Safety before Slaughter

Summary:

E. coli is one of the most common bacteria for food poisoning. About 76 million people get food poisoning each year in United State, out of which 1.4% is from E. coli 0157:H7. Beef contamination is one of the biggest E. coli contaminations. It is extremely challenging for the manufacturing companies to eliminate E. coli form beef. So far this year 40,000 pounds of beef has been recalled due to E. coli contamination. Last year about 2.7 million beef was recalled.

There is really big push by USDA to agriculture industries to lower rate of E. coli and other pathogens in the beef. The Agriculture industry has been trying new technologies and methods to eliminate E. coli. One of the commonly used techniques includes Carcass Steam Pasteurization, physical removal of E. coli by 180-degree spray, and Vinegar rinse. The industry is trying to eliminate E. coli before cattle are brought to the slaughter house, in the farm. Industry is looking forward 5 new methods which have not been approved by USDA yet.
1. Vaccines: Vaccines lower E. coli 0157:H7 in cattle’s gut. USDA has approved Epitopix and it is being tested in USA.
2. Phage: Phage is viruses that are harmless to humans and cattle. Phages bind to specific receptors on E. coli and kill E. coli. Phage using is not new to Agriculture industry; there are phages that are sprayed on tomatoes and peppers to kill spotting bacteria.
3. Probiotics: It is a culture of bacteria, like in yogurt, that are mixed with cattle food. These bacteria are harmless to cattle and out compete with E. coli.
4. Sodium Chlorate: Bacteria in cattle’s gut obtain energy form nitrogen since there is no oxygen provided. E. coli cannot differentiate between chlorate and nitrogen and sometime they use chlorate, if there is any chlorate present. This turns chlorate into bleach and kills E. coli from inside without harming the cattle.
5. Grain vs. high-quality hay: some slaughter house give high quality hay before slaughter to reduce the E. coli 0157:H7 rate. But the results have always been varying.
One of the biggest question is who could afford this? These new techniques are not cheap. And if eliminating E. coli cost more than manufacturing who would like to invest.

Are Your Dishes Clean?

Summary:

Next time you go to a restaurant you might want to think if the plates and utensils you’re using are clean or not. There are hundreds of restaurants closing everyday because they don’t meet health standards. E. coli and salmonella are two of the most type of bacteria outbreak seen in restaurants. One of the reason is dirty plates and utensils. Bacteria like to grow on dirty plates with cheeses, dried milk, eggs, and even lipstick. FDA recommends restaurants to follow three steps in washing dishes. First scrubbing dishes in soapy hot water at temperature 110 degree Fahrenheit. Followed by rinsing with clean water . And then soaking in sanitizer. Ohio State University has done an experiment to see effect of washing dishes with cold water instead of hot water. In their study students have coated dishes with chesses, dried milk, jelly, eggs, and lipstick. And they also contaminated dished with E. coli and Listeria innocua, common bacteria in food-borne diseases in restaurant. Dishes were washed at room temperature water, cold water, and hot water. All three methods met the FDA- acceptable results. But sometimes it all depends on type of utensils, what type of sanitizers is used, or how long utensils have been scrubbed.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2007/

Why Is It So Difficult to Eradicate Salmonella?

Salmonella is one of the most common bacteria that cause serious illness all around the world each year. Salmonella is mostly live in the intestinal tracts of humans and other animals, including birds. Salmonella are usually transmitted to humans by eating foods contaminated with animal feces. Foods contaminated with Salmonella are mostly animal origin like beef, poultry, milk, or eggs and even some types of vegetables. Cooking usually kill the Salmonella, but they can also be founded on hand if you don’t wash your hand properly before cooking. Salmonella can also be founded in pet feces. There are many different kinds of Salmonella bacteria. Salmonella serotype typhimurium and Salmonella serotype enteritidis are the most common in the United States.
In this article Dr. Lene Karine provide the solution for many food industries’s major problem. There are some Salmonella that can manage to establish themselves in the food and fish factories. And it is very difficult to get rid of them. Dr. Karine have discovered that Biofilm help salmonella to survive longer in the factory. She says that in order to get rid of those Salmonella is to get rid of Biofilm. Biofilm, in Salmonella, have slime layer which help them protect and produce themselves. One company has studied the effect of nine most commonly used disinfectants on Salmonella. Only a product containing 70% ethanol was the most efficient.
There have been so many techniques developed over the years it fight Salmonella, none of them were efficient. Maybe getting rid of Biofilm would be the key to develop technique to fight Salmonella, but till then we would always have to be careful in what we eat and touch.

Bacterial meningitis kills two Oklahoma students

Summary:
There has been report of six possible cases of bacterial meningitis in rural Oklahoma. Bacterial meningitis is caused by Neisseria meningitidis Bacteria. Meningitis is an inflammation of the membranes covering the brain and spinal cord. People with meningitis have fever, intense headache, nausea, vomiting and a stiff neck. Bacterial meningitis are contagious, it spread through coughing, kissing, and sneezing. Two children from Oologah-Talala public school district have died from meningitis. Oologah is located around 30 miles northeast of Tulsa. The school district taking caution, school has been cancelled for Friday. More than 100 people including faculty have been screened for meningitis and Oklahoma health department is providing antibiotics to students and faculty members.

Personal Response:
The reason why I chose this article is to let people know that meningitis is a contagious disease. Meningitis could spread by sneezing, coughing, or kissing person who have this disease. So we should always make sure to wash or hand after seeing sick person.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/03/11/oklahoma.meningitis.death/index.html?iref=allsearch

Study raises hope for gut disease cures

Summary:

Recent study might have found the cure for gut diseases like ulcer, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and, Crohn’s. About 100 researchers have worked over two years, identifying bacteria living in intestine. Researchers have found 1,000 species of bacteria with 3.3 million distinct genes. Most of these bacteria has never been identified before. By studying function of these bacteria will help understand how they’re related to disease. They research was carried out on 124 adults from Denmark and Spain: some healthy, some obese or suffering from IBD. These bacteria share a sizeable denominator if intestinal flora. Some microbes are helpful to health: help to break down indigestible foods, activate our immune system, and produce vitamins. But this recent study point that these bacteria do play some role in obesity, heart disease, and intestinal disorders.

Personal Response:

I had some idea about bacteria living in our intestine but, I never knew or thought it could be so many. It’s good that these bacteria help us in some way. But hopefully this new discovery will help us cure ailments like ulcers and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

http://inform.com/science-and-technology/study-raises-hope-gut-disease-cures-862119a

"Myactivity Pyramid for Adult."

Summary:

In “Myactivity Pyramid for Adult,” the authors describe the myactivity pyramid. The pyramid is based on the U.S Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) MyPyramid for health eating. Everyone knows the benefits of the physical activity, but most Americans do not meet the minimum recommendation. The MyActivity Pyramid is a new tool adults (18-64) can use to meet the necessary amounts and verity of activity. The MyActivity Pyramid is divided into four categories: Lifestyle, Aerobic Activity, Strength and Flexibility, and inactivity. Lifestyle activities are at the base of the pyramid, and it also represents the largest area. Next are aerobic Activities, which include things like jogging, swimming, brisk walking. It is also necessary to have some flexibility and strength, which is next part of the pyramid. These decreases risk of back pain and also reduce risk of injury. And at the top is inactivity, which counts for only about 3%.

Personal Response:

The pyramid sounds like nothing new. Many people have come up with things like this, but we haven’t seen any changes. If we really want to help then we have to come up with something that would make people realize about why they need physical activities. First they have to understand the risk and health problem associated with not being physically active, and then if we teach them about this pyramid then we could see some change.