Recalls and Alerts: April 20–22, 2024

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.

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“A complete and compelling account of the hidden and not-so-hidden ways the food we give our beloved pets can be contaminated.” – JoNel Aleccia, Health Reporter, Food & Nutrition, The Associated Press.

“An invaluable resource for busy pet owners” – Food Safety News

Available from all major on-line retailers, including:

United States

Public Health Alert: The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is issuing a public health alert for ground beef products (EST. 960A; “Use/Freeze by” date of April 22, 2024; Pack date 032824) due to possible E. coli O157:H7 contamination. A recall was not requested because the products are no longer available for purchase.

Food Safety Recall: Primal Kitchen recalls Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil (750mL; Best if used by 19 Aug 2025 through 21 Aug 2025; UPC 8-5523200719-4) because the glass may be prone to breakage.

Food Safety Recall: AMY’S KITCHEN INC recalls Amy’s Kitchen Enchilada Verde Whole Meal (10 oz; Lots 60D2522, 60H2222, 60J2622; Best Before 04/2024, 8/2024, 10/2024, respectively) due to Listeria monocytogenes contamination.

Europe

Allergy Alert (Belgium): Lantmännen Unibake Londerzeel NV recalls PASTRIDOR brand Croissant nature courbé / Plain curved croissant (90g; Lot PR235214; Best before 01/2025) due to undeclared almonds, hazelnuts and soy.

Allergy Alert (Finland): SOK recalls Rainbow perunasnacks / Potato snacks (200g; Best before 19.1.2025) due to undeclared sulphites.

Allergy Alert (Hungary): Interfood Lebensmittel GH GmbH recalls SPAR VEGGIE tortellini spenót-kesudió / Spinach-cashew tortellini (250g; Lot V413B; Best before 27.05.2024) due to undeclared peanut.

Allergy Alert (Italy): Shenyang Dingyi Food Co Ltd recalls Noodles al pesce ¿ Noodles Istantanei / Instant fish noodles (98g; Lot 231208 120242; Best before 07/06/2024; Product of China) due to undeclared crustaceans.

Food Safety Recall (France): BLANC F J EURL recalls Fromagerie Blanc brand Fromage de chèvre au lait cru / Raw goat’s milk cheeses (Lots 60 to 96; Best before dates between 29/04/2024 and 04/06/2024) due to Listeria monocytogenes contamination.

Food Safety Recall (France): FROMAGERIES CHABERT recalls Fromagerie Chabert ARAVIS brand Reblochon de Savoie AOP fermier au lait cru Fruitière Chabert / Raw milk cheese (450g; Lot 4F19114B; Use by 10/05/2024) due to Listeria monocytogenes contamination.

Food Safety Recall (France): ETABLISSEMENTS BEILLEVAIRE recalls BEILLEVAIRE brand Comté / cheese (Lot 2473666) due to Listeria monocytogenes contamination.

Food Safety Recall (France): CHARCUTERIE COSME recalls CHARCUTERIE COSME brand ROTI DE PORC CUIT / Cooked pork roast (5 slices/pkg and 10 slices/pkg; Use by dates between 07/05/2024 and 09/05/2024 and between 12/05/2024 et le 15/05/2024, respectively; Lot 241620) due to Listeria monocytogenes contamination.

Food Safety Recall (France): BCT 500 recalls Poitrine de porc tranchée à la provençale / Provençal-style sliced pork belly (Lot C4096141; Use by 17/04/2024) due to Salmonella contamination.

Food Safety Recalls (Italy): Industry recalls more than 40 individual products due to foreign matter contamination (metal). Please refer to the official government recall website for complete details.

Food Safety Recall (Spain): Manufacturer recalls BON PREU brand Porcini croquettes, frozen (350g; Lots 40111, 31122 & 40124; Best before Dec-25, Oct-25 & Dec-25, respectively) due to possible foreign matter contamination (plastic fragments).

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Why inspections matter. The TFP Nutrition affair

On November 16, 2023, Texas Farm Products Company (dba TFP Nutrition) informed its customers across the United States and Puerto Rico that the company’s pet food products (including dry dog food, dry cat food and catfish food) were being recalled due to potential Salmonella contamination.

The recall was announced after the Office of the Texas State Chemist found Salmonella in multiple samples of the company’s products and issued a Stop/Sale Seizure order.

About TFP Nutrition

In 1930, M.S. Wright established TFP as a fertilizer factory.

Later in the same decade, the company expanded into the agricultural feed business. In 1978, the TFP’s pet food division began operations in what the company described as “…a modern pet food plant to produce dog food, cat food, and other extruded feeds.”

TFP remains a family-owned business to this day.

According to the FDA’s Inspection Citation web page, TFP’s manufacturing facility was inspected on four occasions between 2010 and 2020. Each time, the plant received a satisfactory (No Action Indicated) classification result.

The 2022 incident

On December 16, 2022, TFP recalled a single production batch of H-E-B Texas Pets Indoor Complete Dry Cat Food (16-lb bags; MFG 13 NOV 22) after the Office of the Texas State Chemist found Salmonella in a sample of the product.

According to information obtained by eFoodAlert from the FDA in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the company’s “root cause analysis” of the problem yielded the following conclusion, which was reported to the FDA.

