Recalls and Alerts: September 10, 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.

United States

• OTC Pharmaceutical Product Safety Recall: Qualitest (subsidiary of Endo Health Solution) recalls Hydrocodone Bitartrate and Acetaminophen Tablets, USP 10mg/500mg (100-ct; Lot #C1440512A; Expiry 12/13), because some of the tablets may exceed the weight specification and could be super-potent for the active ingredients. The recalled tablets were distributed between May 14 and August 3, 2012 to wholesale distributors and retail pharmacies nationwide.
• FDA Warning Letter: FDA warns Centrum Valley Farms, LLP (Clarion, IA) that  an April-May 2012 inspection of the company’s shell egg production facility found that the facility had serious violations of the Prevention of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) in Shell Eggs During Production, Storage, and Transportation regulation. Furthermore, samples taken during the inspection revealed the presence of Salmonella Heidelberg in two of the six hen houses at the South site of the facility.

Canada

• Allergy Alert: Valley Flax Flour recalls Valley Flax Flour Wheat Free Pancake Mix (500g; Codes PC12145, PC12199 and PC12202), due to the presence of undeclared gluten. The recalled product was sold in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island.
• Unauthorized Medical Test Kit Alert: Health Canada advises consumers that CuraHerbDistributor (curaherbdistributor.com) is attempting to sell online unlicensed home-use HIV test kits for use with urine, saliva and blood samples. There are currently no HIV test kits authorized for home use in Canada. Health Canada has not licenced “Home Aware” tests kits for any of the following conditions indicated on the website, namely syphilis, trichomonas vaginalis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, hepatitis (B/C) or herpes simplex.

Europe

• Food Safety Recall (Ireland): Brasserie de Saint Omer recalls Starberg French Lager 4% (20 x 25cl; Sold in Dunnes Stores), Bière d’Or (20 x 25cl; Sold in Tesco), Brasserie French Lager (10 x 25cl; Sold in Aldi) and Brasserie Shandy (10 x 25 cl; Sold in Aldi), as some of the bottles may contain small pieces of glass. All best before dates up to and including 30 September are affected by this recall.
• Food Safety Recall (UK): Brasserie de Saint-Omer recalls Tesco Bière d’Or (10 x 25cl packs; All best before dates up to and including 30 September 2013), because the product may be contain small pieces of glass.
• Food Safety Recall (UK-Northern Ireland only): Brasserie de Saint-Omer recalls Starberg French Lager 4% (20 x 25cl; Sold in Dunnes stores; All best before dates up to and including 30 September 2013), as some of the bottles may contain small pieces of glass.
• Food Safety Notification (EU #2012.1289): Unauthorized repackaging of frozen Pangasius fillet from Vietnam; distributed to Germany.
• Food Safety Notification (EU #2012.1290): Dioxins in chilled lamb’s liver from the Netherlands; distributed to Belgium.
• Food Safety Notification (EU #2012.1291): Shigatoxin-producing Escherichia coli in mung bean sprouts from the Netherlands; distributed to Germany.
• Food Safety Notification (EU #2012.1292): Salmonella in paan leaves from India; distributed to the United Kingdom.
• Food Safety Notification (EU #2012.1293): Salmonella typhimurium in frozen beef meat from Poland, via the Netherlands; distributed to Sweden.
• Food Safety Notification (EU #2012.1295): Potassium ferrocyanide in green coffee from the United States and China, via Hong Kong; distributed to Lithuania.
• Food Safety Notification (EU #2012.1296): Salmonella Stanley in turkey sticks from Hungary, via Austria; distributed to Austria.

Latin America and the Caribbean

• Food Safety Enforcement Action (Argentina): The National Service for Health and Food Safety (SENASA) confiscated and destroyed 750 kilograms of meat products that were found to have been transported without refrigeration.

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.