Tag Archives: recall

Carrefour recalls cheese cause of E. coli

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France-based Carrefour is recalling a batch of cheese type "Fourme d’Ambert," due to the presence of harmful bacteria, according to a statement released Wednesday.

Carrefour has conducted self-checks on these cheeses sold under the brand cutting Carrefour Selection, and discovered E. coli.

These products were sold between October 29 and November 30, 2010, and to date, no consumer complaints have been reported.

This bacterium can cause in the week following its consumption, severe gastroenteritis, which may be followed by severe renal complications in young children.

That makes it sound like it’s E. coli O157:H7 or some other shiga-toxin producing E. coli.
 

Is porn industry more responsible than food industry?

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Justin Rohrlich of Minyanville argues the food industry can learn a few things from the adult entertainment industry, which doesn’t wait for a massive outbreak of disease before taking corrective action.

Rather than wait for disaster to strike, then go about shredding documents and deleting emails as the investigators close in, "more than half a dozen pornographers in California’s multibillion-dollar adult entertainment industry have halted production after an actor tested positive for HIV — and more shutdowns were expected," according to the Associated Press.

"From Vivid’s perspective, there was no question that when we heard this, we immediately shut down production and said let’s get the facts and evaluate them before we move forward," Steven Hirsch, the founder of Vivid, one of the largest makers of adult films, said.

Egg recall: Mouse, fly infestations date back 10 years, workers say

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Just like with the salmonella outbreak involving Peanut Corporation of America, employees of DeCoster egg operations in Iowa are now coming forward to say problems with mice, filth and flies go back at least 10 years.

Past and present workers at Wright County Egg said mouse and fly infestations cited in a federal report stretch back at least a decade.?? The workers also reported ammonia levels high enough to cause chronic health problems, and inconsistent availability of safety equipment such as face masks and gloves.

Dozens of chickens died daily, their bodies lying undiscovered in cages for days, and perhaps weeks, at a time, they said.?? "There’s always been mice," former worker Lucas Garcias said through an interpreter. "I saw maggots and sometimes mice on the conveyor belt.”

And who was governor of Iowa during those years? Step forward current U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack.

Philip Brasher of the DesMoinesRegister.com also writes today the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship is taking a second look at its authority over the Galt feed mill that supplied the DeCoster egg operations. The state agency had decided before the massive egg recall linked to the DeCoster farms that the feed mill was exempt from state oversight. Company officials told inspectors that the DeCoster-owned mill only supplied the company’s hens. That exemption has been called into question by news that the mill was supplying feed to a second company, Hillandale Farms of Iowa, that was also involved in the recall.

People still sick in Ontario from E. coli O157:H7 but no details; more beef recalled

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Supposed health types in Canada still won’t reveal how many people are sick in Ontario (that’s in Canada), as part of an E. coli O157:H7 outbreak. Useful information like geographic location, date of onset and other public health basics that may limit additional illnesses is being withheld. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency will only say it “is aware of an E. coli O157:H7 illness outbreak in Ontario.”

Is this part of a new CFIA Say Nothing policy?

Last night, CFIA did tell the public not to eat Leadbetters Cowboy Beef Burgers, sold frozen in 2.27 Kg (5 lb) cartons containing 20 X 113.5gr (4oz) burgers bearing the UPC 8 73587 00003 5 and code 20169.
 

Louisiana firm recalls meat products because of listeria contamination; people are sick

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Veron Foods, LLC of Prairieville, La. is recalling approximately 500,000 pounds of “ready to eat” sausage and hog head cheese products that may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry’s Office of Animal Health and Food Safety announced.

The problem was discovered through a foodborne illness investigation that resulted in a product sample testing positive for Listeria monocytogenes. But just like the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and salmonella-tainted green onions, no one is saying who or how many got sick.
 

It’s the medium and the message: rapid reliable relevant repeated messages to combat recall fatigue

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Until three years ago, Kenneth Maxwell enjoyed Banquet chicken and turkey pot pies so much he ate them three or four times a week. They were easy to prepare, and Maxwell could eat one for lunch and quickly return to work as an electrician.

When cases of salmonella poisoning led the pies’ manufacturer, ConAgra Foods, to issue a product recall in the fall of 2007, Maxwell did not hear about it and continued to eat them. He bought several pot pies about two weeks after the recall was launched, when they should have been pulled from store shelves, and became violently ill, he said.