From the investigation, it was determined the beginning of the Indoor Complete Dry Cat Food run did experience clumping, an unusual occurrence. When the extruder is shut down due to processing issues, it requires operators to disconnect equipment and conduct a clean out of the extruder, flushing it with water and using water to clean the equipment and area. When this occurs, some food contact surfaces could be exposed to the environment. It is our determination that the increased activitiy around the extruder clamshells and air takeaway system, during likely the second shut down event, became contaminated, ultimately affecting the Indoor Complete Dry Cat Food and it is an isolated incident.

Although the FDA monitored the effectiveness of the recall, there is no indication that the federal agency conducted an inspection of the manufacturing plant.

Instead, it was left to the state of Texas to review the firm’s updated Food Safety Plan and collect additional samples to monitor for Salmonella.

Fast-forward to 2023

On October 21, 2023, TFP recalled two production batches of Retriever All Life Stages Mini Chunk Chicken Recipe Dry Dog Food (50-lb bags; BEST BY 10 2024 3277 TFP and BEST BY 10 2024 3278 TFP).

Once again, the recall was triggered by a Salmonella-positive test result “…in a random sample test conducted by the Office of the Texas State Chemist.”

About three weeks later, the recall was expanded to include fifty-three different Brand/Variety/Package configurations of dry dog food, dry cat food, and catfish food.

On December 6, 2023, the FDA initiated an inspection of TFP’s Nacogdoches (Texas) manufacturing facility.

According to information obtained in response to a Freedom of Information Act request and in contrast to the company’s own “root cause” analysis of the previous year, the three-person FDA investigation team uncovered multiple problems, including:

Sanitation controls that failed to prevent recontamination of finished products from pathogens present in raw ingredients (ie., cross-contamination)
Four Salmonella-positive environmental samples reported during September/October 2023
Inadequate environmental monitoring program that was developed “…without using a scientific methodology”
Inadequate Hazard Analysis for mycotoxins in grain products
Eleven samples of finished product found by the Office of the Texas State Chemist to contain aflatoxin at 50 ppb (2 1/2 times the legal limit)
Six consumer complaints between January 6, 2023 and November 8, 2023 about mold in the company’s dry pet food.

In response to our request for comment, a spokesperson for the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine replied, “As a general policy, FDA does not comment on ongoing investigations.”

The bottom line

It is a truism among food safety professionals that finished-product testing is the least efficient and least sensitive way to determine whether a production environment is contaminated with Salmonella.

Limiting the follow-up to the December 2022 recall to random surveillance sampling by the state of Texas was an inadequate response to a potentially serious situation, putting the health and safety of pets and their owners at risk.

“An invaluable resource for busy pet owners” – Food Safety News

Available from all major on-line retailers, including:

Pet food safety advocate petitions FDA to update public on current investigation into pet illnesses

Noted pet food safety advocate, Susan Thixton (Truth About Pet Food), has filed a Citizen Petition with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on behalf of pet owners.

In her petition, dated April 17, 2024, Thixton requested that, “…the Commissioner of Food and Drugs … promptly inform the public to (sic) current pet food investigations in the same manner the agency has updated the public in the past.”

According to the petition, “[b]eginning in approximately December 2023, pet food consumers began reporting serious health issues with their pets (cats and dogs) directly related to pet food. To date of this Petition, more than 2,600 pet owners have reported serious health concerns with their cat or dog. Symptoms reported are very similar; bloody diarrhea, bloody vomiting, in many instances seizures. More than 500 pet deaths have been reported by pet owners. One brand of pet food in particular, pet owners have reported 1,679 cat and dog illnesses, 23% of those reports (390) resulted in the death of the pet.”

The petition requests a release of adverse event reporting data, a summary of the status of the FDA’s investigation, and issuance of a public notice, including an encouragement for pet owners to report any illnesses to the agency.

In support of the request, the petition cites several precedents, including the recent public alert for lead in applesauce products, the investigation into possible links between pet foods and canine heart disease, and the years-long investigation into the link between certain jerky treats and pet illnesses.

Thixton has included a link to the full text of the Citizen Petition in her story, “How Much More Serious Does It Have To Get?”

Individuals who wish to file support for this petition can do so by emailing the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine using this email address and Subject Line:

Email: AskCVM@fda.hhs.gov
Subject Line: Docket ID FDA-2024-P-1916-0001

An editorial note

I was one of the first individuals to make the FDA aware of the spike in pet illnesses/deaths being reported on social media, and the allegations linking those illnesses/deaths to Purina ProPlan foods for dogs and cats.

eFoodAlert posted its first story on this subject on January 4, 2024, and has on a number of occasions requested comments and feedback from FDA media coordinators on the status of the investigation. Unlike the previous investigations referenced in Thixton’s filing, no information has been forthcoming from the agency, either in the form of a public release or advisory, or in the form of a comment for publication.

Earlier today, I contacted the Center for Veterinary Medicine for comment on the filing of the Citizen Petition.

An agency spokesperson replied, “The FDA is reviewing the citizen petition and will respond directly to the petitioner.”

In the information vacuum created by the absence of a public advisory, there has been a range of speculation on social media, including accusations that the FDA is “in the pocket” of Nestlé Purina and other large pet food manufacturers, and that the agency is working with these manufacturers to suppress evidence of a significant problem.

Such speculation can only hurt the credibility of the FDA in its handling of this and other pet food safety investigations.

While it is understandable that the FDA does not want to fuel panic, the agency’s total silence is having the opposite effect.

In the interests of the health and safety of our pets, of transparency, of keeping the public informed, and of FDA’s own credibility, eFoodAlert fully supports the Citizen Petition filed by Susan Thixton of Truth About Pet Food on behalf of pet owners.