EGG Recall- 228 million eggs recalled due to Salmonella-Update- Half Billion Eggs Recalled
UPDATE
A half-billion eggs have been recalled in the nationwide investigation of a salmonella outbreak that Friday expanded to include a second Iowa farm. More than 1,000 people have already been sickened and the toll of illnesses is expected to increase.
Iowa’s Hillandale Farms said Friday it was recalling more than 170 million eggs after laboratory tests confirmed salmonella. The company did not say if its action was connected to the recall by Wright County Egg, another Iowa farm that recalled 380 million eggs earlier this week. The latest recall puts the total number of potentially tainted eggs at over half a billion.
An FDA spokeswoman said the two recalls are related. The strain of salmonella causing the poisoning is the same in both cases, salmonella enteritidis.
The eggs recalled Friday were distributed under the brand names Hillandale Farms, Sunny Farms, Sunny Meadow, Wholesome Farms and West Creek. The new recall applies to eggs sold between April and August.
Hillandale said the eggs were distributed to grocery distribution centers, retail groceries and food service companies which service or are located in fourteen states, including Arkansas, California, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, and Wisconsin.

Reed Saxon / AP
A food safety expert at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., said the source of the outbreak could be rodents, shipments of contaminated hens, or tainted feed. Microbiology professor Patrick McDonough said he was not surprised to hear about two recalls involving different egg companies, because in other outbreaks there have also been multiple sources.
Both plants could have a rodent problem, or both plants could have gotten hens that were already infected, or feed that was contaminated.
“You need biosecurity of the hen house, you want a rodent control program and you want to have hens put into that environment that are salmonella free,” McDonough said.
The salmonella bacteria is not passed from hen to hen, but usually from rodent droppings to chickens, he added. This strain of bacteria is found inside a chicken’s ovaries, and gets inside an egg.
CDC officials said Thursday that the number of illnesses related to the outbreak is expected to grow. That’s because illnesses occurring after mid-July may not be reported yet, said Dr. Christopher Braden, an epidemiologist with the federal Centers for Disease Control.
Almost 2,000 illnesses from the strain of salmonella linked to both recalls were reported between May and July, almost 1,300 more than usual, Braden said. No deaths have been reported. The CDC is continuing to receive information from state health departments as people report their illnesses.
The most common symptoms of salmonella are diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever within eight hours to 72 hours of eating a contaminated product. It can be life-threatening, especially to those with weakened immune systems.
The form of salmonella tied to the outbreak can be passed from chickens that appear healthy. And it grows inside eggs, not just on the shell, Braden noted.
Thoroughly cooking eggs can kill the bacteria. But health officials are recommending people throw away or return the recalled eggs
Egg Recall 2010
One of the nation’s largest egg producers is recalling 228 million eggs after being linked to an outbreak of Salmonella poisoning.
The enters for Disease Control and Prevention said eggs from Wright County Egg in Galt, Iowa, were linked to several illnesses in Colorado, California and Minnesota. The CDC said about 200 cases of the strain of salmonella linked to the eggs were reported weekly during June and July, four times the normal number of such occurrences.
The nationwide recall involves eggs packaged from May 16 through Aug. 13.
Eggs affected by this recall were distributed to food wholesalers, distribution centers and foodservice companies in California, Illinois, Missouri, Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. These companies distribute nationwide.
The eggs were packaged under the names Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph’s, Boomsma’s, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemp.
LOOK FOR ONE OF THESE THREE PLANT NUMBERS: P-1026, P-1413, AND P-1946 FOR THE EGG RECALL
The plant number is on the end of the egg carton. If it’s stamped with one of those numbers, check the numbers after it.
If they are between 136 to 225, take the eggs back to the store.
The Food and Drug Administration is investigating the egg company.
What can I do to reduce my risk of getting Salmonella Enteritidis from eggs?
