Category: Salmonella

Recalls and Alerts: August 26, 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

  • Allergy Alert: Silva Sausage Co. (Gilroy, CA) recalls 28,782 pounds of Silva Sausage Smoked Chicken Apple Sausage, and Hickory Smoked Chicken with Apples & Sage (Est # P-6086; Various case codes and production dates), due to the presence of undeclared cultured whey. The recalled products were distributed to retail establishments and institutions in the Sacramento and San Luis Obispo (California) areas.
  • Food Safety Recall: Vita Food Products, Inc (Chicago, IL) recalls Vita Classic Premium Sliced Smoked Atlantic Nova Salmon (4-oz pkgs; Sell by date & code of Dec 15 2011 01961B), due to potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. The recalled smoked salmon was sold at Publix stores in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Safeway stores in California, Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Colorado, Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and District of Columbia, Meijer stores in Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky, Vons stores in California, Genuardi’s stores in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Winn Dixie stores in Florida, and the Edgewater Produce store in Chicago, IL on or after July 25, 2011. Some packages also may have been sold at various grocery stores in the Buffalo (NY) and Puttsburgh (PA) metropolitan areas, and in Northeast Ohio.
  • Food Safety Enforcement Action:  U.S. Marshals seized all FDA-regulated food susceptible to rodent and pest contamination or other filth held at the Durham, North Carolina, warehouse of CFSD, Inc., which does business as Chan’s Food Service.  According to FDA’s complaint, the products are adulterated under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, because they have been held under insanitary conditions.
  • Boil Water Advisory (Washington State): A Boil-Water Advisory has been issued to customers of the Basin City Water-Sewer District water system, because E. coli were found in the water during routine water quality monitoring.

Canada

  • Allergy Alert Update: Indianlife Food Corporation (Burnaby, BC) recalls Indianlife brand Plain Papadums (120g pkgs; Codes MFG 10249 and MFG 11027), due to the presence of undeclared gluten. This is an expansion of the original Allergy Alert, issued on August 24, 2011.
  • Medical Device Safety Recall: Costco Canada warns its customers that CoopervVision has announce a voluntary recall of certain Encore100 Toric Contact Lenses (Item #277220), purchased  between April 18 and August 23, 2011 at Costco Canada warehouse stores. The recalled lenses may cay temporary hazy or blurry vision or discomfort,most likely caused by transient or reversible swelling of the surface layer of the cornea.
  • Consumer Advisory: Following FDA’s recent Import Alert on papayas imported from Mexico, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is working with authorities in the United States and Mexico to identify any products that have been shipped to Canada. Based on this information, the CFIA will determine if Canada requires additional import controls. There have been two reported illnesses of Salmonella Agona in Canada; both cases were associated with consuming papayas while traveling in Mexico.

Europe

  • Food Safety Recall (UK): Waitrose recalls Waitrose Cook’s Ingredients Pulled Ham Hock (180g; Use by 27, 29 and 31 August 2011) and Waitrose Essential Corned Beef (140g; Use by 2 September 2011), after routine testing detected the presence of Listeria in these products.
  • Food Safety Recall (UK): Asda recalls six flavors of Asda Chosen By You drinks (6 x 300ml bottles; all date codes) because there is a possible risk of choking associated with the sports caps on the bottles.
  • Food Safety Recall (Ireland): East End House recalls East End Coriander Poudre (1kg; Batch code 0313L2B; Best before 09/11/12), due to the presence of Salmonella.
  • Food Alert (Norway): After finding residues of the fungicide procymidon in a random sample of Polish raspberries in stock at Rora Factories AS, the Norway Food Safety Authority has imposed a sales ban on the raw materials and products of the above-mentioned company.
  • Food Safety Recall (Denmark): Odin Seafoods ApS recalls Delicato Smoked Halibut (Batch 2011/0223; Best before 25-08-2011; Product of Poland), after Listeria monocytogenes was found in the product.
  • Food Safety Recall (Denmark): Gert Nielsen A/S recalls several meat products after Salmonella was found in a batch of the raw material.
  • Pharmaceutical Product Safety Recall (UK): Reckitt Benckiser (UK) Ltd. recalls Nurofen Plus Tablets containing rogue Seroquel XL 50mg tablets, after receiving three reports of rogue Seroquel XL 50mg tablets in cartons of the Nurofen Plus.

