Author: Phyllis Entis

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  • Food Recall/Withdrawal: Food City reports that several varieties of Tribe Hummus have been recalled or withdrawn from the marketplace.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.

Recalls and Alerts: December 5, 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 Enforcement Action: The Utah Division of Regulatory Services cites Mr. Fidel Gomez (West Valley City, UT) and fines him $500 for violations of the Utah Dairy Act, including illegally manufacturing and distributing cheese without a permit and not labeling the cheese. Mr. Gomez supplied a Salt Lake valley restaurant with queso fresco cheese that was linked to 42 lab-confirmed cases of Salmonella Newport gastroenteritis.

Canada

  • Food Safety Recall: Smiley sauce spaghetti à la viande (Farnham, QC) recalls Star Originale, Smiley brand Sauce Spaghetti à la Viande / Spaghetti Meat Sauce (750ml, 1.4L and 2.1L glass jars; sold before December 2, 2011), because the product was held and stored without refrigeration and represents a health hazard.

Europe

  • Food Safety Recall (Belgium): Culina Foods sprl recalls Sla Mustard Dill Dressing (250ml bottles; Best before 17/02/12, 02/04/12, 09/04/12, 12/05/12, 21/05/12, and 12/06/12; Lot #1106171, 1106172, 1108021, 1108022, 1108091, 1108092, 1109131, 1109132, 1109211, and 1110121), due to possible fermentation in the bottles as a result of a production error.
  • Food Safety Recall (France): A l’Olivier recalls various flavors of vinaigrette (250ml bottles), because of possible contamination with particles of glass. Please refer to the recall notice for a list of flavors, lot numbers and Best Before dates.
  • Food Safety Recall (Germany): Tirol Milch Wörgl recalls Andreas Hofer Anniversary Cheese (200g; Best before 02/09/2012), Austrian Alps Mark Mountain Cheese (300g; Best before 28/02/2012, 03/05/2012, and 03/06/2012) and Mountain Cheese (430g; Best before 27/02/2012, 03/03/2012, 04/03/2012, 03/10/2012 and 11/03/2012), because the cheese rind may be contaminated with Listeria.
  • Dietary Supplement Safety Alert (Germany): Consumers should avoid using Slimming Coffee Leisure 18 Coffee for weight reduction (18 x 10g packets; Product of China; Batch # 20110801, 20110901, 20110924, 20110301, and 20110914), because the product contains the undeclared prescription medication sibutramine, which can cause serious side effects in certain individuals.

Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands

  • Food Safety Recall (Hong Kong): Trappist Dairy Limited recalls Trappist Dairy Hi-Calcium Low Fat Milk Drink (236ml; Use by 4.12.2011) and Trappist Dairy Fresh Milk (236 ml and 946 ml; Use by 6.12.2011), because the milk may be contaminated with toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes. Two illnesses have been reported.
  • Food Safety Alert (Saudi Arabia): The Saudi Food & Drug Authority (SFDA) warns the public that tests of Radwa Drops potable drinking water found that several samples contained in excess of the permitted limit of Bromate. Consumers should not drink this water. SFDA has taken steps to suspend production, and is urging Radwa Drops Potable Water Factory (Yanbu Al Bahr province) to recall its product from the local market.

Australia and New Zealand

  • Food Safety Recall (New Zealand): Goodman Fielder New Zealand Ltd. recalls Sizzler Triple Cheese (precooked) Sausages (400g; Use by 8/12/2011 and 912/2011), because some of the sausages may contain blue plastic pieces.  The recalled product is sold in all supermarkets throughout New Zealand.
  • Medical Device Safety Recall (Australia): Coloplast Pty Ltd. recalls Trident Catheter Valve (Item #380851; Batch #2565208, 2646228, 2662994, 2696297, 2701396, 2708828, 2724652, 2730835, 2793517, 2800400, 2812339, 2819240, 2825445, 2887949, and 2918547), because the batches failed sterility tests conducted by the manufacturer.

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.