Eggs, like meat, poultry, milk, and other foods, are safe when handled properly. Shell eggs are safest when stored in the refrigerator, individually and thoroughly cooked, and promptly consumed. The larger the number of Salmonella present in the egg, the more likely it is to cause illness. Keeping eggs adequately refrigerated prevents any Salmonella present in the eggs from growing to higher numbers, so eggs should be kept refrigerated until they are used.
Cooking reduces the number of bacteria present in an egg; however, an egg with a runny yolk still poses a greater risk than a completely cooked egg. Undercooked egg whites and yolks have been associated with outbreaks of Salmonella Enteritidis infections. Both should be consumed promptly and not be kept warm or at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
What are the specific actions I can take to reduce my risk of a Salmonella Enteritidis infection?
Keep eggs refrigerated at ? 45° F (?7° C) at all times.
Discard cracked or dirty eggs.
Wash hands, cooking utensils, and food preparation surfaces with soap and water after contact with raw eggs.
Eggs should be cooked until both the white and the yolk are firm and eaten promptly after cooking.
Do not keep eggs warm or at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
Refrigerate unused or leftover egg-containing foods promptly.
Avoid eating raw eggs.
Avoid restaurant dishes made with raw or undercooked, unpasteurized eggs. Restaurants should use pasteurized eggs in any recipe (such as Hollandaise sauce or Caesar salad dressing) that calls for raw eggs.
Consumption of raw or undercooked eggs should be avoided, especially by young children, elderly persons, and persons with weakened immune systems or debilitating illness.
Who is most at risk for getting Salmonella Enteritidis?
The elderly, infants, and those with impaired immune systems may have a more severe illness. In these patients, the infection may spread from the intestines to the blood stream, and then to other body sites and can cause death unless the person is treated promptly with antibiotics.
How do I know if I have Salmonella Enteritidis?
A person infected with the Salmonella Enteritidis bacterium usually has fever, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea beginning 12 to 72 hours after consuming a contaminated food or beverage. The illness usually lasts 4 to 7 days, and most persons recover without antibiotic treatment. However, the diarrhea can be severe, and the person may be ill enough to require hospitalization.
Fruit Smoothies Linked to Outbreak of Typhoid Fever in U.S.
Filed under: Is it Safe?, Product Recalls, Recalled Foods, Typhoid Fever
Friday , August 13, 2010
A rare U.S. outbreak of typhoid fever has been linked to a frozen tropical fruit product used to make smoothies, health officials reported Thursday.
Seven cases have been confirmed — three in California and four in Nevada. Two more California cases are being investigated. Five people were hospitalized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
The CDC said five of the victims drank milkshakes or smoothies made with frozen mamey fruit pulp. Four of them used pulp sold by Goya Foods Inc. of Secaucus, N.J.
Mamey is a sweet, reddish tropical fruit grown mainly in Central and South America. It is also known as zapote or sapote. It is peeled and mashed to make pulp, the CDC said.
The company has recalled packages of the pulp, sold in mostly western states. A sample from one package found in Las Vegas tested positive for the bacteria that causes typhoid, the Food and Drug Administration reported Wednesday.
A phone call to Goya seeking comment was not immediately returned Thursday.
No other food was linked to the illnesses, which occurred between April and July. The victims range in age from 4 to 31, said CDC spokeswoman Arleen Porcell-Pharr.
Typhoid fever is a life-threatening illness caused by a type of bacteria called Salmonella typhi. It’s become rare in the United States. There are only about 400 cases annually, and most people caught it while traveling abroad.
Three food-related outbreaks have been reported in the last 12 years. One, also linked to frozen mamey pulp, caused three illnesses in Florida in 1999. One, linked to Gulf Coast oysters, sickened six in Texas in 2006. The third, linked to a Maryland restaurant, caused four illnesses.
Symptoms include a sustained fever as high as 103 to 104 degrees, along with headache. weakness, stomach pains or loss of appetite. Some patients have a rash of flat, rose-colored spots. It can be treated with antibiotics.
It’s not clear if there will be additional cases, said Dr. Ezra Barzilay, the CDC epidemiologist supervising the investigation. It can take between three days to eight weeks for an infected person to develop symptoms, he noted.
