10 foods to avoid while pregnant … and why
Pregnancy hormones can lower a woman’s immune system to the point that infections and diseases that she would normally fight off can have much more serious consequences. When talking about food poisoning, the two main culprits are listeria (Listeria monocytogenes) and salmonella. In Australia, one in ten cases of listeriosis is a pregnant woman, and […]
Protecting your customers from listeria
The news today is reporting a story about two people who have died from listeria infection. Ten people in total have been affected by this outbreak, which has been linked to rockmelons from a farm at Nericon in the Riverina in NSW. Every year in Australia, about 150 people are hospitalised with listeriosis and about […]
USE BY vs BEST BEFORE
There is a critical difference between “use by” and “best before”, and it is what is happening to the food as it ages.
A “check the toilets” reminder to find staff who don’t care about food safety
I recommend checking out the toilets of a restaurant to see if the staff care about cleanliness (and consequently food safety). When you complain and get fobbed off, however, that’s a totally different level. It doesn’t matter what rules you have in place if the culture is just wrong.
Where are you most likely to get food poisoning – how the media got it totally wrong
A report is currently being misquoted as saying you are twice as likely to get food poisoning from restaurants than from home. We tracked down the original report and discovered that’s not what it said. What did it say, and where are you most likely to get food poisoning?
The attention grabbing cloth
What can be more important than catching up with a friend at a cafe? It turns out the answer is “watching the waitress wipe down everything with a cloth”. Now what?
Food temperature danger zone explainer video
What is the danger zone for food temperature? It’s a very simple message, but critical to food safety. This short explainer video covers the food temperature danger zone and the obligations on restaurants and cafes. It would be great if you shared the video with friends to help get the message out.
Simon Marnie 702 Interview
This is my second radio interview. Simon Marnie has a much more relaxed weekend program and so were able to joke more as well as cover the essentials. At the start we go through preparing a Chicken Seizure Salad. It was a good run through but I can’t believe that I forgot the failing to […]
Food poisoning teaching in schools
Focusing on food poisoning What The Rotten Food Cookbook has quickly shown me is that there is a fascination in talking about food poisoning and it is far more fascinating than talking about food safety. I think that is because food safety is perceived to be a list of dos and don’ts, while food poisoning […]
Chicken Seizure Salad practical demonstration
Chicken Seizure Salad is one of my favourite recipes. It was one of the first I wrote and I have seen it made in real life at a local cafe. It happens every day in real life and is easily avoided. With this demonstration I use an awesome product called Glitterbug (see Glitterbug.net.au) which is […]