Category: E. coli O157:H7

Recalls and Alerts: February 11, 2013

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 Recall: Food City advises its customers that the manufacturer has recalled Sour Patch Jelly Beans (13 oz bags). Consumers wishing to obtain additional information may contact the manufacturer at 1-800-524-2854.
  • Food Safety Enforcement Action: The Missouri Department of Agriculture halts custom exempt processing operations at Leinbach Custom Processing (Versailles) due to violations related to the business’s use of non-potable water in plant operations.

Canada

  • Allergy Alert: Yum Yum Food (Toronto, ON) recalls Yum Yum Food brand Sui Mai, frozen (228g pkgs; UPC 8 30121 10017 0; All codes) due to undeclared egg and milk. The recalled product was distributed in Ontario.
  • Food Safety News: Canada has appointed an Independent Expert Advisory Panel to review the events and circumstances surrounding the recent XL Foods Inc. E. coli O157:H7 investigation, recalls and outbreak. the Panel members include Dr. Ronald Lewis (Chair), Dr. Ronald Usborne, and Dr. André Corriveau.

Europe

  • Food Safety Recall (Belgium): Carrefour recalls Carrefour (Engagement Qualité Carrefour) and Cultimer oysters due to possible Norovirus contamination. Please refer to the recall notice for additional details.
  • Food Safety Recall (France): The Prefecture of La Manche recalls all shellfish harvested from the Zone de depot de la zone de production No 50-14 Blainville-Gouville, due to norovirus contamination in oysters sampled on January 28, 2013 from the indicated zone.
  • Food Recall (France): Carrefour recalls Carrefour Lasagnes bolognaise, frozen (600g and 1kg), Carrefour Cannelloni bolognaise, frozen (600g), Grand Jury Lasagnes bolognaise, frozen (600g) and Grand Jury Cannelloni bolognaise, frozen (600g) because the products may contain horse meat. Please refer to the recall notice for additional details.
  • Food Recall (France): Findus recalls Findus brand Moussaka (600g; UPC 3599740007969), Lasagne Bolognaise (600g; UPC 3599740004517), Hachis Parmentier (600g; UPC 3599740004500), Lasagnes Bolognaise (1.2kg; UPC 3599740007983) and Hachis Parmentier (1.2kg; UPC 3599740007990), because the products contain horse meat. Please refer to the recall notice for additional details.
  • Food Recall (France): Picard recalls Picard Formule Express Lasagnes à la Bolognaise (300g; Lots #314/12 and 315/12; Code 57376) due to suspicion of the presence of horse meat.
  • Food Recall (Greece): Marinopoulos SA recalls Carrefour Lasagne Bolognese (1kg) and Carrefour Cannelloni Bolognese (600g), due to suspicion of the presence of horse meat.
  • Food Recall (UK): Aldi Stores recalls Aldi Today’s Special Frozen Beef Lasagne (400g; All date codes) and Aldi Today’s Special Frozen Spaghetti Bolognese (400g; All Date codes) due to finding horse meat (between 30% and 100%) in some samples.
  • Food Withdrawal (Ireland): Aldi withdraws Aldi Today’s Special Frozen Beef Lasagna (all batch codes/best before dates) and Aldi Today’s Special Frozen Spaghetti Bolognaise (all batch codes/best before dates) after the company’s tests revealed that some samples contained between 30% and 100% horse meat.
  • Food Recall (Sweden): Axfood withdraws Eldorado Lasagna Bolognese (1kg) Willys Lasagna Bolognese (400g) and Hemköp Lasagna Bolognese (400g) because the products are suspected to contain horse meat.
  • Food Recall (Sweden): Coop withdraws Coop Lasagna (400g) due to a suspicion that the product may contain horse meat.
  • Food Recall (Sweden): ICA recalls ICA brand Basic Lasagne (400g; all best before dates) because the product may contain horse meat.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU 2013.0172): Hepatitis A virus in pitted dates from Algeria, via France; distributed to the Netherlands.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2013.0173): Norovirus in chilled oysters from France; distributed to Italy.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU 2013.0175): Chlorfenapyr in fresh papaya from Brazil; distributed to Italy.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2013.0176): Salmonella Bredeney in frozen beef trimmings from Poland, via the Netherlands and via Germany; distributed to Sweden.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2013.0177): Salmonella in dried green pepper from India, via Germany; distributed to Estonia.

