Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Recall Roundup: October 5, 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.

If you would like to receive automatic email alerts for all new articles posted on eFoodAlert, please click here or submit your request using the sidebar link. Please include "subscribe eFoodAlert" in the subject line.

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
  • Allergy Alert: Lucerne Foods recalls Oregon Bread's Western Hazelnut Bread (white bread only; UPC 3945500371; Best before Sept 6, 2010 through Oct 11, 2010) because the bread contains undeclared cashews, almonds and Brazil nuts. The recalled breads were sold in Safeway stores in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington State and Wyoming, and in WinCo Stores in California, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, Utah and Washington State.
  • Food Safety Recall: Ingles Markets recalls Laura Lynn Large Brown Eggs (expiration date Oct 03; Lot #232 P-1157) because some of the eggs may have mold inside the egg.
  • Food Recall: Windsor Foods (Los Angeles, CA) recalls approximately 1,608 pounds of Spicy Vegetable Potstickers (Use By Sept 13, 2010) due to a mislabeling of individual pouches that were packed with Chicken Potstickers. The products were produced on September 13, 2010 and distributed to a retail establishment in Texas.
  • FDA Warning Letter: FDA warns St. Jeans Cannery Ltd. (Nanaimo, BC) that a July 2010 inspection of the company's low-acid canned food facility revealed serious deviations from the low-acid canned food (LACF) regulations.
  • FDA Warning Letter: FDA warns Quality Plus Products, Inc. (Bellingham, WA) that a June 2010 inspection of the company's food processing facility revealed serious violations of the seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulation, and the Current Good Manufacturing Practice regulation for foods.
  • FDA Warning Letter: FDA warns Flagship Niagara League, Inc. (Erie, PA) that a July 2010 inspection of the company's passenger vessel, which operates in interstate waters in the Great Lakes, revealed significant violations of the Interstate Conveyance Sanitation regulations under the Public Health Service Act. The inspection was carried out pursuant to an outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis food poisoning on board the vessel on July 10-11, 2010.
  • FDA Warning Letter: FDA warns Golden Pacific Foods, Inc. (Chino, CA) that an April 2010 inspection of the company's seafood processing and importer establishment revealed serious violations of the seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulation and the Current Good Manufacturing Practice regulation for foods.
  • FDA Warning Letter: FDA warns Catalina Offshore Products (San Diego, CA) that an April 2010 inspection of the company's seafood processing facility revealed serious violations of the seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulation, Title 21, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 123 and the Current Good Manufacturing Practice (cGMP) regulation for foods.
  • FDA Warning Letter: FDA warns Madama Oliva, S.R.L. (Carsoli, Italy) that a June 2010 inspection of the company's low-acid canned food and acidified food facility revealed serious deviations from the low-acid canned food regulations.


Europe



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.


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



Posted by Phyllis E at Tuesday, October 05, 2010 0 comments
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Monday, October 4, 2010

Outbreaks and Alerts: October 4, 2010

A daily digest of international outbreaks, alerts and food safety news

If you would like to receive automatic email alerts for all new articles posted on eFoodAlert, please click here or submit your request using the sidebar link. Please include "subscribe eFoodAlert" in the subject line.


For information on the US Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak and egg recalls, please click here.


United States
  • Sedan, KS. October 1st: A Boil Water Advisory has been issued for the City of Sedan in Chautauqua County, due to a number of water main breaks.

Canada
  • Winnipeg, MB. September 29th: The Winnipeg Health Region has concluded that fruit compote may be the most likely culprit behind an outbreak of E. coli O157 among visitors to the Russian pavilion at Folklorama in August.


Europe
  • Jurmala, Latvia. October 3rd: Twenty kindergarten children were infected by Salmonella. An inspection of the kindergarten kitchen revealed serious deviations from standard rules of hygiene. In addition, Salmonella was detected in one of the kitchen workers. The kindergarten was fined 20 lats - one for each sick child.


Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands
  • Raipur, India, October 2nd: More than 200 workers for a road construction workers became ill after eating at a company canteen, and were taken to hospital. As many as 30 of them are reported in critical condition.
  • Gaza City, Gaza. October 3rd: Forty students from the Abdul Malik Ibn Marwan School were taken to hospital after complaining of nausea. It is believed that the children became ill after eating milk and biscuits distributed by the World Food Programme in coordination with the Gaza Ministry of Education.
  • Papa, Papua New Guinea. October 3rd: The district's Cholera Treatment Center is seeing five to six severe new suspected cases of cholera on a daily basis. The treatment center has only six beds to accommodate severely ill patients.
  • Srinagar, India. October 4th: Recent flash floods and heavy rains in Jammu and Kashmir have triggered outbreaks of diarrhea and cholera in at least seven districts. More than 7,600 people have been taken ill.


Australia and New Zealand

Posted by Phyllis E at Monday, October 04, 2010 0 comments
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Recall Roundup: October 4, 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.

If you would like to receive automatic email alerts for all new articles posted on eFoodAlert, please click here or submit your request using the sidebar link. Please include "subscribe eFoodAlert" in the subject line.

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
  • Food Alert: Tops Friendly Markets recalls Gerber 1 Cereal Oatmeal, 8 oz. (UPC 1500000702; Code date 02JAN11 US702, 00025157A3) after receiving three customer complaints, in three separate stores in diffrent market areas. The product may contain insects. The stores all received their product from the same warehouse in Brattleboro, VT. This is not an official Gerber recall, but has been issued as a precaution by Tops.


Europe


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.


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



Posted by Phyllis E at Monday, October 04, 2010 0 comments
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Unscrambling The Egg Mess: Playing The Odds

Waiter, I think that there's a Salmonella in my egg!

When the British prepared their egg safety plan and wanted to know what proportion of the country's eggs contained Salmonella, they sampled eggs and tested them in the lab. And, after several years, when they wanted to know what impact the program had on the incidence of Salmonella in eggs, they sampled more eggs and tested them.

Based on the analysis of egg samples in the lab, the UK Food Standards Agency was able to show that their intervention resulted in a three-fold improvement. The frequency of Salmonella-contaminated 6-packs of eggs dropped from 1 in 100 (1%) in 1996 to 1 in 290 (0.34%) in 2004.

When the Australians wanted to determine the status of Salmonella contamination in their domestic egg supply, they sampled and tested 30,000 eggs – 10,000 for exterior shell contamination and 20,000 for internal contamination. Not one of the 30,000 eggs was contaminated with Salmonella.

When the US Department of Agriculture wanted to determine the annual fraction of eggs contaminated with Salmonella Enteritidis in the United States, they decided that conducting real-life sampling and testing would be too expensive. So the agency put pen to paper – or electrons to computer drives – and developed a statistical model using data from the scientific literature.

The computer model came up with a contamination incidence estimate of anywhere from 1 in 12,000 eggs to 1 in 30,000 eggs. The "most likely" estimate was 1 Salmonella Enteritidis-contaminated egg in 20,000. That number, which was based on literature reports from the 1990s and was published in 2000, has been treated as a hard number ever since.

The USDA "researchers" tested their computer model against data obtained from a single unpublished random survey conducted at the University of California-Davis in 1998. The California survey tested 1416 pooled egg samples (20 eggs in each pool) and found one Salmonella Enteritidis-positive pool – assumed by the researchers to be equivalent to one positive egg out of 28,000.


Was the USDA's approach appropriate? This is what the Australian's had to say about the need to carry out real-world investigations:
"To provide a meaningful estimate of exposure, it is essential to have data on the prevalence of Salmonella contaminated eggs (internal and external contamination).

Directly comparing results from published surveys is difficult due to differences in sample sizes and methodologies. For example testing for surface contamination of egg shells can be undertaken by swabbing a section of the shell or by rinsing the entire shell surface. Egg contents can be sampled aseptically by separating the contents without contact with the shell surface. Alternatively Salmonella can be isolated by crushing the egg, allowing contact of the egg contents with shell, and isolating from the mixture."


