4 ms·

The part where the author picks out a subset of "unforgivable" violations is arbitrary and unsupported. It's like "what sounds the grossest" with a bunch of Dat

by abalone 13y ago

The part where the author picks out a subset of "unforgivable" violations is arbitrary and unsupported. It's like "what sounds the grossest" with a bunch of Data Science Analysis layered on top.. Because boy do we nerds love our charts-n-graphs. But the assumptions are faulty. Improper storage and refrigeration (not on the "unforgivable" list) are undoubtably some of the biggest causes of food borne illness.

abalone 13y ago
I just want to take the opportunity to comment further on the hygiene thing, because it's relevant to public health in a very unexpected way. The author has such a fixation on hygiene that they arbitrarily elevate it to a special category, above proper refrigeration and storage, beyond all reason and logic. What reason and logic, you may ask? Hygiene's mainly an issue if a food handler is sick or come into contact with a sick person. Whereas improperly stored food will get you ill a very high percentage of the time regardless of the health of the staff. Just do a quick calculation of the odds in your head of which is a more critical issue. But it's super gross, right, and most people can't help but put it at the top of their mental list of "grossness", even above unrefrigerated meat and eggs (that have been previously refrigerated), which are far more likely to make you sick. So how does an irrational fixation with hygiene affect public health? There was a study done that compared poor Russian kids with rich Finnish kids living across the border from one another. It found higher rates of auto-immune diseases, allergies and diabetes in the Finnish kids. Similar genetic profiles and all that. Long story short, the theory is the rich Finnish parents were more obsessed with hygiene and keeping their kids clean, and it actually hurt the development of a normal immune system. Interesting, right? Moral of the story: mere quantity of data is insufficient to draw correct conclusions. One must also adhere to a rigorous scientific methodology that controls for biases. Source: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/The-Unintended-and-Deadly-Consequences-of-Living-in-the-Industrialized-World-199164051.html http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/The-Unintended-...
Fomite 13y ago
I'm going to echo some of these statements here - I'm an infectious disease epidemiologist, and while the author seems to want to speak with authority "inappropriate cooling methods, improper food storage" are absolutely things that can and will land you in the hospital.
peeters 13y ago
And things that are give no indication of why they'd be unforgivable. "Improper food labeling or menu misrepresentation" sounds like it could mean anything from serving horse when the menu says beef, to something as benign as saying "with a side of garlic butter" but actually using margarine.

by abalone 13y ago

abalone 13y ago

I just want to take the opportunity to comment further on the hygiene thing, because it's relevant to public health in a very unexpected way. The author has such a fixation on hygiene that they arbitrarily elevate it to a special category, above proper refrigeration and storage, beyond all reason and logic. What reason and logic, you may ask? Hygiene's mainly an issue if a food handler is sick or come into contact with a sick person. Whereas improperly stored food will get you ill a very high percentage of the time regardless of the health of the staff. Just do a quick calculation of the odds in your head of which is a more critical issue. But it's super gross, right, and most people can't help but put it at the top of their mental list of "grossness", even above unrefrigerated meat and eggs (that have been previously refrigerated), which are far more likely to make you sick. So how does an irrational fixation with hygiene affect public health? There was a study done that compared poor Russian kids with rich Finnish kids living across the border from one another. It found higher rates of auto-immune diseases, allergies and diabetes in the Finnish kids. Similar genetic profiles and all that. Long story short, the theory is the rich Finnish parents were more obsessed with hygiene and keeping their kids clean, and it actually hurt the development of a normal immune system. Interesting, right? Moral of the story: mere quantity of data is insufficient to draw correct conclusions. One must also adhere to a rigorous scientific methodology that controls for biases. Source: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/The-Unintended-and-Deadly-Consequences-of-Living-in-the-Industrialized-World-199164051.html http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/The-Unintended-...

Fomite 13y ago

I'm going to echo some of these statements here - I'm an infectious disease epidemiologist, and while the author seems to want to speak with authority "inappropriate cooling methods, improper food storage" are absolutely things that can and will land you in the hospital.

peeters 13y ago

And things that are give no indication of why they'd be unforgivable. "Improper food labeling or menu misrepresentation" sounds like it could mean anything from serving horse when the menu says beef, to something as benign as saying "with a side of garlic butter" but actually using margarine.