Tag: E. coli O157:H7

Recalls and Alerts: August 20, 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: Tanimura & Antle Inc. recalls Tanimura & Antle Field Fresh Wrapped Single Head Romaine lettuce (Best buy date of 08 19 12; UPC 0-27918-20314-9) after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency finds E. coli O157:H7 in a single random sample. The recalled lettuce was distributed throughout the USA, Puerto Rico and Canada starting on August 2nd, and was available at retail locations Aug 2-19, 2012. The product was shipped to consignees in the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington. Wegmans and Publix have both announced that none of the recalled romaine was sold in their stores.
  • Food Safety Recall Update: Costco advises its customers that Real Mex Foods, LLC has recalled El Torito Chicken Caesar Salad Kit  (UPC 5889724203; Sell by dates 082312, 083012, 090612, 091412), after being notified that the cilantro used in the Cilantro Pepita Dressing may have been contaminated with Salmonella. The recalled product was sold in Costco Wholesale locations.
  • Food Safety Alert (California): The California Department of Public Health advises consumers not to eat recreationally harvested mussels and clams, commercially or recreationally caught anchovy and sardines, or the internal organs of commercially or recreationally caught crab and lobster taken from Ventura County, due to the presence of the neurotoxin domoic acid in some of the species.
  • Outbreak Alert Update: CDC reports that 163 people in 26 states were infected with the outbreak strains of Salmonella Infantis, Salmonella Newport and Salmonella Lille as a result of contact with infected chicks and ducklings from Mt. Healthy Hatchery in Ohio. Two deaths have been reported; 33 people have been hospitalized. This outbreak began in March, 2012 and is still in progress.

Canada

  • Food Safety Recall: Supermarché Akhavan (Montreal, QC) recalls Basilic/Basil (variable weights; sold from Feb 1, 2012 to August 10, 2012 inclusive), because the basil may be contaminated with Salmonella. The recalled basil was supplied by Shah Trading Co. Ltd.
  • Food Safety Recall Update: Canadian distributors are recalling Tanimura & Antle brand Romaine Lettuce (Product of USA; Plastic package containing 1 head of lettuce; UPC 0 27918 20314 9), due to possible contamination with E. coli O157:H7. The recalled lettuce was sold at retail from August 8, 2012 through August 17, 2012 in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Nunavut, Yukon and Northwest Territories.

Europe

  • Food Safety Recall (Denmark): Urtekram Int A/S recalls Organic Sage (50g plastic bag; Batch No. 0187966, 0186831, 0185149 and 0183665), Organic Sage (1kg; Best before 21/5-2014), Italian seasoning-organic (45g black metal can; Batch No. 0188862, 0188532, 0185743 and 0184742), and Lene H. Italian Mix-organic (30g glass bottle with black screw cap; Batch No. 0183169; Best before 26/10-2013), due to Salmonella contamination.
  • Outbreak Alert (UK): BBC reports that a potential outbreak of E. coli in Orkney is being investigated. Two cases are being treated in hospital; three others are under investigation. The source of the infections is not yet known.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2012.1186): Unsuitable organoleptic characteristics of organic semi-skimmed milk from Belgium; distributed to France.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2012.1187): Ochratoxin A in liquorice root from Poland; distributed to the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Poland.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2012.1189): Unauthorized cefalexin in frozen black tiger shrimps from Vietnam; notified by Switzerland.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2012.1190): Parasitic infestation of monkfish from France; distributed to Italy.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2012.1191): Mercury in frozen swordfish slices and fillets from Spain; distributed to Italy, Portugal and Spain.
  • Food Safety Notification (EU #2012.1192): Excessive doxycycline in chilled chicken breast from Slovakia, with raw material from Poland; distributed to Slovakia.

Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands

  • Dietary Supplement Safety Alert (Hong Kong): The Department of Health alerts the public not to buy or consume a slimming product bearing the name “Sheng Yuan Fang” printed in Chinese on its green capsules, as it may contain undeclared and banned drug ingredients sibutramine and phenolphthalein.
  • Outbreak Alert (Hong Kong): The Centre for Health Protection is investigating a suspected food poisoning outbreak involving 13 people who dined at a restaurant in Yau Tsim Mong District on August 11th.
  • Outbreak Alert (Sierra Leone):  BBC reports that an outbreak of cholera has infected more than 10,000 people in Sierra Leone and has killed at least 176 since January. Six thousand cases were reported in the past five weeks, and 100 people have died in the capital city of Freetown in the last month.

