Recalls and Alerts: January 27 – 29, 2019

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.

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United States

OUTBREAK ALERT / Pet Food Safety Recall: Woody’s Pet Food Deli recalls Woody’s Pet Food Deli Raw Free Range Turkey (5-lb plastic containers; Use by 01/10/20, 01/12/20 and 01/15/20) due to Salmonella contamination. Sampling was begun after the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) identified a human case of Salmonella linked to the pet food. The person with Salmonella infection was identified as part of an ongoing, multistate investigation of Salmonella Reading infections coordinated by the CDC.

Allergy Alert: Perdue Foods, LLC recalls PERDUE Fun Shapes Chicken Breast Nuggets (12-oz pkgs; Use by MAR 11 2019; Lot codes 17009010 – 19009010) due to undeclared milk.

Allergy Alert: Tristar Food Wholesale Co. Inc. recalls DRIED SWEET POTATO (17.64-oz/500g pkg; Lot #2018/05/08; Expiration date 05/08/2019; UPC 6931948813633) due to undeclared sulfites.

Allergy Alert: Alter Eco Americas, Inc. recalls specific lots of its Deep Dark Blackout Organic Chocolate bar due to undeclared milk. Please refer to the recall notice for a complete list of affected products.

Food Safety Recall: Tyson Foods, Inc. recalls Tyson WHITE MEAT PANKO CHICKEN NUGGETS (5-lb plastic pkgs; Best if used by NOV 26 2019; Case code 3308SDL03) due to foreign matter (rubber) contamination.

Food Safety Recall: Oskri Organics Corporation recalls ALL Oskri Corporation manufactured nut butters due to potential Listeria monocytogenes contamination. Please refer to the recall notice for a complete list of affected products.

Food Safety Recall: Gochenour Meats of New Washington, OH recalls approximately 38 pounds of fresh pork sausage, 11.42 pounds of little pigs fresh pork sausage and 10 pounds of Italian sausage due to foreign matter (rubber) contamination. Please refer to the recall notice for additional detail.

Food Safety Recall: Eliot’s Adult Nut Butters recalls ELIOT’S SPICY THAI PEANUT BUTTER (12 oz; Lot 017 / Exp. Date: 07-2019 and Lot 082 / Exp. Date: 09-2019; UPC 51586-00600) and ELIOT’S HONEY CHIPOTLE PEANUT BUTTER (12 oz; Lot 080 / Exp. Date: 09-2019; UPC 51586-00602) due to Listeria monocytogenes contamination.

Canada

Allergy Alert: Alimentation Martin Aumais inc. recalls Moules Alfredo (All batches and dates; UPC 0226327903347) due to undeclared eggs.

Food Safety Recall: Sysco Milton recalls CEC Entertainment, Inc. brand No Yeast Proprietary Pizza Dough Premix (10.89 kg; UPC 00754498001086) due to Salmonella contamination. The recalled product was distributed to hotels, restaurants and institutional customers in Ontario.

Europe

Allergy Alert (Belgium): L’AFSCA recalls Bonvita Bon Ice Dark vegetarian ice cream (100g pkgs; Lot #L8/78; Best before 03/2020) due to undeclared milk

Allergy Alert (France): Unilever recalls BEN & JERRY Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream (500 mL; Lots #L83232, L83233, L83243, L83451) due to undeclared peanuts, milk, egg and soy.

Allergy Alert (Ireland): FSAI advises consumers that Ghana Taste Tom Brown Millet Based Porridge (400g; Batch code YFOO04072017TB; All date codes) due to undeclared peanuts.

Allergy Alert (Luxembourg): Industry recalls Bonvita Bon Ice Dark Chocolate (100g pkgs; Best before 18-03-2020 & 31-03-2020) due to undeclared milk

Allergy Alert (Netherlands): Go-Tan B.V. recalls Bami Goreng (Batch #7247; Best before 09-2019) due to undeclared shellfish

Allergy Alert (UK – England specific): Jumbo UK recalls Ghana Taste Tom Brown Millet Based Porridge (400g; Batch code YFOO04072017TB; All date codes) due to undeclared peanuts.

Food Safety Recall (Luxembourg): Auchan recalls McCain La Noisette (1kg; Lot LZ 25102018; Best before 10/2020) due to foreign matter (metal pieces) contamination

Australia and New Zealand

Food Safety Recall (New Zealand): Pak’n Save Botany recalls Brioche Fruit Loaf (450g; Best before 25.01.19) due to foreign matter (blue plastic) contamination.

Pet hedgehogs fingered by CDC as source of Salmonella outbreak

Eleven people in 8 states have been infected with Salmonella Typhimurium after coming in contact with pet hedgehogs, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

One person has been hospitalized.

The outbreak strain was recovered in samples obtained from three pet hedgehogs in two ill patients’ homes in Minnesota.

Illnesses have been confirmed in patients from Colorado (1), Maine (1), Minnesota (2), Mississippi (1), Missouri (3), Nebraska (1), Texas (1) and Wyoming (1).

Ten of the eleven outbreak victims reported contact with pet hedgehogs obtained from various sources, including pet stores, breeders or online. A common supplier of the hedgehogs has not been identified.

Outbreak victims are between 2 and 28 years old, with 50% of them being 12 years old or younger.

In 2013, pet hedgehogs infected with Salmonella Typhimurium were responsible for an outbreak of salmonellosis in 12 states. One person died, and 8 were hospitalized. In all, 26 people were confirmed to have been infected with the outbreak strain.