Australia and New Zealand

  • Allergy Alert (New Zealand): Seafood Marketing Ltd. recalls Seastar Samosa (750g pkgs; Best before 20.11.2014) and Seastar Vegetable Spring Rolls (750g pkgs; Best before 20.11.2014) due to undeclared soy.
  • Food Safety Recall (Australia): Fonterra Brands Australia recalls the following CalciYum yoghurt pouches (70g; All Best before dates up to and including 11 MAR 13) due to a potential choking hazard: Disney Princess Strawberry Yoghurt, Ben 10 Vanilla Yoghurt, Toy Story Vanilla Yoghurt, Cars Strawberry Yoghurt, Mickey and Minnie Tropical Yoghurt, and Wiggles Banana Yoghurt. The recalled products were sold in Coles, Woolworths and independent supermarkets nationally.
  • Outbreak Alert Update (Australia): The outbreak of Listeria monocytogenes infections linked to cheeses manufactured by Jindi Cheese Company (Victoria), now stands at 26 illnesses, including a third death – a 68-year old man from New South Wales.

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 website.

*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: February 8, 2013

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: DZH Import & Export Inc. (Brooklyn, NY) recalls Curiosity of Dashan Dried Mushroom (3.5 oz/100g plastic tray pkg; Best before May 3rd, 2013; Product of China; UPC 6939457003484), due to undeclared sulphites. The recalled product was sold in New York City.
  • Allergy Alert: Marshallville Packing Co. recalls the following products (Ohio Est. 1054; All products sold before February 1, 2013), due to undeclared wheat: German Brand Beef Bologna, Garlic Beef Bologna, Beef Bologna, Trail Style Bologna, Dutch Brand Loaf, Pepper Loaf and Braunschweiger. The recalled products were sold at Marshallville Packing Co.
  • Food Safety Recall: AdvancePierre Foods (Enid, OK) recalls Fast Classics Country Fried Steaks (22.75-oz pouches & 8.5-lb cases/6 pouches per case; Est 2260Y; Produced Dec 21, 2012; Best by March 21, 2014; Case code 1523560202), due to possible contamination with pieces of plastic. The recalled products were supplied exclusively to Walmart stores in Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wyoming.
  • Food Safety Recall: Nestlé Prepared Foods Company (Solon, OH) recalls Lean Cuisine® Culinary Collection Mushroom Mezzaluna Ravioli (Production Codes 2311587812 and 2312587812; Best before DEC 2013; UPC 13800-58358), due to possible contamination with fragments of glass in the ravioli portion of the entree.
  • Food Recall: Food City advises its customers that Nissin has recalled Nissin 6-pack Top Ramen Shrimp (6/3 oz). No details were released.
  • Dietary Supplement Safety Recall: EonNutra, LLC (Colorado Springs, CO) recalls Growth Factor Complex 200 GFC 200 Dietary Supplement (2 fl oz; Mf’d for Soto Supplements; Lot codes SRK91512, SRK92112, SRK92512, SRK102312, SRK11412 & SRK111912), because the products may be contaminated with various types of bacteria. The recalled product was distributed nationwide.
  • Food Safety Enforcement Action: Titan Medical Enterprises Inc. (Santa Fe Springs, CA) has been ordered to stop manufacturing and distributing drugs and dietary supplements in domestic commerce until their manufacturing operations comply with the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The order was signed on Dec. 11, 2012 by U.S. District Court Judge Otis D. Wright.

