Free-Range Meats May Have Higher Risk of Certain Parasites: New CDC Report

from Huffpost Food

Organic meat may be more likely to carry the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, according to new research.

Scientists with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say in a report that the animal-friendly free range environments that produce organic meat -- open fields with access to grass, soil and water -- may be more easily contaminated with infected feces from cats, rats or wildlife.

Douglas Powell, a professor of food safety at Kansas State University, told MyHealthNewsDaily.com that toxoplasmosis isn't recognized as often as it should.

"People are not as familiar with this parasite, so we think it doesn't happen much," he said. As a result, it's become one of several "neglected parasitic diseases" pinpointed by the CDC as an area of concern.

According to the CDC's website, toxoplasmosis is carried by more than 60 million people in the U.S., or roughly 22.5 percent of the population 12 years and older. A small percentage of these people show symptoms thanks to an immune system response that prevents illness.

Nonetheless, it's considered the leading cause of death related to food-borne illness in the country. It usually presents with flu-like symptoms such as tender lymph nodes and muscle acts that last for several weeks. Symptoms go away, but the parasite will remain in a person's body in an inactive state. When that person's immune system is compromised, the symptoms may resurface.

People can prevent a parasitic infection by cooking foods at a high enough temperature (see what those are for different meats here), avoiding untreated water and washing one's hands.

New E.coli Outbreak in Six states, Including Florida and California

Federal health officials are investigating a mysterious outbreak of E. coli infections that has sickened at least 14 people in six states, including a 21-month-old Louisiana girl who died.

This week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture began testing certain cuts of commercially produced beef for E. coli O145 and five other STEC strains that have the potential to cause serious illness and death.

To date no source has been identified for the strain of E. coli O145 genetically linked to illnesses in states as far-flung as Florida and California, officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed Friday. People became ill between April 15 and May 12.  

Most of the infections have been reported in Georgia, with five cases, and Louisiana, with four cases, including the death of the child identified as Maelan Elizabeth Graffagnini of New Orleans.

Two infections with the outbreak strain have been reported in Alabama and one each has been reported in California, Florida and Tennessee. The Florida victim is a 22-year-old woman from Leon County, state health officials said. 

“This ongoing multi-state investigation has not yet identified a source of those infections,” a CDC statement released Friday said. “The investigation is looking at both food and non-food exposures.”

Health officials in several states are interviewing ill people to determine how they may have been exposed to the E. coli strain, one of several Shiga Toxin-producing E. coli — or STEC — varieties.

The most common STEC is E. coli O157:H7, which is the potentially deadly strain commonly linked to ground beef. The strain of E. coli O145 is less common, but can be just as harmful. 

Read the full story about the E Coli outbreak at msnbc.com

Foraged Flavor, A Unique New Cookbook Uses Weeds as Vegetables

Stinging Nettle on pizza?Who wouldn't love a woman who prefers harvesting no-maintenance weeds for her salad over meticulously staking high-maintenance tomatoes? At the very least, curiosity is what Eddy Leroux, chef de cuisine of Daniel (Daniel Boulud's flagship restaurant in New York City) must have felt when a diner came in with a most unusual request; she sent back to the famed kitchen a bunch of weeds (anise hyssop actually) from her backyard in New Jersey to be used in her meal. It was a balsy move to say the least, but the client, Tama Matsuoka Wong, was a Harvard-trained lawyer (the definition of balsy) and an amateur gardener with a palate that apparently experiences essence of grass as a pleasurable flavor.

Fast-forward three years, and Mr. Leroux and Ms. Wong have just released a delightfully quirky book, Foraged Flavor: Finding Fabulous Ingredients in Your Backyard or Farmer's Market.  In it, readers learn to identify (and enhance standard ingredients with) common garden weeds such as bee balm, lavender, wild sorrel, creeping Jenny and chickweed. Ms. Wong maintains a website with a fascinating foraging calendar and weed-id feature (send in a photo and a field botanist id's it for you.) It would be wise to spend some time on the weed-id feature before getting started with weed cooking. Poison Ivy makes a horrific appetizer.

Read The New York Times feature about Tama Matuoka Wong.

Food Leaders: The Farm Bill Props Up The Wrong People

from The Atlantic.com/health

This letter was initiated by Kari Hamerschlag, a senior analyst with the Environmental Working Group, and authors Anna Lappé and Dan Imhoff, out of frustration with the lack of meaningful reforms and public input into the legislative process by the Senate Agriculture Committee as it drafted its version of the 2012 Farm Bill. They sought additional ideas for the letter among a dozen other signers, who made key contributions. Many other leaders of the sustainability movement signed on; the full list appears below.

Every member of Congress received a copy of the letter at close of business on June 4^th, in anticipation of the Farm Bill's going to the Senate floor for debate later this week. The writers and signers hope that this letter will spur more citizens to learn about this legislation and contact their representatives.

An Open Letter to Members of Congress:

With the 2008 farm bill due to expire in a matter of months, the Senate Agriculture Committee approved legislation in April to steer the next five years of national food and agriculture policy. We applaud the positive steps that the proposed bill takes under Senator Debbie Stabenow's leadership, including incentives for fruit and vegetable purchases, scaling up local production and distribution of healthy foods and bolstering marketing and research support for fruit, nut and vegetable farmers.

Unfortunately, the Senate bill falls far short of the reforms needed to come to grips with the nation's critical food and farming challenges. It is also seriously out of step with the nation's priorities and what the American public expects and wants from our food and farm policy. In a national poll last year, 78 percentsaid making nutritious and healthy foods more affordable and accessible should be a top priority in the farm bill. Members of the U.S. Council of Mayors and the National League of Cities have both echoed this sentiment in recent statements calling for a healthy food and farm bill.

Read the rest of the letter on the Farm Bill.

New Twist on the James-Beard Award Winning Classic Guide to Cooking Vegetables

The follow-up to his James Beard award-winning "Fish & Shellfish," James Peterson's newest book, "Vegetables," will be the most authoritative book on the topic. In addition to the more than 300 wonderful recipes, Peterson includes an encyclopedic introduction covering topics such as vegetable varieties, uses, buying, preparation, storage, and more -- basically everything you'll ever need to know.

The recipes span the globe -- everything from American mashed potatoes to stir-fried bok choy. Although there are plenty of vegetarian recipes -- many without dairy products -- James Peterson isn't afraid to add smoked ham or meat stock to his vegetable recipes, if that's how they're best enjoyed. Just like his previous award-winning cookbooks, "Vegetables" will be required reading (and cooking) for beginners, culinary professionals, and all levels of cooks in between.

See this review of Vegetables at goodreads.com