prepackaged sandwichesWe’ve got beef with these bad ’wiches.Spooked by the half-billion salmonella-tainted eggs floating around the United States, some consumers might be tempted to skip the egg salad and opt instead for a "deli sandwich."
But that could be a painful mistake, especially for Walmart shoppers. Get this, from the USDA's meat-industry watchdog, the Food Safety and Inspection Services:
Zemco Industries, a Buffalo, N.Y., establishment, is recalling approximately 380,000 pounds of deli meat products that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes.
Yikes. And what, pray tell, is "Listeria monocytogenes"? According to FSIS, "listeriosis can cause high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness, and nausea." Worse still, it can also cause miscarriages and stillbirths, as well as "serious and sometimes fatal infections in those with weakened immune systems, such as infants, the elderly and persons with HIV infection or undergoing chemotherapy."
And where did this massive cache of dangerous luncheon meat end up? "The products were distributed nationwide to a single retail chain," the FSIS press release states demurely, too polite to call out retail mammoth Walmart, the largest seller of groceries in the United States. It also refrained from fingering Tyson Foods, the globe's second-largest meat company, as the ultimate source of the bad meat. Tyson, it turns out, owns Zemco Industries.
You'd never know it from the USDA's meat-industry watchdog, but this massive recall amounts to a joint venture between two of the largest players in the global food system.
2) Walmart is claiming that the bad sandwiches "have a sell by date of August 25, 2010 or before." But the FSIS press release states that "the meat products were produced on various dates from June 18 to July 2, 2010, and have various 'Use By' dates ranging from August 20 to September 10, 2010."
Why the discrepancy? And was it the sandwiches that were made between June 18 and July 2, or the lunch meats? It would be pretty gross if sandwiches made July 2 had a use-by date of Sept. 10, no?

http://www.newswithviews.com/Richards/byron7.htm
Excerpt:
FDA APPROVES VIRAL ADULTERATION OF OUR FOOD SUPPLY


By Byron J. Richards, CCN
August 24, 2006
NewsWithViews.com
On Friday, August 18, 2006, the FDA approved a viral cocktail to be sprayed on foods we eat. This is the first time viruses have been approved for use as food additives. The FDA wants you to believe it will be safe to consume these viruses every day for the rest of your life with no adverse health effects. This is a monumental announcement by the FDA, indicating they are throwing all caution to the wind regarding the safety of our food supply.
Are you willing to stand in line for a virus-laden sandwich? How do you like the idea of buying virus-infested food for your family? The first virally contaminated foods entering our food supply with the blessings of the FDA will be luncheon meat and poultry. Live viruses will be sprayed on foods such as cold cuts, sausages, hot dogs, sliced turkey, and chicken.
Excerpt:
The approved mix of six viruses is intended to be sprayed onto ready-to-eat meat and poultry products, including sliced ham and turkey, said John Vazzana, the president and chief executive of Intralytix, which developed the additive.

Excerpt:
Torrey C. Brown, M.D. Chairman of the Board Intralytix, Inc.
"Dr. Brown was among the founders of Intralytix and is currently the Chairman of the Board. Founded in 1998, Intralytix, Inc. has become the world's leader developing and commercializing bacteriophage.
"Dr. Brown received his BA from Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL, in 1957, and his M.D. degree from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, in 1961. From 1961 through 1966, Dr. Brown trained in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital and served on the faculty until 1983. He served as the Assistant Dean of the medical school and Vice President of Johns Hopkins Hospital.
"Dr. Brown is a former CEO and current chair of Family Health International, a well known, not-for-profit contract research organization that provides expertise in the design and management of clinical studies for FDA approval internationally.
"Dr. Brown was an elected Delegate to the Maryland Legislature from 1970 to 1982 and served as the Chairman of the House of Delegates, Environmental Matters Committee.
"From 1983-1995 Dr. Brown was Secretary of the Department of Natural Resources for the State of Maryland. During his tenure as Secretary in Governor Hughes' Administration, Dr. Brown helped establish the Chesapeake Bay Trust and currently serves on its Board of Trustees." [1]
---------------------------------------------
Tyson Foods / Tyson Deli
Zemco Industries, Inc.
(*Russer Foods (716) 826-6400)
665 Perry Street
Buffalo, NY 14210
(716) 566-3150
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Excerpt:

Excerpt
Nat Protoc. 2009;4(6):799-810.