Hedgehogs are known to carry Salmonella, according to a 2005 report in Emerging Infectious Diseases. Approximately 28% of infected hedgehogs display no symptoms of the disease.

CDC offers the following advisory to pet owners and retailers of hedgehogs

People who own or come in contact with hedgehogs should take steps to stay healthy around their pet.
- Hedgehogs can carry Salmonella germs in their droppings while appearing healthy and clean.
- These germs can easily spread to their bodies, habitats, toys, bedding, and anything in the area where they live. People become sick after they touch hedgehogs or anything in their habitats.
Wash your hands
- Always wash hands thoroughly with soap and water right after touching, feeding, or caring for a hedgehog or cleaning its habitat. Adults should supervise handwashing for young children.
Play safely
- Don’t kiss or snuggle hedgehogs, because this can spread Salmonella germs to your face and mouth and make you sick.
- Don’t let hedgehogs roam freely in areas where food is prepared or stored, such as kitchens.
Clean habitats, toys, and supplies outside the house when possible. Avoid cleaning these items in the kitchen or any other location where food is prepared, served, or stored.
Pick the right pet for your family. Children under 5 years old, adults over 65, or people with weakened immune systems are at a greater risk for serious illness. Households with these individuals might consider a different pet.
Hedgehog breeders, pet stores, or others that sell or display hedgehogs should provide educational materials to employees and customers.

BULLETIN: FDA names California romaine farm as CDC reports additional E. coli patients

This story by Coral Beach first appeared in Food Safety News and is reposted here with permission

They say the investigation is ongoing and more sources are possible, but as of this afternoon, the FDA is reporting traceback efforts in the ongoing E. coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce has led to Adam Bros. Farm in Santa Maria, CA.

The outbreak strain of E. coli O157:H7 has been confirmed in the sediment of an irrigation reservoir on the family-owned farm, according to officials from the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During a hastily called news conference today the officials said they can’t yet say the outbreak is over, but it is definitely winding down.

The statistics above are for the United States as of Dec. 13. In Canada, as of Dec. 6, there had been 27 confirmed cases of E. coli illness investigated in Ontario (4), Quebec (19), New Brunswick (1), and British Columbia (3). The illnesses in British Columbia were related to travel to Quebec, Ontario, and the United States. Nine individuals have been hospitalized, and two individuals suffered from hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS), which is a severe complication that can result from an E. coli infection. No deaths have been reported. Individuals who became ill are between 2 and 93 years of age.

Seven more people have been confirmed infected since the CDC’s Dec. 6 update. Ian Williams, chief of the CDC’s Outbreak Response and Prevention Branch, Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, said during the news conference that the most recent illness onset date was Nov. 16.

FDA officials said they are continuing to investigate how the E. coli came to be in the sediment of the irrigation pond. They stressed they are also continuing to test samples from other locations.

“As of Dec. 13, our investigation yielded records from five restaurants in four different states that have identified 11 different distributors, nine different growers, and eight different farms as potential sources of contaminated romaine lettuce,” FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a statement issued immediately after the news conference.

“Currently, no single establishment is in common across the investigated supply chains. This indicates that although we have identified a positive sample from one farm to date, the outbreak may not be explained by a single farm, grower, harvester, or distributor.”

Investigators collected samples from the Adam Bros. Farm on Nov. 27, said Stephen Ostroff, senior advisor to the FDA commissioner. The confirmed results from those tests sparked the news conference today.

Ostroff, the CDC’s Williams and two of FDA’s top officials — Deputy Commissioner Frank Yiannas and Kari Irvin, deputy director of the agency’s Coordinated Outbreak Response and Evaluation Network — all stressed the investigation is ongoing, with public health epidemiologists continuing to interview patients.

They said the current outbreak is different from the one earlier this year in more than one way. A different strain of E. coli O157:H7 is involved, according to whole genome sequencing.

Also, the current outbreak strain has not been found in water or sediment that is used by multiple growers. The first outbreak this year, which was associated with romaine from the Yuma, AZ, growing area, has been linked to open water in an open canal that runs between produce fields and a cattle feedlot.

Even though the current outbreak strain has only been confirmed on the Adam Bros. farm, investigators say is it likely additional entities will be implicated. One reason cited for that expectation is the rule of thumb that people generally don’t eat romaine just one time, or from just one source before becoming ill.

The CDC and FDA continue to urge consumers, restaurants, institutional kitchens and retailers to avoid romaine if its origin is not clearly visible on labels. The FDA did, however, remove three California counties from the list of implicated growing areas.

“Given the identification of the outbreak pathogen on the farm in Santa Barbara County, the farms identified in the traceback, and the fact that the lettuce on the market at the peak of the outbreak should be beyond shelf-life we feel there is no longer a reason for consumers to avoid romaine lettuce from San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz, and Ventura Counties, in California, provided it was harvested after Nov. 23,” according to the FDA.

“If consumers, retailers, and food service facilities are unable to confirm that romaine lettuce products are from unaffected sources, we urge that these products not be purchased, or if the products have already purchased, they should be discarded or returned to the place of purchase.”

Both FDA and CDC credit the produce industry’s voluntary market withdrawal of romaine two days before Thanksgiving Day as having prevented additional illnesses. Officials say Adams Bros. Farms is cooperating with the FDA, allowing investigators to confirm that the farm hasn’t shipped any romaine lettuce since Nov. 20.