**If you can't get rid of the skeleton in your closet,
you'd best teach it to dance.**
George Bernard Shaw
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Not much to report today.
LARGEST QUAKES so far today -
5.2 SUMBA REGION, INDONESIA
5.4 JILIN, CHINA
Yesterday, 10/30/13 -
5.0 VANUATU
6.3 OFFSHORE MAULE, CHILE
5.8 OFFSHORE MAULE, CHILE
TROPICAL STORMS -
Current tropical storms - maps and details.
* In the Western Pacific -
- Typhoon Korsa is located approximately 234 nm north-northeast of Manila, Philippines.
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HEALTH THREATS -
Insect fragments and animal hairs taint 12 percent of imported spices, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says. The FDA said it looked at the safety of spices after outbreaks involving the seasonings. The agency also found pathogens in the spices, including salmonella. “Nearly all of the insects found in spice samples were stored product pests, indicating inadequate packing or storage conditions. The presence of rodent hair without the root in spices generally is generally indicative of contamination by rodent feces.”
FDA’s study identified 14 outbreaks involving spices from 1973 to 2010 that resulted in 2,000 people reporting illnesses worldwide. The number of outbreaks may be low because people use small amounts of spices on food or cook the seasonings before eating. The FDA from fiscal 2007 through fiscal 2009 found about 7 percent tested positive for salmonella, twice the rate of other FDA regulated food products. The highest prevalence of salmonella was in leaf-based seasonings like basil and oregano and they identified Mexico as the country with the highest percent of exports of contaminated spices, followed by India.
The U.S. is one of the largest importers of spices with more than 80 percent of the supply provided by other countries. About 400 people in the U.S. die from salmonella poisoning each year and 42,000 cases are reported annually, though the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said underreporting may make the actual number of cases about 29 times higher. The infection can cause diarrhea and abdominal cramps.
The prevalence of tainted spices is about the same as the agency found 30 years ago in a smaller sampling experiment. The FDA published the data on salmonella contamination in the journal Food Microbiology a year ago and issued yesterday’s report to warn consumers about the risk. The agency called the findings “surprising” at the time because spices have a low water content compared with other foods.
McCormick & Co, the largest U.S. seller of flavor products by revenue, posted a statement on the quality of its spices and herbs on its website. “Whether they’re grown in the United States or other parts of the world, McCormick exercises the same high level of quality control throughout our supply chain -- including several million ingredient analyses each year and a natural steam pasteurization process.”
Red and black pepper intended for use in Italian deli meats were implicated in a 2010 salmonella outbreak that affected 272 people in 44 states and Washington, D.C. Pepper falls under the “fruit” category of seasonings, as does cumin and mustard. Fruit spices were preceded by leaf and root seasonings in prevalence of salmonella. Turmeric and ginger are examples of root spices. Bark or flower spices like cinnamon and saffron had the lowest levels of salmonella prevalence.
Almost 9 percent of spice shipments from India were contaminated with salmonella, the FDA said, compared with 14 percent of 136 shipments from Mexico. Canada came in with the lowest salmonella presence at less than 1 percent of its 110 shipments.
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