Australia and New Zealand

  • Food Safety Recall: La Cloche recalls La Cloche Chicken Liver Paté (200-500g packages; Batches dated 19 July 2011 to 28 August 2011), because the paté may be contaminated with Campylobacter. The recalled paté was distributed only through selected La Cloche, Moore Wilsn, Wholly Bagels and Cameron Harrison outlets in the Wellington area.

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 Import Alert On Mexican Papayas, Effective Immediately

The Mexican government still appears unconvinced that papayas grown in Mexico are to blame for an outbreak of Salmonella Agona that has, at last count, sickened 99 or more people in 23 US states.

When news of the outbreak first was released by FDA and the CDC in late July, Mexico replied that it was “premature” to blame their papayas for the illnesses. Since that time, FDA and the Mexican government have been cooperating in an investigation of Agromod Produce, Inc. (McAllen, TX), the importer whose papayas were implicated in the outbreak. Agromod recalled all of its papayas from the US and Canadian markets on July 23, 2011.

The joint USA/Mexico investigation, however, revealed a problem that is much broader in scope than papayas from a single producer/importer. As part of the investigation, FDA sampled papayas from every growing region of Mexico. More than 15% of the samples – 33 out of 211 samples – contained Salmonella. Positive samples originated from 28 different firms and from nearly every growing region in Mexico.

With these findings in hand, FDA has issued Import Alert 21-17, COUNTRYWIDE DETENTION WITHOUT PHYSICAL EXAMINATION OF PAPAYA FROM MEXICO. Under this Alert, the onus is on the importer to provide evidence, through third-party lab analysis, that each shipment of papayas is Salmonella-free before the papayas are permitted to enter the USA. According to the terms of the Import Alert, a firm can request removal from the detention order by providing “…documentation with sufficient evidence that future shipments of their papaya will not be adulterated. FDA may consider five consecutive commercial shipments over a period of time, analyzed as described in the preceding paragraph, as being adequate for removal…”

Despite the documented finding of widespread Salmonella contamination in Mexican papayas, the Mexican government seems unconvinced of the link between its papayas and the outbreak of Salmonella Agona in the USA. The Secretaria de Agricultura, Ganaderia, Desarrollo Rural, Pesca y Alimentacion released this statement on its website today (loosely translated with the aid of Google):

“Today the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an import alert on Mexican papayas, arguing that from May 2011 to date  it has detected the presence of ” Salmonella spp “in 33 samples out of 211 (15.6%) from 28 exporting companies.

This alert means that this agency of the United States federal government will increase control over all shipments of papaya at the ports of entry from Mexico into the USA.

Producers who apply preventive measures to reduce the risk of contamination and document at least five successive Salmonella-negative shipments of papaya may be permitted to return to the prior random system of review.

It is important to highlight that the export sector, in coordination with, and with the support of, SENASICA will implement a nation-wide action plan in order to correct those elements that favor the presence of “Salmonella” along the entire supply chain, and also to strengthen the nation’s traceability system. This action plan is available on the website http://www.senasica.gob.mx

It should be noted that recent reports of outbreaks of “Salmonella” in the U.S., allegedly linked to Mexican papaya, cannot be linked with certainty to those papayas inspected [by FDA] in Mexico during the May to August 2011 investigation period.

According to the Federal Commission for Protection against Health Risks (COFEPRIS), it is recommended that people follow good hygienic handling practices of all consumer products in the home, and personal hygiene in food preparation, [including] washing hands with soap and water before eating and after using the bathroom.”

Note the disclaimer in the penultimate paragraph, casting doubt on the link between Mexican papayas and the US outbreak of Salmonella Agona!

