2/25/15 Health News: Bionic hand controlled by mind ♦ Concerns over Canada’s food safety ♦ Hong Kong: Four kinds of food suspected ♦ The Spice trade scrutiny

Bionic hand controlled by mind  Three Austrian men have become the first in the world to undergo a new technique called "bionic reconstruction", enabling them to use a robotic prosthetic hand controlled by their mind, according to new research. All three men suffered for many years with poor hand function..Continue Reading

Concerns over Canada’s food safety  On February 13, 2015, Canada confirmed its 20th case of mad cow disease in a native-born animal. Although Canada obtained confirmation of this latest case on February 11, it withheld information regarding the age of the cow until February 18, 2015. As shown by the lifespan chart, at 71 months of age this beef cow is the sixth  Continue Reading

Hong Kong: Four kinds of food suspected of contain non-permitted colouring agent  The Centre for Food Safety urged the public not to consume four kinds of food manufactured by Mia Chung Co., LTD in Taiwan following a notification from the Taiwanese authorities that the products may contain Dimethyl yellow, a non-permitted colouring matter in food. Continue Reading

The Spice trade scrutiny undeclared nut protein in herbs and spices is a hot topic and a developing food safety problem. The issue first surfaced in the USA and Canada in December last year, when samples of cumin began testing positive for peanut protein, triggering a series of recalls.Continue Reading

Bacteria network for food  It is well-known that bacteria can support each others' growth and exchange nutrients. Scientists however, have now discovered a new way of how bacteria can achieve this nutritional exchange. They found that some bacteria can form nanotubular structures between single cells that enable a direct exchange of nutrients. Continue Reading

1/30/15 Health News:Norway's !,st case of mad cow disease ♦ School releases students unvaccinated for measles ♦.Lesson From Ice Cream Recall ♦ True Cost of Cheap Meat

Norway finds first case of mad cow disease, says food safe

Norway reported its first ever case of mad cow disease, saying the instance was an isolated one and telling consumers it was still safe to eat beef and drink milk. Tests at a British laboratory confirmed the disease, in a 15-year-old cow, which had been slaughtered, … continue reading

Calif. school releases students unvaccinated for measles.

Officials at Palm Desert High School in Palm Springs announced that 66 students were ordered to remain at home through February 9 unless they are able to confirm they received immunization or show proof of resistance to measles after a student was sent home January 26 due to a suspected case of the disease. Continue Reading

LESSON FROM WA ICE CREAM RECALL: DON’T LET IT HAPPEN TO YOU

No doubt about it, food recalls can be hell. “I’ve never been through anything like this before,” Barry Bettinger, co-owner of Snoqualmie Gourmet Ice Cream in Snohomish, WA,. Not only do you worry about the people who have become...Continue Reading

NW BOOK EXPLORES FOOD SAFETY AND THE TRUE COST OF CHEAP MEAT

Reading “The Chain: Farm, Factory and the Fate of Our Food,” a new book by Ted Genoways, one begins to wonder who is treated better: the millions of hogs consumed in America each year, or the people who work on the farms Continue Reading

Trust your gut: E. coli may hold one of the keys to treating Parkinson's

E. coli usually brings to mind food poisoning and beach closures, but researchers recently discovered a protein in E. coli that inhibits the accumulation of potentially toxic amyloids—a hallmark of diseases such as Parkinson's, scientists say Continue Reading

Beef Recalled to Avoid the Possibility of Mad Cow Disease

Fruitland American Meat, a Jackson, Mo. establishment is recalling approximately 4,012 pounds of fresh beef products because the dorsal root ganglia may not have been completely removed, which is not compliant with agency regulations that require their removal in cattle 30 months of age and older, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.

The products subject to recall include:

• 80-lb. cases containing two, roughly 40-lb. cryovac packages of bone-in “Rain Crow Ranch Ribeye” bearing the establishment number “EST. 2316” inside the USDA mark of inspection with the following production dates: 9/5/13, 9/10/13, 9/11/13, 9/26/13, 10/2/13, 10/3/2013, 11/8/13, 11/22/13, 12/17/13, 12/26/13, 12/27/13,1/16/14, 1/17/14, 1/23/14, 1/31/14, 2/13/14, 2/14/14, 2/21/14, 2/28/14, 3/8/14, 3/20/14, 4/4/14 or 4/25/14 printed on the box.
• Quartered beef carcasses stamped with the USDA mark of inspection and establishment number “EST. 2316.”   

The products were produced and packaged on various dates between September 2013 and April 2014. The bone-in rib eye roasts were the source material of concern.

Fruitland American Meat advises that the bone-in rib eye roasts were distributed to a restaurant in New York, NY, and a Whole Foods distribution center in Connecticut which services its stores in New England. The quartered carcasses were distributed to an FSIS-inspected establishment in Missouri for further processing and distribution, and to a restaurant in Kansas City, Mo. All products would have been processed into smaller cuts with no identifying consumer packaging. If you have purchased any beef you are unsure of contact your retailer to see if it was affected by the recall.

The problem was discovered by FSIS during a review of company slaughter logs. The problem may have occurred as a result of the way some company employees were recording information and determining the age of various cattle. Dorsal root ganglia, branches of the nervous system located in the vertebral column are considered specified risk materials (SRMs) and must be removed from cattle 30 months of age and older in accordance with FSIS regulations. SRMs are tissues that may contain the infective agent in cattle infected with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), as well as materials that are closely associated with these potentially infective tissues. Therefore, FSIS prohibits SRMs from use as human food to minimize potential human exposure to the BSE agent.

Every animal received ante-mortem inspection by an FSIS Public Health Veterinarian. This involves observing each animal at rest and in motion and there is no indication that any of the cattle slaughtered displayed any signs of BSE