Latest news with #EnvironmentalHealthDepartment
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Albuquerque council passes ban on intoxicating hemp products that exceed federal THC threshold
Jun. 5—The Albuquerque City Council voted Monday to restrict the sale of intoxicating hemp-derived products, citing concerns that children had too much access to the substances being sold on gas station and smoke shop shelves. The council said the products, including delta-8 THC, delta-10 THC, and THC-A products, may have more THC in them than federally allowed. The ordinance, which was sponsored by Councilor Dan Lewis and passed on a 7-2 vote, prohibits operating a business that chemically or synthetically alters hemp to exceed 0.3% THC. It also prohibits the sale, advertisement, offer for sale, or manufacture of the intoxicating hemp products. That means purchasable items like gummies, cartridges for vape devices, drinks, hemp cigarettes and other hemp-derived products must have less than 0.3% THC, or else the business selling them could lose its license. It doesn't apply to hemp products without THC or any legal cannabis. Federal law allows the sale of hemp-derived products that contain less than 0.3% THC, although that is widely seen as a loophole in the U.S., where cannabis is still federally illegal. But some of those products have higher levels of THC, which, Lewis argued Monday, was a problem. "This is a product that's not being regulated by the state," Lewis said. "It's really poison that's being marketed to children." No data was presented about how prevalent the products are. Visits to Albuquerque smoke shops and independent gas stations revealed that buying intoxicating hemp-derived products was easy to do and only sometimes required a license. But questions abound about the future of the ordinance. The 2018 Farm Bill, the federal government's primary policy tool for regulating food and agriculture, as well as establishing the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, removed hemp and its byproducts from the list of controlled substances. The same move allowed for the proliferation of cannabidiol (CBD) products. However, the federal legislation made no mention of delta-8 and delta-10, which is derived from hemp, not cannabis, allowing companies to produce and sell items such as vape device cartridges, intoxicating hemp cigarettes and edible gummies. Councilor Brook Bassan raised the question of enforcement during Monday's meeting. "Are we even going to be able to do this as a city?" Bassan asked. Samantha Sengel, the chief administrative officer, said the city could not test the intoxicating hemp products and would, therefore, have to send them to a laboratory for testing. She added that the city's Environmental Health Department had concerns about achieving compliance from smoke shops, given the significant personnel commitment required to send inspectors to every smoke shop, gas station and CBD seller in the city. "Everyone is in the fact-finding stage right now to know what that impact would be," Sengel said before the council approved the measure, adding that they'd likely have to come before the council in the future to ask for money to fund enforcement mechanisms, whether that be more staff or more money. Educating smoke shops and gas stations about the law change, another provision of the ordinance, would be accomplishable, Sengel said. Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn joined Bassan in opposing the bill. "This is not a regulation. This is a prohibition," Fiebelkorn said.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
ABQ BioPark corrects issues after getting red flagged on food inspections
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – They'll be some of the most popular places in Albuquerque for snacks and ice cream this summer, now the ABQ BioPark is making changes inside a handful of zoo cafes after food inspectors hit their kitchens with red and yellow tags. Story continues below New Mexico Insiders: Leader Of Albuquerque FBI Steps Down News: Video: Santa Ana police officer arrested for DUI and alleged battery Community: Poll: Where is the best place to go camping in New Mexico? 'So, the red flags you guys saw were just momentary red flags, and all those actions were minor and corrected that day,' said Brandon Gibson, director of the ABQ Bio Park. Right in the heart of the Albuquerque zoo, the popular Cottonwood Cafe was hit with a red tag after the City of Albuquerque's Environmental Health Department's Food Inspection Team found ten different violations, including problems like food holding at the wrong temperature. It's one of three eateries recently cited for issues the Bio Park said it quickly moved to resolve. 'None of them were safety issues or food health issues, and mostly education for staff, making sure staff,' said Gibson. Out of the 11 cafes in zoo, The Cottonwood Cafe, The Africa exhibit's Matunda Cafe, and Penguin Chill Cafe were all flagged each for between 10 and 16 issues each ranging from food storage to chemical storage issues and employee sanitation protocols. 'No restaurants here at the Bio Park were closed; all of the citations were very minor and correctable within the site visit. All of our restaurants have passed, and the Bio Park is a safe place to come, a safe place to eat,' he said. Since the inspections, the Bio Park said it has made corrections alongside the food service operator, Service System Associates or SSA. 'We were notified immediately about the potential flags and also the correction that day, and there's going to be follow-up as well. But we've been in talks and making sure they also have the tools and resources that they need to maintain compliance,' said Gibson. With a majority of its food staff being younger in age, the Bio Park said it's going through extra staff training. 'We will do a late-night training here just so all the brand-new hires working on these areas understand those environmental health standards,' said Gibson. The system worked, and our inspectors helped the restaurants learn what they were doing wrong. One service that Environmental Health provides is education for restaurant workers, and in these cases, our staff was able to educate SSA's staff so they learned about proper sanitation. We did warn the restaurants about these minor issues, but we also helped them fix the issues so they were in compliance by the time our inspectors left, and we did not have to close the facilities. Our team will follow up with SSA to make sure they don't have any issues moving forward. Mark DiMenna, Deputy Director, Environmental Health Department Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Sun
