Current Events in August 2014

Good news for consumers might mean bad news for electric companies and their stockholders: the Wall Street Journal reported this weekthat American electricity consumption has been declining for five years, even as the economy has improved.

American retail electricity sales peaked in 2008, at 3.77 trillion kilowatt-hours, whereas the 2013 total was only 3.69 trillion kilowatt-hours – a two percent drop from 2008. Yet America in 2013 had over 12 million people more than in 2008 – and a typical American in 2013 likely owned more electric or electronic devices, appliances and gadgets than her circa-2008 counterpart, too.

When American electricity consumption dropped in 2009, electric companies initially blamed the recession: utility customers are probably trying to save money, but surely electricity use will pick up again once the economy does! Except that didn't happen — the recession ended, but the electricity decline did not.

Warmer climates

The Journal mentioned a couple of different trends which likely share the blame: part of the drop in residential electricity consumption is because more Americans these days live in generally warm regions, where their main climate-control needs require air conditioning rather than heat. (Although it might sound paradoxical, modern technology means that cooling a home generally requires less energy than heating one.)

The changing face of American industry also shares some of the blame: as manufacturers leave this country and re-settle overseas, they (obviously) take their need for electricity with them.

Also, modern appliances tend to be more efficient and require far less electricity than their earlier counterparts. To offer just one example: the U.S. Energy Information Administration said that in 2005, the average refrigerator needed 840 kilowatt-hours of electricity to operate each year, yet a typical refrigerator sold in 2010 requires only 453 kilowatt-hours.

The statistic “How many Americans in 2014 still use circa-2005 or older refrigerators in their kitchens” is not available, but the answer is almost certainly, “Millions, no doubt.” Yet that number shrinks every year, probably every month, whenever the owner of an old fridge decides it's finally time to upgrade.

The Journal also made brief mention of solar panels and other alternative-energy sources:

Increasingly, both residential and business customers are making their own power rather than buying it from utilities. In Arizona, for example, solar companies are siphoning off utility customers.

Sherry Pfister, a retiree who once worked at the Palo Verde nuclear power plant 45 miles west of Phoenix, says she didn't hesitate to lease solar panels for her home in Waddell, Ariz., and says the panels have cut her utility bill by a third.

“Why isn't everybody doing it?” she wonders.

Pfister likely meant that as a rhetorical question, but here's one possible answer: not everybody lives in a sunny desert region like Arizona, and the technology is not yet good enough to be useful in more overcast regions. Even in sunny areas, it can be dificult to afford the upfront cost of the panels.

Demand destroyers

A couple days later, an energy blogger for Slate suggested that the Journal's remarks about solar panels and efficient refrigerators actually should have been the core focus of their story; Daniel Gross said that declining American electrical consumtion goes “beyond energy efficiency: we're not just reducing demand for electricity — we're destroying it.”

Basically, Gross suggests that the real cause of declining electricity sales is that the industry in general is undergoing a case of demand destruction.

Demand destruction, as the name suggests, describes what happens when social, technological or economic changes destroy the previous demand for a commodity, good or service. For example: the photographic film industry experienced massive demand destruction once digital cameras (and phones equipped with them) became cheap and ubiquitous.

The perennial financial difficulties of the U.S. Postal Service can also be blamed on demand destruction: the post office traditionally relied on first-class mail (mainly letters and greeting cards) for the bulk of its operating income, but cheap and instant communication technologies including email, text messaging and free long-distance calls have killed most of the market (or destroyed most of the demand) for writing and mailing letters.

And the modern electrical-utility industry is facing demand destruction too. As Slate said:

The price of solar panels has come down dramatically in recent years, and new business models, such as SolarCity’s leases, have substantially reduced the costs associated with installing rooftop electricity generation systems. As a percentage of overall electricity production, solar is minuscule. But each panel represents a bit of demand destruction. And when a company puts solar panels on the roof of a big-box retailer, as Ikea has done on 40 of its U.S. stores, or as Walmart has done (89 megawatts of capacity at 215 locations as of last fall), it is effectively destroying a decent chunk of demand over the 20-year life of the system.

While solar production (or at-home electricity generation in general) comprises only a tiny percentage of American electricity use today, it's important to remember that the industry is still relatively young, and the technology primitive compared to what the future will likely offer.

That said, it's still possible that, despite the growing use of solar panels, energy-efficient appliances and other forms of electric-company demand destruction, that destruction might one day slow down or even reverse thanks to another technological innovation: electric cars.

