Pathogen growth caused by improper or slow cooling of hot foods was a contributing factor in 504 of restaurant- and deli-related outbreaks in the U.S. from 1998-2008. Little is known, however, about restaurant cooling practices. To fill this gap, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Environmental Health Specialists Network (EHS-Net) conducted an observational study to identify and understand factors that might determine which methods restaurants follow to rapidly cool food. These methods include refrigerating food at <=41 degreesF, at shallow depths, and in containers that are ventilated, unstacked, and have space around them. EHS-Net personnel collected data through manager interviews and observation of cooling processes in 420 randomly selected restaurants. Regression analyses revealed characteristics of restaurants most likely to use the cooling methods assessed. These characteristics included ownership by restaurant chains, manager food safety training and certification, few foods cooled at a time, many meals served daily, and a high ratio of workers to managers. These findings suggest that regulatory food safety programs and the retail industry might improve cooling methods-and reduce outbreaks-by providing and encouraging manager food safety training and certification, and by focusing intervention efforts on independent and smaller restaurants.

BACKGROUND: Consistent performance of allergen assays is essential to ensure reproducibility of exposure assessments for investigations of asthma and occupational allergic disease. This study evaluated intra- and inter-laboratory reproducibility of a fluorescent multiplex array, which simultaneously measures eight indoor allergens in a single reaction well. METHODS: A multi-center study was performed in nine laboratories in the US and Europe to determine the inter-laboratory variability of an 8-plex array for dust mite, cat, dog, rat, mouse and cockroach allergens. Aliquots of 151 dust extract samples were sent to participating centers and analyzed by each laboratory on three separate occasions. Agreement within and between laboratories was calculated by the concordance correlation coefficient (CCC). RESULTS: Results were obtained for over 32,000 individual allergen measurements. Levels covered a wide range for all allergens from below the lower limit of detection (LLOD=0.1-9.8ng/ml) to higher than 6800ng/ml for all allergens except Mus m 1, which was up to 1700ng/ml. Results were reproducible within as well as between laboratories. Within laboratories, 94% of CCC were ≥0.90, and 80% of intra-laboratory results fell within a 10% coefficient of variance (CV%). Results between laboratories also showed highly significant positive correlations for all allergens (~0.95, p<0.001). Overall means of results were comparable, and inter-laboratory CV% for all allergens except Rat n 1 ranged between 17.6% and 26.6%. CONCLUSION: The data indicate that performance criteria for fluorescent multiplex array technology are reproducible within and between laboratories. Multiplex technology provides standardized and consistent allergen measurements that will streamline environmental exposure assessments in allergic disease.

This study presents geochemical data produced from the analysis of coal and adjacent rock samples retrieved from coal mining regions in the U.S. to examine mineral matter provenance. Study sites included the Northern Appalachian Basin, where the units of interest were the Lower Kittanning Coal bed, the overlying Columbiana Shale, and the underlying paleosol (Allegheny Formation). Additional study sites were located in the Central Appalachian Basin, where sampling was conducted on strata associated with multiple coal beds of Middle and Lower Pennsylvanian age. The Central Appalachian Basin rock and coal samples were much lower in overall mineral matter and contained very little carbonate (calcite and siderite) or pyrite mineralogy, which was common at the Northern Appalachian Basin sites. Elemental analysis of rock samples indicated a trend of enrichment in Ca, Mg, Mn, Na, and K cations in the immediate overburden compared to the underlying rock in the Central Appalachian Basin. A similar trend was observed in coal related strata from the Northern Appalachian Basin which was attributed to epigenetic marine incursions. Rare earth element (REE) concentrations were determined in the samples, and showed Eu and Ce anomalies when normalized by chondritic values. The total REE content of the overburden is generally less than that of the underlying rock units. Neodymium isotopic analysis of the Lower Kittanning coal, overburden, and paleosol from the Northern Basin indicate partial resetting of the Sm–Nd system close to the time of deposition. The data indicate a common Appalachian source for the clastic mineral matter in the overburden, underclay, and coal mineral matter. The geochemical findings of this study may provide a viable method for distinguishing respirable dust sources in both Appalachian Basins. There are potential applications for this research to aid in the respiratory health of underground coal miners.