The disease is still common in the developing world. The bacteria passes through the intestinal tract and often spreads to others through feces-tainted food or water. Freezing does not kill it.
The recalled mamey pulp was sold in 14-ounce plastic packages in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington.
CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/salmonella/typhoidfever/
FDA recall: http://www.fda.gov/Safety

/Recalls/ucm222223.htm
15 Million Pounds of SpaghettiOs Recalled-Undercooked Meatballs
15 Million Pounds of SpaghettiOs Recalled
Andrea Tse
NEW YORK (TheStreet) — Campbell Soup(CPB) is recalling 15 million pounds of SpaghettiOs with meatballs following a cooker malfunction at one of its Texas plants.
The malfunction resulted in undercooked meat, the Agriculture Department announced Thursday evening.
The SpaghettiO meals being recalled consist of children’s meals SpaghettiOs with Meatballs, SpaghettiOs A to Z with Meatballs and SpaghettiOs Fun Shapes with Meatballs. The bottom of their cans are marked with “EST 4K” and expiration dates of between June 2010 and December 2011.
It’s still unclear when the cooker began to malfunction, so Campbell is recalling products that have been out since Dec. 2008, to err on the safe side. The company estimates that about 35,000 cases of the SpaghettiOs on recall are currently on the market.
Campbell adds that much of this has probably already been eaten.
For more details on the recall, Campbell’s is offering a hotline at (866) 495-3774.
Huge Baby Children Product Recall Johnson & Johnson
Filed under: Bad Drugs, Banned Foods, Children Products Recalled, Product Recalls, Recall
A division of Johnson & Johnson is recalling 43 over-the-counter medicines made for infants and children — including liquid versions of Tylenol, Motrin, Zyrtec and Benadryl — after federal regulators identified what they called deficiencies at the company’s manufacturing facility.
The voluntary recall, which was announced late Friday by McNeil Consumer Healthcare, affects hundreds of thousands of bottles of medicine in homes and on store shelves throughout the United States and its territories and in nine other countries — a vast portion of the children’s medicine market.
The Food and Drug Administration is advising parents and caregivers to stop using the affected products, although Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg called the potential for serious health problems resulting from the medications “remote.”
FDA inspectors had begun a routine inspection April 19 in the company’s Fort Washington, Pa., plant when they noticed “manufacturing deficiencies” that triggered the recall, said Douglas Stearn, a senior FDA official.
Stearn said the plant’s manufacturing process was “not in control,” a term regulators use to describe flawed procedures that affect the composition of medicine. Federal investigators do not know when the problems at McNeil began, but Stearn said that “this does go back in time” and that “we have to try to figure that out.”
While the FDA investigates, McNeil has suspended operations at the facility. In a statement, the company said: “Some of the products included in the recall may contain a higher concentration of active ingredient than is specified; others contain inactive ingredients that may not meet internal testing requirements; and others may contain tiny particles.” It said the problems may affect “purity, potency or quality.”
Marc Boston, a McNeil spokesman, would not discuss the deficiencies cited by the FDA or say when the manufacturing facility was shut down. The company also declined to disclose the amount of products affected by the recall. In addition to the United States, Puerto Rico and Guam, the medicines were sold in Canada; the Dominican Republic; Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates; Fiji; Guatemala; Jamaica; Panama; Trinidad and Tobago; and Kuwait.
A complete list of recalled products is on the company’s Web site.
McNeil received consumer complaints associated with some of the recalled medicines, but the company’s decision to pull them was not made on “the basis of adverse medical events,” said Boston, who declined to elaborate.
If a child who has taken any of the recalled medications exhibits any unexpected symptoms, parents or caregivers should contact a doctor, federal officials said. Consumers or health-care providers who experience problems connected to the recalled medicines are asked to contact the FDA.
As of Saturday, the FDA was not aware of any health problems related to the recalled products, said spokeswoman Elaine Gansz Bobo.