Right now, electric cars really aren't a viable alternative to internal-combustion vehicles, mainly because of their batteries: recharging an electric car requires the vehicle to be plugged in overnight, (compared to the five minutes or less you need to fill a car's empty gas tank). But if electric-car technology improved to the point where recharging a battery was as easy as filling a tank, the demand for such cars would skyrocket — and so would the demand for electricity.

Two new research studies have shed new light on who will be afflicted with dementia, like Alzheimer's disease, and why. They join the growing body of research that is giving doctors better insight to the aging-related disease that robs seniors of their memory. It's of growing concern since the large Baby Boom generation is now entering old age and is at risk.

The first study, by researchers at the University of Exeter Medical School, links dementia with heavy alcohol consumption during middle age. It found that middle-aged adults with a history of problem drinking are more than twice as likely to suffer from severe memory impairment in later life.

"We already know there is an association between dementia risk and levels of current alcohol consumption – that understanding is based on asking older people how much they drink and then observing whether they develop problems,” said lead author Iain Lang. “But this is only one part of the puzzle and we know little about the consequences of alcohol consumption earlier in life.”

To find answers Lang and his team investigated the relatively unknown association between having a drinking problem at any point in life and experiencing problems with memory later in life.

"This is a public health issue that needs to be addressed,” Lang said. “More research is required to investigate the potential harms associated with alcohol consumption throughout life.”

Older people drinking more

The finding is particularly troubling in light of recent evidence that more middle-aged and elderly people are abusing alcohol. The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence says alcohol and prescription drug problems among adults 60 and older is one of the fastest growing health problems facing the country.

It says thousands of older people who need treatment for alcohol dependence aren't receiving it.

Meanwhile, an international study of 27,000 patients has established an unusual test to determine whether a patient is likely to develop dementia. The test measured how fast the subjects walked and answered a short series of questions. The slower the gait and the more wrong answers, the higher the risk of developing dementia.

Scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, who conducted the study, said people who failed the test were twice as likely as others to develop dementia within 12 years.

Low-tech test

What makes the test important, the researchers say, is that it does not rely on sophisticated or expensive equipment, making it accessible to physicians in remote regions of the world. Testing relies on measuring gait speed and asking a few simple questions about a patient's cognitive abilities, both of which take just seconds.

"In many clinical and community settings, people don't have access to the sophisticated tests – biomarker assays, cognitive tests or neuroimaging studies – used to diagnose people at risk for developing dementia," said senior author Joe Verghese. "Our assessment method could enable many more people to learn if they're at risk for dementia, since it avoids the need for complex testing and doesn't require that the test be administered by a neurologist.

Early diagnosis, of course, is critical because it allows time to identify and possibly treat the underlying causes of the disease, which may delay or even prevent the onset of dementia in some cases.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that up to 5.3 million Americans—about 1 in 9 people age 65 and over – have Alzheimer's disease, the most common type of dementia. That number is expected to more than double by 2050 due to population aging.

Discussing Facebook's privacy policies is like talking about the weather: the accurate observations you make about it now will be hopelessly out of date pretty soon. On the other hand, wait long enough and there will come a day when at least some of your obsolete commentary becomes relevant again.

So before we tell you about the latest Facebook privacy-policy brouhaha, let's take a moment to recall some recent (and potentially contradictory) stories we've already done:

• April 2014: Facebook announces that its advertisers do not get access to the massive amounts of personal data it collects about its various users.
• May 2014: Facebook announces improvements to users' privacy controls, in response to massive complaints about unintentional privacy violations.
• This week: Facebook wants to expand its online “behavioral advertising” program, and privacy advocates react in horror.

Behavioral advertising is pretty commonplace on the Internet; it's targeted advertising based on your web-browsing history (or “behavior”). You've surely been exposed to behavioral advertising whether you're on Facebook or not: if you read an article about Nifty-widgets, browse the Nifty-widget online store or do a web search for Nifty-widget reviews, you'll soon notice that almost every website you visit later is filled with ads urging you to try the amazing Nifty-widget.

Complete reversal

So what is it about Facebook's latest behavioral advertising announcement that sets it apart? For starters, it's a complete reversal of previous behavioral-advertising announcements Facebook has made.

Back in 2011, Facebook made some changes to its then-current privacy policies, after its users were outraged to learn that Facebook tracked their visits to any website featuring a Facebook widget, even when those users were logged out of Facebook.