06-05-2025
- General
- The Sun
Five individuals fined by MBPP for feeding pigeons in Penang
PETALING JAYA: Five individuals have been fined by the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) for intentionally disposing of food waste to feed pigeons in public areas. In a statement posted onto its Facebook page, MBPP said the individuals were penalised under Section 47(1) of the Street, Drainage and Building Act 1974, which carries a compound of RM250 for each offence, with possible court action for those who defy the regulation or fail to settle their compounds. The individuals were found to have intentionally disposed of food waste with the purpose of feeding pigeons in public places. ALSO READ: MBPP to take stern action against litterbugs and pigeon feeders 'Despite public announcements and awareness campaigns carried out by MBPP, there are still individuals who ignore the advice and deliberately feed pigeons,' said MBPP. Meanwhile, MBPP revealed that a total of 818 pigeons were successfully captured during scheduled pigeon population control operations across various identified hotspots in April. MBPP's Environmental Health Department also successfully destroyed 36 crow nests during the same period. 'As part of ongoing preventive measures, MBPP has arranged daily monitoring and pigeon population control operations at designated high-risk locations,' the statement added. READ MORE: Bird droppings pose challenges in urban areas
Yahoo
04-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Boil-water order lifted for all remaining SLO County areas
San Luis Obispo County lifted the boil-water order for all remaining areas on Saturday afternoon, following a water-contamination alert that lasted four days. According to an alert from the county, the boil-water order was lifted shortly after noon, allowing residents in Pismo Beach and Avila Beach to resume normal water use, after the State Division of Drinking Water gave the all-clear. 'After extensive testing, the drinking water supply has been confirmed safe,' the county said in its news release. 'Residents can return to using their tap water for ordinary purposes without taking any further action,' it added. 'Restaurants can return to normal operations if they follow Environmental Health Department guidance.' The county advised residents and businesses with reverse osmosis systems to refer to their user manual for instructions on how to safely resume using the system. The county said it was working with state officials to investigate the cause of a single positive E. coli test result that spurred the boil order. The investigation is expected to take 30 days. Director of Public Works John Diodati said the drinking water is safe and will be monitored and tested as the county investigates the cause. 'I recognize the last few days have been extremely impactful for our Five Cities communities. We take our mission to provide you clean and drinkable water very seriously and when there is an issue, our team immediately jumps into action to keep you safe. That is exactly what happened this week. Normal testing protocol caught a problem, and through strong collaboration and coordination with the state, cities and community service districts we were able to quickly implement preventative safety measures,' Diodati said. 'Like you, we want to know why this happened. Over the next few weeks, as the investigation unfolds, we will share information with the public on what we know and what measures we will take to prevent this from happening again.' District 3 Supervisor Dawn Ortiz-Legg also emphasized the effort that went into the alert and testing. 'Our county and cities teams have worked diligently alongside state officials to ensure the safety and quality of our water supply,' she said. 'We appreciate the community's patience and cooperation. This health and safety incident underscores the importance of people getting proper information, and we urge signing up for notifications at Public Alerting — San Luis Obispo County.' Wednesday's boil-water order encompassed around 50,000 San Luis Obispo County residents and said that all water used for drinking and food preparation should be boiled or purified using bleach or water purification tablets through Sunday. The order was instituted in response to the 'unprecedented' detection of coliform bacteria in the Lopez water distribution system. Coliform bacteria, the contaminant first identified in the Lopez distribution system, is an indicator of the potential presence of E. coli, county Department of Public Works public information specialist Shelly Cone told The Tribune on Thursday. E. coli is a particular strain of fecal coliform bacteria that can cause illness in humans. Cone said the county had not detected E. coli specifically since Monday, and was working with the state to identify the cause of the contamination. A second sample taken on Tuesday found only elements of total coliform bacteria, not E. coli, Cone said. Though E. coli hadn't been detected since Monday, the initial positive for both coliform and E. coli bacteria triggered the boil water notice, she said. 'The presence of coliform does not necessarily mean the water is unsafe, but it does trigger further testing to rule out the presence of harmful pathogens,' Cone said in an email. 'If coliform or E. coli is detected, follow-up sampling is immediately conducted until no evidence of contamination remains.' The boil-water order created widespread impacts across the area, shutting some food-service business, forcing others to adopt safety protocols and prompting a run on bottled water from local grocery stores. On Friday, the order was lifted for Arroyo Grande, Grover Beach, Oceano and for customers of the San Miguelito Mutual Water Co., before the remaining communities were cleared on Saturday. For more information on the alert, visit
