Here is this week’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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United States

Salmonella Illness Cluster: Five Salmonella illnesses between October 15, 2016 and December 13, 2016 have been linked to hazelnuts sold at the Schmidt Farm and Nursery  farm stand on Oregon Route 18 at McMinnville. Test performed on nuts purchased at the farm confirmed the presence of the same strain of Salmonella that was recovered from individuals who became ill. Anyone who purchased nuts at the roadside stand should discard them immediately.

Allergy Alert: Bakers of Paris recalls Croissants sold in 18 Northern California Whole Foods Market stores because the croissants were made with an egg wash which is not declared on the ingredient list.

Allergy Alert: Harris Teeter‘s in-store deli recalls Harris Teeter Everroast Chicken Caesar Wrap due to the presence of undeclared anchovies.

Allergy Alert: Whole Foods Market recalls chocolate ganache, French apple, fresh berry, fresh fruit amero shell, fruit, key lime, lemon, and peanut butter chocolate tarts because the products contain undeclared almond flour. The recalled tarts were packaged in cardboard containers with Whole Foods Market labels and best-by dates of January 7, 2017 and earlier and were available at Whole Foods Market stores in Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Allergy Alert: High Liner Foods recalls breaded round shrimp due to undeclared milk and egg allergens.

Public Health Alert: USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service is issuing a public health alert due to concerns that assorted sliced deli meat products served to customers at Dion’s restaurants may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The assorted sliced deli meats were produced by Peter DeFries Corporation, of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The potentially contaminated meats were distributed to Dion’s restaurants in Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.

Food Safety Recall: The J.M. Smucker Company recalls certain lots of 9Lives, EverPet and Special Kitty cat foods due to low levels of thiamine (vitamin B1). Various of the recalled products were sold in certain Food City, Price Chopper, and Walmart stores, and in Kroger stores located in Greater Cincinnati (including Northern Kentucky and Dayton, Ohio plus South Eastern Indiana); Central and Northwest Ohio; Northwestern Virginia panhandle; North Carolina; Virginia; Eastern West Virginia; Eastern Kentucky; Southeastern Ohio.

Class III Recall: 4G Meat Processing LLC recalls  pork and turkey  rope products due to undeclared monosodium glutamate (MSG).

Food Recall (not safety related): Giant Food Stores LLC recalls four varieties of Own Brands Rolls due to a technical issue that could affect product quality. The recalled items were sold in Giant and Martin’s stores.

Canada

Allergy Alert: King’s Pastry recalls various cakes due to undeclared hazelnuts/tree nuts. The recalled products were sold in Ontario and may also have been distributed in other provinces.

Europe

Allergy Alert (UK): Pepsico recalls Doritos Lightly Salted Corn Chips because of undeclared soya and wheat (gluten).

Allergy Alert (UK): Booths recalls Free Range Egg Mayonnaise Sandwich because of undeclared egg and mustard.

Food Safety Alert (via RASFF Portal): L’Isola D’Oro Conserve Ittiche brand anchovy paste (batch no. 8 033609 750443), manufactured by Flott SpA, contains elevated levels of histamine. The product, which was manufactured in Italy, has been distributed in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Hong Kong, Italy, New Zealand, Nicaragua and Romania.

Food Safety Alert (via RASFF Portal): Live oysters from France are believed to be the source of a foodborne outbreak of norovirus. The oysters were distributed in Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

Food Safety Recall (Germany): Ager recalls Hirschlandjäger – ripened raw sausage due to Verotoxin-forming E. coli.

Food Safety Recall (Germany): FRIHOL Champignon Vertriebsges. mbH recalls various mushroom products due to Listeria monocytogenes.

Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands

Food Safety Recall (Hong Kong): Lorence & Company recalls L’Isola D’Oro Conserve Ittiche brand anchovy paste, manufactured in Italy by Flott SpA, due to elevated histamine levels.

Australia and New Zealand

Food Safety Recall (Australia): Simplot Australia Pty Ltd has recalled Birds Eye Golden Crunch Hash Browns from Coles, Woolworths, IGA, Farmer Jacks and Spud Shed supermarkets in WA due to the presence of foreign matter (small blue plastic pieces).

Food Safety Recall (New Zealand): Mediterranean Food Company recalls L’Isola D’Oro Conserve Ittiche brand anchovy paste due to elevated histamine levels.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Food Safety Alert (via RASFF Portal): L’Isola D’Oro Conserve Ittiche brand anchovy paste (batch no. 8 033609 750443), manufactured by Flott SpA, contains elevated levels of histamine. The product, which was manufactured in Italy, has been distributed in Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Hong Kong, Italy, New Zealand, Nicaragua and Romania.

It’s a new year and, in less than three weeks, the safety of the US food supply will rest in the hands of a new administration and a new Congress, both of them promising to reduce the ‘heavy hand’ of government regulation.

“Deregulate, and business will thrive,” we are told.

“Climate change is a farce – a hoax,” we are told.

“Clean air laws place an undue burden on the energy sector,” we are told.

Does anyone remember acid rain, that killer of forests in the US Northeast (and elsewhere)? Does anyone remember the eye-stinging smog that once pervaded the Los Angeles basin? Clean air laws were developed to counteract those health- and environment-threatening crises.

Who remembers Rachel Carson’s masterwork, Silent Spring? Pesticide regulation was a response to the environmental threat she exposed.

And what about food and drug safety? It took Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle to prod our government into action that prevented the worst of the industry’s misdeeds.  And it took the tragedy of thalidomide to stimulate FDA into tightening its laws on the testing and release of new drugs.

The Glass-Steagall Act arose in reaction to the bank failures of the Great Depression. Similarly, the Dodd-Frank Act was an attempt to prevent the excesses that contributed to our recent Great Recession.

Problems beget solutions; crises beget new regulations. Repeal – or simply fail to enforce – regulations that were developed to solve a real problem, and that problem will reappear.

By now, you must have figured out where this is leading. My gut instinct tells me that our new US administration will do its utmost to emasculate the Food Safety Modernization Act and its associated regulations. FSMA will remain the law of the land, but it will become a straw man. There will be no need to repeal the law; a simple decision to slash funding for enforcement will be enough to reverse the progress made over the past several years.

With an administration and Congress that promise to focus on deregulation, and an incoming President who rebuffs the media, it is up to those of us with the knowledge and the means at hand to keep the food safety pot simmering and the information flowing to consumers. I have set up a dedicated eFoodAlert Facebook page, where I plan to share recall notices as I learn of them. This blog will serve as my soapbox.

The FoodBugLady is back!