Author: Phyllis Entis

CooperVision Recall Hits Contact Lens Users In 69 Countries

CooperVision’s Avaira® Sphere contact lens recall affects a far broader geographic audience than was hit by the earlier Avaira® Toric recall.

The Toric recall affected contact lens wearers in seven countries: Australia, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Spain and the USA. In contrast, the recalled Avaira® Sphere contact lenses were supplied to 69 countries in North America, the Caribbean, Central America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania.

CooperVision has published an international website where consumers can find out whether their packages of Avaira® Sphere and Avaira® Toric contact lenses are affected by the recall. Anyone who wears Avaira® contact lenses and lives in one of the 69 countries should check the status of their lenses immediately.

I’m told by Denise Powell, speaking on behalf of CooperVision, that Avaira® Sphere contact lenses are sold under different brand names in certain countries. Contact lens wearers using any of the following brands should check the CooperVision international website to determine whether their lenses are affected: Ascend Evolve, Betaview 2 weekly, Clear Choice Premium Plus 14 Day, Easyvision Elite Fortnightly, Prevue Platinum, ProActive Premium, Softview Fortnightly Plus, Trio2 Premium 2 week, See and Save 2 Week, VisionPlus Fortnightly, Encore 100, and BioComfort XO.

Some of the countries affected by the CooperVision recall have posted recall notices with more specific details, including other brand names under which the recalled contact lenses are sold. Please follow the live links for more details:

  • Argentina
  • Aruba
  • Australia:- Avaira (enfilcon A) Sphere Contact Lenses. Also marketed under the brand names: Clear Choice Premium Plus 14 Day Sphere, Prevue Platinum Sphere, ProActive Premium Sphere, VisionPlus Fortnightly Sphere, Softview Fortnightly Plus Sphere, See and Save Premium 2 Week Sphere, Trio2 Premium 2 Week Sphere, Ascend Evolve Sphere, and Betaview 2 Weekly SphereEasyvision elite fortnightly Sphere
  • Austria
  • Barbados
  • Belgium
  • Brazil:- Avaira Sphere contact lenses (registration #80130430037). List of 104 affected lots.
  • Bulgaria
  • Canada:- Encore 100 contact lenses. Costco Canada reports that the recalled Encore 100 Sphere Contact Lenses were sold in Costco Canada warehouse stores between March 16 and October 12, 2011.
  • Chile
  • China
  • Colombia
  • Costa Rica
  • Czech Republic
  • Denmark
  • Dominican Republic
  • Ecuador
  • Faroe Islands
  • Finland
  • France
  • Germany
  • Guatemala
  • Honduras
  • Hong Kong:- Avaira and BioComfort XO contact lenses; FreshKon Airis 1-Month, imported from Singapore and distributed by Oculus Optical (H.K.) Co., Ltd.
  • Hungary
  • Iceland
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Italy
  • Jamaica
  • Kazakhstan
  • Korea
  • Kuwait
  • Latvia
  • Lebanon
  • Luxembourg
  • Mexico
  • Netherlands
  • New Zealand:- Ascend Evolve, Avaira, Easyvision Elite Fortnightly, See and Save 2 Week Premium, Softview Fortnightly Plus, and VisionPlus Fortnightly
  • Nicaragua
  • Norway
  • Pakistan
  • Panama
  • Papua New Guinea
  • Peru
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Qatar
  • Republic of Ireland
  • Russia
  • San Salvador
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Serbia & Montenegro
  • Singapore:- Avaira and FreshKon Airis 1-Month contact lenses
  • Slovakia
  • Slovenia
  • South Africa
  • Spain:- Including Avaira, A Hisi, Albalens Silicone, Carla 3 Silicona, Cecop Silicone, Centro OP. Jose Manuel Marquez, Combisoft Nature, Delgado Espinosa Silicona, Dublan Silicona, Easygel Plus, Enfilcon DK100 Aspheric, Galindo, Gran Optica, Hidrancy Oxygen, HorizonT, Irco Vision, Lenso Active Hidro Silk, Lent Soft 4 Air, Lentigel Contact, Lentsport, Meca Opticos, Medifresh Elite, Miolent Q, My Vision Max, MyOptica, Only-You Hidrosilk, Optica Altavoz, Optica Avenida, Ramon Optica Hidramax, Soft Lens Oxygen, Verasilicon, and White light Silicone. List of 81 affected lots.
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • Syria
  • Trinidad and Tobago
  • Tunisia
  • Turkey
  • United Arab Emirates
  • United Kingdom:- Avaira® Sphere contact lenses. List of 74 affected lots.
  • United States
  • Uruguay
  • Venezuela

