When you go out to eat, it's often the case that the water, iced tea or soda you order comes with a wedge of lemon perched on the rim of the glass. However, according to the research done by scientists at New Jersey's Passaic County Community College, you could be endangering your health by dropping that lemon slice into your glass.
They sampled 76 lemon wedges from 21 different restaurants and found that nearly 70% produced some form of microbial growth in the lab. In total, they were able to find 25 different forms of bacteria and yeasts on the sampled lemon wedges. It is not known what effect this is having on the consumers who come into contact with these contaminated lemon wedges, however, it could be causing problems for people who have weakened immune systems.
(Oops, we seem to have posted about this just a few weeks ago. Please excuse the duplication)!
After green onions were identified as the source of contamination for an E. coli outbreak at several East Coast Taco Bells, the company not only recalled all the scallions at its 5,800 locations nationwide, but sent out samples of the rest of their food products for testing to ensure that no other foods were at risk. The tests have come back negative, leaving the green onions as the sole source for the bacteria.
Taco Bell has switched produce suppliers, but with 61 cases identified, including 48 hospitalizations and 7 cases of kidney failure, the company is not out of the woods yet. Lawsuits are already being filed on behalf of some of those who were victims of the contamination, and because most chain restaurants have indemnity agreements with their suppliers, the company will be the one held accountable in these cases.
The company is working to sanitize and reopen stores that closed as a result of the outbreak.
Taco Bell has decided to recall all the green onions from all of its 5,800 locations in the US after an outbreak of at least 43 cases of E. coli infections in New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania last week. Testing revealed that they were a possible source of the bacteria, although other non-meat sources have not been ruled out yet. Samples of the cilantro, cheddar cheese, blended cheese, yellow onions, tomatoes and lettuce are being sent to FDA labs for testing and comparison to the green onion samples. The states were the infections occurred will be testing their own samples, and Taco Bell is likely to have scientists at work on their behalf, as well. The sources for the potentially contaminated foods are still being identified, but consumers (unless you just ate at a Taco Bell despite the potential health risk) should not worry too much about it because suppliers for large buyers such as Taco Bell rarely sell directly to supermarkets.
Whole Foods has just put out a recall on its Whole Treat Organic Vanilla Ice Cream Bars Dipped in Chocolate due to undisclosed almonds. This isn't the first time Whole Foods has recalled an ice cream product due to undisclosed ingredients. Last August they issued a recall on their frozen chocolate and vanilla soy products that contained undeclared milk. In the past they have had other food recalls such as when jars labeled peanut butter actually contained almond butter, as well as a few others over the years.
I'm glad that companies are quick to make food recalls for allergies and possible contamination, such as the spinach scare of the last few months. People with allergies, young children, the elderly, those who are pregnant , and people with immune system problems should keep track of food recalls to stay safe. To stay abreast of allergy related food recalls you can visit the Food Allergy website and the Kids With Food Allergies website. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration site has up to date info on all types of food and drug recalls.
The Indian state of Kerala has initiated a plan to ban Pepsi and Coke for having levels of pesticides above the permissible amount. The whole thing seems to be a campaign against the products, both of which are produced locally using the local water supply. Even Indian commentators are taking note and observing that perhaps the money that the Indian Center for Science and Environment (CSE) intends to spend fighting the cola companies would be better spent running "a campaign for clean water" and reducing the levels of pesticides in all instances.
According to the same source, the CSE's "conclusions were that Diet Pepsi contained 0.36 amounts of pesticide per parts per billion (ppb), as tested by the Central Food Laboratory in Kolkata, that Pepsi contained 0.09 and that this was below the limit prescribed for packaged water by the Ministry of Health."
Other sources verify that the levels found in the soft drinks were lower than the levels of pesticide found in tea and other food products, including eggs, apples, rice and milk. So why target Pepsi and Coke? The CSE says that they cannot compare apples - which are reported to have 30200 times the prescribed limit of pesticides, versus 28,040 times the limit in tea and only 24 times the limit for Pepsi - to sodas. But the companies make convenient scapegoats in a country that seems to have pollution issues in areas other than their sodas.
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Taco Bell has decided to 
Whole Foods has just put out a recall on its 
The Indian state of Kerala has initiated a plan to 
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