Food Poisoning

It's farmers' market time, and all those fruits and vegetables seem so fresh. But they aren't necessarily clean. Like supermarket produce, these local and even organic items need a wash before eating, according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics , a professional education and advocacy group. The group and the food giant ConAgra are reminding everyone that one in six Americans get sick annually from food-borne pathogens. About 3,000 people die every year from food poisoning.

Celebrity couple Stacy Keibler and George Clooney suffered food poisoning after eating at a restaurant in Italy this week, according to TMZ . Keibler and Clooney dined at a restaurant in Cernobbio, Italy on July 4, TMZ's sources report, and became sick soon after. "Finally had a bad meal in Italy, our whole dinner party got food poisoning #ohwell at least I'm still in Italy," Keibler tweeted the next day. No one was hospitalized, TMZ reported.

Celebrity couple Stacy Keibler and George Clooney suffered food poisoning after eating at a restaurant in Italy this week, according to TMZ . Keibler and Clooney dined at a restaurant in Cernobbio, Italy on July 4, TMZ's sources report, and became sick soon after. "Finally had a bad meal in Italy, our whole dinner party got food poisoning #ohwell at least I'm still in Italy," Keibler tweeted the next day. No one was hospitalized, TMZ reported.

It's farmers' market time, and all those fruits and vegetables seem so fresh. But they aren't necessarily clean. Like supermarket produce, these local and even organic items need a wash before eating, according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics , a professional education and advocacy group. The group and the food giant ConAgra are reminding everyone that one in six Americans get sick annually from food-borne pathogens. About 3,000 people die every year from food poisoning.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 76 million cases of food-borne illness occur each year in the United States. Summer is the time when the likelihood of food poisoning increases. More people are picnicking, barbecuing and enjoying the warm weather. But the heat isn't good for some foods, especially salads and meats. Best advice from Dr. Carolyn O'Connor: Cool it down. What causes food poisoning? Food poisoning is caused by bacteria or toxins in contaminated food.

It happens every summer, sure as checkered tablecloths, pitchers of lemonade and pickup softball games. The idyllic setting of a country picnic or the spontaneous fun of a backyard cookout is tempered by someone getting food poisoning.Although rarely fatal, food poisoning can pose serious immediate health problems, and a miserable time for its sufferers. It also isn't relegated to the warm-weather months only. Still, with some simple precautions, the risk of contracting food poisoning -- at a summer picnic or Thanksgiving dinner -- can be dramatically reduced.

At least seven Orioles apparently were hit by food poisoning after Saturday's exhibition game in Washington, but everyone was expected to be OK for today's season opener.One of those affected was Opening Day opening-day starter Rick Sutcliffe, and Rick Dempsey, since cut from the roster, was hospitalized for five hours early yesterday morning. Both made it to yesterday's workout."We think it was the sandwiches we ate before the game in D.C.," said manager John Oates. "Three coaches [Cal Ripken Sr., Dick Bosman and Greg Biagini]

Crab meat, rice and chili. It's hard to think of them as suspects in a whodunit.But they were in Anne Arundel County this year. Three outbreaks of restaurant food poisoning sickened 54 people, and detective work by health inspectors implicated the crab meat, rice and chili.They all had human accomplices who were the real culprits. In each outbreak, careless mistakes by food handlers allowed bacteria to contaminate the food, inspectors believe.Similar violations of basic sanitation triggered most of the 49 reported outbreaks of illness at Baltimore-area food establishments during the past three years.

After an outbreak of food poisoning linked to fresh basil or basil products such as pesto, customers of Sutton Place Gourmet stores who recently purchased such items are being urged to return them or throw them away.Four Montgomery County residents and two visitors from out of state became ill after eating products bought at stores in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs of Washington, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said yesterday.They became infected with the cyclospora parasite, which causes diarrhea, loss of appetite, stomach cramps and fever.

Pay attention to the "Safe Handling Instructions" now appearing on meat and poultry. They could save your life.The instructions describe basic food handling practices that have been promoted for years, both to commercial food interests and to folks preparing food at home. But don't take them lightly.They are your personal line of defense against the same kinds of bacteria that produced illness and death from undercooked hamburger across the nation.These classic habits are being reinforced as a stopgap measure to protect you from food poisoning, while the U.S. Dept.

