only excitement was the ‘Do Not Spit Here’ sign on the garbage can in the Auckland airport, also available in what looked like Chinese and Korean.

But there was a good food-related barf story out of Berkeley, Calif.
Julie R. Smith writes in The Berkeley Independent that she used to sneer at germs, but is now plagued with the “social food” problem, when you’re faced with food that has not been prepared in a state-licensed restaurant with a sanitation rating of A+. Unless I’ve actually watched you crack the eggs or cook the meat (and preferably inserted the thermometer myself), forget it. I’m a nervous wreck.

In 2007 I started throwing up at work, which led to throwing up in the parking lot, which became throwing up in my car (a co-worker was driving, thank God), which segued into throwing up all over the ER admittance desk.

After barfing on a nurse and two gurneys, the fun began: I started literally foaming at the mouth. Every time I retched, foam flew far and wide. My co-worker, a staff photographer who served in Viet Nam, was convinced I had rabies.

Two hours later, after shots and IVs and heated blankets, the ER doc announced that I appeared to have norovirus. “Nora who?” I asked fuzzily. …

A year ago, I returned from a trip to North Carolina feeling fine. At 1 a.m. I woke drenched in sweat, fell out of bed and threw up on the dog. Then the other end of my digestive system decided to join the party.

Five hours later I was again in the ER with dry heaves and a nifty potassium drip. The doctor asked if I’d eaten anything “that didn’t taste right.”

“Not really, but I pigged out all weekend,” I admitted. “Chicken, deviled eggs, pasta salad, fried fish, pie, baked potato with sour cream. Too much rich food, I guess.”

He shook his head. “When you eat something that doesn’t agree with you, you throw it up and life goes on,” he said. “This is food poisoning. You ate something that was contaminated.”

So there you have it: Norovirus and food poisoning. Life’s too short to spend it throwing up. Pass me the meat thermometer.

UK Food Standards Agency survives; new focus should help get the science right; piping hot is not a standard

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‘You won’t have Nixon to kick around any more.’

That’s what eventual U.S. President Richard Nixon said to the press after losing the election for Governor of California in 1962 (he became President in 1968).

“I leave you gentleman now and you will write it. You will interpret it. That’s your right. But as I leave you I want you to know — just think how much you’re going to be missing. You won’t have Nixon to kick around any more, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference and it will be one in which I have welcomed the opportunity to test wits with you.”

And just like Nixon, the U.K. Food Standards Agency has come back from the political backwaters with, what the government calls, “a renewed focus on food safety.”

The Government recognizes the important role of the Food Standards Agency in England, which will continue to be responsible for food safety. The Food Standards Agency will remain a non-ministerial department reporting to Parliament through Health ministers.

In England, nutrition policy will become a responsibility of the Secretary of State for Health. Food labelling and food composition policy, where not related to food safety, will become a responsibility of the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

This is tremendous news for food safety types as it was clear the Agency was being distracted by trying to be everything to everybody. Issues surrounding salt, fat, genetic engineering, labeling and others are largely lifestyle choices – they are not food safety issues, the things that make people barf.

Although the U.K. Department of Health needs new communications types when they begin a press release with,

“Public confidence in food safety issues will be protected, as the Government confirmed its intention to retain the Food Standards Agency (FSA) with a renewed focus on food safety.”

Public confidence is earned, not protected by a bureaucratic shuffling of the chairs.

Now that FSA is clearly focused on food safety, can they get rid of their nonsensical cooking temperature advice – piping hot – and focus on some evidence that will lead to fewer people barfing.

Otherwise, like Nixon, you’ll be back, only to get kicked around.

Parents not liable if kids vomit in cab: German court

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Two years ago, flying home from Florida, I was sitting beside the one daughter who accompanied us and, as we landed, just like daddy sometimes, she hurled.

I was a pro, collected every drop in the barf bag, disembarked the plane and deposited the stuff in the first garbage can.

A month ago, 19-month-old Sorenne barfed all over Amy as she was getting ready for bed. I went in to help and immediately began barfing myself.

Who can account for these things?

A district court in Munich, Germany, ruled yesterday that parents should not be forced to foot the bill for cleaning costs if their child suddenly throws up in a taxi.

The ruling on the case of a couple whose nine-year-old daughter was sick in the back seat of a taxi after they had asked the driver to stop as the girl was unwell.

The driver demanded 190 euros (239 dollars) for cleaning as well as 800 euros to hire a replacement cab.

The presiding judge urged the parties to settle the case amicably, according to a press statement, saying it would be "sensible" for the parents to pay for the cab to be cleaned.

However, the parents of the nine-year-old refused.

The judge ruled that there is no "absolute liability" for children.

"If a child is sick in a taxi and therefore soils it, the parents are only liable if they knew their child was nauseous and still did nothing to prevent the damage," the court ruled.

Phoenix Suns coach loses lunch and game

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Last night was rough for Phoenix Suns coach Alvin Gentry, as his team lost at the buzzer to the L.A. Lakers in basketball’s western conference playoff game; and he vomited into a garbage can during the game, which he blamed on food poisoning – the chicken wrap or the fried guacamole.

I’m going with the guacamole. I still can’t touch the stuff after a girlfriend 25 years ago had a tragic guacamole vomiting incident – tragic in that it was everywhere, accompanied with the burning scent of garlic and avocado.

And is there anything Americans won’t deep-fry?

A colleague reports that after the game, one of the television dudes theorized the coach was likely targeted by some restaurant worker who was a Laker fan.

After hurling, Gentry stayed on the bench, had an IV treatment at halftime and later blamed his condition on fried food from a nearby eatery, adding,

"I was not going to leave the sidelines. I told someone it’s very similar to college. Once you get it out of the system, everything’s OK. It’s like a Friday night frat party, OK?" 

Barfing with the oldies on another British cruise

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The U.K. Mirror reports dozens of British holidaymakers on a Mediterranean cruise were yesterday confined to their cabins after norovirus swept through the ship.

Passengers aboard the Grand Princess liner started to become violently sick just moments after the boat set sail from Southampton.

More than 2,500 people are on board – and the number of people becoming ill was said to be growing by the hour.

Just two medics are aboard and they are having to run from cabin to cabin to treat the sick – many of whom are pensioners. Passengers David and Jackie Greenslade – who paid £3,500 for their trip – have been confined to cabin since Wednesday.

Sales manager David, 57, from Poole, Dorset, said,

"It was supposed to be a dream holiday but it’s turned into a nightmare. People are dropping like flies."