Recalls Still coming in, Part 2

[PORKER]

Vermont Recall Part of Dangerous Trend


Last update: 1:44 p.m. EDT Oct. 17, 2008

FERRISBURGH, Vermont, Oct 17, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The E. coli illnesses of ten Vermont residents have been traced to tainted beef from the Vermont Livestock, Slaughter, and Processing Company in Ferrisburgh. The USDA has recalled 2,758 pounds of ground beef from the company, and has put out warnings for consumers.
"In the last year and a half, the American meat industry has been in a spiral of recalls," said food safety advocate and attorney William Marler. "More than 40 million pounds of meat tainted with E. coli O157:H7 has been publicly recalled, up by a factor of two hundred from the 2006 amount of 181,900 pounds. This is a very dangerous and completely unacceptable level of contaminated beef making its way to consumers."


In more than thirty recalls ranging from a few hundred to millions of pounds, the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) has deemed E. coli contaminated meat a class one health hazard to consumers. (A class I recall involves a health hazard situation in which there is a reasonable probability that eating the food will cause health problems or death.)
"There are many theories as to why there has been such an unprecedented jump in E. coli," said Marler. "It could be regulatory complacency, better reporting, or immigration sweeps that have left slaughterhouses empty of skilled workers. Global warming may be spreading fecal dust and/or high oil prices may have led to an E. coli-producing diet for cattle. The microbe itself may even be evolving to elude capture. These ideas need investigation and research, so that real change can begin."

The 2,758 pounds of ground beef subject to the Vermont recall was shipped in 5-pound packages labeled VT BURGER CO GROUND BEEF. They carry the number EST 9558 inside the USDA mark of inspection and a lot code of 090508A, 090808A, 091208A, 091908A or 092208A. The products were shipped two packages per box and were produced on Sept. 5, 8, 12, 19, and 22. The problem was discovered through a joint investigation with the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service and the state Health Department.

[PORKER]

Lettuce likely E. coli culprit: Ont. health officials
Mike Barber, Canwest News Service
Published: Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Health officials in Ontario's Halton and Niagara regions said Tuesday that the most likely source of an E. coli outbreak that has made more than 130 people sick throughout the province was lettuce.

Dr. Monir Taha, the associate medical officer for the Halton public health department, said while he couldn't confirm a single product as a source, lettuce was the most common food named in interviews with those reporting symptoms of the food-borne illness.

In cases where those ill did not remember eating lettuce, cross-contamination with other raw produce seemed likely, he said.


Email to a friend

Printer friendly
Font:****The strain of E. coli O157 found in some of the Halton cases has also been linked to instances in the Niagara region, Guelph and Kitchener, suggesting a common food source throughout southern Ontario.

Romaine lettuce appears to have been the cause in Niagara as well, said Dr. Doug Sider, the region's associate medical officer.

"All of our data point toward it being (the common food source)," he said. Sider said they had narrowed the days of contamination to between Oct. 16 and 19.

The particular strain of E. coli 0157 found in cases in all four regions is rare in Canada, but has been linked to five cases from New Jersey, South Dakota, and California from the last year.

Taha said the Public Health Agency of Canada has been in contact with American authorities at the Centers for Disease Control to determine whether or not there were further commonalities among the outbreaks.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is currently looking for a distributor or farm where the outbreak could have originated.

The southern Ontario outbreak includes 72 cases of the illness being investigated by the Halton health department, all of which originate from Johnathan's Family Restaurant. Only five of these have been confirmed to be E. coli infections. That restaurant was closed on Oct. 30 and reopened Monday.

The 56 cases in the Niagara region, 14 of which are confirmed, were linked to two area restaurants, M.T. Bellies in Welland and the Little Red Rooster in Niagara-on-the-Lake, both of which reopened earlier this month after having been closed for two weeks to let inspectors investigate their kitchens.

Another five confirmed cases have been linked to a restaurant at the University of Guelph, said Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health.

All lettuce products have been removed from the school as a precaution.

Finally, two students at St. Mary's High School in Kitchener were also infected, prompting the school to close the cafeteria. One of the two youths remains in hospital while the other has recovered, a school board spokesman said.

E. coli-contaminated lettuce has caused at least two widespread outbreaks in the U.S. in the last two years. Infected lettuce and spinach served at Taco Bell and Taco John's in 2006 made 276 people ill and killed three.

The lettuce was traced back to farms in California where the water supply had been contaminated by cow or deer feces.

A smaller outbreak in Michigan in September and October involving iceberg lettuce made at least 38 ill.

An unrelated outbreak at a Harvey's fast-food restaurant in North Bay, Ont., has led to 251 cases of suspected E. coli infection, 50 of which have been confirmed, said Dr. Catherine Whiting, the region's medical officer.


No source has been determined in that outbreak.

[hypocritexposer]

[PORKER]

Limited Recall of LAND O LAKES® Sheep Balancer B136
Specific Lot Number Distributed in southeastern Nebraska and western Iowa
Contact:
Lydia Botham, 651-481-2123
Dave Karpinski, 651-481-2360

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- Lincoln, Neb. -- December 4, 2008 -- The Land O'Lakes Purina Feed plant in Lincoln, Neb., has initiated a limited recall of LAND O LAKES® Sheep Balancer B136, packaged in 50-pound bags, due to the potential for a higher than acceptable level of copper. The recall is limited to Sheep Balancer B136 produced at the Lincoln plant on October 8, 2008.

