LOCAL
Raw food diet for your pet? - Think again
The Minnesota Department of Health reports two cases of salmonellosis in the Twin Cities metro area linked to raw ground turkey pet food.
Two children from the same family became ill after their dog was fed with this recently recalled product. One of them was hospitalized due to osteomyelitis. The same strain of Salmonella Reading was found from samples from the patients and the product.
The CDC does not recommend raw food diets to pets due to the potential risk for human disease.
NATIONAL
SNAP will be snapped!
The Trump administration is proposing severe cuts to the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for the fiscal year 2019 budget.
For families receiving more than $90 per month in SNAP benefits, a portion of their benefits would be provided in the form of a USDA Foods package, which would include foods such as cereals, peanut butter, canned vegetables and meat.
According to the budget proposal, enrollment in SNAP remains “stubbornly” high despite of significant economic improvement after the recession. The cuts would generate significant savings to taxpayers with no loss in food benefits or nutritional value to participants.
Editor's note: Even though the proposal claims there would be no loss in nutritional value in the foods SNAP receivers would eat, one could argue that processed sugary foods and the lack of fresh fruit and vegetables would not provide an optimal diet for these people.
INTERNATIONAL
Korean noro
The norovirus outbreak continues to bug the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in South Korea with 199 confirmed cases as of today.
15,000 bottles of hand sanitizers have been distributed to the Olympic venues. Studies performed with a norovirus surrogate, murine norovirus, suggest that ethanol based hand sanitizers can be effective against norovirus within 30 seconds.
Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) recommends people visiting the Games to maintain good handwashing practices, and drink bottled water to avoid possible foodborne illness during the Games.