Month: March 2012

New Food Classics Goes Bankrupt, Then Recalls Beef

New Food Classics applied for bankruptcy protection on January 17, 2012. The ground beef producer and its associated companies are in liquidation.

On February 15th (according to a report filed with the Court), the company learned that a case of E. coli O157:H7 illness had been linked to the consumption of frozen hamburger manufactured in October 2011 at New Food Classics’ production facility (Establishment Registration Number 761, based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan). Three days later, the company recalled 3,800 cases of frozen hamburger products. On February 22nd, the company and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced that another 767 cases of product had been added to the recall list.

Since then, Canadians have been subjected to a continuing trickle of additional recall notices and Health Hazard Alerts. These culminated yesterday (March 17th) in an announcement that the earlier public warnings were now extended to all ground beef products manufactured at Establishment 761 from July 1, 2011 to February 15, 2012. This represents approximately 1.25 million cases of ground beef products (the company produced some 2 million cases annually, according to the bankruptcy filing).

There is still only one reported illness associated with the consumption of these recalled beef burgers; however, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has not yet finished querying the various Provinces and Territories. So far, neither PHAC nor CFIA have responded to my email requests for additional information on the illness investigations.

The company’s Saskatoon facility (Establishment 761) is now described as “Temporarily Inactive” on the CFIA List of Federally Registered Meat Establishments. It had been operating under a number of different business names, including: New Food Classics, The Foodservice Company, Over The Edge, Grillhouse, BBQ Perfect, Ground & Browned, Bento, Oven Perfect, Absolute Favourites, Micro Perfect, Canadian Gourmet, Pubpan, Mastercut, Super Club and Recipe Ready.

CFIA has not yet released a complete list of brand names, package sizes and formats covered by its most recent Health Hazard Alert, but will do so as the information becomes available. In the interim, the agency has released the following product description:

The affected products can be identified by the Establishment number that appears on the packages, cartons or cases. The products made at this facility bear Establishment number (EST) 761.

The affected products involved in this recall may be identified by one of the following codes:

  • bearing a Best Before date from BB 2012 JA 01 up to and including to BB 2013 FE 15;
  • bearing a production code with a format of 11 JL 01 up to and including 12 FE 15;
  • bearing a 5 digit lot code where the last four digits are 1831 or greater.

We will be updating product description information as it becomes available.

These products have been distributed nationally to retail stores, restaurants and institutional establishments.

You can find more information – including retail distribution details – on all of the items recalled prior to CFIA’s March 17th Expanded Health Hazard Alert by clicking on the E. coli O157:H7 Beef Recall – Canada tab at the top of the page.

Recalls and Alerts: March 17, 2012

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: LSG Sky Chefs (San Jose, CA) recalls 7-Eleven Fresh to Go Grilled Chicken Caesar Wrap (8″ x 4.5″ x 2.5″ pkgs; Est. P-44745; Freshest Before dates of 3/15/2012 through 3/18/2012), due to the presence of undeclared egg. The recalled sandwiches were distributed to 7-Eleven stores in Northern California.
  • Allergy Alert: Troyer Cheese, Inc. recalls Backroad Country Caramel Puffcorn, 8 oz bags (UPC 0 49646 90176 0; Sell by date/Lot codes 03/07/12 C1P16, 03/21/12 B2Y16 , 05/16/12 B1X16, 05/30/12 B1X16, and 06/13/12 A3K16) and Backroad Country Caramel Puffcorn, 16 oz bags (UPC 0 49646 90157 6; Sell by date/Lot codes 03/07/12 C1P16, 03/21/12 B2Y16, 05/16/12 B1X16, 05/30/12 B1X16, 06/13/12 A2R16, and 06/13/12 A3K16), because the products may contain undeclared milk. The recalled products were distributed between 1/06/2012 and 03/12/2012 through mail orders and in retail stores in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia.
  • OTC Pharmaceutical Product Safety Recall: Wegmans advises its customers that Medtech Products Inc. (part of Prestige Brands, Inc.) has recalled PediaCare Infants Fever Reducer Pain Reliever, cherry (1 fl oz; UPC 8-14832-01094; All lot codes), because the acetaminophen in the product may separate from the liquid and sink to the bottom of the bottle, resulting in an unreliable dosage of acetaminophen.