In other words: anytime any Facebook user read an article with the option to “Like” or “Share” on Facebook, Facebook knew about it. A Facebook engineer admitted it collected this data about its logged-out users, but insisted it was no big deal. “The onus is on us is to take all the data and scrub it,” Facebook engineer Arturo Bejar said at the time.

Nonetheless, in 2011 Facebook supposedly changed its behavioral advertising policies to not track the activities of its users when they were logged out.

Back to the future

Now fast-forward to 2014: in June, Facebook announced plans to go back to the pre-2011 status quo and track all user visits to websites with Facebook widgets, even if the users are actually logged out of Facebook.

So July 29, the privacy-advocacy organization Trans Atlantic Consumer Dialogue sent a letter (in .pdf form here) to Edith Ramirez, the chairwoman of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., and her Irish/European Union counterpart Billy Hawkes, of the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner in Ireland.

…. We are writing to express deep alarm about the announcement on June 12, 2014, that Facebook is planning to collect the web browsing activities of Internet users for targeted advertising. Facebook already installs cookies and pixel tags on users’ computers to track browsing activity on Facebook.com and Facebook apps. If Facebook is permitted to expand its data collection practices, those cookies and pixel tags will also track users’ browsing activity on any website that includes a few lines of Facebook code....

TACD requested that the commissioners “suspend [Facebook's] proposed change in business practices to determine whether it complies with current U.S. and EU law.”

The letter went on to describe various Facebook privacy policies and programs throughout the years before pointing out that the latest proposed changes have much in common with previously abandoned Facebook policies, and furthermore that Facebook's current language regarding these policies is misleading at best:

The FTC should examine whether Facebook’s change in business practices violates the consent order between Facebook and the FTC.

Count I of the Order requires that Facebook “shall not misrepresent in any manner, expressly or by implication, the extent to which it maintains the privacy or security of covered information, including...the extent to which a consumer can control the privacy of any covered information maintained by Respondent and the steps a consumer must take to implement such controls.” However, Facebook has misrepresented the amount of control users will be able to exert over their privacy settings. Facebook has stated that it will collect user data from third-party sites, but users will be able to “control which ads” they see. This is misleading; the new data collection policy is unrelated to users’ control over Facebook’s ability to collect browsing information.

You are the product

On the other hand, Facebook is a a free service, so it's worth recalling the old saying about social media sites: “If you're not paying for it, you're not their customer; you're what they sell to their customers.”

Facebook's customers – the ones who actually pay for Facebook services, and cover Facebook's operating costs and profits – are the advertisers who pay for the privilege of, for example, showing their Nifty-widget ads to any Facebook user whose browser history suggests he might, possibly, be interested in acquiring a Nifty-widget.

If you want to have a Facebook account without targeted behavioral advertising, your best bet at this point is to have two separate computers, smartphones, tablets or whatever Internet-communication device you prefer: one device exclusively for visiting Facebook, and another device for everything else.

If you're feeling a bit creeped out by the Internet these days, you aren't alone. A survey of U.S. Internet users found that nearly 75% admit to being worried about the quantity of personal information about them available online. What's more, they say they don't trust social media sites to keep their contact information, buying habits and political beliefs confidential.

When you break down the data compiled by Rad Campaign, Lincoln Park Strategies, and Craig Newmark of craigconnects, you find this mistrust and concern about privacy rises as Americans get older.

People 65 and older expressed their concern at roughly twice the rate of poll respondents under 35. They are also the consumers who feel most strongly that privacy laws need to be strengthened.

"The data shows very clearly that Americans feel manipulated and exposed by the websites they frequent," said Allyson Kapin, co-Founder of Rad Campaign, an organization pushing political advocacy and social change. "That may not stop them from using Facebook and Twitter, or other websites, but they are clearly calling for more safeguards so their personal data does not get sold or used for targeted marketing purposes so easily."

Cookies

The survey shows consumers tend to be most concerned about tracking cookies. These bits of data are responsible for the fact that, once you search for something on Amazon, for example, Amazon ads for that item tend to pop up on web sites you subsequently visit.

In fact, most cookies are fairly benign, compared to other threats, and simply a way for a web site to remember you when you return to the site – not requiring you to sign in again, for example. There are plenty of more serious privacy issues to be concerned about.

When you unknowingly download a program that gathers information – or even takes control on some of your device's functions – that's a big problem. The Department of Homeland Security breaks these intruders down to four similar, yet different threats – viruses, worms, Trojan horses and spyware.

