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
Allergy Alert: Fresh Creative Foods recalls Trader Joe’s Hot Honey Mustard Dressing (12 fl oz; Use by 05/27/2025) due to undeclared peanuts, soy, sesame, and wheat.
Food Safety Recall: Cargill Kitchen Solutions recalls approximately 212,268 pounds of liquid egg products that may contain a cleaning solution with sodium hypochlorite.
Canada
No Alerts
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Europe
Food Safety Recall (Belgium): Ahmed Exotic BV recalls Bigi-mama brand DRIED BITTER LEAVES (25g; Best before 01/07/2025) due to possible Salmonella contamination.
Food Safety Recall (France): Trade recalls Fola Foodbrand Graines de melon / Melon seeds (All lots) due to Salmonella contamination.
Hong Kong and Singapore
No Alerts
Australia and New Zealand
Food Safety Recall (New Zealand): Dough Boys Limited recalls Daily Bread brand Traditional Hot Cross Buns (250g; Best before 10 APR 25) due to foreign matter contamination (glass).
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“Reads like a true crime novel” – Food Safety News
Interested in learning more about food safety and the history of foodborne disease outbreaks and investigations?
Click on the link to listen to a short excerpt, then follow the buy links to add a digital, print or audio copy to your personal library.
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced this morning that 10,000 permanent jobs would be cut from the agencies under its control, including the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The new cuts are in addition to the 10,000 people already fired or bought out through early retirement packages.
The combined cuts has reduced the workforce of HHS by almost 25%.
The cuts are to be accompanied by a consolidation of the department’s various divisions from 28 down to 15.
What is being cut
The largest reduction will be felt at the FDA, which will lose an additional 3500 full-time employees out of what had been a workforce of approximately 18,000 people under the Biden administration.
The CDC will lose an additional 2400 employees, and the NIH will lose 1200.
According to the Fact Sheet accompanying the news release, “The consolidation and cuts are designed not only to save money, but to make the organization more efficient and more responsive to Americans’ needs, and to implement the Make America Healthy Again goal of ending the chronic disease epidemic.”
What does this mean for food safety?
The goal of ending the chronic disease epidemic is laudable, and a review of the safety of food additives, artificial colors, and other non-essential ingredients is long overdue.
However, the FDA is being tasked with undertaking a major new program while at the same time digesting a major reduction in workforce.
Something’s got to give.
So far, there have been no specifics given as to what personnel will be cut within the FDA. Will it be laboratory services? Inspection staff? Research teams?
Just the latest in a series of questionable actions
The US food safety and disease prevention systems are under attack. Consider this partial list:
RFK, Jr., the HHS Secretary, has suggested allowing the bird flu epidemic to run its course in order to identify immune birds. He’s had some support from the Secretary of Agriculture for this approach. The virus already has jumped from poultry to dairy cattle and to a myriad of small mammals (including domestic and farm cats). Imagine the increased opportunity for mutations if the virus is allowed to spread unchecked.
RFK, Jr. encouraged the use of cod liver oil or vitamin A supplements as an alternative to vaccination to prevent the spread of measles, taking out of context studies conducted in low-income countries where vitamin A deficiency is common. As a result, doctors in Texas are encountering children suffering from vitamin A overdoses.
The NIH is ending grants for Covid-19 research, including the development of antiviral drugs.
The US government has arranged to purchase eggs from Turkey in order to bring down the price of eggs in the US, even though Turkey has a documented high level of Salmonella and bird flu contamination in its eggs, thus exposing US consumers to increased risk of infection with these pathogens.
The CDC has pulled $11 billion in funding to state and local health departments across the US. The funds were earmarked for Covid testing, vaccination, and related programs.
The NIH is terminating grants for programs to study vaccine hesitancy and to encourage vaccine uptake. This is directly in line with RFK, Jr.’s widely publicized vaccine skepticism.
The Trump administration has withdrawn from the World Health Organization and has terminated USAID programs that funded vaccination efforts in third-world countries.
And there will be more to come. While claiming to attack chronic diseases, the actions taken so far are making the US population more susceptible to the spread of acute illnesses. If this keeps up, I predict a noticeable rise in child mortality rates and infectious disease outbreaks across the USA.
“Reads like a true crime novel” – Food Safety News
Interested in learning more about food safety and the history of foodborne disease outbreaks and investigations?
Click on the link to listen to a short excerpt, then follow the buy links to add a digital, print or audio copy to your personal library.
The dysfunctional Trump administration, in its infinite lack of wisdom, has decided to import eggs from Turkey as a stop-gap measure.
Has anyone at the USDA or the FDA considered the contamination rates of H5N1 (bird flu), Salmonella, and other pathogens in Turkish eggs?
I thought not.
To be clear, Vladimir Putin tried this a little over a year ago, with disastrous results.
Russia decided to import eggs from Turkey in order to address an egg “crisis” caused by high inflation and Western sanctions triggered by Russia’s war on Ukraine.
According to a January 2024 story in Newsweek, more than 20% of the 19.4-ton batch of Turkish eggs imported into Russia on January 3, 2024, was contaminated with the H5N1 (bird flu) virus and/or Salmonella.
This was not an isolated incident. A 2022 study of shell eggs in Turkey found Salmonella in 12% of free-range eggs, 10% of cage-free eggs, and 12% of eggs from caged birds.
In contrast, the generally acknowledged overall incidence of Salmonella in US eggs is 1:20,000 (0.005%).
I usually try to avoid predictions; however, don’t be surprised if there is a sudden rash of egg-associated Salmonella outbreaks over the next few months.
“Reads like a true crime novel” – Food Safety News
Interested in learning more about food safety and the history of foodborne disease outbreaks and investigations?
Click on the link to listen to a short excerpt, then follow the buy links to add a digital, print or audio copy to your personal library.
