This past weekend, Reuters reported the death of an elder woman in Minnesota due to Salmonella infection. She is the seventh person in the U.S. to die from this bacteria. As of last Wednesday, 491 people have been infected during the current outbreak. And, 125 products have been recalled by the FDA, including cookies, crackers, ice cream and even some pet foods.

Below are some ways to avoid possible infection:

1. Washing your hands and kitchen surfaces before working with any food may seem obvious, but many people forget.
2. Wash your hands and counter tops or cutting boards in between working with vegetables and raw meats to avoid cross-contamination.
   
3. Antibacterial soap or simple soap and water work well.
   
4. Use fresh, clean dish towels and change often.
5. Thoroughly wash all fruit, even if you are not going to eat the skin.
6. Any fruit that might touch the ground, such as tomatoes, is susceptible to Salmonella. So, spend even more time scrubbing these fruits.
   
7. Cut off any vines or parts that were attached to the plant. When eating tomatoes, make sure to cut off and discard the hard nib on the top of the fruit, because the bacteria can implant itself there easily.
   
8. Take off the outer leaves of cabbage and lettuce, and the outer skin of onions.
9. When baking, make sure to thoroughly cook the baked foods before eating them. Salmonella usually comes from raw eggs. Do not eat raw cookie dough no matter how tempting it may be!
   
10. Salmonella poisoning often occurs from poultry and raw eggs that haven't been properly cooked, or frozen and not properly cooked, or left sitting too long after being cooked.
11. Got pets? Make sure after handling them you wash your hands.

The people of France are eating less bread than they did in decades past, according to a recent Reuters story. At the turn of the century, the average French person consumed a little more than a pound of bread per day. That figure is now down to a little over five ounces of bread per day, less than the average bread consumption for people from Germany and Italy. Still, the decline seems to have steadied, with some French bakeries bolstering their sales with loaves made of more traditional ingredients. Clotilde over at Chocolate and Zucchini posted about these "baguettes de tradition" a few weeks ago.

According to speculation in a recent Reuters article, the number of Starbucks locations worldwide may soon top that of McDonald's. Back in 2004, Starbucks set a goal of having 30,000 stores worldwide, but according to Reuters, Starbucks' chairman has recently said that the figure is too low. At present, McDonald's has roughly 31,000 locations worldwide, making it the largest fast food chain in the world. Starbucks is already the largest coffee chain. According to Reuters, there's a Starbucks for every 11,754 people in Seattle. This makes me think of some articles The Onion ran a few years back.

Wal-Mart is already the number one seller of organic milk, but in the next few weeks, the retail giant plans to increase its selection of organic products, according to a recent Reuters article. Wal-Mart's head of dry grocery told Reuters that customers can expect the amount of organic offerings at Wal-Mart to soon double. While the stated goal is to offer organic products at a low price, some worry that the enormous quantities required by a retailer like Wal-Mart may continue to push organic suppliers and lawmakers to weaken organic standards. A New York Times article explains, citing both the Organic Trade Association and the Organic Consumers Association.