For those who prefer to read the original, following is the Spanish text of the Mexican statement:

“El día de hoy la Administración de Alimentos y Medicamentos de los Estados Unidos (FDA, por su siglas en inglés) emitió una alerta sobre la importación de las papayas de origen mexicano argumentando que desde mayo de 2011 a la fecha ha detectado la presencia de “Salmonella spp” en 33 muestras de un total de 211 (15.6%) procedentes de 28 empresas exportadoras.

Esta alerta implica para el sector exportador nacional que esa agencia gubernamental de los Estados Unidos de América incrementará los controles de revisión a todos lo contendedores de papaya procedentes de México al momento de ingresar al territorio estadounidense.

La aplicación de las medidas preventivas que reduzcan el riesgo de contaminación y la generación de registros prevalecerán hasta en tanto los exportadores demuestren que al menos cinco embarques den resultado negativo a la presencia de ese organismo patógeno y con ello gestionar su liberación de esa alerta, lo que significa que se podrá volver al sistema aleatorio de revisión.

Es importante resaltar que el sector exportador de este producto en coordinación y apoyo del SENASICA instrumenta un plan de acción de alcance nacional con la finalidad corregir aquellos casuales que favorecen la presencia de “Salmonella spp” a lo largo de toda la cadena de suministro, así como el reforzamiento del sistema de trazabilidad en el territorio nacional. Este plan de acción está disponible en el sitio web http://www.senasica.gob.mx

Cabe precisar que los recientes reportes de brotes de “Salmonella spp” en Estados Unidos, presuntamente asociados a papaya mexicana, no pueden ser vinculados con certeza a lo inspeccionado en un periodo de estudio que va de mayo a agosto de 2011 en nuestro país.

De acuerdo con la Comisión Federal para la Protección contra Riesgos Sanitarios (COFEPRIS), se recomienda a la población seguir las buenas prácticas de manejo higiénico de todos los productos de consumo en el hogar, así como la higiene personal de quienes preparan los alimentos: lavarse las manos con agua y jabón antes de comer y después de ir al baño.”

CDC last updated its Investigation Report on July 26, 2011. As of that date, federal and state agencies had confirmed 99 cases of the Salmonella Agona outbreak strain from 23 states: Arkansas (1), Arizona (3), California (7), Colorado (1), Georgia (8), Illinois (17), Louisiana (2), Massachusetts (1), Minnesota (3), Missouri (3), Nebraska (2), Nevada (1), New Jersey (1), New Mexico (3), New York (7), Ohio (1), Oklahoma (1), Pennsylvania (2), Tennessee (1), Texas (25), Virginia (2), Washington (5), and Wisconsin (2). Ten people – 10% of the outbreak victims – were hospitalized.

Distribution of Salmonella Agona illnesses per CDC report

FDA import policy is ass-backwards. The agency operates on an “innocent until proven contaminated” basis, which has contaminated food into the country time and again. Instead, FDA should adopt an approach that is similar to Australia’s.

Australia requires importers to submit analytical test results for all microbiologically sensitive food products – or countries – before the foods are allowed to enter distribution. After a certain number of sequential import shipments pass the test, the required frequency of testing is reduced – until a shipment fails. At that point, more stringent testing is reinstated.

If this system had been in place, the contaminated papayas would have been detected and refused entry into the USA. A Salmonella outbreak that sickened at least 99 people and hospitalized ten of them would have been averted. And the safety of our food supply would have been improved.

Is that too much to ask?

Recalls and Alerts: August 25, 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

