Category: pet food

Recalls and Alerts: September 12, 2012

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: 3fish, inc (Gastonia, NC) recalls all seafood cakes and stuffed fish items that contain onions produced by Gills Onions (use-by dates between 9/10/2012 and 9/15/2012), due to potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. The recalled items were distributed along the east coast in retail stores and repackaged at store level. The following products were sold to Harris Teeter, Ingles, MDI (Merchants Distributors Inc), and US Foodservice: Maryland Crab Cake Bulk, Stuffed Salmon (8ct), Charl Crab Cake Bulk, Stuffed Tilapia (8ct), Crab Stuffing – Bucket, Stuffed Flounder (8ct), Signature Lump Crab Cake, Devil Stuffed Crab (10ct), Carolina Style Crab Cakes (4oz), Devil Stuffed Crab (3oz), Carolina Style Crab Cakes (.5oz), Premium Lobster Cake (3oz), and MD Crab Cakes – Value Tray Pack.
  • Pet Food Safety Recall: Breeder’s Choice Pet Food recalls Breeder’s Choice AvoDerm Natural Lamb Meal & Brown Rice Adult Dog Formula (26 lb; Product Code/SKU 1000065074; UPC 0 5290702043 8; Best before 28 Aug 2013, 29 Aug 2013, and 30 Aug 2013), due to possible contamination with Salmonella. Recalled products were distributed to retailers and distributors in California, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, Virginia and Washington.
  • Food Safety Alert (Rhode Island): The Rhode Island Department of Health is advising residents, staff, volunteers, family and friends who attended a cookout at the Rhode Island Veterans Home in Bristol on Friday, Sept. 7, 2012 and ate uncooked onions that they may have been exposed to Listeria monocytogenes. The onions were supplied to U.S. Foods by Gills Onions.
  • Food Safety Recall – Retail Distribution: Ricotta Salata Frescolina Brand cheese, which was recalled on September 10th after being linked to 14 cases of Listeria monocytogenes infections, was sold in Whole Foods Market stores and in QFC stores, according to notices posted on the retailers’ web sites.

Canada

  • Allergy Alert: Bardahl’s Foods recalls Bardahl’s Potato Lefsa (400g; UPC 6 22876 00100 6; No lot codes), due to the presence of undeclared milk. The recalled product was sold in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
  • Food Safety Recall: Les Produits Alimentaires Berthelet Inc. recalls Nappe Blanche Wild Mushroom Sauce Mix (500g; Lot 0096970; Best before 16 July 2013; UPC 0 69809 00182 3), due to insect contamination. The recalled product was sold in Quebec.
  • Food Safety Recall: RW Packaging Ltd. recalls Baby’s Choice Distilled Nursery Drinking Water (4L; Code 12E194), Alpine Distilled Water (4L; Codes12E191, 12E194, 12E198, 12E201, and 12E205), Encounter Distilled Water (4L; Code 12E191) and Crystal Pure Drinking Water – Distilled – Salt Free (4L; Code 12E194), due to microbiological contamination. The recalled products were sold in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Saskatchewan.

Europe

Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands

  • Food Safety Enforcement Action (Abu Dhabi): Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA) has ordered punitive closure of Hani Supermarket and Bakery –WLL, located on Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum (Airport Road) due to repeated violation of food safety rules.

Latin America and the Caribbean

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: August 26, 2012

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: True Nutrition recalls Whey Protein Concentrate (1 lb; Batch/lot 0120712; Exp 05/2015), Whey Protein Isolate Cold-Filtration (1 lb; Batch/lot 0030812; Exp. 07/2015), Whey Protein Isolate MicroFiltrated (1 lb; Batch/lot 0040812, Exp. 07/2015), Whey Protein Isolate Cross-Flow Microfiltration (1 lb; Batch/lot 0730712; Exp 07/2015), and Hydrolyzed Whey Protein High Grade (1 lb; Batch/lot 0680512; Exp. 05/2015), because the labels fail to declare milk as the source of the whey. The recalled products were distributed through the website www.trunutrition.com.
  • Pet Food Safety Withdrawal: Bil-Jac withdraws Adult Select Formula Dog Food (6 lb bags; Batch #1792-02; Exp. 27 DEC 13), after receiving a few reports of mold in bags from this batch, caused by higher moisture content in the food. Bil-Jac has requested retailers to removed this batch from warehouses and stores.
  • Food Safety Alert: Rudolph Foods, a Dallas pork rinds producer has stopped production for one week after finding Salmonella on the floor in a “pre-cook” area of the production facility. None of the four positive Salmonella samples were from product contact surfaces or from finished products.

Canada

  • Food Safety Recall/Outbreak Alert: North American Produce Sales (Vancouver, BC) updates its earlier Health Hazard Alert to include additional product brand information. The company has recalled Daniella brand Mangoes (Product of Mexico; sold as individual fruit with sticker bearing PLU #4959), because the mangoes have been linked to an outbreak of Salmonella Braenderup infections. The recalled mangoes were sold at various (as yet unnamed) retail stores between July 12 and August 14, 2012 and were distributed in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon. As of August 22, 2012 the Public Health Agency of Canada has confirmed cases of Salmonella Braenderup in British Columbia (17 cases) and Alberta (22 cases).
  • Food Safety Recall: Odra Deli and Wholesale Meat Ltd. (Mississauga, ON) recalls Krakowska Sausage (variable weight pkgs of sliced sausage), because the product may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The recalled meat was sold from the deli counter at Odra Deli and Wholesale Meat Ltd. in Mississauga, ON during August 9th to 20th, inclusive.

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 Dumps More Jerky Data

FDA has done it again. Another chicken jerky pet treat data dump, this time listing 171 consumer complaints from January 1, 2007 through July 2, 2012.

And, with this data dump, the FDA’s Office of Regulatory Affairs has reached a new nadir.  The latest release of “information” is clearly incomplete, impossible to regroup by any criteria other than the assigned complaint number, and impossible to correlate to the lab analysis data dump issued by FDA last month.

What can we learn from this list of 171 consumer complaints? We can read about the pain and suffering – human as well as animal – that the mysterious jerky treat problem has caused.

I don’t understand the rationale behind this partial data dump, unless it’s an attempt by FDA to pander to the goal of “transparency” without actually being either informative or transparent.

The consumer complaint data were released in the form of a pdf document, rather than the original spreadsheet. Had the actual spreadsheet been provided, it would have been possible to group complaints by year, by brand of treat, or by FDA District Office that acted on the complaint – to get a small feel for the nature and scope of the problem.

At the time of the July data dump, FDA had already received more than 1,000 pet illness reports associated with feeding of chicken jerky pet treats. The 97-page pdf file released last week lists only 171 complaints received since January 1, 2007, and only 81 since last November, when FDA reissued a warning against feeding the treats to pets.

In its efforts to appear “transparent,” FDA is doing a good job of making itself look ridiculous. Who does the agency think it is fooling?