Canada

  • Allergy Alert: Metro Richelieu inc. (Montreal, QC) recalls Salade de goberge et légumes (sold up to and including February 7, 2013 at certain Metro and Metro Plus stores) and Saumon sur lit de pâtes (sold up to and including February 7, 2013 at Metro Plus, 1955 rue Sainte-Catherine Est, Montréal, QC), due to undeclared mustard.
  • Allergy Alert: AMRA Services Ltd. recalls Glutenull Coco Moko Cookie (300g; UPC 6 08938 66659 8; All lot codes), due to undeclared tree nuts. The recalled product was supplied to retailers in British Columbia.
  • Food Safety Recall: Saucisson Vaudois (Sainte-Brigide, QC) recalls various ready-to-eat meat products due to possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination. Please refer to the recall notice for a detailed list of products and their corresponding Best Before date codes.
  • Food Safety Enforcement Action: The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has suspended the operating license of Establishment 287, St. Ann’s Foods Inc., a beef slaughter plant located in St. Ann’s, Ontario, effective February 7, 2013, after the company filed to correct deficiencies in hygienic practices that were previously identified through inspections.
  • Outbreak Alert Update: The Public Health Agency of Canada reports that the outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 that was associated with shredded lettuce distributed by FreshPoint Inc. primarily to some KFC and KFC-Taco Bell restaurants appears to be over. The outbreak comprised a total of 30 illnesses in New Brunswick (7), Nova Scotia (10) and Ontario (13).

Europe

  • Food Safety Alert/Recall (France): Following reports of several cases of food poisoning linked to the consumption of shellfish, recreational and commercial harvesting of shellfish from an approximately 5-kilometer zone around Blainville-sur-Mer, in the Manche, is prohibited. Products shipped since January 28th have been recalled and will be destroyed. Tests conducted on oysters sampled on January 28th from the specified zone were found to be contaminated with Norovirus.
  • Food Safety Recall (UK): Loch Arthur Creamery recalls Loch Arthur Creamery Criffel full fat semi-soft unpasteurized cheese (All date codes up to and including 11 February 2013), due to Listeria monocytogenes contamination.
  • Food Recall (UK): Findus UK recalls Findus Frozen Beef Lasagne (320g, 360g and 500g pkgs; All date codes; All batch codes) after the company’s testing shows that the meat content of some Findus beef lasagne products is more than 60% horse meat.
  • Food Withdrawal (Ireland): Findus withdraws Findus Lasagne, frozen (320g, 360g & 500g pkgs; All batch codes; All Best before dates; Product of Luxembourg) after tests reveal that some of the frozen lasagnes contain more than 60% horse meat.
  • Food Withdrawal (UK): Aldi withdraws Today’s Special Frozen Beef Lasagne and Today’s Special Frozen Spaghetti Bolognese after tests reveal that the products contain between 30% and 100% horse meat. The implicated products were supplied by the French company, Comigel.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2013.0159): Metallic wire in frozen plaice fillets from the Netherlands; distributed to Italy.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2013.0161): High level of acrylamide in potato crisps from Italy; distributed to Malta.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2013.0162): Parasitic infestation with Anisakis of chilled mackerel from France; distributed to Italy.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2013.0163): Suspicion of fraud (horsemeat) in relation to frozen beef products from Poland; distributed to Ireland.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2013.0164): Histamine in chilled tuna steaks from Spain; distributed to Italy.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2013.0165): Excessive Escherichia coli in live bivalve molluscs from Denmark; distributed to the Netherlands.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2013.0166): Suspicion of fraud (horsemeat) in relation to frozen beef lasagne manufactured in Luxembourg with raw material from France; distributed to Ireland and the United Kingdom.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2013.0167): Mold infestation in soft toffee from Poland; distributed to the Czech Republic.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2013.0168): Salmonella in chilled beef from Ireland; distributed to Sweden.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2013.0169): Pesticide residues in Chinese kale from Malaysia; distributed to Switzerland.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2013.0171): Salmonella Dublin in chilled bovine meat processed in Sweden, with raw material from Ireland; distributed to Sweden.

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 website.

*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.

Guest Blog: Salmonella’s Not an Adulterant?

The following Guest Blog first appeared on Food Safety News (February 2, 2013), and is reproduced here with the kind permission of its author, Bill Marler.

Salmonella’s Not an Adulterant?

– by William D. Marler

Personally, as I said to the Los Angeles Times several months ago, “I think that anything that can poison or kill a person should be listed as an adulterant [in food].”

