Compass Chiropractic

This is a recent clip from our local NBC affiliate, WTHR (Channel 13) reporting on the back pain survey from Consumer Reports.

I put together the following video to explain Sciatica, which is often times misdiagnosed.

April 8, 2008 — Because of  salmonella risk, Malt-O-Meal is recalling its unsweetened puffed rice and puffed wheat cereals with “Best If Used By” dates ranging from April 8, 2008 (coded as “APR0808″)  to March 18, 2009 (coded as “MAR1809″).

Salmonella bacteria can cause symptoms including diarrhea, fever, nausea, and abdominal pain. Severe cases of salmonella infection can be life-threatening.

No illnesses linked to the recalled cereals have been reported.

The recalled cereals were distributed nationwide, marketed under the Malt-O-Meal brand and as some private label brands including Acme, America’s Choice, Food Club, Giant, Hannaford, Jewel, Laura Lynn, Pathmark, Shaw’s ShopRite, Tops, and Weis Quality.

In a news release, Malt-O-Meal states that it issued the voluntary recall “out of an abundance of caution” after its routine safety testing detected salmonella in a product made on March 24, 2008. The company says it has fixed the problem and that the recalled cereals account for less than half of one percent of the company’s yearly production of ready-to-eat cereal.

Malt-O-Meal advises consumers to return the recalled cereals to the store where they were purchased for a full refund. For more information, call Malt-O-Meal at 877-665-9331 or visit the company’s recall web site for a full list of recalled products.

May 25, 2007 — The FDA today warned consumers not to buy or eat monkfish because it may actually be puffer fish containing a potentially lethal toxin called tetrodotoxin.

The FDA’s warning comes after two people in the Chicago area became ill after eating homemade soup containing the mislabeled monkfish. One of those people was hospitalized due to severe illness, says the FDA.

The FDA analyzed the fish and confirmed the presence of potentially life-threatening levels of tetrodotoxin, which isn’t found in real monkfish.

If you’ve already got monkfish in your freezer or refrigerator, throw it out, says the FDA. Tetrodotoxin isn’t destroyed by cooking, freezing, or other common methods of food preparation.

The FDA says the mislabeled fish were imported from China by Hong Chang Corp. of Santa Fe Springs, Calif. Consumers concerned that they may have purchased this fish should contact their retailer and ask if the product was received from Hong Chang Corp.

The FDA allows puffer fish to be imported into the U.S. only under strict provisions that minimize the risk of the toxin being present in the fish. The recalled fish were not in compliance with those provisions.

The FDA says it’s examining all imports from the Chinese supplier and will take additional action, if warranted.

Boxes of Imported Fish

According to the FDA, a total of 282 22-pound boxes labeled as monkfish were distributed to wholesalers in Illinois, California, and Hawaii beginning in September 2006. These fish were then sold to restaurants or sold in stores. In one instance, the retailer labeled the fish as “bok,” the Korean name for puffer fish.

The white 22-pound boxes were labeled in black ink. One box panel is labeled as “FROZEN MONKFISH GUTTED AND HEAD-OFF” and “PRODUCT OF CHINA.” A second panel bears nutritional facts and the following text: “Ingredients: Monk fish; Imported by: Hong Chang Corp, Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670; Product of China (P.R.C.).”

A third panel has a check box indicating the size as either “0.5-1″ or “1-2″ and shows the net weight as 22 pounds. There are no manufacturing codes on the box. The fish in the box are individually wrapped in plastic bags with no labeli

Kroger Recalls Pistachios; More Recalls Expected

March 30, 2009 — Stop eating pistachio nuts, the FDA says. They may carry food-poisoning salmonella bacteria.

The new salmonella scare — this time in pistachio nuts — has led Kroger Co. to recall pistachios sold in 31 states. Because the nuts came from a large shipment of 1 million pounds of pistachio nuts sold to 36 different wholesalers nationwide, more recalls are expected, says David Acheson, MD, the FDA’s associate commissioner for foods.