  • Allergy Alert: Ajinomoto Frozen Foods (Portland, OR) recalls Aginomoto Brand Vegetable Gyoza Dumplings (8.47 oz. trays; Lot code 231751), due to the presence of undeclared shrimp and fish (pollock). The recalled product was distributed through retail stores and restaurants nationwide.
  • Healthcare Product Safety Recall: H&P Industries, Inc. (Hartland, WI) recalls Povidone Iodine Swabsticks, Povidone Iodine Prep Solutions, Povidone Iodine Scrub Solutions, and Povidone Iodine Prep Gel (all lots beginning with 8J-8M, 9A-9M, 0A-0M, 1A-1C), because the products were manufactured without having in place a system for microbial testing at the time of release, without having a system for testing of incoming components, and without having procedures designed and established to prevent objectionable microorganisms in these products. The products were distributed to healthcare customers nationwide.
  • Outbreak Alert (Texas): TV station KRIS reports that the Nueces County Health Department is now investigating a refrigeration problem at Wings-N-More, a local wing restaurant, after a 2-year old girl spent the last week in the hospital after her mother says she contracted both Salmonella and E. coli.
  • FDA Enforcement Action: At the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Marshals, yesterday, seized seafood products manufactured by the Meiko Food Co., South El Monte, Calif., because the products are adulterated. The FDA complaint alleges that Meiko Foods manufactures and packages ready-to-eat seafood balls and fried fish cakes, without having in place a HACCP plan. HACCP plans are mandatory for seafood processors under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. The legal action was taken after Meiko ignored repeated FDA warnings.
  • Outbreak Alert/Food Safety Alert Update: FDA issues an Import Alert denying admission of Mexican papayas into the USA unless the importer shows that the produce is not contaminated with Salmonella. The action follows a determination by FDA labs that 15.6 percent of Mexican papaya samples tested between May 12, 2011 and August 18, 2011 were contaminated with Salmonella. The FDA investigation of Mexican papayas was undertaken subsequent to the detection of an outbreak of Salmonella Agona earlier this year that was linked to consumption of papayas from a single importer. According to FDA, more than 100 people in the USA were infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Agona.

Canada

  • Allergy Alert: The Canadian Food Inspection Agency warns that Indianlife brand Plain Papadums (120g pkg; Mfg 11027; Exp. 20120128) contains undeclared gluten and may cause a serious reaction in persons with sensitivities to glutens. One illness has been reported. The product was distributed in Alberta, BC and Ontario.

Europe

  • Food Safety Recall (Belgium): Delhaize Belgique recalls Organic Table Eggs of varying sizes (6-pkg and 10-pkg; Lot #0-NL-43149; Best by 25/8, 1/9 and 7/9), because the eggs may have been contaminated by dioxin in a Netherlands layer hen facility.
  • Food Safety Recall (Sweden): Scan recalls Sausage (Item #620276; Packaged 2011-07-20; Best before date 2011-08-19), after testing finds traces of Listeria in a sample of the product.
  • Food Safety Recall (Switzerland): Grandi Salumifici Italiani S.p.A. recalls Prosciutto Cotti Di Alta Qualitá cooked, sliced Italian ham (120g; Best if eaten by 20.08.2011; Lot #2129028, IT 172 L CE), because Listeria monocytogenes was detected in the product. The recalled ham was sold in Lidl stores in Switzerland.
  • Dietary Supplement Safety Notification (EU #2011.1153): Unauthorized nor-acetildenafil in food supplements from China, via Hungary; distributed to Norway.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2011.1154): Salmonella in Houttunyia leaves from Vietnam; distributed to the Netherlands.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2011.1155): Salmonella in kinh gioi from Vietnam; distributed to the Netherlands.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2011.1156): Salmonella in piper sarmentosum from Vietnam; distributed to the Netherlands.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2011.1158): Salmonella in parsley from Vietnam; distributed to the Netherlands.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2011.1159): Salmonella in pennywort from Vietnam; distributed to the Netherlands.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2011.1160): Salmonella in sweet basil from Vietnam; distributed to the Netherlands.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2011.1161): Salmonella San Diego in whole hens ready to cook from France; distributed to Italy.

Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands

  • Herbal Medicine Safety Alert (Singapore): The Health Sciences Authority advises the public to avoid the three herbal medicines sold as Tian Ma Tu Chung Seven Leave Ginseng, Vall-Boon Tongkat Ali, and Pao Ni Kang, because the products have been found to contain potent western medicinal ingredients.

Australia and New Zealand

  • Food Safety Recall (New Zealand): Serra Natural Foods Ltd. recalls Cyclops Organic Sour Cream (200g; Best before 26 September 2011), because the product may contain E. coli. The recalled sour cream was sold in food retail outlets throughout 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.