Please check back periodically for additional updates to this recall information.

Last update: December 8, 2011

Recalls and Alerts: November 17, 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: New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets warns consumers not to eat “Salted Smoked Herring” sold by Juncalito Abajo Meat Corp., d/b/a Associated (Brooklyn, NY) and distributed by P West In Food Inc. (Brooklyn, NY), because the uneviscerated product may be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum spores.
  • Food Safety Recall: The J.M. Smucker Company recalls Smucker’s® Natural Peanut Butter Chunky (16-oz jars; UPC 5150001701; Production Codes 1307004 & 1308004; Best if used by August 3, 2012 and August 4, 2012), because the peanut butter may be contaminated with Salmonella. The recalled product was distributed in Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia, and was sold between November 8 and 17, 2011 in stores belonging to Buehler’s Fresh Foods, Copps, Mariano’s Fresh Market, Metro Market, Pick’n Save, Price Chopper, Target, Tops Friendly Markets, and Walmart.  The recalled peanut butter may also have been available in other grocery stores. Please check your pantry and discard or return any recalled product.
  • Food Safety Recall: Ready Pac Foods, Inc. (Irwindale, CA) recalls bagged salad products containing Romaine lettuce (Use by date November 18, 2011), because the products may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. The recalled salad products were shipped to Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Oregon, Texas and Washington, and include the following: Ready Pac Caesar Romaine, 10-oz; Ready Pac Santa Fe Caesar Complete Salad, 9.25-oz; Ready Pac Classic Caesar Complete Salad, 10-oz; Ready Pac Bella Romaine, 10-oz; Dining In Classic Caesar Salad Kit, 10-oz; Raley’s Caesar Romaine, 10-oz; Trader Joe’s Romaine Salad, 10-oz; Trader Joe’s Very American Salad, 16-oz; Safeway Farms Caesar Romaine, 10-oz; Safeway Farms Hearts of Romaine, 9-oz; Safeway Farms Complete Caesar Supreme, 10-oz; and Safeway Farms Complete Southwestern Ranch, 10.25-oz. The recalled salad products were sold by stores belonging to the following supermarket chains: Safeway (Safeway, Carrs, Pavilions, Pak ‘N Save, Randalls, Tom Thumb and Vons in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Arizona, Montana, South Dakota, California, Nevada, Texas, Colorado, Nebraska, Washington, Hawaii, New Mexico, and Wyoming), Albertsons (Southern California and Nevada), and Trader Joe’s (Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon and Washington), and may also have been available in other grocery stores. Please check your refrigerator and discard or return any recalled product.
  • Contact Lens Safety Recall: CooperVision expands its worldwide recall of Avaira contact lenses to include Avaira Sphere contact lenses. The recall was initiated after silicone oil residue was found on some Avaira Sphere lenses.

Canada

  • Food Safety Recall: Boucherie A.G.A. inc. (Montreal, QC) recalls Saucisse cacciatore douce and Saucisse cacciatore forte (all product sold up to and including 2 November, 2011), because the sausages were prepared in a manner that presents a risk to consumer health.
  • Food Safety Recall: The Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation recalls all Woody’s Vodka Coolers (330ml bottles) after glass was detected in some of the bottles in Manitoba and Ontario. The recalled Woody’s brand flavors include Sasparilla, Pink Grapefruit, Orangetini, Pomtini and Refresher.
  • Food Safety Recall: NB Liquor expands its public recall of Woody’s Mexican Lime Alcoholic Vodka Beverage to include the following additional flavors and brands (single and 4-pack formats): Orangetini Orange Vodka Cooler, Pomtini Vodka & Pomegranate Cooler, Woody’s Blackcurrant & Apple, Woody’s Light Orange, Woody’s Pink Grapefruit, Woody’s Refresher, Woody’s 99 Raspberry (Light), Woody’s Vodka Col, Woody’s Sasparilla, and Woody’s Party Pack (mixed flavours) after glass particles were detected in some bottles.