Parents and caregivers can use generic versions of the affected medicines; they are not affected by the recall. The FDA cautioned against giving adult versions to infants and children, noting the potential for serious problems.
This is at least the third major recall of Tylenol products by McNeil since 2008.
In January, McNeil recalled 49 types of Tylenol products made for adults and two Tylenol products made for children after consumers complained of a mold-like odor and of temporary and minor nausea, stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea. The company determined that some of the medicines had been contaminated by trace amounts of a chemical that is sometimes present on shipping and storage material.
In 2008, McNeil recalled 21 types of children’s and infants’ Tylenol liquid products, saying that although the products met internal standards, an unused portion of one inactive ingredient did not meet all quality standards
Food Fraud- Food that is not what it says, FDA needs to crack down
Filed under: Banned Foods Trivia, Is it Safe?, Labeling and Labels, What it is?
Is your food what it says?
The expensive “sheep’s milk” cheese in a Manhattan market was really made from cow’s milk. And a jar of “Sturgeon caviar” was, in fact, Mississippi paddlefish.
Some honey makers dilute their honey with sugar beets or corn syrup, their competitors say, but still market it as 100 percent pure at a premium price.
And last year, a Fairfax man was convicted of selling 10 million pounds of cheap, frozen catfish fillets from Vietnam as much more expensive grouper, red snapper and flounder. The fish was bought by national chain retailers, wholesalers and food service companies, and ended up on dinner plates across the country.
“Food fraud” has been documented in fruit juice, olive oil, spices, vinegar, wine, spirits and maple syrup, and appears to pose a significant problem in the seafood industry. Victims range from the shopper at the local supermarket to multimillion companies, including E&J Gallo and Heinz USA.
Such deception has been happening since Roman times, but it is getting new attention as more products are imported and a tight economy heightens competition. And the U.S. food industry says federal regulators are not doing enough to combat it.
“It’s growing very rapidly, and there’s more of it than you might think,” said James Morehouse, a senior partner at A.T. Kearney Inc., which is studying the issue for the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents the food and beverage industry.
John Spink, an expert on food and packaging fraud at Michigan State University, estimates that 5 to 7 percent of the U.S. food supply is affected but acknowledges the number could be greater. “We know what we seized at the border, but we have no idea what we didn’t seize,” he said.
The job of ensuring that food is accurately labeled largely rests with the Food and Drug Administration. But it has been overwhelmed in trying to prevent food contamination, and fraud has remained on a back burner.
The recent development of high-tech tools — including DNA testing — has made it easier to detect fraud that might have gone unnoticed a decade ago. DNA can be extracted from cells of fish and meat and from other foods, such as rice and even coffee. Technicians then identify the species by comparing the DNA to a database of samples.
Another tool, isotope ratio analysis, can determine subtle differences between food — whether a fish was farmed or wild, for example, or whether caviar came from Finland or a U.S. stream.
The techniques have become so accessible that two New York City high school students, working with scientists at the Rockefeller University and the American Museum of Natural History last year, discovered after analyzing DNA in 11 of 66 foods — including the sheep’s milk cheese and caviar — bought randomly at markets in Manhattan were mislabeled.
“We put so much emphasis on food and purity of ingredients and where they come from,” said Mark Stoeckle, a physician and DNA expert at Rockefeller University who advised the students. “But then there are things selling that are not what they say on the label. There’s an important issue here in terms of economics and consumer safety.”
It is not clear how many food manufacturers, importers and retailers are testing products, but large companies with valuable brands to protect have been increasingly using the new technology, said Vincent Paez, director of food safety business development at Thermo Fisher Scientific, which sells some of the equipment and performs laboratory analysis, including DNA testing.
Still, of the hundreds of customers who bought 10 million pounds of mislabeled Vietnamese catfish — including national chains and top rated restaurants — only one or two caught the deception, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Johns, who prosecuted the Fairfax fish importer. “It was the rare exception, not the norm,” he said.