A virus is activated when you click on something you shouldn't. Worms are more insidious, exploiting vulnerabilities on your computer without you doing anything.

A Trojan horse claims to be one thing but is really another. For example, it might present itself as software to protect your privacy, but then collect information about you and distribute it. Spyware shows up when you download a “free” application. It sends information about your activities to a third party.

What to do

To protect yourself from these threats, keep your anti-virus software up to date and don't visit websites you don't trust. Avoid downloading “free” apps unless they are from trusted sources and don't click on links in email, especially email from a spammer.

A major no-no is doing your online banking or checking email in an airport or coffee shop, using public Wi-Fi. An unsecured connection allows others in the public place, with the help of simple software tools, to monitor your activity.

If you have to check email or other sensitive data in a public place, connect to the Internet through a secure line, such as the “hot spot” feature on your smartphone.

Tools

There are also a number of tools that can protect your anonymity on the Internet, such a using “tails,” a live operating system that you can start on almost any computer from a DVD, USB stick, or SD card. It aims at preserving your privacy and anonymity.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has compiled this list of other technology tools to protect your privacy.

But the biggest thing consumers can do, sponsors of the privacy poll suggest, is to be much more careful about what they sign up for – starting with actually reading the terms of service (TOS).

"On one hand, Americans are quite concerned about their online privacy, but on the other hand the majority of Americans are using websites and social media platforms without reading very much of the TOS," said Stefan Hankin, Founder of polling firm Lincoln Park Strategies. "That's a problem."

And it goes without saying that, if you are concerned about your privacy, be circumspect about the information and photographs you post on social media sites. It's easy to get caught up in the moment but remember, the Internet is forever. Once it's out there, it's out there.

Although it is said to be the largest in history, the worsening Ebola outbreak in West Africa does not pose a threat to the United States, federal health officials say.

Hundreds of people have died in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a warning to avoid nonessential travel to those countries.

Two Americans who contracted the disease are being transported to an Atlanta hospital for treatment, the first time known Ebola victims have entered the U.S. The CDC says all appropriate precautions are being taken in transporting and treating those victims.

“This is the biggest and most complex Ebola outbreak in history. Far too many lives have been lost already,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D. “It will take many months, and it won’t be easy, but Ebola can be stopped. We know what needs to be done. CDC is surging our response, sending 50 additional disease control experts to the region in the next 30 days.”

There is no cure for the disease, which causes multiple organ failure and often kills its victims in a matter of days. Typically, the disease has a 60% mortality rate.

Bodily fluids

Although it is contagious and is spread by contact with bodily fluids, Ebola is not as easily spread as the flu, HIV or other infectious diseases. It is contagious only when the patient is sick with the symptoms of the disease; the corpse of a deceased victim can also be contagious.

The key to containing Ebola is educating family members, enforcing strict protocols by healthcare workers and tracking victims so that care can be provided to those they may inadvertently infect.

Previous outbreaks have burned themselves out over a period of several months, CDC officials said at a telebriefing, but the advent of modern air travel across Africa makes it easier for the disease to spread more widely in a short period of time.

Nevertheless, CDC expects its efforts not only to help bring the current outbreak under control, but to leave behind stronger systems to prevent, detect and stop Ebola and other outbreaks before they spread.

In addition to warning travelers to avoid going to the region, CDC is also assisting with active screening and education efforts on the ground in West Africa to prevent sick travelers from getting on planes.

On the remote possibility that they do, CDC has protocols in place to protect against further spread of disease. These include notification to CDC of ill passengers on a plane before arrival, investigation of ill travelers, and, if necessary, quarantine. CDC also provides guidance to airlines for managing ill passengers and crew and for disinfecting aircraft.

Earlier this week, CDC issued a Health Alert Notice reminding U.S. healthcare workers of the importance of taking steps to prevent the spread of this virus, how to test and isolate suspected patients and how they can protect themselves from infection.

A California insurance agent has been arrested and charged with ripping off five senior citizens in a $2 million scam. John Paul Slawinski, 59, was arrested at his home in Palm Desert and is being arraigned today.

Slawinski is charged with five felony counts of financial elder abuse and five counts of burglary for allegedly ripping off five senior citizens for more than $2 million through the sale and surrender of investment annuity products. 

The California Department of Insurance launched an investigation after receiving complaints. Investigators allege that Slawinski, a licensed insurance agent, convinced some victims to surrender annuities and investment products with the promise of higher returns through new investments and conned other victims into giving him money to invest for them.

