Food Poisoning

An elderly Kent County man was in critical condition yesterday after contracting salmonella poisoning at a dinner held by a volunteer fire company, health officials said. At least 16 other people were sickened by the bacteria.Authorities would not identify the elderly man but said he was admitted Wednesday to Kent & Queen Anne's Hospital in Chestertown. "He's more critical today than yesterday, and we're very concerned," said Dr. John A. Grant of the Kent County Health Department.The dinner was held as a fund-raiser by Millington Fire Company March 20, one of four such meals the company prepares each year.

WASHINGTON -- The food police are at it again, warning that most Thanksgiving turkeys are loaded with unwelcome holiday guests -- bacteria hidden deep inside the tasty bird.Federal inspectors found traces of bacteria in 90 percent of turkeys tested in a survey last year, the Center for Science in the Public Interest said yesterday.They're the scolds who made you feel guilty with reports on the artery-clogging dangers of movie popcorn and Chinese food.But don't despair. Careful preparation and cooking can prevent food poisoning, say the nutrition group and food experts.

More than 100 people who dined at the Turf Valley Resort and Conference Center in Ellicott City on Saturday have been stricken with food poisoning, local and state health officials announced yesterday.Officials said an estimated 1,500 guests attended about a dozen events, ranging from wedding receptions to anniversary dinners to birthday parties, at the banquet facility at the center on U.S. 40 that day.Officials said they didn't know which events might have caused the outbreak of gastroenteritis.

WASHINGTON -- Since the 1980s, food imports to the United States have doubled. But federal inspections of those imports by the Food and Drug Administration have dropped to less than half what they were five years ago.Now, public health scientists say they are seeing more and more outbreaks of disease linked to imported food, particularly fresh fruit and vegetables.These are known to have sickened thousands of Americans, and those reported cases are a small fraction of the actual number of people made ill, according to scientists at the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Michael Heary is Navy's biggest offensive threat, and when he missed the Midshipmen's game against Rice with an illness on Monday, they immediately fell behind by 16 points and lost by 17.Last night at Alumni Hall, Heary returned to equal his career high of 31 points and Navy ended a four-game losing streak by beating Harvard, 66-63."

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.

CHAPTICO -- The number of people sickened by food poisoning at a Southern Maryland church dinner swelled to 622 yesterday, and public health investigators raised the possibility that a second death may be traced to the salmonella outbreak.St. Mary's County health officials described the second possible victim as an elderly Baltimore woman who died of a heart attack this week after eating dinner Sunday at Our Lady of the Wayside Church in the tiny community of Chaptico.They were uncertain whether her death was caused by a bacterial infection, however.

NEW ORLEANS -- It was no surprise that Bob Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, was suffering from an upset stomach yesterday.The surprise was that he couldn't blame Patriots coach Bill Parcells for the ailment.Kraft came down with a mild case of food poisoning Monday night, but he was still at Super Bowl media day at the Superdome yesterday, answering questions about the other irritant in his life -- his coach.The rift between Kraft and Parcells has been a continuing story since last April when Kraft stripped Parcells of his authority to make the draft picks.

HELEN -- The painted-plywood sign poked into the ground outside Mother Catherine Spalding Elementary School yesterday read more like a warning than an invitation: "Church Dinner Here -- Sunday."Days after hundreds of people became violently ill and two died after eating tainted food at the fall dinner at Our Lady of the Wayside Church, three nearby churches were preparing to hold dinners this weekend.Old-timers including V. H. "Dutch" Mast take pride in the yearly slew of turkey-and-ham church dinners that are as much a part of Southern Maryland's autumn as football and the kale harvest.

CHAPTICO -- One person has died from food poisoning and at least 143 others became sick after eating a stuffed ham, turkey and fried oyster dinner at a small Catholic church in this tiny Southern Maryland community.Health officials said yesterday that the culprit is salmonella, a bacterium that is a common source of food poisoning.The incident represents the largest salmonella outbreak in Maryland in at least five years.Investigators have not determined what specific food triggered the illness that spread among the 1,400 people who purchased a dinner Sunday afternoon at the annual Fall Festival at Our Lady of the Wayside Church in Chaptico, little more than a crossroads about 40 miles southeast of Washington.

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.

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.

ZHENGZHOU, China -- A few days ago, an alarmed teacher at a day care center in this city south of Beijing called emergency services when some of her charges began to vomit. Ambulances rushed to Xinxin Day Care, and doctors later treated about 50 youngsters. The culprit was tainted soy milk, but it was nothing dire, and the children were home by dusk. However, the way in which local authorities handled the case - by suppressing the news - added to the parents' anguish and the concerns about the safety of food processing in China.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- He couldn't remember exactly what he ordered for dinner Friday night, but it's probably best that Maryland cornerback Josh Wilson forgets it. Whatever it was led to food poisoning and a temperature of 101 degrees. Wilson missed one practice this past weekend in preparation for Friday's 8 p.m. game against Purdue in the Champs Sports Bowl. Wilson did say he ordered meat - "any and every kind of meat you could think of" - at an Orlando restaurant. "I got the works, and it went to work on my stomach," he said.

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Several hundred Iraqi police recruits were being treated yesterday in an outbreak of severe food poisoning that triggered a mutinous episode in southern Iraq, and the capital was shaken by the assassination of the vice president's brother. Officials in Numaniyah, about 75 miles southeast of Baghdad, said disorder broke out at a military base yesterday, the day after the recruits became ill. Angry recruits stoned the car of their commander. Authorities said they had not yet established that the food poisoning, which broke out Sunday evening, was intentional.

Consumers worried about contaminated spinach from California's Salinas Valley may have a threat closer to home: bacteria breeding in their kitchen sink. We live in a germ-filled world. Millions of microbes live in kitchens, setting up house on kitchen counters, cutting boards, stove tops and tabletops. More than 250 different food-borne diseases have been identified, and E. coli, salmonella and campylobacter are only three of the most common bacteria that cause infections. E. coli bacteria have been found in spinach and associated with at least one death (and, in Maryland, another death is suspected to be linked)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Even in a humiliating late July blowout loss to the basement-dwelling Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the Orioles can glean key baseball lessons. Orioles rookie Adam Loewen, for instance, learned Friday night that he needs to keep hitters guessing the second time through the order. Scratched starter Erik Bedard learned he shouldn't eat raw fish the night before he pitches. And the Orioles' front office may have learned the most important lesson of all. When a National League team in a pennant race cuts a pitcher and is willing to eat the remaining $22 million on his contract just so he won't set foot on its mound again, chances are he's not going to be much help in the American League East.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- During the past few weeks, Orioles outfielder Jay Gibbons sprinted, cut on turf and did everything he could to "blow out" his injured right knee. It didn't blow out, so he's ready to play again. "I feel like I did as much as I can," Gibbons said, "and the next step is getting on the field and see how it feels." Gibbons, who has played in just two games since first tearing his posterior cruciate ligament when he ran into a wall May 26, took batting practice here yesterday.