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.

Recalls and Alerts: August 18, 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: Pure Hothouse Foods Inc. recalls 1402 cases and 8,412 individual units of Meijer Brand Grillers Mushroom with Rosemary Grilling Trays (Use by August 11th – August 26th 2012; UPC 7-08820-85464-2), Meijer Brand Grillers Steak Topper Grilling Trays (Use by August 11th – August 26th 2012; UPC 7-08820-85468-0), and Meijer Brand Grillers Asparagus Blend Grilling Trays (Use by August 11th – August 26th 2012; UPC 7-08820-85353-9), because they contain whole or sliced mushrooms which may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. The recalled products were produced and distributed from Pure Hothouse Foods Inc. in Leamington, Ontario, Canada to Meijer stores in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky.

Canada

  • Food Safety Recall: Canadian distributors are recalling Tanimura & Antle brand Romaine Lettuce (plastic package containing 1 head of lettuce; Product of USA; UPC 0 27918 20314 9), because the lettuce may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7. The recalled product was sold at retail from August 8, 2012 through August 17, 2012 in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Nunavut and Yukon.

Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands

  • Pharmaceutical Product Safety Recall (Philippines): Pfizer Consumer Healthcare recalls Carbocisteine (Loviscol) 50 mg/mL Oral Drops Syrup (Lot #11LID6, Exp Aug-14, 15mL; Lot #11LID8 & 11LID9, Exp Oct-14, 15mL; Lot #12LIDIA, Exp Dec-14, 15 mL; Lot #12LIDIB (samples only), Exp Dec-14, 5mL; Lot #12LID2, Exp Jan-15, 15mL), due to incorrect concentration declaration of the claim reflected in the formulation for both the carton and bottle labels of the product.
  • Outbreak Alert (Japan): Six people are dead, and 93 others are ill as a result of an outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 in Sapporo. The outbreak victims were infected after consuming pickled Chinese cabbage manufactured by the Sapporo-based company, Iwai Shokuhin. Many of the illnesses were reported at elderly care facilities in and around Sapporo.

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 website.

*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.

California Lettuce Fingered In US/Canada E. coli O157:H7 Outbreaks

Romaine lettuce grown on a California farm is the probable source of E. coli O157:H7 illnesses that were reported in April and May in California, New Brunswick and Quebec.

The binational outbreak sickened at least 18 people in New Brunswick (Canada) and nine residents of California. At least one resident of Quebec also was infected with the same outbreak strain.

The New Brunswick outbreak victims ate at Jungle Jim’s, a restaurant in Miramichi, between April 23rd and April 26th, and had consumed romaine lettuce, either in a salad, as part of a wrap, or as a garnish on hamburger. Most of the nine California victims had eaten at a single (unnamed) restaurant in April 2012, according to information provided by Ronald Owens (Office of Public Affairs, California Department of Public Health). A case control study implicated lettuce as the source of the California outbreak. No information has been released on the Quebec cases(s).

California was notified in May by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that CDC had learned of an outbreak in Canada, caused by the same strain of E. coli O157:H7 as the California illnesses. Traceback investigations carried out by Canada and California both led to a single California farm that supplied lettuce to the California restaurant and to Jungle Jim’s in New Brunswick. Lettuce from the implicated fields was also supplied to Quebec.

Unfortunately, tracing the source of the lettuce did not lead to the source of the contamination. According to Ronald Owens, FDA and California followed up at the farm, but could not identify what might have led to the contamination. “The field had long since been harvested at the time of the investigation,” Owens explained in his email to me, “and all lettuce from the implicated lots had long since been consumed or disposed.”

In addition to shining a spotlight on the behind-the-scenes cooperation that takes place between federal, state and provincial health agencies in the USA and Canada, this outbreak investigation also highlights a significant difference in attitude and responsiveness between the New Brunswick Department of Health and the California Department of Public Health.

In its May 15, 2012 update on the Miramichi outbreak – the last update that appears on the Province’s website – a promise was made to release the results of the outbreak investigation. I have twice requested a copy of the investigation report, and both requests have been ignored. Not refused. Ignored.

In comparison, I requested information on the California investigation by email on the evening of Friday, July 13th. I received a complete and substantive reply today – less than one business day after making the request. My thanks to Ronald Owens of the CDPH Office of Public Affairs for his prompt and thorough attention to my information request.