Slawinski did not purchase annuities or investment products, nor did he refund the victims’ money.

“I find it particularly appalling when people in the position of trust violate that trust and take advantage of vulnerable senior citizens,” said Commissioner Dave Jones. “Consumers should be able to trust their agent when making important insurance decisions. Consumers often rely on the advice of their agent when they are taken advantage of the result is often devastating.”

Slawinski concealed his theft by providing the victims with fraudulent financial statements, and by issuing minimum investment payments to lead them to believe their insurance investment and life savings were secure, investigator said.

The Department of Insurance is looking for additional victims in this case and encourages anyone that may have done business with Slawinski and/or JPS Insurance Services to contact the Rancho Cucamonga Regional Office at (909) 919-2200.

Summer is sunscreen time. It's important to use sunscreen to block harmful UV rays but you can also be burned, so to speak, by improper use of sunscreen.

Dr. Shannon Trotter, a dermatologist from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, shares some common sunscreen mistakes:

1. Assuming sunscreen is waterproof - no brand is water “proof”

2. Forgetting to hold your breathe - Spray on sunscreens are dangerous if inhaled.

3. Paying more for higher S-P-F ratings - anything over SPF 30 does not offer significantly more protection.

Shopping apps are OK as far as they go, but a study by the Federal Trade Commission says they often don't go far enough in disclosing important information to consumers.

What kind of information? Well, how the apps manage payment disputes, how the customer's personal data is handled and so forth.

“As mobile apps become more central to the shopping experience, it’s important that consumers have meaningful information about how those apps work before they download them,” said Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Consumers should not be left in the dark about their potential liability for erroneous or unauthorized charges or about the way shopping apps handle their data.”

The report, “What’s the Deal? An FTC Study on Mobile Shopping Apps (pdf),” looked at some of the most popular apps used by consumers to comparison shop, collect and redeem deals and discounts, and pay in-store with their mobile devices. It builds on the findings of a 2012 workshop on mobile payments, which raised concerns about consumers’ potential financial liability as well as the privacy and security of their data.

121 apps

FTC staff surveyed a total of 121 different shopping apps across the Google Play and Apple App Stores. The survey included 47 price comparison apps, which let consumers compare prices on a particular item in real-time; 50 “deal” apps, which provide consumers with coupons or discounts; and 45 in-store purchase apps, which enable consumers to use their phones to pay for goods they purchase in physical stores. Several apps were found in more than one category.

The report makes a number of recommendations to companies that provide mobile shopping apps to consumers:

1. Apps should make clear consumers’ rights and liability limits for unauthorized, fraudulent, or erroneous transactions.

2. Apps should more clearly describe how they collect, use, and share consumer data.

3. Companies should ensure that their data security promises translate into sound data security practices.

The report also recommends that companies, whose apps promise consumer safeguards for their data, follow through on those promises. Specifically, the report recognizes that technology advances found in smartphones can offer the potential for increased data security and encourages all companies to provide strong protections for the data they collect.

Consumer awareness

Beyond recommendations for companies, the report also urges consumers to closely examine the apps’ stated policies on issues like dispute resolution and liability limits, as well as privacy and data security and evaluate them in choosing which apps to use.

The report also notes that when apps do not provide that information, consumers should consider using alternative apps, or in the case of missing dispute resolution policies, limit the dollar amount used to fund stored value accounts.

Job creation may have fallen a little short of expectations in July, but the figure is what one analyst calls “impressive.”

Figures released by the Labor Department (DOL) show the economy cranked out 200,000 nonfarm payroll positions last month while the the unemployment rate inched up 0.1% -- to 6.2%.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com were looking for 220,000 new jobs.

As it released the July report, DOL revised its job creation figures higher for the two previous months. May was revised from +224,000 to +229,000, and the change for June was revised from +288,000 to +298,000. That makes the employment gains in May and June 15,000 higher than previously reported.

A closer look

The July employment gains came in professional and business services, manufacturing, retail trade and construction.

The unemployment rate for adult women increased to 5.7% and the rate for blacks edged up to 11.4%, following declines for both groups in the prior month. The rates for adult men (5.7%), teenagers (20.2%), whites (5.3%), Hispanics (7.8%) and Asians (4.5%) showed little or no change in July.

Sterne Agee Chief Economist Lindsey M. Piegza says July produced “another impressive headline employment gain,” calling it a “welcomed improvement.” But, she adds, “average hourly earnings remain stagnant, the augmented unemployment rate remains elevated and the participation rate (62.9%) is disappointingly low.”

