Author: Phyllis Entis

Recalls and Alerts: December 29, 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: Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. recalls Winn-Dixie Brand Italian Green Beans (14.5-oz can; UPC 2114021236; Best by Sept. 2014), due to a potential for in-shell peanuts mixed with the green beans.
  • Allergy Alert: U.B.C. Food Distributors (Dearborn, MI) recall Baraka Apricot Candies (14.08-oz/400g cellophane wrapped; Product of Lebanon; Expiration date 5/2013), due to the presence of undeclared elevated levels of sulfites in the candies.
  • Allergy Alert: The Kroger Company advises the public that Seattle’s Best Trio Chocolate Sauce (64 oz) has been recalled due to the presence of undeclared milk. The recalled product was sold in QFC stores.

Europe

  • Pharmaceutical Product Safety Recall (France): Laboratoires Grünenthal recalls TEXODIL 200 mg antibiotic (Bottles of 10 pills; Lot #528; Expiry October 2013), due to a reduction in the concentration of active ingredient at 25 months after production. The level of active ingredient remains within specification at this date.

Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands

  • Food Safety Recall/Alert (China): Chinese government authorities have recalled cooking oil (peanut oil) products made by Fusheng Oil, Manyi Peanut Oil and Mabao Oil, due to the presence of elevated levels of aflatoxin.
  • Pharmaceutical Product Safety Recall (Hong Kong and Macao): Roche Hong Kong Limited recalls Xeloda Tab 500mg (Batch No. X0106B01), because of improper preparation of the single active ingredient.

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 28, 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/Outbreak Alert: Green Cedar Dairy (Dearborn, MI) recalls All Natural Ackawi Cheese and All Natural Chives Cheese (approx. 14-oz squares, vacuum-sealed in clear plastic packages; All Sell by dates up to July 1, 2012), because the cheeses may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The Michigan Department of Community Health and the Wayne County Public Health Department are investigating two recent cases of listeriosis that may be linked to consumption of products from Green Cedar Dairy. As part of the investigation, The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development recovered Listeria monocytogenes in samples of the All Natural Chives Cheese that were collected at the Dairy. Green Cedar Dairy products were distributed to bakeries and retail stores in Michigan’s Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties.
  • Pet Food Safety Recall: Petrus Feed and Seed Stores, Inc. (Alexandria, LA) recalls Petrus Feed 21% Protein Dry Dog Food (40-lb bags; Packaging date codes 4K1011 through 4K1307; Updated lot numbers 4K1011 through 4K1335), due to elevated levels of aflatoxin in the corn used to manufacture the dog food. The pet food was manufactured for Petrus at Cargill’s manufacturing facility in LeCompte, Louisiana between December 1, 2010 and December 1, 2011.
  • Pet Food Safety Recall: O’Neal’s Feeders Supply, Inc. recalls Arrowbrand 21% Dog Chunks (40-lb bag), Arrowbrand Super Proeaux Dog Food (40-lb bag) and Arrowbrand Professional Formula Dog Food (50-lb bag), because the corn it contains was found to have higher than acceptable levels of aflatoxin. The recall encompasses Packaging Date Codes 4K0341 through 4K0365 and 04K1001 through 4K1325, which were manufactured between December 1, 2010 and December 1, 2011. The recalled products were distributed in Louisiana and Texas.
  • Food Safety Recall Update: USDA releases updated retail distribution list for 10-lb chubs of Chuck Fine Ground Beef 80/20, recalled by Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. due to contamination with E. coli O157:H7.
  • FDA Warning Letters: FDA warns the following seafood processors and importers that recent inspections of their facilities revealed significant violations of the seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulation and, in some cases, of the Current Good Manufacturing Practices regulation for foods: Four Star Import & Distribution, Inc. (Brooklyn, NY), Kencor Ethnic Foods, Inc. (Kenosha, WI), Beck’s Smokery (Pompano Beach, FL), United States Cold Storage, Inc. (Medley, FL), E and M Bakery, Inc. (Hialeah, FL), and Seven Seas Seafoods Inc. (Montebello, CA).
  • FDA Warning Letters: FDA warns the following dietary supplement manufacturers and distributors that recent inspections of their manufacturing, labeling and/or distribution facilities revealed serious violations of FDA’s Current Good Manufacturing Practice in Manufacturing, Packaging, Labeling or Holding Operations for Dietary Supplements (CGMP) regulations: Milk Specialties Global (Carpentersville, IL), Ion Labs, Inc. (Clearwater, FL), and Atlantic Pro Nutrients, Inc. dba Xymogen (Orlando, FL).
  • FDA Warning Letter: FDA warns Mikilua Poultry Farm Inc. (Honolulu, HI) that a September 2011 inspection of the company’s four shell egg production facilities revealed serious violations of the Prevention of Salmonella Enteritidis in Shell Eggs During Production, Storage, and Transportation regulation (the shell egg regulation).
  • FDA Warning Letter: FDA warns Italian Rose Garlic Products, Inc. (Riviera Beach, FL) that an August 2011 inspection of the company’s facility revealed significant violations of the Acidified Food regulations, rendering the company’s acidified food products adulterated within the meaning of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and regulations.

