Month: February 2003

Foodborne Illnesses from Fruits and Vegetables on the Rise

While foodborne illnesses such as E. coli are usually associated with meat eating, the American Phytopathological Society reports that the incidence of foodborne disease related to fruit and vegetable consumption is on the rise.

According to the plant pathologist J.W. Buck, the annual number of produce-related food disease outbreaks doubled between 1973-1987 and 1988-1992 and continue to rise. The outbreaks include,

Pathogen Product
Aeromonas alfalfa sprouts, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, lettuce, pepper, spinach
Bacillus cereus alfalfa sprouts, cress sprouts, cucumbers, mustard sprouts, soybean sprouts
Campylobacter jejuni green onions, lettuce, mushroom, potato, parsley, pepper, spinach
Clostridium botulinum cabbage, mushrooms, pepper
E. coli O157:H7 alfalfa sprouts, apple juice, cabbage, celery, cilantro, coriander, cress sprouts, lettuce
Listeria monocytogenes bean sprouts, cabbage, chicory, cucumber, eggplant, lettuce, mushrooms, potatoes, radish, salad vegetables, tomato
Salmonella alfalfa sprouts, artichokes, beet leaves, celery, cabbage, cantaloupe, cauliflower,
chili, cilantro, eggplant, endive, fennel, green onions, lettuce, mungbean
sprouts, mustard cress, orange juice, parsley, pepper, salad greens,
spinach, strawberries, tomato, watermelon
Shigella celery, cantaloupe, lettuce, parsley, scallions
Staphylococcus alfalfa sprouts, carrot, lettuce, onions sprouts, parsley, radish
Vibrio cholerae cabbage, coconut milk, lettuce

Among the large outbreaks, an E. coli outbreak in Japan in 1996 affected 4,000 school children and killed four. The source of the outbreak was traced back to radishes. In the United States 1995-1998 saw nine separate outbreaks of Salmonella or E. coli traced back to contaminated sprouts.

Why the increase? Part of the reason is due to good news on the nutrition front — people are simply eating more fruits and vegetables. From 1988 to 1996, per capita consumption of fruits and vegetables in the United States increased by 20 pounds. With the increase in consumption, the amount of fruits and vegetables imported from abroad has increased while methods of storage and processing have changed as well.

Unfortunately, according to the American Phytopathological Society, while there is an apparatus in place to inspect meat and reduce the risk of foodborne pathogens, there is no parallel system in place for inspecting fruits and vegetables.

Sources:

More people are getting sick from eating fresh fruits. American Phytopathological Society, Press Release, January 27, 2003.

Recent Trends in Microbiological Safety of Fruits and Vegetables. J.W. Buck, R.R. Walcott, L. R. Beuchat, Plant Health Progress, Jan./Feb. 2003.

Charges Dropped Against Hunt Supporter

Back in November, I wrote briefly about the case of Daily Telegraph columnist and hunt supporter Robin Page. Page gave a speech saying, among other things, that the minority of rural folk in Great Britain should be accorded the same rights as Jews, Muslims and other minority groups.

The British government responded by arresting Page and charging him with stirring up racial hatred, even though the Prince of Wales himself had made a similar argument in a letter obtained by The Telegraph.

In January, police determined they had insufficient evidence to prosecute Page and dropped all charges against him. Page told The Daily Telegraph that he is exploring legal action against police for defamation and unlawful detention.

Source:

Race claim against Telegraph man dropped. Sally Pook, The Daily Telegraph, January 21, 2003.

More on Shuttle Foam Damage from STS-87

This NASA page has notes by a NASA worker from 1997 about the “significant damage” done to STS-87 from the reformulated, Freon-free foam insulation flaking off during the Shuttle’s ascent (emphasis added),

During the STS-87 mission, there was a change made on the external tank. Because of NASA’s goal to use environmentally friendly products, a new method of “foaming” the external tank had been used for this mission and the STS-86 mission. It is suspected that large amounts of foam separated from the external tank and impacted the orbiter. This caused significant damage to the protective tiles of the orbiter. Foam cause damage to a ceramic tile?! That seems unlikly, however, when that foam is combined with a flight velocity between speeds of MACH two to MACH four, it becomes a projectile with incredible damage potential. The big question? At what phase of the flight did it happen and what changes need to be made to correct this for future missions? I will explain the entire process.

And intriguing comments about similar issues during STS-86,

The STS-86 mission revealed a similar damage pattern but to a much lesser degree than STS-87. The STS-86 tile damage was accepted ruled as an unexplained anomaly because it was a night launch and did not provide the opportunity for the photographic evidence the STS-87 mission did. A review of the records of the STS-86 records revealed that a change to the type of foam was used on the external tank. This event is significant because the pattern of damage on this flight was similar to STS-87 but to a much lesser degree. The reason for the change in the type of foam is due to the desire of NASA to use “environmentally friendly” materials in the space program. Freon was used in the production of the previous foam. This method was eliminated in favor of foam that did not require freon for its production. MSFC is investigating the consideration that some characteristics of the new foam may not be known for the ascent environment.