The Little Franz West Players at LACMA

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TONIGHT! LIVE FROM LACMA - FRANZ WEST PUPPET THEATRE - 10pm to 12am

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Safe Food by Marion Nestle

Safe Food, Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism

This is a great read. Below is a list of some stated concerns from the book:

1. The increasing concentration of food producers and distributors into larger and larger units
2. The overproduction and overabundance of food in the United States
3. The competitiveness among food companies to encourage people to eat more food or to substitute their products for those of competing companies
4. The relentless pressures exerted by food companies on government agencies to make favorable regulatory decisions
5. The invocation of science by food companies as a means to achieve commercial goals
6. The clash in values among stakeholders in the food system: industry, government, and consumers
7. The ways in which such themes demonstrate that food is political

The Complete Review wrote this:

A basic problem that Nestle identifies is the system of governmental oversight and regulation: "a system breathtaking in its irrationality: 35 separate laws administered by 12 agencies in six cabinet-level departments". Among the most amusing (and disturbing) examples of just how absurd the system is: the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) regulates beef broth and dehydrated chicken soup, while the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) regulates dehydrated beef soup and chicken broth. (Regardless of whether one is for more or less governmental regulation and oversight, everyone would clearly benefit from a single agency handling all food-safety related issues -- but bureaucrats desperate to hold onto their little fiefdoms (and some in industry, who understand that it is easier to manipulate a divided bureaucracy) have managed to prevent any such sensible consolidation of responsibilities.

We made an earlier post detailing a more comprehensive list of federal, state, local, and NGO agencies involved in food safety. We are spotlighting each agency on the list here on this blog. Each agency spotlight includes the scope of their oversight, their specific role in regards to food safety, and contact info.

A Closed Mouth Catches No Flies

come and play at LACMA on saturday night

Franz West vs. LACMA Blog vs. Lawrence Welk

come and help us fake franz west on saturday night at LACMA.



Julida Polka - Lawrence Welk
More at MP3-Codes.com

Totally Nuts! FDA says to avoid pistachios amid salmonella scare

via AP

By GARANCE BURKE, Associated Press Writer

FRESNO, Calif. – Federal food safety officials warned Monday that consumers should stop eating all foods containing pistachios while they figure out the source of a possible salmonella contamination.

Still reeling from the national salmonella outbreak in peanuts, the Food and Drug Administration said central California-based Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc., the nation's second-largest pistachio processor, was voluntarily recalling a portion of the roasted nuts it has been shipping since last fall. A Setton spokeswoman said that amounts to more than 2 million pounds of nuts.

"Our advice to consumers is that they avoid eating pistachio products, and that they hold onto those products," said Dr. David Acheson, assistant commissioner for food safety. "The number of products that are going to be recalled over the coming days will grow, simply because these pistachio nuts have then been repackaged into consumer-level containers."

Two people called the FDA complaining of gastrointestinal illness that could be associated with the nuts, but the link hasn't been confirmed, Acheson said. Still, the plant decided to shut down late last week, officials said.

The recalled nuts represent a small fraction of the 55 million pounds of pistachios that the company's plant processed last year and an even smaller portion of the 278 million pounds produced in the state in the 2008 season, according to the Fresno-based Administrative Committee for Pistachios.

California alone is the second-largest producer of pistachios in the world.

According to the company's Web site, Setton Pistachio is in the corporate family of Commack, N.Y.-based Setton International Foods Inc. The company sells nuts, dried fruit, edible seeds, chocolate and yogurt-coated candies.

The FDA learned about the problem last Tuesday, when Kraft Foods Inc. notified the agency that it had detected salmonella in roasted pistachios through routine product testing. Kraft and the Georgia Nut Co. recalled their Back to Nature Nantucket Blend trail mix the next day.

The FDA contacted Setton Pistachio and California health officials shortly afterward, in what Acheson called a "proactive move."
By Friday, grocery operator Kroger Co. recalled one of its lines of bagged pistachios because of possible salmonella contamination, saying the California plant also supplied its nuts. Those nuts were sold in 31 states.

Fabia D'Arienzo, a spokeswoman for Tulare County-based Setton Pistachio, said the company was only recalling certain bulk roasted in-shell and roasted shelled pistachios that were shipped on or after September 1.

Because Setton Pistachio shipped tote bags of nuts weighing up to 2,000 pounds to 36 wholesalers across the country, it will take weeks to figure out how many products could be affected, said Jeff Farrar, chief of the Food and Drug Branch of the California Department of Public Health.

"It will be safe to assume based on the volume that this will be an ingredient in a lot of different products, and that may possibly include things like ice cream and cake mixes," Farrar said. "The firm is already turning around trucks in transit to bring those back to the facility."

Salmonella, the most common cause of food-borne illness, is a bacteria that causes diarrhea, fever and cramping. Most people recover, but the infection can be life-threatening for children, the elderly and people with weakened immune systems.

For nuts, roasting is supposed to kill the bacteria. But problems can occur if the roasting is not done correctly or if roasted nuts are re-contaminated. That can happen if mice, rats or birds get into the facility.

Last winter, a national salmonella outbreak was blamed on a Georgia company under federal investigation for flouting safety procedures and knowingly shipping contaminated peanuts.

The outbreak is still ongoing. More than 690 people in 46 states have gotten sick. Nearly 3,900 products made with peanut ingredients from Peanut Corp of America have been recalled.

California public health authorities have taken hundreds of samples at Setton's processing facility, but lab results have not yet determined whether salmonella was found at the plant, Farrar said. The food companies' own tests of the contaminated products isolated four different types of salmonella, but none were the same strain as the one found in the peanuts, Acheson said.
___
Associated Press writers Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar in Washington and Tracie Cone in Fresno contributed to this report.

LACMA Late Night - Franz West Puppet Theatre - Live Cam - 10pm - 12am, 4/4/09

Live Broadcasting by Ustream

Franz West Puppet Theatre by Finishing School

Late Night at LACMA

April 4, 2009
8 pm–midnight

TWO ACCLAIMED EXHIBITIONS ON VIEW
Art of Two Germanys/Cold War Cultures
Franz West: To Build a House You Start with the Roof,
Work: 1972–2008

DJ/VJs STRAIGHT FROM BERLIN
Pioneer video scratcher Safy Sniper and independent filmmaker, curator, DJ Christine Lang

INTERACTIVE ART MAKING
Engage with playful work derivative of Franz West’s Adaptives with Finishing School

IN-GALLERY READINGS
New Yorker staff writer and author of Honey and Junk Dana Goodyear
Poet, journalist, art critic, and Art Center teacher Amy Gerstler
Winner of the Berlin Prize Fellowship and the Lannan Literary Award for poetry, author August Kleinzahler
Writing students from USC read work inspired by the Franz West exhibition

LIVE MUSIC
Tom Peters performing Hanne Darboven’s Wunschkonzerte
Opera 17 A&B and 18 A&B on double bass

FOOD & DRINK
Sausages on the grill with German ale and wine

ADMISSION
Call 323 857-6010 or stop by the LACMA Box Office for tickets ($10).
Advance purchase only available until March 27. tickets may also be purchased at the event.

In-kind media support provided by LA Weekly.

Education programs at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art are supported in part by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and the William Randolph Hearst Endowment Fund for Arts Education. Funding for the DJ/VJ has been provided by the Goethe-Institut, Los Angeles. The Readings have been organized by Brighde Mullins, Director, Master of Professional Writing Program, USC.