Tracking Plainview Milk's Powdered Products Recall

Updated July 28, 2009

Original article posted July 2, 2009

On June 28th, Plainview Milk Products Cooperative recalled two years worth of powdered milk, whey powder and other dry food ingredients after FDA found Salmonella on the Company's production equipment.

Because the Minnesota-based cooperative is a supplier to food processors, the Plainview recall is cascading through the food chain. FDA has updated its searchable recall database, which is now current as of noon, July 17th.

The following list of recalls is culled from the FDA notices, company news releases and on-line news articles, and will be updated as more information is released.

• Calico Cottage, Inc. – Gourmet Hot Cocoa Mix pouches (10 oz.) marked with lot# 101.08.15 and lot# 311.08.45
• C.F. Sauer Company – Brown gravy, brown gravy with mushrooms, brown gravy with onions, turkey gravy, pork gravy, country sausage gravy, country style gravy, Alfredo sauce mix, Cajun gumbo mix, and Hollandaise sauce mix produced under the Sauer’s, Gold Medal, and Piggly Wiggly labels
• CLIF SHOT® – Hot Chocolate Recovery Drink Mix (40-gram, single-serve packets and 12-pack boxes) with a “Best By” date of 19SEP09R
• Country Creations – Frosting packets included with Country Creations Braided Bread and Country Creations Cinnamon Rolls distributed to frozen food distributors nationwide
• CPI Foods, Inc. – 20g packets of Nonfat Dry Milk. The packets are components of shelf-stable meal kits supplied to community service organizations in Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, West Virginia, North Carolina, Nevada and Kentucky
• Dairyshake MRE Mix – Dairyshake powders found in Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs) and Unitized Group Rations-Express (UGR-Es) recalled military-wide (see also Trans-Packers Services, Corp., below)
• Diamond Crystal Brands, Inc. – Nonfat dry milk and dry beverage mixes containing nonfat dry milk packaged under a variety of brands
• Dunkin' Donuts – Temporary suspension of hot chocolate and Dunkaccino brand beverages
• Fireside Coffee Co. – Four flavors of Fireside Chai Tea
• Food City – Food Club Instant Milk
• Food Lion, including Food Lion, Harveys, Bottom Dollar Food and Reid's – Food Lion Instant Nonfat Dry Milk
• Giant Food LLC – Giant Nonfat Dried Milk, 9.6 ounce size
• Godiva Chocolatier – G Collection Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day gift boxes that were available for purchase during limited holiday timeframes in 2009
• Hannaford Bros. Co. – Hannaford Instant Nonfat Dry Milk, 10 x 1 Qt. envelopes
• Kesso Foods, Inc. – Kesso Foods Lowfat All Natural Plain 2% Greek Thick Yogurt
• The Kroger Co., including Kroger, Dillons, Gerbes, Baker's, Food 4 Less, Hilander, Jay C, Owen's, Pay Less and Scott's – Three popcorn seasonings
• Lewis Laboratories International, Ltd. – Weigh Down Chocolate Flavor Nutrition Drink Mix
• Malt-O-Meal Co. – Maple & Brown Sugar Instant Oatmeal in cartons and in packets sold in "Variety" cartons; sold under various brand names (follow live link to recall notice for details). The company expanded its recall on July 11th to include additional date codes.
• Max Muscle USA – Numerous Max Muscle products containing whey protein concentrate
• McClancy Seasoning Co. – Alba Instant Non-Fat Dry Milk (25.6 oz), Alba Instant Non-Fat Dry Milk (9.6 oz), Alba Creamy Milk Chocolate Snack Shake Mix (6 oz), Alba Double Fudge Royale Snack Shake Mix (6 oz), Alba Smooth Vanilla Bean Snack Shake Mix (6 oz) and Alba Strawberry Banana Snack Shake Mix (6 oz)
• Meijer, including stores in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky – Meijer Instant Milk 10 Qt Packets 32 oz
• Natural Foods, Inc. (Bulkfoods.com) – Instant Nonfat Milk Powder; 1, 5 & 25 lb. packaging
• Natural Foods, Inc. (Plainview) – Instant Nonfat Milk Powder, 50 lb. packaging
• NOW Foods – NOW Foods products containing whey protein concentrate (12 products; 29 lots)
• Nutrition Global, LLC – certain batches of SNI Pro Whey, SNI Pro Mass and Sci Labs Mass Fuzion Dietary Supplement
• Plentiful Pantry – Almond Pound Cake with Cinnamon Sauce, 741; Almond Pound Cake, T2940
• Precision Foods, Inc. – Land O Lakes International Drinking Cocoa "Madagascar Vanilla."
• Robert St. John – Rich, Rich, Rich Hot Chocolate Mix
• Stop & Shop Supermarket Company – Stop & Shop Nonfat Dried Milk, 16-ounce and 32-ounce sizes
• Sturm Foods, Inc. – One-quart instant nonfat dry milk products, packaged under a variety of brand labels
• Traditions – Prepackaged meal kits that contain separate portions of instant nonfat dried milk
• Trans-Packers Services Corp. – Approximately 6,300 packets (net wt. 100 g) of Dairy Shake blends. The company expanded its recall on July 13th to include 300 additional packets of Dairy Shake blends.
• Vital Pharmaceuticals, Inc. – Stealth Chocolate and Stealth Vanilla powdered dietary supplements

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency alerts consumers that certain Gourmet Hot Cocoa Mix and Gourmet Hot Chocolate Mix products may contain recalled milk powder from Plainview Milk Products and have been recalled. CFIA advises that additional recalls may follow.

The European Commission advises member countries that Salmonella-contaminated whey powder supplement from the United States may have been distributed within the European Union and should be withdrawn from the market.

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Plainview Milk Products: Another Ingredient-Driven Recall

June 29, 2009

For the third time this year, the FDA finds itself overseeing an ingredient-driven Salmonella recall.

Plainview Milk Products Cooperative (Plainview, MN) announced this morning that it was recalling all instant nonfat dried milk, whey protein, fruit stabilizers, and gums manufactured by the Company during the last two years. Plainview took this action because the products may be contaminated with Salmonella.

Plainview sells its dried dairy powders, gums and stabilizers to food processors and distributors for incorporation into other products. None of the recalled items were sold directly to the public. The Company initiated its recall after FDA found Salmonella on production equipment in the Minnesota plant.

FDA inspected the Plainview facility after USDA reported finding Salmonella in a 100-gram package of Dairyshake powder. One of the ingredients in Dairyshake was supplied by Plainview. So far, no illnesses have been linked with the Plainview products.

Plainview has halted production while federal (FDA, CDC and USDA) and state agencies continue their investigation, and the Company has notified its customers of the recall. No consumer-level products have been recalled so far, but this will certainly change as Plainview and FDA trace the destination of the two years-worth of food ingredients.

This recall may prove to be as extensive as the peanut and pistachio product recalls that we experienced earlier this year. Dried milk and whey powders are common ingredients in a wide variety of dry mixes (e.g., cake and brownie mixes), in milk chocolate, and many other items. Stabilizers and gums can be found in everything from low fat yogurts to jams and jellies.

Plainview Milk Products Cooperative was established in 1899. Several of the Company's products are Certified Organic; a number of them are Certified Kosher.Plainview also boasts an America Institute of Baking (AIB) Superior rating – the same rating that AIB issued after inspecting Peanut Corporation of America's production facility in Blakely, Georgia.

Neither FDA nor the Company have explained the reason for the two-year span of the recall. We'll likely find that out as FDA releases more details of its investigation.