The full July employment report is available on the DOL website.

Incomes and spending

With job creation on the rise, it's reasonable to assume consumers incomes and spending would be headed higher as well. And that's what happened in June.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis reports both personal incomes and spending were higher. Income increased $56.7 billion, or 0.4%, and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) rose $51.7 billion, or 0.4%. Disposable personal income (DPI) -- personal income less personal current taxes -- increased $51.5 billion, or 0.4%.

Wages and salaries

Private wages and salaries moved higher in June -- to $28.9 billion, compared with an increase of $28.2 billion in May. Payrolls of goods-producing industries' payrolls were up $7.6 billion, compared with an increase of $8.6 billion the previous month; manufacturing payrolls increased $4.3 billion, compared with an gain of $6.5 billion.

Services-producing industries' payrolls were up $21.3 billion, compared with an an advance of $19.5 billion. Government wages and salaries increased $1.7 billion, versus $1.3 billion in May.

Outlays and savings

Personal outlays -- PCE, personal interest payments, and personal current transfer payments -- were up $51.6 billion in June, compared with an increase of $39.7 billion in May. PCE increased $51.7 billion, after rising $39.8 billion a month earlier.

Personal saving -- DPI less personal outlays -- was $687.9 billion in June, versus $688.0 billion in May. The personal saving rate -- personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income -- was 5.3% in June, the same rate as the month before.

The complete incomes and spending report may be found on the Commerce Department website.

Poultry companies will have to jump through more hoops under a plan that the Agriculture Department's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is proposing.

The proposal, designed to make chicken and turkey products safer to eat, will require producers to meet new requirements to control Salmonella and Campylobacter.

The New Poultry Inspection System (NPIS), according to FSIS, is an “updated science-based inspection system that positions food safety inspectors throughout poultry facilities in a smarter way.”

"The United States has been relying on a poultry inspection model that dates back to 1957, while rates of foodborne illness due to Salmonella and Campylobacter remain stubbornly high,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. The system, he said, “imposes stricter requirements on the poultry industry and places our trained inspectors where they can better ensure food is being processed safely. These improvements make use of sound science to modernize food safety procedures and prevent thousands of illnesses each year."

New requirements

FSIS will now require that all poultry companies take measures to prevent Salmonella and Campylobacter contamination, rather than addressing contamination after it occurs. Also for the first time ever, all poultry facilities will be required to perform their own microbiological testing at two points in their production process to show that they are controlling Salmonella and Campylobacter. These requirements are in addition to FSIS' own testing, which the agency will continue to perform.

FSIS is also introducing the optional NPIS, in which poultry companies must sort their own product for quality defects before presenting it to FSIS inspectors. This system allows for FSIS inspectors to focus less on routine quality assurance tasks that have little relationship to preventing pathogens like Salmonella and instead focus more on strategies that are proven to strengthen food safety.

More inspectors will now be available to more frequently remove birds from the evisceration line for close food safety examinations, take samples for testing, check plant sanitation, verify compliance with food safety plans, observe live birds for signs of disease or mistreatment, and ensuring plants are meeting all applicable regulations.

FSIS estimates that the NPIS will prevent nearly 5,000 Salmonella and Campylobacter foodborne illnesses each year.  

Dynacraft BSC of American Canyon, Calif., is recalling about 3,100 Avigo 20-inch Turn N’ Burn youth bicycles.

The front wheel on the bicycle can detach, posing a fall hazard.

The company has received one report of a consumer who fell and sustained scrapes and abrasions when the front wheel detached.

his recall involves 20-inch Avigo Turn N Burn youth bicycles with model number 8107-62. The model number and date of manufacture, “08202013,” are printed on a data label on the frame’s seat tube.

The bicycles have a silver frame, blue handlebars and black front fork with blue accents, hand brakes and a kickstand. The serial number can be found etched on the frame on the underside of the bottom bracket shell.

Serial numbers included in the recall have:

• letters “DJFH” followed by a six-digit number between 026588 and 027104, and between 089533 through 090562; or
• letters “DJFI” followed by a six digit number between 015107 and 015552, and between 100093 and 101193.

The bicycles, manufactured in China, were sold exclusively at Toys “R” Us stores nationwide and online at ToysRUs.com between September 2013, and June 2014, for $130.

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled bicycles and contact Dynacraft to arrange for a free repair.

Consumers may contact Dynacraft at (800) 551-0032 from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. PT Monday through Friday.