Month: December 2011

Recalls and Alerts: December 7, 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.

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

United States

  • Allergy Alert: Mars Food US recalls Uncle Ben’s® Whole Grain White Rice Garden Vegetable (4.7-oz box; Best Before 08/12; Code dates 133BA4RP06 and 133BB4RP06), due to the presence of undeclared milk. The product was distributed in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont and Wisconsin through retail stores, including Walmart.
  • Allergy Alert: See’s Candies, Inc. recalls Almond Clusters (8-oz; Code #SF 088/12), because the candies may contain undeclared peanuts. The recalled product was distributed to See’s Holiday Gift Centers and Licensee locations in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, New York, Nebraska, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana.
  • Pet Food Safety Recall: Cargill Animal Nutrition recalls Professional Formula River Run Hi-NRG 24-20 Dog Food (50-lb bags), River Run Professional Formula 27-18 Dog Food (50-lb bags), River Run 21% Protein Dog Food (40-lb and 50-lb bags), River Run Hi-Pro No-Soy Dog Food (40-lb and 50-lb bags), Marksman Dog Food 24% Protein 20% Fat (40-lb bags), Marksman Dog Food 20% Protein 10% Fat (40-lb and 50-lb bags) and Marksman Dog Food 28% Protein 18% Fat (40-lb bags), due to aflatoxin levels that wee detected above the acceptable limit. The affected products were manufactured between Dec. 1, 2010 and Dec. 1, 2011 and bear Packaging Date Codes 4K0335 through 4K0365, LL0335 through LL0365, 4K1001 through 4K1335 and LL1001 through LL1335. The recalled products were distributed through retailers in Kansas, Missouri, Northeast Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Western Kentucky, Southeast Indiana, Southern Illinois, Hawaii, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and limited areas of Florida and California.
  • Food Safety Recall: Fair Oaks Dairy Products, LLC (Fair Oaks, IN) recalls Fair Oaks Farms Fine Cheese brand one-half pound retail packaged cheeses and cheese gift boxes (Sold between September 30, 2011 and December 3, 2011) after lab analysis of a 4-year aged Cheddar cheese confirmed the presence of Listeria monocytogenes. Recalled varieties include Asiago, Butterkase, Gouda, Aged Gouda, Smoked Gouda, Havarti, Pepper Havarti, Habanero Havarti, Onion Havarti, Veggie Havarti, Havarti Dill, Sweet Swiss, Smoked Sweet Swiss, Emmentaler, Calico, Mozzarella, Farmers, Cheese Curds, Muenster, Provolone, Lacy Swiss, Cheddar, Cheddar Mild, 1 yr. Cheddar, 2 yr. Cheddar, 3 yr. Cheddar, 4 yr. Cheddar, and 5 yr. Cheddar. The affected cheeses were sold at the Fair Oaks Dairy store in Northwest Indiana, and were distributed either directly or through distributors to other stores in Northern and Central Indiana and Northeast Illinois. One store in Sulphur Springs (Texas) also was supplied with the recalled cheese.
  • Food Recall/Withdrawal: Food City advises its customers that Tribe Hummus Party Tray (18-oz) has been recalled/withdrawn by the manufacturer.
  • Outbreak Alert: Magnolia Regional Health Center (Corinth, MS) has confirmed 11 cases of Salmonella since November 28th. No source of the infections has yet been identified.

Europe

  • Allergy Alert (UK): Maysum withdraws Maysum 20 frozen Chicken Samosas (675g; Best before 2 November 2013) and Maysum 20 frozen Vegetable Samosas (675g; Best before 8 November 2013), due to the presence of undeclared sulfites.
  • Food Safety Recall (Belgium): Intermarché – Ecomarché recalls Guillaume Dunoy bloc de foie gras de canard (150g semi conserve; Best before 15/08/2013 and 23/08/2013; Lot #601151048091 and 601151056071, respectively), because the products were not maintained at the proper storage temperature, and represent a risk for the consumer.
  • Food Safety Recall (Belgium & Luxembourg): Bleuzé Interfood NV recalls certain À l’Olivier brand vinaigrettes, sold at Smatch, Match and Match Luxembourg stores. Please refer to the recall notice for a complete list of recalled products.
  • Pharmaceutical Product Safety Recall (France): Laboratoires Ranbaxy Pharmacie Génériques recalls Furosemide Ranbaxy 40mg/20mg diuretic pills (Lots C200/Exp 11/2012, H201/Exp 07/2013, H202/Exp 10/2013 and W203/Exp 02/2014), because the dissolution rate drops significantly over time.
  • Contact Lens Safety Recall (Spain): CooperVision Spain S.L. recalls various contact lenses (manufactured by CooperVision Manufacturing Ltd., UK), due to the presence of a silicone oil residue on the lenses. The following brands are affected by this recall: Avaira, A Hisi, Albalens Silicone, Carla 3 Silicona, Cecop Silicone, Centro OP. Jose Manuel Marquez, Combisoft Nature, Delgado Espinosa Silicona, Dublan Silicona, Easygel Plus, Enfilcon DK100 Aspheric, Galindo, Gran Optica, Hidrancy Oxygen, HorizonT, Irco Vision, Lenso Active Hidro Silk, Lent Soft 4 Air, Lentigel Contact, Lentsport, Meca Opticos, Medifresh Elite, Miolent Q, My Vision Max, MyOptica, Only-You Hidrosilk, Optica Altavoz, Optica Avenida, Ramon Optica Hidramax, Soft Lens Oxygen, Verasilicon, and White light Silicone. Please refer to the recall notice for a complete list of affected lots.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2011.1785): Listeria monocytogenes in chilled swordfish from Madagascar; distributed to France.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2011.1786): High aluminum content in instant rice noodles from Vietnam; distributed to the Czech Republic.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2011.1789): Excessive sulfite in potato chips from Poland; distributed to Slovakia.

Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands

  • Pet Food Safety Recall (Guam): Cargill Animal Nutrition recalls Professional Formula River Run Hi-NRG 24-20 Dog Food (50-lb bags), River Run Professional Formula 27-18 Dog Food (50-lb bags), River Run 21% Protein Dog Food (40-lb and 50-lb bags), River Run Hi-Pro No-Soy Dog Food (40-lb and 50-lb bags), Marksman Dog Food 24% Protein 20% Fat (40-lb bags), Marksman Dog Food 20% Protein 10% Fat (40-lb and 50-lb bags) and Marksman Dog Food 28% Protein 18% Fat (40-lb bags), due to aflatoxin levels that wee detected above the acceptable limit. The affected products were manufactured between Dec. 1, 2010 and Dec. 1, 2011 and bear Packaging Date Codes 4K0335 through 4K0365, LL0335 through LL0365, 4K1001 through 4K1335 and LL1001 through LL1335. The recalled products were distributed through retailers in Kansas, Missouri, Northeast Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Western Kentucky, Southeast Indiana, Southern Illinois, Hawaii, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and limited areas of Florida and California.

Australia and New Zealand

  • Outbreak Alert (Australia): Raw egg used to make mayonnaise at the Silo bakery in Kingston (ACT) has been linked tentatively to 13 confirmed cases of salmonellosis. Lab tests to confirm the link are still in progress. Five of the 13 victims were hospitalized with dehydration, and the bakery has been closed until the source of the outbreak is confirmed.

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Pet Food Safety Recall (US Virgin Islands): Cargill Animal Nutrition recalls Professional Formula River Run Hi-NRG 24-20 Dog Food (50-lb bags), River Run Professional Formula 27-18 Dog Food (50-lb bags), River Run 21% Protein Dog Food (40-lb and 50-lb bags), River Run Hi-Pro No-Soy Dog Food (40-lb and 50-lb bags), Marksman Dog Food 24% Protein 20% Fat (40-lb bags), Marksman Dog Food 20% Protein 10% Fat (40-lb and 50-lb bags) and Marksman Dog Food 28% Protein 18% Fat (40-lb bags), due to aflatoxin levels that wee detected above the acceptable limit. The affected products were manufactured between Dec. 1, 2010 and Dec. 1, 2011 and bear Packaging Date Codes 4K0335 through 4K0365, LL0335 through LL0365, 4K1001 through 4K1335 and LL1001 through LL1335. The recalled products were distributed through retailers in Kansas, Missouri, Northeast Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Western Kentucky, Southeast Indiana, Southern Illinois, Hawaii, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and limited areas of Florida and California.

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.
**Includes Safeway, Vons, Pavilions, Dominick’s, Genuardi’s, Randalls, Tom Thumb, Carrs and Pak N’ Save.

Recalls and Alerts: December 6, 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.