Steve Mills of the Chicago Tribune reports this morning that Maxwell’s experience reflects common problems with food recalls: They routinely fail to recover all of the product they seek and, according to experts, sometimes even leave tainted foods in stores, putting consumers at risk of becoming ill from potentially deadly foodborne pathogens.

If consumers are suffering from recall fatigue, what about retailers who are supposed to get potentially contaminated product off the shelves?

Communications about recalls with both the public and retailers, must be rapid, reliable, repeated and relevant, and that the produce outbreaks of 2006 marked significant changes in how recall stories were being told on Internet-based networking like YouTube, wikipedia, and blogs.

The Tribune story says a spokesman for Jewel-Osco’s corporate parent said relying on the media, posting shelf notices and making sure store employees are prepared to answer customers’ questions all have worked with recalls in the past.

Safeway, the parent of Dominick’s food stores, contacts shoppers directly in some recalls — typically smaller ones, said spokesman Brian Dowling. But in larger recalls, he said the company’s stores rely on other methods to get the word out, such as notices on store shelves and stories in newspapers and on TV and radio.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently released the Government’s Products Recall app for the Android smartphone at USA.gov website.

And it will be the same boring message. Marshall McLuhan famously said “The medium is the message” (that’s him above, right, in a scene from the movie, Annie Hall). With food safety recalls, it’s the medium and the message, if you want to get people’s attention.

The Maxwells said they have not eaten a Banquet pot pie since the recall.
 

Carrefour et Casino recall beef for E. coli O157

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Albert Amgar provided this story from Agence France-Presse about an E. coli O157:H7 beef recall, Nikki Marcotte translated, Amy Hubbell proofed and I embellished.

At least this French company is suggesting a temperature, but doesn’t say how that is to accomplished in a hamburger patty. And while thorough cooking to the appropriate temperature (the. U.S. says 160) will destroy the bad bugs, cross-contamination in any kitchen – home, food service, retail – is a huge issue and difficult to control. Here’s the story.

It was announced Friday that the Covial company, which specializes in ground and vacuum-packed beef, is recalling batches of hamburger and fresh ground beef sold in Carrefour et Casino stores under their own label due to a risk of food poisoning.

The products have been removed from the shelves; consumers have been asked not to eat these products in which the bacteria E. Coli O157:H7 was detected during a self-check, said Covial in a statement. To date, no consumer complaints have been reported, the statement said.

The recall affects 3.8 tons of products that have been sold in the Carrefour stores, Carrefour Market, Carrefour City, Carrefour Contact, Shopi, 8 À Huit, Marché Plus, Géant Casino and Casino supermarkets, according to the source.

The batches bear the following inspection stamp: FR 15 014 032 CE. The products’ expiration dates are July 6th and 7th for the Carrefour batches and July 7th for the Casino batches.

Those affected, for Carrefour, are the Aquitaine, Auvergne, Bourgogne, Centre, Franche-Comté, Haut-Rhin, Languedoc-Roussillon, Limousin, Midi-Pyrénées, Poitou-Charentes et Rhône-Alpes regions. For Casino, the center and the southwest quarter of the country are concerned.

Thoroughly cooking the hamburgers helps prevent the consequences of a contamination of this type, the bacteria is destroyed at 65°C (149 F). The E. coli O157:H7 bacteria can cause symptoms such as gastroenteritis, sometimes accompanied by a fever, within 10 days following the consumption of the contaminated hamburgers.

In rare cases, poisoning can be followed by severe kidney complications in children and in the elderly. Consumers can call 0805 803 134 (free from a land line).
 

Recall fatigue? Rapid, reliable, relevant and repeated messages work; shock and shame to avoid boredom

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Julie Schmit and Elizabeth Weise reported in USA Today on July 27, 2007 that retailers have been slow to pull Castleberry’s canned chili products that may contain botulism.

Robert Brackett, then director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (best wishes on the new Illinois job, Bob — dp) said consumers may be suffering "recall fatigue," given the rash of recalls the past year for spinach, carrot juice, lettuce, peanut butter, pet food and other products. "That’s a real phenomenon. If people aren’t getting sick or their family isn’t, they think ‘Oh, it’s not going to happen to me.’"

