Recalls and Alerts: July 17-18, 2022

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.

Interested in learning more about food safety and the history of foodborne disease outbreaks and investigations? Click on the TAINTED menu at the top of the page to read or listen to a short excerpt, then follow the buy links to add a digital, print or audio copy to your personal library.

Listen to an excerpt of the new audiobook edition right here

Chapter 6. Birth of a Pathogen

United States

OUTBREAK INVESTIGATION UPDATE: The CDC continues to investigate multiple Salmonella outbreaks linked to backyard poultry. Forty-eight states have confirmed a total of 572 illnesses; 92 people have been hospitalized. Two deaths have been reported.

Allergy Alert: Sweet Loren’s recalls Sweet Loren’s Sugar Cookie Dough (12 oz; Lot AF22 115; Best by 12/1/2022) due to undeclared gluten.

Canada

Allergy Alert: BritGrocer Inc. recalls Fry’s brand Orange Cream (Dark Chocolate Bar) (147g; UPC 7 622210 874603; All codes where milk is not declared on the label) due to undeclared milk.

Europe

Allergy Alert (Belgium): Jumbo Supermarkten recalls Jumbo Meergranen Brood verlaagd zout (half) / Multigrain bread with reduced salt (400g; Sold from 18/06/2022 to 14/07/2022) due to undeclared lupin.

Food Safety Recall (Belgium): Jay & Joy recalls Jay & Joy brand Joséphine : alternative végétale fermentée et affinée au lait d’amande / Aged vegetarian cheese substitute made from fermented almond milk (90g; Expiration date 07/08/2022) due to possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination.

Food Safety Recall (Germany): Jay & Joy recalls Joséphine: fermentierte und gereifte pflanzliche Alternative mit Mandelmilch der Marke Jay & Joy / Aged vegetarian cheese substitute made from fermented almond milk (90g; Expiration date 07/08/2022) due to possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination.

Food Safety Recall (Netherlands): Udea and Jay & Joy recall Jay & Joy Joséphine alternatief voor brie / Vegetarian brie alternative (Expiration date 07-08-2022) due to possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination.

Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands

Allergy Alert (Israel): Judilin recalls Date Rings with Nuts (Expiration date 1/11/22) due to undeclared pecans.

Food Safety Recall (Israel): Adamowitz Food Products recalls Egg Salad (450g & 2 kg; Use by 5.08.2022 & 12.8.2022) due to Listeria monocytogenes contamination.

Australia and New Zealand

Food Safety Recall (Australia): Harris Smokehouse recalls multiple smoked fish products due to possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination. Please refer to the recall notice for a complete list of affected products.

Recalls and Alerts: July 14-16, 2022

If you would like to receive automatic email alerts for all new articles posted on eFoodAlert, please submit your request using the sidebar link.

Listen to an excerpt of the new audiobook edition right here

Chapter 6. Birth of a Pathogen

United States

OUTBREAK INVESTIGATION UPDATE: The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs reports that lab analyses recovered Listeria monocytogenes from almost all of the environmental and ice cream product samples taken from the Big Olaf Creamery production plant located in Sarasota, Florida. According to the CDC, 23 illnesses, 22 hospitalizations, one death and one fetal loss have been linked to consumption of ice cream products from this manufacturing location.

OUTBREAK INVESTIGATION UPDATE: The FDA is investigating ~277 Adverse Event Reports that may be linked to consumption of Daily Harvest French Lentil & Leek Crumbles frozen product. Ninety-six people have been hospitalized with gastrointestinal illness and/or abnormal liver function. Reports have been received from consumers in 34 US states. The manufacturer initiated a product recall on June 23rd, and the investigation is ongoing.

Allergy Alert and Food Safety Recall: Ready Dough Pizza Inc. recalls PIZZA CUBANA CUBAN STYLE PEPPERONI PIZZA (14 oz box; produced from Jan. 12, 2022, through July 13, 2022) because the products were produced without the benefit of federal inspection and also contain undeclared milk, wheat, and soybeans.

Food Safety Recall: BrandStorm Inc. recalls Organic Freeze-Dried Blueberry (1.2 oz pouches; Lots 2021363-1 & 2022026-1; Best by 12/2024 & 01/2025, respectively; UPC 812907011160) due to the potential presence of lead above the FDA’s recommended limits.

Canada

OUTBREAK INVESTIGATION UPDATE: The Public Health Agency of Canada is now investigating 155 cases of non-travel related Cyclospora infections in British Columbia (2), Ontario (139) and Québec (14). Eight people have been hospitalized. No specific source of the infections has been identified.

Allergy Alert: Xinpangao International Trade Corporation recalls Stuffed Fish Ball (340g; Expiry 07/02/2024; UPC 6 920732 127896) due to undeclared egg.

Allergy Alert: Big Venture Sales Ltd. recalls Crave Stevia brand chocolate products due to undeclared milk. Please refer to the recall notice for a complete list of affected products.

Food Safety Recall: Marché Senneterre inc. (Senneterre, QC) recalls Alasko brand framboises entières surgelées / Frozen raspberries (1 kg; Lot SY21278; Best before 2023-OC-04; Product of China) due to Norovirus contamination.

Food Safety Recall: Fromage Warwick inc. (Warwick, QC) recalls multiple dairy products including cheeses and fresh milk (Sold up to 13 July 2022) due to a food safety hazard.

Food Safety Recall: Florimeault Les Sucres (Saint-Aubert, QC) recalls VINAIGRETTE À L’ÉRABLE / Maple vinaigrette (250 ml; Sold up to 14 July 2022) due to a food safety hazard.

