13.nov.06
Journal of the American Medical Association
JAMA and Archives Journals
Eating more red meat may be associated with a higher risk for hormone receptor–positive breast cancers in premenopausal women, according to a report in the November 13 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
"Breast tumors are often characterized by hormone (estrogen and progesterone) receptor status," the authors write as background information in the article, meaning that the cancer is classified by whether these hormones can bind to proteins on the surface of the tumor. "Although the incidence rates of hormone receptor–negative tumors have remained relatively constant, the incidence of hormone receptor–positive tumors has been increasing in the United States, especially among middle-aged women." The diets of American women may be linked to this increase, since some foods--including certain components of red meat--can contain hormones or hormone-like compounds that influence tumors through their hormone receptors.

13.nov.06
National Post/ Globe and Mail/AP
Hershey Co., the largest U.S. chocolate maker, is, according to these stories, voluntarily recalling 25 Canadian-made products because they may be contaminated with salmonella. Chipits milk-chocolate chips, Hershey bars and Cherry Blossom chocolates are among items that could be tainted with the bacteria, Hershey and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said in separate statements yesterday. The products, which may have been distributed across Canada, were made at the company's Smiths Falls, Ont., plant Oct. 15 through Nov. 10. Hershey was cited as saying that no illnesses have been reported.

10.nov.06
New York Times
Celia W. Dugger
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/10/world/10toilet.html
A United Nations report released yesterday was cited as saying that the toilet and the latrine, which helped revolutionize public health in New York, London and Paris more than a century ago, are among the most underused tools to combat poverty and disease in the developing world.
Kevin Watkins, the main author of the report, was quoted as saying, "Issues dealing with human excrement tend not to figure prominently in the programs of political parties contesting elections or the agendas of governments. They’re the unwanted guests at the table."

09.nov.06
WPMI-TV NBC 15 Mobile (AL)
http://www.nbc15online.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=2DD02343-D558-47A0-B765-2396347751C0
(FOLEY, Ala.) -- In Escambia County, Alabama there have been 7 positive cases of Salmonella or Salmonellosis, while Baldwin County reports 39 positive cases;
But the numbers for Mobile County may shock you: a whopping 85 cases already. Last year, for the entire year, there were 88 cases in Mobile County.
Judith Como of Foley was quoted as saying, "I had a birthday and my sisters took me out. I was really excited and feeling good about the day. When we got our food, the soup wasn't hot and there were a few discrepancies, but we ate. … It was around 6:30, 7:00 o'clock that night, I started feeling really sick. The trips to the bathroom, constantly, and you could barely make it. And the cramps, I was physically and mentally exhausted, embarrassed and humiliated. They admitted me (to the hospital) and I was there for 6 days."

09.nov.06
Consumer Affairs
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2006/11/irradiation.html
Hamburgers, apple cider, petting zoos and even spinach have been blamed for E. coli outbreaks in recent years. It doesn't have to be that way, says Dennis G. Maki, M.D., writing in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Irradiation of high-risk foods after processing could greatly reduce the incidence of all bacterial foodborne disease and save hundreds of lives each year, Maki argues.
"Irradiation kills or markedly reduces counts of food pathogens without impairing the nutritional value of the food or making it toxic, carcinogenic, or radioactive," according to Maki, a professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin.

09.nov.06
CRI Online (China)
Xinhua
http://en.chinabroadcast.cn/2947/2006/11/09/167@160742.htm
Regional health authorities were cited as saying on Wednesday that a total of 508 Peruvan school children on Tuesday were poisoned after eating a government-provided breakfast in Huancayo, the capital of the Junin Region in the country's central highlands.
The children, aged between four and 11 years old, suffered from stomachache, vomiting, nausea, dehydration, after eating pasteurized milk and bread on Tuesday.
Around 110 of the children were sent to hospital for treatment and the five most s

06.nov.06
U.S. FDA Press Release
http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2006/NEW01505.html
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced that it is seeking a permanent injunction against Worldwide Fish & Seafood, Inc. (Worldwide Fish), Suzanne Weinstein, its president and owner, and Timothy A. Lauer, its general manager. Worldwide Fish does business as Coastal Seafood, a seafood processor located at 2330 Minnehaha Avenue, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The firm distributes seafood products to restaurants in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and North and South Dakota.
The government's complaint, filed today by the United States Department of Justice in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota after settlement talks failed, charges the defendants with violating the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by processing seafood products under conditions that may cause the food to become injurious to health.