After a number of delays, FDA at last has begun its first round of egg inspections under the newly implemented Egg Safety Rule. But without real baseline data to compare against, how will anyone be able to determine whether and to what extent the plan is working? By carrying out another hypothetical statistical analysis?


If you would like to receive automatic email alerts for all new articles posted on eFoodAlert, please click here or submit your request using the sidebar link. Please include "subscribe eFoodAlert" in the subject line.

Posted by Phyllis E at Monday, October 04, 2010 1 comments
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Saturday, October 2, 2010

Outbreaks and Alerts: October 2, 2010

A daily digest of international outbreaks, alerts and food safety news

If you would like to receive automatic email alerts for all new articles posted on eFoodAlert, please click here or submit your request using the sidebar link. Please include "subscribe eFoodAlert" in the subject line.


For information on the US Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak and egg recalls, please click here.


United States
  • Silver Spring, MD. October 1st: FDA warns consumers not to drink Miracle Mineral Solution, Miracle Mineral Supplement, and MMS, because drinking the amount recommended on product labels can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and symptoms of severe dehydration. When mixed with citric acid (lemon juice or lime juice) as recommended on the package directions, these products become chlorine dioxide, a potent bleaching agent. Several users have become ill after consuming the product, including one person who had a life-threatening reaction to it. FDA first warned consumers about the product in July, but it is still available for sale on the internet.
  • San Diego County, CA. October 1st: The Department of Environmental Health (DEH) has issued a General Advisory for the coastal waters of San Diego County due to recent rainfall. In addition, DEH has issued a water contact closure for the ocean shoreline at Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge and Border Field Park due to sewage-contaminated flows from the Tijuana River.
  • Oregon. October 1st: Health advisories for contact with marine water at Seaside Beach (Clatsop County) and Sunset Bay State Park Beach (Coos County) have been lifted.
  • Columbia, SC. October 1st: All swimming advisories for Edisto Beach have been lifted.
  • Mustang, OK. October 2nd: The Salmonella outbreak in Oklahoma grew to 15 confirmed cases after two additional cases were identified among Mustang elementary-age children. Investigators have not yet identified a source for the outbreak, which may also be linked to Salmonella cases reported by Iowa and Nebraska.


Canada
  • Vancouver, BC. October 1st: The gastroenteritis outbreak that has sickened three groups of individuals who ate raw oysters at events and restaurants in Vancouver and Richmond in September has been confirmed to have been caused by Norovirus. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has released an expanded Health Hazard Alert, which contains additional recall information.


Europe


Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands
  • Orissa, India. October 1st: Unofficial reports indicate that 150 people have died (official death toll is 42) and thousands more are suffering from diarrhea and cholera due to waterborne infections in the tribal areas of Orissa.




Posted by Phyllis E at Saturday, October 02, 2010 0 comments
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Recall Roundup: October 2, 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.

If you would like to receive automatic email alerts for all new articles posted on eFoodAlert, please click here or submit your request using the sidebar link. Please include "subscribe eFoodAlert" in the subject line.

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
  • Allergy Alert: Rising Dough Bakery (Sacramento, CA) recalls all Rising Dough Brand Individual Wrapped Cranberry Muffins topped with Streusel Crumbs (4 oz, UPC 0 48055 41359 8) because the muffins contain undeclared walnuts. The recalled Cranberry Muffins were sold in retail stores nationwide.
  • Food Safety Recall (Update): Banner Mountain Sprouts recalls non-organic Alfalfa Sprouts due to possible Salmonella contamination. The recalled sprouts were distributed in Oregon, Southwest Washington, and Northern California. The California Department of Public Health has released a retail distribution list detailing the California locations where the recalled sprouts were sold.
  • Food Recall: Price Chopper recalls Price Chopper Steamable Cut Wax Beans, 12 oz. bag (UPC 4173501015) due to a poor quality.