Heinz USA and Kraft Foods, two giant food makers with well- established internal controls, nevertheless fell victim to “Operation Rotten Tomato,” a conspiracy in which the scion of a California farming dynasty was indicted this month. He was accused of disguising millions of pounds of moldy tomato paste as a higher- grade product and selling it to foodmakers.
And E&J Gallo, the nation’s largest wine seller, sold 18 million bottles of Red Bicyclette Pinot Noir between 2006 and 2008 that had been filled in France with wine made from cheaper merlot and syrah grapes, according to a French court that last month indicted a dozen of its citizens in a scam dubbed Pinotgate.
At the FDA’s first public meeting on food fraud last year, groups across the industry complained that it is not doing enough.
“If it’s not going to hurt or kill someone, FDA’s resources are limited enough that they can’t take time to address it,” said Bob Bauer, a spokesman for the National Honey Packers & Dealers Association and the North American Olive Oil Association.
Both groups have petitioned the FDA to set standards for honey and olive oil, which would make it possible for companies to sue competitors that sell an adulterated product. The olive oil industry has been waiting for FDA to act on its request since 1991; major honey and beekeeping groups have been waiting since 2006. An agency spokesman said those requests are pending.
One longtime crabmeat seller on the Chesapeake Bay said he has complained, without results, to the FDA for years about a competitor who imports cheap crab and repackages it as Chesapeake blue crab, a different species that can be sold for twice or three times the price.
The National Seafood Inspection Laboratory, part of the Marine Fisheries Service, randomly sampled seafood from vendors between 1988 and 1997; it found that 34 percent had been mislabeled and sold as a different species. In 2004, scientists at the University of North Carolina estimated that 77 percent of snapper sold in the United States is mislabeled.
“With the recession, people are trying to make money in any way, shape or form,” said William Gergits, a co-founder of Therion International LLC, which specializes in DNA-based testing services. “Southeast grouper and red snapper fisheries here are limited. If you think about all the restaurants in Florida, there’s not enough supply to go to those restaurants.”
Despite growing imports, the FDA inspects just 2 percent of fish coming into the United States from other countries.
The agency wants to create a surveillance system that would alert regulators to likely fraud, said Jennifer Thomas, director of enforcement at FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. She said the FDA regularly swaps intelligence with two other agencies that share responsibility for catching seafood fraud. It has also bought a $170,000 DNA sequencer for its Seattle field office.
She pointed to several FDA actions against food fraud in recent months, including the first debarment of a seafood importer, suggesting that may be a deterrent.
Peter Xuong Lam, president of Virginia Star Seafood Corporation of Fairfax, was convicted last year of selling the mislabeled catfish. Ten other individuals and companies were also charged. Lam was sentenced to five years in prison and is barred from importing food into the United States for the next 20 years.
Authentification should be a standard practice throughout the food industry, Stoeckle said: “If it’s simple enough that high school students with some supervision can do it, it moves out of the research application to something you can do regularly.”
More then 100 products recalled so far, Beef taquito and chicken quesadilla products
The number of products being recalled because of Salmonella fears continues to grow. More than 100 products have been recalled so far. The Food and Drug Administration announced more than a half-dozen recalls just on Wednesday and admits that the recall could continue to grow over the next several weeks. A so-called “flavor enhancer” supplied by Las Vegas company Basic Food Flavors that is used in thousands of products is being blamed. Tests show it may be contaminated with salmonella. The product in question is hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP). The additive is mixed into foods to give them a meaty flavor. The food industry uses it in soups, cheese, sauces, hot dogs, frozen dinners, snack foods, dips and dressings. The FDA says that the company continued to manufacture and ship HVP even after its own testing found Salmonella in the product. Salmonella is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems, according to the government. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses. Some of the recalled food products include some Herrs potato chips, Pringles potato chips, and Quaker snack mix. In February, a customer of Basic Food Flavors alerted the FDA that it had detected Salmonella in the company’s HVP product. That led to an FDA inspection at Basic Food Flavors that began on Feb. 12. That inspection led to the FDA’s positive findings of Salmonella in the manufacturing facility. FDA inspectors also found problems in the company’s manufacturing processes, including a lack of microbial- contamination control. There were also problems with the cleaning and sanitizing procedures of equipment and work areas where food meant for human consumption was processed, as well as plumbing and drainage issues. The FDA says the chances of a consumer getting sick are small because the foods are generally cooked before they are packaged. To date, there have been no reports of illnesses. For more information on the recall and an updated list of the products being recalled . For the full list click here.
