Tardy Testing Endangers Consumers

Once upon a time, a routine E. coli O157:H7 presence/absence test required at least two days to complete.

Once upon a time, a routine Salmonella presence/absence test took at least four days to complete.

Once upon a time, a routine Listeria monocytogenes presence/absence test required at least four days.

Today, all of these analyses can be performed in 24 hours or less, using recognized, readily available rapid test kits.

So, why are we still seeing recall notices that state “…the bacterium was discovered during routine sampling?“

On August 22, 2012, Spence & Co. Ltd. (Brockton, MA) recalled approximately 635 pounds of Wellsley Farms brand Nova Lox and Smoked Salmon Trim. The recall was initiated after routine sampling detected Listeria monocytogenes in the product. The products already were in circulation for two months at the time of the recall. No illnesses were reported, according to the recall notice.

Did the company learn from this? You can bet your life it did NOT! On November 9, 2012, Spence issued a second recall notice, this time for approximately 390 pounds of New York Style Nova Lox that were distributed – you guessed it – more than one month earlier. This time, Spence’s Lox may be responsible for two cases of listeriosis.

With affordable rapid testing kits readily available, there is no justification for releasing untested products – even highly perishable products – into the retail marketplace.

I am the first to acknowledge that finished product testing isn’t foolproof. A proper microbiological testing program must include ingredient testing and environmental monitoring in addition to finished product tests. Nevertheless, the retail distribution of a product without any testing whatsoever is unconscionable, especially when that same product already has a history of Listeria monocytogenes contamination.

Consumers have every right to expect that the food they purchase has been processed and handled in a safe manner – and that manufacturers have taken every reasonable precaution to ensure that this is so.

It’s time to make “test and hold” a standard food industry practice.

Recalls and Alerts: November 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.

For current information on retail distribution of peanut butter products recalled due to Salmonella Bredeney, please consult the Trader Joe’s/Sunland Peanut Butter Recalls tab.

For current information on retail distribution of beef products containing Canadian beef recalled due to E. coli O157:H7 contamination please consult the Canada/USA Beef Recall tab.

United States

  • Allergy Alert: Jimmy Dean® recalls Jimmy Dean French Toast & Sausage Sandwich butcher-wrapped food service product (Code 12292P1; UPC 5450051434), because the product may contain undeclared egg and soy. The recalled product was distributed in Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
  • Allergy Alert: Frito-Lay recalls GRANDMA’S Peanut Butter Sandwich Crème Cookies (3.025 oz pkgs; Sell by March 12, 2013 or earlier; UPC 28400-00153) and GRANDMA’s Peanut Butter Mini Sandwich Crème Sandwich Cookies (1.71 oz pkgs; Sell by May 21, 2013 or earlier; UPC 28400-00901), due to the presence of undeclared milk and egg.
  • Food Safety Recall/Outbreak Alert: Spence & Co. Ltd. (Brockton, MA) recalls New York Style Nova Lox (Lot code 9720704), because of possible contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. Two possible product-related illnesses have been reported. The recalled product was distributed through distributors in Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, Massachusetts and the Detroit (MI) area between 9.26.12 and 10.5.12, and also was distributed to the follwoing stores: Earthfare (AL, NC, GA, SC, TN, FL & OH between 9.28.12 and 10.5.12), Shaws Supermarkets (New England, on 9.28.12; expiration date 10.21.12), Roche Bros. (Massachusetts on 9.26.12; Expiration date 10.19.12), and Fresh Markets (FL, GA, KY, IL, AL, AZ, OH, TN, SC, VA, IN, MI, OK & KS).
  • Food Safety Recall: Black Earth Meat Market Inc. (Black Earth, WI) recalls Black Earth Meats Natural Beef Tongues and Black Earth Meats Local Beef Tongues (Various size cases; Est 34379; produced on October 8, 11, 17 and 18, 2012), because the tonsils may not have been removed completely. The recalled product was supplied to a restaurant in Wisconsin and a distributor in Illinois.
  • Outbreak Alert Update: Public health investigators from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services have determined that the petting zoo at the Cleveland County Fair was the initial source of exposure to E. coli that resulted in 106 illnesses and one death. Weather may have played a role in spreading the contamination to the area surrounding the petting zoo exhibit. One child died, and 105 other children and adults became ill as a result of the contamination at the petting zoo.
  • Food Safety Recall: Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese (Austin, KY) recalls several cheese products after routine testing finds Listeria monocytogenes in some samples: Colby, Colby Cheese (8oz, 5 lb, 10 lb, or 25 lb block, vacuum packed, Lot # 120724), Chipotle Colby, Flavored Colby Cheese (8 oz, 5 lb, 10 lb, or 25 lb block, vacuum packed, Lot #120711), Monterey Jack, Jack Cheese (8 oz, 5 lb, 10 lb, or 25 lb block, vacuum packed, Lot # 120719), and Mild Cheddar, Cheddar Cheese (8 oz, 5 lb, 10 lb, or 25 lb block, vacuum packed Lot # 120625). The recalled cheeses were distributed or sold beginning on September 20th, 2012 to locations in Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia to distributors, restaurants and farmer’s markets.