Ignoring Salmonella in meat makes little, if any, sense. Even after the Court’s twisted opinion in Supreme Beef v. USDA, where it found Salmonella “not an adulterant per se, meaning its presence does not require the USDA to refuse to stamp such meat ‘inspected and passed,” our government’s failure to confront the reality of Salmonella, especially antibiotic-resistant Salmonella, is inexcusable. The Wisconsin Supreme Court in Kriefall v Excel called it as it saw it:

The E. coli strain that killed Brianna and made the others sick is a “deleterious substance which may render [meat] injurious to health.” There is no dispute about this. Thus, under the first part of 21 U.S.C. § 601(m)(1), meat that either “bears or contains” E. coli O157:H7 (the “deleterious substance”) is “adulterated.” That E. coli O157:H7 contamination can be rendered non-“injurious to health” by cooking thoroughly, as discussed below, does not negate this; Congress used the phrase “may render,” not “in every circumstance renders.” Moreover, if the E. coli bacteria is not considered to be “an added substance,” because it comes from some of the animals themselves and is not either applied or supplied during the slaughtering process (although we do not decide this), it cannot be said that the E. coli strain “does not ordinarily render [the meat on or in which it appears] injurious to health.” Accordingly, meat contaminated by E. coli O157:H7 is also “adulterated” under the second part of § 601(m)(1).

Now, why would Salmonella be different?

According to the CDC, it is estimated that 1.4 million cases of salmonellosis occur each year in the U.S. Of those cases, 95 percent are related to foodborne causes. Approximately 220 of each 1000 cases result in hospitalization, and 8 of every 1000 cases result in death. About 500 to 1,000 deaths – 31 percent of all food-related deaths – are caused by Salmonella infections each year.

So, where do we stand with the existing USDA/FSIS law on adulteration? Here is the law:

21 U.S.C. § 601(m)(4) – SUBCHAPTER I – INSPECTION REQUIREMENTS; ADULTERATION AND MISBRANDING – CHAPTER 12 – MEAT INSPECTION – TITLE 21—FOOD AND DRUGS

(m) The term “adulterated” shall apply to any carcass, part thereof, meat or meat food product under one or more of the following circumstances:

(1) if it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious substance which may render it injurious to health; but in case the substance is not an added substance, such article shall not be considered adulterated under this clause if the quantity of such substance in or on such article does not ordinarily render it injurious to health; …

(3) if it consists in whole or in part of any filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance or is for any other reason unsound, unhealthful, unwholesome, or otherwise unfit for human food;

(4) if it has been prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with filth, or whereby it may have been rendered injurious to health; …

Hmmm. It is hard to read the above and not think that the words in bold equate to all E. coli and Salmonella (frankly, all pathogens in food). I know, I am just a lawyer, but don’t ya think that when food with animal feces (and a dash of E. coli O157:H7) in it is considered an adulterant, that other animal feces (with dashes of other pathogens, like Salmonella) in them, should be considered adulterated too? But, hey, that is just me.

Another odd governmental fact is that the FDA does not seem to make a distinction between pathogens it considers adulterants or not. FDA’s enabling legislation – Sec. 402. [21 USC §342] of the Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act also defines “Adulterated Food” as food that is:

(a) Poisonous, insanitary, or deleterious ingredients.

(1) If it bears or contains any poisonous or deleterious substance which may render it injurious to health; but in case the substance is not an added substance such food shall not be considered adulterated under this clause if the quantity of such substance in such food does not ordinarily render it injurious to health;

(2) If it bears or contains any added poisonous or added deleterious substance … that is unsafe within the meaning of section 406;

(3) if it consists in whole or in part of any filthy, putrid, or decomposed substance, or if it is otherwise unfit for food;

(4) if it has been prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with filth, or whereby it may have been rendered injurious to health …

It would be interesting, and perhaps entertaining, to have House and Senate hearings focusing on what should and should not be considered adulterants in our food. I can see panels of scientists from various fields, FDA, USDA and FSIS officials, beef and produce industry representatives and consumers discussing this. I would pay to watch it.

About the author: Bill Marler is a personal injury and products liability attorney, and an internationally known food safety advocate. He began litigating foodborne illness cases in 1993, when he represented Brianne Kiner, the most seriously injured survivor of the Jack in the Box E. coli O157:H7 outbreak. Bill is a graduate of the Seattle University School of Law, and the Law School’s “Lawyer in Residence.”