Ebola-Reston found in the Philippines, killing pigs to stop spread.
Filed under: Banned Foods, Dangerous Foods, Is it Safe?, What it is?
MANILA, Feb 23 (Reuters) – The Philippines will slaughter 6,000 pigs at a hog farm north of the capital Manila to prevent the spread of the Ebola-Reston virus, health and farm officials said on Monday.
But the government has lifted a quarantine on a second hog farm after tests by experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO), World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and Food and the Agriculture Organisation (FAO) showed no more signs of the disease.
The country has more than 13 million heads of swine and the discovery of Ebola-Reston on two hog farms north of Manila was isolated, the government said.
"There is ongoing viral transmission in Bulacan ... as a precautionary measure, depopulation will be carried out in the Bulacan farm," Health Secretary Francisco Duque told reporters, referring to the farm just north of Manila.
The government said 6,000 pigs would be killed, burned and buried as experts sought to determine the source of Ebola-Reston in pigs as well as pig-to-pig and from pig-to-human transmission. Duque said 147 human samples have been tested for Ebola, but only six have tested positive. But all six remain healthy, he added.
"Ebola-Reston poses a low risk to human health at this time," Duque said.
It is the first time the virus has been found outside monkeys and the first time it has been found in pigs. The virus had previously jumped from monkeys to humans but this was the first case of a jump from hogs.
The Ebola-Reston virus was found in the Philippines as early as the late 1980s and 25 people were found infected after contact with sick monkeys. But only one developed flu-like symptoms and later recovered. (Reporting by Manny Mogato; Editing by Sugita Katyal)
China clears Danone, milk products of melamine
Filed under: Banned Foods, China Product Safety, Dangerous Foods, Is it Safe?, Melamine, china
China clears Danone, milk products of melamine
By AUDRA ANG – 12 hours ago
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese quality investigators have found that milk products from a unit of France’s Groupe Danone SA are melamine-free, and also said an unapproved additive used by one of China’s largest dairies is safe but was used illegally.
The separate investigations into the products of Danone’s Dumex Baby Food Co. Ltd. and Mengniu Dairy Group Co. underscore the government’s chronic problems with policing product quality. Melamine-contaminated milk was linked to the deaths of at least six Chinese babies and illnesses of nearly 300,000 others last year.
In a statement released over the weekend, the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision said it had tested 932 batches dairy products produced by the Dumex subsidiary since mid-September “and all are melamine-free.”
It also said no melamine, an industrial chemical used in the manufacture of plastics and fertilizer, was found in more than 1,700 batches produced before mid-September, when the dairy scandal broke.
“Our valued consumers can continue to use our product with confidence,” Dumex said in a statement. “Now more than ever, we remain committed to providing products of the highest quality to our loyal consumers.”
Meanwhile, the Health Ministry said a panel of experts had reviewed OMP, a milk protein added by Mengniu to its premium Telunsu line and declared that "consumption ... is not hazardous to health."
However, the ministry said that OMP is not a government-approved additive and Mengniu "promoted its function in an exaggerated manner."
"Law enforcement and inspection departments will further deal with the illegal actions of Mengniu," the ministry said, without giving any details.
It said the company had stopped using OMP and was in the process of getting official approval.
Telephones were not answered at Mengniu's media department on Monday.
Last year's milk scandal, over nitrogen-rich melamine that was added to milk to fool protein tests, was China's worst food contamination crisis. It also exposed loose controls over large companies like Mengniu and Yili Industrial Group Co., whose products were recalled.
Both companies had been exempt from government inspections under waivers given to companies deemed to have proper quality controls, which have since been scrapped.
Alert For Schools Peanut Butter sent may be tainted!
By MARY CLARE JALONICK
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Agriculture Department shipped possibly contaminated peanut butter and other foods to schools in at least three states under a contract with the Georgia company blamed for a nationwide salmonella outbreak.