Europe

Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands

  • Outbreak Alert Update (Hong Kong): The Centre for Health Protection has received reports of 25 additional cases of food poisoning associated with a restaurant in Tsim Sha Tsui. Thirty-seven people have been affected so far. All are in stable condition.

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.

Prompt Prose: The Runaway

BRITAIN DECLARES WAR! Canada Opens Recruiting Offices!

August 4th, 1914. Archduke Ferdinand was dead – slain by an assassin’s bullet on June 28th. All attempts to stave off war had failed.

“What am I doing on this street corner?” Reuben muttered. “I’m too old to be hawking papers. This is MY fight.” But, Reuben knew that his parents would never give him permission to join up. He was sixteen – too young to enlist without his father’s consent.

Reuben was born in England, the youngest of seven children.  The family had emigrated to Canada just two years before. Now the Mother Country was in trouble and Reuben had to help.

As he stood on the corner of Saint-Catherine and Peel – copies of the Montreal Gazette bundled under his left arm and his voice growing hoarse from shouting the headlines – Reuben made his plans. After selling the remaining papers, he would have just enough cash for the train fare to Cornwall, the first town of consequence across the Quebec/Ontario border. One hour later, he walked briskly into Central Station. He was in luck. The next train west was just about to leave.

In three hours, Reuben was standing before a recruiting desk that had been hastily set up in the Cornwall train station. “Name?” the sergeant grunted, not even bothering to look up.

“Joe Lewis”

“Age?”

“18”

“Height?”

“5 foot, six”

“Healthy?”

“Yes.”

“Sign here and take a seat. The bus leaves for camp in an hour.”

After six weeks of basic training, Private Joe Lewis (a.k.a. Reuben) boarded an eastbound train, together with a contingent of other newly minted soldiers. Upon arrival in Quebec City, the troops transferred to a ship bound for England.

The Germans, however, had other plans for Reuben and his comrades.

One doesn’t hear much about submarine warfare in World War I. But the threat was real. A German boat torpedoed Reuben’s troop ship just a day out of Southampton harbor. Although the ship was badly damaged, most of the men were able to escape immediate drowning. Reuben found himself in the water, clinging to the side of a crowded life raft. After a few hours in the frigid North Atlantic water, he and the other survivors were rescued by a British escort ship that had lagged behind the rest of the convoy.

Neither his unceremonious dunking nor the rigors of war dampened Reuben’s enthusiasm for adventure. In 1939, when Canada entered World War II, Reuben – by then a married man with two children – was back at the recruiting office. He revived his Joe Lewis alter ego and, although technically over age, talked his way back into the army as a batman – an officer’s orderly.

Friendships made in wartime last forever; the ties between Reuben and his military mates were indestructible. Every November 11th, for as long as his health allowed, Reuben and his friends would march together in the Remembrance Day parade on Montreal’s Dominion Square. And every November 11th, at precisely 11:00am, the massed veterans of two world wars would stand at stiff and silent attention as the bugler sounded Taps.

@2012 Phyllis Entis. All rights reserved.

– November 11, 2012

A Note of Explanation: The Runaway is fiction, but is based on the life of my great-uncle, who was too young to enlist for World War I and too old for World War II, but who “joined up” for both.

The following poem is dedicated to the memory of all who fought to defend their homes, their families and their countries.

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.