Canada

  • Food Safety Recall: AllJuice International Inc. (Thornhill, ON) recalls Aljuice Key Lime Fruit Beverage (Code beginning with BB 2014 JUN 15), Aljuice Strawberry Kiwi Fruit Beverage (Code beginning with BB 2014 JUN 16), Aljuice Cranberry-Raspberry Cocktail Fruit Beverage (Code beginning with BB 2014 JUN 16), Aljuice Mango Fruit Beverage (Code beginning with BB 2014 JUN 16) and St. Maarten Mangos & Carrots Fruit Beverage (Code beginning with BB 2014 JUN 16), because the products may contain harmful glass fragments. The recalled beverages were distributed in Ontario.
  • Food Safety Alert/Outbreak Alert: The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has expanded its earlier warnings and now warns the public not to consume any ground beef products from Establishment 761 that were manufactured between July 1, 2011 and February 15, 2012, because the products may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. The affected products may bear a Best before date from BB 2012 JA 01 up to and including BB 2013 FE 15, bear a production code with a format of 11 JL 01 up to and including 12 FE 15, or bear a 5-digit lot code where the last four digits are 1831 or greater. The products have been distributed nationally to retail stores, restaurants and institutional establishments. There has been one reported illness associated with the consumption of these products.

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.

Guest Blog: In Defense of Food Safety Leadership

The following Guest Blog first appeared on Food Safety News, and is reproduced here with the kind permission of its author, Nancy Donley.

In Defense of Food Safety Leadership

by Nancy Donley

My only child, Alex, died from hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) caused by eating E. coli O157:H7-contaminated ground beef back in 1993 when he was only 6 years old. It was the most horrendous experience possible.

His first symptoms were severe abdominal cramping and bowel movements that consisted strictly of blood and mucus. Alex suffered terribly as his organs shut down one by one. At one point one of his lungs collapsed, requiring bedside surgery. His brain swelled so horribly that shunts were drilled into his head in an effort to relieve the pressure, but to no avail.

My brave little boy’s last words to me before slipping into a coma were, “Don’t cry, Mommy” as I couldn’t stop the tears from silently flowing. His last gesture to his dad was to blow him a kiss. I was with him when he suffered a grand mal seizure and was put on a ventilator. My little boy, my only child, was dead.

Alex had wanted to be a paramedic when he grew up so that he “could help others” — his words. So when he died we hoped to be able to donate his organs so that he could fulfill that wish of helping others, but his organs were unsalvageable because of the damage caused by the E. coli toxins.

There was no cure for this awful disease then and there still isn’t today. Doctors can only hope to support bodily systems until the toxins pass through. It is for this reason that it is critically important for meat and poultry companies to put into place prevention strategies and technologies to ensure that contaminated meat doesn’t make its way into the marketplace.  That’s why we need to support innovations and advances that enhance food safety.

After Alex’s death, I felt compelled — really more like obligated — to fulfill his wish of helping and protecting other consumers by being his voice and working with federal regulating agencies and with companies to see to it that we did a better job as a country in generating a safer food supply. In the process, I have visited numerous meat and poultry plants, have provided input on public policies and food safety laws, and have served on the National Advisory Board for Meat and Poultry Inspection.

One of the many plants I visited was Beef Products, Inc. I got to know the owners, Eldon and Regina Roth, and was impressed by their complete commitment to the safety and wholesomeness of the meat products they produced. I was also impressed by the food safety culture they instilled throughout their company. We shed tears together over what happened to Alex and realized how we share the common goal of preventing illness and death from foodborne pathogens. Ever since that moment, BPI has generously supported STOP and has never asked for anything in return.

That said, one point that needs to be perfectly clear is this:  After what I personally experienced watching my son suffer and die, I am very skeptical and cynical about for-profit meat companies and their professed commitment to food safety. Not all companies “walk their talk.” BPI does.

There has been a lot of misinformation swirling around the Internet and on TV about lean beef trim produced by Beef Products, Inc.  As I stated earlier, I have personally visited their plant and the categorization of calling their product “pink slime” is completely false and incendiary.  Consumers need to understand that this product is meat, period, and that the use of ammonia hydroxide in minute amounts during processing improves the safety of the product and is routinely used throughout the food industry. There are many types of interventions including food-grade antimicrobial sprays which are used on all manner of foods.  Some of these things may sound icky and gross, especially when inaccurately portrayed.  These interventions are necessary in ridding meat of deadly pathogens and are required to prove they pose no threats to consumers. Companies would be prohibited by the USDA and FDA to use substances that could be harmful in human consumption.

I am very concerned that mis-categorization campaigns such as this “pink slime” campaign will cause well-intentioned companies such as BPI to cease innovations for developing better food safety technologies and strategies. Why try to do something better only to get set up as a target?  If this does in fact happen, and promising technologies get thwarted, we, the American public, will be the losers.  And tragedies like Alex will continue to go on and on and on.

About the author: Nancy Donley is recognized as a leading proponent of improvement in both government and private food safety efforts since the death of her six-year old son Alex in 1993 from consumption of E. coli O157:H7-contaminated ground beef. Alex was her and her husband Tom’s only child. Nancy works in a volunteer capacity for STOP Foodborne Illness and has served as its president for over 10 years. She has done extensive advocacy work on behalf of the organization and has been featured in numerous magazine articles, newspaper articles and television interviews in efforts to increase awareness about the risks of foodborne illness. Nancy serves on the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection. She has received numerous awards for her advocacy efforts.