Europe

Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands

  • Contact Lens Safety Recall (Hong Kong): CooperVision Hong Kong recalls all Avaira and BioComfort XO contact lenses, because of the presence of silicone oil residue which may cause hazy vision or discomfort, severe eye pain or even eye injuries requiring medical treatment.
  • Pharmaceutical Product Safety Recall (Hong Kong): Nycomed (Hong Kong) Limited recalls Omnaris Nasal Spray, 50mcg (Batch #137930), due to pinholes or leakage in some pouches. This is part of a worldwide recall initiated by the German manufacturer, Nycomed Gmbh.

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.

Organic Pastures and E. coli O157:H7

Raw milk is a touchy subject in the food safety community, and nowhere more so than in California – the home state of Organic Pastures.

Yesterday, the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced that the State had imposed a recall and quarantine on raw milk products from Organic Pastures (Fresno County, CA). The action resulted from reports of five E. coli O157:H7 illnesses among children in the state.

The five children live in four California counties: San Diego, Contra Costa, King and Sacramento. They became ill during the months of August through October. Three of the children developed hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) and were hospitalized. The San Diego area victim is a five-year old boy, who became ill in late August. He was not hospitalized. All five children were infected with a single genetic strain of E. coli O157:H7.

CDPH says that the children had only a single food exposure in common –  raw milk produced by Organic Pastures. According to Dr. Debra Gilliss, Chief of the CDPH Disease Investigations Section, all five children were reported by their parents to have consumed raw whole milk.

I’m told by Steve Lyle, Director of Public Affairs for CDFA, that there were no investigative product samples collected and tested by the state. The decision to recall and quarantine Organic Pastures products was based on epidemiological evidence. This, presumably, was because the milk consumed by the five children was long gone by the time the outbreak was identified.

Organic Pastures appealed the recall and quarantine order, according to a report carried today in The Sacramento Bee, on the grounds that the outbreak cluster happened two to three months ago and that the microbe was not found in the dairy’s milk. CDFA heard the appeal, but reaffirmed their order.

Samples will be taken and analyzed as part of the state’s inspection of Organic Pasture’s facility and operations. Lyle didn’t know how long it would take for the dairy to be permitted to resume distribution of its quarantined products. That will depend, according to Mr. Lyle, “…on completion of any needed corrections to sanitary conditions of equipment, good manufacturing practices, and outcome of laboratory tests demonstrating food contact surfaces are properly cleaned and products meet applicable microbial standards.”

This is the second E. coli O157:H7 outbreak that has been linked to raw milk produced and distributed by Organic Pastures. A similar situation arose in 2006, when six children developed E. coli O157:H7 infections after they consumed Organic Pastures raw milk or raw colostrum. The follow-up inspection carried out by the state recovered E. coli O157:H7 – not the outbreak strain – from five fecal samples taken from cows at the dairy. The E. coli O157:H7 strains found in 2006 are genetically different from the strain that has been recovered from the five victims of the current outbreak, according to Dr. Gilliss of CDPH.

California health officials offer the following information and advice to California residents who purchase and consume Organic Pastures raw milk products:

Symptoms of E. coli O157:H7 infection may include abdominal cramps and diarrhea which is often bloody. Most infected people recover within a week; however, some may develop complications that require hospitalization. Young children and the elderly are at highest risk for a potentially life-threatening complication known as hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which includes kidney failure. People who develop symptoms of E. coli O157:H7 infection after consuming unpasteurized milk or milk products should consult their health care provider. Physicians who have patients suspected of having HUS or E. coli O157:H7 infections should report them to the local health department.