All posts tagged "Foodsafety"

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Tom Hauge, a veteran wildlife biologist in Wisconsin, was told 21 years ago that a deadly disease had shown up in deer that roamed across the state’s southwest corner. He knew what that meant. Chronic wasting disease one day could spread across Wisconsin and deplete the deer population that had made his state well known as a rich hunting ground. It could even threaten human health. But as Hauge, one of Wisconsin’s top wildlife officials at the time, sought to control the spread, he was blocked by deer hunters and politicians who didn’t want interference with the state’s huntin......

PEORIA, Ill. -- Tracy Pinkham remembers all of it: The way the onions looked slimy and how she woke the next morning with a dry mouth and blurry vision that got worse as the day went on. Her head falling to her shoulders as her husband drove to a walk-in clinic that diagnosed her with an inner-ear infection and sent her home. The crowded emergency room. The doctor who scoured his medical textbook for answers. The two months on a breathing machine, paralyzed. The nightmares. The decades of muscle weakness that never seemed to get better despite physical therapy. “I used to joke that I died and ......

LORIMOR, Iowa — Babe the goat is trendier than she looks. Babe lives a quiet life on a hillside farm in southern Iowa, where she grazes on grass with a small herd of fellow goats. Her owner, Stacy Wistock, milks her twice a day. Wistock takes precautions to keep the milk clean, but she rarely pasteurizes it. Until recently, she gave it away to family and friends. Now, she’ll make a little money off it. Iowa legislators decided this spring to join dozens of other states in allowing small producers to sell unpasteurized milk from cows, goats, and sheep. Public health authorities and major dairy ......

Wendy’s lettuce is believed to be the source of a multi-state E. coli outbreak that’s left dozens sick across four states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. People in Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania reported having consumed sandwiches with romaine lettuce at the fast food chain before falling ill, according to a notice published by the agency Friday. Wendy’s, as a result, “is taking the precautionary measure of removing the romaine lettuce being used in sandwiches from restaurants in that region,” with a different romaine lettuce already used in its salads. Wendy’s o......

CHICAGO — Avian flu has likely killed hundreds of double-crested cormorants nesting at Baker’s Lake near Barrington. Wildlife biologist Chris Anchor said this is the largest outbreak of disease in wild birds he’s seen in Cook County. “I’ve never seen anything like this since I started working here 41 years ago,” said Anchor, of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. “Chances are this is happening in other places, and we’re not aware of it because no one is looking.” The outbreak, which affects wild, backyard and commercial bird populations, was likely caused by the same highly infectious......

A strain of the avian flu that forced the killing of some 370,000 chickens and turkeys in North Carolina has prompted the state to halt all poultry shows and public sales. The N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services announced the suspensions Tuesday afternoon. They include farm tours, exhibitions, swaps and flea and farm markets, among other events. The culprit is lethal High Path Avian Influenza. Poultry farmers have worked to keep the virusout of their barns since February by limiting who enters, sanitizing vehicles, even requiring workers to change footwear and clothes. “We do ......