Recall:Salmonella Alert! Products Containing Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein or HVP
Filed under: Dangerous Foods, Is it Safe?, Recall, Recalled Foods, Salmonella
Could become the largest food recall ever: read more details here.
Recall: Products Containing Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein
Federal health authorities announced Thursday the recall of a commonly used flavor enhancer after samples of the product were found to contain salmonella.
“I would say it’s likely to be in thousands of food products,” said Dr. Jenny Scott, senior adviser to the director at the Office of Food Safety at the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, about the product, called hydrolyzed vegetable protein, also called HVP.
The bacterium, identified as Salmonella Tennessee, was found in HVP manufactured by Basic Food Flavors Inc. of Las Vegas, Nevada, the officials said.
HVP is used in processed foods, including soups, sauces, chilis, stews, hot dogs, gravy, seasoned snack foods and dressings.
“We are working hard to respond to this particular outbreak; we also are working hard to put in place the kinds of preventive control measures to prevent this kind of contamination from happening in the first place,” said FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg.
Officials noted in a telephone conference call with reporters that no illnesses have been reported and any risk to consumers would be considered low.
“Many of the foods that incorporated this product at very low levels have kill steps in place that would eliminate salmonella,” said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, FDA’s principal deputy commissioner. He was referring to steps in preparation that would heat the product enough to kill any bacteria. “For those that don’t, we’re providing specific guidance around the need to recall,” he said.
But officials acknowledged they did not yet know just how many products might wind up being recalled.
“The manufacturer had many first-level consignees who obviously had individuals and firms that they sold to,” said Dr. Jeff Farrar, associate commissioner for food safety, FDA’s Office of Foods. “We expect this to get larger over the next several days to, actually, maybe several weeks.”
A call to the manufacturer was not returned immediately.
Sharfstein said the agency learned of the problem in early February, when a Basic Foods customer tested the product and reported to FDA that it was contaminated.
Farrar said he did not know when the plant was last inspected.
The recall affects all bulk HVP produced at the facility since September 17. The FDA posted several dozen products containing the ingredient at www.foodsafety.gov, but officials said the list was not complete. The recalled products include dips, salad dressings and soup mixes.
Farrar said the agency was recommending recalls of those products containing HVP that might be eaten without processing or cooking that would kill the bacteria. But more needs to be done, he said. “This situation clearly underscores the need for new food safety legislation to equip FDA with the tools we need to prevent contamination,” said Farrar.
Salmonella bacteria sometimes cause fatal infections in young children, elderly people and anyone with a weakened immune system.
Symptoms in healthy people might include fever, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest said the recall is “yet more proof that the Food and Drug Administration needs more authority, more inspectors and more resources to ensure that our food supply is safe.”
It added, “Most Americans would be stunned to learn that FDA doesn’t even have the authority to make recalls like these mandatory.”
A bill passed in July by the House with overwhelming bipartisan support would go a long way toward beefing up the agency’s ability to intervene in such cases, said Erik Olson, director of food and consumer product safety at The Pew Charitable Trusts.
“The existing law is basically a reactive law,” he said. “If you find contamination problems, the FDA reacts and goes out and tries to find the problem and asks for a voluntary recall.”
The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, the law pending in the Senate, “would change the whole system, modernize it to say we’re going to try to prevent the contamination before it occurs.”
But support for the bill is not universal.
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition is seeking changes in the bill before passage, according to Senior Policy Associate Kate Fitzgerald.