Europe

Allergy Alert (Belgium): Barilla Belgium recalls Barilla brand Lasagne Collezione n189 (500g; Lots I12414282 & I12424292; Best before 20/09/2023 & 21/09/2023, respectively) due to undeclared egg.

Allergy Alert (Netherlands): Jumbo recalls Jumbo multigrain reduced salt bread (400g; Sold from 18-06-22 to 14-07-22) due to undeclared lupine.

Allergy Alert (Netherlands): Odin recalls Bioverde brand fresh tortellini with ricotta & spinach (Best before 06-09-2022) due to undeclared egg.

Allergy Alert (Norway): Normal i Norge recalls Lu Prince Biscuit Creme Goût Chocolate / Chocolate flavoured creme biscuit (130g; Lot 105; Best before 05.04.2023) due to undeclared milk.

Food Safety Recall (Austria): GoodMills Österreich GmbH recalls Finis Feinstes Roggen-Vollkornmehl / Whole grain rye flour (1000g; Batch Februar2023/L19D) due to potentially harmful levels of ochratoxin A.

Food Safety Recall (Italy): FUMAGALLI INDUSTRIA ALIMENTARI S.p.A. recalls Fumagalli brand SALAME PIC NIC / Salami (~200g; Lot 229137) due to Salmonella contamination.

Food Safety Recall (Luxembourg): Luxembourg recalls TRS brand Hot Madras Curry Powder (100g; Lot 20215183885; Best before 30/06/2023) due to Salmonella contamination.

Food Safety Recall (Netherlands): Albert Heijn recalls AH houdbare halfvolle melk / Long-life part-skimmed milk (6 x 200 ml; Lot 513867 E; Best before 27-11-2022) due to Bacillus cereus contamination.

Food Safety Recall (UK): Aldi recalls Primula Spicy Cheese N Jalapeno (150g; All dates up to and including 07 February 2023) due to a temperature control issue that could potentially spoil the product, which may be unsafe to eat.

Australia and New Zealand

Allergy Alert (Australia): Powered by Plants Pty Ltd recalls Cleanfit Plant Protein Bar Chocolate Brownie (50g; Best before BB170623) due to undeclared milk.

Allergy Alert (Australia): Aldi recalls Reese’s Dipped Pretzels (120g; All batch codes and Best Before dates) due to undeclared peanuts.

Food Safety Recall (New Zealand): Pak’n Save Rangiora recalls in-store Double Pepperoni and BBQ Chicken & Bacon Pizzas (Best before 14.07.22) due to foreign matter contamination (plastic).

Food Safety Recall (New Zealand): Norish Ltd recalls Norish brand Flourishing Cauliflower & Corn and Growing Greens Baby Purée Powder (All batches and date codes) due to high iodine levels.

Food Safety Administration: A too-modest proposal

Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) have proposed bicameral legislation to split the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) into two separate entities: the Food Safety Administration (FSA) and the Federal Drug Administration.

The new Food Safety Administration would remain a part of the US Department of Health and Human Services and would be led by a food safety expert whose appointment would require Senate confirmation.

The proposed restructuring of the FDA came in response to agency shortcomings revealed during the recent Abbott Nutrition infant formula recalls and investigations.

Divide and conquer

While the intentions of Senator Durbin and Congresswoman DeLauro are to be lauded, I believe their proposed solution does not address a major underlying flaw in the US food safety regulatory system.

I am referring to the divided and overlapping jurisdictions of the current FDA and the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the US Department of Agriculture.

As now constituted, the FDA is responsible for ensuring the safety of approximately 80% of the US food supply. The FSIS oversees most of the balance, including meat, poultry, eggs and siluriformes (catfish and other related species).

This split jurisdiction has led to some strange and arbitrary divisions of authority. For example, the USDA oversees inspection of open-faced sandwiches containing meat or poultry, while the FDA is responsible for all other open-faced sandwiches as well as for all closed-face sandwiches, regardless of the filling.

Pizzas containing more than 2% meat are regulated by the FSIS; other pizzas come under the purview of the FDA.

As I wrote in TAINTED. From Farm Gate to Dinner Plate, Fifty Years of Food Safety Failures, “[a] fragmented inspection system is expensive, inefficient and unfair to the industry it regulates.”

In addition to the jurisdictional jigsaw puzzle, the FSIS is in a potential conflict of interest vis-à-vis other agencies within the USDA that are responsible for marketing US food commodities domestically and around the world.

Show me the money

The combined discretionary food safety budget allocated to FSIS and the current FDA for 2022 is $2.766 billion.

The FDA’s share of this budget is $1.6 billion, or ~58% of the total amount.

Yet, the FDA is responsible for regulating ~80% of the food supply. The Durbin/DeLauro proposal does nothing to address the funding imbalance between the two principal federal food safety agencies.

In 1998, a joint committee of food safety experts within the US Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council recommended that the US consolidate food safety into a “single, unified agency headed by a single administrator.“

Several US trading partners have done just that.

Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Denmark, to name just a few, have successfully consolidated their food safety programs. In doing so, these countries have reduced duplication of efforts, streamlined jurisdictions, and removed the appearance of a conflict of interest between agricultural marketing and food safety.

The solution

The United States should have taken the advice of its own experts decades ago.

Representative DeLauro and Senator Durbin, the US food safety system is badly broken. What you are proposing is to apply a Band-Aid when what is needed is an organ transplant.

Instead of splitting the current FDA into two separate components, you should be proposing a single, unified, stronger Food Safety Administration. One with enough muscle to claim a seat at the cabinet table.

It’s time to “go big or go home.”

Learn more about a variety of food safety issues in TAINTED. From Farm Gate to Dinner Plate, Fifty Years of Food Safety Failures, now available in digital, print and audiobook editions.