Europe

Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands

  • Food Safety Enforcement (China): A court in Nanjing (Jiangsu province) has sentenced six butchers to jail terms of up to four years and fined them each up to 50,000 yuan after the butchers confessed to having knowingly sold pork meat contaminated with the chemical clenbuterol.

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.

FDA, Aflatoxin and Pet Food Recalls

“Government agencies and the feed and food industries routinely screen grain for contamination; however, it’s the responsibility of the manufacturing company, i.e. the firm whose name is on the label, to produce a safe product and to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that.”

Laura Alvey
Deputy Director, Communications Staff
FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine

In the month since Thanksgiving, there has been a flurry of pet food recalls due to elevated levels of aflatoxin.

The first recall in the series wasn’t a recall at all, according to the manufacturer. Procter & Gamble described its November 25th store-level removal of several Iams brand dry pet foods as a “product pull” and did not issue a news release until after Price Chopper – a regional supermarket chain – posted a notice of the action on its recall web page.

The Price Chopper notice was picked up by eFoodAlert, and readers of this site helped to publicize the “product pull” throughout the pet community. Price Chopper – possibly under pressure from Procter & Gamble – withdrew its recall notice for several days, before reposted it with additional explanation.

Events overtook this initial product withdrawal on December 6th, when Procter & Gamble announced the recall of a single Iams dry puppy food due to elevated levels of aflatoxin. Similar recall notices from several other pet food producers followed.

Today, FDA posted – for the first time – a recall notice dated December 12, 2011 issued by Petrus Feed and Seed Stores, Inc. (Alexandria, LA). The company recalled  21% Protein Dog Food in 40 lb Petrus Feed bags (Packaging date codes 4K1011 through 4K1307; Lot numbers 4K1011 through 4K1335), after elevated levels of aflatoxin were found in the corn used as an ingredient in the dog food. The recalled pet food was produced for Petrus by Cargill’s manufacturing facility located in LeCompte, Louisiana between December 1, 2010 and December 1, 2011.

The same Cargill facility also manufactured several other recalled brands of aflatoxin-contaminated dog food, including Arrow, River Run, and Marksman. It is “unlikely”, according to FDA Spokeswoman Laura Alvey that the recalled Iams puppy food was manufactured using the same corn that went into the Cargill-manufactured product.

“Aflatoxins,” Alvey explained in response to my request for comment, “are a naturally occurring toxin that develops when the mold Aspergillus species grow on the corn in the field or after harvest if it’s improperly dried and stored. Corn is a common ingredient used in both dry and wet pet foods,” she added.

The 2010 crop year was a wet one, and generated higher than usual levels of aflatoxin in the field. While this may have created special challenges for farmers and for companies such as Cargill and Iams, rapid quantitative tests for aflatoxins and other natural toxins are readily available. The manufacturers easily could have – and should have – tested the corn for aflatoxin before using it to produce pet food. There is no excuse for releasing product containing untested corn onto the market and allowing that product to remain on the market for as long as one year.

In my “Have Your Say!” survey of readers’ opinions of the five most significant stories of 2011, the Iams pet food recall story earned second place. I believe that this story is significant for two reasons:

  1. It underscores the futility of trying to carry out a stealth recall in an era of instant communication.
  2. It highlights the importance of preventative measures, including testing ingredients before incorporating them into a human or animal food product.

The one bright spot in this sorry saga is the ethical behavior of Price Chopper. This relatively small grocery chain advised its customers of the initial Iams “product pull” – complete with UPC and Lot codes – and offered its customers a full refund on these products. The company then had the guts to post an explanation of the sequence of events, making Procter & Gamble (owner of the Iams brand) look like a very shabby bunch of operators by comparison.

Kudos to Price Chopper’s management. May you continue to be guided by your sense of ethics and fair play in the years to come.