“The last thing we want to do as a government is to inhibit these regional food systems by poorly crafted regulation,” she said. Under the proposed legislation, a farmer selling broccoli heads would be classified as a farmer, but a farmer selling broccoli florets would be classified as a facility and subject to more rigorous controls, she said.
“No one benefits if we pass a food-safety bill but it doesn’t make the food system better,” she said.
Steve Etka, legislative director at the National Organic Coalition, offered a similar view. “We want to make sure the bill is clear that it’s targeted toward the riskiest behaviors,” he said. “Right now, we think it’s kind of missing the mark in that regard.”
Information current as of noon March 04, 2010
56 entries in list
Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein Containing Products Recall List: Main Page
Note: This list includes products subject to recall in the United States since February 2010 related to hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) paste and powder distributed by Basic Food Flavors, Inc. This list will be updated with publicly available information as received. The information is current as of the date indicated. Once included, recalls will remain listed. If we learn that any information is not accurate, we will revise the list as soon as possible. When available, this database also includes photos of recalled products that have been voluntarily submitted by recalling firms to the FDA to assist the public in identifying those products that are subject to recall.
Deceptive Labeling Practices gets called out by FDA-Can you trust labels?
Filed under: Is it Safe?, Labeling and Labels, Tips on Food Safety, What it is?
In a move called “unprecedented” by watchdog agency Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued warning letters to 17 food companies about their deceptive labeling practices.
Basically, the companies receiving these letters did one of two things wrong. Let me present these two issues and give a few examples for each and then tell you what I think about all of this.
Issue #1: The product label bears a nutrient content claim but does not meet the requirements to make the claim. Specifically if the product package includes the claim “0 grams trans fat” and the product contains more than 13 grams of total fat, 4 grams of saturated fat or 480 mg of sodium per labeled serving, it must include a disclosure statement on the label, adjacent to the claim, referring the consumer to nutrition information for those nutrients.
Here are a few examples:
* Gorton’s Beer Batter Crispy Battered Fish Fillet: They make the “0 grams trans fat” claim without a disclosure statement when a serving of the product contains 19 g total fat, 4.5 g saturated fat and 680 mg sodium per serving.
* Dreyer’s Nestle Drumstick Classic Vanilla Fudge and Dreyer’s Dibs Bite Size Ice Cream Snacks Vanilla Ice Cream with Nestle Crunch Coating: The package label states “O grams trans Fat” but the products contain 19 grams total fat; 10 grams saturated fat (Drumstick) and 28 grams total fat, 20 grams saturated fat (Dibs).
* Spectrum Organic All Vegetable Shortening: This product doesn’t meet the requirement for the use of the term “cholesterol free” on its label because the product contains 6 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon (it exceeds the limit of 2 grams or less saturated fat per Reference Amount Customarily Consumed)… and it doesn’t comply with the requirements for making the claim “less saturated fat than butter.”
Issue #2: The therapeutic claims on their website established that the product is a drug because it is intended for use in the cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease.
* *Salada Naturally Decaf Green Tea (Redco Foods): Their website promotes their tea products for conditions that cause them to be drugs under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. For example, they make the statement that green tea can inhibit the cancer process and regulate cholesterol levels.
* Diamond of California Shelled Walnuts: Again, the FDA determined, based on claims made on their website, that their walnuts products are promoted for conditions that cause them to be drugs. Here are some of the statements made on their website that FDA mentioned specifically:
o “Studies indicate that the omega-3 fatty acids found in walnuts may help lower cholesterol; protect against heart disease, stroke and some cancers; ease arthritis and other inflammatory diseases; and even fight depression and other mental illnesses.”
o “In treating major depression, for example, omega-3s seem to work by making it easier for brain cell receptors to process mood-related signals from neighboring
neurons.”
o “There’s good evidence that omega-3s can increase HDL (good cholesterol), further reducing the risk of stroke and heart disease.”