The only product and lot number involved in the recall is:

Formula No.
Item No.
Description
Lot Number

3LN7
1860220
Sheep Balancer B-136
8OCT08LNC1


The lot number is found on the sewing strip of each bag.

The product was distributed only to six dealers in southeastern Nebraska and western Iowa.

The presence of copper in higher than acceptable levels can cause health issues and, at high levels, mortality in sheep.

[PORKER]

USDA recalls pork amid dioxin fears 16 Dec 2008
The US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service has issued three class two alerts for dioxin contamination in imported pork.
In all three cases, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) notified the FSIS of the possible dioxin contamination based on its routine surveillance testing. The FSIS said it has reason to believe that the retail locations listed received the recalled pork products.

In the first recall, Dawn International of Acton, Massachusetts is recalling approximately 33,880 pounds of fresh pork products. The second class two recall involves Tommy Moloney’s, Inc, of Long Island City, in New York. The recall involves eight-ounce packages of “Tommy Moloney’s Traditional Irish Breakfast Bacon, Made from imported Irish Pork.” The third recall involves Rupari Food Services of Deerfield Beach, Florida.

[PORKER]

USDA To Test Meat And Poultry For Melamine
NewsInferno.com
12-16-8


In the wake of the China melamine scandal, ConsumerAffairs.com is reporting that the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) will be testing some meats and poultry products, including, for example, baby food, hot dogs, and chicken nuggets.

The melamine scandal in China has affected foods that include baby formula, cheese, yogurt, milk teas and coffees, biscuits, and eggs and has prompted a variety of international recalls, sickened tens of thousands of children in China, and caused the deaths of at least six infants. The FSIS took its most recent action following concerns that melamine contamination in dairy products has now spread to meat and poultry, said ConsumerAffairs.com. "In light of recent disclosures of melamine being found in certain imported food products, FSIS has determined that it is prudent to do a small amount of sampling to see if there is any reason to be concerned about the presence of this chemical in meat and poultry products," the agency wrote, said ConsumerAffairs.com.

ConsumerAffairs.com also reports that FSIS officials say that federal investigators will, over the next three months, collect and test meat and poultry products, collecting 45 samples weekly from retail stores. Food Product Design reports that testing will occur on domestically produced meat and poultry products quoting the FSIS notice as stating, "sampling will focus on those meat and poultry products that contain milk-derived ingredients such as non-fat dried milk, casein, whey, evaporated milk, and milk powder." The Seattle Times points out that the FSIS, in its testing notice, did not specify any food brand and did not "make any distinction between domestic or imported products." The Seattle Times noted that testing is scheduled to begin in about two weeks.

The FSIS listed the following five types of products to be involved in the testing:

* Baby food that contains a significant amount of meat or poultry products;
* Cooked sausages, which includes hot dogs or frankfurters with and without cheese products;
* Breaded chicken, which includes bite-sized morsels or nuggets with and without cheese products;
* Meatballs; and
* Meat and poultry wrapped in dough and pizza, including calzones.

Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned melamine from human and pet food, the FDA recently stated that melamine levels at less than 2.5 parts per million (ppm) do not pose a health risk in foods, exept for infant formula, said ConsumerAffairs.com. In infant formula, the level at which the FDA stated melamine does not pose a health risk was less than 1.0 ppm, added ConsumerAffairs.com

Melamine is a toxic industrial chemical that, because of its high nitrogen content, can give the false impression in foods of being high in protein. Used in the manufacture of plastics, fire retardants, and fertilizers, melamine has been found in a wide array of foods imported from China and, recently, in animal feed in that country, linking melamine contamination to livestock there.

[Tex]

[PORKER]

Remember all of that melemine pet food that was recalled and fed back to swine and poultry. No Brains at USDA and FDA

[PORKER]

Alfalfa Sprouts Recalled After Tests Turn Up Contamination
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 12/23/2008

A Wisconsin-based sprout grower has notified their customers to remove their alfalfa sprouts and certain sprout mixes from store shelves after routine food safety tests by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture turned up positive for Salmonella, a bacteria that can cause food-borne illness.

Sunrise Farms, Inc. of Neenah is recalling their packaged Alfalfa Sprouts, Spicy Sprouts, Crunchy Sprouts and Onion Sprouts. These sprouts and sprout mixes are sold in four-ounce packages at grocery stores and retailers throughout Wisconsin and Minnesota. The other sprout mixes produced by Sunrise Farms are not part of the recall. At this time, there have been no reports of illness.

Sunrise Farms routinely tests sprouts grown at their facility to ensure that the sprouts are free of Salmonella and E. coli, another food-borne pathogen, in addition to testing by the state agriculture department. The company is working closely and cooperatively with the department's Food Safety Division to determine how these sprouts became contaminated.

Consumers who have Sunrise Farms Alfalfa Sprouts, Spicy Sprouts, Crunchy Sprouts or Onion Sprouts should throw away the package. Credits will be given with a proof of purchase receipt.

Symptoms of salmonellosis, an infection caused by Salmonella include diarrhea, fever and abdominal cramps that occur 12 to 72 hours after infection. The illness lasts four to seven days and most recover without additional treatment. However, in severe cases, medical intervention may be required. The elderly, infants and those with impaired immune systems are most at risk. Contact your physician if you suspect that you may have symptoms.