Recall Roundup: October 9, 2010

Here is today's list of food safety recalls, product withdrawals, allergy alerts and miscellaneous compliance issues. 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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For information on the US Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak and egg recalls, please click here.

For information on the Abbott infant formula powder recall, please click here.

United States

• Pet Food Safety Recall: Blue Buffalo Company, Ltd. (Wilton, CT) recalls certain dry dog food because of possible excess Vitamin D that can affect the health of some dogs. The recall encompasses specific packages of Blue Wilderness Chicken Flavor, Blue Basics Limited Ingredient Formula Salmon and Potato Recipe, and Blue Life Protection Formula Natural Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe Large Breed Adult dog foods. To date, there have been 36 cases nationwide of dogs reported with symptoms consistent with elevated Vitamin D in their system, all of whom where feeding on the recalled products.
• Food Safety Recall: D & M Smoked Fish, Inc., dba Haifa Smoked Fish (Jamaica, NY) recalls specific lots of Haifa Smoked Fish brand products (see recall notice for complete list of products and lot numbers) because they may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The recalled products were sold between August 10 and September 3, 2010 to retailers and distributors in greater New York, New Jersey, and areas of Illinois. The company is under a previous court order requiring it to cease production and distribution of the products.
• Food Safety Recall: Montalvan's Sales, Inc. (Ontario, CA) recalls La Nuestra brand Mamey Ice Cream (all lot numbers) due to a potential health risk from Salmonella Typhi. The recall was initiation after FDA notified the company that the affected product contained Mamey Pulp, which was implicated in a recent outbreak of Typhoid Fever in several western states. The recalled Ice Cream was distributed in Nevada and California through retail stores and restaurants.
• Food Safety Recall: Hamilton Corner Meat Market Inc. (New York, NY) recalls all packages of in-store ground beef, in-store sliced deli turkey and in-store sliced deli ham sold on September 29, 2010, because the meat products may contain E. coli O157:H7.
• Food Safety Alert: The North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services warns consumers that Colombina Mega Pops lollipops (28-oz. bags; lot #120979601171 or ELPACK #2), imported from Colombia, may contain tiny pieces of metal.
• Food Safety Recall: Price Chopper recalls Price Chopper ground beef purchased from the Bennington, VT store at 214 Northside Drive after 11am Oct 7, with a sell-by date of Oct 7, because a paper liner used in the meat packaging was inadvertently ground up in some of the meat.
• Food Recall: Price Chopper advises that Annie's has recalled the Honey and Chocolate Chip flavors of Annie's Bunny Grahams, 7 oz., because the products may exhibit an unusual odor.
• Dietary Supplement Safety Alert: FDA advises consumers who have purchased Slimming Beauty Bitter Orange Slimming Capsules not to use the product. The Slimming Capsules contain sibutramine, a prescription-only drug which is a stimulant and which can be harmful, especially to those with cardiovascular conditions. Slimming Beauty is being sold over the Internet by Beautiful Health Inc., formerly LL Health and Beauty. Slimming Beauty sample packets also have been distributed by individuals at community events. The product and the sample packets are falsely labeled as “100% Herbal.” FDA is aware of several reports of serious side effects from the use of this product including elevated blood pressure, headaches, vomiting, and insomnia.
• Pharmaceutical Product Safety Withdrawal: Abbott Laboratories has agreed to voluntarily withdraw its obesity drug Meridia (sibutramine) from the U.S. market because of clinical trial data indicating an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. The FDA requested the market withdrawal after reviewing data from the Sibutramine Cardiovascular Outcomes Trial (SCOUT). The SCOUT trial demonstrated a 16% increase in the risk of serious heart events, with only a small difference in weight loss between the placebo group and the group that received sibutramine.
• Pharmaceutical Product Recall: Pfizer recalls specific bottles of Lipitor (40mg only) due to a small number of reports of an uncharacteristic odor relating to the bottles in which the Lipitor is packaged. According to the company, the odor is not likely to cause adverse health consequences in patients taking Lipitor.

Canada

• Pharmaceutical Product Safety Withdrawal: Abbott Laboratories is voluntarily withdrawing the prescription weight-loss drug sibutramine, which is marketed under the brand name Meridia®, from the Canadian market. Abbott's decision, in collaboration with Health Canada, comes in light of data from the Sibutramine Cardiovascular OUTcomes (SCOUT) trial, a large study that suggested an increased risk of serious cardiovascular events associated with sibutramine use in patients with heart problems.
• Consumer Product Safety Recall: Midwest-CBK, Inc. recalls "S T U F F" and Paw Wall Hook Sets, because paint on the metal hooks attached to the wooden letters and on the blue paw hooks contain concentrations of lead above the allowable limit.

Europe

• Allergy Alert (Ireland): The Food Safety Authority of Ireland advises consumers that certain The Bramley Apple Bakery products contain undeclared egg white protein, making these products unsafe for consumers who are allergic or intolerant to egg. Implicated products have been withdrawn from sale by the manufacturer.
• Allergy Alert (Denmark): COOP Denmark A/S recalls Coop microwave popcorn with butter flavor (3 x 300g; all best before dates), because the product contains undeclared milk protein.

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
• 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.