IWasPoisoned.com now delivers reports to public health departments in 46 states. We continue to offer our alerts services to state and local health departments across the United States. With increased reporting to health departments, IWasPoisoned.com contributes to the fight against the impact of foodborne illness nationwide.
Leading foodborne illness defense attorney says companies should act quickly, not allow their legal depts to have 'too much influence', consider saying sorry. Says contaminated food incidences are potentially 'brand-killing'. Well said, we couldn't agree more. Quote from Nations Restaurant News : Contaminated food incidences are “potential brand-killing” events, so respond accordingly , Lawyer David Ernst said companies handling outbreaks should make sure to act quickly to reduce public and employee risk, provide adequate compensation for the injuries and losses of victims and consider saying, “We’re sorry.” Ernst argued that operators should not allow their legal departments to “have way too much influence,” as “defending a lawsuit is not an important thing in an outbreak.” Ernst is a veteran defense attorney for food and restaurant companies with the Davis Wright Tremaine law firm.
Great piece on iwaspoisoned.com in the Arizona Star. Thanks Tucson.com and Arizona Star. "Even our state agencies are on board, with the Arizona Department of Health Services calling the site "a great starting point for reporting foodborne illness." You can make the search as broad or specific as you want, but if you just search for "Tucson," you can only view the 10 most recent reports. You can look up a specific restaurant, or search your address to find restaurants close to you.
Great to see this signed into law: "The Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016 makes it illegal for companies to include “gag clauses”in their contracts that penalize or prohibit people from leaving reviews on websites and other forums. President Barack Obama signed the act and 20 other bills into law on Wednesday without comment." -
Tough to deliver when so badly understaffed. "The explanation is simple: not enough inspectors. The city has 38 full-time inspectors to handle a workload that the IG says would take 94."
City Inspector General Joe Ferguson says: "This audit revealed a curious and troubling landscape respecting an important government function critical to the protection of public health and safety, ...The city failed to provide CDPH with the resources it needs to meet the standards for food inspections, standards that the city itself adopted into its regulations. The result is long-term, continual noncompliance." Spokeswoman for Mayor Rahm Emanuel says: “While we appreciate the inspector general's review, Chicagoans can have confidence that their food is safe because it was prepared in a sanitary kitchen, thanks to the work our health inspectors do to ensure restaurants and establishments across the city meet the health code. We are committed to keeping our restaurants clean and our residents safe from food-borne illnesses, despite the fact that we have long faced a lack of appropriate funding by the state to meet their own requirements.” Link to the full article here.
From researchers from the University of Leicester, in England: "The juices from bagged chopped salad leaves can increase the risk of salmonella, a pathogen that’s one of the most common causes of food poisoning, say the authors of a new study." Link to news story
IWasPoisoned.com is very pleased to announce the addition of Dr. Lee-Ann Jaykus to our advisory team. With over three decades experience, Dr. Jaykus is one of the preeminent food safety scientists working today. She is a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing, and Nutrition Sciences at North Carolina State University, with an associate appointment in the Department of Microbiology. Her educational credentials include a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences and Engineering from the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as well as degrees in Food Science from Purdue University. Dr. Jaykus’ current research focuses on food virology (that is, the study of viruses in food and food systems); development of molecular methods for foodborne pathogen detection; application of quantitative risk assessment in food safety; and understanding the ecology of pathogens in foods. This work will go towards the continuing goal in food sciences to better understand foodborne illness and its prevention. In addition to her credentials in education and research, Dr. Jaykus is currently serving as the scientific director of the USDA-NIFA Food Virology Collaborative. Known as NoroCORE, the Collaborative is a consortium of academic institutions with representation from researchers and regulators affiliated with state and federal governments, as well as members from relevant industrial sectors. We look forward to working with Dr. Jaykus and welcome her to our Advisory Board. Her guidance and expertise will advance the quality and effectiveness of our surveillance and response to foodborne illness outbreaks.
Food Safety News just ran a great article on Iowa's new food safety hotline initiative. I was asked to comment on behalf of IWasPoisoned - . Looks like a great program, well done to Iowa State.
The International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) conference, held in St. Louis, MO, from July 31st to August 3rd, 2016, was a significant event for our team at Iwaspoisoned.com to participate in. The IAFP, known for its dedication to the advancement of food safety, provided a comprehensive platform for professionals from various sectors to converge and discuss the latest trends, research, and challenges in food protection.
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Attending the Food Safety Summit in Rosemont, IL, on May 15th, 2016, was a notable experience for the Iwaspoisoned.com team. Renowned for its focus on the latest advancements and strategies in food safety, the summit offered a unique opportunity for us to engage with a wide spectrum of food safety professionals and industry leaders.
A great article written about iwaspoisoned.com! A northern Ohio health official says people who like to dine out should visit a website called Iwaspoisoned.com which allows visitors to post and read food poisoning reports...
Another great article mentioning our crowdsourcing site. Chipotle Mexican Grill closed its more than 2,000 restaurants for four hours on Monday to hold a "virtual" town hall meeting with its employees about steps it said it was taking to improve food safety and regain consumers' trust. "People will come back," Steve Ells, the company's founder and co-chief executive, told more than 50,000 employees, who were connected to Chipotle's Denver headquarters via video. Emphasizing his faith in that statement, he said the company had no intention of slowing its growth this year.
A new article about Iwaspoisoned.com! The crowdsoucing site iwaspoisoned.com has collected thousands of reports of foodborne illnesses from individuals across the United States since 2009 and is expanding with a custom alert service for state health departments. .
Chipotle apologized today and vows to become 'the safest place to eat', which raises the question: Where IS the safest place to eat? We analyzed our data for the top 50 fast food chains in the US for 2015, and here’s who identified with the lowest rate of reports: Baskin-Robbins Church's Chicken Einstein Bros. Bagels Jimmy John's Papa Murphy's Well done to these restaurants for making it to the top 5. Link to the press release
New article up mentioning us! Thanks Safebee. https://www.safebee.com/tech/can-social-media-help-identify-food-poisoning-outbreaks
We are pleased to announce the beta phase of a new custom reporting service. Are you interested in customized reporting ? For example: - Just reports from the city of Houston ? - Just reports from the state of New York ? - Just reports from a particular restaurant ? Or a combination ? - Just reports containing the word spinach from the state of California ? Please click to sign up.
Great article from HealthComU.com .
Hi, This post is intended as a discussion forum related to the Simi Valley Chipotle incident. You are welcome to share your stories, and any updates that you may have received. Many of you would like to know what happened, why the restaurant was shut down, what issues were identified, what was fixed, did the health department handle this situation well, etc. Please comment below.
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