So what do I think about all of this? I totally understand FDA going after processed food products like frozen desserts or breaded fish fillets boasting “0 grams trans fat” when they are still high in total fat and saturated fat. Job well done here, although they are really only asking for the companies to add a disclosure statement to correct this. CSPI and other nutrition experts like myself would ideally want them to ban the statement entirely in a product exceeding the total fat and saturated fat guidelines.
And I would understand them going after companies stating “made with whole wheat,” when the product only contains a small portion of whole wheat – but then they didn’t go after these companies in this go-around.
But I’m not so thrilled about them going after companies selling whole foods like olive oil, walnuts and green tea. I am trying to move people toward eating more whole foods – foods that offer phytochemicals and other potentially helpful food components such as fiber and monounsaturated fat – instead of processed foods. These companies mostly got in trouble for the information they include on their websites. Maybe it’s just me, but I am much more concerned about what is being stated on product labels than on company websites.
As far as information on websites, I understand that health information and study results presented should clearly state whether the evidence is “suggestive” or “preliminary.” But in some cases I think consumers actually benefit from seeing some of this new information as it is emerging, especially if the bottom line is leading them to consume more whole foods. If we all waited for the government to review study evidence and make their all important “health claims” for various nutrient and disease associations, some of this potentially powerful information might not get out to those interested for another decade.
What do you think? What are some of the most outrageous health claims you have seen on food packages?
Pepper Salami Recalled- salmonella outbreak
Filed under: Beef Recalls, Dangerous Foods, Product Recalls, Recall, Recalled Foods, Salmonella
Salami recalled in multistate salmonella outbreak
A Rhode Island company, Daniele Inc., recalls 1.24 million pounds of pepper-crusted salami after officials trace the outbreak to its product, based on a comparison of shopping receipts.
A Rhode Island meat company recalled 1.24 million pounds of pepper-coated salami Saturday, after officials conducting a months-long, multistate investigation of a salmonella outbreak compared shopping receipts of those who got sick.
The recall by Daniele Inc. comes amid an outbreak that has sickened 184 people in 38 states since July.
Daniele has been identified as the source of the ongoing outbreak by William Keene, a senior epidemiologist at the public health division in Oregon, where eight people have fallen ill.
Keene said Saturday that some questions remain, such as whether it was the meat or the pepper that was contaminated.
Investigators in Washington state found that many of the 14 residents there who got sick shopped at Costco, Keene said. Costco did not return calls seeking comment on the recall Saturday, but it has posted notice of it on its website.
390 Tons of Ground Beef Recalled- Huntington Meat Packing Inc
Filed under: Banned Foods, Beef Recalls, Product Recalls, Recall, Recalled Foods, e-coli
Some 390 tons of U.S. ground beef recalled
Mon Jan 18, 4:46 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Some 390 tons of ground beef produced by a California meat packer, some of it nearly two years ago, is being recalled for fear of potentially deadly E. coli bacterium tainting, U.S. officials said on Monday.
The beef was produced by Huntington Meat Packing Inc of Montebello, California, and shipped mainly to California outlets, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food safety arm said.
An initial problem, in ground beef shipped by the plant from January 5 to January 15, was discovered during a regular safety check, the Food Safety and Inspection Service said.
It said it had received no reports of illnesses associated with consumption of the recalled products.
During a follow-up review of the company’s records, government inspectors determined additional products produced and shipped in 2008 to be of concern because they may have been contaminated with E.coli, the service said in a notice on its web site.
This batch was produced from February 19, 2008, to May 15, 2008. It also had been shipped to distribution centers, restaurants and hotels within California, the notice said.
“While these products are normally used fresh, the establishment is taking this action out of concern that some product may still be frozen and in commerce,” it said.
E. coli is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause kidney failure in the most serious cases.
The service said it routinely conducts checks to verify that recalling firms notify customers, including restaurants, of the recall and that steps are taken to make sure the product is no longer available to consumers.



