Orioles closer Jim Johnson, who hasn't pitched since April 22 and spent four days in the hospital last week with food poisoning, said he threw a second bullpen session Sunday and is ready to get back into a game. “It seems like it has been a long time,” Johnson said. “But I feel fine. I feel like I am back to where I need to be.” Johnson said he threw a bullpen session Sunday - his second since returning to the team on Friday - and he felt good enough to tell manager Buck Showalter that he was ready to pitch.

After four nights at Saint Agnes Hospital, Orioles reliever Jim Johnson was finally released Friday morning after a severe case of food poisoning. Johnson, who has converted 15 straight save opportunities dating to last season, acknowledged the experience was frustrating and frightening. "A little of both, depending on the time," Johnson said. "It was pretty bad. " Doctors conducted various tests to rule out specific illnesses, and eventually, food poisoning - including when and where - was pinpointed.

Lefty Tsuyoshi Wada (elbow) will pitch in extended spring training on Monday (against the Minnesota Twins' minor-league camp in Fort Myers, Fla.) and on March 14th in Port Charlotte, Fla. (against Tampa Bay Rays camp). If all goes well, he'll likely go to a minor-league affiliate and pitch on March 19. Showalter said he'd like for Wada to throw at least 90 pitches twice. He could then be ready to return to the Orioles. Whether he comes back as a starter or reliever, Showalter said, depends on how Wada is throwing and how the big-league rotation has fared.

From the Real Estate Wonk blog: Here's a heartfelt plea in light of the recent spate of carbon monoxide deaths: Don't become the next statistic. CO can kill when appliances that burn fuel -- gas, oil, wood, etc. -- are used improperly or stop working well, or when a car is left to idle in an enclosed space, the Environmental Protection Agency says. Because it's odorless, the only warning you'll get is the symptoms that develop as you're being poisoned. "At moderate levels, you or your family can get severe headaches, become dizzy, mentally confused, nauseated, or faint.

The Orioles started Wednesday night's game with only a two-man bench, but with the way center fielder Adam Jones has been swinging the bat, that appeared to be only a minor inconvenience. However, Jones, one player the Orioles simply can't afford to lose, joined the sick and the wounded when a mild right hamstring strain forced him out of the lineup in the fourth inning, and prompted the club to call up top outfield prospect Nolan Reimold for Thursday night's game. Without Jones, the Orioles' offense accomplished very little until a ninth-inning rally came up two runs short.

Ruth Reichl is a commanding and daunting figure in American culture. Beginning in the 1970s, she played a key role in revolutionizing food and restaurant journalism, wielded make-or-break influence as a restaurant critic for the Los Angeles Times and later The New York Times, and continues to loom large as editor in chief of Gourmet magazine. With her fourth book, Not Becoming My Mother: And Other Things She Taught Me Along the Way, however, Reichl looks backward and inward in an attempt to understand and explain her mother, both to herself and to us. At barely 100 pages, Not Becoming My Mother is a meditation rather than a memoir but is no less affecting for its brevity.

Tapeworm and botulism have been all but eradicated in this country, and technologies, including freeze-drying and irradiation, have been developed to make food safer. But because of changing eating habits and more choices of foods, Americans may be more likely to get sick from what they eat than they were a half-century ago. The frequency of serious gastrointestinal illness, a common gauge of food poisoning, is 34 percent above what it was in 1948, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More than 70 high school students attending a conference at the University of Maryland, College Park were treated at local hospitals last night for apparent food poisoning, authorities said. The students were attending the National Student Leadership Conference, a university spokeswoman said. Campus police said all had been staying at the school's LaPlata dormitory and some had eaten at a nearby campus dining hall. None of the students had been admitted to the hospital and all were expected to be released, according to spokeswomen from Doctors Community Hospital of Prince George's County in Lanham and Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park.

Produce-linked food poisonings on the rise Americans didn't suffer more food poisoning last year despite high-profile outbreaks involving peppers, peanut butter and other foods, according to a new government report. Rates of food-borne illnesses have been holding steady for four years. They had been declining from the mid-1990s until the beginning of this decade, mainly because of improvements in the meat and poultry industry, some experts say. But produce-associated food poisonings have been increasing, and the nation is no longer making progress against food-borne disease rates, said Elliot Ryser, a professor of food science at Michigan State University.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 76 million cases of food-borne illness occur each year in the United States. Summer is the time when the likelihood of food poisoning increases. More people are picnicking, barbecuing and enjoying the warm weather. But the heat isn't good for some foods, especially salads and meats. Best advice from Dr. Carolyn O'Connor: Cool it down. What causes food poisoning? Food poisoning is caused by bacteria or toxins in contaminated food.