Recall Roundup: May 13, 2010

Here is today's list of food safety recalls, product withdrawals and allergy alerts. The live links will take you directly to the official recall notices and company news releases that contain detailed information for each recall and alert.

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United States

• Allergy Alert: Galant Food Co. (San Francisco, CA) recalls approximately 250 pounds of chicken puff products and beef puff products because they contain an undeclared egg, soy and yellow #5.
• Food Recall: Price Chopper recalls Price Chopper brand 100% Apple Cider (64 oz. and 128 oz. sizes) because of concerns over an unspecified quality issue.
• Food Safety Notification (Pennsylvania): The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has informed Centre County Dairy that it may resume raw milk sales after two sets of follow-up tests were negative for Listeria monocytogenes.
• FDA Warning Letter: FDA warns U. Okada & Company Ltd. (Honolulu, HI) that a January 2010 inspection of the company's seafood processing facility revealed serious violations of the seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical of Federal Regulations, Part 123, and the Current Good Manufacturing Practice regulation for foods.
• OTC Pharmaceutical Product Warning: FDA warns consumers of serious side effects from mistakenly swallowing Benadryl Extra Strength Itch Stopping Gel, an over-the-counter product that should be used only on the skin. Johnson & Johnson has changed the product label to indicate prominently "For Skin Use Only."

Canada

• Food Safety Advisory: The Canadian Food Inspection Agency alerts consumers to the current U.S. recall of romaine lettuce that has been linked to an outbreak of E. coli O145 illnesses.
• Unauthorized Drug Alert: Health Canada warns consumers against using the unauthorized drug product, Miracle Mineral Solution, which was distributed by MMSsupplier.com over the Internet to treat drinking water. Miracle Mineral Solution is a 28% solution of sodium chlorite, typically used as a disinfectant and a textile bleaching agent. Water treated with Miracle Mineral Solution has been associated with two adverse reactions, one of which was life-threatening.

Europe

• Allergy Alert (United Kingdom): Asda recalls some packs of its Chicken Chow Mein (300g) and Meal for One Chicken Chow Mein (400g) because the products contain traces of shellfish, which is not mentioned on the product labels.
• Prescription Drug Recall (United Kingdom): Ranbaxy (UK) Limited recalls all unused stock of Mirtazapine 15 mg and 45 mg TabletsPL 14894/0325 and PL 14894/0327 because the patient information leaflets (PILs) have not been updated to include safety warnings initiated by the European Medicines Agency.
• Food Safety Notification (EU #2010.0582): Parasitic infestation of live carps from Lithuania; distributed in Latvia.
• Food Safety Notification (EU #2010.0583): Salmonella Kentucky in minced beef from Lithuania; distributed in Latvia.
• Food Safety Notification (EU #2010.0584): Bacillus cereus diarrheal enterotoxin in Chinese cabbage from Spain; distributed in Finland.
• Food Safety Notification (EU #2010.0585): Unauthorised substance melatonine in food supplement from the United States, via the Czech Republic; distributed in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
• Food Safety Notification (EU #2010.0586): Unauthorized benzoic acid in mixed vegetables in brine from Hungary; distributed in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
• Consumer Product Safety Notification (EU #2010.0587): Migration of formaldehyde from and of melamine in yellow cooking spoon from Thailand, via the Netherlands; distributed in Austria and Germany.
• Food Safety Notification (EU #2010.0588): Cadmium in frozen squid (Illex argentinus) from Spain; distributed in Italy.
• Food Safety Notification (EU #2010.0589): Salmonella in fresh pork trimmings from Germany; distributed in Sweden.

Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands

• Pharmaceutical Product Recall (Hong Kong): Pfizer Corporate Hong Kong Ltd. recalls Zithromax Powder for Oral Suspension 200 mg/5ml (Registration No. HK-36432, Batch no: 96415502) because the product may be contaminated with rubber particles, with an average size of 0.27mm.

Australia and New Zealand

• Pharmaceutical Product Recall (New Zealand): Mylan NZ recalls Pacific Atenolol 50mg tablets (batch #DOR9003F; expiry date of 07/2012) after five tablets from three bottles were found to be 72 per cent larger than the required specifications.

Some supermarket chains post recall notices on their web sites for the convenience of customers. To see whether a recalled food was carried by your favorite supermarket, follow the live link to the supermarket's recall web site.

• A&P
• Big Y® World Class Market®
  
• BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc.
  
• Bloom
  
• Brookshire's
  
• Costco Wholesale Corporation (US stores)
  
• Costco Wholesale Canada Ltd.
  
• EDEKA (Germany)
• Food City
  
• Food Lion
  
• Giant Food LLC
• Gros Cidac (Italy)
• Hannaford Brothers Co.
  
• Harris Teeter
  
• Harvey's Supermarket
  
• H-E-B
• The Kroger Company*
  
• Price Chopper
  
• Raley's
• Roundy's Supermarkets, Inc.
  
• Sainsbury's
  
• ShopRite
  
• Stop & Shop
• Sweetbay Supermarkets
• Target
  
• Top Food & Drug
• Tops Friendly Markets
  
• Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
  
• Wegmans
  
• Whole Foods Market
  
• WinCo Foods
• Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc.
  

*The Kroger umbrella encompasses numerous supermarket, marketplace and convenience store chains, listed on the Kroger corporate home page.