Category: Salmonella

Recalls and Alerts: May 30, 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: Bumble Bee, Inc. recalls Bumble Bee Fancy Whole Oysters (8-oz can; all lot codes; UPC 86600-70030), due to an FDA evaluation of the Korean Shellfish Sanitation Program found significant deficiencies in Korean shellfish growing areas.
  • Medical Device Safety Recall: Tyco Healthcare/Covidien recalls SYR MONJ KEN 29G, Product ID #8881511344, Product ID #8881511336, and Product ID #8881511144, due to a molding issue that can allow the safety shield to separate from the syringe, exposing the needle, which could potentially result in a needle stick. Please see the recall notice posted on Rite-Aid’s web site for more details.

Europe

Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands

  • Pet Food Safety Recall (Singapore): The Agri-food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) advises consumers that Solid Gold Health Products for Pets, Inc. (El Cajon, CA) has recalled one batch of WolfCub Large Breed Puppy Food and one batch of WolfKing Large Breed Adult Dog Food, due to potential Salmonella contamination. Please refer to the AVA notice for details.
  • Outbreak Alert (Hong Kong): The Centre for Health Protection is investigating a fatal case of Vibrio vulnificus infection involving an 84-year old woman. The woman was injured while scraping fish on May 23rd.
  • Outbreak Alert (Philippines): The Provincial Health Office in Bataan is investigating three separate illness outbreaks: complaints of diarrhea among 117 inmates of Bataan District Jail, a cluster of 25 cases of food poisoning among people who ate egg rolls during a funeral in Limay, and 97 people who suffered food poisoning after consuming “dirty” ice cream in Balanga.

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.

Why Contaminated Pet Food Matters

It’s not always easy to explain to people who do not share their lives with pets – be they dogs, cats, birds, reptiles or other creatures – why FDA and CDC should devote so much time and attention to an outbreak of Salmonella illnesses that has affected only a handful of people.

I could say that contaminated pet food matters because infected pets may transmit their illness to people. And that would be true.

I could say that contaminated pet food matters because a child might taste a piece of the food and become infected. And that would be true.

I could say that it is the responsibility of every manufacturer to provide a safe product, regardless of the target audience. And that would be true.

But I was reminded this morning of the real reason that contaminated pet food matters, when I read the story posted by an eFoodAlert reader. In case you missed it, here is the story of Jelly and Bishop, told by Linda (Pittsford, NY):

I was feeding both my 4-year-old and 6-year-old Portuguese Water Dogs Taste of the Wild Bison for about five years. My 4-year-old, Jelly, was about 38 pounds and a much smaller dog than my 6-year-old, Bishop who is larger and weighs about 55 pounds. (There is a range of sizes in the Portuguese Water Dog b/c fishermen with small boats bred smaller dogs; fishermen with larger boats bred larger dogs).

It was in January 2012 that I noticed some vomiting from Jelly. That discontinued, but bloody stools followed, first in Jelly, then beginning the next day in Bishop, as well.

I brought my dogs to the Vet.

Next I noticed Jelly was having urinary accidents all over the house. I didn’t understand this, b/c he was, of course house trained.

Bish did not do this. Jelly was VERY thirsty, and peeing all the time in huge amounts. After awhile, Jelly started to pee bloody urine, in very small amounts. I took him to the vet.

Then Bish started with this as well. Both back to the vet.

I felt my dogs were being poisoned, (I just had this feeling,) but I had no poisons in my home, and it was winter outside. I was perplexed.

The bloody urine went on for about a week, my vet doing all kinds of tests, X- rays, blood work. All the while, I was feeding my dogs Taste of the Wild, Bison, b/c the recall wasn’t announced until May,2012, and this was back in January 2012.

Jelly was at the vet’s for 4 hours on the day he died. He sat on my lap the whole time. I am grateful for those four hours.

The vet was unsure of what was happening. That afternoon, Jelly started to yelp in pain so horribly I knew it was the end. He stumbled about the room in a daze, screaming bloody murder. Then, immediately, he seized. I immediately drove him to the Emergency Hospital. He was incontinent of large amounts of urine on the way. At the hospital, he went into a coma, cardiac and respiratory arrested, and died.

Bishop recovered on his own, which I attribute to his larger size.

I miss Jelly so much and feel responsible for his awful death. I was his advocate, his protector, and here I was feeding him poison by the name of Taste of the Wild Bison Dog Food.

And that’s why contaminated pet food matters.

Recalls and Alerts: May 29, 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

  • Counterfeit Prescription Pharmaceutical Safety Alert: FDA warns consumers and health care professionals that a counterfeit version of Adderall 30 milligram tablets is being sold on the Internet. Preliminary FDA lab tests revealed that the counterfeit version of the tablets contain the wrong active ingredients. The counterfeit Adderall tablets are round, white, and do not have any type of markings, such as letters or numbers. Authentic Adderall 30 mg tablets are round, orange/peach colored, and scored with “dp” embossed on one side and “30” on the other side of the tablet. Authentic Adderall 30 mg tablets are packaged only in a 100-count bottle with the National Drug Code 0555-0768-02 listed. Please refer to the FDA News Release for a detailed description of potential counterfeit Adderall 30 mg tablets.
  • FDA Warning Letter: FDA warns Sushi Boy, Inc. (Gardena, CA) that a November/December 2011 inspection of the company’s seafood processing facility revealed serious violations of the seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulation, and the Current Good Manufacturing Practice regulation for foods.
  • FDA Warning Letter: FDA warns The Nut Factory, Inc. (Greenacres, WA) that a January 2012 inspection of the company’s food manufacturing facility revealed serious violations of the Current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) in Manufacturing, Packing, or Holding Human Food, including evidence of a lack of pest control and other violations.
  • FDA Warning Letter: FDA warns Seco Spice Ltd. (Berino, NM) that an October/November 2011 inspection of the company’s chili pepper and spice manufacturing facility documented serious violations of the Current Good Manufacturing Practice in Manufacturing, Packing, or Holding Food (CGMP) regulation for food, including the presence of Salmonella in environmental samples taken during the inspection.
  • FDA Warning Letter: FDA warns Smith Family Frosted Foods, LLC (Tiffin, OH) that a January/February 2012 inspection of the company’s seafood processing facility revealed serious violations of the seafood Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) regulation.
  • FDA Warning Letter: FDA warns McNEIL-PPC, Inc. (Skillman, NJ) that a December 2011/January 2012 inspection of the company’s facility revealed that the devices manufactured in the facility are adulterated, in that the methods used in, or the facilities or controls used for, their manufacture, packing, storage, or installation are not in conformity with the current good manufacturing practice requirements of the Quality System regulation.

Canada

  • Allergy Alert: Upper 49th Imports Inc. recalls Designer Whey Protein Powder – French Vanilla (908g; Code 4111167187B; Enjoy by JUN 2013) and Designer Whey Protein Powder – Strawberry (908g; Code 4211138189B; Enjoy by MAY 2013), due to the presence of undeclared gluten. The recalled products were distributed nationally.
  • Food Safety Alert: Toronto Public Health reminds the public to wash and cook fiddleheads properly in order to avoid illness. Seven cases of illness associated with eating fiddleheads have been reported by Toronto residents since the beginning of May.

Europe

Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands

Latin America and the Caribbean

  • Outbreak Alert (Turks and Caicos Islands): More than 150 people have reported symptoms of gastroenteritis and sought medical attention since the end of April 2012. The illness has affected about a dozen hotels on the island of Providenciales, according to the Turks & Caicos Sun.

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.