Recall Roundup: January 11, 2011

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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United States

• Food Safety Recall: Surtex Foods Co. recalls La Original brand Oaxaca String Cheese (Lot #1360912; Expiration date 01/09/2011), because it may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus. The product was distributed in California through retrail stores and distributors.
• Food Safety Recall: One Great Burger (Elizabeth, NJ) recalls OneGreat Hamburgers (Item #02044; Est. 34575; Produced between Jan. 2010 and May 2010; Packed on dates July 2010 to Nov. 2010), because these ground beef products may have become spoiled. The problem was discovered during an investigation by FSIS into customer complaints of discoloration and off-odors.
• Food Safety Recall (Update): Sprouters Northwest, Inc. recalls all of its clover sprouts and clover sprout mixes because they may be contaminated with Salmonella. The expanded recall includes Clover Sprouts, Clover Onion Sprouts, Deli Sprouts, Spicy Sprouts and Brocco Sandwich Sprouts with a "best by" date of 1/16/11 and earlier. Sprouters Northwest has suspended production of these products while FDA and the company investigate the source of the problem. The recalled clover sprout products were distributed in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska through wholesale distribution and retail chains.
• FDA Warning Letter: FDA warns Benz's Food Products, Inc. (Brooklyn, NY) that an October 2010 inspection of the company's seafood processing facility revealed serious violations of the seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulation.
• FDA Warning Letter: FDA warns Inter-Ocean Seafood Traders, Inc. (San Carlos, CA) that a November 2010 inspection of the company's seafood processing facility revealed serious violations of the seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulation.

Canada

• Allergy Alert (Update): Seoul Trading Corporation updates its January 7, 2011 warning to correct the Lot Code for Choripdong brand Vegetable Dumpling. The corrected Lot Code is 2012.05.28D.
• Food Safety Recall: Ferme G.M.H. Inc (Saint-Christophe-d'Arthabaska, QC) recalls unlabeled fresh or frozen cheese, offered in blocks (approx 450g) or grains, because the cheese may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes or Staphylococcus aureus.
• OTC Product Safety Recall: Shandex Sales Group recalls alcohol swabs, because they may be contaminated with Bacillus cereus. The recalled swabs were distributed across Canada under the following store brands: Remedy Rx (Remedy Rx stores), Uniprix/Option+(Uniprix and PharmaChoice), Life Brand (Shoppers Drug Mart), Equate Walmart), Personelle (Jean Coutu), Rexall (Katz Group stores) and Exact (Loblaws).

Europe

• Allergy Alert (Ireland): Celtic Chocolates Ltd. recalls Celtic Dairy Free Bars (35g x 6 pack; Batch Codes L10349 and L10350; Best Before December 2011), because they contain casein (a milk protein) which was not declared on the label.
• Allergy Alert (UK): Maysum withdraws Maysum Meat Samosas, 675g (Best before 19 November 2011; Batch code 318102010), because the product contains undeclared sulphur dioxide.
• Allergy Alert (UK): Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd withdraws Sainsbury's Free From Mint Crisps, 150g (Best before end February 2012) and Celtic Caramel Choices, 120g (Best before end August 2011), because the products contain undeclared milk.

Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands

• Food Labeling Alert (Taiwan): Taipei's Health Department advises the public that 12 out of 13 goat's milk tablet products tested by the Department were found to contain a significant proportion of cow's milk.
• OTC Product Safety Recall Update (Hong Kong): The Hong Kong Department of Health has agreed to allow one brand of Abbott's glucose test strips, Optium Omega, to re-enter the market.

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.