February 2005

For Immediate Release:
January 27, 2005
Contact:
Chris Link 757-622-7382
Southern Pines, N.C. — PETA had hoped to place its brand-new billboard–showing a middle-aged couple next to the tagline “Meat Causes Cancer Ö Go Vegetarian”–in Southern Pines in time for the North Carolina Meat Processors Association Conference next week, but it was rejected by the area–s outdoor advertising company, despite the fact that the ad has been displayed in Baltimore, Houston, and Trenton, N.J. PETA wanted to remind residents that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Studies published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology, the International Journal of Cancer, the American Journal of Epidemiology, and many other medical periodicals provide evidence that eating meat increases a person–s risk of developing cancer and that a diet based on grains, fruits, and vegetables significantly decreases that risk. Consumption of meat and other animal products has also been linked to heart disease, strokes, obesity, and diabetes, as well as life-threatening bacterial infections such as salmonella, E. coli, and listeria. And of course, the best way to avoid contracting the human form of mad cow disease is to adopt a humane, environmentally friendly, healthful vegetarian diet.Continue Reading PETA Says Focus Should be on Preventing Life-Threatening Disease

Florida inspectors find listeria in package
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
BY AMANDA GERUT
Star-Ledger Staff
Perona Farms, a producer of smoked salmon, has instituted a voluntary recall of its signature cured fish because of potential bacteria contamination, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The Smoked Atlantic Salmon has been recalled from ShopRite, Price Chopper/Golub, Weis Markets, Earth Fare and Publix supermarket chains because the Florida Department of Agriculture and Markets found listeria organisms in a 4-ounce package during a random inspection, the FDA said.
Listeria can cause fatal infections in young children or the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems, according to the FDA. In healthy people, the bacteria can cause high fever, severe headaches, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea. In pregnant women, a listeria infection can cause miscarriages.Continue Reading Perona Farms recalls its smoked salmon

January 14, 2005
By Shyunti Das
Assistant Professor Trevor Phister spoke about food microbiology as part of the Dean Seminar Series Jan. 12 in the Living Arts Lounge. Phister joined Drexel University in 2004, and teaches microbiology in the College of Arts and Sciences.
In his lecture, titled “Studies in Food Microbiology from Foodborne Illness to Why Your Wine Smells like a Wet Dog”, he spoke about the subsets of food microbiology, including food safety, fermentations and biotechnology, as well as his own specific research interests.
Phister explained how pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes and Campylobacter jejuni cause foodborne illnesses in food such as cheese, cold cuts, vegetables and poutry.
Interaction between bacteria are often responsible for whether or not a bacteria survives in these food.Continue Reading Lecture explains fermentation

USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service released a report that found the interim final rule to reduce Listeria in ready-to-eat meat and poultry products is having a positive effect. The overall safety of these products has improved because establishments have strengthened their control procedures, increased testing, and taken additional steps to eliminate the pathogen, FSIS…

WASHINGTON – According to the Associated Press, a New York firm is recalling about 5,760 pounds of chicken products because of possible listeria contamination, the Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service said Monday.
Schreiber Processing Corp. of Maspeth has received no reports of illness, the recall said.
The products were produced on Aug. 10…

Jan. 05, 2005
By Harold Brubaker
Guy Giordano has no stomach for risking the future of the roast beef company that bears his father’s name.
That’s why Vincent Giordano Corp. spent $2 million on a packaging system to ensure that no listeria contaminates the more than 250,000 pounds of roast beef, corned beef and pastrami that the South Philadelphia company ships weekly to Acme, Wawa and other customers.
“I don’t think anybody else has safer product on the street right now,” Giordano said yesterday.
Several other area meat processors, including Dietz & Watson Inc. in Philadelphia and Snow Ball Foods L.L.C. in Gloucester County, have also spent millions in the last few years to improve food safety at their plants.
Many of the changes were spurred by a U.S. Department of Agriculture regulation issued in 2003 to prevent the contamination of pre-cooked meat and poultry by listeria monocytogenes, an often lethal strain of a common bacteria. Yesterday, though, the Consumer Federation of America said government and industry had not done enough, arguing in a 41-page report that the Bush administration weakened the proposed listeria regulation, which was published in the final days of the Clinton administration.Continue Reading Keeping Meat Safe for the Table

Consumer group: Politics impacted listeria protections
By Jon BonnÈ
MSNBC
Jan. 5, 2005
The meat industry’s lobbying and close ties to the Bush administration helped prevent more stringent food-safety rules that guard against listeria from being enacted, a consumer group charged Tuesday.
The Consumer Federation of America claims that lobbying of Department of Agriculture officials by manufacturers of ready-to-eat products like hot dogs and deli meats resulted in a significant weakening of proposed rules intended to keep Americans safe from the potentially deadly bacteria.
“The Bush administration has quietly abandoned the goal of reducing the listeria rate,” said Carol Tucker Foreman, director of the federation’s Food Policy Institute and one of the report’s authors.
Listeria monocytogenes, a naturally occurring pathogen, can be found in meat, fish and dairy products, as well as refrigerators and storage spaces.Continue Reading Meat firms accused of weakening food rules

Wed, Jan 05, 2005
By LIBBY QUAID, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON – Listeria food poisoning increased slightly in 2003, according to a consumer group that said the Bush administration stalled and then changed regulations aimed at curbing the sometimes deadly infection.
Citing data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (news – web sites), the Consumer Federation of America said there were 3.3 cases for every 1 million people in 2003, compared with 2.7 cases per million in 2002. Data for 2004 are not yet available.
“The Bush administration’s USDA, while arguing that its actions are based on sound science, actually has developed rules based on sympathetic science, science that’s driven by industry convenience and political influence,” Carol Tucker Foreman, the author of the consumer group’s report, told reporters Tuesday.
Foreman said she was not asserting a link between the Agriculture Department’s approach and the 2003 increase in food poisoning cases. “I’m just saying that the two events occurred together,” she said.
Government and industry officials said the report ignores other government data showing that meat and poultry products are safer. In 2003, tests turned up 25 percent fewer cases of listeria contamination, and recalls dropped to 14 from 40 the previous year.Continue Reading Listeria Food Poisoning Cases Rose in ’03

The San Fransisco Chronicle
Sunday, January 2, 2005
Food and Drug Administration
— Greek Foods & Gifts Direct Inc. of New Jersey is recalling 387 cases of Provato brand Manouri traditional Greek cheese because it might be contaminated with listeria monocytogenes. The bacteria can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or…