The government abruptly suspended all business with the company Thursday, as officials defended their efforts to halt the outbreak that has sickened at least 575 people in 43 states. At least eight have died. It's become one of the largest food recalls ever, including more than 1,300 products.
The potentially contaminated products went to school free lunch programs in California, Minnesota and Idaho in 2007, the Department of Agriculture said Friday. Peanut butter and roasted peanuts processed by the Peanut Corp. of America were sent to the schools.
None of the states reported illnesses as a result of students eating the recalled peanut products.
Jim Brownlee, a spokesman for the Agriculture Department, said there have been no potentially contaminated shipments from the company in the last year. It was unclear how much of the suspect food might still remain uneaten at the schools.
Despite ongoing reports of illnesses linked to the company, the Agriculture department only Thursday suspended Peanut Corp. from participating in government contract programs, for at least a year. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack also removed Stewart Parnell, president of the company, from USDA's Peanut Standards Board.
The company's actions indicate that it "lacks business integrity and business honesty, which seriously and directly hinders its ability to do business with the federal government," said David Shipman, acting administrator of USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service, said in a statement.
The recalled foods used ingredients from the Peanut Corp. processing plant in Blakely, Ga. While the outbreak appears to be slowing down, new illnesses are still being reported.
School officials across the country have been checking cafeterias and vending machines for the recalled products, and some have stopped serving any peanut-related products at all, out of an abundance of caution.
The Food and Drug Administration learned only weeks ago that the Peanut Corp. of America had received a series of private tests dating back to 2007 showing salmonella in their products from the Georgia plant, but later shipped the items after obtaining negative test results.
The Agriculture Department initially said that school meal programs were not affected by the large-scale recall. But that changed when Peanut Corp. expanded its recall to all peanut products made at the plant since Jan. 1, 2007.
At a Senate hearing Thursday on the salmonella outbreak, lawmakers reacted angrily when told that food companies and state safety inspectors don't have to report to the FDA when test results find pathogens in a processing plant, leaving the federal government in the dark.
Death Sentence for melamine food contaminators in China.
Filed under: China Product Safety, Dangerous Foods, Melamine, peanut butter
The Chinese kill their food poisoners. What about the U.S. peanut butter execs who know salmonella was present 12 times.
Accidents happen, but the FDA has determined that the producer of the peanut butter that has sickened more than 500 people, hospitalized 127 and killed eight has a history of knowingly selling food contaminated with salmonella.
The FDA has identified approximately12 instances in the past two years when Peanut Corporation of America, in its own internal testing, identified some type of salmonella in the food and eventually released peanut butter for sale, said Michael Rogers, who heads FDA’s Division of Field Investigations in the Office of Regulatory Affairs.
Several of you have already reminded me that just last week, a Chinese court ordered the death of two men and a life sentence for a dairy executive for their roles in knowingly producing and selling milk poisoned with melamine. The tainted milk has killed at least six children and made almost 300,000 sick. The presence of the melamine, a chemical used in plastics, forced a world-wide recall of dairy and other products.
Fortunately, the numbers of unfortunates sickened in the U.S. was far, far lower, but, according to FDA’s Robert Tauxe, half of those brought down by the bad peanut butter are children.
Nevertheless, I can’t see the government demanding the death penalty for the gang at the Georgia peanut plant, but if they really knew it had salmonella and still sold it, that sounds criminal to me.
Dr. Stephen Sundlof, director of FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition in Washington, says that if further investigation show the action of the peanut executives violated the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act ?then that is technically a
violation of the law.
FDA’s regulations have “the force of law,” Sundlof says. “Whether or not there was any criminal activity involved is a different issue. We’re looking.”
Meanwhile, the American Peanut Council tossed its Georgia member to the wolves, saying the trade group was shocked and dismayed at the findings that the company “knowingly released a product with potential salmonella contamination into the food supply.”
“The findings of the FDA report can only be seen as a clear and unconscionable action of one irresponsible manufacturer?,” Patrick Archer, peanut council present, said in a statement.
Death would seem like a good deterrent to putting out dangerous foods!
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