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

United States

  • Food Safety Recall: Flying Food Group (Lawrenceville, GA) updates its recall to include two additional products that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The additional recalled products are Turkey Quarter Pounder (7.38-oz pkg; Sell Thru dates of 10/11/11-11/30/11) and Turkey Quarter Pounder with Tomatoes (9.05-oz pkg; Sell Thru dates of 10/11/11-11/30/11). These additional recalled products were made for Race Trac and were distributed to retail outlets in Georgia only.
  • Pet Food Safety Recall: Procter & Gamble recalls Iams ProActive Health Smart Puppy Dry Dog Food (7.0-lb (Code Date 12784177I6), 8.0-lb (Code Dates 12794177D2 & 12794177D3) and 17.5-lb bags (Code Dates 12794177K1 & 12794177K2); Use By or Expiration Dates of February 5 or February 6, 2013), due to aflatoxin levels above the acceptable limit. The recalled pet food was distributed to a “limited number of retailers” in the eastern USA (AL, CT, DE, FL, GA, LA, MD, ME, MS, NC, NH, NJ, NY, PA, SC, VA).
  • Food Recall/Withdrawal: Food City reports that several varieties of Tribe Hummus have been recalled or withdrawn from the marketplace. Please refer to the Food City web site for a list of affected products.
  • Dietary Supplement Enforcement Action: At the request of FDA, U.S. Marshals seized raw materials imported by Infinity Marketing Group, Inc., because the materials contained ephedrine alkaloids, a family of compounds that were banned by FDA since 2004 for use in dietary supplements.
  • Allergy Alert Notification (EU #2011.1704): Undeclared milk ingredient in dark chocolate with salt flower from Slovenia; distributed to Australia, Austria, Finland, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Switzerland and the USA.

Canada

Europe

Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands

  • Food Safety Recall (Japan): Meiji recalls 400,000 cans of Meiji Step baby formula, because the product contains a small amount of radioactive cesium-134 and cesium-137. The product was sold only in Japan.
  • Food Safety Alert (China): Deliberate contamination of a yoghurt drink made by Coca-Cola is blamed for the death of one child and the poisoning of three other people. It’s not yet know what poison was contained in the Minute Maid Pulpy Milky beverage, but the investigation is being treated as a criminal case. Tens of thousands of bottles of the beverage have been removed from store shelves in Jilin, and several other cities have stopped selling the drink.
  • Outbreak Alert (Guam): At least 21 individuals were treated for symptoms of food poisoning after attending various functions. The common link among the victims was consumption of cream puffs from Celebrity Bakery.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2011.1716): Escherichia coli in chilled clams from France, with raw material from the United Kingdom; distributed to Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Switzerland and Thailand.

Australia and New Zealand

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.
**Includes Safeway, Vons, Pavilions, Dominick’s, Genuardi’s, Randalls, Tom Thumb, Carrs and Pak N’ Save.

IAMS Puppy Food – This Time, It’s A Recall

On November 25th, Price Chopper (a regional supermarket chain based in the US northeast) posted a recall notice advising its customers that two IAMS pet foods were recalled due to elevated levels of aflatoxins.

During the Thanksgiving weekend, this recall notice disappeared from the Price Chopper web site. A couple of days later, the supermarket chain posted the following statement:

“Iams has not issued a consumer recall on any products. Information which appeared here earlier referred to a few production lots which Iams has retrieved because they were outside of Iams’ specifications and did not meet their quality standards.”

When I asked IAMS for details on this recall, I received this reply:

“Thank you for taking the time to contact us. We regret the confusion. Iams has not issued a consumer recall on any of our products. We are aware the retailer posted some information which led readers to believe that Iams had issued a consumer recall. The store has since removed the information from their site.”

According to Sue Thixton (TruthAboutPetFoods.com), IAMS described their action as a “product pull” that did not require consumer notification.

Today, Procter & Gamble – owner of the IAMS brand – announced a recall of Iams ProActive Health Smart Puppy Dry Dog Food, sold in 7-lb (Code date 12784177I6), 8-lb (Code dates 12794177D2 and 12794177D3) and 17.5-lb bags (Code dates 12794177K1 and 12794177K2), due to aflatoxin levels that were above the acceptable limit. The recalled products are labeled with Use By or Expiration Dates of February 5 or February 6, 2013.

The products, according to Procter & Gamble, already have been retrieved from store shelves. They were distributed to “a limited number of retailers” in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Maine, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia. The list of retailers includes Walmart, Food City, Price Chopper, Big Y and Target.

Interestingly, the 12794177D3 code date included in today’s recall is identical to one of the code dates listed in Price Chopper’s original recall notice – and associated with a Cat Food.

Procter & Gamble hasn’t explained why this particular puppy food was worthy of recall, while the aflatoxin-contaminated cat food with the identical code date only rated a “product pull.” Was it pressure from FDA? Did Walmart – a retailer with enormous clout – “encourage” the company to issue a recall notice? Or did the public reaction to the initial recall/product pull flip-flop convince Procter & Gamble to go public? We’ll never know.

Whatever triggered the recall decision, I hope that Procter & Gamble now realizes that trying to conduct a stealth recall carries a significant risk to the company’s reputation once the recall is found out.