Tag Archives: taylor farms

Going public: Kale sucks and sickened 6 with Salmonella in Minn. in April

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Posting a product recall (alert) notice on a company website, and then quickly removing it, is like putting down sugar to ward off ants. For the few remaining investigative journalists, such actions are akin to painting a bullseye on the company for further questioning.

spongebob.oil.colbert.may3.10And it shouldn’t be that way.

There is a scientific, public health and moral reason to make outbreaks known, whether product is still on the shelves or not. It’s how the rest of us mere mortals learn, it’s how to make things better, it’s the right thing to do.

Anyone who hides behind legalese is not worthy of trust – especially the consumer faith and trust that goes into every food purchase — because industry government, and academia rationalize a Chomsky-esque form of self-censorship that is barf-inducing to watch, and made worse by the Salmonella.

Coral Beach, formerly of The Packer and now with Bill Marler’s Food Safety News, reports that government and corporate entities failed to reveal in April that they were investigating a cluster of Salmonella illnesses in which at least five out of six victims reported eating Taylor Farms Organic Kale Medley Power Greens Mix purchased at various Sam’s Club locations.

After a notice on another company’s website — Pacific Coast Fruit Co. of Portland — brought the situation to light, Taylor Farms’ chairman and CEO Bruce Taylor confirmed that Minnesota officials had notified him about the investigation. However, it is not clear to whom Taylor issued his May 6 statement, which was still not available on the Taylor Farms website as of May 15.

Taylor’s statement, provided to Food Safety News on May 14, says:

organic.kale.screen.shot“On Thursday, May 5th, Taylor Farms was informed by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) of an investigation of reported foodborne illness.

“In April, six people with Salmonella Enteritidis infections, with the same rare DNA fingerprint pattern, were reported to the MDH. All of those infected are from the state of Minnesota. All are recovering.

“The FDA is not requiring any action from Taylor Farms and we are not issuing any formal recalls. We will continue to work with the MDH and MDA regarding this issue.

“The safety and health of the consumers who buy our products has always and will always be the highest priority for us. We will continue to strive to deliver the industry highest quality, safest produce in the industry.”

Pleeeeassse.

Although Taylor did not reference a specific product or where it was distributed, the Pacific Coast Fruit Co. notice named Sam’s Club and said the retailer pulled Taylor Farms Organic Kale Medley Power Greens Mix from shelves nationwide on April 4.

The Pacific Coast Fruit notice, dated May 6, was available on the company’s website May 14, but has since been removed. The notice carried the headline “Taylor Farms-Organic Kale Medley Recall” and was addressed to “our customers and the Pacific Coast Fruit Team.”

Minnesota officials did not respond to weekend requests for comment on the situation. Similarly, no one from Pacific Coast Fruit or Sam’s Club responded this weekend to requests for comment.

The Pacific Coast Fruit notice said six people with Salmonella enteritidis infections, all with the same rare DNA fingerprint pattern, were reported to MDH in April. The victims ranged in age from 7 to 69 and their illnesses began between April 3 and April 26. One person was hospitalized, and all are recovering, according to Pacific Coast Fruit.

“Five of the ill people in Minnesota reported eating Taylor Farms Organic Kale Medley purchased at several Sam’s Club locations, and the source of the sixth person’s illness is under investigation,” Pacific Coast Fruit’s notice said.

An external communications spokesman for Taylor Farms said May 15 that the Salinas, CA, company did not need to issue a recall.

“No recall was needed because the issue being investigated was from back in late March early April. So, independent of the findings of the investigation, the product is no longer in the market place due to shelf-life limitations,” the Taylor Farms spokesman said.

OrganicKaleMedley-1web-216x300The failure of public health officials and corporate entities to announce the spike in Salmonella cases and the subsequent investigation is the latest incident in what one food safety professional says is a disturbing, decade-long trend.

After the deadly E. coli outbreak in 2006 that was linked to bagged fresh spinach, companies have increasingly demanded governmental agencies provide confirmation results from time-consuming follow-up laboratory tests before issuing voluntary product recalls, said Douglas Powell, former professor at Kansas State University’s Department of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology.

Powell, who now lives in Australia, is publisher of barfblog.com, which has been monitoring and publicizing foodborne illness outbreaks since 2006 (1993, when Food Safety Network started), coined the phrase “leafy green cone of silence” to describe the lack of transparency on the part of government and industry in the decade since the spinach outbreak.

“This situation fits the pattern,” Powell told Food Safety News May 15. “It’s part of a bigger picture about the question of when to go public about outbreak investigations.

“There’s a question of public health. I don’t care that the product’s not on the shelves any more. The public has a right and a need to know about these incidents.”

do.the.right.thingBill Marler, partner at the Seattle law firm Marler Clark LLP, had similar concerns. Marler has been representing victims of foodborne illnesses since the 1993 E. coli outbreak traced to undercooked hamburgers served by the Jack in The Box chain. He provided testimony to Congress during the drafting of the Food Safety Modernization Act.

“My main concern is the lack of transparency, and that’s not just a comment on Taylor Farms, it’s a comment on FDA, the Minnesota departments of health and agriculture and a comment on the CDC,” Marler said May 15. “I think that anytime, especially when there are illnesses involved, I think the public has an absolute right to know what’s going on.

“My assumption is that someone’s determined that the product is no longer in the marketplace because it’s a perishable product and the public’s no longer at risk. While I appreciate that, it’s not a reason to not let consumers know.

“In order for the free market to work, in order for consumers to know what products are safe or safer, the companies and the government have a responsibility to educate the consumer.

“When they withhold that kind of information, for whatever justifiable reason they think they have, it doesn’t give (consumers) the information to know how to protect themselves and their families and also calls into question public health’s commitment to the public’s health.”