Canada
  • Food Safety Recall Expanded: Raw oysters harvested between September 7 and September 21, 2010 from site 23-6 of the Effingham Inlet Vancouver Coastal region of British Columbia are being recalled by the following additional processors and distributors, because they may contain foodborne pathogens: Evening Cove Oyster Processing Ltd. (Nanaimo), Albion Fisheries Ltd. (Victoria), Pacific Rim Shellfish (2003) Corporation (Vancouver), Albion Fisheries Ltd. (Vancouver), and Sea World Fisheries Ltd. (Vancouver). There have been confirmed cases of Norovirus gastroenteritis associated with the consumption of these raw oysters. The investigation into the illnesses is ongoing.


Europe
  • Food Safety Advisory (UK): Following information received via a sampling programme, the Food Standards Agency is informing local authorities that the non-permitted additive morpholine has been found on some apples imported to the UK from Chile. Food business operators have been advised that affected apples should not be on sale in the UK.
  • Food Safety Recall (Denmark): Royal Leverpostej A/S recalls Minced beef and patties formed from ground beef (Lot #3711074) after Salmonella Dublin was found in a sample of the minced beef.



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.


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



Posted by Phyllis E at Saturday, October 02, 2010 0 comments
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Friday, October 1, 2010

Outbreaks and Alerts: October 1, 2010

A daily digest of international outbreaks, alerts and food safety news

If you would like to receive automatic email alerts for all new articles posted on eFoodAlert, please click here or submit your request using the sidebar link. Please include "subscribe eFoodAlert" in the subject line.


For information on the US Salmonella Enteritidis outbreak and egg recalls, please click here.


United States
  • Columbia, SC. September 29th: One swimming advisory has been lifted and another swimming advisory has been issued for a small section of Edisto Beach. The new swimming advisory, which was issued due to high bacterial levels, covers an area 200 feet above and below the beach access at Yacht Club Road.
  • Columbia, SC. September 30th: Numerous shellfish harvesting areas along the South Carolina coast have been closed due to heavy rainfall. The closure will remain in force until bacterial levels are determined to be safe.
  • Coos County, OR. September 30th: A public health advisory has been issued for Sunset Bay State Park Beach due to higher-than-normal bacterial levels in the ocean waters.
  • Mustang, OK. September 30th: Ten children and three adults have been infected with a single (genetically identical) strain of Salmonella since early September. The 10 children attend Centennial, Lakehoma, and Mustang Valley elementary schools, and the city's pre-Kindergarten school – all in Canadian County. The three adults are from Oklahoma County (2 cases) and Carter County (1 case).
  • Des Moines, IA. September 30th: Iowa Secretary of Agriculture reminds farmers that grain impacted by flood waters, whether in the field or in a bin, is considered adulterated and cannot be used for food or feed. Grain still in the field should be destroyed and not blended with uncontaminated grain.
  • Richmond, VA. September 30th: Virginia Department of Health has closed tributaries in the Hampton Roads area to shellfish harvesting due to intense rainfall. The closure will remain in effect through October 6th.
  • Grand Prairie, TX. October 1st: The Texas Department of State Health Services warns the public not to consume any species of fish from Mountain Creek Lake in Grand Prairie after lab testing of fish samples found elevated levels of dioxins and PCBs in the fish.


Canada
  • Ottawa, ON. September 30th: There have been seven reported cases of human illness in Canada between April-August 2010 that are due to a specific strain of Salmonella that has been linked to frozen rodents. PHAC is investigating with its provincial and territorial counterparts whether this outbreak of illness is associated with a similar illness in the United States and whether the product implicated in the U.S. outbreak was distributed in Canada.


Europe
  • Dublin, Ireland. September 29th: The Food Safety Authority of Ireland reports that a recent survey found that 29% of pre-packaged sandwiches were stored or displayed at temperatures higher than 5ºC. The study involved 948 pre-packaged sandwiches from retailers and caterers across Ireland.


Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands
  • Sullia, India. September 30th: More than 30 students of the government higher primary school in Kalmadka began to vomit after consuming their midday meal on September 29th. All were admitted into the primary health centre at Bellare for emergency treatment. Samples of Sambar and rice have been sent to Mangalore for lab analysis.
  • Muğla, Turkey. September 30th: Fifty students developed nausea, vomiting and stomach aches after eating a cafeteria dinner at a state-run dormitory at Mugla University. Many of the students were treated at the Mugla State Hospital.
  • Harare, Zimbabwe. October 1st: Cases of suspected diarrhoea have been reported in parts of Entumbane as some sections of Bulawayo yesterday entered a sixth day without running water. Most of the city's suburbs went dry after water supplies were cut as council undertook repairs at Criterion Waterworks, which purifies the bulk of Bulawayo's water.


Australia and New Zealand
  • Sydney, Australia. September 30th: Customers who developed thyroid problems after consuming Bonsoy soy milk distributed in Australia by Spiral Foods have joined in a class action lawsuit agains the company in Federal Court in Victoria.


Latin America and the Caribbean
  • Sao Paulo, Brazil. September 30th: A restaurant in Mogi das Cruzes, Sao Paulo was closed for investigation after it was linked to 60 cases of suspect food poisoning. The restaurant was not publicly identified, but is located at Rua Dr. Ricardo Vilela.


Posted by Phyllis E at Friday, October 01, 2010 3 comments
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Recall Roundup: October 1, 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.

If you would like to receive automatic email alerts for all new articles posted on eFoodAlert, please click here or submit your request using the sidebar link. Please include "subscribe eFoodAlert" in the subject line.

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
  • Allergy Alert: Hostess Brands, Inc. (Irving, TX) recalls Hostess® Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins multi-packs (4 packs of 5 muffins each; net wt. 8 oz (227g); UPC 45000-60703; Best By Oct 31). Due to a packaging error, some of the multi-packs may contain Banana Nut Mini Muffins with undeclared walnuts.
  • Food Safety Recall: Hamilton Corner Meat Market Inc. (New York, NY) recalls all packages of ground beef sold from bulk on September 20, 2010 due to the presence of Salmonella. The contamination was found after a sample taken by a food inspector during a follow-up inspection was found to contain Salmonella.
  • Food Safety Recall: Essex Farm Inc. (dba Best Farm, New York, NY) recalls all packages of Soybean Sprouts due to the presence of Listeria monocytogenes. The sprouts were purchased in bulk and repacked at the retail store level. The contamination was found as the result of routine sampling by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.
  • Food Safety Alert: The California Department of Public Health warns consumers not to eat Banner Mountain Alfalfa Sprouts (4-oz. clear, flexible, clamshell plastic containers; sell by dates from September 7 to October 8, 2010), because the sprouts may be contaminated with Salmonella.
  • Food Safety Recall (Eggs): California Department of Public Health updates the California retail distribution list for recalled eggs from Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms of Iowa.


Canada
  • Food Safety Recall: Pacific Rim Shellfish (2003) Corporation (Vancouver, BC) recalls Pacific Rim Petite raw oysters (Lot #1091502 and #1092204) because they may contain foodborne pathogens. The recalled oysters were distributed to various retail and institutional clients in British Columbia, and were sold from the Pacific Rim Shellfish cash & carry retail outlet in Vancouver. According to the BC Centre for Disease Control, consumption of raw or undercooked oysters are behind three clusters of gastroenteritis illnesses in the province, thought to be caused by Norovirus infections.


Europe
  • Food Safety Alert (Sweden): The National Food Administration warns that meat stamped with Knorr Vangen Slaughter AB was placed on the market without inspection.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2010.1321): Unauthorised novel food ingredient tongkat ali (Eurycoma longifolia) in coffee from Malaysia; distributed to Romania.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2010.1322): Parasitic infestation with microsporidia in frozen hake fillets from Argentina; distributed to Lithuania.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2010.1323): Illegal import of and fraudulent health certificate(s) for bonito (Katsuwonus pelamis) from China; distributed to Germany.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2010.1324): Migration of epoxidised soybean oil from lid of glass jars containing sesame paste from Turkey; distributed to Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Spain.


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.


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



Posted by Phyllis E at Friday, October 01, 2010 0 comments
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