Modeling human listeriosis in natural and genetically engineered animals.

Disson O, Nikitas G, Grayo S, Dussurget O, Cossart P, Lecuit M.

Source

Institut Pasteur, Microbes and Host Barriers, Paris, France.

Abstract

Listeria monocytogenes causes listeriosis, a human foodborne infection leading to gastroenteritis, meningoencephalitis and maternofetal infections. InlA and InlB, two L. monocytogenes surface proteins, interact with their respective receptors E-cadherin and Met and mediate bacterial entry into human cultured cells. Here, we present protocols for studying listeriosis in three complementary animal models: (i) the human E-cadherin (hEcad) transgenic mouse line; (ii) the knock-in E16P mouse line; and (iii) the gerbil, in which both InlA-E-cadherin and InlB-Met species-specific interactions occur as in humans. Two routes of infection are described: oral inoculation, the natural route for infection; and intravenous inoculation that bypasses the intestinal barrier. We describe how to monitor L. monocytogenes infection, both qualitatively by imaging techniques and quantitatively by bacterial enumeration. The advantage of these methods over the classical intravenous inoculation of L. monocytogenes in wild-type mice (in which the InlA-E-cadherin interaction does not occur) is that it allows the pathophysiology of listeriosis to be studied in animal models relevant to humans, as they are permissive to the interactions that are thought to mediate L. monocytogenes crossing of human host barriers. The whole procedure (inoculation, in vivo imaging, bacterial enumeration, histopathology) takes one full week to complete, including 3 d of actual experiments.

Excerpt:
Scientists Discover Potential New Way to Control Drug-Resistant Bacteria
Based on an improved understanding of bacteriophages - viruses that infect bacteria - scientists reporting in the Sept. 23 issue of the journal Nature believe they have discovered a potential new way to control drug-resistant bacteria, an increasingly worrisome public health problem.
The new research, funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, found that bacteriophages contain genes that allow them to quickly change their proteins to bind to different cell receptors. The researchers, who encountered this genetic property while working on an unrelated project, believe that this discovery could lead to the use of genetically engineered phages to treat bacterial infections that have become resistant to antibiotics.

Excerpt:
September 16
September 19
Excerpt:

HEALTH HAZARD ALERT

CERTAIN CANTALOUPES PURCHASED AT FOOD BASICS STORE LOCATED ON SHEPPARD AVE EAST, NORTH YORK, ONTARIO MAY CONTAIN SALMONELLA BACTERIA

OTTAWA, September 19, 2011 – The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Metro Ontario Inc. are warning the public not to consume the cantaloupes described below because these cantaloupes may be contaminated with Salmonella.
The affected cantaloupes were sold unwrapped. There is no lot code sticker, UPC or product name on the individual cantaloupes.
The cantaloupes were sold from Food Basics, located at 2452 Sheppard Ave. E., North York, Ontario on September 12, 2011.
There have been no reported illnesses associated with the consumption of this product.
Food contaminated with Salmonella may not look or smell spoiled. Consumption of food contaminated with these bacteria may cause salmonellosis, a food borne illness. In young children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems, salmonellosis may cause serious and sometimes deadly infections. In otherwise healthy people, salmonellosis may cause short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhoea. Long-term complications may include severe arthritis.
The retailer, Metro Ontario Inc., Etobicoke, Ontario, is voluntarily recalling the affected product from the marketplace. The CFIA is monitoring the effectiveness of the recall.
For more information consumers and industry can call the CFIA at 1-800-442-2342 / TTY 1-800-465-7735 (8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday to Friday).
For information on Salmonella, visit the Food Facts web page at: http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/fssa/concen/cause/salmonellae.shtml.
For information on all food recalls, visit the CFIA’s Food Recall Report at: http://active.inspection.gc.ca/eng/corp/recarapp_dbe.asp.
To find out more about receiving recalls by e-mail, and other food safety facts, visit: www.foodsafety.gc.ca. Food and consumer product recalls are also available at http://www.healthycanadians.gc.ca.
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Media enquiries:
CFIA Media Relations
613-773-6600

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Ford,_Colorado
Excerpt:
Agriculture
Rocky Ford is noted for its cantaloupes and watermelons. Most of the Rocky Mountain region and the United States receives melon seeds from here.[citation needed] Rocky Ford recently gained international attention with U.S. President Barack Obama's public endorsement of their melons.[citation needed]