The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "food contamination" ...
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What Killed Brian Lykins
CBS 60 Minutes II reports on dangers of tissue transplants. The story focuses on the case of Brian Lykins, a healthy 23-old, who has died from a routine knee surgery after a gangrene-like infection. The main finding: the infection was caused by contaminated tissue supplied by Cryolife, a company that had known of dangers of contamination for at least four years and had settled previous cases of deaths out of court.
Tags: doctors; Food and Drug administration (FDA); tissue processing; health; safety; TAPE; TRANSCRIPT
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Blood Errors
The series -- the result of an intensive Freedom of Information battle with the Food and Drug Administration -- "was two-pronged: an initial (three-part) series found hundreds of hospital patients across the U.S. had died following blood transfusions. The investigation found that "hospital labs mislabeled blood, nurses transfused it into the wrong patients, phlebotomists drew blood samples from the wrong people and, in some cases, deadly contaminated blood was transfused into patients." A secondary investigation "developed as an offshoot of the series. A special blood plasma made on Long Island and sold by the American Red Cross to thousands of hospitals was killing liver transplant patients." Newsday documented 16 deaths in liver transplant patients and found that the plasma was deficient in a crucial protein, making it especially dangerous to people with liver disease.
Tags: blood; hospitals; medicine; American Red Cross; transfusions; Long Island; plasma; Food and Drug Administration; FDA; FOIA; database mapping project
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No title (id: 19386)
When 21 people died from eating contaminated meats, it was the nation's most lethal food safety epidemic in 15 years--and one of the quietest. Why didn't the U.S. Department of Agriculture blow the whistle sooner on Sara Lee?
Tags: Ball Park franks; USDA; CDC; listeria; Sara Lee; contaminated meat; Bil Mar Foods; food safety
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What is being fed to schoolchildren?
Millions of American children get free or reduced lunch through a government program, but critics claim that some of the food, particularly meat, is contaminated.
Tags: food; school-lunch program; USDA; agriculture; sanitation violations; AMS; Agricultural Marketing Service; E.coli; meat inspection; contamination
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School Food Safety; School Lunches: Illness On Menu
The Tribune reports on school food illness outbreaks across the United States. The series finds that "dangerous practices exist in the factories where school food is made and in the kitchens and cafeterias where it is warmed and served." The government inspection system for monitoring the $5-billion-per-year school-food business is flawed. It is often difficult to trace spoiled food because subcontractors' identities are rarely disclosed to school officials. The reporter looks at a notorious case in which 1,200 children in North Dakota were sickened by contaminated tortillas.
Tags: schools; education; United States Department of Agriculture (USDA); FOIA requests; lead-based paint; lead poisoning; health violations; bacteria; CAR; meat industry; food safety; FDA; CDC
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Fateful Harvest: The True Story of a Small Town, a Global Industry, and a Toxic Secret
Wilson's book tells how "toxic heavy metals, dioxins and radioactive wastes are being recycled as fertilizer on farms, yards and gardens nationwide." The author profiles a small farming town - Quincy, Washington - and depicts the local government and community controversial reactions to the use of the unsafe fertilizer. The main finding is that "some large, polluting industries saved millions of dollars in hazardous-waste disposal costs through the fertilizer loophole, while the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) looked the other way."
Tags: BOOK; environment; pollution; agriculture; farming; Association of American Plant Food; chemical manufacturers; lead; contamination
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Outbreak
The Washington Post Magazine investigates the failure of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to prevent 21 deaths caused by contaminated meat from Sara Lee Corp. The story reveals that the contamination occurred because of moisture problems in the cooling section of "the giant Bil Mar Foods meatpacking plant in western Michigan." While deaths were tolling, the USDA was leery to issue a press release for fear not to face the legal implications of wrongly accusing the meatproducer. Even though Bil Mar quietly recalled the deadly products from the market, people were still eating meat kept in refrigerators or supermarkets and contaminated with the dangerous Listeria bacteria, the magazine reports. A major finding is that government lacks regulatory power to recall unsafe foods, as well as penalties system for repeated violations in the food industry.
Tags: health; FDA; meat; bacteria; contamination; Sara Lee; CDC; listeria; sanitation; immune system; pregnancy; hot dogs; deli meats; consumers; lawsuits
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Our Polluted Runoff
"Rainfall, snowmelt, or irrigation runoff moves across the land... [It] picks up... residues from the production of food, the manicuring of yards, the construction of roads and buildings... and transports these contaminants to the nearest stream, lake, estuary or aquifer," National Geographic reports. Our water sources are getting more and more polluted, and salvation lies in the hands of the average citizen not corporate polluters.
Tags: water; run off; nonpoint-source pollution; blue-baby syndrome; integrated pest management
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Farmers Fight To Save Organic Crops
The Progessive takes a look at the contamination of organic goods by genentically modified orgamisms (GMOs). Genetic contamination of oganic foods can come from sharing equipment, trucks and through pollination by wind and insects. Still, by comparison, organic crops are "orders of magnitude cleaner" than conventional ones.
Tags: organic crops; organic farming; bioengineering; genetically modified corn; genetically modified organisms; Organic Trade Association; National Organic Standards Board; American Seed Trade Association
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Genetically Modified Foods: Are They Safe
The story analyses whether genetically modified crops are an "environmental dream come true" or "disaster in the making." The author looks at the cost to wildlife, in particular the possible hazards that pollen from insect-resistant corn plants poses to the larvae of monarch butterflies. The reporter examines the worries that genes from GM crops may contaminate the surrounding plants. The investigation finds that "U.S. landscape logistics make it unlikely that herbicide-tolerant or Bt crops will spread their biotech genes," but "it might be harder to avoid creating superweeds elsewhere."
Tags: pollen; transgenic crops; Environmental Protection Agency; agriculture; environment; viruses; species