Recall Roundup Asia, Australia, Mexico & Puerto Rico: December 17-29, 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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Hong Kong

• Medical Device Safety Recall (December 29th): Abbott Laboratories Limited recalls all of its blood glucose test strips, because the tests strips may give a falsely low blood glucose reading.

Singapore

• Medical Device Safety Recall (December 24th): Abbott Laboratories (S) Pte Ltd recalls 43 lots of Abbott MediSense Optium™ Blood Glucose Tests Strips, because the tests strips may give a falsely low blood glucose reading.

Australia

• Food Safety Recall (December 20th): Schweppes Australia recalls Cool Ridge Australian Spring Water (600mL clear plastic bottles; Best before 06/11/11), due to possible chlorine contamination. The recalled water was distributed in Queensland (various retail outlets) and New South Wales (IGA supermarkets) only.
• Food Safety Recall (December 23rd): Franklins Pty Ltd recalls Farmfresh Half Bone In Leg Ham (5-6Kg clear plastic cryovac packaging; Use by 24/01/11 to 29/01/11, inclusive) because of an unwholesome odor that persists after opening. The recalled hams were sold in Franklins supermarkets in New South Wales only.
• Dietary Supplement Safety Alert (December 23rd): The Therapeutic Goods Administration warns consumers that Slimming Factor weight loss capsules (sold over the internet), which claim to be 100% herbal, have been confirmed to contain undeclared sibutramine, fenfluramine and phenolphthalein. All three of these undeclared and unauthorized ingredients carry significant safety risks.

Mexico

• Allergy Alert (December 17th): YNot Foods, Inc. (Madison, WI) recalls Upsides™ Orzo Toscano (6/2.5lb, distributed by J.R. Simplot) because the product contains undeclared milk and soy. The product was distributed through foodservice and retail channels in several US states and was exported to Mexico.

Puerto Rico

• Medical Device Safety Recall (December 22nd): Abbott Diabetes Care recalls 359 lots (approximately 359 million strips) of Precision Xtra®, Precision Xceed Pro®, MediSense® Optium™, Optium™, OptiumEZ and ReliOn® Ultima Blood Glucose Test Strips, because the test strips may give falsely low blood glucose results. The recalled test strips were distributed across the USA and in Puerto Rico.

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*
  
• Lucky Supermarkets
• Price Chopper
  
• Publix
• 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.