Food Alert

Halloween Candy Warning

The Food and Drug Administration issued an update last week on the health hazards of eating too much black licorice.

From the update: If youÔÇÖre 40 or older, eating 2 ounces of black licorice a day for at least two weeks could land you in the hospital with an irregular heart rhythm or arrhythmia.

FDA experts say black licorice contains the compound glycyrrhizin, which is the sweetening compound derived from licorice root. Glycyrrhizin can cause potassium levels in the body to fall. When that happens, some people experience abnormal heart rhythms, as well as high blood pressure, edema (swelling), lethargy, and congestive heart failure.

I wonder if this applies to black jelly beans too?

Don?óÔé¼Ôäót eat that Dough!

Looks like Louisianans haven?óÔé¼Ôäót been eating prepackaged Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough and thank goodness.

As of Tuesday, June 30, 2009, 72 persons infected with a strain of E. coli O157:H7 with a particular DNA fingerprint have been reported from 30 states (None in Louisiana!). Of these, 51 have been confirmed by an advanced DNA test. More information is available from the CDC.

Prepackaged cookie dough & E-Coli

The FDA has just released a warning for consumers to not eat “prepackaged Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough due to the risk of contamination with E. coli O157:H7.” They recommend that all dough be discarded because handling the dough to cook it could spread the bacteria.

Peanut Product Recall

The FDA has a website that lists all the peanut containing products that have been recalled by the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA). Some PCA peanut products have been linked to the Salmonella Typhimurium Outbreak.

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/index.cfm