I told the reporters at the time that public communications about such undertaking must be rapid, reliable, repeated and relevant, and that the produce outbreaks of 2006 marked significant changes in how stories were being told on Internet-based networking like YouTube, wikipedia, and blogs. Producers, processors, retailers and regulators of agricultural commodities not only need to be seen — and actually — responding to food safety issues in conventional media, they must now pay particular attention to the myriad of Internet-based social networking sites that allow individuals to act as their own media outlet. Further, proactive producers, regulators and others in the farm-to-fork food safety system will become comfortable with the directness — and especially the speed — of new Internet-based media.

Three years later, the Washington Post reported this morning that government regulators, retailers, manufacturers and consumer experts are concerned that recall notices have become so frequent across a range of goods — foods, consumer products, cars — that the public is suffering from "recall fatigue."

Witty.

In many cases, people simply ignore urgent calls to destroy or return defective goods.
One recent study found that 12 percent of Americans who knew they had recalled food at home ate it anyway.

Jeff Farrar, associate commissioner for food protection at the Food and Drug Administration, who said even his wife has complained about the difficulty of keeping pace with recalls, added,

"It’s a real issue. That number is steadily going up, and it’s difficult for us to get the word out without oversaturating consumers."

Craig Wilson, assistant vice president for quality assurance and food safety at Costco, was quoted as saying,

"The national recall system that’s in place now just doesn’t work. We call it the Chicken Little syndrome. If you keep shouting at the wind — ‘The sky is falling! The sky is falling!’ — people literally become immune to the message."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture today said the Government’s Products Recall app for the Android smartphone is now available at the revamped USA.gov website, and the apps for Blackberry and iPhone are soon to follow.

And it will be the same boring message. It’s the medium and the message, if you want to get people’s attention.

SpaghettiOs with meatballs recalled due to possible under-processing from plant in Paris, Texas

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Paris, Texas is a great Wim Wenders movie, but slow, depressing with fabulous music by Ry Cooder, whom I want to get to sing my eulogy.
It’s also not the movie to watch the day of a wedding engagement, like me and my ex did in 1984; does not portend well.

Amy and I drove through Paris, Texas, a couple of years ago, but we didn’t get depressed or divorced (we also didn’t watch the movie).

Campbell Soup Company has it’s own Paris, Texas – a plant that makes SpaghettiOs in Paris, Texas – and their meatballs may not be cooked.

So Campbell’s has recalled:

* “SpaghettiOs” with Meatballs in 14.75-ounce cans;
* “SpaghettiOs” A to Z with Meatballs in 14.75-ounce cans; and
* “SpaghettiOs” Fun Shapes with Meatballs (Cars) in 14.75-ounce cans.

Daughter Sorenne likes the pasta/sugary/salt/sauce thingies like SpaghettiOs, and we had a can of the stuff, although not the meatball one. But with Katie finally completing her epic journey to Manhattan (Kansas), and me making lunch for everyone today, I went with whole-wheat rotini, and a sauce of garlic, onion, red pepper, tomatoes, chicken stock, chili sauce, a bunch of basil from our expanding basil patch and shrimp.

The canned stuff can co-exist with the cooked stuff.

There is no information indicating that any under-processed product has reached consumers. In an abundance of caution – favorite new phrase by PRmeisters — the three varieties of “SpaghettiOs” with Meatballs products that may have been under-processed are being retrieved from the marketplace.
 

Canada confused about listeria

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Canada is so complacent that when a leading hospital provides terrible food safety advice, no one notices.

Although Canada’s track record with ridiculous things said involving listeria is hard to match.

There’s a recall of some pre-cooked meat products going on right now. No one is apparently sick, but this is how Canada’s version of state-sponsored jazz reported the event:

CBC News says a Winnipeg food processor is recalling its pre-cooked meat products after an Alberta customer raised concerns about possible contamination with listeria bacteria.

Smith’s Quality Meats, which sells in provinces from British Columbia to Ontario, has voluntarily pulled a wide variety of its products from shelves.

I’m not sure customer is the best word. Maybe the customer walked into the store with those magic I-can-see-listeria goggles.

Smith’s spokesman Andy Van Patter said,

"The discovery was made on one product at one location in Alberta through testing performed by our customer. There [is] no indication that other products are affected."

Oh, Smith’s supplied the meat to someone and they tested it and got a listeria positive. Got it.

CTV News reported that people with weak immune systems, pregnant women and the elderly are most at risk from listeriosis.

Unless you’re a medical professional at Toronto’s Sick Kids Hospital, where there is no risk of listeria to pregnant women or the elderly as long as food is bought from reputable sources. Their words, not mine.