“Our advice to consumers is to avoid eating pistachio products,” Acheson said in a news conference. “Just hold onto them to see if they are involved in the recall.”

The only recalls to date have been in roasted shelled pistachios sold separately or in a brand of trail mix. But pending an investigation, products as diverse as cake mix and ice cream may yet be recalled, Jeff Farrar, PhD, DVM, MPH, chief of the food branch of the California Department of Health, said at the news conference.

The salmonella has nothing to do with the ongoing outbreak of salmonella poisoning from peanuts. Unlike the peanut outbreak, the pistachio contamination was discovered during routine testing by Kraft Foods — before anyone was known to have been sickened. The FDA has at least two unconfirmed reports of sickness in people who ate pistachios, but those cases have not yet been linked to the types of salmonella found in pistachio nuts.

“We are not dealing with an outbreak here,” Acheson said. “This is a proactive action by the firm.”

The nuts came from Setton Farms of Terra Bella, Calif., which ships 600 million pounds of pistacho nuts each year. Testing of roasted pistachios detected four strains of salmonella; these strains do not match the salmonella strain behind the peanut outbreak.

The Kroger recall follows close on the heels of last week’s pistachio recalls by the Georgia Nut Company of Skokie, Ill.; and the Back to Nature Foods Co. of Madison, Wis., a Kraft Foods subsidiary.

Kroger spokeswoman Denise Osterhues tells WebMD that Kroger was notified of the possible salmonella contamination by Setton Farms. Setton Farms also supplied the pistachio nuts implicated in last week’s recall. Acheson and Farrar praised the firm for its cooperation, which has extended to recalling trucks already en route to wholesalers.

The California Department of Public Health and the FDA are now conducting a joint investigation of the Sutton Farms facility.

The recalled Kroger product is called Private Selection Shelled Pistachios. It’s sold in 10-ounce containers with a “sell by” date of DEC-13-09 and DEC-14-09. The packages carry the UPS Code 11110 73615.

The nuts were sold in Kroger Co. stores with 17 different names: Kroger, Ralphs, Fred Meyer, Fry’s, King Soopers, Smith’s, Dillons, QFC, City Market, Foods Co., Jay C, Scott’s, Owen’s, Baker’s, Gerbes, Hilander, and Pay Less.

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Kroger’s Food 4 Less stores did not carry the recalled pistachio nuts.

Stores affected by the recall are in Alaska, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Kroger warns customers who bought this product not to eat the nuts. The company is offering a full refund or replacement for packages returned to stores.

The source of the pistachio nuts recalled by Kroger has not been revealed.

The Georgia Nut company supplied the nuts used in a Back to Nature Foods product. Those nuts were obtained from an unnamed supplier in California, a Georgia Nut spokesman told WebMD last week.

The suspected salmonella contamination of pistachio nuts has not been linked to the ongoing nationwide outbreak of salmonella linked to Georgia peanuts.

Salmonella infection can cause fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Most people recover within a week without medicine, but severe and even life-threatening complications can arise; young children, frail or elderly people, and people with weak immune systems are more vulnerable.

Last night my wife asked me if I had read the article about chiropractic in new issue of Consumer Reports. At first I cringed, because the media hasn’t always been kind to chiropractors. Then she smiled and said, “I think you’re going to like it.”

Consumer reports published a new survey of back pain suffers in their May issue. The magazine surveyed 14,000 back pain suffers and asked them about their satisfaction with a variety of different health care treatments. The treatments listed in the survey were chiropractic, physical therapy, acupuncture, surgery and primary care physicians. Chiropractic had the highest percentage of responders who were “highly satisfied” with their results, 59% of those suffering from back pain were “highly satisfied” with chiropractic compared to 34% who went to their primary care physician.

This reports is exciting for the profession as it has been provided by a non-bias credible source. The people in this survey were everyday real people and not subjects in a controlled study. I am very excited to see this type of response to a survey of this magnitude.

To read the original Consumer Reports article click here.