 

Taylor Farms recalls onion and celery mix; produce has it’s problems

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Taylor Farms supplies celery and onion mixtures to a lot of retail and food service operations. And they are recalling it, according FDA, after Costco and Montana health officials linked the ingredients to it’s chicken salad/E. coli outbreak.tyf_logo

Taylor Farms Pacific, Inc. of Tracy, CA, is recalling the products listed below because they may include celery which could potentially contain E. coli 0157:H7. The products listed below are being recalled out of an abundance of caution due to a Celery and Onion Diced Blend testing positive for E. coli O157:H7 in a sample taken by the Montana Department of Health. The Celery and Onion Diced Blend tested by the state of Montana was used in a Costco Rotisserie Chicken Salad that has been linked to a multi-state E. coli O157:H7 outbreak.

Liz Szabo of USA Today called me yesterday between a pre-Thanksgiving gym trip and turkey preparation to talk about the Costco-linked outbreak.

The E. coli outbreak traced to Costco chicken salads appears to have been caused by vegetables in the salad, rather than the chicken itself, according to company officials.

Tests performed by the Food and Drug Administration and Montana health officials traced the E. coli to an onion and celery mix, rather than the rotisserie chicken itself, Craig Wilson, Costco’s vice president of food safety and quality assurance, told USA TODAY. Health officials are performing additional tests to confirm this link.

The specific type of bacteria in this outbreak, E coli O157, is particularly dangerous, especially for children, said Ben Chapman, an associate professor and food safety specialist at North Carolina State University. E. coli 0157 is more likely than other varieties of the bacteria to cause hemolytic uremic syndrome, which can leave survivors on dialysis, he said.

One in 6 Americans — more than 48 million people — are sickened by the food they eat each year in the country, causing about 3,000 deaths and 125,000 hospitalizations, costing the economy $14.1 billion, according to the CDC.

More than half of food poisoning outbreaks are related to fruits and vegetables, Chapman said. Fresh produce is particularly vulnerable to contaminants, simply because it’s not cooked.

“When it comes to produce, there is no zero risk,” Chapman said (true with all foods -ben). “There are just so many points where it can be contaminated, between the field and someone’s plate.”

E. coli can get into the food chain in a variety of ways. Outbreaks have been linked to animal manure left behind by deer and even wild pigs, Chapman said.

Both Costco and Taylor Farms have good reputations for food safety, said William Marler, a Seattle attorney who has represented victims of food-borne illness and whose law firm operates a data base of food poisoning outbreaks.

“Costco has always done a good job with food safety,” Marler said. “They are probably one of the better stores out there, which shows just how vulnerable a supply chain is to E. coli or salmonella. Even if you have the best food safety systems in place, it always requires constant monitoring and oversight.”

But outbreaks can happen even at careful companies. “With mass-produced food, the opportunity for problems is really high,” Marler said.

And with not massed-produced foods too.

Chapman wins (but no one wins in foodborne outbreaks) it was the celery: Taylor Farms Pacific, Inc. recalls celery, E. coli linked to Costco outbreak

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Taylor Farms Pacific, Inc. of Tracy, CA, is recalling the products listed below because they may include celery which could potentially contain E. coli O157:H7.

costco.chicken.salad.nov.15The products listed below are being recalled out of an abundance of caution due to a Celery and Onion Diced Blend testing positive for E. coli O157:H7 in a sample taken by the Montana Department of Health. The Celery and Onion Diced Blend tested by the state of Montana was used in a Costco Rotisserie Chicken Salad that has been linked to a multi-state E. coli 0157:H7 outbreak.

Consumers may call 209-830-3141 for any further information Monday to Friday, exclusive of holidays, between the hours of 8am-5pm (PST). Consumers with concerns about an illness from consumption of any of the recalled products should contact a health care provider.

It’s confusing, and leafy green folks are silent: Taylor Farms recalls fresh spinach

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Once again, I messed up in a story yesterday, but the Leafy Greens Marketing types aren’t helping their cause with silence.

lettuce.skull.e.coli.O145According to Coral Beach of The Packer, few details are available on Taylor Farms’ recall of fresh spinach that was sold to at least two foodservice suppliers and distributed across multiple states under the Taylor Farms and Cross Valley Farms brands.

Michigan officials report they found E. coli and salmonella during routine testing of washed fresh spinach packaged for foodservice operations such as schools, hospitals and restaurants.

Michigan’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development collected three samples of the Taylor Farms fresh spinach from one bag in “a food warehouse facility on the west side of the state” on April 7. Test results on April 13 showed E. coli and salmonella were present and Michigan officials notified Taylor Farms and the Food and Drug Administration, said Jennifer Holton, the department’s communications director.

On April 21, officials from the Salinas, Calif.-based Taylor Farms did not respond to calls for comment on the recall, which the company apparently initiated April 14.

And did that spinach go into Canada, where there at least 12 cases of E. coli O157, possibly linked to leafy greens? Michigan is sorta close.

 

It’s poop: E. coli found on Taylor Farms organic spinach; recall launched

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When did press release writing drones come up with the phrase, “out of an abundance of caution?” It seems to be appearing in every recall release.

How about, “in the course of doing our job to provide safe food, we found dangerous E. coli on our raw spinach and decided it would be a good idea to warn
org_traysal_bbyspnpeople.”

But I don’t get paid the big bucks.

Taylor Farms Retail, Inc. is initiating a voluntary recall of select Organic Baby Spinach products with the potential to be contaminated with (EHEC) Enterohaemorrhagic Escherichia coli.

(That’s the nasty kind)

The company is cooperating with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and California Department of Public Health (CDPH) regarding this recall. There have been no reported illnesses attributed to the recalled items.

How was this positive picked up, through internal or random testing? What is the strain of E. coli? Where did it come from?

And who knew what when?