Recall Roundup: May 12, 2009

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.

United States

• Shellfish Alert (California): The annual quarantine of sport-harvested mussels along the California coastline is now in effect, and will continue until October 31st. Commercially harvested mussels are not affected by this quarantine, which is meant to protect the public from paralytic shellfish poisoning and domoic acid poisoning.
  

Europe, Including the United Kingdom

• Labeling, Handling and Shelf-life Infractions (France): Carrefour has been charged with 2,500 separate infractions, including: selling foods beyond the expiry date; holding frozen foods for several hours at room temperature; and overstating package net weight for cuts of meat. If found guilty of all charges, the supermarket chain could face fines of up to 220,000 euros.

Australia and New Zealand

• Allergy Alert (Australia): Haigh’s Manufacturing Pty Ltd recalls a single production batch of Chocolate & Almond Cookies, manufactured by Baylies of Strathalbyn due to the presence of undeclared gluten. This product is only sold through Haigh’s stores in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
  

Asia, Africa and the Pacific

• Dietary Product Warning (Hong Kong): The Department of Health has warned consumers to avoid using the slimming products SB Factor and GQ Factor. Both products have been found to contain phenolphthalein, which has been banned due to its association with an increased risk of developing cancer.
  
• Rice Wine Alert (Taiwan): The Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corporation has found that some inexpensive rice wines contain industrial alcohol, which can cause nervous system damage if consumed. Other inexpensive brands contain only 10% alcohol, instead of the typical 20% alcohol content.
  

 

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
  
• Hannaford Brothers Co.
  
• Harris Teeter
  
• Harvey's Supermarket
  
• The Kroger Company*
  
• Price Chopper
  
• Roundy's Supermarkets, Inc.
  
• Sainsbury's
  
• ShopRite
  
• Target
  
• Tops Friendly Markets
  
• Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
  
• Wegmans
  
• Whole Foods Market
  
• Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc.
  

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

If you would like to receive automatic email alerts for all new articles posted on eFoodAlert, please submit your request using the link on our sidebar.