Tag: Health

Recalls and Alerts: May 14, 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

  • Pharmaceutical Product Safety Recall: Hospira, Inc. recalls Hydromorphone Hydrochloride Injection 1 mg/mL fill in 2.5 mL Carpuject™ (Lot #07547LL; Expiration date July 1, 2013) due to two reported claims of a single Carpuject containing more than the stated 1mL volume. The affected lot was distributed in September-October 2011 to wholesalers and a limited number of hospitals in Alaska, Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Delaware, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.
  • Outbreak Alert: The Wall Street Journal reports that at least 150 attendees at a Mother’s Day party at the Chuang Yen Buddhist monastery in Kent Cliffs (NY) developed food poisoning symptoms (vomiting and diarrhea) after they left the party.

Europe

  • Food Safety Recall/Alert (Belgium): Following an alert issued by German authorities, the AFSCA recommends that consumers do not eat the following recalled product, because lab analyses have revealed the presence of Salmonella in the product: SIFA Gewürze & Feinkost Ground Cumin (60g glass jars; Best before date 01/12/2013). The recalled product was sold in the provinces of Limbourg and Liège.
  • Food Safety Recall (Denmark): Danish Supermarket A/S recalls Hazelnut Kernels (1 kg bags; Best before 30/10-2012 and 31/10-2012; Product of Germany), due to mold growth in some of the bags.
  • Outbreak Alert (UK): BBC reports that four patients being treated for norovirus symptoms (diarrhea and vomiting) at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, Scotland have died, due to underlying medical conditions. Eight wards at the hospital are closed to new admissions due to the outbreak. Thirty-four patients are showing symptoms at present.

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.

Insanitary Conditions In India Behind Sushi Salmonella Outbreak

The contaminated raw tuna that is responsible – as of May 2, 2012 – for at least 258 Salmonella illnesses in 24 states and the District of Columbia was produced under filthy conditions in a substandard food manufacturing plant in Kerala, India.

FDA inspected the Kerala facility where Moon Fishery (India) Pvt. Ltd. produced the contaminated “Tuna Scrape” that was exported to the USA and sold to restaurants and grocery stores through distributors in Illinois, New Jersey, New York Massachusetts, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas and Maryland. The inspection took several days (April 19th – 24th, 2012).

Earlier today, Marler Blog released the initial Inspectional Observations Report (known as the 483) from that FDA inspection. It doesn’t take an advanced degree in microbiology or a great deal of imagination to deduce the probable source of the Salmonella contamination after reading the following observation, reproduced in full from the report:

You are not monitoring the sanitation conditions and practices with sufficient frequency to assure conformance with Current Good Manufacturing Practices including safety of water that comes into contact with food or food contact surfaces, including water used to manufacture ice, condition and cleanliness of food contact surfaces, maintenance of hand washing, hand sanitizing, and toilet facilities, and protection of food, food packaging material, and food contact surfaces from adulteration.

A- You are not monitoring the safety of water as evidenced by:

1- Tanks used for storage of process waters have apparent visible debris, filth, and microbiological contamination. Sand and activated carbon filter units used in manufacturing of water are not sanitized, and ventilation for tanks is not filtered to protect against contamination. There is no laboratory analysis for water used in ice manufacturing at the … facility to show the water used to make ice is potable. Ice manufacturing lacks sanitary controls: ice manufacturing equipment at the Moon Fishery facility is located outside and is susceptible to adulteration from pests and the environment. Apparent bird feces were observed on the ice manufacturing equipment at Moon Fishery; insects and filth were observed in and on the equipment. Ice manufacturing equipment at your … facility is rusty and situated so that the ice can not be protected against adulteration, as the ice manufacturing process is constructed into the flooring of the ice facility. Tuna processed at your facility, which is consumed raw or cooked, comes in direct contact with water and ice.

B- You are not monitoring the condition or cleanliness of food contact surfaces as evidenced by:

1-Some of the floor and wall tiles in the tuna processing area are broken and cracked, not allowing for proper cleaning.

2- After cleaning, the ceiling directly above the in-process tuna line was observed to have visible product residue.

3-After cleaning, product residues and rust were observed on knives and utensil storage boxes. These knives are used to cut raw tuna.

C-You are not monitoring protection from adulterants as evidenced by:

1-Peeling paint was observed directly above the in-process tuna line.

D-You are not monitoring hand washing, hand sanitizing and toilet facilities as evidenced by:

1-There were no hand drying devices available in the employee rest rooms on the first floor.

In short, the place was a mess!

There has been a tremendous amount of focus over the years on China as a source of hazardous foods and food ingredients. There has been very little media attention paid to India, even though that densely populated country struggles with a chronic shortage of sewage treatment facilities, a limited supply of potable water, and frequent food poisoning outbreaks.

Last month (April 2012), FDA refused 223 shipments of foodstuffs and other products from China, and 222 shipments from India. Reasons for rejecting food products from India included Salmonella, pesticides and process adulteration.

FDA physically examines less than 2% of all imported food shipments under its jurisdiction. The agency can’t be expected to check every shipment – it hasn’t the money, the staff or the lab facilities to do so.

It’s time to put the burden of demonstrating the safety of imported foodstuffs onto the shoulders of the producers and importers.

Recalls and Alerts: May 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.

United States

  • Allergy Alert: Whole Foods Market recalls its variety cupcake six-packs (All expiration packed on dates prior to May 10th 2012), because the carrot cake cupcakes of the products contain undeclared walnuts. Six-packs that do not contain carrot cake cupcakes are unaffected by the recall. The affected six-packs were sold at Whole Foods Market stores in Northern California, including Folsom, Lafayette, Los Altos, Mill Valley, Novato, Palo Alto, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Rosa and Sonoma.
  • Pet Food Safety Recall: Nestlé Purina PetCare recalls Purina Veterinary Diets® OM Overweight Management Feline Formula canned cat food (5.5 oz can; Best by JUN 2013; Product code 11721159; UPC 38100-13810), because analytical testing of a product sample by FDA indicated a low level of thiamine (vitamin B1). The recalled cat food was distributed to veterinary clinics in the USA and Canada between June 2011 and May 2012.
  • Pet Food Safety Recall Update: Natural Balance Pet Foods announces a correction to the date code for one of the Natural Balance Pet Foods recalled on May 4th due to potential Salmonella contamination. The Best By date code of March 12, 2013 listed for Natural Balance Sweet Potato & Venison Dog, 5-lb size should be corrected to read “March 13, 2013”
  • Outbreak Alert: The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) is investigating an outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) related to dining at Spartanburg-area Mexican restaurant during the last week of April 2012. Preliminary lab results indicated that the outbreak microbe is a strain of E. coli O157:H7. At least eleven cases are under investigation. Two of the three case-patients interviews so far have developed hemolytic uremic syndrome.

Canada

  • Pet Food Safety Recall: Nestlé Purina PetCare recalls Purina Veterinary Diets® OM Overweight Management Feline Formula canned cat food (5.5 oz can; Best by JUN 2013; Product code 11721159; UPC 38100-13810), because analytical testing of a product sample by FDA indicated a low level of thiamine (vitamin B1). The recalled cat food was distributed to veterinary clinics in the USA and Canada between June 2011 and May 2012.
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.